BELMOPAN, Belize, CMC – The International Monetary Fund says Belize is expected to see economic growth in 2013 after the country experienced economic activity last year as a result of a strong rebound in agriculture and services. Gerardo Peraza, who headed an IMF mission to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country to conduct its yearly review of the country’s economy, said in 2012, economic activity accelerated thanks to a strong rebound in agriculture and services, despite a sharp decline in crude oil production.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC - Guyana has dominated the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) /TravelMole Sustainable Tourism Awards. For the second consecutive year, Guyana won three of the six awards at the awards ceremony at STC-14 that ended here on Thursday night. The 2013 awards comprised six categories covering all aspects of sustainability, from overall excellence, to accommodation, community, heritage and biodiversity.

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY_ Guyana-born HIV Expert, Dr. Deborah Persaud, has made the Time Magazine list of 2013 World List of ‘Top 100’ Influential People.
Persaud, a top researcher at Johns Hopkins Pediatric, was propelled into the spotlight in early March when she and colleagues Hanna Gay, M.D., of the University of Mississippi Medical Center, and Katherine Luzuriaga, M.D., of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, announced the first functional cure of HIV in an infant.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - Just six years after it was created to replace its debt-ridden predecessor, BWIA, state-owned Caribbean Airlines (CAL) is facing severe financial turbulence. There are reports of a $500 million debt that the airline is seeking to address with long-term financing from local banks. The carrier’s latest financial statements show that CAL’s losses almost doubled from US$43.6 million in 2011 to US$83.7 million for 2012. Whether the airline can stave off bankruptcy will depend on sound financial and operational strategies over the next few months.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – An American Airlines plane left here four and a half hours late on Thursday after security officials here said they had been alerted to a “strange” package placed on board the airline. A statement from the Airport Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (AATT) said that American Airline Flight 2282, which was on its way to Miami “was taxiing at the Piarco International Airport when the Airports Authority of Trinidad and Tobago’s Security Department received a phone call about a security issue aboard the aircraft.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - After two days of extensive dialogue and negotiations, T&T and Guatemala have concluded their final round of negotiations with the signing of an Aide-Memoire on Wednesday at the Ministry of Trade in Port-of-Spain. The Aide-Memoire summarised the items discussed, amended and agreed to over the two-day negotiating period. Present to oversee the signing was the Vasant Bharath, Minister of Trade, Industry and Investment and Iván Espinoza Farfán, Vice Minister, Foreign Affairs Guatemala.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - Enhancing security within the region is one of the major issues that came under discussion recently when Mark Simmonds, Minister for Africa, the Overseas Territories, the Caribbean and International Energy, met with Prime Minister, Freundel Stuart and other Minister of Government including Minister of Foreign Affairs, Senator Maxine McClean; Attorney General, Adriel Brathwaite and Minister of Energy, Senator Darcy Boyce.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - THE FIERCE battle to elect a successor to the late President Hugo Chavez is over but a heavy cloud of uncertainty hangs over Venezuela amid today’s official ceremony for Nicolas Maduro to take the oath as new head of state of that influential oil-rich nation. With seven known deaths and scores of injured during a clash of government and opposition supporters following official declaration of the results, both President Maduro and his opposition challenger Henrique Capriles have the immediate challenge of ensuring a climate of peace for constructive dialogue.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - The difficulties confronting regional economies continue to stare us in the face on a daily basis. We hear of problems with the fiscal deficit in most islands, along with the pain and stress of civil servants clamouring for wage increases to cushion them against increases in the cost of living. Quite often, such increases are outside the reach of the governments; and the discussion turns to the almost inevitable austerity-like measures that some administrations may be forced to implement with a view to making ends meet, if only on a short-term basis!

KINGSTON, Jamaica - THE Government has once again tabled Bills in the House of Representatives as it pushes to keep its promise to replace the United Kingdom-based Privy Council with the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as Jamaica's final appellate court.
Leader of Government Business in the House, Phillip Paulwell, gave notice of first reading of the Bills on behalf of Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller yesterday during the meeting of the Parliament at Gordon House in downtown Kingston.