Regional News

LONDON (Reuters Life!) – Attaching shutters to windows or embedding steel bars in new structures are some of the simple measure that should be employed to stop buildings from killing occupants in natural disasters, experts say.

CANCUN, Mexico (Reuters) – The governing board of the Inter-American Development Bank agreed early yesterday to raise $70 billion in fresh capital and erase $479 million of Haitian debt, Colombia’s finance minister said.

Geothermal power delayed Nevisian plans to officially begin tapping into the island’s geothermal energy by December of this year have suffered a setback.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Red-hot controversy continues to swirl around the Government over the deal involving top-flight American law firm Manatt, Phelps and Phillips.

(Jamaica Observer) The finances of a well-connected Jamaican businessman, who heads a list of about 30 with massive unexplained wealth, is now the subject of intense scrutiny by the US authorities who have asked Jamaica to gather evidence about how the wealth was accumulated.

HAVANA (Reuters) – Cuban farmers are pressing for greater autonomy to produce and sell their crops, blaming government inefficiency for Cuba’s falling food output despite agricultural reforms introduced by President Raul Castro.

Price control An official of the Caricom Competition Commission says Caribbean governments may not be adequately equipped to spearhead price control mechanisms.

HAVANA (Reuters) – Cuban police grabbed members of the opposition group ‘Ladies in White’ by their hair, dragged them into a bus and drove them away to break up a protest march yesterday.

(Trinidad Guardian) – Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar has said Prime Minister Patrick Manning appeared to be schizophrenic.

(Barbados Nation) Two Barbados insurance companies have been prohibited from writing new business by the Supervisor of Insurance.

(Trinidad Express) The Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) is examining the possibility of a clampdown on bottled water companies operating in the country.

(Antigua Sun) The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is making good on its intention to go after investors who allegedly evaded the United States tax system, while they were clients of Allen Stanford’s offshore banking empire.

(Trinidad Express) – Prime Minister Patrick Manning admitted that he gave inaccurate information to the Parliament when he delivered his statement on church/state relations three weeks ago.

HAVANA (Reuters) – Cuba registered a slight increase in the number of foreign investment projects last year, the first rise since authorities began winnowing out foreign ventures they deemed ineffective or corrupt in 2003, according to a government report seen by Reuters yesterday.

BOGOTA (Reuters) – Colombian presidential frontrunner Juan Manuel Santos faces a struggle to secure an outright victory in May’s election after legislative election results over the weekend put President Alvaro Uribe’s alliance under pressure.

UN chief on aid flows to Haiti UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has vowed to work to keep donor funds flowing for Haiti’s recovery and reconstruction.

CARACAS (Reuters) – The Guri dam, which supplies more than half of Venezuela’s electricity, may have to halt a large part of its generation by mid-May if a drought persists, the president of the utility Edelca said on Thursday.

CARACAS (Reuters) – Homicides in Venezuela have quadrupled during President Hugo Chavez’s 11 years in power, with two people murdered every hour, according to new figures from a non-governmental organization.

(Trinidad Express) – Eleven months after the debacle that saw the mass resignation of the newly-appointed Integrity Commission (IC) members, President Max Richards is ready to swear in his new picks.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will visit Haiti tomorrow to meet the country’s leaders and people left homeless by a January earthquake that killed hundreds of thousands, Ban’s spokesman said.