Accredited Third States
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White House mulls new global food aid approach – send cash
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House may soon propose the biggest change in US food aid since the programmes were created during the Cold War – donating cash for hunger relief instead of shipping American-grown food thousands of miles to global trouble spots, say farm groups and charities. Reformers have argued for years that cash donations, the method used by…
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Obama urged to back tough arms trade treaty at UN talks
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Three dozen arms control and human rights groups have written to US President Barack Obama ahead of new arms-trade negotiations at the United Nations next month, urging him to back a tough treaty that would end loopholes in international weapons sales. Arms control campaigners say one person every minute dies worldwide as a result of armed…
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CARIBBEAN-POLITICS-Three Caribbean islands owing UN fees
UNITED NATIONS, CMC – Three Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries are in arrears with payments to the United Nations and have “lost” their vote in the world body. According to a January 15th letter sent by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to the President of the General Assembly, Dominica along with Grenada and St Lucia are among 18 countries in arrears. Dominica…
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Russia to partially write off Cuba’s US $25 billion debt
HAVANA, Cuba, CMC – Russia’s Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov says his country will forgive part of Cuba’s US$25 billion Soviet-era debt and restructure the rest as part of agreements that include Havana getting Russian jetliners worth US$650 million. On an official visit here, Manturov told reporters that Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and Ricardo Cabrisas, vice president of…
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US denies plans to remove Cuba from terror list
WASHINGTON, CMC – The United States has denied reports that it plans to remove Cuba from a list of countries that support terrorism. “I saw that report. Let me say firmly here it is incorrect,” US State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters here. “This department has no current plans to remove Cuba from the state sponsor of terrorism list.…
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Raul Castro re-elected for second term
Cuban President Raul Castro has been re-elected for a second five-year term. The 612-member National Assembly of People's Power Sunday elected Castro, who turns 82 in June, as president of the State Council, Xinhua reported. “The National Assembly of People's Power today approved, in this capital, Army General Raul Castro Ruz as president of the Council of State, and elected…
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Supreme Court declines to block deportation of legal Caribbean immigrants
WASHINGTON, CMC – The US Supreme Court has declined to block the deportation of thousands of Caribbean and other immigrants who over two years ago were not warned by their lawyers that, when they pleaded guilty to serious crimes, they would be targeted for deportation. The law calls for mandatory deportation for Caribbean and other immigrants, including lawful permanent residents,…
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Chávez Family ‘Encouraged,’ Bolivia Leader Says at U.N.
President Evo Morales of Bolivia said Wednesday that Hugo Chávez, the cancer-stricken president of Venezuela and one of his closest friends, had endured “most difficult moments” and that Mr. Chávez’s doctors and family were encouraged now that he had returned home, more than two months after surgery and convalescence in Cuba. Speaking to reporters at the United Nations, Mr. Morales…
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Venezuela’s invisible president
Hugo Chávez’s stealth return to Venezuela this week, which was carried out with the same signature secrecy that surrounds all aspects of his health status, makes it clearer than ever that Venezuela is leaderless and in need of someone else to take over. Mr. Chávez’s entry was unlike any of his triumphal arrivals from previous overseas trips, which featured adoring…
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If President Chavez goes, what future for PetroCaribe beneficiaries?
KINGSTON, Jamaica – AILING President Hugo Chavez has returned to Venezuela, but that is not synonymous with a return to active service as leader of the country. His arrival in Caracas is not likely to silence political opponents salivating at the prospect of his demise, nor will it end the rampant speculation that his precarious health could force him to…
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