RICE AND PEAS; MACARONI PIE
STEAMED PUDDING AND SOUSE; COU COU
BBQ SPARERIBS; BBQ PIG TAIL
BAKED CHICKEN; BAKED PORK
SEA CAT; FRIED SNAPPER
FRIED STEAK FISH; GRILLED STEAK FISH
LAMB STEW; FISH GRAVY
MIXED VEGETABLES; TOSSED SALAD; COLE SLAW
| PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP) – The World Food Program is to launch a food “surge” in Haiti from Saturday to boost rations for nearly two million people in the impoverished quake-torn country, a spokeswoman told AFP.
WFP staff in the capital Port-au-Prince were handing out coupons on Friday that will be exchanged for the food “baskets” comprising rice, beans, fortified flour, oil and salt to be distributed to the end of the month, Silke Buhr said. The parcels are designed to feed a family of five for a month, she said. A total of 1.9 million people will receive the rations — more than covering the 1.3 million people left homeless by the January 12 earthquake that killed more than 220,000 people. The new distribution expands on an initial emergency food surge for three million people following the disaster that mostly consisted of rice handouts. The WFP said it has also started a program to feed school-age children in Port-au-Prince. The initiative began last week in and will initially distribute meals of rice and beans, and fortified porridge to 72,000 children from school yards across the capital. Eventually it aims to feed 800,000 children. Meanwhile, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the priority is agriculture ahead of Haiti’s mid-March crop planting season. “During spring, in March, it’s the planting season and the crops that are planted in March makes up 60 percent of the national needs, so it is very urgent that the agriculture sector gets funding,” spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said. “Support to agriculture is urgent and essential in the time remaining before the start of the rains in April,” she added. Some 70.6 million dollars are needed by the agriculture sector, according to the UN, but donors have so far only put up 12 percent of the sum. “It’s not enough,” said Byrs. (Caribnet) |
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| WASHINGTON, USA (AFP) – The US Senate on Friday unanimously approved a resolution calling for easing Haiti’s debt burden to help with reconstruction efforts in the wake of the devastating January 12 earthquake.
The measure directs US representatives to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other international lenders to act to relieve Haiti’s external debt obligations and calls for future aid to be in the form of grants, not loans. The “Haiti Recovery Act” also urges President Barack Obama’s administration to support the creation of an international trust fund for Haiti to support investment in infrastructure including the development of electric grids, roads, water and sanitation facilities, and reforestation initiatives.
“The people of Haiti face a long and difficult road ahead,” said Democratic Senator Christopher Dodd, a lead author of the measure. “But today, the United States Senate made it clear that they will not have to walk that road alone.” Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, crafted the resolution with Senator Richard Lugar, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “The Senate will continue to assess measures that will help Haiti and develop greater stability and hopefully new opportunities. Dealing with Haiti’s crippling debt burden is an important initial step,” said Lugar. The Group of Seven richest countries — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States — announced in early February that they would cancel Haiti’s bilateral debt. But that amounts to only a small portion of Haiti’s overall debt, which ran about 1.88 billion dollars as of late September 2008, according to the Paris Club group of creditor nations. The Inter-American Development Bank estimates that Haiti’s reconstruction will cost some 14 billion dollars. (Caribnet) |
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| By Joseph Guyler Delva
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters) — A Haitian judge on Friday signed an order to free one of two U.S. missionaries imprisoned on child kidnapping charges, but a paperwork problem delayed her release. The order will allow US citizen Charisa Coulter to leave the Caribbean nation but the leader of the group of missionaries, Laura Silsby, was to remain in jail, said judge Bernard Sainvil.
Haitian authorities in January arrested 10 Americans, most of them members of a Baptist church in Idaho, on charges that they tried to take 33 Haitian children out of the country without proper documents. The case put a spotlight on the vulnerability of thousands of children orphaned in a Jan. 12 earthquake that killed as many as 300,000 people, according to government estimates. The other missionaries were freed last month after the judge found no evidence of criminal intent on their part. All the missionaries protested their innocence. Critics say attention focused on the case has been a distraction from the hardships faced by more than 1 million Haitians displaced by the quake. Coulter was returned to custody on Friday because court administrators could not find an official stamp necessary to validate the judge’s signed order, Sainvil said. “I already signed the release order. All that is left now is to seal it but they cannot find the official stamp,” he said. There was no chance that Coulter would be released before Monday, chief prosecutor Joseph Manes Louis told Reuters. “I returned the order to the judge because there is an administrative problem. Once the problem is solved I will proceed according to the law,” he said. Silsby was being held for further investigation. In the chaos that followed the earthquake, hundreds of Haitian children were taken out of the country for adoption in the United States and other countries. Many of the adoptive parents had started the adoption process before the quake happened. But most of the children Silsby’s group tried to take to the Dominican Republic were not orphans. Several of their parents told the judge they had given the children to the group because they believed the Americans would feed and educate them. The government banned adoptions of earthquake orphans amid reports of an increase in child trafficking and other forms of abuse and fear that children were being prematurely separated from their parents. (Caribnet) |
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| CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) — Venezuela’s President Hugo mocked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday as a “blond” version of her predecessor, and said a row with Spain over alleged links with rebel groups was over.
Visiting Latin America this week, Clinton said the Obama administration’s policies toward the region were helping blunt the criticism of the United States by leftist leaders like Chavez. “To me, she’s like Condoleezza Rice … a blond Condoleezza,” said the Venezuelan, referring to former US president George W. Bush’s secretary of state, with whom he exchanged frequent harsh words at long-distance. Citing comments by Clinton in Brazil, Chavez said she was proving to be equally aggressive. “She comes to Brazil to provoke us, to try and divide us from our brothers.” While taking a familiar pop at the United States, Chavez was more conciliatory toward Spain. President Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero’s government stirred Chavez’s wrath this week by demanding an explanation of a judge’s accusations that Venezuela had helped Basque ETA and Colombian FARC rebels plot possible attacks on Spanish soil. But Chavez said after a conversation with Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, he was satisfied that Madrid was now simply requesting information, not making accusations. “The response from the Spanish government has been acceptable,” he said, praising Zapatero and Moratinos’ “maturity” and blaming the affair on Europe’s “fascist right”. (Caribnet) |
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Gayle
GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC):
Winless in their last 12 one-day internationals, beleaguered West Indies will seek to arrest their vexing slide when they face Zimbabwe in the second match of the five-match series today.
The match will be as much a test of their character as it will be of their competence as they try to halt a winning drought that dates back to last June to find their last success in a one-dayer, when they beat India in Jamaica in the second game of the four-match series.
Since then, a depleted side lost all three matches to Bangladesh and another three in the Champions Trophy in South Africa, before a Chris Gayle-led side was decimated 4-0 by Australia in a five-match series last month.
Perhaps eyeing Zimbabwe as easier targets, West Indies have been shocked twice in the space of five days by defeats that would have further eroded their already shattered confidence.
Skipper Chris Gayle told reporters, while it was important his side did not panic, it was also crucial they started to win soon.
“Zimbabwe are now two up on us and then by (the) time you check it, we could lose the series,” Gayle pointed out.
“But it’s a one-off game and we have to be careful - we still have four games to go so we have to look back at this.”
Shoddy batting saw to their loss in the one-off Twenty20 International in Trinidad and Tobago last Sunday and their batting once again let them down when chasing a gettable target here on Thursday.
In view of the region’s mounting frustration with the side, Gayle called for continued support.
“We still need that support regardless of the results, you know,” he said.
“When you do crap you have to accept you do crap and guys will have to take responsibility out there in the middle. It’s just sad and disappointing at the same time.”
Zimbabwe will rely on their spinners to once again keep the hosts in check. As they did in the opening T20 match, the trio of off-spinning captain Prosper Utseya, left-armer Ray Price and leg-spinner Greg Lamb once against strangled the Windies batsmen to increase the pressure of the run rate.
Their batting will centre around the well organised Vusimuzi Sibanda whose two last innings against the Windies have now yielded scores in the 90s, while Tatenda Taibu, Stuart Matsikenyiri and all-rounder Elton Chigumbura can score quickly. (Jamaica Gleaner)
Buju Banton’s lawyer, David Oscar Markus, is claiming the confidential informant, who United States (US) prosecutors are depending on to make their case against his client, for years, has been paid to assist American law-enforcement agencies.
Markus is also claiming the informant has already earned, but has not been paid, for his role in the case against Banton, whose real name is Mark Myrie.
The dancehall star’s attorney laid the allegations in court yesterday, as he appealed for more information on the informant, whose name was not disclosed.
Markus told US Magistrate Thomas Wilson that based on the information given to him by prosecutors, the informant was being paid on a contingency basis and is to get a portion of any money the court might order Myrie to forfeit.
This will be in addition to what he is allegedly supposed to pocket if the pro-secution proves the case against Banton.
Markus has repeatedly argued that Myrie was set up.
“The lengths the government will go to to create crime when no crime existed is depressing. Do we really want to be paying criminals millions of dollars to ensnare innocent, hard-working men?” Markus told The Gleaner .
Insufficient information
According to Markus, his preparation for Myrie’s trial, which is scheduled to begin on April 19, is being hampered because prosecutors have not provided him with sufficient information to cross-examine the informant.
He said he needed details about a tax case involving the informant, information on the other cases on which the informant had worked, and specifics on his criminal history. However, assistant US attorney James Preston argued that he had complied with court requirements and turned over all information that might help the defence.
According to Preston, providing details on every case on which the informant had worked could put the informant in danger.
The judge agreed that Myrie’s lawyer was not necessarily entitled to more information but still ordered the prosecution to give the defence all communication by law enforcement or prosecutors asking for beneficial treatment in the informant’s tax case and immigration file.
He also ordered the prosecutor to give the defence a list of cases in which the informant had testified for the prosecution.
Myrie has been in custody since last December when he was slapped with drugs and firearm charges.
The reggae icon is accused of conspiracy to possess cocaine and aiding and abetting the possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime.
His lawyers are arguing that the artiste, who exploded on the international scene with the 1995 album Til Shiloh , was entrapped by the informant. (Jamaica Gleaner)
Nelson
Gary Spaulding, Senior Gleaner Writer
National Security Minister Senator Dwight Nelson yesterday shot down allegations in the 2010 International Narcotics Control Report issued by the United States that Jamaica had been less than cooperative in the fight against organised crime.
This is in keeping with Prime Minister Bruce Golding’s statement at Tuesday’s sitting of the House of Representatives that Nelson would yesterday provide the nation with a fulsome response to the claims contained in the report.
“The statements in that report do not accurately represent the efforts being made by the security forces and the Jamaican authorities in the fight against international drug trafficking and organised crime,” declared Nelson.
But the minister steered clear of ascribing a motive for the alleged inaccuracies in the high-profile report.
Relations deteriorating
There are, however, concerns in the public domain that relations between Jamaica and the US have been deteriorating with each passing day due to the refusal of the former to hand over Tivoli Gardens strongman Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke to the US.
Nelson contended that data supplied in the US-originated report deviated from authentic information out of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, the Police Statistics Division and the national security ministry.
He argued that the US was wrong about the number of arrests made for drug-related crimes last year.
He told the Upper House that as at December of last year, 8,465 arrests had been made, in stark contrast to the 6,346 quoted in the report.
Nelson said ganja seizure fell by 37 per cent from 35,539.16kg in 2008 to 22,292.09kg last year.
“This may be attributed to success in previous years at combating production,” the minister told the Senate.
Reacting to the allegations in the report that there was not enough being done to clog up Jamaica’s border, Nelson said a security committee to periodically review and discuss national security concerns, particularly at the ports of entry, was being established.
The minister reeled off a list of international treaties relating to illegal and psychotropic drugs, as well as legislation locally, to hit the drug trade hard.
In an apparent bid to demonstrate that Jamaica remained committed to the effort and enjoyed a healthy relationship with the US, Nelson cited financial assistance granted by the United States and other partners to break the back of the lucrative trade.
He also listed the efforts by the Government in its fight against corruption.
Comprehensive policy coming
Nelson spoke of the establishment of an evidence-based comprehensive policy agenda to respond to the crime challenges.
He told the Senate that the Independent Commission of Investigation Bill was well on its way to becoming law.
In response to claims by the US that the Government had failed to enact five anti-crime bills, Nelson said their passage had been stalled by the uncooperative approach of the parliamentary opposition.
This precipitated an exchange between Opposition Spokesman on Justice A.J. Nicholson and Nelson.
Nicholson challenged Nelson to state that the blame for the failure of the bills to be passed should lay squarely at the feet of the Opposition.
Nelson said the Opposition had reneged on an agreement reached during the Vale Royal talks after other parties raised objections in the public domain.
But Nicholson contended that only two of the bills required opposition support, hence the failure of the Government to get the bills through Parliament could have been of its own doing.
He said the opposition had raised objections to one of the bills relating to the detention of suspects in light of the fact that it would clash with the proposed Charter of Rights Act. (Jamaica Gleaner)
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HAITIAN national Anelie Joseph got the green light to stay in Trinidad and Tobago for the next six months yesterday. What happens to her after that, according to Khafra Kambon, chairman of the Emancipation Support Committee, is in the hands of the Government. Kambon, along with Traditional African National Association, intervened on behalf of Joseph just as she was about to be deported following her arrival at Piarco on Tuesday from the Dominican Republic. Joseph, 24, told immigration officials both her parents died in the January 12 quake which devastated Port-au-Prince. However, immigration officials were set to deport her until the Traditional African National Association stepped in as a mediator. Yesterday, after posting a $3,000 bond, she was released into the custody of her sister, who lives in St Augustine. While he was disappointed at how the matter was initially handled, Kambon heaped praises on the Government for continuing its assistance to Haiti following the earthquake. ’Other countries are bending over backwards to accommodate the Haitians. Countries like Jamaica … they are all making special arrangements for these people, so I really I can’t even begin to understand why just a single person coming into Trinidad and Tobago and they were actually thinking of deporting her,’ he said. ’Both her parents died in this quake and someone running from this situation should not be put under this stress now. I think she’s had enough.’ Chaguanas MP Jack Warner, who donated the bond money, has also offered to hire Joseph once she settles down.(Trinidad Express) -Gyasi Gonzales |
