26 CASTRIES, St. Lucia, CMC- Nearly eight months after its official launch the OECS Authority has scheduled a sitting of the OECS Assembly for March 26.
The Castries based OECS Secretariat has announced t hat in preparation for this sitting a seminar has been planned to facilitate discussion of the Rules of Procedure for the OECS Assembly and aspects of the Revised Treaty of Basseterre that support the work of the Assembly.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - The Estimates debate has taken pride of place during this week as the Lower House has debated the economy against the backdrop of the Minister of Finance’s presentation to the House. Perhaps the most important development has been the announcement by the Finance Minister that a stimulus of $600 million will be adopted as part of the Government’s plan to get the economy jump started.

KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC - President of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC), Francis Kennedy says it is highly unlikely that the country will seal a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) before the end of next month.
On Tuesday Finance Minister, Dr. Peter Phillips said he was still hopeful that Jamaica's IMF programme will be approved before the end of this month and the timing of the approval is hinged on talks involving key multi-lateral agencies.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - ECONOMIC MADNESS!
That’s how economics Professor Michael Howard has described Government’s proposed $600 million economic stimulus, warning that the country simply cannot afford it.
And he has suggested that given the “weakness of our productive sectors, our large fiscal deficit, our sluggish tax receipts and our downgrade to junk status”, a policy of austerity and expenditure reduction was the better option.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC -A police officer accused of conducting a cavity search on Jamaican Shanique Myrie vehemently denied the allegation as she took the stand before the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) on Thursday.
As the Barbados leg of the case wrapped up after four days of testimony, Constable Sirphene Carrington, an officer of the Royal Barbados Police Force with more than 10 years experience also insisted that she did not make any derogatory remarks or searched the luggage of the Jamaican national who was denied entry into the island on March 14, 2011.

NASSAU, The Bahamas, CMC – The Bahamas has recorded a decrease in serious crimes since the start of the year.
This includes a 24 per cent decrease in the number of murders “despite the recent reports of murders that we have heard about.” There has also been a 16 per cent drop in Crimes Against Property.
Nottage said the downward trend in crimes for the first two months of 2013 follows a pattern of decreases in crimes – including Murder and Armed Robbery – to close out the year 2012.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - THE CARIBBEAN’S PREOCCUPATION with “leisure, pleasure and nice time” is hampering its productivity and progression, says Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines Dr Ralph Gonsalves.
Addressing the Caribbean Export Development Agency’s Exporters’ Colloquium at Hilton Barbados on Wednesday, he said people in the region were limiting themselves by not working hard enough and smart enough.
He noted that problems of labour and management productivity existed across a range of sectors, including agriculture, manufacturing and tourism.

GEORGETOWN, Cayman Islands, Mar. 21, CMC – Former Premier of the Cayman Islands, McKeeva Bush has reiterated his innocence after being formally charged with two counts of misconduct on Wednesday.

UNITED NATIONS, CMC – Caribbean nations are participating in a full-scale tsunami alert exercise organized by the United Nations to test their reaction to a possible disaster.
The exercise organized under the auspices of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) a ficticious earthquake measuring 8.5 on the Richter scale will strike 90 kilometres off the coast of Oranjestad, Aruba, in the Caribbean Sea, generating a tsunami.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haiti's most prominent political party said yesterday it will try again to run candidates in upcoming legislative elections after being banned in the two most recent votes.
Maryse Narcisse, a spokeswoman for the political party of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, said in an interview on the privately run station Radio Kiskeya that the Lavalas Family party plans to run in the still-unscheduled vote.