HAVANA (Reuters) – Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro said Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is getting “much better” as he recovers from cancer surgery almost two months ago in Havana, Communist Party newspaper Granma reported yesterday. Castro, 86, spoke to reporters as he voted on Sunday in Cuba’s parliamentary elections_ in one of his increasingly rare public appearances. He said he gets daily reports on the condition of Chavez, who is Cuba’s top socialist ally and benefactor. “He is much better, recovering.
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(Jamaica Observer) - Former Assistant Commissioner of Police detective Les Green has painted a hellish picture of his eight-year tour of duty in Jamaica with a job he said was a “tremendous strain”. In a story in yesterday’s edition of British newspaper the Mirror, Green told of a place where life is cheap, guns rule and drugs are rife. He also spoke of a level of violence that took some getting used to, even though he had a background investigating shootings in London’s Jamaican community as part of Scotland Yard’s Operation Trident team.
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Advocate - NICHE marketing and branding are opportunities Barbados should pursue to grow more of its exports. This suggestion has come from Matthew Wilson who is a Councillor at the World Trade Organisation in Geneva. He believes that every opportunity must be pursued more to promote more of Barbados’ goods to the Caribbean market.
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Advocate – “The things affecting Barbados are not as a result of any international environment, but the result of very poor quality leadership and governance.” This charge was delivered last evening by Clyde Mascoll of the Barbados Labour Party at their mass meeting. Mascoll said, “Barbados is in trouble as result of domestic policy.”
VIENNA, CMC – The Vienna-based International Press Institute (IPI) Monday said that defamation laws remain widespread across the Caribbean that could even lead to imprisonment. IPI said that it carried out a comprehensive legal review of the situation in the region and that “every independent state considered geographically or culturally part of the Caribbean maintains some form of criminal defamation that could result in imprisonment”.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – The coalition People’s Partnership government Monday named High Court judge Anthony T. Carmona as its nominee for the head of state to replace outgoing President George Maxwell Richards. Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar in an address to the nation described 59-year-old Justice Carmona as an internationally respected member of the judiciary and had been recently elected as a judge of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague.
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, CMC – Pressure continued to mount on the Denzil Douglas administration to debate in parliament the opposition inspired motion of no confidence in his administration. The St. Kitts Christian Council and the St. Kitts Evangelical Association Monday joined the island’s private sector in calling on the prime minister to ensure that the motion, which has been filed nearly two months ago, is debated as soon as possible.
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, CMC – Taiwan has praised its long standing relationship with St. Kitts-Nevis and is looking forward to helping the twin island federation further develop through various projects, Foreign Minister David Yung-la-Lin has said. “Over the past 30 years, we have witnessed tremendous progress in our bilateral relations especially with all the cooperation projects which have been undertaken by the two governments and which have already been very successful in promoting the ties of friendship and co-operation between the two countries,” Lin said at a dinner in his honour.
Kingston, Jamaica, CMC - Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller is warning leaders in the country from making statements that may have international repercussions. She made particular reference to a recent criticism by Opposition Leader Andrew Holness in relation to the ongoing talks between the government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over a new Stand By Agreement for the country. “Anything we say in Jamaica is captured globally. What kind of message do we want to send as leaders to the international community?” she said.
ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, CMC –The ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) seeking a second consecutive term in office, has accused the former New National Party (NNP) government of running up a high public debt and preventing the Tillman Thomas administration from carrying out its plans and promises made to the electorate in 2008. Sport Minister Patrick Simmons, speaking at an NDC political rally said that the NDC government has repaid more than EC$350 million (One EC dollar = US$0.37 cents) in debt inherited from the Keith Mitchell led administration.