ST. JOHN’S, Antigua - The United States of America has long been regarded as the land of milk and honey, by the lesser-off inhabitants of the Caribbean and of Latin America. Many people of these countries have tried every trick available to them to enter and remain in this land. Some have been successful in gaining entry and others have not met with any success. Of those who have been successful in their quest the odds have been in the favour of some, to better their economic condition, for others, the odds have been most unfavourable.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti /PRNewswire/ -- Haiti is one of the safest destinations; not just in the Caribbean, but throughout all the Americas. This is the general finding of recent studies on crime in the region which show that Haiti has the lowest rate of violent deaths in comparison to previous years. In 2012, according to the UNODC, Haiti's violent death rate of 6.9 out of every hundred thousand Haitians is among the lowest rates in the Americas, and the same as Long Beach, California.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - My old friend Jean Holder, chairman of LIAT, recently presented to the airline's major shareholder prime ministers a paper titled "Towards a sustainable regional air transportation service".

ST JOHN’S, Antigua – A local Marine Biologist has joined calls for the stoppage of a shipment of toxic waste through Caribbean waters.
Last week CARICOM chairman, St Lucia’s Prime Minister Dr Kenny Anthony, highlighted as a grave concern the passage of high level waste through the Caribbean Sea.
Barbuda based marine biologist John Mussington says any mishap involving the shipment could spell BIG trouble for the countries’ tourism industry.

KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, CMC – Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves wants Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders to seriously address the regional airline industry when they meet later this year. CARICOM leaders will meet in Haiti for their inter-sessional summit in February and Gonsalves said that apart from cooperation with other airlines, there is need to address matters such as energy costs, fuel and “we need to address the subsidy which CAL (Caribbean Airlines) is getting and competing with LIAT in the same space, the same single economic space.

CARACAS - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is still suffering a "severe" respiratory infection that has hindered his breathing as he struggles to recover from cancer surgery in Cuba, the government said on Thursday. The 58-year-old socialist leader has not been seen in public nor heard from in more than three weeks. Officials say he is in delicate condition after his fourth operation in just 18 months for an undisclosed form of cancer in his pelvic area.

British Prime Minister David Cameron has rejected a call by Argentina's president for Britain to give control of the Falkland Islands to Argentina. Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner wrote an open letter to the British leader accusing his country of colonialism. More than 30 years have passed since Britain and Argentina fought a 10-week war over the Falkland Islands, a British overseas territory in the southwest Atlantic Ocean, but their dispute continues.

CARACAS, (Reuters) – Vice President Nicolas Maduro returned to Venezuela yesterday after visiting Hugo Chavez in hospital in Cuba, but gave no new details on the cancer-stricken president as rumors grow about his condition.
Flanked by senior government figures including Diosdado Cabello, the head of the National Assembly, Maduro toured a coffee production plant in Caracas – the type of visit that the president made frequently before he fell ill.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - Trinidad and Tobago's fifth President will be elected on February 15 and some of the top candidates in the race, according to sources, are House Speaker Wade Mark, former head of British Petroleum (BPTT) Robert Riley and political analyst Dr Hamid Ghany.

NASSAU, Bahamas — THE government of the Bahamas says it has prepared a two-part referendum that could legalise certain forms of gambling on the islands. National Security Minister Bernard Nottage says voters will be asked whether they support creation of a national lottery and the regulation and taxation of now underground gambling centres. He said in a speech late Wednesday that the referendum will be held on January 28.