PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - The Caribbean Premier League, which bowls off in Barbados on July 30, could bring many benefits to the sport and the region. For West Indies cricket, which has spent the better part of the last decade in the doldrums, there are great prospects for re-energising players and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB). The WICB will earn US$4.5 million each year from its deal with Verus International, owners of the CPL.
GEORGETOWN, Guyana - Even as Chinese President Xi Jinpeng was making his way around the region to promote more trade and cooperation between China and Latin America and the Caribbean, visiting Trinidad and Tobago (where he also held bilateral talks with those Caricom countries with which Beijing enjoys diplomatic relations), Costa Rica and Mexico, there was a buzz coming from the western rim of Latin America with the consolidation of the one-year-old Pacific Alliance.
KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC - Jamaica has been selected by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) to host the official ceremony for World Blood Donor Day (WBDD) for the Region of the Americas, on June 14.
PAHO Director Dr. Carissa F. Etienne is expected to be the keynote speaker at the official World Blood Donor Day ceremony, held under the theme “Give the Gift of Life; Donate Blood’.
KINGSTON, Jamaica - England's expression yesterday of sincere regret and offer of compensation for the acts of torture that a British colonial government carried out against Kenyans fighting for liberation from colonial rule in the 1950s and 1960s, will, we expect, revive the reparations debate in the Caribbean.
KINGSTON, Jamaica - CARIBBEAN Producers of Jamaica (CPJ) has its eye on exporting to five Caribbean countries by year-end. It hopes to add another four countries the following year, by which time it expects to see its branded products on supermarket shelves overseas.
KINGSTON, Jamaica - THE United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has condemned what it describes as the "unrelenting violence" against the nation's children, saying that a total of 16 children were murdered over the first four months of this year.
The UN body made particular reference to last week's spate of child killings, which included the beheading of four-year-old Natasha Brown.
KINGSTON, Jamaica - WHILE JAMAICA continues to improve its Human Development Index (HDI) ranking, one United Nations representative has charged that the country's high debt burden, combined with low economic growth and high unemployment, continues to pose a threat to human development. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Assistant Secretary General Heraldo Muñoz, who was addressing the launch of the Human Development Report 2013, in a video statement said while "Jamaica is without a doubt part of the rising south," the three factors are in need of attention.
GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC - The appointment of the Chief Justice and Chancellor of the Judiciary seems to have hit a dead-end, as President Donald Ramotar and Opposition Leader David Granger differ on who should fill the posts. During talks last month, Ramotar suggested that Chief Justice Ian Chang and Chancellor of the Judiciary, Carl Singh be appointed to the substantive posts, however Granger suggested that the posts be advertised in the Eastern Caribbean. According to Granger, while he does not oppose the suggestions made by the President, he wants transparency.
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - BARBADOS, which once featured as one of the most sought after Caribbean tourist destinations has slipped from that position while St Lucia is slowly taking over. This was revealed in the just released Hayes & Jarvis May 2013 Long Haul Holidays Trend Report in which Barbados is among the Top 10 Bestselling Destinations once more. Despite this general trend however, Barbados is enjoying the spin-off from British Airways Holidays marketing, evidenced through a 50 per cent increase in business to the island.
KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, CMC - Opposition Leader Arnhim Eustace has voiced concern about the Government’s approach to building the Argyle International airport. Parliament on Thursday debated the EC$208 million Supplementary Appropriations Bill containing four loans for the airport. Eustace likened the construction of the airport to “a one-lane track on which there are 12 runners….… and therefore, nobody can pass the airport. …All the others must wait.”