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BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, CMC – Opposition Leader Mark Brantley Tuesday said he has written Governor General Sir Edmund Lawrence indicating that opposition legislators will vote in support of a motion of no confidence against Prime Minister Dr. Denzil Douglas.

ST. JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says Antigua and Barbuda has made “significant progress” towards meeting the goals of its fiscal consolidation programme and reduce debt and that it expects the economic recovery to continue in 2013. An IMF mission headed by Geoffrey Bannister has ended a visit to the island to carry out a review of the multi-million dollar Stand By Agreement, St. John’s has with the Washington based financial institution.

ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Despite Antigua & Barbuda still owing 63 per cent of its contribution to the CARICOM Development Fund (CDF), the funding agency is still in the process of developing a programme for the nation.
“Antigua & Barbuda is not yet in receipt of any country assistance programme from the CDF and that is something that we are hoping to address in this meeting, because Antigua & Barbuda has not paid up its full contribution as yet,” Ambassador Lorne McDonnough said in an interview with OBSERVER media at yesterday’s sensitisation meeting.

KINGSTON, Jamaica - JAMAICA'S Attorney General's Office yesterday indicated that it intends to call four witnesses to the stand as the Government began to present its case in the first sitting of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) in Jamaica to hear the case against the Barbadian Government by Shanique Myrie.
The court, which is being adjudicated by a panel of seven judges, is being held at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston and is hearing arguments from Myrie that her human rights were violated after she was subjected to two dehumanising cavity searches.

KINGSTON – Lawyers representing the Jamaica government yesterday served notice at the Shanique Myrie trial that they would present evidence to show that Barbados has engaged in a pattern of discrimination against visiting Jamaicans.
The evidence, according to lead attorney Kathy-Ann Brown, includes statistics compiled over the last five years and first-hand accounts from several people who said they were mistreated by Immigration officers.

KINGSTON, Jamaica - Late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez predicted, during a visit to Jamaica eight years ago, that the PetroCaribe arrangement would save participating countries billions of dollars from crude oil purchases.
Following Chávez's passing yesterday, Dr Wesley Hughes, the newly appointed chief executive officer of the PetroCaribe Development Fund, acknowledged that Jamaica has benefited significantly from the arrangement.

KINGSTON, Jamaica - FOREIGN AFFAIRS and Foreign Trade Minister Senator A.J. Nicholson yesterday said that if the late Hugo Chávez's United Socialist Party wins in another national election "we would dare to hope that the PetroCaribe and other projects would continue." In an interview on Radio Jamaica yesterday, Nicholson sought to allay fears regarding the PetroCaribe deal, noting that Venezuelan Vice-President Nicholas Maduro had made a promise "not so long ago" that the entire agreement would be extended. He noted that there were many other spin-off projects from the agreement.

ROSEAU, Dominica, CMC – The Dominica government Tuesday night declared a national state of mourning in honour of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez who died earlier following a long battle with cancer.
In an emotional address to the nation, Prime Minster Roosevelt Skerrit, who described Chavez as a personal friend “who held my hand in the brightest and darkest hours of my tenure and indeed as the prime minister, said that all flags will be flown at half mast from Wednesday until the morning after his burial.

CASTRIES, St. Lucia, CMC – Caribbean Community leaders were Wednesday paying tribute to Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez who died Tuesday after a prolonged battle with cancer.
St. Lucia’s Prime Minister Dr. Kenny Anthony said that the significance of Chavez's death "looms very large" for several Caribbean states especially those that shared a close working relationship with his administration.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC- Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias, who for more than 14 years, used his influence, oil and cash to fashion closer relationship among countries in the Caribbean died Wednesday, less than a month after he returned to Caracas from Cuba where he had been receiving treatment for cancer.
His death was announced by Vice President Nicholas Maduro in a brief television broadcast.
A tearful Maduro said Chavez had died at 16_25 (local time) "after battling a tough illness for nearly two years".