BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Advocate -Today is World Press Freedom Day and the theme for this year is “Safe to Speak: Securing Freedom of Expression in All Media”, with the focus on preventing acts of violence or discrimination against journalists and media personnel as they seek to report on the happenings around the world. However, it is fair when considering “press freedom” that one critiques the content of what the press is “free” to publish; for with freedom comes great responsibility.

PARAMARIBO, Suriname, CMC - Assuria insurance company has acquired the Trinidad and Tobago-based Gulf Insurance Ltd in a move the company says will solidify moves to expand its operations into the Caribbean. The cost of the sale has not been disclosed, but Assuria’s general manager Stephen Smit told shareholders that the Central Bank of Suriname (CBvS) had granted permission to buy the Trinidadian company and that the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago had approved the sale months ago.

ST. JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC - The Office of National Drug and Money Laundering Control Policy (ONDCP) is warning criminals it will continue to pursue its mandate obligations to the country even as they adopt new strategies to carry out their illegal activities in Antigua and Barbuda. “The counterdrug efforts remain consistent but increasingly challenging as the criminals are learning from our successes against them and altering or innovating their techniques to evade detection,” said ONDCP director Lieutenant Colonel Edward Croft.

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Observer - A federal court in California has authorised the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to serve a "John Doe" summons seeking information about US taxpayers who may hold offshore accounts in a Barbados-headquartered Caribbean bank.
The Department of Justice has identified the bank as the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce FirstCaribbean International Bank (FCIB). It said the order was signed by Senior District Judge Thelton E Henderson.

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Gleaner - The Belize government is to launch a national bank that Prime Minister Dean Barrow said should place pressure on commercial banks to reduce lending rates to consumers in the future. Barrow said the National Bank of Belize Limited will have a start-up capital of BDZ$20 million (one Belize dollar = US$0.50 cents) that will come from PetroCaribe funds.