BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - THE death of Hugo Chavez, who led Venezuela for the last 14 years, has brought to an end a type of politics that many would not have associated with a region on the doorsteps of the USA, were the global environment similar to what existed 40 or even 30 years ago.
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BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president Julian Hunte is unlikely to get the support of the Windward Islands Cricket Board of Control he once headed in elections later this month.
In a peculiar set of circumstances for the March 27 poll in Barbados, the Windwards seconded Jamaican Dave Cameron for president and Dominican Emmanuel Nanthan for vice-president.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - Prof John Arnott Spence, who died on Wednesday night at 83, will be remembered for his sterling service to T&T and the region as a scientist, academician and spokesman for agriculture. As a UWI lecturer, public servant and independent senator, even in his retirement years his vast knowledge added value and inspired positive developments, not only in his area of expertise—agriculture—but in many other matters of national importance.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Former academic and legislator, Professor John Spence has died. He was 83.
Relatives said that he died of a heart attack late Wednesday.
Spence was a Professor of Botany and also Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture at the St. Augustine campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) and served as an Independent Senator from 1987 to 2000. He was also awarded the Chaconia Medal Gold in 1980.
KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC - The United States-based rating agency, Moody’s Investor Services has cut Jamaica's sovereign foreign currency credit rating to Caa3 from B3, citing the recent domestic debt exchange as a distressed event that still leaves the country with a high debt burden. Last month, Jamaica launched a National Debt Exchange (NDX) to alleviate the financing pressures of its sizeable debt load.
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - Both houses of the Barbados Parliament have been constituted and the Throne Speech has been delivered as the new administration sits down to begin its business in what is going to be an interesting period of our parliamentary life. One aspect of being a responsible paper is that we function as a paper of record; for in future generations researchers and others will no doubt draw upon our pages to ascertain what happened in our times and to read about our views and attitudes to those events which occurred at that time.
ST JOHN’S, Antigua – A regional expert on earthquakes said residents should not fear the natural happening, but rather, prepare for its inevitable arrival.
Following the revelation that two minor earthquakes hit near to Antigua & Barbuda in the last two days, Director of the Seismic Research Centre at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad, Dr Joan Latchman, said residents should not be alarmed because Antigua & Barbuda has always exhibited a “high level” of activity.
ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Pungent fumes drifting over Antigua from Montserrat’s volcano sparked alarm yesterday, prompting disaster chiefs to issue a health alert. The National Office of Disaster Services (NODS) told OBSERVER media that staff had received a number of calls from concerned members of the public complaining about a stench of sulphur. Director Philmore Mullin said a change in wind had blown gases from the Soufriere Hills volcano over to the island.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar will be in Venezuela today to attend the funeral of president Hugo Chavez. Persad-Bissessar left Trinidad at 4.30 p.m. yesterday for Caracas and is scheduled to return home later today. Chavez's funeral is scheduled to take place at 10 a.m. today.
KINGSTON, Jamaica - Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller is heading a high-level team of Jamaicans who will travel to Caracas, Venezuela, today to attend the funeral for that nation's late president, Hugo Chávez. Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell and Foreign Affairs Minister A.J. Nicholson are accompanying the prime minister.