GEORGETOWN, Guyana - According to a recent international study conducted by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), teachers are giving girls higher marks than boys in school-based assessments, not simply because they are brighter but because they are being rewarded for such attributes as attentiveness, eagerness and organisational skills. The study also suggests that socio-economically advantaged students fare better than their less fortunate peers.
Member
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - How beneficial or not to the Caribbean is the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the 27-nation European Union (EU) as a bloc and the 15 small Caribbean members of CARIFORUM individually?
KINGSTON, Jamaica - FINANCE officials from 13 Caribbean island nations and territories met yesterday in Antigua to brainstorm about ways of strengthening anti-money-laundering efforts and asset forfeiture. It's an uphill battle in the Caribbean, which UN experts consider a top destination for the laundering of cocaine income. Last year, eight Caribbean countries or territories were designated by the US as jurisdictions of "primary concern" for money laundering.
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - “The private sector must be the driver of the economy!” This is the expressed view of His Excellency, the Hon. Robert Morris, CHB, Barbados’ Ambassador to CARICOM, as he delivered the featured address at the Combermere School’s Annual Speech Day and Prize-giving Ceremony. He noted that one of the problems he had detected in CARICOM is that it is so “political” and focused on the state, that there is not enough room for the private sector.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) -- George Corvington, a prominent Haitian historian best known for his exhaustive study of the Caribbean nation's capital of Port-au-Prince, died Wednesday at age 88, a close friend said. Fellow historian and longtime friend Georges Michel said that Corvington died peacefully in his sleep at his home in the capital he wrote so much about. Michel said Covington had recently spent a few weeks in the hospital and the cause of death was heart failure. "He's a giant that has fallen," said Michel, who is also a physician.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - The second meeting of the Cariforum/EU Parliamentary Committee sought to facilitate easier trade and travel between the Caribbean and European Union (EU) states.
While the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) was the main focus of yesterday's session, Trade Minister Vasant Bharath said they were also able to discuss several outstanding issues.
"One of them was the ability to travel in and out, and the fact that it was difficult at times with the use of the Schengen visa to have access to the European market," Bharath said.
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - Given the parlous state of regional economies, there could scarcely be disagreement that if any of our traditional officious bystanders, the little green man from Mars, the fly on the wall or the politically observant “blind man on a trotting horse” were to observe our current situation, he would offer a view that “it cannot be business as usual”. Indeed, this identical phrase has become a modern cliché, applying at different times to our courts, our public service, our policymaking, our university and even the regional cricket team.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - In the face of solid opposition from the Independent senators against the measure seeking to give powers of arrest to soldiers, Government backed down yesterday. Government, which needed the support at least four Independent senators, was hoping to conclude and pass the Defence and Police Complaints Authority Amendment Bill, 2013 yesterday. Debate began in the Senate at Tower D, International Waterfront Centre, Port of Spain, on Tuesday. The bill requires a three-fifths majority, the equivalent of 19 votes, of which Government has 15 votes.
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - Whether or not the call for a special court for tourism-related crimes comes into being, Barbados needs to be safer – for the half-million tourists who visit here annually and, equally, for our citizens.
This fair land is not immune to the dramatic increase of crime, mainly robbery-based and drug-related, that has been sweeping the Caribbean in the last decade; but keeping these shores as safe as possible must be paramount, particularly in the current challenging economic times when every tourism dollar and every ounce of positive publicity counts.
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, CMC – St. Kitts-Nevis is exploring the possibility of establishing an embassy in Cuba next year as the Federation seeks to improve its diplomatic relations with Havana, Prime Minister Dr. Denzil Douglas has said.
Dr. Douglas gave the commitment during a courtesy call by Hugo Ruiz Cabrera, who assumed the post of Chargé d’affaires ad interim, following the departure of Cuba’s ambassador Jorge D. Payret Zubiaur.