Antigua and Barbuda

St. John’s Antigua- Former CEO of LIAT Mark Darby has accepted US $15,000 for alleged wrongful dismissal from the carrier three years ago after originally seeking almost a quarter million US dollars. In person, he agreed to the settlement during a three-and-a-half-hour mediation session before Kelvin John in the High Court on February 6. Highly placed sources told Observer media that the former airline executive was seeking a total payment of US$220,000, including US$165,000 for 11 months of lost earnings following his dismissal in 2009.

St. John’s Antigua- Directors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have advised that the local banking sector must be strengthened with “tightened” regulations, if Antigua & Barbuda is to have continued economic recovery. The assessment follows the IMF executive board’s Article IV consultations with the country on October 31, last year. The review is to determine each member state’s economic health and to prevent potential future financial pitfalls.

St. John’s Antigua- Antigua & Barbuda is due before the World Trade Organization (WTO) next Wednesday in a bid to stop the United States “misinformation” over its efforts to resolve the gaming dispute. The country’s trade officials are expected to plead their case before the dispute settlement body in keeping with a statement made by Finance Minister Harold Lovell, last month. He was critical of a statement by the US, which claimed that Antigua & Barbuda failed to accept reasonable settlement for the decade old dispute.

St. John’s Antigua- Two former public servants agree that a clean sweep by any political party in a general election would create a governance crisis in Antigua & Barbuda. Former Attorney General Keith Forde is among those who have commented on the historic victory of the New National Party (NNP) in Grenada. The NNP, led by Dr Keith Mitchell, was returned to power winning all 15 seats in Tuesday’s poll. Forde said it would be “very difficult to run a country without an opposition”.

DALLAS, Texas, CMC – A group of former investors of the Antigua-based Stanford International Bank (SIB) has filed a civil lawsuit here against Antigua and Barbuda and the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB), claiming that they aided jailed Texas billionaire Allen Stanford in his massive US$7 billion Ponzi scheme. The former investors, calling themselves the Official Stanford Investors Committee, are seeking repayment of at least US$90 million in loans that Stanford allegedly made to Antigua and Barbuda.

ST JOHN’S, Antigua – An individual, rather than regional, solution must be established to combat cancer in the Caribbean. This is according to leading gastrointestinal oncologist, Dr Marcia Cruz-Correa, who was a facilitator at the Cancer Research in the Media workshop, supported by the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Caricom has backed Antigua & Barbuda’s latest move in its World Trade Organisation (WTO) dispute with the US. CARICOM, at the end of its 24th Inter-Sessional Meeting in Haiti on Tuesday, released a statement saying it affirmed its full support for Antigua & Barbuda. Heads of government called on the US to settle the dispute by honouring its obligations and respecting international rules in compliance with the WTO’s decision.

St. John’s Antigua- Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer has urged the United States to do more to help CARICOM countries fight against crime and narcotics trafficking in the region. His remarks followed a presentation by the US Attorney General, Eric Holder at the CARICOM inter-sessional heads of government meeting in Haiti. Spencer indicated that crime and security have a direct connection to the economic survival of small vulnerable countries.

ST. JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – Antigua and Barbuda says it is seeking a development policy loan from the World Bank based on a comprehensive debt framework. A government statement gave no indication as to the size of the loan, but said that it is a “budget support instrument similar to the policy” at the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).

ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer has joined other Caricom leaders at the 24th Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, February 18-19.
During the deliberations, Prime Minister Spencer will take the opportunity to brief his colleagues over the recent authorisation from the World Trade Organisation Dispute Settlement Body.