Caribbean News

  HOME

Caribbean Headline News.....

Printed Sunday, February 10th, 2008

Citizenship On Hold For Many Legal Immigrants

US President Bush is asking Congress to spend money to help businesses root out illegal workers but he did not request more money to help legal immigrants become American citizens more quickly.  In his budget proposal issued this week, Bush asked for $100 million to expand E-Verify, the system employers use to check whether they are hiring documented workers. He did not ask Congress to allocate money to chip away at millions of citizenship and other immigration applications that flooded the government last summer, before an increase in the agency's filing fees.  Instead, Citizenship and Immigration Services will rely on $468 million in fees to pay for reducing the backlog by 2010.   That money is a portion of the total fees that came in with the applications this summer.   Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the summer's fee increases will give the agency the money it needs to get back on track.  Becoming a citizen now costs $595, up from $330. The price to get a green card is $1,010, up from $395. Applicants for both pay another $80 each for digital fingerprinting, a $10 increase.

Jamaica Water Commission Fails To Provide Potable Water

In Jamaica, residents of the Olive Park and Glenco Housing developments in St. Elizabeth are blasting the National Water Commission (NWC) for failing to provide adequate potable water for the last 11 years.  The residents say the utility company has also failed to implement the Content/Rocky Hill system more than three years after pipelines were laid.  They expressed their concern at a recent consultation organized by the Office Utilities Regulations to get feedback to the 44 per cent rate increase being sought by the NWC.  The residents said while they understood the need for an increase, the poor service being offered must be addressed.  In its response, the NWC said it now provides 12 million gallons of potable water to 60 per cent of the parish.

Prime Minister of Belize, Dean Barrow.On the heels of Thursday's general election in Belize, the leader of the United Democratic Party (UDP), Dean Barrow was sworn in as the country's fourth Prime Minister on Friday February 8th.  Mr. Barrow and his party turned the tables on the Said Musa led People's United Party (PUP) winning 25 of the 31 seats.  The Prime Minister said he was ready to get down to business and tackle the pressing issues in the country.      The Prime Minister said his government will move immediately to try to alleviate some of the difficulties that have been caused by the high cost of living,  he said that people are not able to make ends meet because of the high cost of electricity and fuel.  He said that his government will invest in the poor condition that the streets and drains are in and he hopes that the government can attract enough private sector  interests to grow the economy and to create jobs.

The autopsy carried out on the body of Antigua and Barbuda's late Agriculture Minister, Charlesworth Samuel revealed that he drowned.    His body was found on a rocky north coast beach last week after he was reported missing for two days.  Mr. Samuel, who was 69-years old, will be accorded a state funeral on February 19th following a joint sitting of the Senate and Lower House on February 18th.  The coroner's inquest into his death is scheduled to resume next week.
 

In February 2008 Grenada named former Prime Minister Sir Eric Matthew Gairy as the country's first National Hero. The former Prime Minister and several outstanding nationals were honored as Grenadians celebrated 34 years of political independence from Britain.  New legislation provides for 15 people to be recognized annually for outstanding services to Grenada as part of the independence celebrations.  Among the first batch of awardees was deceased Grenadian-born regional broadcaster Leslie Seon.  The editor of the weekly Grenadian Voice newspaper, Leslie Pierre, was made a Knight Commander for his contribution towards the development of the Scout Movement and Journalism in the island.  In his address Prime Minister Keith Mitchell indicated that later in the year several streets and buildings will be named after some prominent Grenadians who have made significant contributions towards the island since gaining independence.

In Guyana, a meeting between government representatives and farmers in the tough Guyanese neighborhood of Buxton ended in an uproar on Thursday afternoon.   Buxton which is on the outskirts of the capital Georgetown is at the centre of investigations into last month's massacre of eleven people in the nearby village of Lusignan.  The Guyanese government plans to allow the police and soldiers to accompany farmers during harvest day.   Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud gave this commitment during what he intended to be a fruitful meeting.   He promised farmers that government will find immediate markets for produce harvested in no-go areas, where the security forces are conducting operation restore orders.    When the farmers were given a chance to speak they raised a number of related concerns about the security operations and accused President Bharrat Jagdeo in his absence, of saying that farmers in Buxton are criminals.   The Agriculture Minister denied the allegations.
 

In Jamaica, Prime Minister Bruce Golding has charged Minister of Information, Culture, Youth and Sports, (MICYS) Olivia 'Babsy' Grange, with the responsibility of developing activities to make Reggae Month an international phenomenon by next year. He wants Jamaica to become the showplace of reggae music for the world. Delivering greetings at the premiere of the film 'Africa Unite', on Wednesday, Golding said the decision to make February 'Reggae Month' was strategically made to tie-in with the celebration of the birthday of Jamaica's greatest exponent of reggae music, Robert Nesta Marley. Golding said that no one has had that impact in his lifetime and today Bob's music is more powerful than when he was on stage, he added that Bob Marley's music inspired people the world over through the messages which still remain relevant and powerful 27 years after his death.

Police and army personnel in Trinidad and Tobago have come in for high commendation for their efforts in helping to keep a largely incident-free Carnival season 2008.   From Monday night thousands of locals, along with thousands of tourists, converged onto the streets of the island in celebration of the island's main annual event, Carnival.   Up until what was known as Carnival Tuesday, the season was, however, not without some incidents, which have been classified by security forces "as minor in nature".   In Port of Spain, during Monday morning Jouvert celebrations, forty-one persons non-masqueraders, had to be treated for stab wounds. Seventeen were arrested for various offences including possession of marijuana, cocaine and possession of knives and other implements, use of obscene language, resisting arrest and some on outstanding warrants.   In San Fernando, thirty people were arrested for stabbings during fights and for similar offences.   In Chaguanas, up to Monday fifteen people were sent to hospital suffering from stab wounds and other injuries sustained during fights.   Tobago, which is considered the tourist capital, recorded no major incidents up to Tuesday midday.   Persons arrested for what are called minor offences would not have their matters heard until Ash Wednesday.   The two-day event is projected to have to earned Trinidad and Tobago an estimated US$15 million with visitors spending US$300 per day.

Just ahead of Super Tuesday when more than 24 states across America were scheduled to hold Democratic Primaries and Caucuses, US Virgin Islands First Lady Cecile deJongh, continued her campaign efforts on behalf of Senator Barack Obama for President. The First Lady of the United States Virgin Islands spent the days prior to Super Tuesday in the state of Massachusetts.   The USVI Governor’s wife, who also campaigned on behalf of Obama in the recently successful South Carolina Primary, continued to join forces with other members of the “Obama for America” New England Steering Committee to lend support and help mobilize voters ahead of the election. 
 

Said Musa.Former Prime Minister of Belize Said Musa has hinted that is it time for him to step down as political leader of the People's United Party (PUP), which crashed to a heavy electoral defeat in Thursday's general election.  The opposition United Democratic Party (UDP), led by 56-year-old attorney-at-law Dean Barrow, scored a resounding 25-6 victory in the election, crushing the aspirations of the PUP which was seeking an unprecedented third successive term in government.   Mr. Musa, who is 63-years-old, said he accepted the will of the people and saw the electoral result as evidence of the country's strong democratic system at work.   The former Prime Minister said the PUP is no stranger to defeat and the party will rebound.  He said the party will conduct an internal assessment of its performance at the polls and will reach out to former members to restore it to its position as the party of choice for Belizeans.  He said now that the election is over it is time for the country to unite.


 

European budget airline Ryanair has been ordered to pay nearly £5,000 to a group of black musicians, including a blind man, who were ordered to leave a flight at gunpoint after being wrongly identified as terrorists.  The five musicians from the Caribbean Steel International band were on their way back to London from a festival in Sardinia when a fellow traveler felt their behavior was suspicious. He complained to the captain after concluding they were terrorists because they were all sitting separately despite laughing and joking together in the departure lounge before boarding. The psychology professor also noticed that one of the group, Michael Toussaint, appeared to be blind but appeared to be reading newspapers and magazines. A stewardess and two other families refused to fly if the five - who were the only black people on the flight - remained on board, prompting Captain Sam Dunlop to demand their removal. They were all given the all-clear by security and Mr. Toussaint presented his disability card and removed his sunglasses to prove he was blind. But even then, Ryanair refused to let them back on the plane because of the "anxiety" among the other passengers. District Judge Roger Southcombe, at the Mayor's & City of London Court, has ruled that they were removed unreasonably from the flight and awarded them £800 each plus costs in damages.  The court heard that the band members were not sitting together because the flight was full and that Mr. Toussaint, the band's drummer, was indeed blind and his friend had been reading him the football scores before take-off. The judge, summing up, said the group had been scared and embarrassed when Italian police carrying guns had come on board and removed them. He said Captain Dunlop had adopted a "zero tolerance" approach despite being told by the airport authorities the group was not a threat. The five were stranded in Sardinia overnight and missed spending New Year's Eve with their families. They eventually returned on New Year's Day but had to fly to Liverpool, rather than Stansted, and returned to London on January 2. The airline is said to be planning an appeal to the decision.

An internally displaced Kenyan child carries her b...US Threatens To Ban Kenyan Politicians

The United States threatened on Thursday, February 8th to bar 10 Kenyan politicians and businessmen from entering the U.S., the first time Washington has blamed them for the post election violence that has brought the African country to the brink of collapse.  Letters were sent to politicians and businessmen with ties to the president's party and the opposition.  The letters state that people involved in inciting, supporting or perpetrating violence must be held accountable and, the United States of America we will hold them accountable by not providing visas.  President Mwai Kibaki's Party of National Unity and the opposition Orange Democratic Movement denied being behind the clashes, looting and arson that have caused more than 1,000 deaths and forced 300,000 Kenyans from their homes.  Opposition leaders say Kibaki stole a Dec. 27 vote and should step down. Kibaki has said his position as president is not negotiable, though foreign and local observers say there was election rigging. Clashes sparked by the dispute disintegrated into ethnic fighting pitting other tribes against Kibaki's Kikuyu.  Foreign observers have reported evidence of orchestrated violence and accused both sides of fomenting clashes.

ImageChristopher Bryan, other wise called "Short and Thick", the man implicated in the massacre of seven persons in Rockfort, East Kingston, has been charged with murder.  The charges relate to the deaths of three of the seven persons, who were shot and killed in separate incidents in the early hours of the morning on Friday October 5 last year.  Bryan, barely out of his teens at 18-years old, was picked up by the East Kingston police in a raid in August Town.  Bryan is charged with the murder of 26-year-old Marlon Hurd, his common-law wife 18-year-old Shanita Smith and their four-month-old baby Lonaijuah Hurd.  All three were killed when gunmen invaded their home and sprayed them with bullets as they slept.  Superintendent in charge of the Kingston Eastern Division, Assan Thompson has said that Bryan is to face the Gun Court on Friday February 15.  Superintendent Thompson said Bryan's capture brings to four, the number of persons arrested and charged in connection to the Rockfort killings.  He said for the first time, the police received valuable intelligence from residents of the community and other members of the public.  He added that the search is still on for a fifth suspect.  A nine-year-old boy, four women and a man were slain in three incidents in the pre dawn shootings.