– Advertisement – St. Lucia – With anticipation and national pride, health officials and team members from the Ministry of Health, Wellness, and Elderly Affairs gathered at the Minor Basilica of the Immaculate Conception on Tuesday, February 18, to participate in the Independence Baton Relay. The Ministry’s representatives proudly accepted the Independence Baton as the team embarked on a spirited march through the streets of Castries, proceeding from the Minor Basilica of the Immaculate Conception to the William Peter Boulevard. The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Jenny Daniel, said: “Today I’m a very proud Saint Lucian and very proud to be part of the baton relay in recognition of Saint Lucia’s 46th Independence Anniversary. Of course, it’s a special occasion for the Ministry of Health being highlighted as part of the theme.” She emphasized the Ministry’s commitment to promoting health and wellness in alignment with this year’s Independence...

Ground has been broken for a $124-million cold storage facility at the greenhouse cluster in Content, Kirkvine, Manchester, which is expected to benefit more than 1,500 farmers and producers. The initiative is being implemented by the Government of Jamaica through the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) under its Rural Economic Development Initiative (REDI) II. “Two 40-foot containers will be retrofitted to provide 135 cubic metres of cold storage capacity. Additionally, we will have another 40-foot container retrofitted to provide 67 cubic metres of dry storage capacity. We are doing it for all the different types of produce that we have in this area,” said Floyd Green, minister of agriculture, fisheries and mining, at the ceremony on Thursday. The facility will also include a processing area for weighing, washing, sorting, and grading produce. A photovoltaic solar system will be installed to meet energy needs. “We will also be covering the cold...

Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. met with President Donald Trump and fellow governors at the White House to discuss key policy priorities, including economic development, regulatory reform, education funding, and public safety. The meeting provided an opportunity to address the Virgin Islands’ specific challenges and explore collaborative efforts between state and federal governments. A major topic of discussion was the restart of the oil refinery, a project Bryan described as a significant economic opportunity for the territory. He stressed the need for streamlined federal regulations to facilitate large-scale projects, ensuring they move forward efficiently while creating jobs and driving economic growth, according to the press release. Bryan and other governors also raised concerns about the federal regulatory process, arguing that excessive bureaucracy delays essential infrastructure and economic initiatives. They advocated for deregulating certain federal projects to reduce red tape and accelerate progress, the press release stated. On education, Bryan pushed for...

Ombudsman Sharon Roulstone (CNS): Sharon Roulstone, the first ombudsman in the Cayman Islands who is a Caymanian, told MPs on Wednesday about the many challenges her office is dealing with as the workload is growing due in no small part to the increasing complaints about the government. Roustone was appearing before the first ever public meeting of the parliamentary select committee that oversees the Office of the Ombudsman (OMB). The Ombudsman Committee was asking Roulstone and her full team about the 2023 OMB Annual Report, which documented a 50% increase in enquiries over the previous years. Committee Chairman Bernie Bush said that the 2024 report, which is expected to be released to parliament after the elections, shows an even greater increase, as he noted the importance of the OMB’s work allowing people an avenue of redress when they have been wronged by the government. As she explained the multiple roles...

André Michel (left), the lead spokesman for the PHTK/SDP-led Dec. 21 Accord, is trying to supplant the Lavalas/Inite alliance currently led by the Lavalas Family’s TPC representative Leslie Voltaire (right). Throughout most of Haitian history, two ruling classes have fought a bitter rivalry for power: the comprador (import/export) bourgeoisie vs. the grandon (big landowning class). ​During the latter third of the 19th century, this competition pit the comprador’s Liberal Party (whose slogan was “power to the most competent”) against the grandon’s National Party (whose slogan was “the greatest good for the greatest number”). ​In the late 20th century, this struggle was expressed through the Duvalier dictatorship, which until the 1980s defended grandon interests and was colloquially called the Macoute sector (due to its reliance on the brutal Tonton Macoute militia), ruling Haiti and intimidating the comprador interests, most of which supported the regime’s opposition, largely in exile. ​Haiti’s semi-feudal mode...

Overview: The U.S. Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) delivered 20 armored troop transport vehicles to the Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS) on Feb. 14. The delivery comes as gangs continue their deadly offensives, killing police officers and forcing residents to flee. PORT-AU-PRINCE — The U.S. Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) has delivered 20 additional armored troop transport vehicles to Haiti’s Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS), officials announced Wednesday. The vehicles, arriving on Feb. 14, are meant to bolster the MSS’s ability to assist the Haitian National Police (PNH) in combating armed gangs. “INL delivered critically needed vehicles to the MSS in Haiti, bolstering the 1,000 MSS personnel in the country to improve security for the people of Haiti and the region,” U.S. officials said in a post on X. This is the second batch of equipment provided to Haiti after an earlier...

El copresidente de Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega resaltó hoy el sufrimiento del pueblo cubano por el impacto del bloqueo de Estados Unidos a la isla y aseguró que un día esa política desaparecerá. Al saludar la delegación de la nación caribeña encabezada por el general de cuerpo de ejército, Álvaro López Miera, presente en la juramentación del jefe del Ejército de Nicaragua, Julio César Avilés, Ortega calificó de heroico al pueblo cubano. El cerco económico, comercial y financiero impuesto por Washington a La Habana desde hace más de seis décadas y recrudecido en los últimos años, constituye el principal obstáculo para el desarrollo económico del país, según las autoridades cubanas. Desde la Plaza la Fe de esta capital, el líder sandinista también extendió su saludo al mayor general Johan Alexander Hernández, en representación del Ministerio del Poder Popular para la Defensa de Venezuela. “Nuestro saludo para el pueblo de (Simón) Bolívar,...

Desde ayer 17 hasta el próximo viernes 21, Matanzas acoge la XXII edición del Torneo Nacional de Softbol de la Prensa Jorge Luis Valdés Rionda In Memoriam. Medios Nacionales, máximo ganador de este evento, Vaqueros (representan a Artemisa y Mayabeque), Holguín, Santiago de Cuba, Isla de la Juventud, Ciego de Ávila, Camagüey y los anfitriones, son los ocho elencos en la pelea por incluirse entre los primeros seis puestos, pues los dos últimos en la tabla quedan eliminados para el próximo torneo. Vaqueros de Artemisa y Mayabeque cuentan en sus filas con softbolistas de otras provincias, una práctica habitual, sobre todo con miembros de equipos que no clasificaron al máximo evento deportivo de los periodistas cubanos. Unido al exigente calendario de dos juegos diarios, las autoridades de la Ciudad de los puentes prepararon un ambicioso plan de actividades colaterales, con recorridos por lugares recreativos, históricos y culturales de la Atenas...

Retired University of the West Indies Cave Hill Professor Pedro Lancelot Welch has died. According to a social media post by one of his relatives, he passed away “quite suddenly” yesterday afternoon “after taking ill at the beach”. His passing comes less than six months after the death of his mother Dame Maizie Barker-Welch, who died last August 28. (GC)

216 E gobierno demisionario ainda ta tuma cierto decision, manera den caso cu minister di salud demisionario a haci pa loke ta trata aumento di salario di esunnan cu ta traha den sector di cuido medico. A puntra e prome minister demisionario si loke nan ta haciendo ta purba di pompa e gobierno entrante. mr. Evelyn Wever-Croes, Prome Minister demisionario, a indica: “Ami lo kier bisa e gobierno cu ta formando, forma pa caba. Awe ta diesun siman despues di eleccion.” Aruba nunca antes a keda den tanto incertidumbre p’asina tanto tempo. Gabinete Wever-Croes I a huramenta despues di ocho siman, unda cu nan a yega na acuerdo. Nan a pasa screening y huramenta. Pa loke tabata Gabinete Wever-Croes II door cu e eleccion tabata na juni y juli tabata vakantie, nan a huramenta den siman diesdos. No obstante, den siman tres of cuater ya caba tabatin acuerdo caba, unda...