GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Jan 15, CMC – A two-day conference aimed
at examining and redefining violence prevention solutions as it relates
to youth violence and prevention in the Caribbean began here on Tuesday
with the Secretary General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Irwin
LaRocque, saying it is a regional problem that demands a regional
solution.
LaRocque told the conference that has brought together leaders from
youth movements, governments, civil society, development organizations
and academia that crime and security is an issue that is having an
impact on all the 15-members of the regional integration grouping.
CARICOM Secretary General, Irwin LaRocque
“It is a regional problem that demands a regional solution. It not
only requires the full co-operation of all our countries but also all
the stakeholders within the member states. The multi-state,
multi-sectoral response to this challenge is vital for us to succeed in
defeating it,” LaRocque told the opening ceremony.
He said a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) 2012 Caribbean
Human Development Report on Citizen Security, noted that crime and
violence impose high social, economic and cultural costs.
Crime and violence are development issues and the report recommended
that a model of security for the region should be based on a human
development approach with citizen security being paramount, he added.
The two day conference, which is being hosted by the United States
Agency for International Development (USAID), the Caribbean Community
(CARICOM) Secretariat, UNICEF, the Barbados-based Caribbean Development
Bank (CDB), the London-based Commonwealth Secretariat, the St.
Lucia-based Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States Commission, and the
Caribbean Learning for Youth Networking and Change Sessions (LYNCS)
Network., is intended to design transformational youth-centered action
to combat crime and violence and address constraints that youth
activists face in improving safety outcomes in their communities.
LaRocque told the conference that the youths are the demographic that
is most affected by crime and violence and that some of the main
findings of recent studies are that the majority of victims, as well as
perpetrators of crimes recorded by the police, are young males 18 to 35
years old.
He quoted the UNDP report as indicating that the Caribbean has some
of the highest figures of youth convicted of crime with at least 80 per
cent of prosecuted crimes being committed by young people between the
ages 19 to 29 years old.
“There are a number of socio-economic determinants of crime, not
least of which is the high youth unemployment rate in the region of 25
per cent in 2017. That is three times the adult average and highest
among young women ages 18 to 30 at 33 per cent,” he said, adding that to
combat this scourge, Caribbean leaders approved the CARICOM Crime and
Security Strategy in 2013, which incorporates the CARICOM Social
Development and Crime Prevention Action Plan.
LaRocque said that the plan hinges on a multi-pronged approach,
including crime prevention, justice reform, prison and corrections
reform, capacity development within law enforcement and border security,
and intelligence-led law enforcement.
He said that within the realm of crime prevention, it has been recognised that there is a need to work closely with communities, to address citizens’ perception of, and support for, the security and law enforcement sector.
This involves the development of close collaboration between and among ministries responsible for national security and their counterparts in related sector.
LaRocque said that the Crime Prevention Action Plan and the CARICOM
Youth Development Action Plan (CYDAP) are two of the main policy
frameworks which guide the design and implementation of policy and
programmes in member states to address crime and violence from a
prevention perspective and through addressing the underlying social
factors.
He said they also seek to create an enabling environment for adolescent and youth well-being, empowerment and participation in national and regional development.
But LaRocque told the delegates that notwithstanding the value of the projects and programmes that are put in place to deal with crime and violence in the region, he is of the firm view, “the core of this battle must be fought in the home.
“Families have a vital role to play in turning the tide of this struggle. The universal values of love, hard work, honesty, character building, belief in self and self-respect are key weapons.
“The first intervention must be in the home. It is there that our
youths are first socialised. It is there that we must tackle the concept
of toxic masculinity which comes out of a false notion of what it takes
to be a man,” he said, adding ‘we must demonstrate that gangs, crime
and violence are not the answer to a path of success and
self-actualization”.
He said conferences such as this one provide an opportunity for young people to be fully involved in providing solutions to problems that affect them.
“The engagement of youth at all levels of the decision-making process is critical for the successful outcome of all these interventions. It is not only your future that is at stake but your present circumstances. You must be equal partners in this struggle as your theme, “Youth as Partners and Innovators” suggests,” he added.
PARAMARIBO, Suriname, Jan 15, CMC –A Surinamese national, who was
being sought by police for questioning in connection with the seizure of
a large quantity of cocaine, has been found dead in neighbouring
Guyana.
Guyana police at the scene of the murder (Guyana Chronicle newspaper Photo)
Relatives have positively identified the body of Nitinder
Oemrawsingh, a rice exporter, after it was discovered with a single
bullet wound to the head on the Corentyne Beach in Guyana on Monday.
The relatives said they were able to identify Oemrawsingh, from photographs that were circulating on social media.
His attorney, Irvin Kanhai has also confirmed to reporters here that
he had been reliably informed that his client had been shot and killed
in Guyana.
Oemrawsingh was named a person of interest by the Surinamese police
in the investigation of 2,300 kilos of cocaine seized last Tuesday in
the Jules Sedney port in Paramaribo.
While he wasn’t regarded as a suspect as yet, acting Police
Commissioner Roberto Prade told a news conference weekend that the
exporter was wanted for questioning.
The drugs were found in one of eight freight containers with rice
that were being prepared for export through Guadeloupe to France. The
Port Control Unit discovered the cocaine during a routine check.
The Guyana police said that spent shell case believed to have been
fired from a caliber .32 pistol and a cell phone supposedly belonging to
the victim were found near the body.
A post mortem is expected to be conducted on Tuesday and Lyndon
Alves, head of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Guyana
Police Force, said that he is in contact with his counterpart in
Suriname.
The Guyana police have ruled out robbery as a motive, noting that less than US$400 had been found near the body.
The Government Information Unit is reporting that the recently refurbished Silver Wind, a small luxury cruise ship operated by Silversea Cruises, will be visiting our shores on Thursday, January 17, 2019.
There will be more and they will be bigger by 2020…as the Ministry of Communication and Works informs on the progressive development, following continuing announcements from the Premier, Governor. On Monday, DFID, FCO delegation began FAM budget talks here.
This visit will come on the heels of continuous dialogue between the Island of Montserrat Tourism Division, Cheryl Andrews Marketing Communications in Miami, Travel World Montserrat and the cruise liner which began since 2017. Travel World International will be the Tour Operator for the vessel and will be offering a selection of Tours to the guests. This is Silver Wind’s first visit to our shores.
The vessel has a capacity of 290 passengers and 208 crew. In welcoming Silver Wind to our shores, the Hon. Premier will present a plaque to the Captain of the vessel. The Tourism Division will also welcome the guests and assist with dispatching tours to Tour and Taxi Drivers. The tourism division craves help and says, Let’s help welcome them as we can and show how #MontserratNice.
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Jan. 13, CMC – Several countries in the region were rocked by a magnitude 3.4 earthquake early Sunday.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) reports that at 7:29 a.m. (local time) the tremor affected the British Virgin Islands, Dominica, St. Martin, Sint Maarten, Guadeloupe, Montserrat, Puerto Rico, St. Kitts Nevis, US Virgin Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla and St. Barthelemy.
The USGS reports that the earthquake was located 78 kilometres NNE of Road Town in British Virgin Islands, with a depth of 88.0 kilometres.
There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
The Trump administration “has
imposed significant new sanctions in response to Russian malign
activities,” said the spokesman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity
and noted that Tillerson in 2017 “gave a fulsome readout of the meeting
immediately afterward to other U.S. officials in a private setting, as
well as a readout to the press.”
Trump
allies said the president thinks the presence of subordinates impairs
his ability to establish a rapport with Putin, and that his desire for
secrecy may also be driven by embarrassing leaks that occurred early in
his presidency.
Trump, Putin address Russian interference in U.S. elections
Both President Trump and
Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke about Russian interference in
U.S. elections at a news conference on July 16 in Helsinki.
(The Washington Post)
The meeting in Hamburg happened several months after The Washington Post and other news organizations revealed details
about what Trump had told senior Russian officials during a meeting
with Russian officials in the Oval Office. Trump disclosed classified
information about a terror plot, called former FBI director James B.
Comey a “nut job,” and said that firing Comey had removed “great
pressure” on his relationship with Russia.
The
White House launched internal leak hunts after that and other episodes,
and sharply curtailed the distribution within the National Security
Council of memos on the president’s interactions with foreign leaders.
“Over
time it got harder and harder, I think, because of a sense from Trump
himself that the leaks of the call transcripts were harmful to him,”
said a former administration official.
Senior
Democratic lawmakers describe the cloak of secrecy surrounding Trump’s
meetings with Putin as unprecedented and disturbing.
Rep.
Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.), the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs
Committee, said in an interview that his panel will form an
investigative subcommittee whose targets will include seeking State
Department records of Trump’s encounters with Putin, including a closed-door meeting with the Russian leader in Helsinki last summer.
“It’s
been several months since Helsinki and we still don’t know what went on
in that meeting,” Engel said. “It’s appalling. It just makes you want
to scratch your head.”
The
concerns have been compounded by actions and positions Trump has taken
as president that are seen as favorable to the Kremlin. He has dismissed
Russia’s election interference as a “hoax,” suggested that Russia was
entitled to annex Crimea, repeatedly attacked NATO allies, resisted
efforts to impose sanctions on Moscow, and begun to pull U.S. forces out
of Syria — a move that critics see as effectively ceding ground to
Russia.
At the same time, Trump’s decision to
fire Comey and other attempts to contain the ongoing Russia
investigation led the bureau in May 2017 to launch a counterintelligence
investigation into whether he was seeking to help Russia and if so,
why, a step first reported by the New York Times.
It
is not clear whether Trump has taken notes from interpreters on other
occasions, but several officials said they were never able to get a
reliable readout of the president’s two-hour meeting in Helsinki. Unlike
in Hamburg, Trump allowed no Cabinet officials or any aides to be in
the room for that conversation.
Trump also had other private conversations with Putin at meetings of global leaders outside the presence of aides. He spoke at length with Putin at a banquet
at the same 2017 global conference in Hamburg, where only Putin’s
interpreter was present. Trump also had a brief conversation with Putin
at a Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires last month.
Trump
generally has allowed aides to listen to his phone conversations with
Putin, although Russia has often been first to disclose those calls when
they occur and release statements characterizing them in broad terms
favorable to the Kremlin.
In an email,
Tillerson said that he “was present for the entirety of the two
presidents’ official bilateral meeting in Hamburg,” but declined to
discuss the meeting and did not respond to questions about whether Trump
had instructed the interpreter to remain silent or had taken the
interpreter’s notes.
In
a news conference afterward, Tillerson said that the Trump-Putin
meeting lasted more than two hours, covered the war in Syria and other
subjects, and that Trump had “pressed President Putin on more than one
occasion regarding Russian involvement” in election interference.
“President Putin denied such involvement, as I think he has in the
past,” Tillerson said.
Tillerson refused to say
during the news conference whether Trump had rejected Putin’s claim or
indicated that he believed the conclusion of U.S. intelligence agencies
that Russia had interfered.
Tillerson’s account
is at odds with the only detail that other administration officials
were able to get from the interpreter, officials said. Though the
interpreter refused to discuss the meeting, officials said, he conceded
that Putin had denied any Russian involvement in the U.S. election and
that Trump responded by saying, “I believe you.”
Senior
Trump administration officials said that White House officials
including then-National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster were never able
to obtain a comprehensive account of the meeting, even from Tillerson.
“We
were frustrated because we didn’t get a readout,” a former senior
administration official said. “The State Department and [National
Security Council] were never comfortable” with Trump’s interactions with
Putin, the official said. “God only knows what they were going to talk
about or agree to.”
Because of the absence of
any reliable record of Trump’s conversations with Putin, officials at
times have had to rely on reports by U.S. intelligence agencies tracking
the reaction in the Kremlin.
Previous
presidents and senior advisers have often studied such reports to assess
whether they had accomplished their objectives in meetings as well as
to gain insights for future conversations.
U.S.
intelligence agencies have been reluctant to call attention to such
reports during Trump’s presidency because they have at times included
comments by foreign officials disparaging the president or his advisers,
including his son-in-law Jared Kushner, a former senior administration
official said.
“There was more of a reticence
in the intelligence community going after those kinds of communications
and reporting them,” said a former administration official who worked in
the White House. “The feedback tended not to be positive.”
The
interpreter at Hamburg revealed the restrictions that Trump had imposed
when he was approached by administration officials at the hotel where
the U.S. delegation was staying, officials said.
Among
the officials who asked for details from the meeting were Fiona Hill,
the senior Russia adviser at the NSC, and John Heffern, who was then
serving at State as the acting assistant secretary for European and
Eurasian Affairs.
The State Department did not
respond to a request for comment from the interpreter. Heffern, who
retired from State in 2017, declined to comment.
Through a spokesman, Hill declined a request for an interview.
There
are conflicting accounts of the purpose of the conversation with the
interpreter, with some officials saying that Hill was among those
briefed by Tillerson and that she was merely seeking more nuanced
information from the interpreter.
Others said
the aim was to get a more meaningful readout than the scant information
furnished by Tillerson. “I recall Fiona reporting that to me,” one
former official said. A second former official present in Hamburg said
that Tillerson “didn’t offer a briefing or call the ambassador or
anybody together. He didn’t brief senior staff,” although he “gave a
readout to the press.”
A similar issue arose in
Helsinki, the setting for the first formal U.S.-Russia summit since
Trump became president. Hill, national security adviser John Bolton and
other U.S. officials took part in a preliminary meeting that included
Trump, Putin and other senior Russian officials.
But
Trump and Putin then met for two hours in private, accompanied only by
their interpreters. Trump’s interpreter, Marina Gross, could be seen
emerging from the meeting with pages of notes.
Alarmed
by the secrecy of Trump’s meeting with Putin, several lawmakers
subsequently sought to compel Gross to testify before Congress about
what she witnessed. Others argued that forcing her to do so would
violate the impartial role that interpreters play in diplomacy. Gross
was not forced to testify. She was identified when members of Congress
sought to speak with her. The interpreter in Hamburg has not been
identified.
During a joint news conference with
Putin afterward, Trump acknowledged discussing Syria policy and other
subjects but also lashed out at the media and federal investigators, and
seemed to reject the findings of U.S. intelligence agencies by saying
that he was persuaded by Putin’s “powerful” denial of election
interference.
Previous presidents have required
senior aides to attend meetings with adversaries including the Russian
president largely to ensure that there are not misunderstandings and
that others in the administration are able to follow up on any
agreements or plans. Detailed notes that Talbot took of Clinton’s meetings with Yeltsin are among hundreds of documents declassified and released last year.
President
Trump has gone to extraordinary lengths to conceal details of his
conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, including on at
least one occasion taking possession of the notes of his own interpreter
and instructing the linguist not to discuss what had transpired with
other administration officials, current and former U.S. officials said.
Trump
did so after a meeting with Putin in 2017 in Hamburg that was also
attended by then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. U.S. officials
learned of Trump’s actions when a White House adviser and a senior State
Department official sought information from the interpreter beyond a
readout shared by Tillerson.
The constraints
that Trump imposed are part of a broader pattern by the president of
shielding his communications with Putin from public scrutiny and
preventing even high-ranking officials in his own administration from
fully knowing what he has told one of the United States’ main
adversaries.
As
a result, U.S. officials said there is no detailed record, even in
classified files, of Trump’s face-to-face interactions with the Russian
leader at five locations over the past two years. Such a gap would be
unusual in any presidency, let alone one that Russia sought to install
through what U.S. intelligence agencies have described as an
unprecedented campaign of election interference.
Special
counsel Robert S. Mueller III is thought to be in the final stages of
an investigation that has focused largely on whether Trump or his
associates conspired with Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign.
The new details about Trump’s continued secrecy underscore the extent to
which little is known about his communications with Putin since
becoming president.
After this story was
published online, Trump said in an interview late Saturday with Fox
News host Jeanine Pirro that he did not take particular steps to conceal
his private meetings with Putin and attacked The Washington Post and
its owner Jeffrey P. Bezos.
Trump and Putin had undisclosed meeting at G-20
President Trump and Russian
President Vladimir Putin on July 7 had an undisclosed meeting that
followed a first conversation during the G-20 summit in Hamburg.
(Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post)
He said he talked with Putin about
Israel, among other subjects. “Anyone could have listened to that
meeting. That meeting is open for grabs,” he said, without offering
specifics.
When Pirro asked if he is or has ever
been working for Russia, Trump responded, “I think it’s the most
insulting thing I’ve ever been asked.”
Former
U.S. officials said that Trump’s behavior is at odds with the known
practices of previous presidents, who have relied on senior aides to
witness meetings and take comprehensive notes then shared with other
officials and departments.
Trump’s secrecy
surrounding Putin “is not only unusual by historical standards, it is
outrageous,” said Strobe Talbott, a former deputy secretary of state now
at the Brookings Institution, who participated in more than a dozen
meetings between President Bill Clinton and then-Russian President Boris
Yeltsin in the 1990s. “It handicaps the U.S. government — the experts
and advisers and Cabinet officers who are there to serve [the president]
— and it certainly gives Putin much more scope to manipulate Trump.”
President Trump greets Russian President Vladimir Putin before a meeting in Helsinki. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images)
A
White House spokesman disputed that characterization and said that the
Trump administration has sought to “improve the relationship with
Russia” after the Obama administration “pursued a flawed ‘reset’ policy
that sought engagement for the sake of engagement.”
The
Trump administration “has imposed significant new sanctions in response
to Russian malign activities,” said the spokesman, who spoke on the
condition of anonymity and noted that Tillerson in 2017 “gave a fulsome
readout of the meeting immediately afterward to other U.S. officials in a
private setting, as well as a readout to the press.”
Trump
allies said the president thinks the presence of subordinates impairs
his ability to establish a rapport with Putin and that his desire for
secrecy may also be driven by embarrassing leaks that occurred early in
his presidency.
The meeting in Hamburg happened several months after The Washington Post and other news organizations revealed details
about what Trump had told senior Russian officials during a meeting
with Russian officials in the Oval Office. Trump disclosed classified
information about a terrorism plot, called former FBI director James B.
Comey a “nut job” and said that firing Comey had removed “great
pressure” on his relationship with Russia.
The
White House launched internal leak hunts after that and other episodes
and sharply curtailed the distribution within the National Security
Council of memos on the president’s interactions with foreign leaders.
“Over
time it got harder and harder, I think, because of a sense from Trump
himself that the leaks of the call transcripts were harmful to him,”
said a former administration official.
Senior
Democratic lawmakers describe the cloak of secrecy surrounding Trump’s
meetings with Putin as unprecedented and disturbing.
Rep.
Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.), the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs
Committee, said in an interview that his panel will form an
investigative subcommittee whose targets will include seeking State
Department records of Trump’s encounters with Putin, including a closed-door meeting with the Russian leader in Helsinki last summer.
“It’s
been several months since Helsinki and we still don’t know what went on
in that meeting,” Engel said. “It’s appalling. It just makes you want
to scratch your head.”
The
concerns have been compounded by actions and positions Trump has taken
as president that are seen as favorable to the Kremlin. He has dismissed
Russia’s election interference as a “hoax,” suggested that Russia was
entitled to annex Crimea, repeatedly attacked NATO allies, resisted
efforts to impose sanctions on Moscow, and begun to pull U.S. forces out
of Syria — a move that critics see as effectively ceding ground to
Russia.
At the same time, Trump’s decision to
fire Comey and other attempts to contain the ongoing Russia
investigation led the bureau in May 2017 to launch a counterintelligence
investigation into whether he was seeking to help Russia and if so,
why, a step first reported by the New York Times.
It
is not clear whether Trump has taken notes from interpreters on other
occasions, but several officials said they were never able to get a
reliable readout of the president’s two-hour meeting in Helsinki. Unlike
in Hamburg, Trump allowed no Cabinet officials or any aides to be in
the room for that conversation.
Trump also had other private conversations with Putin at meetings of global leaders outside the presence of aides. He spoke at length with Putin at a banquet
at the same 2017 global conference in Hamburg, where only Putin’s
interpreter was present. Trump also had a brief conversation with Putin
at a Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires last month.
Trump
generally has allowed aides to listen to his phone conversations with
Putin, although Russia has often been first to disclose those calls when
they occur and release statements characterizing them in broad terms
favorable to the Kremlin.
In an email,
Tillerson said that he “was present for the entirety of the two
presidents’ official bilateral meeting in Hamburg,” but he declined to
discuss the meeting and did not respond to questions about whether Trump
had instructed the interpreter to remain silent or had taken the
interpreter’s notes.
In
a news conference afterward, Tillerson said that the Trump-Putin
meeting lasted more than two hours, covered the war in Syria and other
subjects, and that Trump had “pressed President Putin on more than one
occasion regarding Russian involvement” in election interference.
“President Putin denied such involvement, as I think he has in the
past,” Tillerson said.
Tillerson refused to say
during the news conference whether Trump had rejected Putin’s claim or
indicated that he believed the conclusion of U.S. intelligence agencies
that Russia had interfered.
Tillerson’s account
is at odds with the only detail that other administration officials
were able to get from the interpreter, officials said. Though the
interpreter refused to discuss the meeting, officials said, he conceded
that Putin had denied any Russian involvement in the U.S. election and
that Trump responded by saying, “I believe you.”
A
White House spokesperson, responding to this detail from the Hamburg
meeting, said: “The President has affirmed that he supports the
conclusions in the 2017 Intel Community Assessment, and the President
also issued a new executive order in September 2018 to ensure a whole of
government effort to address any foreign attempts to interfere in US
elections.”
Senior Trump administration
officials said that White House officials including then-National
Security Adviser H.R. McMaster were never able to obtain a comprehensive
account of the meeting, even from Tillerson.
“We
were frustrated because we didn’t get a readout,” a former senior
administration official said. “The State Department and [National
Security Council] were never comfortable” with Trump’s interactions with
Putin, the official said. “God only knows what they were going to talk
about or agree to.”
Because of the absence of
any reliable record of Trump’s conversations with Putin, officials at
times have had to rely on reports by U.S. intelligence agencies tracking
the reaction in the Kremlin.
Previous
presidents and senior advisers have often studied such reports to assess
whether they had accomplished their objectives in meetings as well as
to gain insights for future conversations.
U.S.
intelligence agencies have been reluctant to call attention to such
reports during Trump’s presidency because they have at times included
comments by foreign officials disparaging the president or his advisers,
including his son-in-law Jared Kushner, a former senior administration
official said.
“There was more of a reticence
in the intelligence community going after those kinds of communications
and reporting them,” said a former administration official who worked in
the White House. “The feedback tended not to be positive.”
The
interpreter at Hamburg revealed the restrictions that Trump had imposed
when he was approached by administration officials at the hotel where
the U.S. delegation was staying, officials said.
Among
the officials who asked for details from the meeting were Fiona Hill,
the senior Russia adviser at the NSC, and John Heffern, who was then
serving at State as the acting assistant secretary for European and
Eurasian Affairs.
The State Department did not
respond to a request for comment from the interpreter. Heffern, who
retired from State in 2017, declined to comment.
Through a spokesman, Hill declined a request for an interview.
There
are conflicting accounts of the purpose of the conversation with the
interpreter, with some officials saying that Hill was among those
briefed by Tillerson and that she was merely seeking more nuanced
information from the interpreter.
Others said
the aim was to get a more meaningful readout than the scant information
furnished by Tillerson. “I recall Fiona reporting that to me,” one
former official said. A second former official present in Hamburg said
that Tillerson “didn’t offer a briefing or call the ambassador or
anybody together. He didn’t brief senior staff,” although he “gave a
readout to the press.”
A similar issue arose in
Helsinki, the setting for the first formal U.S.-Russia summit since
Trump became president. Hill, national security adviser John Bolton and
other U.S. officials took part in a preliminary meeting that included
Trump, Putin and other senior Russian officials.
But
Trump and Putin then met for two hours in private, accompanied only by
their interpreters. Trump’s interpreter, Marina Gross, could be seen
emerging from the meeting with pages of notes.
Alarmed
by the secrecy of Trump’s meeting with Putin, several lawmakers
subsequently sought to compel Gross to testify before Congress about
what she witnessed. Others argued that forcing her to do so would
violate the impartial role that interpreters play in diplomacy. Gross
was not forced to testify. She was identified when members of Congress
sought to speak with her. The interpreter in Hamburg has not been
identified.
During a joint news conference with
Putin afterward, Trump acknowledged discussing Syria policy and other
subjects but also lashed out at the media and federal investigators, and
he seemed to reject the findings of U.S. intelligence agencies by
saying that he was persuaded by Putin’s “powerful” denial of election
interference.
Previous presidents have required
senior aides to attend meetings with adversaries including the Russian
president largely to ensure that there are not misunderstandings and
that others in the administration are able to follow up on any
agreements or plans. Detailed notes that Talbot took of Clinton’s meetings with Yeltsin are among hundreds of documents declassified and released last year.
John Hudson, Josh Dawsey and Julie Tate contributed to this report.
John Hudson, Josh Dawsey and Julie Tate contributed to this report.
GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Jan 9, CMC – A High Court judge has sentenced a 49-year-old man to 12 years in jail after he was found guilty of killing his son who had given his mother GUY$300 (One Guyana dollar=US$0.004 cents) to end a heated row in the home.
Justice Navindra Singh, sitting in the Demerara High Court, imposed the sentence on Amarnauth Chand, who on September 29, 2016 was involved in a heated argument with his wife over GUY$300.
The Court heard that the son, Mahesh Chand, 24, gave his mother the money in an effort to stop the argument.
Mahesh’s action is said to have angered the accused, who concluded that his son was ‘siding with his mother’. The father armed himself with a cutlass and inflicted a stab wound to the chest of his son, who was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Chand pleaded guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter and the judge noted that he had use a base of 25 years, but deducted eight years for the guilty plea and not wasting the court’s time and three years for his genuine display of remorse.
Justice Singh told Chand that he should participate in anger management courses that may be available in prison, so that he would become a better person.
A tearful Chand told the court that he regretted the incident and begged for mercy and that he was aware that his family was hurt by his actions. He said during his incarceration awaiting trial he had turned his life around and accepted Jesus as his Lord and Saviour.
Defence attorney Keoma Griffith told the court that his client, a father of four other children had acted in a spontaneous manner and urged the judge to consider the mitigating factors.
But in response, State Prosecutor Abigail Gibbs said that while the accused had shown genuine remorse the State had no problem with showing mercy but, at the same time, a strong message needed to be sent, since his behaviour was not acceptable and a life was lost.
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, Jan. 10, CMC – The case brought
against the Leader of the Opposition, Dr. Denzil Douglas, continued in
court Thursday with three expert witnesses on Dominican law making
presentations before Justice
Trevor Ward QC to help him determine whether Douglas, through his use
of a diplomatic passport issued by the Commonwealth of Dominica, is
under allegiance to a foreign power.
The expert witnesses provided by the Government were Reginald Armour and Justin Simon, former Attorney General of Antigua and Barbuda.
Dr. Denzil Douglas
Both men, who are are Dominican attempted to show that Douglas demonstrated his allegiance to the Commonwealth of Dominica when he travelled on his Dominican diplomatic passport.
The lone expert provided by the defendant was Attorney-at-Law, Gerald Burton, also a Dominican.
Douglas, in an affidavit filed in the High Court Registry on February 21, 2018, admitted to holding a diplomatic passport of the Commonwealth of Dominica, which he has used to travel.
He also admitted to filling out and signing an application form for
the diplomatic passport he holds, which is valid until July 29, 2020.
The opposition leader has argued that he has not sworn an allegiance,
taken an oath of allegiance, nor become a citizen of Dominica.
However, the Attorney General’s Chamber is arguing that Douglas
is in violation of Section 28 of the Constitution after filling out an
application form for a passport of another country, being issued with
said passport and using that passport to travel, which are positive acts
that constitute adherence, allegiance and obedience to a foreign power.
The St. Kitts-Nevis government, through the Attorney General, Vincent
Byron, is seeking a declaration from the High Court that, since the
election to the National Assembly on February 16, 2015, Douglas became
disqualified from being elected as a member of the National Assembly and
was accordingly required to vacate his seat in the National Assembly by
reason of his becoming a person who, by virtue of his own act, is in
accordance with the law of Dominica, under an acknowledgment of
allegiance, obedience or adherence to a foreign power or state, namely,
Dominica.
Additionally, the government is also seeking a declaration that
Douglas has vacated his seat in the National Assembly; an injunction
restraining him from taking his seat in the National Assembly and from
performing his functions as a member as well as costs, and other relief
as the court may deem just and expedient.
Meanwhile, Anthony Astaphan, lead counsel for Douglas in the
Dominica Diplomatic Passport case said the legal matter “is a simple
one.”
“This
Diplomatic Passport was given to Dr. Douglas as a matter of
professionalism and personal courtesy (by the Prime Minister of
Dominica, Hon. Roosevelt Skerrit). He applied for it as required under
the regulations. He did not declare a citizenship of Dominica at no
time, even when he travelled on his regular passport or on the
Diplomatic Passport. His nationality was always declared as that of St.
Kitts and Nevis or a Kittitian,” Astaphan told reporters.
Prime Minister Dr Timothy Harris has described the matter of one of
grave constitutional, political and parliamentary significance to the
Commonwealth.
Both sides have until January 25 to submit written submissions based
on evidence that was presented in court on Thursday, after which the
lawyers will have until February 4 to respond, if necessary.
In an atmosphere of cordiality, both parties, committed to working together on all matters relating to the protection of Guyana’s sovereingty, regardless of internal political issues
GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Jan. 10, CMC – The Government of Guyana and the Parliamentary Opposition have committed to work towards concluding matters surrounding the December 21, vote in the National Assembly, which is currently engaging the attention of the court.
This was disclosed in a joint communique issued by both parties following the meeting on Wednesday.
According
to the communique, the two sides met in an atmosphere of cordiality and
committed to working together on all matters relating to the protection
of Guyana’s sovereignty, regardless of the internal political issues.
Discussions focused on two broad areas as set out in an agenda put
forward by President David Granger. These included the Constitutional
and Legal situation, which involves the functioning of the National
Assembly and Regional and General Elections.
The President indicated that the Government and the Opposition, by
agreement in the National Assembly, can enlarge the time for the hosting
of the elections beyond the 90 days contemplated by Article 106 (7) of
the Constitution.
Opposition Bharrat Jagdeo called
for the National Assembly to only meet to deal with issues connected
with the provision of essential services by the State and all matters
related to the preparation of General and Regional elections.
However, Granger stated that it is lawful for the Government to
engage the Court, to bring clarity to the provisions of Article 106 (6)
and 106 (7) of the Constitution. Pending the conclusion of the legal
proceedings, Parliament, he said, remains functional.
The Head of State emphasised that the Government is legal and that it
must govern without any limitations on its authority. He further stated
that there is no provision in the Constitution which imposes a
limitation on the Government to perform its lawful functions.
The parties then identified Minister of Social Protection, Amna Ally
and Opposition Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira to enquire into the readiness
of GECOM.
Both parties expressed their willingness to meet to ensure the management of the various issues facing the nation.
Granger, in an address
immediately following Wednesday’s meeting, said the two sides will
examine the hosting of the elections within the administrative
capabilities of GECOM and deemed the meeting “fruitful.”
“I would say in conclusion, that we have had a successful engagement, both the leader of the Opposition and the President are concerned about the situation. We would like to assure the public of Guyana that we are working to a solution which they will be satisfied with, the public interest is our paramount concern.”
US group welcomes agreement between president, opposition in Guyana
Meanwhile, the Brooklyn, New York-based Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID) that wrote to the Speaker of the Guyana Parliament, Dr. Bartland Scotland, requesting that he considers annulling the vote of no confidence that brought down the in the David Grange coalition government. has welcomed the agreement between Guyana’s President David Granger and Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo “to create a climate of détente in Guyana”.
This came after, as reported above, Granger and a ministerial delegation met Wednesday with Jagdeo and a delegation from the opposition People Progressive Party (PPP) to discuss current political developments in Guyana.
In keeping with Article 106 (7) of the Guyana constitution, they also
agreed to remain in consultative engagement on the continued
functioning of government and the Parliament.
Article 106 (7) of the constitution states that “Notwithstanding its
defeat, the government shall remain in office and shall hold an election
within three months, or such longer period as the National Assembly
shall by resolution supported by not less than two-thirds of the votes
of all the elected members of the National Assembly determine, and shall
resign after the President takes the oath of office following the
election.”
CGID said on Wednesday that it “hopes that the opposition will also adhere to this provision as prescribed.
“CGID welcomes this development,” said Richford Burke, CGID president.
Marijuana plants – now a ‘legal’ crop in some Caribbean islands
KINGSTON, Jamaica, Jan 8, CMC – Prime Minister Andrew Holness says that the Alternative Development Programme (ADP), which will provide an avenue for small farmers to benefit from the marijuana industry, will start by March. The programme is intended to prevent and eliminate the illicit cultivation of marijuana and channel the process through legal system.
Jamaica Prime Ministe Andrew Holness
The pilot, which will begin in Accompong, St. Elizabeth, south west of here and Orange Hill in Westmoreland, west of the capital, will involve the farming of marijuana to provide raw material for processors. “It is a real fear that as that (marijuana) industry emerges to become more corporatised, that the original ganja man, the original farmer, could very well be left out of the gains and the benefits, when you were the ones singing the praises and the benefits from how long,” Holness said.
“So this programme is of significant importance to ensure that small farmers, and, in fact, communities like Accompong, where there is certain discipline, a certain order, a certain social system that will ensure that it is not used in illicit ways, will benefit,” he added.
Speaking at a ceremony in commemoration of the 281 anniversary of the peace treaty signed by the Accompong Maroons with the British and to commemorate the birthday of legendary leader Cudjoe, Holness said he has received the commitment of the Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Audley Shaw, that the programme will begin within the first quarter of this year. “I know that you have actually started your part of the programme, but you are now awaiting the Government’s part of the programme to commence. I had a word with him (Shaw) and he gave me a commitment that the Alternative Development Programme for the small ganja farmers to produce for the legal trade will start,” he said.
The 1998 Action Plan, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, provides for the inclusion of a programme, such as the ADP, through specifically designed rural development measures consistent with sustained national economic growth.
The programme will be administered by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries with oversight from the Cannabis Licensing Authority (CLA) and the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA).
Among the stipulations are the tagging of plants under a track and trace mechanism; sale of products through licensed processors; farmers’ alignment to community-based associations/organisations; accommodating specThe ial groups, such as the Maroons and Rastafarians; and that maximum cultivation should not exceed half an acre per farmer.
2018 Hurricane Maria exposed some areas of weak resilience
Jan 9, 2019 – Caribbeean News Service – The European Union has disbursed EC$17.55 million (€5.72M) to the Government of Montserrat (GoM) as the First Fixed tranche under the Multi Sector Sustainable Economic Development Budget Support Programme.
The assistance is inclusive of an emergency top-up payment of EC$1 million (€320,000) as additional support to help with the economic recovery of Montserrat after Hurricane Maria struck in September 2017.
The overall objective of the Budget Support Programme is to assist in setting Montserrat on a path of sustainable economic development, based on its 2017-2021 Medium Term Economic Policy (MTEP).
The assistance is expected to support Montserrat’s renewable energy thrust and new port development to facilitate accessibility to the island. It is also geared towards enhancing the country’s tourism industry as well as improving the business environment and more inclusive private sector development.
The European Union Delegation will continue to support Montserrat’s efforts to create a coherent, comprehensive and sustainable policy framework that will ensure sustained and inclusive economic growth in the long term.
The EU welcomed the determination of the Government of Montserrat to increase economic resilience through strategic sector projects and mainstreaming resilience in all policies. This includes ensuring adequate building codes and standards in order to mitigate socio-economic losses in the event of natural disasters.
The EU Delegation expressed satisfaction to the Government of Montserrat as it continues to show progress and commitment towards prudent Public Financial Management (PFM), good Budgetary Transparency reforms and the pursuit of stable macroeconomic policies.
The overall programme (Grant) of the current 11 European Development Fund intervention is approximately EC$57.35 million (€18.72M).
The programme is expected to run until 2022, with EC$54.30 million (€17.72M) earmarked for multi sector development as budget support.
Montserrat also benefits from regional EU assistance for Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs).
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