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St Kitts-Nevis PM congratulates Grenada PM

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, CMC – Following Tuesday’s general election in Grenada and victory at the polls by the New National Party (NNP), Prime Minister Dr. Denzil Douglas, has congratulated Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell. “Tuesday’s election victory is evidence to support the people's confidence in your Party's ability under your competent direction, to steer your beloved "Spice Isle" through the current economic crisis into a challenging but more hopeful tomorrow could not have been more convincing,” Douglas said in a statement.

Public servants restless

CASTRIES, St. Lucia, CMC-Public servants are gearing up for some form of industrial action on the eve of Friday's 34th anniversary of independence, as they move to express their disappointment over Government's failure to resolve a pay dispute. Teachers, civil servants, and nurses were meeting at separate locations on Thursday, to discuss their next move as they claimed that time had ran out for government to resolve the protracted 2010-2012 triennium agreement.

CARICOM supports Ja hosting SIDS regional meeting

KINGSTON, Jamaica - CARICOM has supported Jamaica's hosting of the regional meeting of the Conference of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in June this year. The meeting is part of the preparatory process for the third summit of SIDS to be held in Samoa next year.

Belize bondholder group accepts debt exchange

KINGSTON, Jamaica - A group representing Belize bondholders said all of its members have agreed to a debt exchange offer that will give the Government nine more years to pay off some of its debt. The Coordinating Committee of Belize Bondholders announced this week that all of its members have agreed to exchange their US dollar-denominated bonds due 2029 for new ones due in 2038.

UN Claims Immunity in Haitian Cholera Compensation Case

UNITED NATIONS The United Nations has rejected a claim for compensation filed on behalf of 5,000 Haitian victims of a cholera outbreak, saying the world body is protected by immunity. The claim, filed in 2011, sought millions of dollars from the United Nations, saying its peacekeepers brought the deadly disease to Haiti. The water-borne disease had not been documented in Haiti for decades when it appeared several months after the January 2010 earthquake that left thousands of people homeless and living in makeshift camps. Newly arrived U.N.

Haiti ‘not yet’ open for business — UN

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - A UN envoy in Haiti said last week that the Caribbean nation is "not yet" ready for foreign investment. The remarks by UN Acting Special Representative Nigel Fisher challenged a mantra often championed by Haitian President Michel Martelly's government. The slogan "Haiti is open for business" has been a rallying cry for the government as it seeks outside investors to help the country rebuild from the devastating 2010 earthquake.

Hoteliers: More than $200m lost

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - THE $200 million loss in tourism revenue that Trinidad and Tobago suffers annually due to crime is a "conservative estimate", industry experts said yesterday. "I am absolutely convinced it is costing the country a huge amount of money. I think $200 million is conservative because that is just lost opportunity through fears of crime, but I would imagine it would cost businesses more in crime prevention practices," Tobago Hotel and Restaurant Association president Nicholas Hardwicke told the Express yesterday in a telephone interview.

Time for CARICOM rep to head OAS

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - I have read with great alarm and significant disappointment an article published on Wednesday in the Stabroek News of Guyana and carried on the internet with the headline Suriname Will Not Support Ramdin for OAS Post. Apparently, the Suriname Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Lackin has confirmed that his Government will neither nominate nor support the current Assistant Secretary General (ASG) of the Organisation of American States (OAS), Albert Ramdin, who is also Surinamese, for the top post of Secretary General (SG) of the OAS.

Embarrassment all around

GEORGETOWN, Guyana - Those with an eye for coincidence and irony might have observed that, just as we were warning in last Friday’s editorial, that “a high academic title alone is no guarantee of personal achievement or, indeed, integrity” and that we should not “take anyone’s curriculum vitae at face value,” a mini-drama involving the appointment of Dr Naresh Singh to the post of CARICOM Deputy Secretary-General was beginning to unfold.

Lip-service mainly for eating local

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - Practical obstacles in the way of growing more and consuming more local produce have been elaborately acknowledged by Food Production Minister Devant Maharaj. And the ministry's solution: a year-long advertising campaign to persuade citizens to eat local. Such a campaign must necessarily be based on assumptions that ordinary people do not know what they like to eat and are incapable of calculating what their budgets can afford. Yet, even if this PR strategy bears fruit, would local production be able to meet desired demand?

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