Moontown

SWEET AND SOUR CHICKEN RICE; RICE AND PEAS

MACARONI PIE; COW HEEL SOUP

BBQ SPARERIBS; BBQ PIG TAIL

BAKED CHICKEN; BAKED PORK

FRIED SNAPPER; FRIED STEAK FISH

GRILLED STEAK FISH; TURKEY STEW

CURRIED FISH GRAVY; STEAMED VEGETABLES

TOSSED SALAD; COLE SLAW

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) said Monday it has agreed to forgive US$479 million in debts owed by quake-ravaged Haiti.

Bank President Luis Alberto Moreno said the bank’s board of governors voted to forgive the debt and will offer US$2 billion in financing to the Caribbean nation over the next 10 years.

“This commitment is good news for all Haitians, and will help heal the wounds caused by the earthquake,” Moreno said at the inauguration of the bank’s annual meeting in the Caribbean coast resort of Cancun.

The IDB debt was the biggest single chunk of the US$1.2 billion Haiti owed as of late January, according to figures of the International Monetary Fund.

The measures are meant to help Haiti recover from the magnitude-7 January 12 earthquake, which killed an estimated 230,000 people.

The new funds would be directed toward supporting long-term reconstruction and development efforts.

The 48-member regional development bank is Latin America’s largest lender for projects such as roads and power plants.

The administration of President Barack Obama is pushing for the cancellation of other multilateral debt, as well as the US$400 million Haiti owes individual countries.

Also Monday, European Union foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton said in Brussels that the EU foreign ministers agreed to donate euro1 billion (US$1.36 billion) in development aid to Haiti in the years ahead.

- AP

Insurance firm CGI Holdings said it is nearing a deal for the purchase of CLICO International General Insurance Company Limited’s operations in Barbados and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).

Chairman of CGI Holdings Bruce Bayley, in a statement issued at the weekend, announced the purchase and sale agreement between the two companies.

“On completion of this acquisition, CLICO International General will become a wholly owned subsidairy of CGI Holdings Inc, as is CGI Consumers’ Guarantee Insurance Company Limited,” Bayley said.

“Once all conditions have been satisfied and all approvals have been obtained, we will complete the acquisition and start the transition process.”

CLICO said it was heartened by the overwhelming support received from its policyholders, whom it thanked for their show of confidence.

“As we restructure and improve our operations, we will not forget this support and as our organisation strengthens, we will find innovative ways to ensure that you parti-cipate in our future successes,” CLICO said in a statement.

Business as usual

CLICO International General Insurance is expected to conduct business as usual while it closes the purchase deal with CGI Holdings.

CLICO operations are being sold off or placed in government custody across its regional markets, a move taken by different countries to protect policyholders after the Trinidad-owned insurance group ran into liquidity troubles at the close of 2008.

CLICO and its parent CL Financial were rescued by the Trinidad government, which is now selling off businesses owned by the conglomerate.

- CMC

LONDON (AP):

An attack on London during the 2012 Olympics poses a major security threat to Britain, the government said yesterday in its latest assessment of risks from terrorism.

“The government is working on the assumption that the greatest threat to the Games is international terrorism and that the threat in 2012 will be high,” Britain’s Home Office said in its annual report on counterterrorism strategy.

Officials fear terrorists could attempt raids similar to those in Mumbai, India, in 2008, arriving on small high-speed boats and using gangs of gunmen to attack targets in central London.

Security centre

Britain announced yesterday the opening of a dedicated maritime security centre - focused in part on piracy in eastern Africa, but also aimed at bolstering the country’s defences against an attack from the water ahead of 2012. Security officials have expressed worries that an attack against London could be launched from the River Thames.

“Things like the attack on Mumbai and the forthcoming Olympics in 2012 made us realise we needed to look at the maritime domain more closely,” Britain’s terrorism minister, Alan West, said.

In a written statement to lawmakers, Home Secretary Alan Johnson said al-Qaida’s core leadership in Pakistan and Afghanistan had been stymied over the last 12 months by military action in southern Afghanistan and strikes against key individuals.

Leaders killed

Since January 2008, seven senior al-Qaida leaders have been killed, he said.

But Johnson warned that groups in Yemen, Somalia, Saudi Arabia and Algeria are increasingly capable of mounting attacks overseas. He cited as proof the attempted Christmas Day bombing of an airliner at it approached Detroit.

“An increase in the capability of some al-Qaida affiliates and associated groups, highlighted by the attempted Detroit airline attack, demonstrates the evolving and diffuse threat we continue to face,” Johnson said. (Jamaica Gleaner)

MUMBAI

West Indies captain Chris Gayle stroked a measured half century for the Kolkata Knight Riders in his Indian Premier League season debut but was upstaged by batting prodigy Sachin Tendulkar as Mumbai Indians pulled off a pulsating seven-wicket win yesterday.

Left-handed Gayle, who was kept out of Kolkata’s game on Saturday with a fever, stroked 75 from 60 balls with four fours and two sixes as they rattled up 155 for three from their allotted 20 overs after choosing to bat first at the Brabourne Stadium.

Tendulkar then unleashed a superb, unbeaten 71 from 48 balls with ten fours to propel Mumbai to their target with nine balls to spare, to uncork their third win in four outings.

Gayle seemed set for something special when he orchestrated two vital partnerships for Kolkata. He added 70 for the first wicket with Sourav Ganguly (31) and another 82 with Owais Shah (31) but both partnerships were slow and the late explosion never really came.

Gayle’s West Indies counterpart all-rounder Dwayne Bravo was ineffective and his four overs cost 36 runs.

75 RUNS: WI captain Chris Gayle

Aretha Welch awelch@trinidadexpress.com

The Government should take the recent warnings from the country’s labour unions as a very serious threat, says former head of the public service, Reginald Dumas.

’If the unions say they are going to take action, take it as a very credible threat of action,’ he said in an interview yesterday.

In an unprecedented move, 14 trade unions across the country joined together as one on Sunday, and issued the Government with an ultimatum.

The unions included both the Public Services Association and the Oilfields Workers Trade Union. They have given the Government until Labour Day (June 19) to settle all outstanding negotiations with State employees. The unions are also calling on the Government to shelve the current plan to retrench an estimated 2,000 workers from the Board of Inland Revenue and the Customs and Excise Division. The Government took the decision to retrench workers and offer Voluntary Separation of Employment Packages, as part of a plan to form a new taxation body, the Trinidad and Tobago Revenue Authority (TTRA).

Dumas, who said he has treated with the PSA in the past, noted, ’This is the first time in many years that the two wings of labour (Federation of Independent Trade Unions (FITUN) and the National Trade Union Centre (NATUC) ) have come together.’

Dumas said while the Government may claim they will not negotiate under duress, he noted that many of the negotiations which workers are lobbying for have been going on for years and they had ’a valid argument’.

Dumas said the old Public Service worked with and not against unions, and as such situations where workers felt forced to march were far fewer.

’But this situation with labour goes beyond a dispute with the Government. It is the people pushing back against the type of maximum leader, top down governance that is holding the country back,’ he added.

He said the Ministry of Finance acted in bad faith when they back tracked during discussions on the TTRA, and decided unilaterally, without further consultation with the PSA, that they would retrench workers and have them reapply for jobs.

Dumas warned, ’The sooner the Government realises that they cannot continue as they were and that public pressure is far too great, the better it will be for them.’ (Trinidad Express)

81-year-old who blocked PM…
Jensen LaVende

THE 81-year-old man who stopped Prime Minister Patrick Manning from entering his yard last week has been immortalised on the popular social networking site, Facebook.

Percy Villafana, who stopped Manning from entering his Real Street, San Juan home on March 15 during the PM’s walkabout in the community, now has a Facebook fan club with the title ’Percy Villafana-Citizen Supreme’.

The site, set up on Sunday, had 40 fans up to yesterday evening.

One fan comment read: ’He (Villafana) is an absolute legend we should be proud of him, that someone actually did what we’ve always dreamed of doing …’

’Way to go Percy! We with you!’ another fan posted.

Percy Villafan

The fan club only has two photos, both of him with his trademark crossed arms, one barring the Prime Minister and another a re-enactment during an interview over the weekend. The fan base has more than doubled since its inception sometime after lunch on Sunday.

Villafana, a former Co-operative Development Officer with the Ministry of Agriculture, claimed that he held up his hands in the form of a cross when Manning was about to enter his yard because it is a sign to ward off evil. In a Sunday Express report, Villafana was quoted as saying that he would still welcome a sit down with the Prime Minister.

’Sure, if he wants to come here and ask me a few questions, I would certainly do it. I would tell him everything I said here today about why I did what I did on Monday,’ the report quoted Villafana as saying.

Villafana said the $2 million flag at the Hasley Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo and the poor condition of the Croisse, among other things, had prompted his actions.

In Parliament on Friday, Manning said Villafana was a Canadian citizen who frequently visits the country after being heckled about the incident by Oropouche East MP, Roodal Moonilal.

However, Villafana responded by saying he is a ’Trini to the Bone’ and has children and grandchildren living in Canada and he merely visits them regularly. (Trinidad Express)