Category: Regional

The region’s patterns of consumption, media effects and trends towards increased militarism were linked, during the UNiTE to End Violence against Women’s Caribbean launch, to the perpetuation of the scourge. Dr Rhoda Reddock, deputy principal St Augustine Campus, University of the West Indies, said skewered media, primarily from the US, normalises physical abuse, and the use of the gun. Speaking during a session that looked at The Context of Violence: causes, costs and consequences, Dr Reddock urged people to make demands of the media, including recording artistes, and to be…

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The “Palace Coup” has been aborted and Mia Mottley remains Leader of the Opposition Barbados Labour Party (BLP). But after almost five hours of deliberations by five of the BLP’s nine-member parliamentary group at their Roebuck Street, St Michael headquarters yesterday, there was still some uncertainty whether Mottley’s leadership had the support of the majority of her colleagues. However, secretary of the parliamentary group, Gline Clarke, who had convened the meeting, told a media briefing that Mottley was still Leader of the Opposition “at this present time”.  Also present were…

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The Jamaican government has yielded to calls for a commission of enquiry into the handling of the extradition request for ousted Tivoli Gardens strongman Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke. Prime Minister Bruce Golding, in a 48-second statement to Parliament yesterday, said “the composition of the commission and the more precise terms of reference will be announced shortly”. Golding said the commissioners, who are to be chosen, would be asked to “enquire into the issues relating to the request by the United States (US) government for the extradition of Mr Christopher Coke, the…

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Anxious to prevent the collapse of Jamaica’s overexploited marine fisheries, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries is promoting the consumption of lionfish to control its burgeoning population. At risk officials say, are the nation’s marine biodiversity, its food security and economic well- being. “The situation in Jamaica is urgent,” said Nelsa English, national coordinator for the Jamaican component of a Caribbean-wide Invasive Alien Species Project at the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA). Jamaica’s marine resources are stretched to the breaking point, its reefs overfished and degraded due to environmentally…

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Trinidad and Tobago and Cuba top the list of Caribbean and Latin American countries that demonstrate the greatest equality between men and women. The ranking is included in the 2010 Gender Gap report of the World Economic Forum. Trinidad and Tobago ranks 21st among the 134 countries surveyed, while Cuba placed 24th. Trinidad and Tobago was cited for its high proportions of women government ministers, parliamentarians, senior officials and managers. The Forum’s Saadia Zahidi said the gender gap had narrowed significantly on health and education globally but less so on…

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The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti on Tuesday voiced concern at reports that arms are being distributed as the impoverished and earthquake-devastated country prepares to hold elections next month. The mission, known by its French acronym MINUSTAH, called on anybody with knowledge of any such distribution to come forward and share it with the national and UN police and with international election observers. “These allegations which recur every time there is an election without further specifics are emerging again,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative Edmond Mulet said in a…

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A Trinidad fugitive wanted in connection with the murders of three Americans at a Boston party has been held by local law enforcement officers. Keron Pierre, 24, of Richplain Road, Diego Martin, appeared before acting Chief Magistrate Mark Wellington in the Port-of-Spain District (Eighth Magistrates’) Court yesterday, on a warrant for three counts of murder. Pierre, also called “Snaggy,” a former US resident, is alleged to have murdered Anthony Peoples, 19, of Boston; Shacora Gaines, 20, of Brockton; and Chantal Palmer, 20, of Brockton, at 41 Mt Ida Road, around…

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Jamaican clinical social worker, Dr Claudette Crawford-Brown, will release a new publication, Children in the Line of Fire, exploring the impact of violence on families in Jamaica and the twin-island republic of Trinidad and Tobago. One of two launches will take place on Friday, September 17, at noon at The Institute of Jamaica Lecture Hall, downtown Kingston. ‘Children in the Line of Fire’ has been presented with the hope that it will provide some important evidenced-based solutions for the seemingly intractable problems of child victims and perpetrators of violence in…

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The two men who were on Monday charged with the murder of six young women should face the death penalty. That’s the firm opinion of Stephen Lashley, Minister of Family, Youth, and Sports. “I make no apologies as a Minister of Government to use the strongest possible language to articulate my profound disgust at these events which have chilled our hearts and brought tears to the eyes of everyone in our nation,” he stated over the weekend. “At this time in Barbados, we are mourning the death of six beautiful,…

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