Haiti: The head of the United Nations peacekeeping force in Haiti on Dec. 27 sent his condolences to the country’s president and families of the 38 people who died at sea after their boat sank off Cuba’s eastern coast last week. Comment.

Cuba: The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has vehemently rejected complaints of political favoritism in its grant of US$3.4 million to a human rights group closely linked to a Miami-based nonprofit organization. Comment.

Haiti: Marriott International recently announced it will open its first hotel in Haiti in 2014, a move that will create more jobs and tourism opportunities to Port-au-Prince. Comments (1).

St Vincent: St. Vincent and the Grenadines has reminded rich countries to honor their pledges of development assistance to poorer nations, especially in the wake of the global economic crisis. Comment.

Trinidad and Tobago: Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has apologized to Cuban President Raul Castro who was not allowed to stay at the Hilton Trinidad for the one-day CARICOM-Cuba Summit recently. Comment.

Belize: I was born and raised in Dangriga Town 56 years ago on Sawai Street and grew up with Punta Rock Stars, Muhubub and Miamie in the heart and central part of the town. Comment.

St Vincent: In the wake of what has been described as heightened fraudulent claims for asylum in Canada by Vincentians and other Caribbean nationals, the Canadian government says that it intends to revoke the citizenship of at least 1,800 immigrants who allegedly used fraudulent means to become Canadians. Comment.

Cuba: HAVANA (AP) — Cuban banks have begun offering bank credits to people hoping to redo their home or invest in a private business, continuing a series of free market reforms pushed by President Raul Castro. Comment.

Haiti: PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haiti has seen a steady decline in the number of cholera cases as the Caribbean nation settles into its dry season, humanitarian groups said Tuesday. Comment.

Guyana: In a sign that the new Donald Ramotar administration is not waiting on the combined opposition to force it to act on key issues, authorities are moving to take action against three high ranking officials involved in separate police incidents in recent weeks including an attempt by a presidential adviser to kill an opposition supporter by running her down with a state vehicle. Comment.

Guyana: A 34-year-old woman has made some explosive allegations against Police Chief Henry Greene, forcing him to step aside this week while authorities prepare to call in investigators from Jamaica to determine whether the claims made by the woman have credence. Comment.

St Vincent: St. Vincent and the Grenadines U.N. envoy, Ambassador Camillo Gonsalves, says most educated Caribbean migrants are not giving back enough in remittances to the region. Comment.

Guyana: Cheryl Ainsworth-Martin came from an education dynasty that started in Victoria Village – a small community on the East Coast of Demerara, Guyana. Her parents who were both principals instilled in their nine children the momentousness of education, and the satisfaction it would bring in sharing it. As such, they all became teachers. Comments (1).

Jamaica: General Manager of GraceKennedy Money Services (GKMS), Joan-Marie Powell recently announced the launch of the company’s newest initiative to enhance literacy in Jamaican primary schools. The program dubbed “I Pledge Too” allows residents of the USA to make contributions to the Western Union effort to computerize primary schools. Comment.

Grenada: A group of 22 participants, 11 of which were child care workers from five of Grenada’s children’s homes, successfully graduated from a Teen Yoga Teacher Training course held from Dec. 2-4. This training, which was organized and funded by REACH Grenada, took place at the Fountain of Youth Yoga Studio in Grenada and was delivered by Erin Wilson of the New York based Karma Kids Yoga Company. Comment.

New York: On occasion I have offered last-minute suggestions to procrastinators waiting for last-minute sales before Christmas Day. Comment.

Cuba: United States Congressional leaders have dropped both a measure to restrict Cuban-American travel and remittances to the Spanish-speaking Caribbean island and another to make it easier for Cuba to buy U.S. goods. Comment.

Caribbean: The United States Coast Guard says 2011 marked “a year of exceptional security operations” in the Caribbean. Comment.

People: Lady English whose Fountain Pimento Oil has won over die-hard holistic practitioners will unveil a new addition to her product line just in time for the holiday season. Comment.

Music & Fashion: The Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival was hailed by a musical superstar as one of the remaining bastions in support of not just reggae music but other musical genres and culture as a whole. Comment.

Arts & Theater: Self-taught artist and illustrator for almost 20 years, Brooklyn born and bred, now Bronx resident Laura James of Antiguan heritage, is having a show of paintings and objects, rich in images, texture and feeling, entitled “God and Goddesses” in the Corridor Gallery of the Interchurch Center in Manhattan. Comment.

Cuba: Cuba has offered to assist CARICOM countries fight the illict drug trade and small arms trade. Comment.

Guyana: GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — A woman is accusing the chief of Guyana’s National Police of rape and says several officers refused to take her complaint. Comment.

St Vincent: For the third time in less than a month, prominent community organizer, Verna Arthur, has been honored by a Vincentian group in the United States, prompting remarks that this is her “special year.” Comment.

Jamaica: Following Nomination Day on Dec. 12, Jamaican electoral authorities say that 150 candidates have registered to participate in general elections on Dec. 29. Comment.

Trinidad and Tobago: President Raoul Castro flew to the oil- and gas-rich Caribbean trade bloc twin-island of Trinidad and Tobago for a meeting with regional leaders last week only to discover that the extra territorial arm of the United States will seek him out wherever he goes, as the Obama Administration banned the Hilton Hotel chain from allowing the meeting to be held there as planned. Comment.

Queens: Courts, the Caribbean’s largest furniture, electronics and appliances retailer has many door buster deals and gifts, which can be used to furnish your home in the U.S. or be delivered directly to your loved ones in the Caribbean during this holiday season. Comment.

Jamaica: Optimism is high for Jamaican athletes competing in next year’s summer Olympics in London, England. However, if an endorsement from nationals abroad is approved, the fervor could extend to the distant future and the 2014 Winter Games in Russia. Comment.

Brooklyn: A major United States publication claims that some police officers in the New York Police Department (N.Y.P.D) have maligned paradegoers at the annual West Indian American Day Carnival parade, calling them “animals” and “savages,” among other things. Comment.

Travel: Caribbean tourism officials said that while the Caribbean anticipates another surge in visitors this winter, they are warning that the amount of tourists spend while on vacation will decline. Comment.

Caribbean: The United Nations’ Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) says that the region could become an “important trading partner” with India, noting that exports from regional countries to India represented only 0.9 percent of the region’s total exports in 2008-2010. Comment.

Movies: Entertainer and Civil Rights activist Harry Belafonte will once again take the spotlight when his acclaimed film documentary “Sing Your Songs” screens during a one-time showcase at the Schomburg Center for Research on Dec. 8. Comment.

Brooklyn: J. Erlene Williams-King, a former aide to the St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ New York Consul General, was honored on Nov. 19 by the New York-based Garifuna Coalition U.S.A, Inc. at the group’s Yellow, White and Black 2011 Gala at the Eastwood Manor, Bronx. Comment.

Health: President Barack Obama says he is seeking more federal money for efforts to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS in the U.S., the Caribbean and globally. Comment.