Anthony defends Labour Code

CASTRIES, St. Lucia (CMC):

Leader of the opposition St. Lucia Labour Party, Dr. Kenny Anthony, has hit back at critics of the island's controversial Labour Code, calling them "ignorant".

He was referring specially to recent remarks by Prime Minister Stephenson King and the outgoing president of the Chamber of Commerce, Laurie Barnard, who described the code as a "fundamentally flawed piece of work" which was rushed through Parliament to gain "political points".

Barnard described the code as "substandard", noting that the private sector would "without fear or favour" protect the rights of employers islandwide against the provisions of the legislation.

Suspect freed in Holloway case

ORANJESTAD, Aruba, (CMC):

A judge here has ordered the release of the last of three suspects in the disappearance of a graduating American high school student.

The judge said Friday that Joran van der Sloot, 20, must be released in connection with the disappearance of Natalee Holloway, 18, on May 30, 2005, because the evidence against him was not strong enough to continue detaining him.

Citizenship seekers sue US government

SANTA ANA (CMC):

Even as Caribbean-American Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke has tabled a bill aimed at reducing application backlogs for immigrants seeking United States citizenship, four immigrants have filed a federal lawsuit against delays in background checks performed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The class-action lawsuit was filed Thursday in the U.S. federal court in Santa Ana, California, by the National Immigration Law Centre, a public interest law group in Los Angeles, and the American Civil Liberties Union.

Sex crime on schooler shocks Grenadians

ST. GEORGE'S, Grenada (CMC):

The Grenada National Organisation for Women (GNOW) has described as "horrifying", a case in which three young men have been charged in connection with a sexual offence involving a 13-year-old secondary schoolgirl.

The matter has attracted national attention, not just because crimes like these are rare or rarely reported here, but because the mother of one of the men, 20-year-old Craig Joseph, is the country's Social Development Minister Yoland Bain Horsford and his father is Speaker of the House of Representatives, Larry Joseph.