BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – A veteran immigration official Wednesday denied that Barbados had been treating Caribbean Community (CARICOM) nationals harshly in contravention of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) that allows for the free movement of people across the region.
Senior Immigration Officer Merlo Reid told the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) that passengers entering Barbados have to satisfy immigration requirements which include the possession of a return ticket, adequate funds and reasonable accommodation.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves Wednesday warned that crime and difficulties surrounding regional air transportation were major stumbling blocks towards making greater progress in regional trade.  Addressing the two-day colloquium hosted by the Barbados-based Caribbean Export Development Agency (Caribbean Export) Gonsalves said  high crime levels in several countries were not only a deterrent for tourists but also a disincentive for potential investors.

ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, CMC – The World Bank has suspended disbursements to Grenada after seven loan defaults in February. The Washington based financial institution said no new loans would be issued to Grenada unless the island makes good on the overdue payments amounting to US$750,000. The payments were due on February 15 February and the World Bank has written to Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell saying failure to make the loan payments on time is hampering its ability to assist other member countries.

MIAMI — As a Haiti investigative judge demanded that two parliamentarians be held accountable in the recent assassination of a police officer, the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday called on the country's political leaders to redouble efforts to break a 16-month political impasse preventing the staging of long-overdue elections.

GEORGETOWN, Cayman Islands, CMC – Former premier William McKeeva Bush has been formally charged with two counts of misconduct after he was arrested late last year.
Bush, 57, who will appear in court next month, is also facing four counts of Breach of Trust by a member of the Legislative Assembly, contrary to Section13 of the Anti-Corruption Law 2008, and five counts of theft, contrary to Section .241 of the Penal Code 2007 Revision.
Bush will appear in Grand Court on April 12. The charges were laid on Wednesday as the former premier answered his bail.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Honourable Anthony Hylton, Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce of Jamaica, has underscored that “the Caribbean Forum of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (CARIFORUM)-European Union (EU) Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) must form an integral part of the regional export strategy.”

CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Stakeholders in the Regional agriculture sector are to hold further discussions shortly to flesh out the development and application of a system to monitor and trace agricultural products at every step from field through harvest, storage, ports and supermarkets.

KINGSTON, Jamaica - Yesterday's deadly bomb blasts in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities were bloody reminders of the country's continued instability and the fact that it could still collapse into a Balkanised entity, or even a completely failed state.
But perhaps the greater lesson from today's Iraq is of the dangers that lurk when citizens are cowed or cajoled into forfeiting independent thought in favour of intellectual conformity and the embrace of iterative policies by their governments.

TEL AVIV – President Obama landed here on Wednesday to begin a highly symbolic two-day visit to Israel, the first of his presidency, offering reassurances to a wary Israeli public of the support of its American ally as Israel faces threats from Iran and uncertainty in its roiling neighborhood.
Stepping into a sparkling noonday sun at Ben-Gurion International Airport here, Mr. Obama embraced President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who waited for him at the bottom of the stairway, under the looming shadow of Air Force One.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - Last Friday was the second anniversary of the uprising in Syria and is a brutal reminder of the impotence the entire world has shown in resolving a conflict that has wrought destruction on one of the Arab world’s leading countries. It is reported that about one million Syrians are displaced, while 1.5 million refugees have streamed across the country’s borders in search of safe haven. Even the figure of 80 000 people killed probably understates the magnitude of the calamity, as thousands remain missing and/or suffering debilitating injuries.