Caribbean Report 16-04-2002
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Date
2002-04-16
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The British Broadcasting Corporation
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Table of Contents
1. Headlines (00:00-00:33)
2. Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister, Lester Bird, says officers and not ministers may be culpable in alleged abuses of the country’s medical insurance scheme as he defends his colleagues against
3. The Lead Prosecutor describes Antigua’s National Health Insurance as an engine of fraud while Coalition of Non-Governmental Organizations spokesman Bruce Goodwin complains government has not paid $120 million East Caribbean dollars of public service deductions into the scheme and Bertram Niles interviews Lester Bird who says an audit by a Commonwealth expert shows the benefit scheme will be in arrears to the government and not the other way around (00:49-04:41)
4. Barbados is the latest focus of American Corporations seeking to escape high US taxes, as Congress considers new legislation to block a popular tax loophole that allows US companies to incorporate in Bermuda. Accountants encourage firms to exploit a special tax treaty Barbados and a few other nations have with the US and Leslie Goffe explains how it works according to a New York Times report with Nabors Industries oil drilling company as an example (04:42-06:19)
5. Attorneys General from nine British Overseas Territories: Gibraltar, Saint Helena, the Falkland Islands and six Caribbean nations, open a three-day meeting in Montserrat. Key issues include the new British Overseas Territories act which grants British citizenship to islanders and international and tax matters. During the opening ceremony, Conference Chairman Lord Goldsmith says the British government is particularly concerned about human rights. Keith Stone Greaves reports (06:20-07:58)
6. Montserrat’s Chief Minister John Osbourne, speaking during the meeting of the UK Overseas Territories Attorneys General in Montserrat, emphasises the importance of a meaningful partnership with the British government, which for Montserrat means development aid for reconstruction of basic infrastructure and this aid should not be reduced without proper long-term economic and social appraisals (07:59-08:59)
7. Former Haitian President and Military Official Prosper Avril is again behind bars after being briefly released. Mr. Avril was released by an appeals court which ruled that there was insufficient evidence to have charges brought against him but mere minutes after being released he is again detained by authorities. Ken Richards reports (09:00-10:16)
8. Bertram Niles interviews BBC correspondent Michael Lawton in Port-au-Prince concerning the new charges against the former Haitian Military Leader Prosper Avril and Mr. Lawton tells what is strange in this latest charge, its political implications and about Haiti's 10-year statute of limitations on crimes (10:17-11:57)
9. The United States White House confirms Administration Officials met with opponents of the Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, including Pedro Carmona but dismisses any connection with the political turmoil which culminated in President Hugo Chavez’s resignation. Michael Buchanan reports (11:58-13:16)
10. The U.S. State Department tells the BBC that they are withdrawing all non-essential diplomats and their dependents from Venezuela as well as warning Americans to avoid travelling there (13:17-13:27)
11. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations names at least four Caribbean nationals – two from Trinidad, one from Jamaica and one from Haiti - among one hundred and forty-one people on its list of fugitives from American justice. Ben Meade reports (13:28-15:25)
2. Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister, Lester Bird, says officers and not ministers may be culpable in alleged abuses of the country’s medical insurance scheme as he defends his colleagues against
3. The Lead Prosecutor describes Antigua’s National Health Insurance as an engine of fraud while Coalition of Non-Governmental Organizations spokesman Bruce Goodwin complains government has not paid $120 million East Caribbean dollars of public service deductions into the scheme and Bertram Niles interviews Lester Bird who says an audit by a Commonwealth expert shows the benefit scheme will be in arrears to the government and not the other way around (00:49-04:41)
4. Barbados is the latest focus of American Corporations seeking to escape high US taxes, as Congress considers new legislation to block a popular tax loophole that allows US companies to incorporate in Bermuda. Accountants encourage firms to exploit a special tax treaty Barbados and a few other nations have with the US and Leslie Goffe explains how it works according to a New York Times report with Nabors Industries oil drilling company as an example (04:42-06:19)
5. Attorneys General from nine British Overseas Territories: Gibraltar, Saint Helena, the Falkland Islands and six Caribbean nations, open a three-day meeting in Montserrat. Key issues include the new British Overseas Territories act which grants British citizenship to islanders and international and tax matters. During the opening ceremony, Conference Chairman Lord Goldsmith says the British government is particularly concerned about human rights. Keith Stone Greaves reports (06:20-07:58)
6. Montserrat’s Chief Minister John Osbourne, speaking during the meeting of the UK Overseas Territories Attorneys General in Montserrat, emphasises the importance of a meaningful partnership with the British government, which for Montserrat means development aid for reconstruction of basic infrastructure and this aid should not be reduced without proper long-term economic and social appraisals (07:59-08:59)
7. Former Haitian President and Military Official Prosper Avril is again behind bars after being briefly released. Mr. Avril was released by an appeals court which ruled that there was insufficient evidence to have charges brought against him but mere minutes after being released he is again detained by authorities. Ken Richards reports (09:00-10:16)
8. Bertram Niles interviews BBC correspondent Michael Lawton in Port-au-Prince concerning the new charges against the former Haitian Military Leader Prosper Avril and Mr. Lawton tells what is strange in this latest charge, its political implications and about Haiti's 10-year statute of limitations on crimes (10:17-11:57)
9. The United States White House confirms Administration Officials met with opponents of the Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, including Pedro Carmona but dismisses any connection with the political turmoil which culminated in President Hugo Chavez’s resignation. Michael Buchanan reports (11:58-13:16)
10. The U.S. State Department tells the BBC that they are withdrawing all non-essential diplomats and their dependents from Venezuela as well as warning Americans to avoid travelling there (13:17-13:27)
11. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations names at least four Caribbean nationals – two from Trinidad, one from Jamaica and one from Haiti - among one hundred and forty-one people on its list of fugitives from American justice. Ben Meade reports (13:28-15:25)