SmallShop Caribbean News

Advocate : "The rest of the Caribbean can learn from political maturity of Barbados as evidenced by the recent peaceful election and change of government. This is the opinion of Dr. Francis Severin, Resident Tutor and Head of the Univers ity School of Continuing Studies in Dominica, who noted that there was no evidence of an election in Barbados when he visited the island shortly after the polls. I am worried that this climate in Barbados is not replicated in several other Caribbean coun tries which appear to be on perennial election mode."

guardian.co.uk : "In September 2004, 150km-an-hour winds flattened 95% of buildings, killing dozens and making thousands homeless. Jenny Gilchrist, a local woman from the parish of St David's, remembers the devastation which greeted her the morning after the storm hit. 'Our island was destroyed, my house had the roof ripped clean off, it was total devastation,' she says. 'My daughter said to me 'mammy where shall we go?' and I said to her 'we have no place to go' all our clothes and our possessions were ruined. We lived in water in our house for two days before help came.'"

JAMAICAOBSERVER.COM : "Education Minister Andrew Holness has unveiled an ambitious plan to keep illiterate students in primary school, until they can read and write at the grade four level."

Jamaica Gleaner News "CLOSE TO to half a million Jamaicans with health insurance can still expect to pay indirectly for services and items in public health facilities from which user fees are to be removed come Tuesday. Speaking with The Gleaner yesterday, Minister of Health Rudyard Spencer says while insured persons would not be required to co-pay for services, insurance companies will still be billed to cover a portion of the cost."

Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday "THE NEPHEW of a Pente-costal Minister was gunned down at his Piparo home during the early morning hours yesterday in what both police and relatives say was a killing which stemmed from an argument over cocaine. The victim has been identified as Terrence “Monto” Ramdial, 22, of Stone Road, Piparo. A man up to last night, was assisting police with their investigations into what is the 101st murder for this year."

Antigua Sun : "Months after the offices of the Special Task Force against Corruption and Organised Crime were damaged in a firebombing incident, new information has emerged indicating that the files of the investigators had been specifically targeted. On 17 Jan., in the hours following the early morning blast, police said that the blast and resultant fire had caused extensive damage to the Mansoor building, which housed the office of the Special Task Force against Corruption and Organised Crime on the third floor. A sworn affidavit filed in the High Court last week gives a different perspective to the crime, however."

Stabroek News : "Some relatives of the victims of the Lusignan Massacre and residents of the community say they are yet to see several promises made by the government fulfilled and they feel no safer today than on the morning of January 26. Promises of better roads, street lights, massive clearing of a grass field aback of the houses that were attacked and several others including refurbishing of homes and fences, they said, were made by the government MPs who visited the area following the tragedy."

The Nation Newspaper "THE OPPOSITION PARTY will be judged on how it keeps watch for the people of Barbados. That was the message Reverend Von E. Watson gave at the Barbados Labour Party's (BLP's) service of thanksgiving and rededication yesterday at St Mary's Anglican Church, The City."

The Trinidad Guardian "Children on vacation from school flew kites in the gusty winds and rode bicycles in Balandra on Wednesday. However, residents of Rampanalgas, the main village in Balandra, did not have a storybook tale to give. Instead, they gave a shocking report of fear and horror, saying that the Devil himself seems to be on the loose in Rampanalgas. And it’s their children who are under attack."

Stabroek News : "Alliance For Change (AFC) MP Sheila Holder believes that the time has come for the authorities to stop issuing gun licences to civilians; one sure way of reducing gun violence and putting a dent on the illegal arms trade. The Member of Parliament said that too often criminals would wrest the guns from their victims during armed robberies and this was only equipping the gunmen with more arms. “The gunmen are using more sophisticated weapons so what is the point of issuing small arms to civilians… Civilians are not trained to protect themselves with guns,” Holder said."

JAMAICAOBSERVER.COM : "An aversion to paying utility bills and low-cost mortgages is costing tax-payers hundreds of millions of dollars annually, information made available to the Sunday Observer has shown. And this reluctance to accept that there is a cost to utility services cuts across social and economic classes, officials of the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) and the National Water Commission (NWC) have admitted, while revealing that some debts have been outstanding for more than 20 years."

The Nation Newspaper : "FEWER BARBADIANS are seeking mortgages, especially those in the middle- to lower-income bracket. It is because, according to banking and financial officials, Barbados is now experiencing a dive in the market for the first time in three years."

CBC.bb : "Air Jamaica flight attendants were back on the job late yesterday after staging a sick out to protest a range of issues. Their strike action which began around 6 a.m. and lasted most of the day forced the airline to cancel flights to New York, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Toronto and Curacao, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded at the island's two international airports - Norman Manley International and Sangster International."

CBC.bb : "The financially strapped Air Jamaica Tuesday started cancelling some of its international flights after flight attendants stayed away from work over the failure of the company to start new wage talks. The flight attendants are also protesting the failure of the airline to improve poor working conditions."

Santo Domingo, Mar 28 ( Prensa Latina ) The Dominican government ratified to the media it lacks disposition to hear the demands of local doctors, and regarded its national strike as blackmail Friday....... ........The 12,000 doctors started their third day of strike Friday, so the public assistance service is paralyzed in the 167 centers administered by the local government and the 15 from the Social Insurance.

JAMAICAOBSERVER.COM : "THE Ministry of Health, boosted by the injection of $100 million from the government, says all is set for the April 1 removal of user fees at public hospital and clinics, which will make health care available for thousands more Jamaicans."

Jamaica Gleaner News "The cash-strapped investment club, Cash Plus Ltd will not be able to pay its investors the principal and interest owing to them on March 31 as it had previously announced. A statement issued yesterday by the Financial Services Commission (FSC) said it had urged Cash Plus to issue a pubic notice advising investors of its position."

Stabroek News "The charges against the defendants in the $6M Buddy’s fuel bust were dismissed at the Providence Magistrate’s Court yesterday, ending more than two years of deliberations. In dismissing the charges, Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry compared the case presented by the prosecution as “water fetched in a basket” and said that it was replete with errors. The matter had been prosecuted by special prosecutor appointed by the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA), Anil Nandlall."

Amandala Online : "The People’s United Party (PUP) was whipped to a pulp at the polls on February 7, and even though conventional wisdom would suggest that no one in his or her right mind would want to inherit a party in such shambles, the no-holds-barred fight for power inside the PUP supports the notion that there may be something of value yet to salvage."

St. Lucia Star "In his December 2007 address to the nation the Minister of Justice and Attorney General Nicholas Frederick said that when he took over the post a year earlier he had noted that 'serious crime had escalated over the past eleven years.' According to the minister 'three factors' were responsible for the increase: An inefficient justice system linked to inadequacies in the magistrates courts; weaknesses within the prosecution department and supporting services; and inadequate community involvement in preventing crime and inadequate police vigilance."

Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday "LEADER of the Opposition Basdeo Panday yesterday defied House Speaker Barry Sinanan’s order for him (Panday) to be ejected from the sitting of the Lower House over use of his laptop computer without Sinanan’s prior permission."

The Nation Newspaper "MORE THAN A QUARTER of the cases before the High Courts for the March-May Continuous Sessions are gun-related. Twenty-five of these 82 cases, according to the Calendar of Cases, involve the use of guns."

The Nation Newspaper "KINGSTOWN, St Vincent – Still embroiled in a legal battle with a female police officer who claimed he raped her, Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves has been accused of indecently assaulting another woman. Attorney Kay Bacchus-Browne, who has been retained to represent the woman, confirmed at a news conference Wednesday that the matter was filed March 13 and the Vincentian leader was summoned to appear before the Family Court on April 14."

guyanachronicle.com "WORKERS attached to the construction project of the Linden Hospital Complex have downed tools to protest an anticipated cut in the number of masons by the contracting firm."

JAMAICAOBSERVER.COM : "RUTHLESS gunmen early yesterday morning shot dead a Clarendon woman and her common-law husband after invading the couple's home in Savannah Cross district. Indra Coleman, 26, and her 49-year-old common-law husband, Carl Ellington, were awakened about 2:30 when the men kicked open the door to their small house and shot them. They died on the spot."

Jamaica Gleaner News : "Six months into office, the Golding administration yesterday tabled a $497-billion budget, which, on the face of it, is 23.4 per cent higher than the level to which the Government expects to hold spending for the fiscal year that ends on March 31."

The Trinidad Guardian "Ten officers from Sangre Grande Task Force are facing transfers and possible criminal charges, after marijuana was allegedly found in police lockers at Sangre Grande police station. Sources said detectives of the Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Organised Crime and Narcotics Unit, searched the lockers around 2 pm on Saturday, after a tip-off."

Antigua Sun : "Amidst a somewhat festive atmosphere, a thunderous applause could be heard at the Irene B. Williams Primary School shortly after 10 p.m. last night as the United Progressive Party (UPP) candidate Chester Hughes emerged the victor from the All Saints East and St. Luke by-elections. The win was a landslide for Hughes in a poll that registered a low voter turn-out.

The Nation Newspaper "TWO LAWMEN have been slapped with a lawsuit for allegedly shooting an innocent bystander in the Red Sea, Deacons Road, St Michael area two months ago. Constable Ryan Eversley and Constable Robert Jones, both attached to Black Rock Police Station, are expected to be served with summonses today for allegedly shooting Jemelle King last January 19."

Former junior government minister Kern Spencer and his co-accused in the Cuban light-bulb affair will have to wait another month and a half to hear the prosecution lay its case against them before the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court.....

Antigua Sun : "Before the day’s end, the constituency of All Saints East & St. Luke is expected to have a new representative to lead its interests in Parliament, bringing to an end for now, a relatively short period of campaigning. Ahead of today’s by-elections for the vacant All Saints East & St. Luke seat, the three candidates vying for the seat have asserted their confidence going in.

Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday "A valiant fight put up by a vocal group of shareholders failed to block the sale of RBTT Financial Holdings, parent company of RBTT Bank, to the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) for an estimated $14 billion"

St. Lucia Star "Currently, planet Earth is facing a crisis. The world is battling with the hard fact that it can only provide food for 60 percent of its population. It is grappling to face the issues surrounding the sudden capability of large nation territories like China and India, to purchase huge quantities of food."

Jamaica Gleaner News "The country will see a significant jump in the size of the budget for the 2008/2009 fiscal year, bringing it closer to the $500 billion mark, when the Estimates of Expenditure are tabled in Gordon House today. Minister of Finance and the Public Service Audley Shaw has said additional debt servicing requirement for the new financial year would be almost $55 billion."

JAMAICAOBSERVER.COM : "EMBATTLED former minister of state for energy, Kern Spencer, may have another problem on his hands soon, as the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands seeks to clarify a report of an unauthorised electricity connection at the state house he occupied in Kingston 10 during his tenure in office. The Observer has learnt that a report from an electrical contractor, engaged by the National Lands Agency (NLA), to check on the electrical panel at number 9 Sharrow Drive, Kingston 10, which Spencer occupied between May last year and January, shows that there had been an illegal connection to a light post on the premises where a meter should have been."

The Nation Newspaper "A WHOPPING $25 MILLION was spent up to last year to accommodate workers in Government offices, and this must be reduced under the current administration. Leader of Government Business in the Senate, Senator Maxine McClean, gave this assurance yesterday as she revealed the ever-rising rental bill."

Jamaica Gleaner News "The 15-member Caribbean Community (CARICOM) says the experience of the slave trade should 'not be repeated nor forgotten' as the international community yesterday observed the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Addressing the opening ceremony of the week-long event, chairman of the CARICOM diplomatic corps and Barbados' UN Ambassador, Christopher Hackett, says it is important to recognise the 'resilience of the enslaved African people who were aboard those ships."

JAMAICAOBSERVER.COM : "A feud that had its genesis in partisan politics and escalated into a deadly turf war claimed the lives of four men, including a police constable and two brothers, and left another injured in the hotbed community of Cassava Piece, in St Andrew between Monday night and yesterday morning. The dead cop has been identified as Constable Lazano McFarlane of the Mobile Reserve. Police say their colleague was killed during a running gunbattle in the community after a daring early morning murder on Mannings Hill Road yesterday."

Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday "SAN FERNANDO Magistrate Melville Daniel yesterday imposed an unusual form of punishment on a 17-year-old boy who appeared before him charged with possession of marijuana – write an essay on why a person should not smoke marijuana. The 17-year-old accused, who gave his occupation as a salesman, was also granted bail with a surety in the sum of $20,000 and ordered to submit the essay to the Youth Training Centre (YTC) within a week."

The Trinidad Guardian "Jairagie Deolal’s pain is only fuelled by claims from police officers that the deaths of her son and husband Himraj Sookai were caused because she was unfaithful to Sookai. Four-year-old Kennedy Sean Deolal and his father, Sookai, were found dead early Monday morning after Sookai allegedly forced his son to ingest a poisonous substance before killing himself"

Amandala Online : "Could UFO’s (Unidentified Flying Objects) be visiting Belize? That’s what some residents of Belmopan and the surrounding areas are wondering after a strange sighting of a mass of bright, circular lights south of the capital city and over the uninhabited mountains, exactly a week ago."

SUN St.Kitts & Nevis : "A Cuban diplomat accused of slapping a little boy in late October last year has been recalled. The incident occurred on 26 Oct., 2007, when it was reported that two children, the daughter of the Cuban Embassy official and another child at the Beach Allen Primary School, were playing a game called “freeze” and the boy, who has been identified as Devon Williams, fell on the girl. The SUN understood that the official, who was at the school, rushed over to the children, pulled the boy off his daughter and slapped him before taking him to the principal’s office."

Antigua Sun : "Villagers in Seatons were thrown into a state of shock yesterday after four gun wielding young men opened fire at a house located on a farm. The four occupants of the house, all Rastafarians, had no choice but to run for their lives after their attackers who were reportedly dressed in dark cover-alls pounced on them. According to reports, the bandits fired several shots at the house before making their way inside, ransacking it and then making off with about $1,400. The incident occurred some time after 3 p.m."

ediorial ,JAMAICAOBSERVER.COM : "The action yesterday by flight attendants of the national airline, Air Jamaica, does not qualify on any of those counts. In fact, by their action, we suggest, the flight attendants have demonstrated beyond any doubt that the only interest they had in mind was entirely their own."

Jewish family sues Jamaican reform school for troubled teens : "Isaac Hersh, 16, has been trapped since last summer at Tranquility Bay, a reform school on the island of Jamaica with a soothing name - and harsh discipline, according to the lawyer hired to try to get him out. 'It's a modern-day concentration camp,' said Maryland lawyer Joshua Ambush."

MiamiHerald.com : "An incident of alleged mistreatment of passengers with ties to Haiti's president on an American Airlines flight from Port-au-Prince to Miami has sparked an outcry of discrimination from the Caribbean nation's top South Florida diplomat. American Airlines exhibits ''an ongoing pattern of disrespect'' to Haitian customers, according to a letter sent as ''an official complaint'' to the carrier this past weekend by Ralph Latortue, Haiti's consul general in Miami."

The Nation Newspaper "THE WEST COAST of the island was back to normal yesterday after high swells battered the coast over the past week. Sand in the road and debris on the beach stood as mute testimony to the fury of the waves that overshot protective breakwalls. Parties of picnickers returned to the beaches and Bajans returned to the sea, albeit keeping very close to the shore."

Jamaica Gleaner News "Major glitches in the Government's e-Learning programme have delayed the implementation of the multibillion-dollar education initiative by almost a year. As a result, thousands of secondary school students, who should have benefited from the proposed improved instructions promised under the programme that is designed to ultimately improve Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate passes, were not afforded that privilege."

JAMAICAOBSERVER.COM : "POLICE investigating a gunfight between patrons at a dance in Port Henderson, St Catherine on Sunday morning have shackled to a hospital bed one of eight persons injured during the melee. The police have not named the person they have under heavy guard, but yesterday said the person can assist them in their investigations."

Stabroek News : "As it still grapples to come to terms with the two recent slaughters at Lusignan and Bartica, this country must now brace itself for more killings as it would appear that the phantom squad is back; two death-squad-type murders in the city in recent weeks have pointed to this."

The Trinidad Guardian "A Cunupia man is believed to have killed his four-year-old son and then committed suicide, hours after he received counselling from Cunupia police. The bodies of Himraj Sookai, 49, and his son, Kennedy Sean Deolal, of Southern Main Road in Cunupia, were discovered in a house which the family recently acquired at Tanager Drive, Ibis Gardens, Caroni."

The Nation Newspaper : "COST OVERRUNS of nearly 100 per cent; unauthorised variations to contracts; and contractors being paid in full without completing their jobs are a few of the issues the Barbados Audit Office has highlighted at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development."

Trinidad Express : "THE majority of Tobago's beaches were re-opened yesterday, after the rough waves created by an Atlantic storm system began to subside a bit, head lifeguard Michael Baker confirmed."

The Boston Globe : "SAN JUAN - Unusually large waves churned by an Atlantic storm system have littered the beaches of Barbados with broken coral in what could be a sign of damage to reefs across the region, a scientist said yesterday. more stories like thisThe amount of rubble on the island's west coast suggests the coral took a heavy pounding, said Leo Brewster, director of Barbados's Coastal Zone Management Unit, who was organizing dives later this week to survey the damage."

JAMAICAOBSERVER.COM : "EASTER Sunday, one of the most important days on the Christian calendar, was one of grief yesterday for a St Catherine couple who buried their 11-month-old son whose young life was taken by a cop's bullet."

Jamaica Gleaner News "The island's already fragile education system could suffer further haemorrhaging as another overseas recruitment agency attempts to woo specialist teachers to United States (US) schools. According to an advertisement in The Sunday Gleaner yesterday, the US-based recruitment agency, Teachers Council, said it was seeking 300 teachers with majors in special education, early childhood education, elementary mathematics, biology, physical education, art, music and Spanish."

Kaieteur News "East Coast Demerara residents were, last night, again bracing themselves for the worst as unusually heavy spring tide waves pounded the sea defense and overtopped the seawall, causing two nights of flooding and dampening the holiday spirit in the Montrose/Vryheid’s Lust area."

Stabroek News : "The final night of the Lethem rodeo was cancelled last evening over security concerns."

The Trinidad Guardian "Two teenagers were arrested yesterday in connection with the gang rape of a Chaguanas supermarket employee. The two were positively identified by the victim, and will appear before a Chaguanas magistrate today. According to police reports, the woman was on her way home from work when she boarded a “PH” taxi in Chaguanas, on Friday night."

Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday "Supermarkets are being forced to ration the amount of flour their customers can buy because the State-owned National Flour Mills has been unable to supply the staple commodity. Flour-derived products, such as macaroni, are also in short supply and the sales of these commodities are also being restricted at some supermarkets, checks by Newsday yesterday revealed."

The Associated Press: "SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Unusually large waves churned by an Atlantic storm system have littered the beaches of Barbados with broken coral in what could be a sign of damage to reefs across the region, a scientist said Sunday. The amount of rubble on the island's west coast suggests the coral took a heavy pounding, said Leo Brewster, director of Barbados' Coastal Zone Management Unit, who was organizing dives later this week to survey the damage."

The Trinidad Guardian "Renowned as a spiritual healer, reputed to have prophetic powers and feared as an “Obeah man,” the name “Pa Neezer” was whispered up and down the length of Trinidad for three decades with a mixture of fear, reverence and awe. In 1956, a young graduate research student was granted unprecedented access to the enigmatic Ebenezer Elliot, beginning a unique relationship that was to end only with the latter’s death in 1969."

Stabroek News : "Although remedial works are ongoing, residents of Montrose and other villages on the lower East Coast are still suffering the consequences of the unusually high spring tide which brought floods that woke them up on Thursday morning. Many of the residents, especially along the northern perimeter of the communities, complained that some of their personal belongings were damaged beyond repair because of the flood water."

JAMAICAOBSERVER.COM : "AN outbreak of the devastating lethal yellowing disease is threatening coconut palms across the island, spurring the Coconut Industry Board (CIB) to recommend that all infected plants be immediately cut down and burned. 'We have seen hot spots all over the island, but it is now showing up highly concentrated in the eastern parishes,' said Edgar Watson, general manager of the Coconut Industry Board (CIB)."

Jamaica Gleaner News "DAYS AWAY from the tabling of the first budget estimates since forming the government last September, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) administration is not worried about keeping its pre-election promises. Speaking with The Sunday Gleaner, Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Audley Shaw, said Cabinet had intensely deliberated the budget and was satisfied with its plans."

The Trinidad Guardian - "A crisis is looming in the local Roman Catholic Church. A declining flock, empty pews, ageing and dying priests are some of the worrying, telling signs. Statistics from the church show only 17 per cent of Catholics attended Mass on a Sunday."

Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday "There is reportedly a shortage of flour at groceries nationwide, according to President of the Supermarket Association Heeralal Maharaj. Recently officials at the National Flour Mills (NFM) and Nutrimix Mills hinted at an increase in flour prices, coming on the heels of a drop in production of wheat in the United States and Canada."

The Nation Newspaper "PARENTS OF PUPILS who attended the Drakes Christian School are scrambling to place their children into other schools after the Harts Gap, Christ Church establishment abruptly closed its doors on Thursday."

Jamaica Gleaner News : "The attorneys representing Constable Rahul Khourie, who was on Thursday sentenced in the western Regional Gun Court to 15 years in prison for illegal possession of firearms, say they will be taking the matter to the Supreme Court. 'Of course, I must appeal,' said lead counsel Kenneth McLeod, adding that he was not in a position to discuss the case."

JAMAICAOBSERVER.COM : "SOMERTON, St James - The seven-day search for retired British nurse, Barbara Jayne Scott, ended yesterday - Good Friday - when her body was fished from a sewerage pit at her home in this St James district. It took the police, who were assisted by firefighters, more than seven hours to remove the corpse from the concrete-sealed pit, after receiving intelligence that she was dumped there."

The Trinidad Guardian "DEFIANT beach-goers yesterday disregarded advisories to be wary of rough seas, as they braved the swells at both Maracas and Tyrico bays. In what appeared to be a typical day at the beach, people lounged on the sand, frolicked in the water and consumed alcohol although lifeguards said there was a substantial decrease in the number of people usually on the beach."

Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday "THERE HAVE been reports of at least four sunken pirogues and three flooded properties as a result of a deep low-pressure system in the Atlantic Ocean that has affected Tobago’s north-west coast."

Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday "A 42-YEAR-OLD Tobago man was at home asleep when he was called to his death early yesterday morning. Relatives of Terrence Joseph, the island’s latest road fatality, said he was asleep at his Arnos Vale Road, Plymouth, home shortly after 10 pm when he was called out by a friend. His distraught mother, Marilyn Joseph, told Newsday the friend had called earlier while he was asleep but returned a short time later and woke him up."

The Nation Newspaper "THE WARNING is clear concerning beaches along the east and west coasts: do not go into the water until Monday, at the earliest. In fact, director of the Department of Emergency Management, Judy Thomas, said if you plan to go into the sea over the weekend, be extra careful as the water was extremely rough."

The Nation Newspaper "THE SIGHT OF VAGRANTS and beggars badgering the public, mostly tourists in Bridgetown, is unfortunately too familiar. They follow the visitors with their hands outstretched and persistently ask for money. Many a visitor has to slip into a store to avoid them, or eventually give in to their request just to get them to go away, only to be confronted by another one a few metres away."

Trinidad Express : "Terrance Joseph,45, of Arnos Vale Road, Plymouth Tobago was killed in an accident along Shirvan Road yesterday morning. The accident took place around 4 a.m. when a black Mazda 323 car in which he was a front seat passenger was involved in a head-on collision with another car, police said."

Antigua Sun : "The 10 gratitudes of the United States of America to Barack Obama for his speech on “race” on 18 March We, the people of the United States of America, thank Barack Obama for naming and respecting each of us instead of dividing and exploiting us. We the people of the United States of America thank Barack Obama for providing sincerity, honesty and integrity to American leadership and speaking on what so many others could not and worse, would not do. We, the people of the United States of America, thank Barack Obama for demonstrating the courage of cultural loyalty devoid of self-hatred and hostility and with an openness to understanding the human weaknesses and burdens that most human beings share."

BBC NEWS "A British woman on an extended holiday in Jamaica has been found murdered. Police on the Caribbean island said the body of Barbara Scott-Jones, 61, was found in a pit near the house she was staying at in the island's northwest."

The Trinidad Guardian "President George W Bush praised the prime ministers of the Bahamas, Barbados and Belize on Thursday as “three of our ... neighborhood’s strong leaders” and assured them their region is important to the US. Bahamas Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, making his fourth visit to the White House, spoke for himself and his colleagues David Thompson of Barbados and Dean Barrow of Belize. Ingraham said the Caribbean leaders told Bush of “a desire on our part to have the Caribbean Basin Initiative Act extended.” The trade agreement expires in September of this year."

MiamiHerald.com : "President René Préval has struggled to maintain stability and revive Haiti's infrastructure. Parliament recently failed to pass a vote of no-confidence against his prime minister, Jacques Edouard-Alexis. Had the vote passed, Préval's constitutionally elected government would have collapsed."

CBC.bb : "The unusually high sea swells affecting the island were Thursday being blamed for the drowning of an elderly man at a beach on the outskirts of the capital. Eyewitnesses said the man went into the water at Brandons Beach around 9 a.m. but got into difficulty soon afterwards. The sea there and along other parts of the island's coasts have been characterised by strong waves as a deep low pressure weather system in the Atlantic continues to affect Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean."

St. Lucia Star "Consequently, many are forced to spend from three to four years behind bars even before they have appeared before a judge and jury. On Tuesday I met a 47-year-old mother of six who has been on remand since January 2005, accused of murdering her then employer. She, like so many others facing her predicament, is uneducated and poor. Through her lawyer Stanley Felix, she gave me a hint of what she has been through these last three years behind bars. Her biggest worry, she said, was her family."

The Trinidad Guardian "Brian Manning, son of Prime Minister Patrick Manning, applied two years ago for an apartment in the Housing Development Authority’s upscale Fidelis Heights development in St Augustine, HDC managing director Noel Garcia confirmed yesterday. The Fidelis Heights development is one of HDC’s pricier projects, located at Gordon Street and Santa Margarita corner in the upscale eastern suburb—opposite the Hugh Wooding Law School."

Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday "MONSTER waves pounded beaches along the North Coast in Trinidad and at several beaches in the sister isle, especially Store Bay, as the deep low pressure system in the North Atlantic churned up the Caribbean Sea. Lifeguards at Maracas Bay yesterday reported seeing waves in excess of 25 feet coming towards the shallow bay of what is considered by many to be the most popular beach in Trinidad. Over in Tobago, waves in excess of 18 feet pounded the usually placid Store Bay, sending limers scurrying for higher ground. (SEE STORY ON THIS PAGE)"

Havana, Mar 20 ( Prensa Latina ) The city of Baracoa, the first Cuban ever founded city in the country, suffers the biggest floods ever in 50 years because of the penetration of sea water because of a boreal storm, without any mortal victims. Waves over five meters high went over the Baracoa Malecon in this city located at 621 miles from Havana, provoking the destruction of 20 houses and a child nursery home. According to the digital version of Cuban newspaper Venceremos in the Cuban eastern province of Guantanamo, this is the worst natural disaster suffered by Baracoa in the last 50 years.

Trinidad Express : "Trade Union leader David Abdulah has sworn to stay opposed to the proposed sale of RBTT Financial Holdings (RBTT) to the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), holding the first of many promised protests outside the local bank's Park Street, Port of Spain, branch yesterday."

Taipei Times : "Cuba and Venezuela on Wednesday clashed with the US during a UN Security Council debate on terrorism over the case of Luis Posada Carriles, a former CIA operative wanted for the 1976 downing of a Cuban airliner. 'Posada Carriles, who is rightly considered the most notorious terrorist of the Western Hemisphere, was released [by US justice] last year in spite of the fact that there was enough evidence linking him to some of the most infamous crimes of the 20th century,' Cuban Ambassador to the UN Rodrigo Malmierca Diaz told the council. He specifically referred to the 1976 downing of a Cuban airliner off Barbados as well as bombings in Havana hotels in 1997." Also see The CIA Bombing of Cubana

Trinidad Express : "A Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CEDERA) official believes that all Caribbean islands south of Puerto Rico will be affected by the swells being generated from a deep low-pressure system-currently in the Atlantic Ocean."

Jamaica Gleaner News "The Police Commissioner, Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin, has ordered a review of the policy that governs the employment of off-duty police personnel. Karl Angell, director of communications at the Jamaica Constabulary Force, says the commissioner has directed that the policy review for the police extra-work programme be dealt with as a matter of urgency."

JAMAICAOBSERVER.COM : "THE state-owned Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) yesterday fired its director of administration and corporate secretary, Rodney Salmon, after admitting to numerous breaches in the handling of the Cuban light bulb affair."

SUN St.Kitts & Nevis : "Employees at the S.L Horsford’s Shopping Complex, located at Wellington Road, arrived to work yesterday only to meet their building broken into. Upon arrival at the scene the SUN learned that the perpetrators who were caught on camera had broken into the Caribbean Lottery, St. Kitts/Nevis Ltd., the nearby supermarket, Horsfords Valu Mart and its counterpart, Dollar Smart. An employee at the lottery building said at approximately 2 a.m. they received a call from an officer of the security firm monitoring their business who informed them that security had been breached and the police were notified. She said at 3 a.m. she called back the security employee to enquire as the status but was told the police had not responded as yet."

Antigua Sun : "Carlton and Careem Bedminister were sentenced to five and seven years in prison respectively for the attempted murder of Kevin Norde. The sentences were handed down yesterday during the closing of the January Criminal Assizes. A deafening wail echoed through- out the courtroom by a woman, who apparently came to lend support to the brothers, top Antiguan lawn tennis players, who have excelled while representing Antigua and Barbuda at the sport at the national and regional levels. The young lady apparently fainted, gave loud gasps and had to be escorted from the courtroom"

The Trinidad Guardian "Trincity Mall in east Trinidad has been branded by the police as a “hotbed for car thieves.” Speaking during a press briefing at Police Administration building in Port-of-Spain yesterday, ASP Glen Hackett said out of all the malls in the country, Trincity Mall had the highest rate for stolen vehicles."

Antigua Sun : "KINGSTON, Jamaica (CMC) – Lawyers for a United States (US) citizen say they are seeking compensation from the Jamaica government after their client was detained in Jamaica for more than a year. Attorney Christopher Townsend told reporters that his client, Linden Graham, a citizen of St. Croix, had been deported to Jamaica from the US and kept in prison for more than a year. “Mr. Linden Graham came to us for representation, he complained that he was deported from the United States to Jamaica and he’s not Jamaican, he’s from St Croix, he was in the Central lock-up for a couple of months, a year and a half, from 3 July, 2006 to 23 Oct., 2007."

ECONOMY: Caribbean Buffeted by Global Price Spikes : "GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Mar 19 (IPS) - As the single parent of a five-year-old boy, Sonita Balkaran can barely make ends meet these days. A clothing vendor in one of this city's five municipal markets, Balkarran has watched in horror the steady decline of her living standard, estimating that her spending power has shrunk by about 50 percent in the last year. 'The price of anything you can think about has gone up,' she said one very hot afternoon this week. 'What hurts is that your salary is not going up and prices are not moving up by a few points. They are jumping up. Ask anyone,' she added, touching on a subject that has brought political discomfort to some governments and misery for ordinary Caribbean people in the last year."

The Trinidad Guardian "Finance Minister Karen Nunez-Tesheira said yesterday T&T’s ageing population could place a severe burden on the working population to make higher contributions to the National Insurance Scheme (NIS)."

Cuba to build 30 hotels : "The Cuban government said Wednesday it planned to build 30 new hotels between 2008 and 2010 with the aim of increasing the number of rooms available to international tourists from 46,000 to 56,000."

Caribbean360.com : "GEORGETOWN, Guyana, March 19, 2008 - The United Nations has reported that more Caribbean youth in the 15 to 17 year-old age group die from homicide than others their age in any other part of the world."

HIV-Aids "Caribbean health officials gathered on Tuesday in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, to launch a project aimed at fighting HIV and Aids in the region, the Caribbean Media Corporation reports. The HIV Epidemic and Response Synthesis project is part of a global effort led by the World Bank and regional institutions to examine HIV and Aids in the Caribbean, the Caribbean Media Corporation reports."

USATODAY.com : "KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — The posh Jamaican hotel room where Pakistan's cricket coach died under disputed circumstances has gone from crime scene to tourist draw. The body of Bob Woolmer was found in Room 374 of the Jamaica Pegasus hotel last March, launching an international investigation after Jamaican authorities said he had been strangled. In an embarrassing reversal, police later said experts had concluded he died of natural causes, most likely heart disease."

The Nassau Guardian - "While most people are at and about in search of their Good Friday fish, also on their minds is the foods that will grace their dinner table on Easter Sunday, which is probably the second most important holiday meal for Bahamians — after Christmas of course."

The Nation Newspaper "A UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES (UWI) STUDENT says he has worked out a system for bus commuters to more easily and quickly travel across Barbados, without having to go into the congested capital of Bridgetown."

Variety : "The government of Antigua is likely to abrogate intellectual property treaties with the U.S. by the end of March and authorize wholesale copying of American movies, music and other 'soft targets' if the Bush administration fails to respond to proposals for settling a trade dispute between the two counties, according to the lawyer representing the Caribbean island nation."

Stabroek News : "Region Four councillors representing the PNCR-1G, AFC and Justice For All Party (JFAP) yesterday voted in favour of a directive for administrative officers to exercise fair play, transparency and equitableness in the dissemination of material to all media houses but PPP/C councillors abstained."

Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday "THE BID by the Prime Minister Patrick Manning-led Government to acquire an executive jet yesterday crash landed as Caribbean Airlines (CA) announced that it will not go forward with a proposed multi-million dollar luxury jet acquisition with Bombardier. But there was no sign yesterday that this will be the last Trinidad and Tobago will hear of a jet for the Government as Marianno Browne, the Minister in the Ministry of Finance, and CA defended the faltered deal’s viability and signalled the possibility that if another jet becomes available the Government will support CA in its plans to offer an executive jet service."

The Trinidad Guardian "Caribbean Airlines’ proposed executive jet initiative has “crashed” after CA confirmed yesterday it will not be proceeding with the purchase of the controversial jet “at this time.” However, CA—as company chairman Arthur Lok Jack did last week—made it clear it will continue to explore opportunities to establish the executive jet service."

JAMAICAOBSERVER.COM : "The Public Accounts Committee of Parliament (PAC) yesterday took the Tax Administration Services Department (TASD) to task for $9.5 million owed for rental and maintenance to the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) for 2006, despite the fact that provision was made in the budget for the payment."

Jamaica Gleaner News "After five months of sitting in a hangar in France, an Airbus 340 leased by Air Jamaica will cost the country US$3.5 million (J$250 million), payable to International Leasing and Financial Corporation (ILFC). The airline has confirmed that the Airbus, which should have been returned to ILFC upon the sale of Air Jamaica's Heathrow slots to Virgin Airways, has been sitting in the maintenance facilities at Sogerma in Bordeaux, France."

The Nation Newspaper "RUNNING A CONSTITUENCY OFFICE is expensive business, with one Member of Parliament (MP) revealing that last year alone he spent as much as $150 000 on matters related to his constituency. That admission came from former Cabinet minister and St Andrew MP George Payne, who was speaking during the Estimates Debate in the House of Assembly yesterday."

Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday "AN EIGHT-year-old girl whose mother was murdered last November yesterday testified for the prosecution in the inquiry in which two relatives, a mother and a son, are charged with the killing. The girl, Felicia King, will now go down as the youngest witness in a murder inquiry in this country’s modern judicial history, lawyers said yesterday"

Radiojamaica.com "Grenada's Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell has given his broadest hint that he would soon announce the date for the general election. 'We say on your marks, get set...we are going to tell you when to go my friends,' said Dr. Mitchell to a crowd of jubilant supporters."

St. Lucia Star "An investigation of conditions at the Golden Hope Hospital conducted last month has concluded with the following: 'It is the opinion of the officers that the conditions as observed at the hospital are such that it has the potential to cause severe mental, physical and emotional stress to both the persons who have to work at such an institution as well as the patients who are forced to suffer those inhumane conditions."

Jamaica Gleaner News "Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Justin Felice wants to see a copy of a report by Jamaican anthropologist Dr Herbert Gayle to determine the extent to which wealthy Jamaicans are funding criminal activities throughout the country. ACP Felice, who is in charge of the anti-corruption unit of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), said his job is to target all members of criminal groups and organisations regardless of their social backgrounds."

Caribbean Net News: "BASSETERRE, St Kitts: Holding signs reading, 'Ross University: Stop Torturing Animals', members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) will hold a series of protests against the alleged maiming and killing of animals in laboratories at Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine.

International Herald Tribune : "PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti: The grunts are no different. The clang of the weights sounds pretty much the same as well. And sweat drips off bodies at both the chichi Gold's Gym in Port-au-Prince's priciest suburb and at the far more humble open-air workout joint farther down the hill known by regulars as the Temple of Pain. These two gyms might as well be in different worlds, situated as they are on opposite sides of the class divide that has long been such an entrenched part of Haiti."

The Nation Newspaper "A BAD political habit has developed among member governments of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) in the appointment of a chief justice of that subregion's Supreme Court. It is one that frustrates confirmation of an appointment until all nine heads of government of the OECS give their consent."

The Nassau Guardian "Sunday, June 1 marks the start of the dreaded hurricane season, but even though it's a little over three months away, it's never too early to start planning to protect your home and your loved ones. Hurricanes and tropical storms have no mercy. They destroy everything in their path — including your home, but there is always a solution to hurricane protection, and Storm Shutters offers it to you."

The Trinidad Guardian "Warning that the evidence of failure is emblazoned in the media daily, President George Maxwell Richards is challenging T&T to live up to its full potential, rather than become a failed state. “Let T&T be a state that prevails, not a state that fails,” Richards said yesterday, immediately after being sworn into office for a second term at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port-of- Spain."

The Nation Newspaper : "IT WAS HOT LIKE PEPPER in the House of Assembly yesterday. In full view of a packed public gallery, three of the island's most prominent politicians went back and forth in a shouting match that lasted almost 45 minutes, and none backed down."

CBC.bb : "A senior lawyer says the Attorney General may take legal action against the female police officer who accused Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves of raping her. Anthony Astaphan said the allegations and subsequent legal battle was 'an abuse of the process, we see it as an attempt to use the judicial process to score political points'. Astaphan appeared on behalf of Attorney General Judith Jones Morgan during the just concluded hearing in which Justice Gertel Thom rejected a call for the Director of Public Prosecution's (DPP) decision to discontinue rape charges against Dr Gonsalves to be reviewed."

SUN St.Kitts & Nevis : "Members of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) will be launching a protest today at the Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, campaigning against what they describe as animal abuse which is taking place at the university. Melissa Karpel, spokes person for the protest, told the SUN that they will hold a “series of protests against the alleged maiming and killing of animals in laboratories at Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine.” After which they would travel to the Government House and the RLB International Airport."

Antigua Sun : "NEW YORK – Despite the serious challenges facing the Caribbean’s tourism industry, from new passport regulations to a slowdown in the United States economy, the Caribbean region can be cautiously optimistic about its future as leaders begin to pay greater attention to this, the Caribbean’s basic industry. Tourism, now acknowledged as the lifeblood of the region’s economy, has always played an important role in generating precious foreign exchange revenues, and has become even more essential with the marginalisation of traditional staples like sugar and bananas in an era of trade liberalisation."

JAMAICAOBSERVER.COM : "THE special corporal who was on Saturday shot and injured during a robbery at his home in Pembroke Hall, Kingston 19, is recovering, according to the police."

The Trinidad Guardian "Jamaican film-makers are jealous because they wish they had the resources like T&T’s industry. So said Jamaican film-maker Maxine Walters who was among judges at Friday’s Feature Film Programme hosted by the T&T Film Company."