Accredited Third States
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Stanford ex-CFO gets five-year prison sentence
HOUSTON (Reuters) – James Davis, the government’s top witness in convicted swindler Allen Stanford’s fraud trial, was sentenced today to five years in prison for his role in a $7 billion Ponzi scheme. Davis, 64, who pleaded guilty in 2009 to three charges and could have been sentenced to 30 years, told the court in a breaking voice, “I am…
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Brother: Chavez expected to return home
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — One of Hugo Chavez's brothers says the Venezuelan president is expected to return home from Cuba in the coming days as he continues to recover nearly six weeks after undergoing cancer surgery. Argenis Chavez is one of the president's five brothers and the president of the National Electric Corporation.
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US-based rating agency revises Jamaica’s economic outlook to stable
NEW YORK, CMC – Fitch Ratings has upgraded Jamaica’s economic outlook from negative to stable and also affirmed the island’s long-term foreign and local currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs). “Jamaica's ratings balance the sovereign's structural strengths, such as relatively high income per capita and social indicators, policy consensus and relatively strong institutional capacity against continued growth underperformance, high vulnerability to…
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Cuba and Venezuela FMs Vow to Brace CELAC
Havana, (Prensa Latina) The Foreign Ministers of Cuba and Venezuela, Bruno Rodriguez and Elias Jaua, respectively, agreed on the urge to consolidate the Community of Latin American and Caribbean Countries (CELAC) as space of regional sovereignty. At a meeting in this capital, they noted the relevance of the 33-member bloc as key mechanism for Latin American and Caribbean integration in…
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Venezuela VP optimistic Chavez will soon return
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro said yesterday that he's optimistic that Hugo Chavez will soon return to Venezuela following cancer-related surgery in Cuba. Maduro said that he and other government officials “are always optimistic that we are going to have the president here with us sooner rather than later,” but he did not
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Cuba scrambling to contain cholera outbreak in Havana
Cuban authorities are scrambling to contain a cholera outbreak that has sickened dozens of people in Havana, the capital city of 2.2 million residents and a popular tourism destination. In a brief communiqué issued on Tuesday, the Health Ministry said the outbreak was first detected on Jan. 6, and was being contained. “Fifty-one cases have been confirmed to date,” the…
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Democracy in Venezuela
GEORGETOWN, Guyana – On the human level, there is a lot of sympathy for Hugo Chávez in his battle against an unspecified cancer in a Cuban hospital. On the political level, however, his loyal supporters in the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) and the Venezuelan government may be doing the cause of democracy in that country something of a…
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Critics Question Chávez Signature on an Official Decree
CARACAS, Venezuela — A tempest in an ink pot has broken out over the signature of President Hugo Chávez, which suddenly appeared on a government decree this week despite his long absence from the country. The case of the mysterious signature comes as Mr. Chávez remains out of public view since undergoing cancer surgery in Havana on Dec. 11. He…
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Caribbean called on to safeguard economic growth
WASHINGTON CMC – The World Bank has urged the Caribbean and other developing countries to safeguard their economic growth, warning that the “road ahead remain bumpy.” In the Global Economic Prospects (GEP) report, released here on Wednesday, the Washington-based financial institution said four years after the onset of the global financial crisis, the world economy “remains fragile and growth in…
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Cholera confirmed in Havana, Cuba
Cuban health officials verified Tuesday a small cholera outbreak in Havana, the capital city of Cuba, the largest occurrence of the disease on the island nation in decades. In August authorities confirmed the potentially deadly disease was gone, but a new statement by the Cuban Health Ministry today said 51 cases had been confirmed. “Fifty-one cases have been confirmed to…
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