DomRep eyes IMF agreement
The Dominican President, Leonel Fernandez, says his government is likely to finalise a stand-by agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the next two to three weeks.
Fernandez says under that agreement the country will receive a $1.5 billion loan, which he says will ease the financial challenges, worsened by a drop in tourism and remittances in the wake of the global financial crisis.
Fernandez had initially ruled out approaching the IMF but he was forced to turn to the Washington-based institution because of a sharp decline in finances.
Martinique imposes fishing ban
Authorities in Martinique have banned fishing in all rivers and some coastal areas for the next year, after finding high levels of a controversial pesticide.
A government statement says that health officials found more than double the accepted amount of kepone, also known as clordecone, in almost all the samples taken at 40 locations across the island.
Concerns over clordecone were raised two years ago when a French medical researcher suggested it may have affected cancer rates in the French department and its sister island Guadeloupe. Guadeloupe has already imposed a five-year ban on fishing in some rivers and coastal areas after recording high levels of chlordecone.
The pesticide was used on banana plantations until it was banned in 1993
