JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela has recovered from his recent lung infection and a surgical procedure to remove gallstones, according to an announcement yesterday by President Jacob Zuma.
Doctors say that Mandela, 94, has made "steady progress and that clinically, he continues to improve," according to a statement issued by Zuma's office. Mandela was hospitalised for nearly three weeks in December before going home on December 26.

GEORGETOWN, Guyana - The election which took place yesterday in Venezuela was of a certain significance. It was a poll among legislators to elect the chairman of the National Assembly and pitted Diosdado Cabello, who already held the post, against challenger Blanca Eekhout, who belongs to the Chávista faction led by Vice President Nicolás Maduro.  It masked the jostling for power which is going on behind the scenes in the wake of President Chávez’s latest bout of illness, and the cloud hanging over his swearing in for his fourth term on January 10.

KINGSTON, Jamaica - As the world awaits further news on the health of Venezuela President Hugo Chávez, representatives of the governments of Jamaica and Venezuela and a throng of other diplomats gathered yesterday at the Grace Missionary Church in Kingston to offer prayers on his behalf.
Chávez, who is to be sworn in as president for another term, is currently undergoing treatment for cancer.
Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, who was present at the church service, used the occasion to highlight the long-standing relationship between Jamaica and Venezuela.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) -- Haitian officials have renewed the diplomatic passport of former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier, his attorney said Saturday. Lawyer Reynold Georges said the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs reissued the expired travel document for Duvalier last month as is customary for ex-presidents and former prime ministers. "They have to, because he's an ex-president," Georges said by telephone. "This is not something people should talk about. It's common practice."

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic – Haitian President Michel Martelly briefly stepped back in time last weekend, doing his old “Sweet Micky” stage name proud as he sang alongside Spanish heartthrob Julio Iglesias at a glittering fundraiser in the Dominican Republic. The celebrity-studded concert was staged to help raise money for impoverished Haitian children, with proceeds going to the Pink and White Foundation, a charity run by Martelly and his wife Sophia. The Haitian president publicly thanked Iglesias for dedicating a concert of his "1 World Tour 2012" to Haiti's children.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - The New Year started with yet another welcome affirmation from the British Government of the importance of the 54-nation Commonwealth.
Hugo Swire, who was appointed Minister of State for the Commonwealth last summer, published an Opinion in the Daily Telegraph in London on January 2 in which he said that the Commonwealth “is an important institution” that can “through dedication and reform become stronger and speak with a louder voice than ever before”.

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, CMC – Opposition Leader Shawn Richards has criticised the St. Kitts-Nevis government of wasting much needed funds in hosting the Annual Prime Minister’s New Year’s Gala at a time when the twin-island federation could ill afford to do so.
The gala was held over the weekend and with American actor, producer and humanitarian Danny Glover and Citigroup’s chief executive officer Izzat Dajani the guest speakers

SCARBOROUGH, Tobago, CMC – The main opposition People’s National Movement (PNM) said it is in the “dark” regarding plans by the coalition People’s Partnership government to table legislation later on Monday providing for more autonomy for Tobago. “It is a high point of vulgarity, lack of class, and crassness that washes this country when you see a government calling the Parliament to session to lay in the Parliament a bill to give Tobago internal self-government in the height of an election.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - There are no issues more core to the integrity of the unitary state of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago than the terms of association between the islands of this republic. It is therefore a great pity that the Government has chosen the hectic and pugilistic period of an election campaign for the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) to take legislation to Parliament that proposes to alter this fundamental relationship.

HAMILTON, Bermuda, CMC - Governor George Fergusson has reappointed three existing independent senators to complete the 11-member Upper House team.
Carol Ann Bassett, who was Senate President in the last parliament,  will be again joined by Joan Dillas-Wright, who was Vice-President and James Jardine.
They will join the One Bermuda Alliance (OBA) Government team of Michael Fahy, Nalton Brangman, Alexis Swan, Jeff Baron and Lynne Woolridge.