PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Sub-regional Office for Barbados and the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and the Young Americas Business Trust (YABT) will host the finals, expo and award ceremony of the Caribbean Innovation Challenge (CIC) on April 25-26, at the Hilton Hotel Resort in Barbados. The Caribbean Innovation Challenge (CIC) is an international entrepreneur competition and business start-up accelerator for young people in CARICOM member states.
KINGSTON, Jamaica - JAMAICA is to receive euro 0.5 million (approx J$63.4 million) from the European Union (EU) to assist victims of Hurricane Sandy in the eastern section of the island. The EU said the money, which will fund the operations of the French Red Cross in Portland, St Thomas and St Mary to repair damaged homes and helping victims overcome their losses and regain their livelihoods. The Dominican Republic has also been offered one million euro by the EU, which said it has decided to increase the aid granted to victims of Hurricane Sandy by euro 1.5 million.
NEW YORK, CMC – The US-based Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has lowered its foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings on Grenada to 'SD' (selective default) from 'CCC+/C'. "The downgrade to 'SD' follows the government of Grenada's announcement that it will not pay the coupon due March 15, 2013, on its U.S. dollar and Eastern Caribbean dollar bonds due in 2025," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Joydeep Mukherji. The newly elected Grenada government recently announced that it does not expect to have the funds to pay the coupon during the relevant grace periods.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – The Trinidad and Tobago government suffered a major setback in the courts after a High Court judge ruled that the bailout plan by the Kamla Persad Bissessar-led coalition People’s Partnership administration was unlawful. High Court judge Joan Charles Tuesday ordered the State to pay a group of Executive Flexible Premium Annuity (EFPA) policyholders all the money they invested in the failed insurance giant, plus interest. Soon after it won the May 2010 general election, the Persad Bissessar government announced a new bailout plan for CLICO policy holders.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - IT was bad enough for the United Nations to bring cholera into earthquake-stricken Haiti via its troops. But to give itself legal immunity against victims’ claims for damages is simply outrageous. In just one sentence, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has severely damaged the confidence that the people of Haiti has reposed in the UN ever since the Duvalier dictatorship fell, making room for a greater UN presence in this Caribbean country.
Haiti needs to develop a coordinated plan of action on human rights and a framework on the rule of law, an independent United Nations expert has said, noting that while positive changes are coming very slowly, there is a strong expectation from Haitians to see improvements.
“There is a need to have a strategy, there is a need also for each of the ministers to understand that they have a piece of the puzzle of the rule of law,” Michel Forst, Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Haiti, told UN Radio yesterday.
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - Uhuru Kenyatta, the son of Kenya’s founding father, was named the winner of the country’s presidential election with 50.07 per cent of the vote last Saturday.
He has the name, the wealth – and the burden that comes with his heritage.
Unlike the late Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, Uhuru faces indictment by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity committed after the previous elections in 2007, which left more than 1 000 people dead.
(New York Times) Venezuela will create a scientific panel to investigate the illness of Hugo Chávez, after an accusation by the interim president last week that the former president’s cancer was mysteriously caused by his enemies. “We have this intuition that our Commander Chávez was poisoned by dark forces that wanted to get rid of him to destroy the Bolivarian revolution and strike at Latin America and the Caribbean,” Nicolás Maduro, the interim president, said Monday night. Mr. Chávez, a charismatic leftist, died last week after 14 years in office.
ST. JOHN’S, Antigua- Some of the top women in entrepreneurship in Antigua & Barbuda and the rest of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) have put forward recommendations on how to address certain issues arising out of the evolution of the roles of men and women in society.
Their recommendations were made during panel discussions organised by the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and Royal Bank of Trinidad & Tobago (RBTT) in each OECS territory for International Women’s Day on Friday.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar says she has no information that the son of a minister in her Cabinet is allegedly being investigated by United States law enforcement officials.
Speaking with reporters as she toured several police stations on Tuesday, Prime Minister Persad Bissessar confirmed she had asked the question after media reports surfaced here last weekend on the matter.