PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti, CMC – Haiti’s former dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier appeared in court for the first time on Thursday to face charges for corruption and serious human rights violations during his 15-year rule.
Fighting efforts to be placed on trial, Duvalier, 61, failed to show up in court on three previous occasions but the judge responded to his no-show by issuing a warrant ordering prosecutors to ensure his presence in court even if it had to be done under police escort
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CASTRIES, St.Lucia, CMC-Prime Minister Kenny Anthony says the negotiations between Government and Public Sector Unions have reached an impasse and has recommended that the issue be sent to arbitration.
In an address to the nation on Wednesday Anthony said the government is unable to improve on the 4% offered to the Trade Union Federation which is seeking an increase of 6 or 9.5% with conditions. As a result Dr. Anthony said the government’s option is either wage restraint or retrenchment.
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, CMC – Prime Minister Dr. Denzil Douglas has announced a minor re-shuffle of his Cabinet following a High Court ruling on Thursday that the appointment of Jason Hamilton as the Attorney General and as a fourth Senator in the National Assembly was declared null and void.
In a radio and television broadcast on Thursday night, Dr. Douglas said that Education and Information, Agriculture, Marine Resources and Cooperatives Nigel Carty had resigned to facilitate the re-appointment of Hamilton, the youngest ever attorney general here, back into his post.
Georgetown, Guyana– CMC - Seven months after the uprising in the mining town of Linden, Guyana which led to the deaths of three protestors, Lensley Wolfe, Chairman of the Linden Commission of Inquiry, on Thursday handed over the report of the Commission to President Donald Ramotar.
"It was indeed a most grueling experience but the focus of all the commissioners was on ensuring that justice is done and we, all of us, are satisfied that justice has been done," Wolfe said.
After a devastating earthquake hit Haiti in 2010, governments and foundations from around the world pledged more than $9 billion to help get the country back on its feet. Only a fraction of the money ever made it. And Haiti's President Michel Martelly says the funds aren't "showing results." Roughly 350,000 people still live in camps. Many others simply moved back to the same shoddily built structures that proved so deadly during the disaster.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Guardian - Government is embarking on two major maritime projects as a cost of US$3 billion. This is just one of the several initiatives aimed at creating an investment climate for trade to take place. Trade Minister Vasant Bharath announced when he addressed a conference on Improving the Ease of Doing Business in T&T at the Hyatt Regency in Port-of-Spain. He said his ministry is on an aggressive path of putting T&T on the world stage and the two projects are being funded by two local private sector companies with an international presence.
GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Chronicle - AGRICULTURE Minister Dr. Leslie Ramsammy has indicated that a number of activities have been finalized regarding the future of the coconut industry following a stakeholders’ conference held in the Boardroom of the Ministry of Agriculture last month.
WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – Decorated Vietnam veteran Chuck Hagel was sworn in as U.S. defense secretary yesterday after a bruising Senate confirmation battle, promising to renew old U.S. alliances and forge new ones without attempting to “dictate” to the world. Addressing Pentagon employees shortly after a small, closed-door swearing-in ceremony, Hagel spoke optimistically, if vaguely, about global challenges ahead and the importance of American leadership abroad. “We can’t dictate to the world. But we must engage the world.
(Trinidad Express) Though lacking a GPS system, the 767 aircraft used by Caribbean Airlines to fly to London/Gatwick are suitable because they fulfilled the requirement of having a flight route which ensures the aircraft is no more than 120 minutes away from a suitable airport, Finance Minister Larry Howai stated.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – A pastor with the Seventh Day Adventist Church is claiming that Latin American assassins are operating in Trinidad and Tobago and called for an all out war on crime. “We have Latin American assassins in this country. We have Colombians in this society, hired by the godfathers who have the art of slicing heads and legs, training secondary school students to do the same thing in this society,” Pastor Clive Dottin said at the funeral for police sergeant Hayden Manwaring, who was shot and killed by bandits last week.