GEORGETOWN, Guyana - Veteran politician and one of Guyana’s longest serving politicians, Reepu Daman Persaud died on Sunday, according to well-placed sources. He was 77. Hospital sources said he was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH)-based Caribbean Heart Institute (CHI) late Saturday night.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC - Dame Hilda Bynoe, Grenada’s first -ever native head of state has died here after a prolonged illness, relatives confirmed. She was 91. “Grenada considers the passing of Dame Hilda as a great loss, not just to Grenada but to the Caribbean as a whole. She came from a rural place and maintained her love for the people,” said Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell. Her son Roland Bynoe described her as a “Caribbean woman. She grew up in an era when the unity of the Caribbean was important”.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - The Ministry of National Security is reported to be awaiting answers from officials of Caribbean Airlines (CAL) over the carrier’s failure to secure work permits for several of its foreign pilots. The T&T Guardian understands the ministry wrote to the airline two weeks ago inquiring about five American pilots who have been operating out of T&T. The letter was sent through CAL’s line minister Larry Howai and copied to chairman Rabindra Moonan but to date there has been no response.
GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – President Donald Ramotar says he is not in favour of an opposition request for an extension of the debate on the GUY$209.8 billion (One Guyana dollar = US$0.01 cents) budget and urged legislators to put aside their differences for the betterment of Guyana. Debate on the fiscal package which began on March 25 is due to end on Tuesday and Ramotar said he has not seen “anything during the debate to make me very optimistic that they (opposition) are ready to want to see our country move forward.
KINGSTON, Jamaica - As much as we are inclined to commend the Government for the Budget it tabled in Parliament last week, we will reserve comment until the finance minister, Peter Phillips, presents the rest of his funding programme, including the allocations for the multilateral financial institutions (MFIs).
For, as they say, the devil's in the detail. Further, as is evidenced by its failure so far to tie up arrangements with the MFIs, this Government does not inspire confidence in its ability to accomplish anything within its promised time frames.
KINGSTON, Jamaica - JAMAICA has signed a Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) with Kuwait that will encourage and guide future investments into the Caribbean country.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC-The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) will hear final submissions in the Shanique Myrie case when the court sits at its headquarters in Port of Spain on Monday and Tuesday. The Trinidad-based CCJ will hear testimony in the case brought by Myrie, 25, who alleged that when she traveled to Barbados on March 14, 2011 she was discriminated against because of her nationality, subjected to a body cavity search, detained overnight in a cell and deported to Jamaica the following day.
PARAMARIBO, Suriname, CMC- Former rebel leader, Ronnie Brunswijk has announced that he will be making a bid for the presidency in the 2015 election.
Brunswijk made the announcement following Saturday night’s performance by American rapper Rick Ross. The show was organized by Brunswijk’s promotions company Romeo Bravo.
The show was preceded by controversy as two local pastors called on parents not to send their children and on the Government to revoke Rick Ross' visa, because the rapper supposedly worshipped Satan and promoted violence against women.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- A new report on American aid to Haiti in the wake of that country's devastating earthquake finds much of the money went to U.S.-based companies and organizations. The Center for Economic and Policy Research analyzed the $1.15 billion pledged after the January 2010 quake and found that the "vast majority" of the money it could follow went straight to U.S. companies or organizations, more than half in the Washington area alone. Just 1 percent went directly to Haitian companies.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - Unbroken education for Haitian children is one of the success stories that has emerged in the aftermath of the earthquake which rocked Port-au-Prince on January 10, 2010. The children were displaced, and to some extent they still are not studying and learning in comfortable environments. Crushing poverty, however, continues to be the proverbial albatross around their necks. The crunch of milky white stones is a constant reminder of the fateful day which claimed the lives of about 300,000 people.