(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), His Excellency Michel Martelly, the President of Haiti, has stated that the name of His Excellency Hugo Chavez, the late President of Venezuela will be “etched in the history of this Region.”

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana)The year 2013 has been designated the International Year of Statistics (Statistics 2013) to be commemorated as a worldwide event by leading statistical organisations which include the International Statistical Institute, the Royal Statistical Society and the American Statistical Association.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The just-concluded Special Meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) on Energy has broken new ground with the establishment of regional targets for the contribution of renewable energy, such as, solar power, wind power, hydropower, geothermal energy, bio-energy, to the total electricity generation in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The sexy job over the next ten years will be statisticians. This statement by the chief economist at Google was quoted as the Government of Guyana and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat on Wednesday jointly launched activities to mark the International Year of Statistics that is being observed under the theme `Statistics in Everyday Life; Let us Educate and Appreciate’.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - THE West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) is currently immersed in arrangements for its annual general meeting on March 27 at a time when the governing body of this region’s most popular game continues to reveal serious leadership weaknesses, and an alarming consistency for ignoring well-intentioned “time-for-change” recommendations.
Perhaps some of the best known major recommendations for structural changes, creative policies and programmes are located in the October 2007 “Report on Governance of West Indies Cricket”.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - The major issue preoccuping those interested in the Middle East is what to do about Syria, and whether the United States and Europe should provide military assistance to the opposition groups fighting to topple the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. It is topical given the current trip to the region by United States Secretary of State John Kerry, who has met with the head of the main political opposition group in Syria, the Syrian National Coalition. Kerry also announced US$60 million in non-military aid to help the Syrian opposition.

KINGSTON, Jamaica -There was a fair bit of chest-thumping by the Government recently over Reporters without Borders' ranking of Jamaica as the leading country for press freedom in the Western Hemisphere and 13th globally.
The Simpson Miller administration interpreted the rating as a vindication of its own commitment to freedom and democracy and currency in which it can trade.

HAVANA, Cuba, CMC – The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) says no Caribbean student had been killed in a vehicular accident here over the last weekend.
“The CARICOM Heads of Mission in Havana seeks to clarify that news reports which claim that five students had been killed in a vehicular accident in Cuba are misleading,” according to a statement issued by the grouping here on Tuesday.
“The Caucus further wishes to assure the parents of students on scholarship in Cuba that no Caribbean student died in the accident,” the release said.

KINGSTON, Jamaica - Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme Achim Steiner would say yes. In a recent presentation he made in Basel, Switzerland, on the impact of the summit on international cooperation on the environment and sustainable development, Steiner mapped the genesis of the meeting and its achievements. "The outcomes of Rio+20 may signal a new determination by and cooperation between governments to implement sustainable development as the only option for peace, security and prosperity into the future," he said.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, CMC - The United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says research in the Caribbean may result in better protection for depleted fish species. NOAA said the research is using the underwater sounds of reef fish, such as groupers, to identify areas where they gather to spawn “a behaviour that makes the fish easier to catch and susceptible to overfishing. “The research may lead to more precise measures to protect spawning locations and thereby allow a depleted fish population to rebuild,” it said in a statement issued here.