Bahamas
A 64-year-old United States citizen is recuperating in hospital after he was bitten on the left hand by a Nurse Shark, the police said in a statement recently. The man from Fort Lauderdale, Florida was cleaning fish in Exuma, an area known for Nutse sharks, when the incident occurred recently.
“He was taken to the local clinic and later air lifted to the capital where his injuries are described as non-life threatening,” the statement said without naming the victim.
Barbados
The Barbados government will table legislation next month to promote green energy, Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Chris Sinckler has said.
Sinckler said the Freundel Stuart-led government has devised practical ways to build out the alternative energy sector through policy, legislation and fiscal incentives, which will ensure that in terms both of supply and demand, there are reasonable and cost effective solutions available.
“In the short term, our energy conservation activities are critical, but in the medium to long term, if we want to have a sustainable reduction in the amount of foreign exchange we spend on fuel oil, it would mean that we would have to employ strategies to build out a strong, vibrant and productive alternative energy sector,” he said.
Sinckler said that the new legislation would be predicted on a set of initiatives which were outlined in last year’s budget, but took some time to finalize because the government wanted to ensure that it was as close to perfect as possible.
The minister said that the legislation would provide 10-year tax holidays for any developer, manufacturer or installer of renewable energy systems and energy efficient products and this measure will be covered by the Income Tax Act.
Guyana
A Guyana court has acquitted two men accused of killing 11 people in one of the worst mass murder cases in the South American nation’s recent history. Twentyfour-year-old Anthony Hyles and 28-year-old Mark Williams were freed recently.
Prosecutors accused them of using high powered rifles and shotguns to slay 11 people in the coastal farming village of Lusignan in 2008. Several of the victims were children killed as they slept.
Officials said the killings were meant as revenge for the disappearance of gang leader Rondell Rawlins’ girlfriend. Rawlins allegedly blamed the government and regarded people in Lusignan as government supporters.
The two defendants had said they acted as lookouts during the killings but did not actively participate. Soldiers killed Rawlins a few months after the massacre.
Jamaica
The main opposition Jamaica Labor Party (JLP) recently condemned the murder of a man at a church alter saying the gunmen were not even deterred by the fact they were committing the crime in a church.
Police were searching for gunmen who chased a man identified by media reports as “Chad Telfer” and shot and killed him at the church altar in the community of Bull Bay in the eastern parish of St. Andrew recently.
Police said that a child attending Bible studies at the church was also shot twice in the back and has been taken to hospital for treatment
Law enforcement officials said that the gunmen had earlier shot the man in his leg as he sought to escape from them and although he entered the church the venue did not deter them as they cornered him on the altar and shot him several times, killing him instantly.
JLP spokesman on National Security and Justice, Delroy Chuck, described the killing as shocking to the conscience, horrific and deserving of widespread condemnation, adding that the gunmen were not even prepared to stop their actions in a place of worship or in the presence of children participating in the church’s annual “Vocation Bible School” series.
St. Kitts
St. Kitts and Nevis will receive US$6.4 million from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after the Washington based financial institution said it had completed an economic performance of the twin-island federation under a 36-month Standby Agreement (SBA).
The IMF said that total funds now disbursed to the island is US$71.5 million and that it had also approved waivers of applicability for the end June 2013 performance criterion on the ceiling of external arrears accumulated on debt contracted or guaranteed by the central government, and re-phased disbursements under the SBA.
In 2011, the IMF approved the US$79.35 million SBA for St. Kitts Nevis and according to the fund’s managing director, Min Zhu, the local authorities “have continued the successful implementation of their Fund-supported program, in particular making progress toward achieving fiscal objectives and debt restructuring.
The IMF official said the 2013 budget is aligned with the authorities’ dual objectives of redeploying resources towards growth enhancing outlays and continuing fiscal consolidation through significant budgetary primary surpluses.
St. Lucia
Stephenson King was swept out of the leadership of the main opposition United Workers Party (UWP) after his former tourism minister Allen Chastanet scored a convincing victory in a recent poll.
King, who led the UWP into defeat in the 2011 general elections, was defeated by a 264-99 margin with Chastanet’s “A” Team also securing a clean sweep of all the executive posts at stake.
Party officials said that the polls were pleased with the voting procedures and the 364 delegates representing the island’s 17 constituencies were allowed to cast their ballots in an orderly manner.
There had been rumors of planned disruptions by supporters opposed to Chastanet did not materialize.
Former foreign affairs minister, Rufus Bousquet, who sought the position of chairman, also suffered defeat at the polls. In his acceptance speech, Chastanet, a hotelier, said that his first task would be to unite the party.
“The process of reconciliation begins immediately, and I am making a special appeal to every supporter to reach out and embrace one another, extend a handshake or exchange a smile, remembering we have one common purpose and one goal, to remove the St. Lucia Labor Party from the backs of the suffering people of this country.
King, who initially refused to shake his opponent’s hand, later addressed party supporters urging them to unite for the task ahead. “I know what it is to be down and out but I also know what it is to keep fighting until the end, as the task ahead would require the energy, effort and drive of all UWP supporters,” King told the convention, recalling the death of his mother over the past few weeks.
St. Vincent
Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves says he played no role in the decision by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to lay nine charges against an opposition legislator last week.
In fact, Gonsalves believes that Vynnette Frederick is being prosecuted because her “lies caught up with her.”
The main opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) says it will hold a protest march and two public protest meetings in support of Frederick, who was slapped with the nine charges relating to making false declarations, swearing falsely.
She was slapped with the nine charges relating to making false declarations, swearing falsely, and fabricating evidence, hours after a magistrate dismissed six charges against her.
The initial charges stemmed from a private complaint that Frederick had made against Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves following the December 2010 general elections.
Gonsalves, in a radio program, suggested that Frederick’s attempt to bring down his government in the wake of the 2010 general elections has backfired.
He also distanced himself from the arrest of the opposition legislator saying “that is a matter within the domain of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution and the police.”
“The Office of the Director of Public Prosecution is independent of any political interference,” Gonsalves said.
Gonsalves recounted the genesis of the saga, which began in 2011, when Frederick brought private criminal complaints against him and other ULP election candidates, concerning comments made in the lead up to the December 2010 general elections.
Compiled by Azad Ali
