BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - PRIME MINISTER FREUNDEL STUART has been able to achieve levels of support on par with former Prime Minister Owen Arthur. This is the view of the Democratic Labour (DLP) which, in a statement from its general secretary George Pilgrim yesterday, said Stuart had shown in two years an ability to muster as much support as Arthur, who led the country for 14 years.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - New discoveries in alternative sources of energy by developed countries such as the United States and Australia has slashed export demands from developing countries like T&T, which has this commodity in large supply. But Gordon Deane, chairman of energy company Atlantic says, however, that for the global energy business the future appears bright. He said this was the case despite challenges facing the global economy. “Energy continues to be the fuel for industrial and economic development.
KINGSTON, Jamaica - JAMAICA'S harsh experience with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to get a new $750 million loan, signals equally harsh conditions for many Caribbean countries in the not too distant future. The burden of the tough conditions placed on Jamaica by the IMF falls entirely on the Jamaican people and Jamaican businesses.
KINGSTON, Jamaica - AT their Inter-Sessional summit last week in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, Caribbean leaders called on the United States to comply with the ruling by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to end the long-running dispute with Antigua on Internet gaming. They affirmed their "full support" for their Caricom colleague in its fight against our giant neighbour to the north.
KINGSTON, Jamaica - The foreign minister of Suriname is reported in the press as stating that his Government will neither nominate nor support Mr. Albert Ramdin, a distinguished Surinamese, for the post of secretary-general of the Organisation of American States (OAS). The minister is also reported to have said Suriname will support the Guyanese nominee for assistant secretary-general, the post which Mr. Ramdin now holds. This is a very strange position to state publicly since at this time there is no vacancy nor any formally announced candidates in either post.
GEORGETOWN, Guyana – Guyana has nominated its Ambassador to Washington, Bayney Karran to become the next Assistant Secretary General of the Organisation of American States (OAS), a top government official has confirmed. “Guyana has nominated the Guyanese Ambassador in Washington,” said Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon. Karran has been his country’s Ambassador to the United States since 2003 and Permanent Representative to the OAS for several years now.
KINGSTON, Jamaica - Last week, St Lucia's Prime Minister, Kenny Anthony, issued a warning about Europe's future relationship with the Caribbean. Speaking in his capacity as outgoing chair of CARICOM, he suggested the possibility of a reassessment as a result of the EU's changing development policy towards middle-ranking economies. Speaking to CARICOM Heads of Government in Haiti, Dr. Anthony suggested that such changes may lead to Europe, as well as CARICOM, having to determine not just the diplomatic, but also the political value of the existing relationship.
KINGSTON, Jamaica - Who is this special advisor from Britain, Shaun Bailey, and what is his real purpose here in Jamaica? Those of us who are of the pre-independence era, and who have emerged through the delivery of our country from colonialism to independence, must ask the above question with sadness.
PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti, CMC - Magistrate Jean Joseph Lebrun Thursday ordered former dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier to appear in court next week after rejecting an appeal filed by his defence team that sought to take his matter before the Supreme Court. Duvalier had earlier defied an order to attend a hearing to determine whether to reinstate charges of human rights abuses against him allegedly committed during nearly 15 years in office. The prosecutor said that as a result of the court ruling, Duvalier will now have to appear in court next Thursday.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Former prime minister Patrick Manning was rushed to hospital on Thursday after he collapsed at his constituency office. Manning, 66, who suffered a stroke in January last year, was “partly paralysed” from what his office said had been a “minor stroke”. He was flown to the United States for further medical treatment and has not been in Parliament since January 2012.