BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (CMC):

St. Kitts Prime Minister Dr. Denzil Douglas said Thursday he was looking forward to deepening the federation's relationship with Venezuela under re-elected president Hugo Chavez. St. Kitts and Nevis is one of several Caribbean Community member states benefiting from Venezuela's PetroCaribe energy initiative, but Douglas told Chavez he looked forward to meeting with him early in his new third term "to further dialogue about practical means of deepening our relations."

In a letter to Chavez, Douglas told the Venezuelan President he saw his recent re-election as "indeed a definite showing of support by the masses of his commitment in advancing the interests of his Bolivarian brothers and sisters by eliminating many of the social ills that plague all of the regional countries."

Annan

UNITED NATIONS (CMC):

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Wednesday appointed Joel Boutroue of France as his Deputy Special Representative for the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). Boutroue will also carry the responsibilities of Humanitarian Coordinator, Resident Coordinator and Resident Representative for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The appointment of Boutroue, who most recently served as Deputy Director of the Coordination and Response Division of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), came shortly after the UN extended its peacekeeping mission in Haiti.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC):

Barbados health authorities on Thursday urged nationals travelling to Jamaica to be inoculated against malaria before embarking on their trips, following a malaria outbreak in certain parts of Kingston and neighbouring St. Catherine."Persons residing in Barbados and who plan to travel to Jamaica or other territories such as Guyana are advised that in order to protect themselves from contracting malaria they should obtain prophylaxis treatment prior to travelling," the Ministry of Health said Monday, noting that the treatment was freely available at polyclinics.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC):

Barbados and Cuba Thursday began two days of talks which they said would further deepen bilateral relations between the two countries.Theresa Marshall, Permanent Secretary in the Barbados Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, said the two-day Barbados-Cuba summit would seek to enhance previous activities between the two countries and allow them to embark on new initiatives."Our mission is to review the activities that we have cooperated on in the previous three rounds to see where these can be enhanced or enlarged and to look at new activities that we might undertake together."

UNITED NATIONS (CMC):

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has reiterated its call on the international community to recognise the Caribbean Sea as a "special area" within the context of sustainable development. "CARICOM calls on all delegations to support that initiative, which is within the legal framework of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea," said Jamaica's United Nations Ambassador Raymond Wolfe, speaking on behalf of CARICOM, at a day-long UN General Assembly debate on Thursday on Oceans, the Law of the Sea and Sustainable Fisheries.

"The transport of radioactive waste through Caribbean waters remains of paramount concern," he added, "and CARICOM implores states concerned to examine alternative means of disposing of such materials and other toxic waste."

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (CMC):

A lone commissioner yesterday began investigating why a large number of police officers here failed to report for duty over a six-week period ending in September 2006, affecting a number of official events. As Commissioner Charles Blades, a former Barbados Deputy Commissioner of Police, started gathering evidence, Attorney-General and Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs Dennis Merchant said the "short exercise" was a fact-finding mission and should not be viewed negatively.