KINGSTON, Jamaica, Observer - PRIME Minister Portia Simpson Miller and Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips will update the nation on the status of negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in a joint broadcast tonight. They are also expected to outline Jamaica's revised economic programme and reform measures. The joint broadcast comes in the wake of the visit last Tuesday of the IMF staff mission to Jamaica when further talks were held in an effort to conclude a new agreement between the parties.
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(Jamaica Observer) A senior security official who worked in the US Embassy in Kingston is expected to be charged soon for his alleged role in helping the manager of a popular Jamaican entertainer obtain a US visa to leave the island in the face of legal troubles, according to highly placed law enforcement sources.
ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, CMC – Former foreign affairs minister Karl Hood has publicly endorsed the main opposition New National Party (NNP) as Grenadians prepare to elect a new government on February 19.
Hood, who resigned from the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) government of Prime Minister Tillman Thomas, last year, was the surprise guest speaker at a rally of the NNP here on Sunday.
SCARBOROUGH, Tobago, CMC – Five people were killed in a two car smash up along the Claude Noel Highway during the early hours of Sunday morning, police said.
They have identified those killed as Alloy Duke, Fernando Stewart, Christian Stewart, Anesha Hamilton and Stephen Winchester, but gave no further details on the accident which has marred the 2013 Carnival celebrations on the sister isle.
They said investigations were continuing.
KINGSTOWN, St Vincent — Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves says he wants to engage in discussions, not a fight, with Trinidad and Tobago over the fuel subsidy Port-of-Spain provides to its national carrier, Caribbean Airlines (CAL). Gonsalves said he has now received a legal opinion on the matter and is now seeking the talks with the Kamla Persad-Bissessar-led coalition People’s Partnership administration. Gonsalves contends that the fuel subsidy given to CAL contravenes the treaty governing the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to which both countries belong.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Express- PRESIDENT OF the Caribbean Development (CDB) Dr Warren Smith yesterday warned member countries of the regional institution to avoid facing their own "fiscal cliff"-as happened to the United States-by moving vigorously to reduce their "mounting" debt stock. At least seven borrowing countries currently confront this economic challenge.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – An earthquake with a magnitude of 4.9 and depth of 110 km rattled sections of Trinidad early Sunday morning. It’s reported that the tremor was also felt in Grenada. The Trinidad-based Seismic Research Centre at the University of the West Indies (UWI) said the quake occurred at 1_27 (local time) . It said the quake occurred north of the Paria Peninsula in Trinidad.
CASTRIES, Saint Lucia, CMC-The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Secretariat will launch a twelve-part television series on climate change on Wednesday as part of the awareness component of a USAID-funded climate change project.
(Jamaica Observer) Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart yesterday urged Jamaicans to stop sitting around waiting for an International Monetary Fund (IMF) deal and to get on with the job of moving Jamaica forward through export earning. “We are all sitting around waiting for an IMF deal to draw down on funds from various sources. All that represents is borrowing, borrowing, and more borrowing,” the business mogul said.
(Trinidad Guardian) A huge, rarely-seen 100-mile long internal wave has been spotted near the north coast of Trinidad. A photo released two days ago by the International Space Station (ISS) shows the presence of the natural phenomenon which has largely gone undetected in T&T.
An article from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Earth Observatory has defined “internal waves” as “the surface manifestation of slow waves that move tens of metres beneath the sea surface.”