CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez is preparing diplomatic “artillery” for a summit next month that could produce the first encounter between the anti-Washington leader and US President Barack Obama.
(BBC) – The US government is chasing at least $226.6m (£161m) in taxes, penalties and interest it says billionaire American financier Sir Allen Stanford owes.
(Jamaica Observer) – Cases of fraud have developed in the area of pharmaceutical drug prescriptions locally as demand for medicines increase, Finance Minister Audley Shaw said on Monday.
(Trinidad Guardian) – High-ranking government officials have said that the Government of Trinidad and Tobago will not be granting permission to any country to land fighter jets on local territory as part of the security arrangements for the Summit of the Americas.
Dominica police seize drugs Police in Dominica have reported the arrest of one man after they seized cocaine and marijuana worth a combined value of EC$1.78 million (US$681,956) last weekend.A
(Antigua Sun) – Supervisor of Elections Lorna Simon said the Electoral Commission was in fact not ready to carry out the elections on 12 March.
(BBC) – The British Govern-ment looks set to suspend the constitution of the Turks and Caicos Islands after a damning report into allegations of corruption.
Puerto Rican bank seeks US bailout A Puerto Rican state bank is seeking $5 billion from the US Federal Reserve to help the island withstand the economic crisis.
(Jamaica Observer) Montego Bay – United States and local agents, in a ground-breaking development, staged a search of the offices of Jamaica Tours Limited, owned by the family of Opposition Senator Noel Sloley, to trace the origin of a vexatious e-mail that allegedly libeled Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart.
Did Minister breach Financial Institutions Act? By Camini Marajh Investigative Desk (Trinidad Express) New questions are emerging about the legality of the transaction involving Finance Minister Karen Nunez-Tesheira’s two US-dollar fixed deposits at Clico Investment Bank (CIB).
(BBC) – The United Progressive Party of Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer has been re-elected with a reduced majority after Thursday’s general elections.
(Trinidad Express) – An injunction barring the CL Financial Groups from divesting the assets of its insurance subsidiary Clico has been extended to March 24 by Justice Judith Jones.
EU urges banana deal The European Union has urged Latin American nations to agree to a banana deal and end the world’s longest-running trade row.
(Trinidad Express) – CL Financial’s crisis will force Government to borrow more this year to sustain its rescue of the cash-strapped conglomerate.
(Trinidad Guardian) – Two men were murdered within a 24-hour period, bringing the total murders for the year, up to late on Wednesday to 114.
Floods hit Suriname Reports from Suriname say heavy rains are flooding some areas and forcing businesses and schools to close.
BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will tomorrow urge US President Barack Obama to open talks with leftist governments in Venezuela and Cuba and make aid and development the focus of his Latin America policy.
(BBC) – Liat’s owners are congratulating themselves for keeping the airline in Caribbean hands and out of Sir Allen Stanford’s.
DALLAS (Reuters) – Latin American investors in the unraveling financial empire of Texas billionaire Allen Stanford do not want their names published for fear they could be targeted by criminals, a lawyer said.
(Trinidad Express) – Finance Minister Karen Nunez-Tesheira says that the Clico Investment Bank (CIB) accounts which she closed on December 31 last year, before they matured later this year, had actually matured previously and were “rolled over”.
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