Barbados has been saying they want more access to the fish in Trinidad and Tobago’s waters, but they have not been offering anything in return said Anselm Francis, a senior lecturer at the Institute of International Relations.

Although a diplomatic bungle forced a meeting in Barbados on the fishing and maritime border disputes to be called off yesterday, Government still hopes to smoothen troubled waters when Barbados prime minister Owen Arthur arrives in Port-of-Spain today. Arthur is scheduled to stay until Saturday. He was initially due on Friday.

In two related dramatic developments yesterday the Prime Ministers of Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados met unannounced at a posh hotel in Barbados for urgent closed-door talks on the current tense state of relations between the two countries.

Police Commissioner Francis Forbes came in for praise recently from Robert Mueller, Director of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), for his role in helping with an investigation involving Russian organised crime.

Ridiculous! This was how Kelly Jobity described her ordeal while in the custody of United States immigration officers, after she was detained on arrival at John F Kennedy International Airport on Saturday. Jobity, 19, left Trinidad around 5:30 am on Saturday on a Trans-Meridian charter flight to New York, to attend a Deliverance Temple crusade scheduled on February 25.

Barbados has taken Trinidad and Tobago before the United Nations, as negotiations between the states over fishing rights have completely broken down. This move comes after Barbados’ government denied a statement by Prime Minister Patrick Manning that he and Arthur agreed to seek the intervention of CARICOM during a meeting in Nigeria.

Kelly Jobity, 19, a drummer with the Deliverance Temple Church band of Port of Spain has been detained at the JFK airport and is expected to be deported today, relatives said. They claimed that Jobity was handcuffed to a chair in a room at the airport and has not been allowed to change her clothes or leave the room.

Anti-drug enforcement officers have increased surveillance at Piarco International Airport, primarily monitoring people about to board flights to Canada. This comes in the wake of statistics which show a drastic increase in the detection of narcotics leaving Trinidad en route to Toronto.

Flying fish, frozen fish and beer are among several items from Trinidad and Tobago that will now be subject to monitoring licences by the Barbados Government, adding to the tensions created by an already-heated fishing dispute. Prime Minister Owen Arthur announced the measures yesterday in a press conference carried live on Barbadian radio and television from Government headquarters in Bridgetown.

Director of Public Prosecution Geoffrey Henderson said yesterday that organised crime in this country is being supported by many legitimate businesses. He said because of this, legitimate and criminal interests have become ‘so entangled that large segments of society depend upon the perpetuation of criminal activity for their livelihood.’

The United States Government yesterday said Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide had no choice but to accept the CARICOM plan which would see a change in the political power structure of the French-speaking Caribbean island.

A CARICOM delegation will head to Washington tomorrow to meet with Secretary of State Colin Powell to discuss the current situation in Haiti, an official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed yesterday. However, US officials in Washington could not confirm the delegation would meet with Powell.

A Trinidad and Tobago native residing in New York City has been added to the US Marshals 15 Most Wanted Fugitives list. Wanted for the murder of his sister and an ex-girlfriend, along with a parole violation and illegal entry into the United States, 39-year-old Andre Neverson is the subject of a manhunt involving three participating agencies of the Marshals Service regional task force in the New York/New Jersey area.

The Canadian Government, in the last six months, has been warning its citizens of an increase in crime and kidnapping in Trinidad and Tobago, Canadian High Commissioner Simon Wade confirmed yesterday. However, he said there had been no massive increase in Trinidad and Tobago nationals applying to go to Canada, or seeking refugee status there.

Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide has agreed to CARICOM’s suggestion of a series of confidence-building measures aimed at restoring peace and stability in conflict-ridden Haiti, Prime Minister Patrick Manning has said. At a Whitehall news conference yesterday, Manning spoke about the measures which were agreed on at Saturday’s meeting between a team of Caricom leaders and Aristide.

A Curfew was imposed on embattled Spanish Town last night after warring gangs crippled business and normal activity and put the St. Catherine capital under virtual siege. Throughout yesterday the security forces sought to flush out members of the 'One Order' and 'Clans Man' gangs, reportedly responsible for the killing of 12 people and the injuring of 20 others since the start of the year.

'I smoke herb on a meditative vibe. It's a spiritual thing to me, yuh know whah ah mean?'
Like Michael Jackson, Buju Banton's latest troubles have received worldwide attention. His arrest three weeks ago for marijuana possession was carried as breaking news by Rolling Stone, MTV, Billboard, Yahoo, ABC News, the BBC, the Scotsman, the Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald, even the Springfield News Sun in Ohio.

A police constable charged with murder and wounding with intent of two party-goers was yesterday shielded from the media by his colleagues, when he appeared at the Port-of-Spain Magistrates’ Eighth Court.

The police officer accused of the shooting death of Cunupia teenager Kevin Cato and the wounding of another man during a Carnival fete last weekend, appeared in court yesterday and demanded a speedy trial. His attorney, Mario Merritt, told Chief Magistrate Sherman McNicolls that just as Cato's relatives had called for justice following the shooting, so too should PC Dave Burnett be given justice by a fair hearing and a speedy trial.

When 18-year-old Kevin Cato of Cunupia put on his red clothes on Saturday night to attend the Outrageous in Red fete at Pier 1, Chaguaramas, he would not have known that his own blood would flow at the fete.

AFTER almost a month of verbal wrangling, Jamaican billionaire businessman Michael Lee Chin and St Joseph Member of Parliament Gerald Yetming have buried the hatchet. Lee Chin and his company, AIC Ltd, said yesterday they had considered and accepted Yetming's statement in Parliament on January 16 when he stated he never said Lee Chin or AIC had paid a bribe or committed any other illegal or improper act.

Jamaican business tycoon Michael Lee Chin filed civil lawsuits in Ontario, Canada, and in Jamaica, yesterday, against UNC MP Gerald Yetming. Both Lee Chin and Canadian-based company AIC, of which the billionaire businessman is chairman and majority shareholder, are seeking damages arising from defamatory statements made by Yetming at last Friday’s sitting of Parliament.

The Manning/PNM administration has become increasingly divided on how to deal with the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen and other splinter factions, with at least five ministers objecting to what they say is the Government's "pandering to the will of dangerous groups".

A radio talk show host testified yesterday at the preliminary inquiry into charges against Jamaat-al Muslimeen leader Yasin Abu Bakr. Bakr reappeared in the Port-of-Spain Eighth Magistrate’s Court before Chief Magistrate Sherman McNicolls charged with conspiring to murder Salim Rasheed and Zaki Aubaidah.

A diplomatic row is brewing between Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica, whose envoy has accused Opposition MP Gerald Yetming of bringing that country’s financial sector into disrepute. Yetming had claimed that Jamaican billionaire Michael Lee Chin had paid a Trinidad and Tobago Government Minister for a slice of State-owned First Citizens Bank.