News stories by Peter Richards, page 5

When Europe signed an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the Caribbean Forum countries in 2008, the intention was to boost trade and services between the two regions.

Dominica presented its '2012-2020 Low Carbon Climate Resilient Development Strategy' to donors including the World Bank on Wednesday in a bid to gain wider access to funding and position itself as a regional leader in renewable energy.

Failure to adapt to climate change will derail the development aspirations of the 15-member Caribbean Community (Caricom), researchers warn, siphoning off an average of five percent of 2004 gross domestic product regionwide by 2025.

More than a decade of efforts to promote closer socioeconomic cooperation among the 15 nations of the Caribbean Community are threatened by stagnant funding and a grim global financial situation, experts warned here.

With climate change advancing to the forefront of the most urgent issues facing the islands of the Caribbean, young people — who arguably have the most to gain and lose in future scenarios — are becoming increasingly engaged in charting a path to environmental sustainability.

Four months before the island hosts the World Congress of the Vienna-based International Press Institute (IPI), the Trinidad and Tobago government finds itself on the defence in the wake of police raids on two national media houses in six weeks.

Thirty years after England and Argentina went to war over ownership of the Malvinas/Falkland Islands, tensions have again been rising. Unlike the 1982 conflict, however, this time the main bone of contention is oil, local legislators claim.

Helen Clarke, the former prime minister of New Zealand, recalled a situation a few years ago when within the less affluent suburbs of her country, youth gang violence had become a serious problem.

As China sees its influence continue to grow in this part of the world, a delegation from the United Kingdom arrived in Grenada last weekend with a proverbial carrot for its former colonies, vowing to create new opportunities for trade, investment and innovation 'in our respective economies'.

When the U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development dubbed Rio+20 convenes in Brazil next year, Caribbean leaders want to ensure that the concerns of vulnerable low-lying coastal and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) will be heard.