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It was the first in a long line of major scandals attributed to the government of Prime Minister Said Musa, but events in the Supreme Court today suggest that justice will be a long time coming in the case of the forgery and sale of Belizean passports. More

The Office of the Prime Minister confirms that the Comptroller of Customs has full authority under Customs law to prosecute cases relating to contraband activities and that there has been no official interference in a pending case involving one Eulalio Menences of Orange Walk Town who has been accused of illegal importation of a quantity of beer.The Comptroller of Customs has also stated categorically that no instructions were given nor received to provide immunity from prosecution for the individual involved. More

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Owen Arthur, the Prime Minister of Barbados and leader of the Caribbean Community said the region desperately needs more integration in order for the Caribbean Community’s (CARICOM) Single Market (CSM) to be a success.
The CARICOM Single Market was officially launched at an event on Monday at the University of West Indies in Jamaica in the presence of the island’s prime minister, P J Patterson.
Arthur emphasised that in order for the single market to succeed in making all 15 CARICOM nations, “the stark reality is that such a regional economy would still be the smallest and most vulnerable economic bloc in the globalised world.”
He added: “Ours is therefore the region in today’s world where integration is most sorely needed as the indispensable foundation on which to rest national and regional endeavours in pursuit if equitable and sustainable development.”
With the Caribbean having tried all other methods to ensure thriving economies, such as “self-determination and national independence” prime minister Arthur said during his speech: “It is time to now give Caribbean unity a chance.” More

European Union officials backed plans to allocate banana imports from former colonies, fueling a dispute with Latin American growers who have successfully challenged the quotas.Experts from the EU's 25 governments voted in favor of a plan that would give African, Caribbean and Pacific nations such as Cameroon and Belize a duty-free ceiling of 615,000 metric tons of bananas for 10 months starting March 1. Of the total, 468,150 tons will be awarded on a ``first-come, first-served'' basis and the remainder doled out based on last year's licenses. More

Mexico has launched an ambitious plan to drastically cut fuel emissions and improve air quality, the environment secretary said Tuesday. Jose Luis Luege Tamargo told a news conference his department has signed an agreement with the environment and finance departments to reduce sulfur emissions by 50 percent before 2020. The restrictions on sulfur emissions and small particles will go into effect in July and will be gradually expanded each year until 2009, Luege said. He said that the limits are among "the strictest in the world." More

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