PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – The Trinidad and Tobago economy grew by nearly two per cent in the first three months of the year and Central bank Governor Jwala Rambarran urged local investors to get more involved in the economic future of the oil rich twin island republic. “I commend these business leaders for their vote of confidence in the country’s economic prospects, but it is not enough.
KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC - The state of the economy will be the focal point of a meeting of trade union officials who have raised concern about how Government paid employees are coping. With a public sector wage freeze in place, the devaluation of the Jamaican dollar and the recent increase in toll rates, the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU) will get feedback from its members during a meeting scheduled for Monday.
BRADES, Montserrat, CMC– Local, regional and international stakeholders will convene on Montserrat on Tuesday for a four-day workshop to work on a strategy to save the critically endangered Mountain Chicken.
The Mountain Chicken recovery programme workshop to be held at the Montserrat National Trust in Olveston, will review activities of the Mountain Chicken project and highlight the current issues of concern that exist both in Montserrat and Dominica.
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, CMC – Speaker of the St. Kitts-Nevis National Assembly, Curtis Martin, says he is seeking a court ruling on certain legal matters despite public statements by opposition legislators that they have withdrawn a motion before the High Court regarding the motion of no confidence filed against the government of Prime Minister Dr. Denzil Douglas.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, CMC – The International Organization for Migration (IOM) says there has been a significant decrease in the number of displaced families in Haiti since a massive earthquake struck the country three and a half years ago. In its latest quarterly Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) for Haiti, the Geneva, Switzerland-based group said about 279,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) or 71,000 households remain in 352 IDP sites and camp-like settlements throughout the country.
MONTROUIS, Haiti (AP) — The Club Indigo beach resort north of the Haiti capital was crowded with U.N. peacekeepers, aid workers, diplomats and missionaries on a recent Sunday. But the only real, live tourists seemed to be Anne Fournier and her husband. The young couple from Montreal is a rarity in this afflicted country. Crime, health scares, hurricanes and the monster earthquake of January 2010 have badly damaged the tourism that was once a mainstay of the Haitian economy, attracting the likes of Mick Jagger and Jackie Onassis.
KINGSTON, Jamaica - It is not only the election of Doran Dixon to a second stint as president of the teachers' union. Other evidence abounds of how we have this education thing upside down; that there is a premium on form over outcomes.
This past Sunday, for instance, this newspaper highlighted an expanding ritual in Jamaica's schools, which might be funny but for its expense and the economic pressure it places on parents.
And at a closer look, it is downright embarrassing. Or, it ought to be to sensible people
BELMOPAN, Belize, CMC –The Belize-based Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) says it will launch a seminal on-line support tool in St. Lucia on Friday in keeping with the thrust to promote a culture of risk management across the region. St. Lucia’s Prime Minister Dr. Kenny Anthony will address the launch of the Caribbean Climate Online Risk and Adaptation TooL (CCORAL) that will also be attended by various stakeholders from across the region. The new initiative, which has been endorsed by Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Dr.
ST. JOHN’S, Antigua - It is always useful to get our professionals in the Caribbean to share their ideas about matters that affect our lives. Recently, Sir Dwight Venner, Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB), made a call for regional leaders to find a transformational industry to take the region forward. In the wake of that call, Dominican economist McCarthy Marie urged the regional governments to get creative in the search for new economic opportunities.
Castries, St Lucia, CMC – The Government of St. Lucia will be closing the George F. Charles Airport as of midnight on Monday due the impending passage of Tropical Storm Chantal. As a result the regional carrier, LIAT has been forced to cancel several flights in and out of the island on Tuesday. According to release from LIAT, an assessment will be made by the St. Lucian authorities at 11:00 am on Tuesday determine the time for reopening the airport.