OECS economic contraction
Economies of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) are expected to contract by 2.4% this year.
This information is contained in the latest assessment issued by governor of the sub-regional Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, Sir Dwight Venner.
Sir Dwight said that the economic crisis was not over and Eastern Caribbean nations will continue to face tremendous challenges over the next few years.
He said revenues have decreased while unemployment and poverty levels have increased.
‘Climate of fear’ condemned
The human rights group Amnesty International has strongly condemned the legal system in Cuba, saying it creates a climate of fear for anyone critical of the government.
An Amnesty report points to loosely-worded laws which it says can make almost any form of dissent a criminal act in Cuba.
It says at least 67 people, whom it calls prisoners of conscience, are being held in Cuban jails after unfair trials.
Two weeks ago Cuba was elected vice-president of the United Nations Human Rights Council.
The Cuban government says it does not hold any political prisoners, only what it says are mercenaries paid by the United States to undermine the system.
Court sets date for election appeal
The Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal has said that it will begin formal hearing of an appeal in the Antigua election petition case on Thursday.
Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer and two cabinet colleagues are seeking to overturn a decision of a High court judge to overturn their election to parliament in March 2009.
The late opening of polling stations was one of the main reasons cited by the judge in her ruling in March this year.
USVI constitution measure passed
The United States Congress has passed a resolution granting voters in the US Virgin Islands a chance to make changes on the islands’ proposed constitution.
This is the fifth attempt the American territory has made since the 1960s to produce its own constitution.
The Virgin islands is one of the last places under the US flag not to have “a founding document”.
