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BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - The United States should seriously reconsider its diplomatic stand-off with Venezuela, now extended to its reservations over the recent presidential poll that resulted in a very close victory – less than two per cent – for Nicolas Maduro, successor to the late president Hugo Chavez.

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC - Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries say they are looking forward to “continued goodwill, friendship and cooperation” that has characterised their relationship with Venezuela following the electoral victory of Nicolás Maduro. Maduro, who had been chosen by the late Venezuelan Leader Hugo Chavez, was sworn into office over the weekend following his victory at the polls earlier this month. The ceremony was attended by several Caribbean leaders.

ST. JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – The Antigua and Barbuda government will seek funding from the World Bank to ensure the implementation of an “Open Data” project that would make available to the public non-sensitive, non-personal data which it collects in the course of its operations.
Telecommunications, Science and Technology Minister Dr. Edmond Mansoor said the island had been chosen as the pilot country for the assessment of the project given its leadership role in information communication and technology (ICT) in the region.

KINGSTON, Jamaica - RENOWNED Jamaican scientist Dr. Henry Lowe and his cancer research team received a big boost over the last several weeks as one of their peer-reviewed research papers on the anti-cancer properties of the Jamaican Ball Moss has generated great interest in the international scientific community.

ROSEAU, Dominica, CMC – The 27th annual congress of the Caribbean Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (CARAIFA) began here on Monday with Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit urging regional financial advisors to develop a health insurance scheme for the Caribbean. Skerrit told the more than 130 delegates from 13 Caribbean countries that the cost of medical services in the region had become very prohibitive to many families. He said people with health insurances were also expressing difficulties.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite said Monday the establishment of a drug treatment court will not solve Barbados’ drug problems, but will assist the country in attacking the source. Brathwaite, who is also Minister of Home Affairs, said the court is necessary to understand why a significant number of young men who are incarcerated turn to alcohol or marijuana.

ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, CMC - Grenada Monday became the second Caribbean country to receive an automated fingerprinting identification system (AFIS) from the United States as part of the efforts to assist in crime solving in the region. “Together all these islands will be able to work to help each other solve crime,” said US Ambassador to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean Larry Palmer. “The AFIS will enhance border security for the individual islands,” he said, noting that it will make the searching of data base with fingerprints much easier and faster.

For the first time since four back-to-back storms and hurricanes battered Haiti five years ago, the U.N.’s lead feeding program and other agencies don’t have enough food to stockpile in strategic areas before a major storm hits. In some of the most remote corners of the country, people are dying needlessly of cholera because treatment centers have been abandoned, aid groups have disappeared and community health aides tasked with helping prevent the deadly waterborne-disease haven’t been paid in months.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - Disbelief, hurt, disappointment and sadness gave way to determination yesterday as hundreds of people from the constituency of Chaguanas West came together to form a lobby group called “Bring Jack Back.” Led by chairman of the La Paille/Caroni party group, Indal Singh, supporters vowed to shake up the People’s Partnership Government if Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar did not reinstate Chaguanas West Jack Warner as chairman of the UNC and Minister of National Security.

balance PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - APRIL 21, 2013 counted as the first day in the rest of the life of the People’s Partnership, born exactly three years before in Fyzabad. Headlines yesterday reported the departure of Jack Warner, maybe the most fearsome of the political heavyweights in the Partnership that became the Government.