WASHINGTON (CMC):A new study suggests that male sex tourists, mainly from the United States and Europe, may be fuelling an HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Caribbean.
The study, conducted by Mark Padilla, a University of Michigan assistant professor of public health, also found that efforts to stop the epidemic would be severely hampered unless HIV prevention funds were diverted to help male prostitutes.
Padilla interviewed 298 bisexually-behaving men over a three-year period.
Padilla is also saying that the study should serve as call to action for the tourism industry to implement HIV/AIDS prevention programmes for tourists and tourism employees.
The Caribbean is second only to sub-Saharan Africa in HIV/AIDS cases, and the disease has been described as primarily heterosexual.
Multimillion dollar plant for Belize
BELMOPAN, Belize (CMC):
The Belize Sugar Industries is to build a US$62 million co-generation plant that Prime Minister Said Musa said would reinforce the country's leadership role in the energy sector.
"This project, as a renewable energy business, will reinforce Belize's leadership role in the region for environmentally sound development, while underpinning the future development of the sugar cane industry," Musa said as he addressed the launch of the project on Thursday.
"Today, the industry throughout the region is undergoing a major transformation: the revision of the European Union (EU) sugar regime will result in cut prices on sugar exports to the EU, the principal market for sugar producers, by around one third over a four-year period."
Pollster suggests that PM calls elections
Grenada (CMC):
Director of the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Research Services (CADRES), Peter Wickham, says it will be in the best interest of Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell to call a general election in Grenada sooner rather later.
Earlier this week, CADRES released a new public opinion poll indicating that the ruling New National Party (NNP) would be returned to office for a fourth consecutive term if the polls were held in the near future.
But in an interview with the Caribbean Media Corporation Wickham said the survey, conducted between September 20 and 24, had a 30-day shelf life.
Gov't signals need to move country ahead
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC):
Deputy Prime Minister Mia Mottley yesterday signalled the need for a significant shift in the Barbados' economic and social development outlook to move the country from a course of stability to prosperity.
Mottley told sectoral representatives attending the annual economic consultation that while the country was performing well and topped the region and developing countries globally on many social and economic indices, it could not rest on its laurels if it wanted to move to another level in the coming decade.
"We stand at this juncture, cognisant that in terms of performance in CARICOM, we have done better than most, but absolutely recognising that all of that will be insufficient for us to be able to enjoy the quality of life in the next 10 years, without there being a significant shift in the way we do business and what we place priorities for in the development of this economy and this society," she said.
Trade negotiators seeking tourism deal
BARBADOS, Bridgetown (CMC):
Caribbean trade negotiators meeting here with their European Union (EU) counterparts say they are seeking to ensure that the region's vital tourism sector is not disadvantaged in any new trade deal with Europe.
Errol Humphrey, the Vice Dean of the Caribbean Forum College of Negotiators, said the regional technical negotiating team is particularly interested in securing a good deal for the tourism industry which is a major foreign exchange earner for many countries in the region.
"We want to make it possible for our tourism providers to compete more effectively in the EU market, and we are looking at things such as the anti-competitive practices and those kind of things that would enable large operators not to dominate the market and decide how things operate."
USAID to help build enviro programmes
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC):
Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) countries are to benefit from a US$2 million grant to strengthen their environmental protection programmes.
An official at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) said that the US Ambassador to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, Mary Ourisman, will travel to St. Lucia next week to sign the agreement with officials of the OECS Secretariat.
"This will help the secretariat work with the member states to first build their legislation," USAID representative in Barbados James Goggin said, adding that "some states need to strengthen their legislation of how they identify and how they protect natural areas".
PM brands media body 'political organisation'
Grenada (CMC):
The war of words between the Grenada Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell and the media fraternity escalated on Thursday with the head of the government labelling the island's sole media grouping as a "political organisation".
"If you guys are honest, you will see you are operating as a political organisation. You are not operating as press persons and that is precisely my view," Mitchell said as he launched his government's new website.
"I am clear that the so-called Media Association in Grenada is a political organisation; every opportunity to spin any news against the government, against this Prime Minister has been taken.
Parliament rejects motion to challenge UN tribunal award
PARAMARIBO, Suriname (CMC):
The Ronald Venetian administration says it will not challenge the maritime boundary award of a United Nations Arbitration Tribunal that settled a long-standing dispute with neighbouring Guyana.
The National Assembly, in an emergency session Thursday, voted against a motion by opposition legislators, urging the government to establish a national review commission to scrutinise the award in order to challenge the findings.
A panel of experts here said it has discovered irregularities in the calculations of the equidistance line by the UN Arbitration Tribunal.
