SmallShop Caribbean News

First woman Chief Justice named - JAMAICAOBSERVER.COM : "JUSTICE Zalia McCalla yesterday wrote her name in Jamaican history as the nation's first woman Chief Justice, but immediately faced controversy over her appointment to succeed Lensley Wolfe as top judge."

Antigua Sun : "An anonymous call to the All Saints Police Station yesterday afternoon led officers to what appears to be a major marijuana cultivation. The caller informed the officers that he happened on the plants in Buckley’s New Extension – the District B area – and decided to file a report. The plants were found in various stages of development, some already planted in the ground while others were in plastic containers. "

Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday : newsday.co.tt : : "FORMER Anglican Dean Dr Knolly Clarke yesterday called for justice in the slaying of his brother Justice of the Peace Asquith Clarke and also said that the family knew of no death threat made against the slain man who was gunned down at his Tunapuna home on Sunday night."

The Nation Newspaper CDB tells region: Clean up urban mess : "Barbados and other Caribbean countries have been urged to take meaningful action to reduce the level of urban decay and the growing number of squatter communities. Citing countries such as Barbados, Bahamas, Haiti and Suriname as states where increasing numbers of people were moving to city centres, Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) president Dr Compton Bourne said squatter communities were also on the rise."

Business: News in the Caribbean - Caribbean360.com : "CASTRIES, St Lucia, May 30, 2007 - Cuba has announced plans to establish a medical training facility specifically for Caribbean students."

Stabroek News : "Residents of the Upper Mahaica Creek, who have been affected by over three and a half feet of floodwater in their farms and homes, have already lost a lot of their produce and are bracing for the worst. "

Caribbean Net News: Castro calls Bush 'apocalyptic,' slams US war policy : "HAVANA, Cuba (Bloomberg): Cuban President Fidel Castro has branded his US counterpart George W. Bush 'apocalyptic,' criticising his Iraq war policy a day after Bush signed legislation that includes almost $100 billion in emergency spending for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. "

Deported Islamic cleric back in Jamaica - JAMAICAOBSERVER.COM : "JAMAICAN-BORN Islamic cleric Abdullah al-Faisal was deported to Jamaica yesterday after spending four years in a United Kingdom prison for allegedly inciting racial hatred in that country."

Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday : newsday.co.tt : : "Ventour was found guilty, but insane in 1968, for killing a young man in La Brea. He was the longest serving prisoner in Trinidad. His brief taste of freedom came yesterday after Justice Mustapha Ibrahim ordered in the morning that he be released forthwith in keeping with a Cabinet minute dated January 5, 2006. "

Caribbean Net News: Global warming's impact on hurricanes more complex than thought : "PARIS, France (AFP): Weather events that occur in the distant Pacific and West Africa help determine the frequency of major hurricanes that strike the Caribbean and West Atlantic, according to research published on Thursday. "

Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday : newsday.co.tt : : "It is alleged that two persons, Brandis Brown and Russel Pollonais, of Princes Town were injured in the fracas. Soca star Machel Montano and his entourage were at the club that night, but the entertainer has emphatically and publicly denied that he was involved in the fracas. "

BBCCaribbean.com Castro had 'several' operations : "Cuban President Fidel Castro says his health has improved after undergoing several intestinal operations. In an article, Mr Castro says initial operations were unsuccessful, leading to a lengthy recovery period. "

Local - Dominican Today : "SANTO DOMINGO.- If it isn’t detained the country’s HIV and AIDS epidemic could replace traffic accidents as the main cause of death in young people in 10 years. Dr. Humberto Salazar, director of the Presidential Council on AIDS (COPRESIDA) attributed HIV’s incidence on the poverty affecting 42% of the population, especially in the bateyes and to the increase in Haitian immigration. "

The Nation Newspaper DLP: Let true CWC story be told : "'They don't factor the CWC horror stories of ordinary Barbadians into their analyses. The Democratic Labour Party is insisting that the true experiences of Barbadians from all walks of life should be factored into the analysis and not just the profits of those for whom the fatted calf was killed,' Thompson told the DAILY NATION yesterday. "

Stabroek News : "The 43-year-old man who murdered his wife last Thursday night took his own life yesterday morning by ingesting a poisonous substance. His relatives found his body on the Annandale seawall, just a stone's throw away from where his in-laws live. "

SUN St.Kitts & Nevis : "Tross of Pitcairn Street, Newtown, was accused of breaking into the home of police officer Carl Greaux and stealing a number of items. Greaux told the court that he saw Tross coming out of a window of his house with a bag after 3 a.m. on 1 July, 2006. "

Jamaica Gleaner News - Cops crush 'Don' - Kingpin of notorious Montego Bay gang slain in gunfight - Monday May 21, 2007 : "St. James' crime czar made good on his promise to target thugs when leader of the notorious Stone Crusher gang was cut down in a running gun battle with police yesterday afternoon. Rohan Gordon, alias 'Don', had topped the St. James police most- wanted list after featuring prominently as kingpin of the gang which has left a trail of blood in the violence-plagued community of Norwood and other sections of the parish."

Local - Dominican Today : "SANTO DOMINGO. - The official Cuban newspaper Granma reports that in an August 11, 1997 telephone conversation between Francisco 'Paco' Pimentel, a close ally of Luis Posada Carriles, Pimentel told the convicted terrorist that it would be “advisable” to affect the interests of foreigners in Cuba, including the famed Dominican designer Oscar de la Renta. "

The Nation Newspaper Junior docs to protest today : "The National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) and the junior doctors decided yesterday that all elective surgery would be stopped today, including those at the polyclinics. However, union president Walter Maloney said last night people with chronic problems would be treated. "

Jamaica Gleaner News - Portia is solid - Poll says PM's rating is moving up - Friday May 18, 2007 : "Despite a year largely defined by her handling of the Trafigura affair, and the seemingly endless bickering among party colleagues, Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller still enjoys the approval of a majority of Jamaicans, according to the latest Gleaner-commissioned poll. In addition, her favourability ratings continue to outstrip those of Opposition Leader Bruce Golding."

Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday : newsday.co.tt : : "A 29-year-old man who spent the last four years in jail awaiting trial for murder was yesterday freed after the State conceded that it could not disprove that the killing was an act of self-defence."

Caribbean Net News: Mock Cuban trial for accused bomber freed in US : "Luis Posada Carriles, a former CIA operative who is accused of bombing a Cuban airliner and tourist targets in Cuba, walked free in the United States last week when a US judge dismissed immigration charges against him. "

Jamaica Gleaner News - No way, no how! - Female cop turns table on rapist - Tuesday May 15, 2007 : "The man who attempted to rape Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Dorett Barrett-Latchman is someone she has known for at least 10 years. She surmised, while speaking with The Gleaner, that his intentions must have been to murder her after raping her, as he frequented her community and she could havereadily identified him."

Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday : newsday.co.tt : : "A 21-year-old Regiment recruit died yesterday from a heatstroke. The sweltering heat over the past weeks sent seven recruits to hospital after a training exercise in Chaguaramas on Friday."

Jamaica Gleaner News - 'It wasn't murder!' Scotland Yard says Bob Woolmer died of heart failure - Sunday May 13, 2007 : "There has been a bombshell development in the Bob Woolmer investigation. A group of Scotland Yard investigators, who were asked to assist with the matter, have concluded that the Pakistan Cricket coach died of heart failure. According to a Sunday Gleaner source in London, a pathology report submitted by the Scotland Yard team is now saying that the former Pakistan cricket coach died of natural causes and not manual strangulation as was initially reported by Deputy Commissioner Mark Shields. The Scotland Yard report specifically said Woolmer died of heart failure, contradicting earlier reports by the investigative arm of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) and local pathologist, Dr. Ere Sheshiah, who had conducted a post-mortem on Woolmers's body."

SignOnSanDiego.com > News > World -- Scientists install monitoring device on volcano under Caribbean Sea : "SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Researchers have installed a seismometer atop an active volcano called Kick 'em Jenny under the Caribbean Sea to warn of eruptions or earthquake activity, scientists said Saturday. The device allows scientists to collect real-time rumbling from tremors or as bubbling magma and gases are released from the volcano, about 820 feet beneath the sea's surface off Grenada's northwest coast. "

Local - Dominican Today : "SANTO DOMINGO. - The documentary which depicts Dominican Republic as a country where Haitians are treated as slaves, urges Europeans to boycott its tourism and sugar. The Dominican sugar producer Vicini Group served notice on the producers of the film 'The Price of Sugar' to abstain from showing the documentary, which it said is libelous against them and the country, or otherwise will take the producer to court. "

Jamaica Gleaner News - From death row to freedom - Earl Pratt to be released after decades in prison - Saturday May 12, 2007 : "More than a decade after the United Kingdom Judicial Committee of the Privy Council recommended that his death sentence should be commuted to life imprisonment in a landmark ruling for the Caribbean, Earl Pratt will be released this month from prison."

Local - Dominican Today : "DAJABON, Dominican Republic. - The mayor Sonia Mateo said the tornado that hit this city yesterday caused some RD$150 million in losses to agriculture, power lines, homes and others. Meanwhile, as situation of chaos prevails as tap water, electricity and other services have yet to resume as the population still shivers from the scare."

The Nation Newspaper 'No staff plot to burn Glendairy' : "ABOUT 30 more staff members were needed to effectively control the insurrection which eventually led to the destruction of Glendairy Prisons two years ago. "

Death penalty criticized in Cuba: South Florida Sun-Sentinel : "HAVANA · A leading Cuban human rights group on Monday urged governments around the world to petition Havana to spare the lives of army deserters who could face a firing squad for allegedly killing soldiers as they fled military bases. The statement by the nongovernmental Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation referred to a deadly attempted hijacking at Havana's main airport last week and a previously unreported December shootout and escape in eastern Cuba."

The Nation Newspaper Hundreds of fish found dead : "IS SOMETHING FISHY going on in Barbados' waters? Yesterday, hundreds of fish, mainly John Jacks, about seven inches long, were washed up on the beaches of River Bay, St Lucy; Martin's Bay, St John; and Cattlewash and Bathsheba in St Joseph. Fish kills in Barbados are nothing new with major ones having been recorded in 1999 and 2001. The reasons for those kills ranged from toxic algae and bacteria to factory ash and sewage. "

Stabroek News : "Owner of Swiss House Cambio, Farouk Razac was yesterday morning found dead in his Ireng Place, Bel Air home with a wound to his head and marks around his neck. Police have since detained his beauty queen wife, Carolan Lynch for questioning. "

Jamaica Gleaner News - Jamaican police insist Woolmer was strangled - Tuesday May 8, 2007 : "JAMAICAN POLICE are maintaining that Pakistan's cricket coach Bob Woolmer was strangled amid reports of claims by the Pakistani press that two investigators from that country have said that local police are yet to establish conclusive evidence that Mr. Woolmer was murdered."

The Nation Newspaper NO TO WICB : "THE BARBADOS GOVERNMENT has rejected out of hand a plea by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) to allow it to use Kensington Oval's Cricket World Cup (CWC) gate receipts to clear some of its US$15 million debt. "

National Security Archive: Documents link Luis Posada Carriles to 1976 Cubana Airlines bombing - International Herald Tribune : "SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico: A newly unearthed document links Luis Posada Carriles, a prominent anti-Castro Cuban, to the 1976 mid-flight bombing of a Cuban airliner and other attacks, a respected U.S. research institute said Thursday. The document is a handwritten surveillance report of Cuban targets in Barbados, Colombia, Panama and Trinidad, written by Posada's employee Hernan Ricardo Lozano. The report notes that a Cubana Airlines flight arrived in Barbados every Wednesday from Trinidad. That flight was blown up on Wednesday, Oct. 6, 1976, killing all 73 people aboard, including Cuba's Olympic fencing team. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has repeatedly demanded that the United States extradite Posada, who is under house arrest in Miami on an immigration violation, to Venezuela for trial for the airline bombing."

Posada Carriles Divulges CIA Links with Terror - Prensa Latina : "Havana, May 7 (Prensa Latina) Terrorist Luis Posada Carriles´ reaction to the US government´s attempts to conceal his CIA-links in his actions confirm that agency´s partaking. During the trial against Posada for illegally entering the US, Washington banned any reference of his services to the CIA, and affirmed they stopped in 1976, before the explosion of the Cuban plane in Barbados."

Boat packed with Haitians capsizes in shark-infested waters in Turks, at least 20 dead: South Florida Sun-Sentinel : "About 20 Haitian migrants were killed when their boat capsized early Friday off the coast of Turks and Caicos. Another 78 were rescued and as many as 60 could still be missing, according to a police spokeswoman on the island."

Antigua Sun : "Over the last decade, the Caribbean, representing as it does a significant voting bloc within the United Nations, has been something of a happy hunting ground for China in its own form of “money diplomacy”, as it enjoyed success in wooing some of the region’s small nation states away from Taiwan. That both countries have the financial capacity to make a huge difference to the relatively small economies of the region goes without saying. According to the latest available figures, China and Taiwan are number one and five respectively in the foreign currency reserves league. "

BBCCaribbean.com Cuba 'thwarts air hijack attempt' : "A Cuban military officer has died after being taken hostage in an attempted hijacking at Havana airport, the interior ministry has said. "

Jamaica Gleaner News - Jamaican still faces death in Florida - Thursday May 3, 2007 : "The task of saving the life of Lance Armstrong, a Jamaican on death row in Florida, has been made even more difficult, following a jury's recommendation that he be put to death. On April 25, the jury in the Broward County court, in a 9-3 majority decision, called for Armstrong's execution for the 1990 murder of Broward Sheriff's Deputy John 'Jack' Greene."

Caribbean Net News: Trinidad university tightens security following attacks on students : "PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad: The St Augustine campus of the University of the West Indies in Trinidad has announced a number of measures it says are aimed at improving the security of its students. It says in January two new vehicles were purchased, which will be used for patrolling the outskirts of campus. This will bring a total of six vehicles merely for security purposes. Additionally, lighting has also been completed on Campus, which saw installation of electric lights on several parts of campus that were previously not well-lit. "