Trinidad and Tobago

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - THE West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) is currently immersed in arrangements for its annual general meeting on March 27 at a time when the governing body of this region’s most popular game continues to reveal serious leadership weaknesses, and an alarming consistency for ignoring well-intentioned “time-for-change” recommendations.
Perhaps some of the best known major recommendations for structural changes, creative policies and programmes are located in the October 2007 “Report on Governance of West Indies Cricket”.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Grenada’s Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell has held informal talks with the chairman of the Trinidad-based Caribbean Airlines (CAL) Rabindra Moonan on the role the airline could play on deepening relations between the two Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries.
A statement issued here Tuesday said that Mitchell, whose New National Party (NNP) won the February 19 general elections, has “hinted” that CAL “may be granted flag carrier status by his government in the not too distant future”.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - West Indies fast-bowling legend Andy Roberts has criticised regional territorial boards for refusing to support former captain Clive Lloyd's bid to be president of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB).
Lloyd was nominated by the Guyana Cricket Board but a deadline ran out before regional cricket boards could second the nomination as stipulated by WICB election rules.
Roberts, who has served on various WICB committees, said Lloyd would have been the ideal person for the position, given his history and track record of leadership.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Doctors at the Mount Hope Maternity Hospital Monday delivered six babies as a 28 year-old woman became the first person to have sextuplets in the Caribbean.
The three boys and three girls were delivered by caesarean section and lead obstetrician Dr. Bharat Bassaw said the births had to be brought forward as the health of the mother was deteriorating.
“At this point the mother is very stable ...the babies of course are still very critical and the birth weights range from one pound nine ounces to just under three pounds.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – An earthquake with a magnitude of 3.8 rattled parts of Trinidad on Monday but there were no reports of damage or injuries. The St. Augustine-based Seismic Research Centre of the Universality of the West Indies (UWI) said that the quake occurred at 9.23 am (local time) on the Paria Peninsular west of Trinidad. It said the event was located at 10.66 degrees north and 62.07 degrees west and that it was felt in the capital, Port of Spain and the western Diego Martin area.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC - The Caribbean media fraternity is mourning the passing of veteran Caribbean journalist, Ainsley Sahai, who died on Saturday from an apparent heart attack. The Trinidad-born Caribbean journalist who made Barbados his home, worked with several organisations including the Caribbean News Agency (CANA) and played a role in the Caribbean Publishing and Broadcasting Association. Several journalists benefited from the many training sessions conducted by him across the region.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - It appears that Tillman Thomas will remain leader of Grenada’s National Democratic Congress (NDC)—at least until a general membership meeting of the party. The NDC, which had been in government since July 2008, suffered a humiliating 15-0 defeat by the New National Party (NNP) at general elections on February 19. But NDC deputy chairman, Ken Joseph, said that Thomas’s leadership has not been an issue in post-election discussions held by the party’s executive.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC - The Association of Caribbean Media Workers (ACM) has written Caribbean Community (Caricom) Secretary-General, Irwin La Rocque, in an attempt to discourage Caribbean participation in a March meeting in Ecuador to discuss the future of the Inter-American human rights system.
The ACM says “it is our view that this meeting of signatories, which is not based on a conventional legal standard, is inconsistent with the process that has been developing for more than two years within the Organization of American States (OAS).”

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - The newly-installed government of Grenada wants speedy agreement on lingering joint marine resources issues with T&T in order to facilitate exploration of energy resources along the countries’ adjoining borders. In an interview with T&T Guardian, economic adviser to the government of Grenada, Dr Patrick Antoine, said the Keith Mitchell administration plans to “immediately push for the finalisation of the framework agreement on oil and gas” between the two countries.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – The Trinidad and Tobago government has confirmed that the construction of a multi-billion dollar methanol complex involving a Saudi Arabian company has been scrapped. Energy Minister Kevin Ramnarine confirmed international media report that the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) had decided not to continue with negotiations for the planned US$5.3 billion complex after the "relevant parties did not reach a deal on the fundamental conditions for this project”.