Moontown

“I can 100 percent confirm that Usain will not be running at the Commonwealth Games,” manager Ricky Simms told the Times of India.

Simms said he was surprised Jamaica had entered Bolt’s name and urged the organisers of the October 3-14 Games not to raise hopes that the double Olympic and world sprint champion would run in New Delhi.

“Maybe this list was sent in some time ago,” Simms told the newspaper. “The Commonwealth Games is not on Usain’s schedule for this year.

“I do not understand why officials cannot just accept his decision and stop putting out more stories in the press. They should focus on the athletes who are coming to India.”

Bolt’s coach Glen Mills had also said last month that New Delhi was not on the sprinter’s agenda, but Games organisers insisted he would be the star attraction at the Games.

“Bolt will surely come,” organising committee spokesman Lalit Bhanot had told reporters, adding that the Jamaican authorities had included him in the preliminary entry list.

Organisers were hoping that Commonwealth Games Federation chief Mike Fennell, who hails from Jamaica, would convince Bolt to make the trip to New Delhi.

Bolt is currently recovering from an Achilles tendon injury which forced him to miss the Diamond League event in New York last month.

The Jamaican - whose compatriot Asafa Powell is the defending Commonwealth Games champion - won the 100m and 200m gold medals in world record times at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and repeated the feat at the 2009 world championships in Berlin.

The Commonwealth Games, which feature 71 nations and territories of the former British empire, are India’s biggest sporting event since the Asian Games in 1982.(Caribnet)

Steyn was fined 100 percent of his match fee for spitting at West Indies left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn and Roach 50 percent for a flare-up with South Africa batsman Jacques Kallis during the Proteas’ seven-wicket win in the third Test in Barbados, completed Tuesday, that gave them the series 2-0.

Steyn, player of the series for his 15 wickets at 18.13 apiece, spat in the direction of Benn on his way back to the pavilion after he was dismissed, by Roach, in the Proteas’ first innings on Monday.

Left-arm spinner Benn appeared to chirp a few comments in his direction.

Steyn pleaded guilty to spitting at Benn and was found to have broken the clause of the International Cricket Council (ICC) code of conduct which relates to behaviour that is contrary to the spirit of the game.

“Dale’s behaviour was entirely unacceptable and he knows that,” said match referee Jeff Crowe in an ICC statement issued from its Dubai headquarters on Thursday.

“The fact that he was provoked by Sulieman during his time at the crease helps to explain his actions but cannot excuse them,” the former New Zealand batsman added.

“Test cricket can be an examination of one’s emotions as well as skill and players must learn to keep those emotions in check sufficiently to play within the spirit of the game.

“This was an ugly moment of which I’m sure Dale is not proud.”

Turning to Roach, who was warned by Australian on-field umpires Simon Taufel and Steve Davis to tone down his behaviour and later had to be pulled away by West Indies team-mate Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Crowe added: “Kemar was involved in an unpleasant altercation in the final overs of the Test where he had to be pulled away by one of his fellow players.

“This was after he received warnings from the umpires and so it could easily have been avoided.

“It was not acceptable behaviour for a player at this or any level of the game and it’s not the first time Kemar has been involved in such behaviour,” Crowe said. (Caribnet)

PARAMARIBO, Suriname (Reuters) — A member of former military dictator Desi Bouterse’s party was elected to head Suriname’s parliament on Thursday in a move that supporters of the former strongman said brings him a step closer to the presidency.

Despite jubilation among Bouterse backers in his Mega Combination coalition, the election of Jennifer Geerlings-Simons as chairwoman of the country’s National Assembly does not guarantee the 64-year-old will return to power.

Suriname, sandwiched between Guyana and French Guiana on the northern shoulder of South America, won its independence in 1975 and is now a gold and bauxite miner with a nascent petroleum industry.

Bouterse faces trial in Suriname for the execution of 15 opponents during his 1982 military rule. He was convicted in the Netherlands in 1999 of drug-trafficking.

His coalition won the most seats — 23 — in a May general election but fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to name a new president via parliament.

Selecting leaders in the culturally diverse former Dutch colony is typically a drawn-out process. Bouterse may have to strike deals with former enemies to take office.

President Ronald Venetiaan’s New Front for Democracy party won 14 seats in the elections on May 25, with a partner of his current government coming third and the party of a former guerrilla who fought against Bouterse coming fourth.

In the absence of the necessary majority, parties must try to form coalitions.

If no one is able to gather enough seats, the decision shifts to a wider assembly that includes local officials, where a simple majority is needed. Bouterse’s coalition has a majority in that body, called the United People’s Assembly.

“This indicates, without any doubt, in which direction we are going. I don’t know if we will elect the president in the National Assembly, but in the United People’s Assembly, I can assure you Bouterse will become president,” said Bouterse confidant Ramon Abrahams, a prominent lawmaker.

Bouterse’s trial over the killings of the opposition leaders started in 2007, but he has refused to show up in court at times. The trial is being continued without him.

A Dutch court convicted him of drug trafficking in absentia, preventing him from traveling to countries with an extradition treaty with the Netherlands.

Known as Dutch Guiana until independence, Suriname is a sparsely populated but diverse nation of 490,000 people.(Caribnet)

The bill was passed in the House agriculture committee.

It would among other things, end the effective travel ban for US nationals; allow communist Cuba to use credit for purchases of US farm goods currently paid for only in cash; and allow direct transfers between US and Cuban financial institutions.

Now it still must make its way through additional commissions before a potential House vote.

The United States has had an economic embargo clamped on Havana for nearly five decades.

But it has not been the undoing of the Americas’ only one-party communist regime, still in place now under President Raul Castro after his brother Fidel Castro led Cuba for more than 40 years.

The bill is not seeking to end the full US embargo trade sanctions in place since 1962. But their importance has eroded to the point of empty rhetoric and insignificance.

The United States today is a key Cuban trade partner, selling hundreds of millions in farm goods a year, despite what the Cuban government likes to call “crippling” US sanctions.

Americans technically are allowed to visit Cuba, but they are required to seek special US government permission to go, and if they get it have a limit on how much they may spend in Cuba.

Those who seek the permits usually are US sports team members, artists or academics. Exceptions however are made for Cuban-Americans who are visiting relatives; different rules apply to their cases.

Thousands of Americans visit Cuba every year without US permission. When they do they are legally barred from spending money on the island, an effective travel ban. But back at home they are rarely prosecuted for their rule-breaking unless they flaunt their defiance of the rules.

The fate of the legislation to repeal the ban is unclear. Staunch anti-Castro lawmakers can be expected to mount a tough fight against such measures, which they say will be seen as a reward for human rights abuses. (Caribnet)

The Heads of Government will hold discussions on Haiti’s advancement towards national recovery and development and the Community’s continued active involvement in the relief, recovery and reconstruction efforts following the January 12 earthquake.

Also high on the agenda is an analysis of the Community’s position in the contemporary world. In this regard, discussions will be held under the topic `The Community in the Contemporary World; Securing its Place in the Face of Critical Changes and Challenges’.

The Heads of Government will also consider the progress of the CSME. Among the matters they will address on this subject are the challenges for compliance with certain regimes of the Single Market, and Member States’ effective participation in the seamless economic space.

And, even as the Region continues to advocate for the Community’s removal from the current band in which it has been placed with regard to the UK’s Air Passenger Duty (APD) on flights out of the UK, CARICOM Heads of Government will further examine this issue with a view to strengthening the Region’s position on what it considers as a discriminatory application of the APD. This discussion will be led by the Honourable, Hubert Ingraham, Prime Minister of The Bahamas and Lead Head of Government with responsibility for Tourism in the CARICOM Quasi Cabinet. The APD has placed the Region’s tourism sector at a competitive disadvantage to other destinations which are further away but which are placed in bands that attract less duty.

Bharrat Jagdeo, President of Guyana and Lead Head of Government with responsibility for Agriculture in the CARICOM Quasi Cabinet, will apprise his colleagues of developments that have taken place in the area of agriculture since their Thirtieth Regular Meeting in July 2009, in Georgetown, Guyana.

CARICOM Heads of Government at their Summit in Georgetown had issued a Declaration on Agriculture and Food Security reaffirming the importance of agriculture for Food and Nutrition Security and for the development of the economies of the Community. They had also reaffirmed their commitment to allocate the necessary resources to remove or alleviate the constraints to the further development of the agriculture sector. Several developments have taken place within the Region towards that end, including the launching of the Caribbean Agricultural Health and Food Safety Agency (CAHFSA) in March, in Paramaribo, Suriname. CAHFSA’s operations are vital to fulfilling the provisions of the Treaty of Chaguaramas which call for the establishment of an effective Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary regime and for the harmonization of laws, administrative practices and procedures in respect of agriculture.

CARICOM Heads of Government will also consider other subject matters under broad themes including Economic and Financial Issues; Matters related to External Trade; Human and Social Development; Critical Issues in the Development of the Community; Strengthening of the Community; and Information and Communication Technologies for development.

There will also be a discussion on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the implications and impact on the Region. With failed efforts to stem the flow of oil, there are concerns that given the flow of currents, the shores of the Caribbean will be affected. (Caribnet)

The general fund budget for the fiscal 12 months beginning Thursday is $61 million less than Governor Luis Fortuno’s first proposal, which had to be pared after he dropped plans for a video lottery that had been forecast to raise $220 million annually.

Majority, pro-statehood New Progressive Party lawmakers on Wednesday worked on the budget while outside the Capitol police skirmished with protesting University of Puerto Rico (UPR) students and union members.

The disturbance provoked the minority Popular Democratic Party to abandon the legislative session in protest of the way the police handled the incident. About a dozen protesters received injuries.

Earlier on Wednesday, Fortuno had predicted a budget would be passed despite Senate opposition to a plan to raise $110 million through a property tax amnesty that officials hope will bring in back taxes and add unregistered homes to the tax rolls.

Besides the property tax measure and cost cutting, the administration will try to plug the $220 million gap by raising an extra $45 million from slot machines at island casinos as the government cracks down on illegal slot machines. More aggressive tax enforcement is expected to supply the balance.

Images of the disturbance showed a police riot squad pushing back protesters with batons and protesters throwing debris. Police used tear gas on the demonstrators. The clash began after students tried to enter a Senate hearing room to read a statement.

The protests were spurred by lawmakers’ recent approval of legislation to expand the membership of the UPR Board of Trustees and to have UPR decisions be bound by electronic, secret vote. The protesters also opposed Fortuno policies on government layoffs and funding of the university.

The students just ended a two-month strike but could walk out again after university authorities announced an $800 annual “special fee” aimed at raising $40 million toward filling an expected deficit of nearly $200 million.

Fortuno inherited a $3.5 billion deficit upon taking office in January 2009 and has been cutting government spending with a target of a balanced budget by 2013. The Puerto Rico Planning Board predicts the island’s economy will grow by 0.7 percent during fiscal 2011. That would end a four-year-old recession. (Caribnet)

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - President Rene Preval on Wednesday rejected US Senate proposals for upcoming elections in Haiti and said one of them could even sow “anarchy” in the earthquake-shattered Caribbean country.

Preval, who earlier this week set November 28 as the date for presidential and legislative elections, was responding to a report issued in June by Senator Richard Lugar, the ranking Republican on the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The report suggested that Preval let Haiti’s international partners help restructure the eight-member Provisional Electoral Council, which has been accused of bias and currying favor with the president.

It also called for arrangements to ensure the participation of factions within an opposition party loyal to exiled former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, which was blocked from participating in 2009 legislative contests because of a dispute over rival candidate lists.

Speaking at a news conference outside the once-ornate national palace, which was severely damaged during Haiti’s January 12 quake, Preval called Lugar’s proposals “unacceptable.”

“I cannot set up an electoral council in consultation with international partners. I do not form an electoral council with international partners. I form the electoral council with national partners,” he said.

He also rejected Lugar’s call for the participation of elements within Aristide’s popular Fanmi Lavalas party in the upcoming elections, saying the party had rightfully been banned from elections last year after rival Lavalas factions submitted competing lists of candidates.

“If we are to strengthen political parties we cannot recognize fractions that exist within them, unless those fractions transform themselves into political parties through the legal channels,” said Preval.

“How can a political party present four or five candidates under the same banner and for the same position,” he asked. “That’s anarchy.”

Preval has repeatedly denied accusations that he handpicked members of the current electoral council and that he was controlling them from behind the scenes.

Haiti’s general elections were originally due to take place on February 28 but were postponed because of the quake that government officials say killed up to 300,000 people and left more than 1.5 million survivors living in crowded camps in and around the capital Port-au-Prince.

In March foreign donors pledged $10 billion over 10 years for rebuilding. Little actual reconstruction work has begun so far, however. More than 1 million people are still living in makeshift tent cities, as the Atlantic hurricane season threatens the impoverished, flood-prone country with another potential natural disaster.

Preval’s successor is scheduled to take office on February 7, 2011, but lawmakers voted recently to allow Preval to remain in office until May 14, if unforeseen problems with the electoral process delay the handover.

The election will cost $29.6 million, of which the Haitian government pledged to provide $7 million. The rest would be provided by international donors. (Caribnet)