PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- A new report on American aid to Haiti in the wake of that country's devastating earthquake finds much of the money went to U.S.-based companies and organizations. The Center for Economic and Policy Research analyzed the $1.15 billion pledged after the January 2010 quake and found that the "vast majority" of the money it could follow went straight to U.S. companies or organizations, more than half in the Washington area alone. Just 1 percent went directly to Haitian companies.
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PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - Unbroken education for Haitian children is one of the success stories that has emerged in the aftermath of the earthquake which rocked Port-au-Prince on January 10, 2010. The children were displaced, and to some extent they still are not studying and learning in comfortable environments. Crushing poverty, however, continues to be the proverbial albatross around their necks. The crunch of milky white stones is a constant reminder of the fateful day which claimed the lives of about 300,000 people.
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - THE recent announcement by European Union officials of an investment package for the Caribbean is good news all around.
Not only is the proposal a welcome piece of information by recipient countries, which are witnessing a slowdown in capital inflows, but the announcement of the Caribbean Investment Facility (CIF) also conveys the position that there remains support within the European Union for the Caribbean contrary to views in some quarters that Europe is showing a lack of interest in its former colonies in the region.
KINGSTON, Jamaica - IT'S now more than six weeks since it became public knowledge for the governments and people of our Caribbean Community that the secretary general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon, had conveyed the very shocking decision to the president of Haiti, Michel Martelly, of the world body's rejection of compensation claims affecting some 5,000 Haitian cholera victims.
KINGSTON, Jamaica- IN 1978 Mr Lee Iacocca joined Chrysler as president and chief operating officer for the princely salary of US$1 a year.
At the time, Mr Iacocca was by no means a poor man, having done well for himself at Ford Motor Company from which he was fired by Mr Henry Ford II. But Mr Iacocca, in an effort to get United Auto Workers members at Chrysler to accept cuts to their salaries and benefits, led by example with his own salary.
In the Dominican Republic, discounts on Venezuelan oil imports keep the lights on. In Jamaica, they are helping a limping economy stay afloat, and in Haiti, a young and inexperienced leadership is using them to achieve quick results.
But despite financial benefits of the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez’s Petrocaribe oil agreement with cash-strapped Caribbean countries, analysts and critics say inadequate oversight has contributed to a lack of transparency in many of the 17 beneficiary nations.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Apr 5, CMC – Trinidadian author and educator, Dr Kris Rampersad is one of six international experts who will serve on the consultative body of the international Intern Governmental Committee on safeguarding intangible cultural heritage of the United Nations Education, Science and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
The decision to appoint the experts was made at last December’s meeting of the InterGovernmental Committee in France and Rampersad was elected as Vice-Chair during the committee’s first meeting this week.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - A release from the White House in Washington and the US Department of State to the Government of T&T recognising the valuable assistance of the Government and the Attorney General in effecting the extradition of Doreen Alexander has laid to rest speculation there is some kind of diplomatic rift between the US and T&T, Attorney General Anand Ramlogan said yesterday.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - Uncle Sam is still silent. Attorney General Anand Ramlogan admitted yesterday that the United States Government had not yet responded to this Government’s request for information on reports of a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) probe in which Daryan Warner, son of National Security Minister Jack Warner, is a cooperating witness. Ramlogan was responding to questions on the matter at the post-Cabinet news conference at the Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair.
ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Cabinet has decided to accord former member of parliament and attorney Vere Bird Jr an official funeral.
The information regarding the decision was conveyed to the media via press statement last evening.
Bird Jr, son of the nation’s founding father Sir Vere Cornwall Bird, and brother of former prime Minister Lester Bird, died on March 31 at the age of 76. He was diagnosed with liver cancer mere days before he died of heart failure, relatives said earlier.