Singapore has inked an open skies deal with Barbados that gives carriers full rights to operate as many flights as they want between the two nations. Without strong demand for air services between the two points, it is unlikely the agreement will lead to actual flights, industry analysts said. Still, the deal sealed on Wednesday between Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew and Ms Maxine McClean, Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister of Barbados, signifies Singapore's commitment to liberal skies, said the analysts.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - Diplomacy, stripped bare, is conversation taking place between global leaders behind closed doors. As with everything else, it is being impacted by global trends which keep emerging more rapidly than before. The IT age has seen a world, formerly home to a select few some ten to 20 years ago, now become the playground for everyday people. The speed at which conversation takes place, as well as the increasing numbers of sources adding to that conversation, has seen closed-door fora now become open arenas for discussion.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Members of the main opposition Barbados Labour Party (BLP) walked out of the Parliament on Tuesday night accusing Speaker, Michael Carrington, of unfair treatment in his rulings. Opposition leader Mia Mottley led the walkout after the Speaker refused to provide her with a copy of the Parliament’s official record so as to clarify a previous statement. Carrington had earlier instructed Mottley to take her seat, while ruling that her comments be struck off the record in the process.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - THE VALUE OF BARBADOS’ currency could be taking a plunge soon unless Government moves speedily to slash the deficit between its revenue and expenditure. Charlie Skeete, a retired senior economist at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, has issued this warning.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - When disaster hits in the Caribbean, Barbadians take pride in reaching out to help. Still, we do not seem to understand that the disasters which have left a path of destruction across the Caribbean can also happen here. Just reflect on David in Dominica in 1979, Gilbert in Jamaica in 1988 and Ivan in Grenada in 2004. An average tropical storm, Tomas, brought so much damage to our island in 2010 that the houses of some people are, up to this day, not in a habitable state. Just imagine if we were to be hit by hurricane-force winds.