Karl Hood tendered his resignation as foreign minister, citing lack of support from his government and party – the National Democratic Congress (NDC) – for him as a minister and also as MP for St George South East.

During the 2012 budget debate in March, Hood openly criticized the government, saying it had squandered the opportunity it received after the NDC won general elections in 2008.

When the opposition New National Party (NNP) brought a motion of no-confidence against the prime minister, Hood abstained from voting on Tuesday in parliament.

NDC colleague Michael Church, who resigned from government in 2010, voted in favour of the motion, which was defeated 8 to 5.

Hood is the fourth NDC MP to move from cabinet member to the backbench of the House of Representative, leaving Thomas with a minority of seven government parliamentarians.

The NNP has four MPs including Dr Keith Mitchell, its leader and a former Grenada prime minister.

Within hours of Hood’s resignation, Thomas addressed the nation and announced that he was assuming the role as the new foreign minister.

The other portfolios of the prime minister, who is assisted by junior minister, Senator Glen Noel, are Legal Affairs; National Security; Public Administration; Information and Information and Communication Technology; Environment; Foreign Trade; and Export Development.

In his national radio and television address on Thursday night, Thomas invited Grenadians to a public event he said he was hosting in the eastern parish of St Andrew.

“As an act of appreciation for the fervent prayers and expressions of support for the government especially in the past two weeks, I – in my capacity as prime minister – will be holding a national thanksgiving rally at the Grenville Car Park on Sunday, 20 May,” the prime minister said. “The entire nation is invited to join us in giving thanks and acknowledging our gratitude.”

Several top NDC officials, who were contacted Friday, said they were unaware of the planned rally, and were only notified of it at a Thursday evening party executive meeting in St George’s.

“The rally was not organized by, or through, the NDC,” said general secretary Peter David. “As the prime minister himself said, he is holding the event in his capacity as leader of government.”

Meetings that Thomas has been having in the past few months have excluded top officials of the party, such as the acting chairman, general secretary and public relations officer.

The “Solidarity Sunday Meetings” of the prime minister are said to have deepened divisions in his party, especially after the release of a videotape in April of one of the meetings.

On the tape, Sen. Noel accused several NDC members, including general secretary and former tourism minister, Peter David, of conspiring to take control of the party and to undermine the prime minister.

The allegations angered David, who resigned on April 30 from government.

David’s departure led to the removal of his junior minister, Arley Gill, who was replaced in the senate by Dr George Vincent, the new Minister of Tourism, Civil Aviation and Culture.

The pulling of Gill from the senate is reported to have drawn the ire of some NDC officials, who point to what they describe as a “phalanx of NDC members and supporters who appear to be arbitrarily losing their jobs; being fired by their own government. Among the casualties have been the deputy public relations officer of the party and one of our assistant general secretaries.”

Source:http://www.caribbeannewsnow.com/topstory-Grenada-PM-is-new-foreign-minister-10980.html

TMZ was the first to report the singer’s death, and the site reports that she was recording an album at the time of her death.
The Grammy-winning singer, nicknamed the Queen of Disco, had numerous hits in both the 1970s and 1980s, including “Last Dance,” “She Works Hard for the Money” and “Bad Girls.”

Summer was the first female artist to chart with back-to-back multi-platinum double albums.
She appeared in the 1978 film, “Thank God It’s Friday,” which won the best original song Oscar for “Last Dance.” Summer also appeared on the 1990s hit TV show “Family Matters.”

Summer won five Grammy Awards and six American Music Awards, and charted three multi-platinum albums.
Musician Questlove of The Roots tweeted, “I know that the whole ‘disco sucks’ stuff left a bad taste in the mouths of some. But Summer’s work was really a credible legacy.”
She is survived by her husband, musician Bruce Sudano, three daughters, and four grandchildren.

Source:http://todayentertainment.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/17/11745326-donna-summer-dead-at-63?lite

Beenie Man is scheduled to perform on the show. In the one minute, 35-second message, a remorseful Beenie Man pleads:
“Please I am begging you do not have me up for some songs I wrote a long time ago. I love each and every one and am just begging each and everyone to do the same,” he said.

Beenie Man also expressed his respect for every human being “regardless of which race or creed, regardless of religious belief, regardless of which sexual preference you have including gay and lesbian.”
His apology comes after years of intense pressure from the gay community, which caused many of his shows in North America and Europe to be cancelled.

Organisers of the Rototom Festival issued the following statement on its website:
“We have received and we are happy to publish a video message of Beenie Man in which he wishes to clear out any doubt about his position concerning homophobic lyrics appearing in some of his old songs. We would like to think that his words can put an end to all the controversies that the subject has generated.”

Also posted on the site is a copy of the 2007 Reggae Compassionate Act signed by Moses Davis, the deejay’s real name.
Other dancehall acts including Capleton and Buju Banton, allegedly signed the Reggae Compassionate Act, drafted by the organisers of Rototom to appease gay rights advocates.

Source:http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/entertainment/Beenie-asks-gays-for-forgiveness_11488519

A treasure trove of gold, silver and copper is hidden in the country’s hills, and the discovery may turn out to be as good as gold at relieving centuries of poverty-related ills.

Exploratory drilling conducted in the past year has found precious metals worth potentially US$20 billion deep below the ridges in the country’s northeastern mountains. A mining company is now drilling around the clock to determine how to extract them.

Workers are poised to start mining the other side of this seam in neighbouring Dominican Republic later this year in one of the world’s largest gold deposits: 23 million ounces worth about US$40billion.

The Haitian government’s annual budget is US$1 billion, more than half provided by foreign assistance. The largest single source of foreign investment, US$2 billion, came from Haitians working abroad last year.

Locally produced mining wealth could pay for roads, schools, clean water and sewage systems for the nation’s ten million people, most of whom live on as little as US$1.25 a day.

“If the mining companies are honest and if Haiti has a good government, then here is a way for this country to move forward,” said Bureau of Mines Director Dieuseul Anglade.

In a parking lot outside Anglade’s office, more than 100 families have been living in tents since the earthquake. “The gold in the mountains belongs to the people of Haiti,” he said, “and they need it.”

Until now, few Haitians have known about this buried treasure. Mining camps are unmarked, and the work is being done miles up dirt roads near remote villages, on the opposite side of the country from the capital.

But U.S. and Canadian investors have spent more than US$30 million in recent years on everything from exploratory drilling to camps for workers, new roads, offices and laboratory studies of samples.

Actual mining could be under way in five years.

Source:http://www.caribbean360.com/index.php/news/haiti_news/578166.html#axzz1uxLVPK4I

“This will redound to the benefit of individual countries like the host country Barbados, as well as to the region in general,” according to an official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The May 20-21 meeting will bring together heads of state and government in face-to-face dialogue over a number of agenda items that are crucial to their development.

The first such forum was held in Mexico in February 2010. Ahead of next week’s meeting, the foreign affairs official has pointed to a level of increased cooperation between CARICOM countries and Mexico, and in particular to steadily improving relations between Barbados and Mexico.

She said: “Only recently, Mexico’s Ambassador to Barbados, Mario Eugenio Arriola Woog, during talks here with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Maxine McClean, explained that the summit would provide both sides with an opportunity to expand and build on their relations.”

At that meeting, McClean had noted that the pending conference was critical for determining areas of further collaboration, particularly in business and trade, safety and health, and various greening initiatives; and she made the observation that Mexico also recognised the need to be more present in CARICOM.

For her part, McClean pointed out that, as Mexico continued to play an active role in hemispheric integration, Barbados and CARICOM saw the need to foster closer ties with its Latin American counterpart.

In the bilateral context, Mexico, like Barbados, has a strong interest in strengthening approaches to climate change and the green economy.

Source:http://www.caribbeannewsnow.com/topstory-Summit-to-strengthen-ties-between-CARICOM-and-Mexico-10952.html

“The PLD programme is an exciting initiative for the WICB as it focuses is on ensuring that players, especially the younger players will be able to play cricket without compromising their education,” said WICB Player Relations Officer Ayana Cooper.

“We haven’t always taken into serious account the lifestyle aspect of the development of players and what the PLD programme will do is assist in bringing balance to the all round development of our players,” Cooper added.

“This programme is especially important as with three formats of the game being played at the international level we have more players both men and women representing the West Indies and this will only continue when you look at the packed ICC Future Tours Programme,” Cooper noted.

“In addition we have several West Indian players representing the region on the world stage and they are all ambassadors for West Indies cricket,” Cooper explained.

The PLD programme will comprise three main elements:

i) Personal and Professional Development

ii) Education and Training

iii) Career Development

Personal and Professional Development is geared at assisting players in balancing cricket with the other critical aspects of modern professional sport. Players will benefit from training in various areas including media skills, nutrition, etiquette and how to be an ambassador among other topics.

The Personal and Professional Development component will be mandatory for all regional First Class and WICB contracted cricketers along with Under 19 and Under 15 players. It will also be available for all international players on a voluntary basis.

The Education and Training component of the programme is aimed at ensuring that all players, but especially the younger players, have a solid educational base.

The Career Development component is designed with the senior players in mind and will provide support in preparing for life after cricket.

“The players response to the WICB Player Relations Programme and overall interaction with players have improved significantly over the past year. The players are now more willing and comfortable in coming forward and engaging with the WICB to express their own thoughts on how the WICB can assist them in developing as players and as individuals,” Cooper added.

“It is now time, as the governing body for cricket in the West Indies, for us to implement a more structured programme given the demand from the players and because we have to ensure that we have a system in place for players to develop in every way, on and off the field,” Cooper said.

Cooper has already coordinated Personal and Professional Development workshops for all WICB preparatory camps for men and women cricketers, Under 15 and Under 19 tournaments along with select senior team tournaments.

The WICB funded PLD will be an on-going year round programme and is the next step to the workshops.

Source:http://www.stabroeknews.com/2012/news/breaking-news/05/14/wicb-to-launch-player-lifestyle-development-programme/

In debating the motion, opposition leader Dr Keith Mitchell castigated the leadership of Prime Minster Tillman Thomas and the state of political and economic uncertainty in the country.

In response, lead government spokesman, Minister of Youth Empowerment Patrick Simmonds, offered a compilation of statistics that outlined the achievements of the administration.

Finance Minister Nazim Burke described the NNP motion as “political opportunism”.

Former Minister of the Environment, Michael Church, who was an early casualty of the Thomas administration, pointed to the suffering and victimization of his constituents who should have benefitted from development initiatives that had been approved for his constituency of St John, which he won in 2008 on an NDC ticket, but had been put on hold since his resignation from the Thomas Cabinet.

Church cited a fish plant built by the Japanese in 2009 but has remained shut. NDC promises of housing rehabilitation have been ignored since he demitted Cabinet, he said. He reiterated that his constituents deserved much better and the recalcitrance of Burke and Thomas led him to support the no-confidence motion.

Government ministers Lett, Quarless, Burke and former tourism minister Peter David all spoke against the motion. Like Simmonds, the three government ministers read out a stack of statistical information that attempted to tell Grenadians that, although the infighting was evident, government was full speed ahead with work attending to the nation’s business.

David’s contribution to the debate attracted great attention in that it clarified two critical speculations: David and Mitchell were not collaborative partners in the NNP-introduced motion and David remains a firm member of the NDC but gave clear warning to Thomas that he will be challenged at a future party congress.

Source:http://www.caribbeannewsnow.com/topstory-Grenada-no-confidence-motion-defeated-10933.html

The Panamanian leader, who was speaking Monday at the Caribbean Investment Forum in Port of Spain, said Panama’s attendance at the event was a sign of the country’s desire to work with the region.

“We reiterate that the presence of Panama in this event is a sample of the commercial interests of our country in the Caribbean region,” said Martinelli, who was joined by Vice Foreign Trade Minister Jose Pacheco and Panama’s Ambassador to Trinidad, Arline Gonzalez.

As part of the event, Martinelli held talks with Trinidad Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, whom he had received for a visit in Panama City last month.

Panama has already signed an energy agreement with Trinidad focusing on the supply of energy products, including butane gas, gasoline and diesel.

According to Martinelli, his country has paid $98 million a year in subsidies for cooking gas, a number that will go down by cutting out the middle men and buying directly from Trinidad.

Accompanying the Panama delegation was Panama Canal Administrator Alberto Zubieta German, who showed the progress of the canal’s ongoing expansion, which would pave the way for so-called “superships” to enter the Caribbean basin and the Atlantic.

Zubieta will soon be succeeded by Jorge Luis Quijano, who was named the canal’s new administrator in March. (His term begins Sep. 3).

The canal’s expansion is a development for which a number of Caribbean countries, particularly Jamaica, are preparing.

Source:http://www.caribjournal.com/2012/05/15/panamas-caribbean-ties-grow-stronger/

This was disclosed by festival director Myrna Hague-Bradshaw at its launch at the Hotel Four Seasons, Ruthven Road, St Andrew.
“The main feature of this year’s jazz is that it is going to be mostly Jamaicans. All the very best, the very top-of-the-line Jamaican musicians will be there,” she said.
“We have Jimmy James who is coming in from the United Kingdom, he is not a jazz singer, but he is a Jamaican singer who has been part of the whole Jamaican 50th (musical) development since the earliest of days,” Hague-Bradshaw added.

James, a balladeer, has lived in the UK since the 1960s.
The festival, which is being held for the 22nd time, was conceived by Hague-Bradshaw’s husband, bandleader Sonny Bradshaw, who died in 2009.

Herbie Miller, director of the Jamaica Music Museum, in his address, said it is important that a new generation understand the importance of jazz to the development of Jamaican popular music.
“Seen that this year being Jamaica 50, it is fitting that the festival focuses on Jamaican jazz. We have produced some tremendous jazz musicians in excess of 50 years,” Miller stated.
“People like Dr Leslie Thompson, Bertie King, Dizzy Reece, Joe Harriott, just to name a few. And as much as we have a good crop among us today, the historic part if it is in danger of being lost.”

Miller noted that Jamaican musicians recorded with great artistes like Coleman Hawkins, Benny Carter, Mary Lou-Williams, Miles Davis and John Coltrane.
“Again, we look at what has jazz helped us to produce. You come right away to the Skatalites. Because when you listen to ska you are really listening to jazz on a ska beat,” said Miller.

The remainder of the lineup for opening night are keyboardists Marjorie Whylie, Dr Kathy Brown, Joy Brown, Dr Carol Ball and Kamla Hamilton along with singer Karen Smith and drummer Desi Jones.
The following evening, veteran keyboardist Harold Butler is featured act at Hotel Four Seasons.

From June 11-15, there will be jazz workshops at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts with Miller and Whylie as presenters.
Also on June 15, a banquet dubbed Dinner Jazz is scheduled for Glenn’s Jazz Club in Tower Isle, just outside Ocho Rios.
Jazz Treasures takes place June 16 at the Two Seasons Guest House in Treasure Beach, St Elizabeth.

Closing day has a packed slate. It comprises Guitar Conversations with Wigmoore Francis and Rupert Bent; Battle of the Horns with Everald Gayle, Ian Hird, Vivian Scott, Harold Tinglin, Romeo Gray and Micky Hanson; Ba Boom, Mary Isaacs, Desi Jones, and Harold Davis.

Source:http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/entertainment/Jamaican-jazz-in-the-spotlight_11445740

Gayle, the leading run-getter in the IPL, managed just six as Royal Challengers Bangalore went down by five wickets to Mumbai Indians, thanks to Pollard’s fireworks.
The strongly built right-hander, who finished unbeaten on 52, smashed a six and two fours off the last over bowled by Gayle as Mumbai, requiring 14 from the last over, reached their target of 171 with two balls remaining.

In Kolkata, Bravo (11 not out) launched the final delivery of the game for six to fire Chennai Super Kings to a dramatic five-wicket win over the Knight Riders, ending on 160-5 from their 20 overs.
Sent in to bat at their home M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Royal Challengers tallied 171-6, with Mayank Agarwal top-scoring with 64 and Tillakaratne Dishan getting 47.

Gayle, entering the match with four half-centuries in his previous five innings, had one scoring shot — a six over long-on — before going bowled off the inside edge off seamer Munaf Patel in the third over.
Indian batsman Ambati Rayudu then stroked a fine, unbeaten 81 off 54 balls to lay the groundwork for Mumbai’s chase.

When Windies all-rounder Dwayne Smith went for six, Mumbai were struggling at 51-5 in the ninth over, but Rayudu and Pollard put on an unbroken 122 for the sixth wicket to revive their side.
With Mumbai still short in the last over, Pollard cracked the second ball from Gayle over mid-wicket, edged the third for four to third man before pulling the fourth through mid-wicket for another boundary, to seal victory.

Source:http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sport/Gayle-fails-but-Windies-players-shine-in-IPL_11469002