Category: CANA News

The leader of the main opposition People’s National Party (PNP) Mark Golding, has declared that he will not back down from his position that Jamaica must become a republic at the same time it accepts the Caribbean Court of Justice, CCJ, as its final appellate court.

Golding reaffirmed his position on Tuesday during a media briefing held at Gordon House.

But, the Opposition Leader suggests exploring other areas of constitutional reform, outside of statehood and added that he will not divorce the issue of the Caribbean Court of Justice from the country’s republican push.

‘That will not happen while I’m opposition leader , I believe that the first order of business is to secure access to justice for the people of Jamaica, who have been deprived of it for over 200 years. Their final court is across the Atlantic Ocean in a foreign capital that has nothing to do with us. We believe that it is vital for the government to ensure full decolonization now.’

Earlier this year, the PNP withdrew from the Constitutional Reform Committee, after Golding criticised Prime Minister, Dr. Andrew Holness, for not stating his position on the country’s final appellate court.

But, with the Prime Minister now stating his preference for a local final court, Golding says his party remains unmoved in its demands. He is suggesting that the political leaders move to other areas of potential consensus outside of the current impasse.

Meanwhile, Holness has invited the opposition leader to have one-on-one dialogue on constitutional reform.

In response, Golding says as things stand, there seems to be little room for progress on the key issues of the republic and the final court, however, he left the door open for other discussions to take place when he sits with the Prime Minister.

Golding has also rejected the suggestion that the matter of the final court may go to an indicative referendum.

He believes that the Parliament is the appropriate mechanism for changing Jamaica’s final appellate court.

Scoreboard of the third and final One Day International between Bangladesh and the West Indies here at the Shere Bangla National Stadium on Thursday.

BANGLADESH

Saif Hassan c Greaves b Chase 80

Soumya Sarkar c Auguste b Hosein 91

Towhid Hridoy c Rutherford b Athanaze 28

Najmul Hossain Shanto c and b Athanaze 44

Mahidul Islam Ankon b Hosein 6

Rishad Hossain c Pierre b Hosein 3

Nasum Ahmed c Auguste b Hosein 1

+Nurul Hasan not out 16

*Mehidy Hasan Miraz c Auguste b Motie 17

Extras (b2, lb3, w5) 10

TOTAL (eight wickets; 50 overs) 296

Did not bat: Tanvir Islam, Mustafizur Rahman.

Fall of wickets: 1-176, 2-181, 3-231, 4-252, 5-259, 6-260, 7-261, 8-296.

Bowling: Hosein 10-1-41-4, Chase 8-1-53-1, Pierre 10-0-46-0, Greaves 7-0-61-0, Motie 8-0-53-1, Athanaze 7-0-37-2.

WEST INDIES

Alick Athanaze lbw b Ahmed 15

Brandon King b Ahmed 18

Ackeem Auguste lbw b Ahmed 0

Keacy Carty c Shanto b Islam 15

*+Shai Hope c Shanto b Islam 4

Sherfane Rutherford c Miraz b Hossain 12

Roston Chase c Ahmed b Hossain 0

Justin Greaves c +Hasan b Miraz 15

Gudakesh Motie lbw b Hossain 7

Akeal Hosein b Miraz 27

Khary Pierre not out 0

Extras (b1, w3) 4

TOTAL (all out; 30.1 overs) 117

Fall of wickets: 1-16, 2-28, 3-35, 4-46, 5-63, 6-63, 7-67, 8-82, 9-97, 10-117.

Bowling: Ahmed 6-1-11-3, Miraz 7.1-0-35-2, Islam 8-0-16-2, Hossain 9-0-54-3.

Toss: Bangladesh elected to bat after winning the toss.

Result: Bangladesh won by 179 runs to win the three-match series 2-1.

Player-of-the-Match: Soumya Sarkar.

Player-of-the-Series: Rishad Hossain.

Umpires: Jayaraman Madanagopal, Masudur Rahman.

TV Umpire: Chris Gaffaney.

Reserve Umpire: Tanvir Ahmed.

Match Referee: Dean Cosker.

Grenadians took to the streets here on Thursday in a peaceful protest, urging the government to blank a request by the United States to temporarily install a radar at the Maurice Bishop International Airport (MBIA) and the deployment of US military assets on or near the island.

‘We are here demanding that our region be maintained as a zone of peace,’ former foreign affairs minister, Peter David, told the ‘Peace March’ that was organized by the Grenada Coalition Zone of Peace and Concerned Citizens

David, an independent legislator, told the protest march, ‘we are not here to fight down anybody.we say Grenada first, the Caribbean first.

‘We are here fighting to maintain peace. I have stated my position quite clearly. But we need you, the members of the community, the churches, the trade unions, the political organizations, all organizations, to come together on this issue.

‘This is not a partisan issue, this is an issue of sovereignty and integrity for the people of Grenada,’ he said, adding ‘we all must be united on this’.

David urged Grenadians to follow the positions adopted by protestors in other country by calling their parliamentary representatives ‘and let them know where you stand.because it is when you bring that kind of pressure on them that they will stand up’.

David said he wanted people to remove from their minds, the idea that the situation now is a question of Grenada versus the United States, saying, ‘No it is a particular trend in America with Grenada.

‘Seven million people demonstrated last week in the US. If seven million people demonstrated on the same issue in the US, what is a few thousand people in Grenada. We have a right to stand up for the issues that concern us,’ he said, waning against becoming complacent.

‘So when you go back to your villages,.say we stand for something and we believe that peace is something worth fighting for, peace is something worth marching for, peace is something we all support.

‘This is about nothing else, but maintaining our peace. We have experienced war before. We know what is war and we don’t want war on our territory’.

Suspended Roman Catholic priest, Father Garrrett Paul told the rally ‘there is nothing we should be doing this afternoon.but taking a firm stance’.

He told the rally that what’s taking place is similar to a bully coming to your home and demanding that you leave, but he urged the crowd ‘to put up a fight.

‘And that’s the situation we find ourselves in Grenada. An empire called the United States goes around with wars all over the world.but you know what Maurice Bishop (the island’s first left wing prime minister) used to say, a people united can never be defeated.

‘We are going to unite, we are going to stand up against the mighty United States and give them a good cut tail and send them back to their home’.

Speakers here said that the US request is a precursor to Washington seeking to invade Venezuela and bring about a regime change in that South American country.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister, Dickon Mitchell, said he welcomed the ongoing ‘raging’ public debate regarding the US request saying that his administration has not yet taken a decision on the matter and that he would be making a statement to the nation in due course.

‘Nothing much has changed since the Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicated that we were considering the request. We are still doing so. It is a technical matter and requires a lot of technical people to provide us with guidance on what it is we are being asked to accommodate,’ Mitchell said during his ‘DM with the PM’ programme on social media and other platforms on Tuesday night.

The Donald Trump administration has been building up a military presence off the coast of the South American country allegedly as part of its fight against the illegal shipment of drugs to the United States. Washington has confirmed that it has bombed several vessels, killing all but two people, in recent times as it puts its policy into action.

Last weekend, the Guyana-based CARICOM Secretariat said that Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders had met earlier this month to discuss several issues on the regional agenda, including the security build-up in parts of the Caribbean and its potential impact on member states.

It said that the position at that meeting was not endorsed by the government of Trinidad and Tobago.

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar Thursday sought to downplay a potential rift with Venezuela over the Dragon gas project after

Venezuelan Vice President, Delcy Rodriguez, had earlier claimed that the Trinidad and Tobago economy would collapse without a deal involving the South American country.

‘I have no comments, I have no official communication from Ms Delcy or from the Venezuelan government and I will not comment on something we have no official communication about. I will not engage in a tit-for-tat. I am doing the best I can. I was elected by the electorate, we are all doing the best we can to uplift Trinidad and Tobago,’ Persad- Bissessar told reporters.

Rodriguez, speaking at a function in her country on Wednesday, had warned that any gas deal with Port of Spain must be paid for and cautioned the country on relying on the United States for access to Venezuelan gas.

‘Your prime minister is leading you off a cliff by believing (US Secretary of State) Marco Rubio’s promise to give you Venezuela’s gas for free. Venezuela’s gas comes with a price tag. Every molecule exported, be it to Trinidad and Tobago or other neighbours as planned, must be paid for,’ Rodriguez said.

‘That is international co-operation and natural trade. Anything else is fantasy. They are deceiving her, and she is deceiving an entire country, misleading Trinidad’s business sectors. They will be left high and dry,’ she told the Venezuela Productiva 2030 Business Expo Forum.

The Venezuelan vice president told the audience that Trinidad and Tobago needs Venezuela’s gas, and the only way is through the Nicolas Maduro administration.

‘There is no other way. It is not Rubio who is going to give the gas to Trinidad and Tobago, it is Venezuela. You will see, sooner than later,’ she said, referring to Persad Bissessar as being ‘like Marco Rubio’s puppet’.

She insisted that Washington is ‘feeding’ the Trinidad and Tobago government leader with false promises, referring to a Venezuelan idiom, ‘pregnant birds,’ to describe the false promises.

‘Marco is selling pregnant birds to the prime minister of TT, a country we have gas export agreements with.

‘If Venezuela stops exporting gas to Trinidad, their economy will collapse, affecting the Caribbean. President Maduro has always been very responsible about this. It is part of Commander (Hugo) Chavez’s legacy, what Petrocaribe did for Caribbean countries,’ she added.

But, as she visited the National Cycling Velodrome in Central Trinidad, Couva where a national recruitment job exercise is taking place, Persad Bissessar told reporters that she believed Trinidad and Tobago’s economy was progressing that she had no information on a war between the US and Venezuela.

Regarding the escalating tensions in the region, Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar said that in the event of war, the population would be alerted by the government and urged citizens to remain calm.

‘I think there are some people who are fear mongering, I assure you to be calm, if and when there is a war, we will let you know, we will keep you informed of what is happening. I have no information of a war, no information on missiles landing in Venezuela. There are some just determined with fear mongering. My name is Kamla, be calm,’ she said.

Earlier this month, the Trinidad and Tobago government said it had received a six-month Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) license from Washington to begin negotiating the development of the Dragon gas project with Venezuela

The license, which is valid until April 2026, permits the government and the National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago, along with partners like Shell, to conduct necessary transactions for negotiations with Venezuela.

This authorization is part of a tiered approval process that requires the government to meet specific criteria at each stage.

But former prime minister and minister of energy, Stuart Young, criticised the current government over the short-term OFAC licence, questioning its terms and demanding transparency from the government.

Young, who had played a critical role in Trinidad and Tobago acquiring a 30 year licence before it was revoked by the United States government before the last general election in April, said that the Persad Bissessar government is not informing the public, despite a new license being granted to the government to negotiate with Venezuela.

When in opposition, the government had been critical of the Dragon gas project and soon after coon coming to power declared the project ‘dead’.

Left-arm spinner Khary Pierre has been added to the West Indies’ T20I squad to help bolster their bowling unit for the upcoming three-match T20I series against Bangladesh.

Pierre, who featured in both the two-match Test series in India and the just concluded ODI series against Bangladesh, was named as a replacement following injuries to pacers Shamar Joseph and Jediah Blades.

Khary Pierre

Joseph reported some discomfort in his shoulder during the first training session ahead of the opening ODI against Bangladesh on Saturday, while Blades suffered a stress fracture to the lower back and will return home to undergo rehabilitation.

Cricket West Indies (CWI) confirmed Pierre’s addition in a press release issued on Thursday.

‘Left arm spinner Khary Pierre has been added to the West Indies T20I squad for the three-match series against Bangladesh in Chattogram, starting on Monday October 27.

‘Shamar Joseph and Jediah Blades who were originally included in the squad, were ruled out due to injuries,’ the release stated.

WEST INDIES T20I SQUAD: Shai Hope (captain), Alick Athanaze, Ackeem Auguste, Roston Chase, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Amir Jangoo, Khary Pierre, Brandon King, Gudakesh Motie, Rovman Powell, Sherfane Rutherford, Jayden Seales, Romario Shepherd, Ramon Simmonds.

The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), through its Cultural and Creative Industries Innovation Fund (CIIF), has awarded a US$100,000 grant to NativeFoto Ltd., a Trinidad and Tobago-based creative enterprise, to develop and scale an innovative digital stock photography platform dedicated to authentic Caribbean visual content.

The project, titled ‘Unlocking Caribbean Pride Through Stock Media,’ will create a centralised hub for Caribbean imagery and video, integrating cutting-edge technologies such as AI-powered tools and mobile-adapted user experiences.

The initiative aims to empower local creators, preserve cultural heritage, and strengthen the region’s creative economy by reducing reliance on foreign stock imagery.

Lisa Harding, Division Chief, Private Sector Division at CDB, underscored the Bank’s commitment to innovation and the creative economy, ‘CDB is proud to champion solutions that bridge creativity and technology. This grant reflects our dedication to fostering innovative business models that unlock the potential of the orange economy, create sustainable livelihoods, and amplify Caribbean cultural identity on the global stage.’

The winning proposal was selected from a pool of fifty-three applications from around the region with entries from eleven of CDB’s Borrowing Member Countries (BMCs).

The grant evaluation panel noted that majority of submissions were competitive and detailed feasible solutions to fill the current gap in authentic Caribbean stock content.

According to CIIF Coordinator Malene Joseph, ‘The Bank noted submissions came from strong teams with wide ranging expertise across creative, technical, financial, and legal domains. They were particularly reflective of well-developed SDG action goals, gender and, youth representation targets in our BMCs.’

The grant will enable NativeFoto Ltd.,to expand its prototype into a fully functional regional platform, onboard over 100 photographers in its first year, and roll out features such as authenticity verification and sponsored collections celebrating Caribbean life.

Derek Drayton, Managing Director of NativeFoto Ltd., highlighted the transformative impact of the award ‘This grant will catapult NativeMirror from a promising prototype into the Caribbean’s go-to hub for authentic visual storytelling. It’s more than funding-it’s a leap forward for how our region sees itself and how the world sees us. We’re deeply grateful to CDB for believing in our vision and helping us preserve heritage while creating new creative livelihoods.’

The project will be implemented over 12 months in collaboration with the Photographic Societies of Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados, ensuring quality standards, training, and inclusive participation.

The initiative supports inclusive, diverse content with clear benefits for both the platform and participating creators.

The Supreme Court will on November 18 hear the application for leave for judicial review of the decision of the Constituted Authority not to void the outcome of the recent general election in the Corporate Area constituency of St. Andrew West Central.

The application was brought by the candidate who represented that main opposition People’s National Party (PNP), Paul Buchanan.

The hearing date was set on Tuesday during a case management session.

The judge ordered that documents be served on Prime Minister Dr. Andrew Holness, who was returned as Member of Parliament for the constituency, and the Attorney General, who is representing the Constituted Authority.

On September 16, Buchanan submitted several affidavits to the Constituted Authority in support of his request for the election result to be voided.

Buchanan argued that there were irregularities, including violence and intimidation in certain divisions in the constituency, that impacted the outcome of voting.

But the Constituted Authority, which monitors election activities, denied his request, stating that the evidence presented did not satisfy the standard contemplated by the Election Petition Act that speaks to an upsurge in violence or any irregularity on Election Day.

All government agencies are now actively engaged in dialogue as preparations intensify for tropical storm Melissa, which could become a hurricane.

According to Michael Belnavis, the Mayor of the town of Mayor of St. Ann’s Bay, in the northern parish of St Ann, with the island now officially under both a tropical storm and hurricane watch, all state agencies are being vigilant and ready for all eventualities.

The rescue and fire-fighting capacity at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport has been downgraded by the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA).

However, the GCAA says the airport remains safe.

According to Demerara Waves online News, GCAA Director-General, Retired Lt. Col. Egbert Field declined to provide any information about the recent downgrade in that category to number five, citing the need to ensure confidentiality of all inspections.

However, Demerara Waves Online News pointed to trusted sources who stated that the CJIA has been downgraded from category eight to category five because of limitations both in the fire tenders and number of personnel assigned to that airport.

Based on the GCAA’s own benchmarks, category five means the availability of 8,100 litres of water to assist Level A foam.

The ICAO says Level A foam must be able to extinguish hydrocarbon fire in an area of 2.8m2.

Prior to the downgrade before the expiration of the certification at the end of September 2025, the CJIA’s rescue and firefighting capacity had enjoyed a category eight rating that would have allowed for the provision of at least 27,300 litres of water to assist Level A foam in putting out a hydrocarbon fire in the same area.

United Nations Special Representative for Haiti and Head of the UN Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH), Carlos G. Ruiz Massieu, says that, despite crises facing Haiti, the people of the French-speaking Caribbean country have not given up and that ”their fortitude gives us hope.’

Carlos G. Ruiz Massieu

‘There is no doubt that the circumstances are dire, but the Haitian people have not given up,’ said Massieu in addressing the UN Security Council for the first time on Wednesday.

Massieu, who has met multiple political, international and civil stakeholders in Haiti over the past two and a half months, addressed the continuing gang violence and humanitarian crisis in the country, the upcoming political transition set to take place next year and bid to restore national security through the recently agreed Gang Suppression Force (GSF).

As armed groups are increasingly targeting farming communities on the outskirts of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and other areas, Massieu stressed that the scale and impact of internal displacement is ‘unprecedented,’ amounting to over 1.4 million displaced people.

He said the human rights situation also remains ‘deeply concerning, with widespread abuses linked to gang attacks, violence involving self-defense groups, and even some security operations.

‘I am concerned that a steady path towards the restoration of democratic governance has yet to emerge,’ said Massieu, addressing the transfer of authority to elected officials expected to take place by February 7 next year.

He welcomed actions by Haitian authorities to consult with political representatives regarding the elections to avoid a political vacuum beyond February, stating that ‘sustained inter-Haitian dialogue remains crucial to forging renewed consensus on the way forward.’

Massieu said BINUH will be providing technical and logistical support ahead of the election.

He welcomed the Security Council-backing for the Gang Suppression Force and urged authorities to take appropriate measures to increase security and ensure communities most affected by violence, particularly children, are protected.

The UN Special Representative warned that the hostile security environment continues to affect Haiti’s international partners in the capital, but that he is leading efforts in BINUH to achieve ‘100 per cent staff presence in the capital as a matter of urgency.

‘The recent action by this Council was a signal of reassurance to the Haitian people that they are not alone – that the international community stands with them during this critical moment,’ he said.

‘Now is the time to swiftly translate this signal into real progress and turn the tide of violence,’ Massieu added.