Dominica

ROSEAU, Dominica, CMC - President of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), Sir Dennis Byron has welcomed the decision made by the Government of Dominica to sever ties with the London based Privy Council in order join the Trinidad based Caribbean Court of Justice.

ROSEAU, Dominica, CMC – Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit Monday appealed to the Dominica Public Service Union (DPSU) and the Police Welfare Association to accept the government’s latest wage offer, insisting it is the “best we can do” given the current economic situation. DPSU general secretary Thomas Letang told reporters last Friday that the union had rejected the latest offer and is sticking to its demands for a three per cent wage hike for the period 2010-12.

ROSEAU, Dominica, CMC – The Dominica government has confirmed that experts are being brought into the country as it seeks to allay the health concerns of the residents in the Roseau Valley where most of the geothermal projects are being undertaken.
Minister for Employment, Trade, Industry and Diaspora Affairs Dr. Collin McIntyre, who is also the parliamentary representative for the area, said Wednesday that Cabinet had met earlier to discuss the health and other issues raised by the residents.

ROSEAU, Dominica, CMC – A radio announcer has pointed an accusing finger at the attorney for Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit as being the source of secret and confidential information about the head of government being aired on a local radio station in December last year.
The Integrity in Public Office (IPO) said it has already written to Police Commissioner Daniel Carbon, seeking assistance in investigating the leak, but Lennox Linton has accused Senior Counsel Anthony Astaphan of providing the information which the radio announcer said he used on his radio programme.

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic – Haitian President Michel Martelly briefly stepped back in time last weekend, doing his old “Sweet Micky” stage name proud as he sang alongside Spanish heartthrob Julio Iglesias at a glittering fundraiser in the Dominican Republic. The celebrity-studded concert was staged to help raise money for impoverished Haitian children, with proceeds going to the Pink and White Foundation, a charity run by Martelly and his wife Sophia. The Haitian president publicly thanked Iglesias for dedicating a concert of his "1 World Tour 2012" to Haiti's children.

ROSEAU, Dominica, CMC – Dominica says it is hoping to sign later this year an agreement with the US-based Clinton Climate Initiative on the further developing the geothermal energy sector programme here. The island’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vince Henderson, speaking on the state-owned DBS radio on Thursday night, said the Clinton Foundation has shown support for the multi-million dollar programme.

ROSEAU, Dominica, CMC –Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit says he intends writing Britain later this month seeking permission for Dominica to sever ties with the London-based Privy Council in order to join the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).
“This month, January 2013 God’s willing, we shall write formally to the British government indicating to them our intention of severing ties with the Privy Council and seeking their agreement on that,” Skerrit said.

Over the past years there has been a significant decline in traditional exports to the European Union (EU) while our extra-regional food import bill is estimated at around $3.5 to $4 billion US dollars annually.

That’s according to Acting Prime Minister Ambrose George who was at the time addressing the opening ceremony of the Climate Change and Science and Technology workshop at the Arawak House of Culture on Sunday. It was the first official event to start off the 10th Caribbean Week of Agriculture being held on  the island.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana)     The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat Programme Manager for Culture and Community Development, Dr Hilary Brown is of the opinion that the Caribbean needs to do more to strengthen its heritage tourism product.

She believes that “much more could be done” to develop the Region’s natural and built heritage which is an invaluable resource in building Heritage Tourism.