President Mwai Kibaki, last week named opposition leader Raila Odinga as prime minister - a sign that normalcy is returning to Kenya. This implemented a long awaited power-sharing deal regarded as a resolution to the political crisis that saw over a thousand people killed, and thousand more made homeless, since general elections were held there last December.

The initiative taken by Kibaki marks the first time that Kenya will have both a president and prime minister. Political observers in Kenya and internationally, will be paying close observance to the working relationship between Kibaki and Odinga, as the two has not been famous for having being cordial to each other in the past. Both men agreed in February to share power in ruling the country, following the long, violent and bitter dispute over the outcome of the general elections, which both claimed that they won.

WASHINGTON - The World Bank says the United States (US) economic slowdown has affected remittances to the Caribbean and Latin America.

It said in a report entitled ‘Remittances and Development: Lessons from Latin America’ that although funds transferred to the region amounted to almost US$60 billion during 2007, the figure is "very small" when compared to an annual average rate of 19 percent between 2000 and 2006.

Jamaicans in South Florida had a chance quiz Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding on numerous concerns about their home country last Friday at a Town Hall Meeting held at Nova Southeastern University in Davie.

Golding, who was on his first official visit to South Florida since winning last September’s general elections, said there is a need to strengthen the relationship between Jamaica and the Diaspora to help address some of the issues on the island.

MIAMI - Haiti’s Consul General in Miami Ralph Latortue has taken American Airlines (AA) to task for what he described as a pattern of ill-treatment meted out to Haitians on board the airline.

The Haitian official has written AA expressing his outrage, following an incident over the weekend in which a top Haitian government official was allegedly mistreated by a flight attendant on a flight from Port-au-Prince to Miami.

Latortue accused the airline of exhibiting “an ongoing pattern of disrespect” to Haitian customers, according to a letter dispatched as an official complaint to the carrier.

Amidst anti-war protests including those mounted in Miami, calls for a troop withdrawal from Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and President George Bush’s intention to stay the course, the nation reflected on March 19, 2003 when the United States declared war on Iraq.

The premise: the Saddam Hussein led government was harboring weapons of mass destruction, and posed a threat to the United States in light of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks – a claim that soon proved wrong. Bush and his then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld assured Americans and the world of a short war without significant bloodshed.