Afghan Leader Forces Out Top 2 Security Ministers

KABUL, Afghanistan — President Hamid Karzai forced two of his three top security officials to resign Sunday over their failure to prevent attacks on last week’s peace council in the capital, Afghan and American officials said, sparking shock and concern among Western officials about such drastic changes in crucial ministries even as the American war effort here reaches a critical phase.

After a two-and-a-half hour conversation with Mr. Karzai on Sunday afternoon, Amrullah Saleh, the head of Afghanistan’s intelligence agency, known as the National Directorate of Security, and Hanif Atmar, the Interior minister, submitted their resignations.

The announcement took the NATO leadership and diplomats by surprise. “We had a very good working relationship with both, a relationship developed over a long time,” said a NATO official close to Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the senior military commander in Afghanistan.

“It’s really not helpful to what we’re trying to do right now,” added the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

PM means Prime Minister Architect Stephen Mendes confirms Patrick Manning's involvement in Guanapo church

Trinidad Express

Architect Stephen Mendes, the man who has held the key as to whether former prime minister Patrick Manning was personally involved in the commissioning of the controversial Guanapo church project, has finally broken his silence on the matter, confirming the ’PM’ he wrote about in a letter dated May 2, 2006, in fact, referred to Prime Minister Patrick Manning.

The revelation comes exactly three weeks after the country’s new Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar held a news conference on May 15, 2010, nine days before the May 24 polls, in her capacity as leader of the People’s Partnership, to unveil documents purported to link Manning directly to the Guanapo Heights project where a church was being built on State lands for Manning’s personal spiritual adviser Rev Juliana Pena.

From those documents, Persad-Bissessar produced Mendes’ May 2 letter, which was addressed to former Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago (UDeCOTT) executive chairman Calder Hart, and in it, he stated:

’The structural drawings developed to date are not in accordance with the recent changes made to the architectural drawings as a result of recent PM’s requests. Additionally, they need to be developed in far greater detail.

’Additionally, the consultants need to develop and finalise their general arrangement drawings due to the recent changes called for by the PM, including those related to the residential component appended to the church.’

DOOKERAN CONCERNED ABOUT STATE OF TREASURY

Trinidad and Tobago Newsday

Expressing concerns over the country’s economic future, Finance Minister Winston Dookeran said he had expected to face challenges when he assumed his new post, but not to such a large extent as he has found.

Dookeran, who held the office of Finance Minister under the National Alliance for Reconstruction and who also served as the Governor of the Central Bank, now has the daunting task of managing the country’s economy, and by extension, the Treasury.

“We have some challenges ahead of us. It was a little deeper than I expected, but I expected to have deep challenges. Over the next week or so I will liaise more with the press on the nature and extent of those challenges,” he said.

Dookeran made the comment after planting a tree in the Caura Valley, which is part of his Tunapuna constituency, in observance of World Environment Day.
While he declined to give out further information on the state of the Treasury, Dookeran said the People’s Partnership would be able to keep their promises to the people.

Former PNP candidate on 'wanted list'

Rohan Silvera, former People’s National Party (PNP) candidate for the Central St Catherine constituency in the 2007 election is also among those on the security forces wanted list.

The police have described Silvera as a mastermind behind the ‘cash for gold’ racket in Spanish Town and its environs.

PNP General secretary, Peter Bunting, says Silvera has been meeting with his attorney with a view to turning himself in.

Schools To Re-Open In Western Kingston Tomorrow

Go Jamaica News

The education ministry says schools in Western Kingston will re-open tomorrow.

The schools were closed because of the unrest in the area over the last two weeks. But teaching and administrative staff of the affected schools have been at their institutions since last week preparing for the resumption of classes.

Last week the education ministry also began counseling for teachers affected by the violence.  A toll-free counseling help line with assistance from Jamaica's three mobile service providers, LIME, Digicel and Claro has also been established.

Crowded agenda awaits Clinton in Latin America

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton travels to Latin America and the Caribbean with a crowded agenda awaiting: lingering tensions over last year's coup in Honduras, U.S. immigration policy, security issues and concerns over Iran and the Middle East.

Clinton was to depart Sunday on her seventh trip to the region as the top U.S. diplomat, with a schedule that included an Organization of American States meeting in Peru as well as later stops in Ecuador, Colombia and Barbados.

At all points, officials say, she will stress the Obama administration's commitment to the Western Hemisphere and support for democracy.

The most contentious topic facing the OAS — whether to readmit Honduras to the regional bloc — isn't on the agenda at Monday's annual OAS General Assembly in Lima. But it will loom large over the discussions, with the U.S. at odds with numerous other member countries on the matter.

The U.S. wants Honduras allowed back into the organization following elections that brought the current president, Porfirio Lobo, to power after the June 2009 coup that ousted his predecessor, Manuel Zelaya. Other governments, notably Brazil, Venezuela and Nicaragua, are opposed and insist that Zelaya be allowed to return home first.

"There still are some countries that believe that Honduras should take additional steps, which is a position that's different from that of the United States," said Arturo Valenzuela, the assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs.

"We believe that, in fact, Honduras has taken important steps to overcome the crisis," he told reporters Friday. "Although, we are also mindful of the fact that there are continuing concerns over human rights violations in Honduras and that certain steps still need to be taken in order to bring about a process of national reconciliation."

Resign Now Union Official Tells Port Managers

Antigua Observer

 

The general secretary of the Antigua Barbuda Workers Union is demanding the immediate resignation of the entire Antigua Port Authority management since, he said, they have failed to adequately address the problems plaguing the port.

Senator David Massiah, speaking at a press conference yesterday, called on the Board of Directors and port managers to do the honourable thing and resign from their posts, thereby sparing Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer the task of sacking them himself.

“I think the time has come and they should save the prime minister the pain of (firing them),” he said. “The management and the board should do the honourable thing and resign because they have failed miserably in stemming the problems at the port.”

Massiah said that for too long management has blamed overstaffing (for the problem); however, he noted that the union is displeased with how management is handling the problems the port is experiencing.

“We have presented positions that we think are possible for us in seeking to reduce the problems that the port has. The cognition is there and we realise that there are problems, but (we are not satisfied with) the way that the port’s board and management are seeking to reduce the situation,” Massiah explained.

He said the port is fully aware of the issues, and the union feels that the present management is incapable of addressing the workers’ plight and the lack of initiative to keep the country’s main seaport running and generating revenue.