CASTRIES, St. Lucia, CMC - St.Lucia's Prime Minister Kenny Anthony says his government is seeking to revolutionise the islands education system by eliminating the need for books in the classroom.
Anthony, who is also Finance Minister made his intentions known to students in the south of the island Wednesday as they became part of the distribution network of thousands of laptop computers.
ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, CMC – The Grenada government, which is contemplating entering into an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), says it is encouraged by the support given by non-governmental organizations to restructure the country’s national debt.
It said the Grenada Conference of Churches, the Grenada Private Sector Organisation, the Grenada Trade Union Council and the Inter-agency Group of Development Organisations have all voiced their support for government’s plan to restructure the national debt.
SANTIAGO, Chile, CMC – The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has collaborated with the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment and the University of Cantabria in launching a database that would analyze the impact of climate change on Caribbean coasts.
On Wednesday, ECLAC said regional countries could improve coastal planning and develop preventive measures to adapt to the effects of climate change using the database.
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - Barbadians have been flocking to supermarkets across the island to purchase insect repellents, insecticides, mosquito coils and vaporizer mats to deal with mosquitoes.
Supermarket personnel said they had noted increased sales for all the products which either kill mosquitoes or keep them away.
This comes amidst concern about the number of dengue fever cases in Barbados. The Ministry of Health reported last week that there were 511 confirmed cases of dengue fever so far this year, compared to 169 confirmed cases for the same period in 2012.
FLU PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - Two persons who died after exhibiting influenza H1N1 symptoms may possibly be among the six confirmed cases of the swine flu virus, Minister of Health Dr Fuad Khan said yesterday.
Speaking at a media conference at the Ministry of Health, Park Street, Port of Spain, Khan who called on citizens not to panic said the six cases of the H1N1 influenza A virus were confirmed in three patients from San Fernando General Hospital, one from Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex and two patients from an unknown area.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - Following confirmation late Wednesday by the Caribbean Public Health Agency (Carpha) of six local cases of Influenza A/H1N1, better known as swine flu, the first response from Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan was that such cases were “nothing new” for T&T. The minister’s biggest concern was avoiding “overreaction and over-treatment,” which he said occurred in 2009 when swine flu cases first emerged in this country.
WASHINGTON, CMC – The World Bank says remittances to the developing world, including the Caribbean, are expected to grow by 6.3 percent this year to US$414 billion.
In its revised estimates and forecasts, issued here on Wednesday, the World Bank also projected that remittances to the developing world will cross the half-trillion mark by 2016.
The bank said remittance volumes to developing countries, as a whole, are projected to “continue growing strongly over the medium term,” averaging an annual growth rate of 9 percent to reach US$540 billion in 2016.
BRUSSELS, CMC - Prominent academic and Vice-Chancellor of the University of the West Indies, Professor E. Nigel Harris has stressed the role of tertiary education as an engine for economic growth in developing countries, while calling for deeper collaboration across African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) regions in the process.
In an interview to launch the ACP Secretariat’s “One-on-One” YouTube series, Harris said that although ACP countries have made some socio-economic gains, “it’s not enough”.
KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – The Jamaica government says it is seeking to establish a fee structure for issuing CARICOM Skills Certificates in keeping with the amendments to the CARICOM Free Movement of Skilled Persons Act, which seeks to broaden the categories of skilled nationals able to access jobs in regional countries.
CSME’ GEORGETOWN, Guyana – Professor Norman Girvan, in an address entitled, ‘Reinventing the CSME,’ to the Caribbean Association of Judicial Officers (CAJO) in Barbados, last Friday, assessed the crisis in the regional economic integration process, focusing on the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME), and proposed a possible way out.