KINGSTON, Jamaica, Observer - AS the Government prepares to update the nation tonight on the pending International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan agreement, Opposition Leader Andrew Holness has warned the Portia Simpson Miller-led Administration that it must prepare to sacrifice as much as it intends to ask of Jamaicans. "For 50 years we have been asked to sacrifice, and again the people of Jamaica will be asked to sacrifice, but will the sacrifice ever yield any success?" asked Holness.

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Observer - THE University of the West Indies (UWI) on Friday awarded its researchers for making last week's 14th staging of the UWI Research Days a success. At least six researchers were awarded for their work that continues to promote the University as the research nucleus of the Caribbean. Among those awarded were Dr Andre Coy, whose book, Emulating Human Speech Recognition; A Scene Analysis Approach to Improving Robustness in Automatic Speech Recognition, was named best research publication from the Faculty of Science and Technology.

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Gleaner - The Trinidad and Tobago-based Caribbean Airlines (CAL) Friday cancelled a number of flights to the United States because of a snowstorm that was making its way up the Atlantic coast affecting New York and other cities.
The cancellation is expected to affect a number of nationals who were expected for the Carnival celebrations that climax with street parades and jump-up tomorrow.

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Observer - PRIME Minister Portia Simpson Miller and Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips will update the nation on the status of negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in a joint broadcast tonight. They are also expected to outline Jamaica's revised economic programme and reform measures. The joint broadcast comes in the wake of the visit last Tuesday of the IMF staff mission to Jamaica when further talks were held in an effort to conclude a new agreement between the parties.

(Jamaica Observer) A senior security official who worked in the US Embassy in Kingston is expected to be charged soon for his alleged role in helping the manager of a popular Jamaican entertainer obtain a US visa to leave the island in the face of legal troubles, according to highly placed law enforcement sources.

GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba, (Reuters) – A simulated wave of Caribbean migrants sailed to the Guantanamo naval base this week for a training drill designed to prepare U.S. troops and security agencies who might someday have to handle the real thing. The exercise is held every two years to prepare for a potential mass migration brought on by political upheaval or natural disaster in the region. More than 500 U.S. troops and government workers flew to the Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base in eastern Cuba for the drill, which started on Saturday and runs through Friday.

ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, CMC – Former foreign affairs minister Karl Hood has publicly endorsed the main opposition New National Party (NNP) as Grenadians prepare to elect a new government on February 19.
Hood, who resigned from the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) government of Prime Minister Tillman Thomas, last year, was the surprise guest speaker at a rally of the NNP here on Sunday.

NEW YORK, Feb 10, CMC – As the New York Police Department (NYDP), over the years, faced intense criticism over the controversial “stop-and-frisks” policy regarding Caribbean and other immigrants and minorities, the department has reported what it described as a “major decline” in the use of the tactic. In its latest report of data for 2012, the NYPD said cops used the controversial tactic 22 percent less and seized 14 percent fewer weapons than in the previous year.

SCARBOROUGH, Tobago, CMC – Five people were killed in a two car smash up along the Claude Noel Highway during the early hours of Sunday morning, police said.
They have identified those killed as Alloy Duke, Fernando Stewart, Christian Stewart, Anesha Hamilton and Stephen Winchester, but gave no further details on the accident which has marred the 2013 Carnival celebrations on the sister isle.
They said investigations were continuing.

HAMILTON, Bermuda, Feb 10, CMC - Four Irish sailors bound for the Caribbean were rescued from their stricken yacht, which later sank, 70 miles north of Bermuda. According to reports the sailors had planned to stop in Bermuda before heading to Antigua following the incident marine officials reported that the sailors are now heading to Turkey. The men - two in their 70s and two in their 50s , had to deal with battery failure 400 miles off the Delaware coast as well as engine failure on board the Wolfhound, a 48-foot Swan class sloop, a day after departing Westbrook, Connecticut.