WASHINGTON, CMC – A top United States Department of Homeland Security official in charge of deportations has stepped down in the aftermath of a flap over the release of Caribbean and other detainees.
Gary Mead’s departure comes after the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency on Monday released hundreds of immigrants from jails and detention centers across the country.
WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – Decorated Vietnam veteran Chuck Hagel was sworn in as U.S. defense secretary yesterday after a bruising Senate confirmation battle, promising to renew old U.S. alliances and forge new ones without attempting to “dictate” to the world. Addressing Pentagon employees shortly after a small, closed-door swearing-in ceremony, Hagel spoke optimistically, if vaguely, about global challenges ahead and the importance of American leadership abroad. “We can’t dictate to the world. But we must engage the world.
WASHINGTON, CMC - In a move clearly designed to save money, the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency says it has released a number of Caribbean and other immigrant detainees from jails and detention centers across the country. ICE said that the move comes as automatic US federal budget cuts loom on March 1.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House may soon propose the biggest change in US food aid since the programmes were created during the Cold War – donating cash for hunger relief instead of shipping American-grown food thousands of miles to global trouble spots, say farm groups and charities. Reformers have argued for years that cash donations, the method used by most nations, are more efficient and speedier. But food donation has been the favoured US approach since the Food for Peace programme was enacted in 1954.
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Three dozen arms control and human rights groups have written to US President Barack Obama ahead of new arms-trade negotiations at the United Nations next month, urging him to back a tough treaty that would end loopholes in international weapons sales. Arms control campaigners say one person every minute dies worldwide as a result of armed violence and a convention is needed to prevent the unregulated and illicit flow of weapons into conflict zones and fueling wars and atrocities.
WASHINGTON, CMC – The United States has denied reports that it plans to remove Cuba from a list of countries that support terrorism. “I saw that report. Let me say firmly here it is incorrect,” US State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters here. “This department has no current plans to remove Cuba from the state sponsor of terrorism list. “We review this every year, and at the current moment when the last review was done in 2012, we didn’t see cause to remove them,” she added.
WASHINGTON, CMC – The US Supreme Court has declined to block the deportation of thousands of Caribbean and other immigrants who over two years ago were not warned by their lawyers that, when they pleaded guilty to serious crimes, they would be targeted for deportation. The law calls for mandatory deportation for Caribbean and other immigrants, including lawful permanent residents, who have an “aggravated felony” on their record. In a 7-2 decision, the justices refused to apply the ruling retroactively to cases of immigrants who had unintentionally pleaded guilty before 2010.
WASHINGTON, CMC – The implementation of a Caribbean Civil Registry and Identity System (CCRIS) has been completed in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The announcement was made by St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ Ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), La Celia Prince. CCRIS was developed to facilitate birth registration and to provide uniform vital statistics in the Eastern Caribbean, said Prince in a statement issued here on Wednesday.
BRUSSELS—The European Union and the United States announced yesterday that they have agreed to pursue talks aimed at achieving an overarching trans-Atlantic free trade deal. The 27-country EU said such an agreement, first announced in Tuesday’s State of the Union address by President Barack Obama, would be the biggest bilateral trade deal ever negotiated. Any agreement could boost the EU’s economic output by 0.5 per cent—a highly desirable outcome when the EU and the US are struggling with slow growth, high unemployment and high levels of debt.
LOS ANGELES, CMC - The 55th Grammy Awards here Sunday night paid tribute to legendary Jamaican reggae superstar Robert Nesta Marley, renowned worldwide as Bob Marley. But, for a moment, it appeared as though there would hardly be any tribute to the late great reggae artist when about two-thirds of a set that was supposed to honour him was used by other performers. Bruno Mars and sting kicked off the tribute by singing not anything from Marley's massive repertoire but their own songs. Mars did reggae-influenced “Locked Out of Heaven,” and Sting sang The Police's “Walking on the Moon”.