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.

19 African migrants drown.

A boat capsized off the coast of the Canary Islands resulting in 19 African migrants drowning, reports the BBC. An 8-year-old girl is among the dead. Six people were rescued from the boat this past weekend and helicopters are searching the area for more survivors. Three people are still thought to be missing. But as time goes by, hope for finding more people alive grows more and more dim. Most of the people on the boat are thought to be from Morocco. Thousands of North Africans have flocked to the Spanish Canary Islands, which are off the coast of North Africa, in the past few years in search of a better life, reports the news service. The number of migrants that actually make it there, however, has gone down recently due to an increase in security. Only 9,000 migrants made it to the Canary Islands in 2008, compared to almost 32,000 in 2006.

Turks and Caicos leader to step down. Turks and Caicos Premier Michael Misick has announced that he’ll step down from his post next month. He says the move is in the best interest of his political organization, the Progressive National Party (PNP), amid corruption allegations: “In recent months, there has been much discontent among some ministers and PNP members…It now appears to me that the divide within the party is too deep.” Las year, while a Foreign Affairs Select Committee made up of British Parliament members were routinely examining the affairs of British territories, they found that Misick was allegedly gaining from “selling off Crown land to fund current investment.” Misick says he’ll leave office effective March 31. His public separation from actress wife Lisa Raye has also made headlines recently.

Bodies of migrants wash ashore in Gabon
The bodies of 12 migrant workers washed up on the shore of the west African nation of Gabon , reports the BBC. A small wooden boat, officials believe the workers (all adult males) were using to travel to the country, was found nearby. Officials believe the workers were trying to reach Gabon from other West African countries, reports the news service. The country’s population rests at less that 1.5 million, but that does not include the many illegal immigrants who number in the hundreds of thousands, according to Gabon ’s interior minister. The nation’s relative wealth from oil sales has made the nation a popular choice among migrant workers. And because of the high demand, many traffickers herd would-be migrant workers onto old poor quality boats that are prone to accidents.

Jamaican leader disses the idea of a Patois Bible
Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding came out strongly against a plan to translate the Bible from English into Patois, the Jamaican dialect commonly heard in reggae music, reports the Jamaica Gleaner. The Bible Society of the West Indies planned the project which is expected to cost a whopping $60 million over 12 years, leaving many wondering if it’s worth it or even appropriate. “To me what this signifies is an admission to failure. We have failed to impart our accepted language, English, and so we have given up,” Golding said of the plan in a speech front of high school graduates. “I am still waiting for somebody who is participating in this debate to explain to me how Patois is going to help our students to learn and understand history.”