San Juan, Dec 5 (EFE).- Jamaican artists Ziggy Marley, Lee “Scratch” Perry, Sean Paul and Sly & Robbie, Spicy Chocolate were announced Friday as nominees for the Grammy award for best reggae album.The nominations demonstrate Jamaica’s supremacy in reggae, a style invented on the island in the 1960s.Ziggy Marley, son of legendary musician Bob Marley, was nominated for his album ...

Jamaican legislators Friday afternoon passed legislation that will allow state funds to be used to fund the country’s political parties. The bill to amend Jamaica’s Representation of the People Act was passed in the Lower House of Parliament. It was then debated and taken through its stages in the Senate but not without objections from both government and opposition senators. ...

The 15-nation Caribbean Community (Caricom) appears to be taking a wait-and-see approach to the political impasse in Guyana, even as a group of civil society organisations called on President Donald Ramotar to lift the almost one-month old suspension of Parliament. The President prorogued the Parliament on November 10, the same day that the opposition had planned to debate and pass ...

Fire, suspected to be the work of arsonists, Wednesday evening destroyed a building housing critically important aviation communication equipment near Dominica’s Douglas- Charles International Airport, just hours after authorities explained why security has been tightened at the Caribbean island’s two airports. Chief Executive Officer of the Dominican Air and Sea Ports Authority (DASPO), Benoit Bardouille said arson is suspected to ...

Caracas, Dec 2 (EFE).- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday approved a 20 percent reduction in “unproductive expenses” by the government as a result of the recent plunge in the oil price and emphasized that the measure does not affect “at all” his administration’s social investment policy.“I’ve approved the reduction of 20 percent in … unproductive expenses, which do not ...

Brasilia, Dec 3 (EFE).- Brazilian state-controlled oil giant Petrobras’ former downstream director, who has blown the whistle on a massive corruption scheme as part of a plea-bargain deal with prosecutors, said he alerted the government to irregularities at the company in 2009.In an appearance Tuesday before a congressional committee investigating the scandal, Paulo Roberto Costa, who was arrested in March ...

Washington, Dec 3 (EFE).- The White House on Wednesday urged Cuba to release U.S. government subcontractor Alan Gross, who is serving a 15-year sentence on the Communist-ruled island after being convicted for subversion.“Five years ago today Alan Gross was arrested for his efforts to help ordinary Cuban citizens have greater access to information through the Internet,” White House press secretary ...

San Juan, Dec 3 (EFE).- Guyana is seen as the most corrupt English-speaking country in the Caribbean Community, according to the Corruption Perception Index of 2014, published Wednesday by watchdog organization Transparency International.“The ranking of Guyana on the 2014 CPI is just another international indicator which, taken together with the local reality, simply increases the public perception that corruption remains ...

Havana, Dec 3 (EFE).- The Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, or CCDHRN, said Wednesday that in November there were 398 political arrests on the communist-ruled island, the lowest monthly figure so far this year, but the dissident group expressed its concern over recent violence against opposition leaders.According to a communique released by the CCDHRN, headed by Elizardo ...

San Juan, Dec 3 (EFE).- The St. Lucia Ministry of Sustainable Development launched “the largest project ever negotiated” by the government with the World Bank to reduce the Caribbean island’s vulnerability to natural disasters and to the impacts of climate change.The Disaster Vulnerability Reduction Project aims to strengthen critical local infrastructure and improve the national capacity to repair damaged infrastructure, ...