PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - In the face of solid opposition from the Independent senators against the measure seeking to give powers of arrest to soldiers, Government backed down yesterday. Government, which needed the support at least four Independent senators, was hoping to conclude and pass the Def...

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - Whether or not the call for a special court for tourism-related crimes comes into being, Barbados needs to be safer – for the half-million tourists who visit here annually and, equally, for our citizens. This fair land is not immune to the dramatic increase of crime, ma...

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, CMC – St. Kitts-Nevis is exploring the possibility of establishing an embassy in Cuba next year as the Federation seeks to improve its diplomatic relations with Havana, Prime Minister Dr. Denzil Douglas has said. Dr. Douglas gave the commitment during a courtesy call by...

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - An official of one of the United Nations agencies has expressed concern about the dearth of social data in the Caribbean region. UNICEF’s Representative for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, Khin-Sandi Lwin, made the point yesterday morning while addressing those gath...

KINGSTON, Jamaica - Jamaicans will know today just how much the Government plans to spend during this fiscal year but already some financial analysts are warning the country to brace for a tight budget. "It is not going to be a budget of goodies," financial analyst Colin Bullock told The Gleaner. ...

NASSAU, Bahamas, CMC – The Bahamas will host a one-day Regional Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) workshop next week as Caribbean countries seek to comply with new regulations outlined by the United States. Financial Services Minister L. Ryan Pinder said that the workshop is being f...

KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Two private sector organisations are warning that the Jamaican economy is nearing crisis level amid concerns of a rapid slide in the local currency. At the end of trading on Tuesday, the US dollar was being sold at a record J$99.08. At the start of the year, the US do...

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - Paediatrician Dr David Bratt said in a telephone interview yesterday he is not surprised that T&T is ranked as the third fattest country in the world. While Bratt questioned the validity of the UK Daily Mail’s report, he also said he was not surprised by the repor...

KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – The Jamaica government says it intends to significantly reduce the island’s food import bill, which stands at a staggering one billion (US) dollars. Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Roger Clarke said the intention is to reduce the bill to US$700 in the short t...

Sixteen months after Haiti was supposed to hold a critical round of elections, the voting procedure remains on hold. The country’s warring political factions can’t agree on a date or the membership of the panel that would supervise the process. Even the U.N. Security Council is reaching ...