SmallShop Caribbean News

Jean-Max Bellerive, the Haitian prime minister, has told Al Jazeera that he does not understand why so much water and food in storage facilities at the airport is not being distributed. In an exclusive interview on Wednesday, Bellerive expressed his frustration with security decisions made by the US military that are hindering the earthquake relief effort. "Haitians don't care about the security, they just want the water, food and medicine to get to them ... they don't feel that there is the need for so much security," he said.

Kaieteur News : "A long-standing family feud ended tragically with the brutal murder of 33-year-old Maxwell Watson, of Little Abary, East Coast Demerara last night. Watson was stabbed in the left side chest by his uncle and collapsed on the parapet outside his yard. His reputed wife, 20-year-old Valerie Niles sustained a stab in the back while trying to protect Watson. While Watson bled to death, Niles was however treated at the Mahaicony Hospital and sent home. The incident which sent shockwaves throughout the village was not totally unexpected since the family, who occupy three houses in one yard, was always engaged in heated arguments. There were threats of murdering one another and that was the order of the day. The police were called upon on several occasions to intervene. According to Niles, the problem escalated earlier yesterday when her husband’s uncle who was imbibing began throwing suggestive remarks at her."

Stabroek News "Facing protests in Bartica over a proposal that would see a six-month delay before mining can commence, government yesterday announced the deployment of a ministerial team to meet with miners and residents of the community today."

Jamaica Gleaner News "PUBLIC DEFENDER Earl Witter is beseeching the country's police to place greater emphasis on the manner in which they engage citizens. Witter, who was speaking at the Bureau of Special Investigations (BSI) awards and prize-giving ceremony in downtown Kingston yesterday, said the number of persons killed by the police could be less 'if there was greater regard for the rules of engagement'. 'For too many years, there has been a rate of slaughter of our people by our people themselves that is not only frightening, but demands reduction,' Witter said. The public defender's office investigated 59 cases of police killings last year, nearly twice as much as the 34 such investigations the previous year."

JamaicaObserver.com : "JUST over two weeks after a magnitude-7 earthquake demolished the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince, killing more than 200,000 people and leaving millions homeless, an earthquake drill in Spanish Town yesterday was treated as a joke by participants in the simulation, while emergency services were late in their response. Half-an-hour after the 10:00 am drill began at the St Catherine Parish Council offices in the old capital, the ambulance had not arrived to transport those labelled as seriously injured or dying."

Nation News "ARE THERE ritual killings of animals going on in St Lucy? That's the question being asked after two decapitated monkeys were found hanging from trees in Cove Bay. This discovery comes months after a huge dog was found tied to a tree in Maycocks. The wounds on its body suggested it was tortured, then burnt and hung. The gruesome sight of the decapitated monkeys hanging from trees shocked a group of picnickers when they went to the secluded Cove Bay recreation spot last weekend. They informed the SATURDAY SUN of the troubling discovery."

Dominica News Online : "A man convicted of murder and serving a 40-year jail sentence has escaped from the Stockfarm State Prison. Steven Alphonse of Belles escaped from the prison on Wednesday and a preliminary search for him proved unsuccessful. This is the third time that Alphonse has escaped from prison. Police consider him to be dangerous and are appealing to the public to relay any information that they may have concerning his whereabouts."

Skier Errol Kerr is looking to become the first athlete from the Caribbean to win a medal in the Winter Olympics.

The upsurge in violent crime continues unabated as a Bisee man became the fifth homicide victim for the New Year. Shervon Gilbert was gunned down in his neighborhood Tuesday night in an apparent drive by shooting. Law Enforcement officials say the victim was no stranger to police and was on bail awaiting trial for murder.

Antigua Sun "The police have charged a second man in connection with the robbery of a vehicle from a Browne’s Avenue man and the subsequent shootout with law enforcement officials that followed. Collin “Abel” Richards, 37, who has been hospitalised since the incident on Tuesday 22 Dec., 2009, in Golden Grove has been jointly charged with his accomplice Jason Collin Millette, 25. Millette, who is also referred to as “Red Man' and 'Mills” was taken before the St. John’s Magistrates’ Court earlier this month and was remanded to Her Majesty’s Prison. He remains at the penal facility as he has been unable to obtain bail in the High Court of Justice."

Jamaica Gleaner News "The Jamaican diaspora group in Canada wants changes to the Constitution to bar Commonwealth citizens who are not Jamaicans from being eligible to sit in Parliament. At the same time, representatives from the diaspora have argued against giving Jamaicans overseas voting rights to elect a government in Jamaica. At present, the Constitution allows Commonwealth citizens who reside in Jamaica for a year to run for a seat in the nation's Parliament.

JamaicaObserver.com : "STUDENTS of the University of the West Indies yesterday staged a demonstration on the Mona campus, to protest against the International Monetary Fund (IMF)-ordered freeze on subsidies to tertiary institutions, as well as the impending hike in tuition fees and other costs. The students, armed with anti-Government placards, later gathered at a function attended by Education Minister Andrew Holness on the campus and stood silently as a mark of protest against the measures, which will see subsidies to the university capped at last year's level."

Nation News - Home : "FORMER CABINET MINISTER Trevor Prescod went to the Bridgetown Magistrates' Court yesterday to offer moral support to his colleague Cheryl Hunte. However, he ended up standing in the dock next to her to answer a charge that they behaved in a threatening manner at the Ministry of Family and Youth Affairs on June 6 last year.

ABC News : "LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Gay rights groups angry about a Grammy nomination for jailed Jamaican reggae singer Buju Banton took out a full page advert on Friday, protesting the honoring of an artist they said had 'promoted the murder of gay people throughout his career.' Banton, 36, is up for a best reggae album award for his 'Rasta Got Soul' release at the Grammys on Sunday. He is currently in jail in Florida awaiting trial on a cocaine charge and will not be attending the awards show. In an advert in Hollywood show business paper Daily Variety, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center urged Grammy organizers to use Sunday's televised ceremony to denounce music 'that promotes or celebrates violence against any group of people.'"

Las Vegas Sun : "Nilssen, a graduate student at San Francisco State University, was killed off Pigeon Point Beach, near the affluent boating community of English Harbor that has become a target of the Caribbean island's crime wave. Her body was found less than a mile (kilometer) from where an Australian yacht captain was slain nearly a year ago. He and his girlfriend were accosted in a dockyard area near English Harbor."

- CBS News : "(AP) TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - The attorney for Jamaican reggae star Buju Banton says the government entrapped his client in a drug deal. In court documents filed Tuesday, David Markus says the government used a paid informant to convince his client to buy cocaine. The defense is pushing to have the informant's identity revealed. To prove entrapment, Markus will have to show that Banton was not predisposed to engage in criminal behavior and that the government induced him."

| Reuters : "HOUSTON (Reuters) - The daughter of indicted Texas financier Allen Stanford must move out of a $1.3 million luxury apartment in Houston by March 31, according to an agreement reached with a court-appointed receiver on Thursday. U.S. Randi Stanford, 27, had fought attempts to force her to leave the condominium, even referring in a court filing to 'Gestapo-like tactics' by lawyers for the receiver, Ralph Janvey. The apartment is in a high-rise in Houston's posh River Oaks neighborhood."

ZIZ "St. Kitts, (Thursday 28th January 2010): On Wednesday 27th January 2010 at 2:10 pm police on Nevis at the Charlestown Police Station formally arrested and charged Joylyn Ross of Hermitage a native of Guyana without a warrant for the following offences: Using a cell phone in a polling booth. Entering a polling station booth carrying a cell phone."

Stabroek News - Burnt body thought to be that of taxi driver : "Persons searching for missing taxi driver, Bomeshwar Sukhdeo, yesterday stumbled upon a badly burnt corpse at the side of the road leading to Mocha Arcadia, East Bank Demerara, believed to be his. While positive identification cannot be established until DNA tests are conducted, the body was determined to be that of a male of Indian descent, not more than 25 years of age and about five feet, ten inches tall. The burning appeared to have been recently done."

Kaieteur News : "The charred remains of a male of East Indian ancestry, identified as that of the missing taxi driver Bomeshwar Sukhdeo, called Anil, was discovered on the Mocha Arcadia access road, yesterday. And by last night the police had arrested a prime suspect. The suspect, Balram Singh, of Agricola, Greater Georgetown, has reportedly admitted to killing the taxi driver, Sukhdeo, and selling his car to a taxi service in Grove, East Bank Demerara. Information supplied to the police led them to Balram Singh who, during interrogation, said that the idea was hatched when the owner of the Grove taxi service indicated that he would be happy if he could get a wagon similar to the one he owned."

Go-Jamaica "Professor Rex Milton Nettleford, a former vice-chancellor at the University of the West Indies has been admitted to a Washington based hospital in the United States. A source close to the family has confirmed that Professor Nettleford collapsed during a meeting yesterday and was later hospitalized. The Gleaner Power 106 News has also been informed that his doctors locally are now consulting with medical personnel overseas as to how to proceed with his treatment. Rex Nettleford is the recipient of Jamaica’s third highest honour, the order of Merit and is a cultural advisor to the prime minister."

JamaicaObserver.com : "DR George Proctor, an 89-year-old former University of the West Indies lecturer, was yesterday convicted of conspiracy to kill his wife of 30 years and three other people almost four years ago. Proctor's driver, Glenmore Fellington, 46, who was also held on conspiracy charges, was also convicted."

Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday "AN ARGUMENT between students resulted in a female Form Three student being stabbed in the chest at the St Augustine Secondary School yesterday afternoon. Police reported that at about 1.40 pm, 15-year-old Shivana Mata and a 14-year-old student were in the science lab of the school, when an argument erupted. The altercation quickly escalated and one student slapped the other. The 14-year-old student reached into her book bag, pulled out a knife and stabbed Mata several times in the chest and arms. Mata was quickly taken to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (EWMSC) in Mt Hope where she was treated and warded in stable condition. Doctors said Mata would be kept overnight for observation."

Sun St. Kitts "Huge crowds were celebrating around St. Kitts/Nevis early yesterday as it was confirmed that the incumbent St. Kitts/Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) had won Monday’s general election. The SKNLP was returned to power in Monday’s general election with a slightly reduced majority in an election Prime Minister Dr. Denzil L. Douglas described as one 'of the most crucial' in the history of the twin island Federation. Preliminary figures released by the electoral office show that the SKNLP won six seats on St. Kitts as compared to the seven seats it won in the 2004 general election. Douglas, who won a fourth consecutive term in office, comfortably won his seat in Constituency #6, defeating his challenger, Junie Hodge, by a margin of 1,905 votes to 179."

Antigua Sun "A US District Judge ruled Tuesday that Stanford can use his company's Lloyd’s of London directors and officers to pay his defense lawyers. Judge David Hitner in his ruling rejected the company’s request to throw out Stanford’s lawsuit against the company. “The court has determined that the plaintiffs have a substantial likelihood of succeeding on their claim that the policies require underwriters to advance defence funds until a final judicial determination is made on the underlying litigation,” Hittner said in the ruling. The Lloyd’s underwriters had denied coverage in November, saying the policy was voided by the August guilty plea of James M. Davis, who had been chief financial officer for Stanford Financial."

Nation News "THE 76-YEAR-OLD MAN who shot his neighbour in a dispute over environmental pollution was given a suspended prison sentence when he appeared in the No. 5 Supreme Court. Gerald Carlton Cox, of Sanford, St Philip, was back before Justice William Chandler after pleading guilty in 2008 to wounding his neighbour Dasrat Sugrim on October 1, 2002. 'This is an offence involving violence and I am satisfied that a custodial sentence is warranted,' the judge said. However, the judge said he had weighed the mitigating and aggravating factors and had considered the time Cox had spent on remand before imposing the two-year sentence suspended for two years."

Haitian teenager is found alive inside the bathroom of her collapsed house 15 days following the Haiti earthquake

The Haitian government is handing out aid to stricken quake victims for the first time, but there isn't enough to go round. Violence is breaking out on the streets as desperate Haitians struggle against one another for food parcels. France 24's special correspondent, Nathan King, has been to Cité Soleil, one the poorest and most densely populated ares of the capital, Port-au-Prince.

Go-Jamaica :: IMF board review of letter of intent delayed :: News : "Jamaicans will have to wait until next week to hear whether the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will approve the government’s request for a US$1.25 billion standby arrangement. The executive board of the IMF was expected to review Jamaica’s application today but this has been postponed to next week Wednesday, February 3. Finance Minister Audley Shaw made the disclosure while closing the debate on the government’s economic programme in Parliament last night. An approval is expected to pave the way for a further US$1.1 billion in loans from multilateral agencies. Mr Shaw also announced that the deadline for completion of the Jamaica Debt Exchange initiative, which came into effect last week Monday and should have closed yesterday has been extended."

JamaicaObserver.com : "THE Opposition People's National Party (PNP) yesterday cautioned the Government to ensure that the pending agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was more than an optimistic wish list, warning that the country could be left in a worse state because of miscalculations. Dr Omar Davies, Opposition spokesman on finance and minister in the former PNP Government, said the implications of failing the IMF tests and pinning too much hopes on the Debt Exchange programme, which the Government launched earlier this month to further qualify for the IMF loan, were substantial."

Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday "Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday yesterday mounted a challenge to the legitimacy of the UNC internal polls, refusing to accept official results confirming Siparia MP Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s landslide victory as political leader. Despite this, newly elected UNC chairman Jack Warner last night remained confident of gaining the support of three MPs from Panday’s camp to back Persad-Bissessar to replace Panday as Opposition Leader in the House of Representatives."

SVG Today : "KINGSTOWN, St Vincent, CMC – Opposition Leader Arnhim Eustace on Tuesday dismissed as a “fraud of monumental proportion,” the EC$913.5 million (US$338.3 million) tax-free national budget presented to Parliament by the St. Vincent and the Grenadines government. Eustace, an economist, said the budget presented on Monday was fraught with inconsistencies, half-truths, fake analysis and heavy deficit without clear indications of financing."

Stabroek News "Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson yesterday ordered that a 14-year-old girl be kept in police custody when she appeared before her at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court accused of the murder of another female at Port Kaituma, North West District last year. The teen was not required to enter a plea to the indictable charge of murder. It is alleged that on December 26 at Port Kaituma, she murdered Georgina John. Prosecutor Stephen Telford stated that prior to the incident the teen and John had a problem."

The Bahama Journal "The Ministry of Health will begin to administer free vaccinations for the Influenza A (HINI) Virus to 30,000 of the most at-risk Bahamians as early as next week, Minister of Health Dr. Hubert Minnis said yesterday. The vaccinations will be administered by healthcare professionals of the Department of Public Health and the Grand Bahama Health Services.� During a press briefing yesterday, Dr. Minnis said that as with the vaccine for seasonal influenza, persons with allergies to eggs should not receive the Influenza A (HINI) vaccine.�"

The Bermuda Sun "A vital tier of Bermudian democracy or archaic and inefficient institutions that are blocking progress? That's the $800,000 question Government consultants will have to answer as they compile their report on reform of the corporations of Hamilton and St George. Government says it is open-minded about what the planned report - announced by Cabinet minister Walter Roban on Friday - might entail."

Nation News "THERE IS a perception that the Barbadian society 'is becoming increasingly more aggressive'. Word of this has come from Minister of Youth Dr Esther Byer-Suckoo, who is worried that both adults and young people were exhibiting violent behaviour. She made the comments yesterday at the Fourth Anniversary Peace Ambassadors Programme at Harrison College. 'We've seen that gang violence has crept into our schools, and teachers would probably lament that they spend more time now trying to discipline and settle classroom disputes than teaching lessons,' Byer-Suckoo said."

News of his death rocked the calypso fraternity he has belonged to for over five years. A young performer he was the father of three and a member of the vital tourism industry. Gunned down in the back following the robbery of his silver chain Miendad Raggie know by his stage name Ratchie died on Saturday evening. His was the third murder so far for this year.

Antigua Sun "The accident took place in the vicinity of C.U Development Ltd., and involved a silver Toyota Rav 4 jeep R 268 driven by 36-year-old Patrick Martin of Union Road, while the white Suzuki Jeep A 33821 was driven by 61-year-old Ivy Hurst of Friars Hill Road. It is alleged that the vehicle which Martin was driving was heading in a southerly direction. The driver claimed he dropped into a pot hole and lost control of his vehicle, which collided with the jeep Hurst was driving in the opposition direction."

Kaieteur News : "The mother of three was found with her neck almost severed and a chop to the back of her head. The circumstances surrounding her demise are still unclear. However, according to police reports, she was alone at her Lot 19 Line Path home when the incident occurred. Police reports further indicate that her husband, Boodh Bhoge, had left their home earlier to take the two younger children to school. Upon his return, he entered the three-bedroom home then shortly after made his way back to the front stairway (verandah) to smoke a cigarette. He later went back into the house where he saw his wife in bed, dead. According to information received from police, the man said when he returned home he did not look around for his wife neither did he suspect that anything was wrong."

Stabroek News "The body of a 43-year-old mother of three was discovered at her home at Line Path, Skeldon, Corentyne, Berbice around 10 am yesterday with chop and stab wounds and a close relative is in police custody assisting with investigations. Nalini ‘Nalo’ Bhoge who was reportedly at home alone at the time of the murder was found lying in a pool of blood with chops to the back of her head and neck and at the sides of her neck as well as four stab wounds in her upper back. Police found a bloodstained cutlass and an ice pick, suspected to be the murder weapons, at the scene. A police press release said the woman’s body was found at her home with several chop and stab wounds."

Trinidad Express "A CARIBBEAN Airlines pilot was shot dead after confronting bandits at his Glencoe home yesterday afternoon. Riaz Baksh was 54 and lived at 19 Atlantic Avenue, Glencoe, a quiet, shaded, relatively upscale neighbourhood. Police said at around 4.10 p.m., Baksh had pulled into the driveway of his home after opening his remote controlled gate. As he drove in he was confronted by ’an unknown number’ of bandits. Police believe he struggled with these men when they attacked him. One of the bandits fired a shot, hitting Baksh to his chest. The bandits then fled."

Trinidad Express "UNC chairman Jack Warner feels former leader Basdeo Panday would, on his own volition, do the honourable thing and resign as Opposition Leader. ’We may not have to seek a majority of parliamentarians (to signal to the President that they support new Political Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar for the post of Opposition Leader),’ Warner said yesterday. ’I feel that Mr Panday, when he sits and thinks about it, he would realise that the party’s membership has spoken, and the MPs would come to the same realisation ... and decide that Mrs Persad-Bissessar should assume that position and I look forward to them doing that.’"

Nation News "ANOTHER WELL-KNOWN BARBADIAN has been struck by an email scam which claims he is stranded overseas and in financial trouble. At a complete loss over the last 24 hours, veteran sports broadcast journalist Sam Wilkinson has been bombarded with calls of concern from over the globe, querying whether he was stranded in England and in desperate need of $3 000.

Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday "A SECONDARY school teacher was stabbed to death by a man whom she knew at her Cunupia home on Saturday evening. Reena Ramsumair, 28, of Alexander Street, Cunupia a Spanish teacher who worked at the Couva East Secondary School died while undergoing surgery at the Chaguanas Health facility. Police reports said that about 6 pm, Ramsumair was at home with her four-year-old son when the man whom she broke off a relationship recently, came into the house and an argument ensued. Other relatives intervened when the argument grew heated but without warning, the man grabbed a knife and quickly stabbed Ramsumair in the neck before fleeing."

Kaieteur News : "PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) – The truckers filling Haiti’s mass graves with bodies reported ever higher numbers: More than 150,000 quake victims have been buried by the government, an official said yesterday. That doesn’t count those still under the debris, carried off by relatives or killed in the outlying quake zone. Government has claimed the toll from the country’s earthquake could rise to as many as 300,000 dead. “Nobody knows how many bodies are buried in the rubble — 200,000? 300,000? Who knows the overall death toll?” said the official, Communications Minister Marie-Laurence Jocelyn Lassegue. Dealing with the living, meanwhile, a global army of aid workers was getting more food into people’s hands, but acknowledged falling short. “We wish we could do more, quicker,” said UN World Food Program chief Josette Sheeran, visiting Port-au-Prince."

Go-Jamaica "The presiding judge in the murder trial of American consultant botanist, Dr George Proctor and his former driver, Glenmore Fillington, today began her summation in the case. Justice Gloria Smith outlined the facts of the case to the jury. The crown led evidence that between February 6 and April 20, 2006, the men conspired with Walden Simpson to murder 69-year-old Lela Proctor and three other women, who lived at the Proctors’ House at Stanton Terrace in St Andrew. Prosecutors told the court today that the men committed a gruesome act and should be found guilty."

Jamaica Gleaner News - "A string of price increases on basic food items has pushed more Jamaicans to the edge of the poverty line. With the latest official figures showing the national poverty level at approximately 9.9 per cent, there are growing fears that the wave of price increases could lead to a sharp climb in the number when the 2009 figure is released this year. In recent months, Jamaicans have had to dig much deeper to purchase essential items which make up the basic food basket. The corner shops - the poor man's supermarkets - have taken a battering as their customer base has shrunk. But not wanting to lose them entirely, some of these shop owners have elected to absorb the increases instead of passing them on to their customers."

JamaicaObserver.com : "But the days he spent in Haiti will haunt him for a long time to come. In fact, he told the Sunday Observer yesterday that nothing could have prepared him for the devastation he witnessed when he and nine of his fellow firefighters landed in Port-au-Prince to assist in the rescue of those trapped under concrete rubble following the deadly January 12 earthquake. He candidly admitted that the images that keep replaying themselves in his head were numerous, but said the one that moved him the most was that of a group of children who were crushed to death inside an infant school in the city. 'They all died with their hands stretched out when the building fell on their backs,' the new dad of seven months said, sadness in his voice."

JamaicaObserver.com : "IF retired Justice Boyd Carey had known what he was getting into when he got the call to come back to Jamaica from The Bahamas to head up the Commission of Enquiry into the Finsac troubles, he might have said a polite 'no'. 'When I said 'yes' to the invitation, I didn't know so much (partisan) politics was involved,' the embattled Carey confessed in an interview with the Sunday Observer, after a week of blistering charges and counter-charges."

Nation News "TECTONIC PLATES. TSUNAMIS. The two have hardly been in the vocabulary of Caribbean people. But they should be. According to the chief scientist of the United States-based organisation that studies, investigates, and reports on seismic activity in the Caribbean Basin, a tsunami striking anywhere in the Caribbean - from Cuba and Jamaica in the north to Trinidad and Barbados in the south - is not far fetched. Tectonic plates along two ridges of the earth's crust in the Caribbean Basin move 22 millimetres every year, which in itself is a not a problem, but recently, the constant movement has created points where stress accumulates in areas where the plates no longer stand up, and the earth quakes. The result is an earthquake. The bad result, if the earthquake occurs under water, could be a tsunami."

Kaieteur News : "Police are currently trying to track down a car which was used during a midmorning robbery on a local diamond dealer. Reports are that the businessman, Regan Pollard, of 195-196 Kaieteur Road, Bel Air Park, was attacked by three gunmen who were waiting in a car not far from his home. This newspaper was told that Pollard was robbed of some $5 M. According to reports, Pollard and his driver were approaching the gate when a car pulled up alongside them and the men exited the car. Two men went to Pollard and his driver as the third man stayed in the car."

Stabroek News "The pregnant fruit vendor who was accidently shot in the back by a policeman during a chase on Thursday is calling for the appropriate punishment to be meted out to the rank for his carelessness. The bullet which pierced Earlene Morgan’s back exited her body and she was discharged from hospital yesterday, after being kept over-night so that her unborn child could be cleared of any danger. Speaking to Stabroek News shortly after she was discharged from the Georgetown Hospital at midday, Morgan, a 20-year-old Buxtonian, disapproved of the way the policeman handled the situation on Thursday morning. “That place was crowded man. He shouldn’ta shot like that; when the shot fire people start to run towards me. I coulda get trampled,” the woman said."

Nation News "SOME BARTENDERS are aiding sexual predators by slipping date rape drugs into drinks of nightclub patrons, say police. The Royal Barbados Police Force are aware of the practice and yesterday Detective Constable Antonio Marshall made a point of giving advance warning to 13-year-olds - who cannot legally enter nightclubs - about risks of accepting drinks from people they did not know and in leaving drinks unsupervised. The third formers from the island's secondary schools were attending a seminar organised by the National Council on Substance Abuse in collaboration with the Emerging Global Leaders of Barbados."

Ten days after the Haiti earthquake, two more survivors emerged from the rubble. Al Jazeera's Clayton Swisher tells the story of the effort to free Butu Emmanuel, a young man who was found severly dehydrated. He said it was his love for his family that gave him strenght to stay alive.

Flames lit up the night sky over Haiti's capital on Friday as a number of buildings were on fire in the commercial district. Police believe looters are responsible.

Stabroek News "President Bharrat Jagdeo has accused the US of acting in its own interest around the world and of blocking a visit of regional leaders to the quake-devastated Haiti. “I was informed that a delegation comprised of Latin American leaders who were going to visit Haiti and contribute aid to that country faced the objection of the US government and could not make the humanitarian move,” Jagdeo was quoted as saying by the Iranian News Agency (IRNA)."

Kaieteur News : "Doctors at the Georgetown Public Hospital were desperately trying to save the life of a 20-year-old market vendor and her unborn child, after the woman was accidentally shot on Water Street by an off duty police officer who was pursuing a bandit in the vicinity of Stabroek Market yesterday morning. Earlene Morgan, of 64 Company Road, Buxton, who is five months pregnant with what would be her first child, was rushed to the hospital nursing a gunshot wound to the back. Hospital sources have indicated that the bullet is lodged in the woman’s spine and removing it may cause her to lose her child or become paralyzed. According to eyewitnesses, the off duty police officer was trying to apprehend a bandit who had just snatched a cell phone from a female student when he accidentally shot the woman. The bandit who was riding a bicycle managed to escape in the crowd."

Jamaica Gleaner News "After being bombarded with criticisms about its tardiness in signing an extradition warrant for Tivoli Gardens' strongman, Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, the Government is again embroiled in a major extradition controversy with the United States government. There are reports that the Government has reversed its acceptance of a request from the US government to extradite a prominent St James businessman.According to information reaching The Gleaner, the news that Presley Bingham will not be extradited has left some law-enforcement officers stunned. This was communicated to members of the Fugitive Apprehension Team Wednesday afternoon, while US marshals were in the island waiting to escort Bingham to the United States where he is wanted on drug-related charges."

Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday "Steven Samuel, a 44-year-old man from Laventille, has been jailed for four months with hard labour for stealing 17 copies of Newsday papers from the Office of the Prime Minister. He will also serve two months in jail with hard labour for the unlawful entry of the compound of the Office of the Prime Minister, 13-15 St Clair Avenue, St Clair. Samuel pleaded guilty to the charges and told Magistrate Marcia Murray yesterday that he stole the papers to sell to a customer “downtown”. Samuel, a resident of Laventille Road, was held by security guards of the Office of the Prime Minister who found him as he was trying to get back out of the compound with the 17 Newsday papers at about 2 am yesterday"

Racist U.S. commentators slander Haiti : "For the crudest reactionaries like Pat Robertson and Bill O’Reilly, as well as David Brooks of the New York Times, it is “Voodoo,” the religion that a majority of Haitians practice, which explains both the misery of Haiti and its poverty. Pat Robertson says that Haiti’s misery and disasters come from a pact it made with the devil 200 years ago. “They were under the heel of the French, you know Napoleon the third and whatever, and they got together and swore a pact to the devil.” (Christian Broadcasting Network)"

Barbados man pleads guilty in death of Canadian woman : "BRIDGETOWN, Barbados — The man who killed an Ottawa woman on a popular beach in Barbados last winter pleaded guilty to manslaughter in Barbados High Court Wednesday. Curtis Joel Foster, a 25-year-old general worker from Bayfield, Barbados, had been facing charges of robbery and murder in the case. He will be sentenced Feb. 17. A pillar of Ottawa's Jewish community, Terry Schwarzfeld was 60 when she and her daughter-in-law, Luana Cotsman, of Guelph, Ont., were attacked during an afternoon walk on the Caribbean island's Long Beach on Feb. 28. Both women were knocked unconscious."

HTS---Visitor crime has been on the brain lately. Spurred by the pull out of Norwegian from Saint Lucia people walking through Castries have also witnessed thieves on the run from Police including the one who climbed a building in a failed attempt at escape. In response - the Police have now unveiled their plan for fighting visitor crime. It comes in the nick of time for one local hotelier.

JamaicaObserver.com : "LENNOX Swaby and Calvin Powell -- the two men convicted for the 2006 murder of Mandeville couple Richard and Julia Lyn -- were yesterday sentenced to death in the Home Circuit Court. Justice Marva McIntosh in passing sentence knocked the men for their lack of remorse, and said that they were beyond any possibility of reform, based on the reports at yesterday's hearing and the evidence during trial."

JamaicaObserver.com : "DOGGED detective work by the Organised Crime Investigative Division (OCID) led to news yesterday that eight people, including two women, who are suspected of being part of a kidnapping ring in St Ann were in police custody. Members of OCID are also pursuing leads suggesting that at least four of the eight persons may have been involved in other kidnappings, particularly in the mid-island parish of Manchester. Police hailed the arrest of the eight persons as a major breakthrough, disclosing that they were held at various times over the last nine days and are suspected to have played major roles in the kidnapping of a St Ann-based businessman about two weeks ago."

Nation News "Buried beneath the rubble of imperial propaganda, out of both Western Europe and the United States, is the evidence which shows that Haiti's independence was defeated by an aggressive North-Atlantic alliance that could not imagine their world inhabited by a free regime of Africans as representatives of the newly emerging democracy. The evidence is striking, especially in the context of France. The Haitians fought for their freedom and won, as did the Americans fifty years earlier. The Americans declared their independence and crafted an extraordinary constitution that set out a clear message about the value of humanity and the right to freedom, justice, and liberty."

ReligionDispatches : "t a time when increasing numbers of informed audiences in both scholarly and popular circles have begun to recognize African religious cultures and the rich contributions they have made to African diaspora civilizations, Pat Robertson has made another dubious contribution to America’s fascination with the ‘problem of Haiti.’ As Robertson narrates it, in his latest fiction-disguised-as-revelation, 'something happened a long time ago in Haiti,' and that something was Haiti's vodou heritage. The earthquake, an unfortunate turn of events in Haiti’s unnatural history, presents Robertson, and the Christian cohorts supporting his ministry, yet another platform to characterize Haiti as a reprobate nation destined to suffer one disaster after another under the curse of either the Christian devil or God."

A Mexican rescue team on Tuesday pulled a 69-year-old Haitian woman alive from the rubble of a Roman Catholic compound in Port-au-Prince. She suffered a broken leg but is in overall good health.

JamaicaObserver.com : "THE St Catherine South police are investigating the death of 16-year-old Theodore Scully, the Jose Marti Technical tenth grader who was crushed by a Leyland truck along the Spanish Town bypass last week Tuesday. Scully was reportedly being chased by a gang of teenagers when he ran across the road and was hit by a Toyota Probox motor car, which hurled him into the path of the truck."

Stabroek News "The pastor of the Linden Church of Christ recounted on Monday how he advanced on a gunman even though he had already been shot and the man was still firing at him. Pastor Nigel Milo was discharged from the Linden Hospital Complex on Sunday after he was shot twice during a hair-raising encounter with an armed bandit however police said no arrests have been made. Bandits accosted and robbed the pastor, a family of four, three men who were enjoying a drink and two others of cash and other items in an encounter that sent tremors through Central Amelia’s Ward on Saturday night."

Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday "Twelve men who beat and chopped to death a Cocorite man, following a robbery spree in Cocorite Monday night, were arrested in a relentless effort by the police. Despite the heroics of the officers, Amiel George, 24, could not be saved. He was chopped to death when he resisted the dozen-men who attempted to rob him. And although his mother Jemma “Afra” Julien praised the officers for their quick work in apprehending the suspects, she warned that the country would soon be cleansed. “This is the time that the devil and his imps take over,” she said."

Nation News "BARBADOS' hottest cricket commodity is set to become the island's latest millionaire. Kemar Roach, the mean fast bowling machine who has grabbed the international spotlight over the past six months, was yesterday purchased for US$720 000 (BDS$1.44 million) by Indian Premier League (IPL) champions Deccan Chargers for the third edition of the tournament starting on March 12. The 21-year-old Roach was one of two West Indians among ten overseas players purchased at a pre-tournament auction in Mumbai and was among the biggest buys, coming right after big-hitting Trinidadian batsman Kieron Pollard and New Zealand fast bowler Shane Bond, who were both bought for US$750 000, the maximum amount allowed for a franchise."

Another earthquake has rocked the Caribbean region after a 5.8 magnitude quake struck the Cayman Islands but no injuries or deaths have been reported.

International crews trying to deliver aid to Haiti have been hindered by festering pockets of violence and chaos. Meantime the estimated death toll has doubled to 200,000.

The French minister in charge of humanitarian relief, Alain Joyandet, has asked the UN to clarify America's role in Haiti. He says after US troops took charge of the main airport, they've been turning away aircraft carrying aid, in favour of military planes. French President Nicolas Sarkozy's office tried to play down reports of the rift with the U.S, saying cooperation between the two countries was going well.

Kaieteur News : "PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) – The staggering scope of Haiti’s nightmare came into sharper focus yesterday as authorities estimated 200,000 dead and 1.5 million homeless in the heart of this luckless land, where injured survivors still died in the streets, doctors pleaded for help and looters slashed at one another in the rubble. The world pledged more money, food, medicine and police. Some 2,000 U.S. Marines steamed into nearby waters. And ex-president Bill Clinton, special UN envoy, flew in to offer support. But hour by hour the unmet needs of hundreds of thousands grew. “Have we been abandoned? Where is the food?” shouted one man, Jean Michel Jeantet, in a downtown street. The UN World Food Program (WFP) said it expected to boost operations from feeding 67,000 people on Sunday to 97,000 yesterday. But it needs 100 million prepared meals over the next 30 days, and it appealed for more government donations. “I know that aid cannot come soon enough,” UN Secretary-G

JamaicaObserver.com : "NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) -- A court charged seven Kenyans yesterday with assaulting police officers during a deadly protest last week where protesters demanded the release of a Jamaican-born extremist Muslim cleric being detained in the East African country. The leader of the group that organised Friday's demonstration, meanwhile, was arrested yesterday after attending the court hearing. Kenyan authorities also said they had arrested about 400 people in a crackdown on suspected Muslim extremist sympathisers who they say were behind the protest. Kenyan Muslims criticised the actions taken by authorities, accusing the government of discrimination."

Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday : : "POLICE OFFICERS were kept busy yesterday as within the space of four hours, two men were murdered in unrelated incidents in Curepe. In the first incident, at about 11.45 am, officers from the Homicide Bureau of Investigations and the St Joseph Police Station responded to reports about a man who was burnt to death. It was reported that two TTPost workers had just entered the southern end of Eccles Street, Curepe when they heard the screams of a man. Upon investigating, they saw a man of African descent running along the road, his body engulfed in flames."

Trinidad Express "A Trinidadian man working in Haiti survived last week’s cataclysmic earthquake and lived with suffering Haitians for three days before being discovered. American Airlines employee Stephen Ramnarine was taken to the safety of the Port-au-Prince airport amid horrific images of death and despair. But instead of boarding the first flight available, Ramnarine said he found food and water, loaded it on a 4x4 vehicle and got help to take life-saving supplies back to the desperate people he left behind. Ramnarine, 30, an aircraft maintenance technician, returned to Trinidad on Saturday. The images, he said, will live in his mind forever."

Nation News "A PRIVATE (COMPANY) PLANE from Barbados had a near miss with a helicopter while trying to land in earthquake-ravaged Haiti last week. This, according to United States officials, was one example of the chaos and confusion that reigned at the Haiti International Airport after the devastating earthquake. Charg�d'Affaires of the United States Embassy to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, D. Brent Hardt, told the DAILY NATION yesterday that the Americans were not 'controlling' the show in Haiti because they wanted to; they simply had no option but to try to regain some sense of order at the airport. He added that shortly after the devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake that rocked that country last Tuesday, the situation became 'untenable'."

After surviving more than 5 days in the rubble, two victims were pulled alive from the wreckage of a collapsed Haiti supermarket late on Sunday to applause from amazed onlookers.

Go-Jamaica :: News : "Prime Minister Bruce Golding will be travelling to the Dominican Republic today for a high level meeting to discuss the assistance and co-ordination efforts for earthquake-devastated, Haiti. The medium and long-term plan for Haiti’s reconstruction will also be discussed. The summit has been convened by the King of Spain, Juan Carlos in his capacity as the chairman of the European Union (EU)."

JamaicaObserver.com : "POLICE officers involved in Saturday's fatal shooting in Montego Bay of a colleague -- Constable Metro McFarlane -- had their hands swabbed and have been taken off front line duties. In the meantime, Acting Deputy Commissioner Glenmore Hinds said a preliminary report on the incident is expected on the desk of Acting Commissioner of Police Owen Ellington by midday tomorrow."

Kaieteur News : "A Better Hope, East Coast Demerara family was plunged into mourning yesterday after 23-year old Gerry Anthony Smith fell to his death from a 20-foot roof. Smith, who was working on the building owned by a popular used tyre and heavy duty equipment dealer, was pronounced dead at around 09:00 hours while receiving treatment at the Georgetown Hospital where he was immediately taken after the fall. The young man was said to be a labourer who was employed by the establishment. Speaking to Kaieteur News yesterday, Vishnu Ramdial, whose family operates the business, said that the tragedy occurred after he had asked Smith to clear some debris from the gutter on the roof of one of the buildings. Ramdial claimed that while on the roof, Smith stood up and came into contact with a power line that ran over the building. He was subsequently hurled from the roof and landed on the concrete yard some 20 feet below."

Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday : "Four friends went out on a lime to celebrate two birthdays on Saturday evening, but tragically, they all died in a drag race along the Manzanilla Road, early yesterday morning. The deaths of Soradiya Sharma, 22, Marvin Travis Siberan, 23, Rickky Balroop, 23, and Rickson Lalla, 23, left their families and the communities where they grew up in mourning yesterday."

Caribbean could face more deadly earthquakes : "The powerful earthquake that rocked Haiti may not be the last to devastate the region, earthquake experts said recently. 'Much larger quakes, of magnitude 8 or more, have occurred in this region and will do so again,' said one researcher. If you thought the earthquake devastating Haiti was a rare occurence, think again. Earthquake specialists are now saying the Caribbean region could suffer from similar or stronger earthquakes in the near future. As the New Scientist reports, 'not all the energy that has built up in the faults running through the Caribbean region was released in this week's tragedy.'"

- JamaicaObserver.com : "The people in Haiti's neighbouring countries watched the horror unfold with particular poignancy because, but for the grace of God, it could have been any of them. They well know that, for just as how Haiti could not have been prepared to cope with a catastrophe of such magnitude, neither could they. This was not only a disaster that was emotionally upsetting in the scale of its human carnage and destruction, it was also very close to home. The reaction of the Government of the second poorest country of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (Caricom) was exemplary and heart-warming. Guyana's President Bharrat Jagdeo summoned a meeting of leaders of various groups, including the leader of the main Opposition political party, Robert Corbin, and announced that Guyana would provide US$1 million in immediate assistance."

Canadians flee Haiti as death toll nears 200,000 : "PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The Canadian embassy was continuing evacuations from Haiti on Saturday, as the West Indies island grappled a death toll some estimates were placing as high as 200,000 people, following a 7.0-magnitude earthquake earlier this week. A total of 225 Canadians, including many young children, had been preparing to sleep on chairs, blankets, the grass and a tennis court Friday night when the surprise announcement came that a flight was leaving overnight to take them home."

NY Daily News "Chez Clotilde is normally a swirl of activity at dinnertime, turning out heaping plates of Haitian-style fried pork and goat. But since the earthquake in Haiti last week, the restaurant on Claredon St. in the heart of Flatbush is hardly feeding people and has instead become a gathering place for mourners eager to learn what has happened to their loved ones."

Only doctor in entire area talks to Bill Hemmer about the lack of supplies, water

Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday "An international appeal has been made for assistance in finding Gregory Andre McAlpin, a Trinidadian who was among 200 guests at a Haitian hotel which collapsed when a massive earthquake hit that country on Tuesday afternoon. McAlpin, 48, who is the director of flight safety at the OECS Civil Aviation Authority based in Antigua, left that country on Tuesday to attend the Caribbean Aviation Safety and Security Oversight System board meeting which was to be held in Haiti. He and other regional aviation authority personnel were staying at the Montana Hotel in Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti. The hotel was flattened in the earthquake."

Three days after the earthquake hit Haiti, residents in a Port-au-Prince neighbourhood heard the sound of a child crying from beneath the rubble. They managed to dig the boy, called Nixon, out of the ruins. For Haitians still searching for their loved ones, the story of Nixon offers a glimpse of hope and some call it a "miracle". Al Jazeera's Mike Kirsch reports from Port-au-Prince.

Jamaica Gleaner News "AS THE Caribbean Community (CARICOM) mobilises regional relief efforts to aid its Haitian neighbours, senior officials from Jamaica echoed fears of not finding any more survivors beyond the critical 72-hour mark, which elapsed yesterday evening. It was made clear that persons, who might still be trapped beneath debris, are in a race against time. And the clock is winning. 'Life can only be sustained for so long without air and water, so if you recall when the event occurred, it may have been 4:30 p.m. or 4:40 p.m. on Tuesday, and we are now at Friday, so essentially that window is closing."

JamaicaObserver.com : "A Learjet that had difficulty landing at the Norman Manley International Airport (NMIA) in Kingston yesterday evening was forced to circle the airport and dump fuel, triggering a frantic response from emergency service personnel who rushed through peak hour traffic to the airport. Chairman of the Airports Authority Earl Richards confirmed the incident which came just under a month after the city's emergency services were harshly criticised for responding slowly to the crash-landing of American Airlines flight 331 at the NMIA on December 22. Richards told the Observer that some five fire trucks had rushed to the NMIA in anticipation of any eventualities, while emergency procedures at the airport kicked into action before the plane eventually landed safely shortly before 7:00 pm."

Kaieteur News : "PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Haitian authorities said yesterday they believe 140,000 people died in the earthquake that devastated the Caribbean nation and that three-quarters of the capital, Port-au-Prince, would need to be rebuilt. Three days after the quake, gangs of robbers had begun to prey on survivors living in makeshift camps on sidewalks and streets strewn with rubble and scattered decomposing bodies, as quake aftershocks rippled through the hilly neighborhoods. “We are cleaning the streets of the dead bodies and putting them in mass graves. We have buried 40,000 people. We think there are 100,000 more on top of that,” Aramick Louis, secretary of state for public safety, told Reuters. “There are a lot of people under the rubble,” he said."

Stabroek News "PORT-AU-PRINCE, (Reuters) – As many as 200,000� people died in the earthquake that devastated Haiti and and� three-quarters of the capital, Port-au-Prince, will need to be� rebuilt, authorities in the Caribbean country said yesterday. “We have already collected around 50,000 dead bodies. We� anticipate there will be between 100,000 and 200,000 dead in� total, although we will never know the exact number,” Interior� Minister Paul Antoine Bien-Aime told Reuters. Some 40,000 bodies had been buried in mass graves,� Secretary of State for Public Safety Aramick Louis said."

Nation News "A YOUNGSTER, who thought he could get away with snatching a bag from a woman in The City, found out it would not be that easy. Around 2:20 p.m. yesterday, after grabbing the bag near Cumberland Street, the youth was pursued on foot by several bystanders until he fled into an abandoned building on Mason Hall Street. When the SATURDAY SUN arrived, the building was surrounded by angry residents from the nearby community and passers-by. Members of the Royal Barbados Police Force were quickly on the scene and, after several minutes of searching the building, escorted the man to one of the waiting police vehicles. The young man looked very scared and crestfallen as the crowd jeered him."

The United States and other governments are doing their best to mobilise an international rescue effort to help the survivors of Haiti's devastating 7.0-magnitude earthquake. But medical assistance and other kinds of aid have yet to reach those rescued from the ruins of Tuesday's catastrophe. Haiti's main seaport that would have been used to welcome aid is too damaged to use and roads are blocked by debris, although the main route from the Dominican Republic is now clear. The setbacks have made survivors increasingly desperate and angry as bottlenecks and infrastructure damage delay relief efforts. Al Jazeera's Teresa Bo reports from the capital Port-au-Prince where people are trying to make the best out of what little they have.

WARNING: This video contains graphic images. With nowhere to put the dead, thousands of bodies in Haiti are being burned at a garbage dump.

Nation News "ISAMENE 'LULU' JONES has not been able to eat or sleep since Tuesday. A resident of Barbados for 31 years, she is a Haitian, and does not know if her daughter is alive or dead in Haiti which was devastated by a powerful earthquake on Tuesday. At her Boboys' Bar in Oxley Lane, The City, she told the WEEKEND NATION yesterday that her daughter Barbara Celestin left Canada, where she lived, to visit relatives in Haiti. 'She went to Haiti in November and told me she wanted to stay there longer as she was lonely in Canada. I only have two children and right now I don't know if my daughter is in the street or dead,' she said."

Al Jazeera's Mike Kirsch, reporting from devastated Haitian capital Port-au-Prince, meets a family that has lost everything in the earthquake and hears from others who sing their thanks to God for giving them another day.

An 11 year old girl's screams are heard as rescuers try to work out how they'll pull her out from under the rubble.

Thousands of Haitians spent a second night in the open after the country's catastrophic earthquake whose death has now risen to over 100,000 people. The search for survivors under the rubble went on after darkness and is still going on. Medical aid agency Medicines sans Frontiers reported a massive influx of casualties at its makeshift clinics, many of them with severe injuries.

A ground tour of Port-au-Prince, Haiti provides an up close look at the collapsed buildings, downed power lines and dazed residents trying to navigate through the debris.

The death-toll from the Haitian earthquake could top 100,000, as international aid and relief efforts begin to fly in to the Caribbean nation.

Haiti's fate as one of the poorest countries in the hemisphere has not been inevitable. It's history has been marked not only by natural disasters, but by political and economic conflict. It is a story of international intervention that has left the country particularly vulnerable. Al Jazeera's Avi Lewis reports

Kaieteur News : "The community of Charity, in the Pomeroon, was plunged into shock around 15:00 hours yesterday when Police Constable Chaavekanand Kishore shot himself dead with the .38 revolver he was permitted to carry. The incident occurred in the Charity Hospital compound where Kishore’s wife, Rhonda Loulis, works as a dentist. Kishore, 31, of Sparta Essequibo, was attached to the Brickdam Police Station Traffic Department but was seconded to Acting Chancellor Carl Singh as a driver. Reports reaching this newspaper stated that Kishore arrived on the Essequibo coast last Friday to spend some time with his family. Yesterday, he visited his wife’s apartment which is situated at the back of the hospital. No one knows what transpired between them to cause Kishore to take his own life."

Stabroek News "The body of a 24-year-old woman was yesterday found in the channel of the Nismes, West Bank Demerara koker, allegedly murdered at the hands of her `controlling’ husband who later ingested poison and fled. Dead is Sunita August, a resident of Vauxhall, Canal Number One Polder and a mother of three, the eldest being eight. Up to press time last evening, police were on the lookout for her husband, Ramesh Muniram, who fled into thick bushes behind Unity Street, La Grange, WBD."

Nation News "PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - The tiny bodies of children lay in piles next to the ruins of their collapsed school. People with faces covered by white dust and the blood of open wounds roamed the streets. Frantic doctors wrapped heads and stitched up sliced limbs in a hotel parking lot. That was the picture yesterday in Haiti - heartbreaking devastation - after a magnitude-7 earthquake struck the country on Tuesday afternoon."

Nation News "A NUMBER OF BARBADIANS working and visiting Haiti are okay. Several have been contacting relatives and associates here in the last 48 hours since Tuesday's earthquake left thousands dead and the country's infrastructure in ruins. Missionary Jenny Tryhane, who is known in evangelical circles for her shoebox ministry and work with various pastors and organisations in poverty-ravaged Haiti, reported through Reverend Ferdinand Nicholls that she was alive yesterday after major damage to the orphanage where she ministers."

CNN's Ivan Watson is at a Port-au-Prince clinic where the wounded and the dead lie on the streets. Doctors say they don't have enough medicine to treat patients. This report includes graphic content

Steve Harrigan recalls 'shaky landing' coming into airport; aerial view of Port-au-Prince looked like doll houses with their roofs torn off