Haitian President Michel Martelly says aid and fuel shipments from Venezuela are having a big impact in the Caribbean country as it attempts to recover from the devastation of its 2010 earthquake.

President Hugo Chavez’s government is providing nearly all the fuel that Haiti consumes under preferential terms, including long-term loans and direct shipping that cuts costs. Martelly said power plants installed by Venezuela after the earthquake supply roughly one-fifth of Haiti’s electricity and that Venezuela is also providing key financial support for rice farming and other programs.

“The cooperation with Venezuela is the most important in Haiti right now in terms of impact, direct impact,” Martelly told The Associated Press in an interview Saturday night after a summit of Latin American and Caribbean leaders.

“We are grateful to President Chavez for helping us from the bottom of his heart,” Martelly said.

Chavez has made helping Haiti a priority since the magnitude-7 earthquake in January 2010 that reduced much of Port-au-Prince to rubble. His government sent thousands of tons of food aid in the aftermath of the quake, and also set up several camps to temporarily house thousands of displaced Haitians.

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TWO more men are expected to be charged jointly with deejay Vybz Kartel for the August 16 murder of Clive ‘Lizard’ Williams in Havendale, St Andrew. The revelation of the pending charges against the two was made when Kartel and co-accused Calvin ‘Moonie’ Haye appeared in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate’s Court.

The case against the two was set for mention on Thursday, by which time the other men are expected to be charged and joined with them in the defence box. One of the men was yesterday scheduled to face an identification parade.

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SEVEN police officers assigned to the Southern Division Robbery Squad and CID have been charged with the murders of Abigail Johnson, Allana Duncan and Kerron “Fingers” Eccles.

The instructions to charge the officers—six men and one woman—were given by Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard last evening to a specially hand-picked team of detectives, under the supervision of ACP Raymond Craig, head of the Professional Standards Unit.

The female officer is the mother of a four-month-old baby. She had expressed concern regarding the safety and welfare of her child shortly after her arrest.

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Political scientist Peter Wickham.

A leading political scientist yesterday warned Barbados that its position on homosexuality was out of step with that of the international community, and this could cost it “both funding and friends”.

Peter Wickham was reacting to threats by Britain to withhold aid from governments that do not reform legislation banning homosexuality.

The threat was issued by Prime Minister David Cameron at the just concluded Commonwealth Heads Of Government Meeting in Perth, Australia, where he said those receiving British aid should “adhere to proper human rights”.

Yesterday, Daniel Carruthers, the second secretary at the British High Commission here, explained that Barbados was not in any immediate danger of losing aid since there were currently no bilateral programmes between Britain and Barbados.

Read the full story in today’s DAILY NATION.

The visa application system in the Turks and Caicos Islands will undergo a major overhaul and changes will include a new requirement that all applications must be made at UK posts overseas.

Jamaica is reporting a 40 percent drop in homicides over the past 15 months, but Prime Minister Bruce Golding said crime is still at an unacceptable level.
He said 276 less homicides have been committed for the year, from the 1,097 that occurred last year. This, he stated, is also less than what was reported in 2009.

Golding commended the security forces for their “outstanding work.”

“While we embrace this success, let us be mindful that the crime rate still remains at an unacceptable level and we must not in any way reduce our efforts,” he said in a statement.

“I urge your members to not let their feet falter, but to keep them firmly planted as we strive together to achieve the vision that we share for Jamaica- a country where sanctity and security are restored and our people enjoy peace and order.”

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Homicide rates in Central America and the Caribbean are nearing a “crisis point,” according to a United Nations report.

Across Central America, homicide rates have increased in five out of eight countries over the past five years, with Honduras seeing homicide rates more than double between 2005 and 2010.

Mexico saw a 65% increase over the same period.

Homicide rates have also surged in Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Dominican Republic.

“Organized crime — especially drug trafficking — accounted for a quarter of deaths caused by firearms in the Americas, compared to only 5% of homicides in Asia and Europe,” the report says. “That does not mean, however, that organized crime groups are not active in those two regions, but rather that they may be operating in ways that do not employ lethal violence to the same extent.”

More than four in 10 homicides were committed with firearms, according to the report. Gun crime is driving violence in Central America and the Caribbean.

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People around the world are grieving the loss of Steve Jobs, who died today at the age of 56. As much as he leaves a legacy of technology and artistry, he also is an example of life lived to the fullest and a reminder of how much a single person can accomplish in a lifetime. In his 2005 commencement address at Stanford University, Jobs talked about his experience of being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, as well as what he hoped would be a permanent cure. In this speech we learn about the life and wisdom of Steve Job who reminds each of us:

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

The third nominee Garry Conille (pictured above) received Senate approval after prolonged debate. (Photo: garyconille.com)

U.N. development expert Garry Conille has been approved by the Haitian Senate as the country’s Prime Minister, after more than eight hours of debate over his residency qualifications.

Senators voted 17-3 with nine abstentions for the 45-year-old ex-aide to former U.S. President Bill Clinton.

Members from a majority coalition agreed Conille, whose job took him out of the country for long periods, was eligible, though Haitian law requires that government officials spend five consecutive years in the country.

Legislators had rejected the president’s two previous candidates – businessman Daniel-Gerard Rouzier and legal scholar Bernard Gousse.

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The government and the opposition Progressive Liberal Party, PLP, are at odds over the proper fit to combat crime following this year’s record 104 murders.

Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham has outlined a range of measures including a one-month gun amnesty, stiffer penalties and a volunteer programme, but the PLP said the measures are “woefully inadequate.”

On Monday, the prime minister gave residents with illegal firearms until October 5 to turn them in to the police.

“After the 4th November anyone convicted of unlawful possession of a firearm or ammunition will, upon conviction, be imprisoned for a minimum of four years,” he warned in a national address.

“I highlight the fact that the power of magistrates to impose sentences is being increased from five to seven years and that conviction on drug and gun related offences may attract the maximum sentence of seven years.”

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