KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC - The Jamaica Teachers Association, (JTA) has become the latest public sector union to sign a wage restraint agreement with the Portia Simpson Miller led administration.
Previously, the teachers’ union had stated that it could not make such an agreement and as a result did not join other public sector unions, which signed the agreement with the government last week.

KINGSTON, Jamaica - THERE is an intriguing story in yesterday's Sunday Observer about a push by The Bahamas to make sports a major engine of growth for its huge tourism industry. Those who haven't read it, should.
Much has been said in Jamaica about sports and its potential as a money spinner — especially since this island of 2.7 million is the envy of the world in terms of sporting achievement.
But as Assistant Sports Editor Mr Sean Williams pointed out in yesterday's story, the Bahamians aren't just "talking the talk, they are walking the walk".

NASSAU, Bahamas, CMC – The Bahamas government has indicated that it will most probably hold a referendum on oil development during the latter part of 2015, if present exploration efforts prove that there is sufficient oil to economically transform the country “for many generations to come”.
“Estimates suggest that exploration data, sufficient to answer the question of whether we have petroleum reserves in commercially viable quantities, would probably not be available until the latter part of 2014 or early 2015.

NEW YORK, CMC – Newly-elected Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell has called for all hands on deck and unity in re-building the tri-island nation.
During a town hall meeting at Brooklyn College, late Saturday,Mitchell, whose New National Party (NNP)  swept the polls in the historic February 19 general elections, urged all nationals to come on board in addressing the country’s dire economic plight.

KINGSTON, Jamaica - A senior economist with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is warning member countries of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) that they face similar challenges now confronting the Eurozone countries.
Alfred Schipke, formerly of the IMF Western Hemisphere Division, said the Eastern Caribbean Currency and Economic Union, may be the smallest of three economic and currency unions worldwide, bringing together eight small islands, whose total combined population is less than a million.

BAHAMAS - The inability of American lawmakers to agree on budgetary measures threatens small Caribbean economies, asserts a former finance minister.
"A US fiscal cliff can be an economic cliff for small states," contends Zhivargo Laing, a noted Caribbean economist and former finance minister for the Bahamas.
"Small Caribbean economies rely significantly on trade with the US, either through tourism or some other economic activity," he added "and especially share concerns about US economic and fiscal prospects."

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts -  In a letter sent to the Governor six MPs have sworn that they do not support the Prime Minister and will vote in favor of the No Confidence Motion.
MPs Dr. Timothy Harris and Sam Condor joined the four elected members of the Federal Opposition- Hon. Mark Brantley, Hon. Shawn Richards, Hon. Vance Amory and Hon. Eugene Hamilton- to affix their signatures to the letter to the Governor General , Sir Edmund Lawrence dated Tuesday, March 5.

ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Venezuela Ambassador Carols Perez Silva is dismissing claims in international media that the late President Hugo Chavez wasted state resources on charity for Antigua and Barbuda and other Caribbean states.
He says mischievous media, both in Venezuela and internationally is responsible for spreading that misconception.
Perez Silva says he expects Chavez deputy and now acting president, Nicolas Maduro to be successful in the upcoming by-election.

ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Former Prime Minister Lester Bird labelled the recently deceased Venezuelan president a “despot” and questioned the inner workings of Venezuela’s $200 million loan to the nation.
In an interview played on the Big Issues yesterday, Lester Bird said Hugo Chavez did not carry out “normal processes” of loaning money to Antigua & Barbuda through PetroCaribe and the Bolivarian Alternative of the Americas (ALBA).

ST. JOHN’S, Antigua - There is an old time saying that “You never miss the water ‘til the well runs dry.”
This is true and with the death of President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, we have been left to speculate whether the special arrangements between Venezuela and Antigua & Barbuda will soon run dry.
Perhaps this is mere conjecture, but the question concerning the future of the bilateral agreements between the aforementioned countries has been a sore recurring decimal since a friend of our country lost his fight with cancer.