KINGSTON, Jamaica - MR Delano Franklyn may well be right. Perhaps the Chicago Tribune was unfair in its adverse characterisation of the Jamaican economy, using Greece as a sort of measuring stick.
What is not in question, though, is that our economy is in an awful state — badly in need of restructuring. This, as a result of a downward spiral of goods production, in per capita terms, matched by an insatiable appetite for a lifestyle well above our means, over many, many years.

KINGSTON, Jamaica - WITH SPECULATIONS rife over whether Venezuela would continue the PetroCaribe arrangement if Hugo Chávez is replaced as president, Jamaica's energy minister says willpower such as the ailing leader's is a necessary ingredient to the survival of the deal.
"I think there is commitment on the part of the administration (to continue it), but because there was opposition domestically. It does require a strength of character that President Chávez has to see it through, cause it what it will," Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell told The Gleaner yesterday.

CASTRIES, St. Lucia, CMC Prime Minister Dr. Kenny Anthony is heading a two-member delegation to Venezuela for a meeting of PetroCaribe, an initiative of Caracas allowing many Caribbean countries to purchase oil on conditions of preferential payment.
St. Lucia has not joined the alliance that was launched in 2005, but a government statement said that attending the meeting would allow Castries to have an updated assessment of the initiative.

Coverage of Haiti’s 2010 earthquake disaster may have dwindled in the news, but rebuilding efforts are still slowly continuing, running the gamut from shelters made from tires, shipping containers and recycled plastic bottles – each with their advantages and disadvantages.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - At last some sense has emerged between the leaders of Sudan and South Sudan who have agreed to a set of proposals outlined by former South African President Thabo Mbeki and envoy of the African Union (AU) to bring about a settlement to their dispute.
Relations between these two neighbours have also been tense since the independence of the South in July 2012. Nonetheless, it is a good development that both the flanks of Sudan have responded to diplomacy.