News

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - Trinidad and Tobago has now been challenged to entertain the prospect of a Jack Warner scenario that is still being scripted. Such is the outcome, first, of the unfolding of increasingly devastating revelations and events and, then, of his own calculating responses.

BELMOPAN, Belize, CMC – Australia will use its expertise in guiding the Caribbean adapt to climate change and manage its coral reefs.
Coral reefs provide benefits to the Caribbean valued at over four billion annually. The reefs of the Caribbean are of great importance in providing shoreline protection, habitat for healthy fisheries and an essential attraction for the tourism sector, the Belize Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC).

ST JOHN’S, Antigua – After threats of sanctions and of ignoring United States copyright laws just a few months prior, Minister of Finance Harold Lovell is sounding the most optimistic he has in recent times that a settlement with the US over the online gaming issue will be reached. Lovell, in an interview with OBSERVER media, said negotiations with the US have lead to some “interesting options” being on the table. “There is still some distance between our position and their position and we are satisfied that over the last three weeks we have seen the gap narrowing gradually,” he said.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - Confidence is low among Caribbean businesses, with only the largest companies reporting signs of an upward swing in prospects for the future, according new research. The Global Economic Conditions Survey from ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) and the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA), which gauges the views of finance professionals across the world, revealed that the Caribbean’s business community had little to feel good about in first quarter of 2013.

ST. JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – A delegation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) arrives here on Monday to review the operations of the multi-million dollar Stand By Agreement (SBA) the financial institution has with Antigua and Barbuda. A government statement said that the review, which will end on May 3, is the final under the 36-month SBA. The IMF team will meet with private and public sector officials during the weeklong visit. In 2010, Antigua and Barbuda was approved for the 36-month SBA of US$118 million, but that figure was downgraded to US$107 million

Remittances sent to Latin America and the Caribbean grew less than 1 percent in 2012 but showed larger increases in countries more dependent on money sent home by migrants living in the United States, according to an Inter-American Development Bank study released Monday. Last year, the region received $61.3 billion in remittances — the money sent by migrants to sustain family and friends in their homelands. That’s $300 million, or 0.6 percent, more than in 2011. The tally doesn’t include countries, such as Cuba, which aren’t IDB members

WASHINGTON, CMC – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says the Caribbean and other low-income countries are among the fastest-growing economies in the world, but warn that many remain vulnerable to shocks and spillovers from advanced and emerging markets.
“Low-income countries have worked to develop institutional capacity and build fiscal buffers that they were able to use during the crisis, and now, all the hard work has paid off,” said IMF Deputy Managing Director Min Zhu told an IMF seminar.

America GEORGETOWN, Guyana - With Nicolás Maduro’s narrow victory in Venezuela’s presidential election still being contested by the Venezuelan opposition, even though he has already been sworn in as president, there is a growing feeling that, with a majority of only 50.7 per cent of the popular vote, the self-styled ‘son’ and heir of Hugo Chávez may well be in for a rough ride.

LONDON, CMC – The London-based human rights watchdog, Amnesty International, has urged United States authorities to urgently end indefinite detention at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, following reports that more than half the detainees are now on hunger strike.
According to Amnesty International, it has been confirmed that 84 of the 166 detainees held at the US naval base are on hunger strike. The detainees began their protest in early February to protest against what they said were abusive cell searches and deteriorating conditions.

KINGSTON, Jamaica - Chris Gayle's astonishing 175 not out in the IPL is still being widely talked about. The innings itself is astonishing enough_ 175 from 66 balls with 17 sixes is unheard of, and the admission by Chris that he "slowed down" in the middle is mind-boggling.
We celebrate the innings and, indeed, the man now, but the real significance of what Chris Gayle and his flashing blade might come to mean for cricket down the road might be lost on most of us.