Sports: World record holder Deandra Dottin and the highly-rated Stafanie Taylor were among six women players awarded retainer contracts by the West Indies Cricket Board. Comment.

Sports: “We’ve done it in spurts. One week it’s the special teams; one week it’s the offense; and one week it’s the defense.” Comment.

Health: A spirited discussion on cancer pain relief, breast cancer, unraveling confusion and exposing health care disparities were among the topics of a two-dayconference in Manhattan on health disparities in minority and medical underserved communities. Comment.

Caribbean: “This was a very bad year” Josette Perard said, speaking to Caribbean Life in the Port au Prince office of the Lambi Fund. “The earthquake, hurricane, cholera and now the election”. Comment.

New York: By Donna Lamb Comment.

National: With fresh data showing that students in the United States are falling further behind their international peers, a commitment to universal parental choice at all levels of government is needed now more than ever. Comment.

New York: Gov. David Paterson on Christmas Eve granted pardons to 24 immigrants who were subjected to deportation because of prior criminal convictions. Comment.

Sports: Since 1996 when Japanese teams first competed in the annual Double Dutch Holiday Classic at the Apollo Theater, a Japanese team has won the “Best In The Show” award, every year except 2001, when Japanese teams did not compete because of 9/11 and 2004, when Brooklyn based, Jumpers in Command, beat the Japanese teams for the first and only time. Comments (1).

New York: The evening of Dec. 9, The Greater N.Y. Chamber of Commerce hosted the political event of the decade. This event was none other than their Holiday Gala, which honored New York State’s Governor David Patterson and New York’s First Lady Michelle Patterson. Comment.

Caribbean: Former government minister Dr. Faith Harding has entered the crowded field of candidates in the Guyana presidential race, vying for the opposition People’s National Congress/Reform (PNC/R)nomination for the 2011 election. Comment.

Caribbean: Jamaican private- and public-sector security officials are quietly celebrating a reduction in murders, fatal shootings and other forms of serious crimes as they make a direct link between the dismantling of some entrenched gangs and the mid-year extradition of notorious gang leader Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke to the U.S. to face narcotics trafficking and related charges. Comment.

National: KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — A newly revealed U.S. cable portrays American diplomats in the Caribbean as being so concerned about bribery and money-laundering rumors related to Texas financier R. Allen Stanford that they warned embassy officers to steer clear of him as early as 2006. Comment.

Viewpoints: There was mention in the news the other day of the government’s ramping up of its focus and commitment of resources on homegrown terror. Episodes like the infamous “shoe bomber,” the failed bombing caper earlier this year intended to cause mayhem in Times Square and other close calls have apparently been enough of a red flag for the authorities to have the terror watch on the home front subjected to comparable vigilance akin to what’s been invested in the search for bin Laden and his ilk. Comment.

Caribbean: A special commission has been set up to review the results of Haiti’s presidential election, which have sparked protest, leaving five people dead and several others injured. Comment.

New York: Haitian community leaders, union and New York elected officials gathered in Manhattan outside of the Hudson St. studios of popular urban hip-hop radio HOT 97 to voice outrage at the prejudice-filled remarks by Morning Show personality Cipha Sounds (Luis Diaz). His crude one-liner, a seeming throwback to decades past, specifically targeted and disparaged Haitian women. Comment.

New York: The Int’l African Arts Festival, Sun Productions, Roots Revisited & Central Brooklyn Jazz Consortium present Kwanzaa Reunion Concert with Doug & Jean Carn & Mamadou Dahoue & The Ancestral Messengers, 7:00 p.m. - Midnight at Boys & Girls High School, 1700 Fulton St., Brooklyn. Tickets: $25/advance; $30/door. For ticket information, contact CBJC at (718) 7783-2252. Comment.

National: The national conversation on our fiscal health for the past few months has been about whether to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for households with incomes over $250,000, or to allow them to expire on Dec. 31. To my amazement, lost in all this controversy and discussion has been any mention of what this would really mean for high-income people in the context of historical tax rates. Comment.

Vincentian community activist James Cordice is the first recipient of the Charles Gordon Henry Award for community work issued by a Pennsylvania-based Barbadian group. Comment.

Movies: Another Year (PG-13 for profanity) Six-time Oscar-nominee Mike Leigh wrote and directed this British sit-dram revolving around four seasons in the life of a happily-married, middle-aged couple (Jim Broadbent and Ruth Sheen) who find themselves surrounded by relatively-morose friends, relatives and colleagues in emotional crisis. With Lesley Manville, Oliver Maltman and Peter Wight. Comment.

Health: Every seven minutes, someone in America will become blind or visually impaired. The Jewish Guild for the Blind, one of the nation’s foremost not-for-profit health care agencies, is encouraging New Yorkers to make a New Year’s resolution to get their eyes checked. Comment.

Food: one of the few developed nations that managed to keep its commitment to help Haiti, as it both publicly pledged and delivered $24M in aid to Haiti and an additional $1M to help the health officials battle the deadly cholera outbreak. That outbreak has come on top of efforts to rebuild the capital and other districts in the aftermath of the quake that claimed more than 300,000 lives and left more than a million homeless. Comment.

Visitors to Jamaica will have another choice of airlines this winter when AirTran starts seasonal service to Jamaica’s second city. Service for the winter season departs from the Thurgood Marshall Baltimore/Washington International (BWI) airport, beginning February 26, 2011. Comment.

Viewpoints: The bitter winter afflicting much of the Northern Hemisphere is only the start of a global trend towards cooler weather that is likely to last for 20 or 30 years, say some of the world’s most eminent climate scientists. Comment.

National: You’ve heard the horror stories: pat-downs that err on the side of groping, body scanners that allow another to see you — all of you, even of children and babies being searched and scanned. Comment.

Music & Fashion: Soul legend Aretha Franklin was released from hospital and sent home to recuperate. Comment.

New York: Thousands of youth in more than 40 nations were joined by the New York Chapter of Youth for Human Rights on December 9 and 10, in educational talks about the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights and airing three films which show the vital promise of educational efforts in bringing about real human rights reform. Comment.

Sometimes people feel as though they are bursting with urine but when they go to the toilet, nothing comes out. Others have the opposite experience in that they have absolutely no urge to urinate but it keeps on coming and they have no control to stop it. Finally there are those who get the urge and urinate at frequent intervals. Comment.

New York: Metro-Manhattan Links, Inc., Alpha Gamma Lambda Chapter, and the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. held their Annual Young Achievers Christmas Dinner at the Alma Rangel Senior Citizen Home in Harlem for the Young Achievers Class of 2010 on Dec. 16. Comment.

Caribbean: St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ Prime Minister, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, was sworn in last Wednesday for a third consecutive, five-year term in office after the incumbent United Labor Party (ULP) won the Dec. 13 general elections by a squeaker. Comment.

Sports: West Indies middle-order batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul is set to surpass Desmond Haynes as the region’s second-highest run scorer in One-Day Internationals when the Windies meet Sri Lanka next month in the ODIs. Comment.

Sports: The West Indies Cricket Board annual Regional Twenty20 Championship begins Jan. 10, 2011. Comment.

Sports: Red Bull Arena and the New Meadowlands Stadium, both in nearby New Jersey, will host games during the 20th playing of the biennial CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament next summer, June 5-25. Comment.

Sports: Long Island University’s Samuel Egadu in the 60-meter dash, Nicholei Mahlung in the 200-meter dash and Julius Mutekanga in the 1000-meter run turned in winning track performances in the Fordham Christmas Classic at the college’s Lombardi Center Field House in The Bronx. Comment.

Sports: More than 11,000 girls and young women competed last weekend in the first preliminary meet of the Colgate Women’s Games, the unofficial opening of the indoor track season. Comment.

New York: On Saturday, Dec. 11, 3,000 children from low-income housing and shelters throughout Brooklyn received toys and books at the borough president’s Best of Brooklyn Annual Holiday Spectacular. Comment.

Viewpoints: Republicans, it should by now be generally known, possess hubris in spades. So to hold the common man and his well being over a barrel in their steely determination to look out for the fat cats among us – all the while acting like this bit of dumping on the less privileged was all patently innocuous – is par for the GOP course. At its core the party has the wherewithal to do it to you without batting an eye. The attitude being: “You may be convinced this is bad medicine but take it; we say it’s great.” Comment.

Caribbean: Several strikes this year including one last month that crippled production entirely have pushed the Caribbean Community’s largest sugar producer into threatening to derecognize a representative union in much the same way a Russian miner did in the bauxite sector a year ago following a bitter row over pay and working conditions. Comment.

Caribbean: The man who revolutionized Christmas lighting in St. Vincent and the Grenadines has died after a short illness. Comment.

Music & Fashion: Since 2005 when the entire Marley family rallied in Meskel Square, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to celebrate the 60th birthday anniversary of reggae king Bob Marley, an annual celebration in his honor has taken thousands from Africa to Jamaica in order to recapture the “Africa Unite” theme of the premiere event. Comment.

Caribbean: The Economic Commission for Latin American and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has warned that climate change could cause losses of about 1 percent of the annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for regional countries between 2010 and 2100. Comment.

Caribbean: Human rights activists are pleased with the decision by Cuba’s Supreme Court to commute to 30 years in prison the death sentences of two Salvadoran men convicted of terrorism. But dissidents continue to call for complete abolition of the death penalty. Comment.

Music & Fashion: Tropical Paradise Ballroom continues its tradition of stylish entertainment packaging for New Year’s Eve with veteran soca stars Baron and Sugar Aloes as the headliners in a gala celebration. Lambert & the Matadors Orchestra will be in the entertainment lineup as well. Comment.

Music & Fashion: The four-day event occupied the venue, Playa del Carmen and brought together some of the most important jazz musicians. An estimated crowd of 35,000 people attended the event. Comment.

Arts & Theater: It’s a rare treat when one finds oneself in the presence of five first ladies of dance whose collective energy wove a spiritual thread throughout the afternoon. Comments (1).

New York: The Brooklyn Children’s Museum, 145 Brooklyn Ave., presents W.O.R.D. Up! Words of Real Distinction reading series featuring author George William Kelly & his new children’s picture book, Santa Christina & Her Sled Dogs, 2:00 p.m. Comment.

Caribbean: WASHINGTON, DC - One of the Caribbean’s most respected sons has been singled out by a leading American university as one of its most accomplished graduates. Comment.

Movies: Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) is a dancer with a leading New York City ballet troupe preparing to stage a production of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. Although previously only a member of the chorus, she’s recently been informed by her director, Thomas (Vincent Cassel), that he might like to feature her as the face of the company during the upcoming season. Comment.

Movies: Country Strong (PG-13 for sexuality and mature themes) Relationship drama about a fading country music star (Gwyneth Paltrow) whose marriage ends up in trouble when she goes on tour with an up-and-coming singer/songwriter (Garrett Hedlund) accompanied by her husband (McGraw) and a beauty queen (Leighton Meester) just breaking into the business. Comment.

New York: Housing activists dressed as bagels chained themselves together and blocked traffic at Grand Army Plaza on World AIDS Day not far from the Brooklyn Library “Bagel Breakfast” held by NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg for World AIDS Day. Comment.

Music & Fashion: Charming Chelsey Herrera of Brooklyn, recently captured the Miss Panama U.S. Teen 2011 title from a bevy of teens at the annual Upscale Productions beauty pageant. Comment.

Business: I am using the ATM a lot more during this holiday season, do you have any tips to prevent fraud? Comment.

Health: The Visiting Nurse Service of New York (VNSNY), Community Connections TimeBank and the Lutheran Family Health Centers (LFHC) on Dec. 1 announced the launch of the first TimeBank satellite partnership. Comment.

Health: Many men, for whom TherMatrx microwave thermotherapy treatment has been suggested to relieve the annoying symptoms caused by their benign prostate enlargement, want to know whether or not such treatment, once done, would make them unable to have any other treatment, or use any drug, or undergo any surgery in the future. The answer is absolutely not. Comment.

Sports: Reigning cricket champions Guyana and Jamaica will clash in the feature encounter on the opening day Jan. 10 at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Grounds in Antigua. Comment.

Caribbean: This year’s budget has had no influence whatsoever from the International Monetary Fund and its measures are aimed at creating for Barbados a bigger, better, stronger and more competitively structured economy. Comment.

Caribbean: Governor of the St. Kitts-based Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) Sir K. Dwight Venner has warned Caribbean countries that crime is having a negative impact on their economies. Comment.

Movies: Jack Abramoff (Kevin Spacey) was a veteran Washington, DC lobbyist whose outrageous exploits made even members of his own shady profession blush. In the nineties, the services of the shameless attorney, along with those of his equally-unscrupulous business partner, Michael Scanlon (Barry Pepper), were retained by seven different Native American tribes interested in opening gambling casinos on their reservations. Comment.

Caribbean: Bharrat Jagdeo walked away from United Nations Climate Change abatement talks in Cancun, Mexico in the past week without a red cent of the $250M Norway promised his administration for preserving its standing Amazonian rainforest. However, opposition pundits say he is being punished for taking the same culture of financial unaccountability he practices at home to the international stage where it simply won’t work. Comment.

Caribbean: Caribbean leaders, through retiring Secretary General Edwin Carrington, have again called for Britain to abandon direct rule in the Turks and Caicos Islands, saying its continued insistence on administering the daily affairs of its colony runs counter to the rules of good governance. Comment.

Sports: The Trinidad and Tobago men’s under-20 team won the first leg of a home-and-away CONCACAF qualifying series when it defeated hosts Suriname, 2-1, last Friday. Comment.

Caribbean: Caribbean leaders are to consider the names of several prominent professionals, several of them ambassadors from the region, to replace Edwin Carrington who is due to retire at the end of December as secretary general after 18 years, officials said Monday. Comment.

Caribbean: Caribbean leaders are to consider the names of several prominent professionals, several of them ambassadors from the region, to replace Edwin Carrington who is due to retire at the end of December as secretary general after 18 years, officials said Monday. Comment.

New York: Monroe College President Stephen Jerome and other dignitaries cut the ribbon on the Human Patient Simulation Center that will put the college’s School of Nursing at the cutting edge of nursing training on Tuesday, Dec. 7. Comment.

Health: Flu shots have rarely been so easy to find in New York City. This year’s influenza vaccine effectively targets this year’s virus, and it’s widely available through pharmacies, clinics and doctors’ offices. Yet as of Nov. 7, only 27 percent of New Yorkers had been vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Comment.

New York: “Parenting is not an easy job and parents need all the help they can get. A scout leader emerged some years ago. Her hands have not stopped helping yet,” first stanza of poem to Adele Trapp by Ruth Andrea Hurd Foreman, 1998. Comment.

Music & Fashion: Tropical Paradise Ballroom will be opening its doors on Christmas Eve, Friday evening Dec. 24, for a complimentary Parang Party and Yule celebration. Comment.

Sports: The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) announced recently that Dominica’s Windsor Park will debut as the World’s newest Test venue in July 2011, when it hosts the final in a series between West Indies and India. Comment.

Sports: West Indies opening batsman Chris Gayle, who scored 333 against Sri Lanka in the first Test recently and moved into the Top 10 of the ICC Batting Rankings, has dropped out of the top 10 rankings following scores of 30 and 3 in the second Test match in Colombo recently. Comment.

New York: Holiday Open House NYS Senate President Pro Tempore Malcom A. Smith is holding a holiday open house, 4:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. at his District Office, 205-19 Linden Blvd., St. Albans, Queens. RSVP: (718) 528-4290. Comment.

Viewpoints: Like it or not, this instant-celebrity syndrome doesn’t figure to go away anytime soon. Grandly aided and abetted, as the phenomenon is, by the titanic power of the Internet, we should all by now be resigned to the idea that characters will continue to pop up who, despite the absence of any recognizable bona fides for so-called celebrity status, suddenly seem endowed with what it takes to assault our consciousness every which way. Comment.

Music & Fashion: National Action Network’s Educational Committee promises to spread Christmas joy this season with a concert at the Williams Institutional CME Church in Harlem. Comment.

Movies: And Soon the Darkness (R for violence and torture) Remake of the 1970 thriller about a couple of young Americans (Amber Heard and Odette Yustman) whose exotic vacation in a remote region of Argentina turns nightmarish when one of them becomes the latest victim in a string of kidnappings targeting female tourists. With Karl Urban, Adriana Barraza and Gia Mantegna. Comment.

Harlem-based fashion designer Indashio is creative in his thinking, in his design concept and in the excitement that he brings to the runway. His inspiration comes from his youthful sense of style and the way he interprets how sexy a woman could look in his garment. Comment.

Health: With all the hustle and bustle of the holidays, it’s easy to let little things slip through the cracks. You forget to blow out a candle before heading to the Christmas pageant. You overload an outlet with too many holiday lights. You forget you just took that hot pan out of the oven and you end up with a nasty burn. Use these tips from the Federal Citizen Information Center to help you avoid some of the most common holiday accidents, so you’ll have a safe and fun holiday season. Comment.

Health: With all the hustle and bustle of the holidays, it’s easy to let little things slip through the cracks. You forget to blow out a candle before heading to the Christmas pageant. You overload an outlet with too many holiday lights. You forget you just took that hot pan out of the oven and you end up with a nasty burn. Use these tips from the Federal Citizen Information Center to help you avoid some of the most common holiday accidents, so you’ll have a safe and fun holiday season. Comment.

Haiti Cultural Exchange held it’s roving cultural salon Ann Pale (Let’s Speak) at Bubble Lounge in Manhattan, the same day as the anniversary of the Revolutionary Battle of Vertières, Nov. 18. Comment.

The Bahamas still has the highest HIV adult prevalence rate in the Caribbean, a region that has the highest HIV prevalence rate in the world outside of sub-Saharan Africa, according to the UNAIDS 2010 Global report. Comment.

Business: Thinking about starting a business? Well before you do it, ensure you have a conversation with your family and explain to them what you’re looking to do. This is especially important if a spouse or other family member is going to provide financial support while you work to get the business up and running. Comment.

Health: Watching television these days, you can’t help but be exposed to a variety of advertisements about the wonderful effects of using one drug or another. After hearing the announcer tell all the good things about the particular drug being advertised in a clear and easily understood voice, the voiceover changes to a rapid but not alarming tone, softly but accurately listing all the FDA warnings about what might go wrong as a result of using the drug. Comment.

Caribbean: SAN DIEGO, California, Dec. 7, 2010 -- Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Uruguay and even Brazil are close to being able to provide a universal basic income to all citizens, which is the way to make cash transfers an effective tool in fighting inequality, according to MartÃn Hopenhayn. Comment.

National: NEW YORK, Nov. 30, 2010 - While the U.S. Congress idles on the passage of the DREAM Act, immigrants here face ever harsher treatment. The rate of deportations has increased by 1,200 percent since 1990, from 30,000 per year then to a staggering 360,000 under the Barack Obama administration. Comment.

Caribbean: The North American relatives of a Barbadian businessman are offering a Bds $50,000 reward for evidence that will lead to the conviction in Barbados of the attackers, who severely beat George Clarke, robbed him, and left him close to death in a pig pen in St. Phillip in February. Comment.

New York: Gov. David Paterson on Dec. 6 pardoned four Caribbeans, among six, immigrants who faced deportation because of old criminal convictions. Comments (2).

Viewpoints: It is said that when one has a foot on a neck holding another down in a ditch, he/she’s also in that ditch. Comment.

National: In a new report, the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) paints a misleading financial portrait of the DREAM Act. The report, entitled Estimating the Impact of the DREAM Act, claims that the bill would be a burden on U.S. taxpayers and would “crowd out” native-born students in the classroom. However, the available evidence does not support either of these dire predictions. In fact. Comment.

Caribbean: Hundreds of Haitian protesters, including some presidential candidates, took to the streets of Port-au-Prince, the capital, on Sunday demanding the annulment of the recent presidential and legislative council elections. Comment.

Caribbean: The incumbent Unity Labour Party (ULP) of Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves and the main opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) of Arnhim Eustace have both nominated candidates to contest all 15 seats in the Dec. 13 general elections in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Comment.

Sports: Almost an entire new coaching staff made their debut at Bishop Ford High School, a member of the Catholic High Schools Athletic Association. Comment.

Sports: West Indies selectors replaced four players on tour for the One-Day Internationals and the One-Day International to be played against Sri Lanka starting Dec. 9. Comment.

Caribbean: Caribbean diplomats say the region faces “the end of history” if rich countries do not raise their ambition to hold temperatures well below two degrees Celcius. Comment.

Caribbean: Caribbean trade ministers have drawn up a list of 42 items the region will allow earthquake-ravaged Haiti to export to neighbors for the next three years without having to open its market in return officials have said. Comment.

Sports: Jamaican National Team Head Coach Theodore Whitmore is surely proving that Caribbean coaches can accomplish success on the international stage. The former Jamaican midfielder led the Reggae Boyz to victory in the 2010 Digicel Caribbean Cup championship to a 5-4 penalty kicks shout-out win over a very well organized and skillful Guadeloupe team last Sunday in Martinique. Comment.

Caribbean: The grouping of mostly small-island and low-lying coastal nations that make up the Caribbean trade bloc Monday said last weekend that they plan to hold developed nations to agreed temperature and emission targets at world climate talks in Mexico this week, contending that any significant diversion from these could spell doom for the region. Comment.

Sports: Competitive bodybuilder Hugh Ross, a native of Guyana, has claimed the Mr. Universe title in the Masters Over-50 Division. Comment.

Books: Ten years in the making, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” a beautiful but harrowing work of non-fiction, by Rebecca Skloot, has won the second Wellcome Trust Book Prize. Comment.

Caribbean: A powerful United States senator has warned that political uncertainty looming over earthquake-ravaged Haiti could cost the French-speaking Caribbean nation billions of dollars in reconstruction dollars if left unresolved. Comment.

Music & Fashion: Last week, the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards went into effect with a television showcase on primetime television announcement of the finalists selected in various genres of the 108 categories of music. Comment.

New York: The Queens Sickle Cell Advocacy Network Inc (QSCAN) will hold its 10th Annual Scholarship and Awards Banquet on Sunday Dec. 12 from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at Antun’s of Queens Village, 96-43 Springfield Boulevard, N.Y. Comment.

New York: Neighborhood Housing Services of East Flatbush is sponsoring a home buying seminar covering closing cost assistance, mortage affordability, grants, & more, 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. at Citibank, 702 Utica Ave., between Leonox Rd. & Clarkson Ave. To reserve space, call (718) 469-4679. Comment.

Viewpoints: Immediately after the recent midterm elections, David Letterman came up with perhaps the most succinct and apt analysis of where the country stood and what our prospects were down the road. “Democrats and Republicans will have to work together,” he said. “We’re screwed!” Comment.

Books: Proud men, women and children yearning for a colorful, testament aimed at toasting natural and twisted, kinky hair will cheer the publication of a new book entitled “I Love Locks.” Comments (1).

Arts & Theater: Black Spectrum Theatre is celebrating 40 glorious years of creating, presenting and preserving the African American Legacy in theater and film. Comment.

New York: For many Caribbean New Yorkers, Saturdays aren’t Saturdays if their radios are tuned to “The Godfather.” Comment.

Music & Fashion: An all-Bronx production of Handel’s “Messiah,” followed by A Taste Of The Bronx Food Show And Tastings, featuring free food sampling by leading Bronx restaurants will be held on Sunday, Dec. 12 at 3:00 p.m. at Lehman Center for the Performing Arts’ Concert Hall, 250 Bedford Park Blvd. West on the campus of Lehman College in the Bronx. Comment.

Sports: The West Indies Cricket Board has pledged to become more efficient, which is the aim of the new administration. Comment.

New York: A Wage Theft Prevention Act -- comprehensive legislation that will increase penalties and tighten enforcement of the New York laws protecting workers from wage theft was passed in he State Assembly and forarded to Gov. David Paterson for his signature. Comment.

Caribbean: The Barbados government has raised Value Added Tax (VAT) from 15 percent to 17.2 percent, which will bring about Bds$124 million in revenue. Comment.

Caribbean: An aviation dispute is looming between St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines over threats by St. Lucia to debar two Vincentian carriers from landing on the island if authorities in Kingstown continue to deny St. Lucia registered CARICOM Airways permission to fly to St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Comment.

Caribbean: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has commended Guyana’s economy for exhibiting resilience and registering a fifth consecutive year of robust growth “despite external and domestic shock in 2010.” Comment.

National: Washington, D.C. – Approximately 1,000 Haitian orphans who left the earthquake-ravaged country for the United States before all of their administrative steps were finalized are now facing legal limbo and fewer legal protections. U.S. senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), and Mary Landrieu (D-LA) last week announced final passage of legislation to clear the way for these adopted Haitian orphans who were granted humanitarian parole to the U.S. to become citizens. Comment.

Caribbean: In the midst of the most desperate humanitarian crisis in our hemisphere, Haiti’s authorities chose to hold an election characterized by fraud and marked by the disenfranchisement of Haitian voters instead of focusing on fighting cholera and addressing the horrific conditions of one and half million homeless earthquake survivors. Comment.

National: I’m calling for help for our homeless veterans. Firstly, please allow me to salute every American service man and woman presently in combat, veteran and their allies. It is my distinct honor and privilege to publicly say thank you for your love and courage, and thank God for you all. Comment.

National: Collie Oudkerk and Wayne Sampson knew what to expect when they decided to volunteer for a medical mission 10 years ago in the deprived areas of Guyana. Comment.

Health: Men know that changes in the way they urinate are often related to prostate enlargement. Comment.

Health: The onset of winter-like weather requires a resetting of the preparedness refresh button for millions of elderly Americans and those with physical, medical, sensory or cognitive disabilities. Extreme cold and harsh winter storms can dramatically increase the daily hardships and day to day survival challenges for this population. Comment.

Health: A new study has shown that a once-a-day pill can protect against contracting HIV. The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, is being hailed as a breakthrough proving that HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis or “PrEP,” works. PrEP could now become a significant new HIV prevention tool against the HIV pandemic. Comment.

Caribbean: PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haitians entered election day hoping for the best. Within hours, ballot boxes were ripped to pieces, protesters were on the streets and nearly every presidential hopeful was united against the government. Comment.

National: WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress resumed its lame-duck session work Monday with the two parties sharply divided over how to deal with the George W. Bush-era tax cuts due to expire at year’s end. Comment.

New York: “Dead Wrong: How Psychiatric Drugs Can Kill Your Child,” is the latest in a series of award-winning documentaries from the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR, at www.cchr.org), a watchdog group founded by the Church of Scientology. Comment.

Caribbean: Haiti’s elections, which were fraught with widespread irregularities and the arbitrary exclusion of political parties, should be rejected by the international community, Mark Weisbrot, Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research said today. Comment.

Caribbean: Guyanese police this week said they have arrested the prime suspect in a mid-2009 fire that flattened the health ministry and are blaming the same group for fire bomb attempts on several other state buildings, including a police stations and a school. Comment.

New York: Norman Henry (1935- 2010), the charming and beloved Guyanese-American entrepreneur, author, real estate developer and founder of the famed Henry House Catering and Banquet Hall in Brooklyn, died peacefully in his sleep at 6:00 a.m. at his Brooklyn residence from heart failure on Sunday, Nov. 21, 2010. He was 75. Comment.

New York: The Church of the Good Shepherd, located in the Wakefield section of the Bronx, recently celebrated its centennial anniversary with an ecumenical service and anniversary dinner dance. Comment.

Sports: These test matches are very testing for the West Indies playing on foreign soil, but the confidence level of the players were boosted by some excellent batting by some of the West Indies batsmen leading with the experienced Chris Gayle who slammed a record-breaking 333 runs. Comment.

Sports: Look what’s coming to the metropolitan New York-New Jersey area! It’s a team that plays for fun and enjoyment. They are not so serious about the game during which time they emphasize fancy playing thus making the spectators want to see more of such action. This is what one calls entertainment, especially for the kids and youngsters. Comment.

Sports: Russell Latapy, Trinidad and Tobago’s senior men’s national team coach, probably forgot the old saying, ‘never count your chickens before they’re hatched.’ Comment.

Caribbean: Grenada’s Prime Minister Tillman Thomas says his decision to re-shuffle his Cabinet should not be viewed as “an exercise in dictatorship or arbitrariness.” Comment.

New York: The Carter Burden Center for the Aging presents Works on Walls II, a group mixed media show featuring the work of 20 New York based older artists including photos, paintings & sculpture, thru Dec. 30, Tues. - Sat., 11:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. at Gallery 307, 307 Seventh Ave., Ste. 1401, N.Y. For information, call (646) 400-5254. Comment.

Sports: FORT DE FRANCE, Martinique — Digicel, sponsor of Caribbean Football, on Monday announced the launch of the “Digicel Player of the Tournament Award” in the Digicel Caribbean Cup 2010. Comment.

Sports: Medgar Evers College freshman Nicholas Parbhudial has been selected as a qualifying player by the Guyana Football Federation for its Under-20 FIFA Soccer League - the soccer world championship for male players under the age of 20. Comment.

Caribbean: Nov. 19 was, clearly, a special day in the lives of all Vincentians, at home and in the Diaspora, particularly for nationals residing in Philadelphia. Comment.

New York: Monroe College and Per Scholas, two Bronx institutions that have made their reputations in supporting the educational, developmental, and technical needs of the borough have signed an agreement that will enhance opportunities in education and, ultimately, careers. Comment.

Caribbean: The Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) has paid out a total of $12.8 million to the governments of Barbados, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines following the passage of Tropical Storm Tomas, which passed through the islands recently. Comment.

New York: The role of women have been changing for some time in our society, with many leading in various fields, and Maxine Dinnall believes that with proper guidance and direction every young woman has the potential to become a leader in any area that she chooses. That is one reason why she has taken the role of service unit manager for Eastern Queens 4/Ocean, Girl Scouts, among other community projects for which she volunteers. Comment.

Caribbean: PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad — The Caribbean region has an unprecedented opportunity to become a net producer of technology services and solutions, not just a technology consumer. Comment.

New York: The All Stars Project held its 16th Annual Phyllis Hyman Phat Friends and Young Leaders for Change Awards on Monday, Nov. 15, hosted by MetLife. Comment.

Lehman Center for the Performing Arts presents the return, by popular demand, of multi-Grammy award-winning singer, guitarist and composer Jose Feliciano for two holiday concerts on Saturday, Dec. 4. Comment.

Negro Ensemble Company, America’s legendary Black theater company, presents its production of “With Aaron’s Arms Around Me and The Mire,” an evening of two one-acts by Sophia Romma, a Russian-American playwright, both on the theme of intolerance. Comment.

Sports: Antigua and Barbuda and Barbados have won the bid to host the Caribbean Twenty20 Championship in January. Comment.

National: Hundreds of community members joined Rep. Nydia Velazquez, chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), and Rep. Luis Gutierrez, chair of the CHC’s immigration task force at a rousing rally in Brooklyn on Nov. 21, to ramp up momentum for the imminent vote on the DREAM Act during the lame duck session. Comment.

Movies: All Good Things (R for drug use, violence, profanity and some sexuality) NYC crime saga, set in the eighties, about the real-life case of the son (Ryan Gosling) of a real estate tycoon (Frank Langella) who falls in love with and marries a tenant (Kirsten Dunst) over his father’s objections only to have his wife subsequently disappear under mysterious circumstances. Support cast includes Philip Baker Hall and SNL’s Kristen Wiig. Comment.

Books: ‘Good heavens but these crooks are using an awful lot of time and firepower to go after this one little person,’ the reviewer thought about half-way through Kirk .A. Inniss’ remarkable crime novel, “Black Butterflies.” Comment.

Caribbean: BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Nov. 22, 2010 - When Caribbean leaders gather for their annual summit in July 2011, they expect to finally have a draft information and communication technology (ICT) for development strategy that technocrats have been putting together over the past three years. Comment.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ U.N. Ambassador, Camillo Gonsalves, says he is honored to be appointed co-chair of a working group on the revitalization of the United Nations General Assembly. Comment.

Movies: It stands to reason that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be the next-to-last offering in what is already the most lucrative film franchise in history, unless author J.K. Rowling succumbs to fan pressure to extend her best-selling series of children’s novels. Comment.

Caribbean: The Bahamas Customs Department is increasing measures for the upcoming festive season in an effort to maximize its return on customs revenue over the next two months – a period where hundreds of thousands of dollars are lost. Comment.

Caribbean: Two of Jamaica’s international landing ports are named in tribute to politicians who served the country after the nation attained independence in 1962. Comments (1).

National: An editorial in one of the city’s dailies, commenting on the House ethics committee’s vote to censure Congressman Charlie Rangel, made this point: “We suppose that future violators are not likely to be so obviously self-defeating. They will be more cunning.” Which cues us to wonder whether an inability to be “cunning” is basically why the congressman stands today in some rather awkward shoes. Comment.

Arts & Theater: It was a spirit-filled night on Nov. 15 at the 38th Annual Vivian Robinson/AUDELCO Recognition Awards for Excellence in Black Theatre as Yvette Hyligers’ “What Would Jesus Do?” swept the awards with seven wins and Reverend Dr. Johnny Ray Youngblood formerly of St. Paul’s Church was honored with a Special Achievement Award. His “Maafa Suite” was performed by a cast of more than 20 performers. Comment.

Arts & Theater: Color Blind Music Ministries’ fifth annual Merry Christmas, New York City concert, takes place on Saturday, Dec. 11 at 2:00 p.m. at the Alice Tully Hall Starr Theatre at Lincoln Center. Comment.

Health: Millions of people worldwide, both men and women suffer from overactive bladder and do not seek medical help because they are unaware that they have a treatable condition. Comment.