Millions in the Caribbean Survive on Less Than $2 a Day
An eye-opening report revealed that millions of people in five Caribbean nations are surviving on less than $2 a day, Caribbean Net News reports. The affected citizens are from the Dominican Republic (with 15 percent attempting to live on that small wage), Haiti (72 percent), St. Lucia (41 percent), Guyana (17 percent), Trinidad and Tobago (14 percent) and Suriname (27 percent), according to the recent Population Reference Bureau’s 2009 World Population Data Sheet. News from the bureau, based in Washington D.C., doesn’t get much better. It estimates that the population will rise in the Caribbean, as well as poverty-stricken areas in Africa, Latin America and Asia, by a little less than 50 percent between now and 2050, the news service reports. “This scenario assumes that fertility in less-developed countries will decline smoothly to the low levels observed in today’s more developed countries: about 1.8 children per woman,” the report states. “For fertility to fall to those low levels, many factors are key, including significant increases in the use of family planning in many less-developed countries.”
 

Thousands Protest Mali’s Marriage Law
Thousands of people in the west African nation of Mali have been protesting a new law that provides more rights for wives, reports the BBC. The law, which was adopted weeks ago but has not been signed by the nation’s president yet, decreed that married women are no longer required to obey their husbands. In addition, the legislation allows for stronger inheritance rights for mothers and children who are born out of wedlock, the news service reports. “We have to stick to the Koran. A man must protect his wife, a wife must obey her husband,” Hadja Sapiato Dembele, a spokeswoman from the National Union of Muslim Women’s Association, told BBC recently. Only a certain segment of the population supports the law, she says. “It’s a tiny minority of women here that wants this new law – the intellectuals. The poor and illiterate women of this country – the real Muslims – are against it,” she said.

U.S. Firms To Provide Cheap HIV Drugs to Caribbean
A deal between two major U.S. drug companies will allow access to cheap HIV/AIDS medication to Caribbean nations, Agence France Presse reports. The agreement was announced by former U.S. President Bill Clinton, who started the Clinton Global Initiative, after he left office. “Today’s announcement will help ensure we can sustain treatment over a lifetime and better treat patients with both HIV and TB, two key steps in turning the tide of the global HIV/AIDS pandemic,” Clinton said in a statement.  With the agreement, between Mylan and Matrix, a package of four antiviral medications, atazanavir, rionavir, tenofovir and lamivudine along with a combination of tenofovir and lamivudine will be sold for $425 dollars. This could save patients $400 million over the span of five years, according to the foundation. In addition to the Caribbean, the reduced priced medication will be available to countries involved in the Clinton Foundation’s Procurement Consortium in Africa, Asia and Latin America, reports AFP.
 

Migrant Boats Crash in Algeria A vessel belonging to Algeria’s coast guard crashed into three migrant boats leaving at least one person dead and 11 missing in the port city Annaba, the BBC reports. Eighteen people were hurt. The boats reportedly ignored requests from authorities asking them to stop. Many use the waters in that region to escape in boats (which are often shoddy) to Europe in hopes to find a better life. Just this year, 400 people have been stopped by the city’s coast guard, according to a local radio station.

Group Names the Happiest Places on Earth
It looks like some of the happiest places on earth have nothing to do with Disney. According to recently released report, Costa Rica, in Central America, ranks No. 1 as the happiest and greenest place in the world. The nation is followed by the Dominican Republic and Jamaica, two countries in the Caribbean, in a report released by the New Economics Foundation, a group based in England. Rounding out the top 10 are Guatemala at No. 4, followed by Vietnam, Colombia, Cuba, El Salvador, Brazil and Honduras. Life expectancy, happiness and a small environmental impact were factors that contributed to the rankings. So, while the United States ranks high on life expectancy and happiness, its large ecological footprint made the country land at No. 114 on the list out of 143 countries.

Nigerian Writer Awarded
EC Osondu, a writer from Nigeria, is the winner of this year’s Caine Prize for African Writing and will receive $16,000. The honor, which is also referred to as the African Booker, is given each year to an African writer for a short story that is published in English, reports the BBC.  It’s named after the an ex-chairman of Booker plc, Sir Michael Caine. Osondu’s short story, “Waiting,” describes “the dislocating experience of being a displaced person,” from a child’s point of view, one of the judges said. Osondu was born in Nigeria and moved to New York to attend Syracuse University where he studied writing. In 2006, he received an honor, the Allen and Nirelle Galso Prize for Fiction, for another one of his stories, “A Letter from Home.” He is currently teaching literature at Providence College in Rhode Island, the BBC reports.

Mortar Attack Kills Somalis
Violent exchanges between insurgents and government forces in Mogadishu have left 12 Somali civilians dead, the BBC reports. Insurgents reportedly fired at least six mortars at the presidential palace, and government troops retaliated by firing back. “Most of the shells landed on deserted houses but three hit places where people stay,” a witness told the BBC. Just in the last several weeks, more than 165,000 Somalis have fled the capital city due to fighting between the government and insurgents. The country, which has been without a stable government since the early 90s, is due to get more African Union peacekeepers, according to the nation’s Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke. “We welcome the support of the recent AU heads of states summit in Libya for the government … and we have a firm pledge for the increase of the AU peacekeepers,” he told reporters Sunday. While Mogadishu currently has 4,300 AU peacekeepers, they are not allowed to fight insurgents unless they are defending themselves. However that mandate will be changed, to allow the peacekeepers to “fight along government soldiers,” Sharmarke said.

U.S. Will Give Flu Meds to Caribbean

The United States is set to donate 420,000 packets of Tamiflu to help countries in Latin America and the Caribbean combat the spread of swine flu. As the winter season begins, countries in the region including Argentina, Brazil and Chile are seeing a surge in serious cases of the illness, The New York Times reports. While most cases of the virus are mild, its spread is now unstoppable, Margaret Chan, who leads the World Health Organization, said at a global forum, reports the BBC.

The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Inter-American Development Bank have cancelled most of the debt from struggling Caribbean nation of Haiti, the BBC reports. That move subtracts $1.2 billion from the country’s total debt of $1.9 billion. The debt relief was given because Haiti has begun to reform its economy and execute new measures to reduce poverty, according to the World Bank and IMF.

Representatives from African, Asian and the Caribbean nations reeling from the worldwide economic crisis met at the U.N. headquarters in New York to make a plea. At the meeting the officials asked wealthy countries, who they say are to blame for the bad economy in the first place, to help out struggling nations financially. Money from exports have decreased and migrant workers don’t send as much money home as they used to, representatives said at the conference, reports the BBC. Poorer nations need “specific arrangements for the flow of resources to our governments,” said Belize Prime Minister Dean Barrow, who spoke for the Caribbean. There were mostly Latin American and Caribbean presidents and prime ministers at the conference, which was set up allow undeveloped countries voice their concerns, the BBC reports.

White Kenyan Aristocrat Found Guilty
Thomas Cholmondeley, a White Kenyan aristocrat, has been found guilty of manslaughter in connection to the killing of a Black poacher on his family’s property in 2006, reports the BBC. The case garnered massive attention from the media, and it was no different on Thursday when the verdict was announced in front of a packed courtroom of reporters, cameramen, and friends and family members of Cholmondeley. “I find as a fact that it was the accused who had shot the deceased resulting in his death. In view of the above analysis, I hereby find which I do, that the accused did not have any malice aforethought to kill the deceased,” the judge read. The verdict surprised many in the courtroom, including Cholmondeley’s lawyers. “I’m amazed – dumbstruck actually,” said his lawyer. “We will appeal. There is no doubt about that.” Cholmondeley, a descendant of one of the country’s first settlers from England, could face a maximum term of life in prison. He will be sentenced next week. At the time of the shooting, Cholmondeley told authorities that the poacher, Robert Njoya, was with three friends and a pack of dogs on the grounds of his family’s estate. He admitted to shooting and killing the dogs, but his lawyers argued that the shot that killed Njoya actually came from the gun of one of his friends, a defense the judge didn’t accept, calling it an “afterthought,” reports the BBC.

Caribbean Nations Will Rebound Sooner
Nations in Latin America and the Caribbean will rebound sooner from the global economic crisis than more powerful countries, according to the International Monetary Fund. The area is protected partly due to the lack of organized banking problems, reports the BBC. Next year the group expects the Caribbean economy to grow 1.5 percent.

Somalia’s Parliament Hit With Deadly Mortar Attack A mortar attack this weekend on Somalia’s parliament killed at least six and injured 15, reports CNN. The attack occurred in Mogadishu while members of the body were having a meeting, according to an official. “While we concluded our session, the prime minister and the House speaker were leaving from the venue when mortars started landing around the building,” said the deputy speaker of parliament, Osman Elmibogore. A soldier and three children were killed when the mortars hit a school in the vicinity. No parliament members were injured in the attack, according to authorities. Hussein Osman Dhumal, Mogadishu’s police spokesman said the attacked was perpetrated by people “who oppose peace in Somalia,” reports the news service.

Tourism Down in Caribbean Region The global recession has hit the Caribbean’s tourism industry hard, with some nations reporting a double-digit decline visits, reports the BBC. Tourism across the region is down except in Jamaica, Cuba and Mexico’s Cancun region, the Caribbean Tourism Organization said.  Anguilla has been hit the hardest with an 18.8 percent drop in tourism; Antigua, St. Lucia, Montserrat and the Cayman Islands saw tourism drops between 11 and 14 percent, while the Virgin Islands had a 6.1 percent drop and Puerto Rico saw a 4.7 percent drop in tourism, according to CTO.

Jamaica’s morality police are banning all explicit references to sex and violence over the airwaves. The Caribbean island’s broadcast commission says it’s time to block all songs and videos that depict or glorify sex acts or gun violence, murder, rape or arson. But critics, such as Rob Kenner, editor at large for Vibe magazine, say that the government ban is a “cheap cop out” from addressing serious issues in a substantive way. “While the crime rate in Jamaica is sky high, blaming music for this problem is a cheap cop out,” Kenner said. “Government regulation of culture is never a good idea, and the Jamaican Broadcasting Commission’s recent crackdown is no exception. Even radio edits of reggae hits have been banned while some American songs with similar lyrics are allowed to play.” Specifically targeted in the new prohibition are dancehall tunes and videos depicting “daggering” — a dance style popular among Jamaican youth that features pelvic grinding simulating sex. The ban also targets hip hop and soca, a dance music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago. “It’s not only a blow to the artists who make the music but also to those who use it as a release from the stresses of daily life,” said Kenner. “Dancehall music was originally created to be heard in the dancehall. These were artists who could not be played on the radio singing and rhyming without any filter or censorship whatsoever. Some songs deal with sex and violence, others with humor, social criticism, spirituality and love.”
http://www.bet.com/Music/News/musicnews_jamaicaban_2.24.09.htm

World Lens: Kenyans gather to mourn mass tragedy; Zimbabwe opposition is sworn in; and partiers hit the street for carnival celebrations in South America. See pics.
Ghana Soccer Fans Died From Heat
High temperatures and overcrowding appear to be behind the deaths of four Ghanaian soccer fans who died Sunday, reports the BBC. Fans crowded into Ghana’s Baba Yara Stadium, which was packed beyond its 40,000 capacity. Many fans fainted in the heat. The four who died were suffocated to death, according to the Ghana Football Association. The match, between the Asante Kotoko and the Hearts of Oak, is a fierce rivalry in the west African nation and many fans had gone to the stadium early in the morning to get a spot. Officials sprayed sections of the crowd with water, to provide relief from the heat, and medical officials treated many fans with heat exhaustion.
 

Grenada’s Unemployment Could Skyrocket
The global economic crisis is hitting the Caribbean island nation of Grenada hard, reports Caribbean Net. One official from the country estimates that unemployment could reach a staggering 30 percent by the end of the year. “Unemployment is rising. Already it is very high in the neighborhood of 23 to 24 percent,” Grenada Finance Minister Nazim Burke said at national economic consultation meeting. “Since the onset of the crisis, we have already seen some layoffs in tourism and the telecommunications industry. We are anticipating that by the end of the year we could see unemployment as high as 30 percent.” His gloomy outlook coincides with news that one of his nation’s largest employers, LIME (a telecommunications company), plans to lay off many Grenadians. By September, 40 percent of the LIME’s workers in Grenada are expected to be out of work.