WICB announces league format for four-dayers
THE West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) yesterday announced the schedule for the February 4 to April 11 Regional Four-Day Tournament, which will feature a league format before the playing of the semi-finals and final.
During the preliminary phase each team will face each other once for a total of seven rounds of matches.
The competition will feature four-day kingpins Jamaica, along with Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados, Guyana, Windward Islands, Leeward Islands and the Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC).
The formidable-looking England Lions outfit is the lone invited team for the tournament, but they are only scheduled to participate in the league phase, which means the top four Caribbean-based teams will progress to the semi-finals.
The first round of matches should see Jamaica hosting Guyana, CCC entertaining the Windwards, Leewards welcoming the England Lions and Trinidad & Tobago facing last season's runners-up Barbados.
The Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) is yet to name the venues where matches will be played, but the Sunday Observer understands that Sabina Park is being touted as a most likely ground to stage the marquee clash with the Lions on March 24.
The Chedwin Park ground in St Catherine and the ALPART Sports Club in St Elizabeth are two potential venues to host other matches.
Last season, the Jamaicans, led by captain Tamar Lambert, took their third consecutive title after ending on 60 points, while Barbados followed with 57. The Leewards finished a distant third on 34, while Trinidad & Tobago took fourth place with 33.
2010-2011 Regional Four-Day Schedule
* Fri Feb 4 - Mon Feb 7, Combined Campuses and Colleges v Windward Islands
* Fri Feb 4 - Mon Feb 7, Jamaica v Guyana
* Fri Feb 4 - Mon Feb 7, Leeward Islands v England Lions
* Fri Feb 4 - Mon Feb 7, Trinidad & Tobago v Barbados
* Fri Feb 11 - Mon Feb 14, Barbados v England Lions
* Fri Feb 11 - Mon Feb 14, Guyana v Leeward Islands
* Fri Feb 11 - Mon Feb 14, Trinidad & Tobago v Combined Campuses and Colleges
* Fri Feb 11 - Mon Feb 14, Windward Islands v Jamaica
* Fri Feb 18 - Mon Feb 21, Barbados v Jamaica
* Fri Feb 18 - Mon Feb 21, Leeward Islands v Combined Campuses and Colleges
* Fri Feb 18 - Mon Feb 21, Trinidad & Tobago v England Lions
* Fri Feb 18 - Mon Feb 21, Windward Islands v Guyana
* Fri Feb 25 - Mon Feb 28, Barbados v Guyana
* Fri Feb 25 - Mon Feb 28, Combined Campuses and Colleges v England Lions
* Fri Feb 25 - Mon Feb 28, Leeward Islands v Jamaica
Fri Feb 25 - Mon Feb 28, Windward Islands v Trinidad & Tobago
* Fri Mar 11 - Mon Mar 14, Barbados v Windward Islands
* Fri Mar 11 - Mon Mar 14, Guyana v England Lions
* Fri Mar 11 - Mon Mar 14, Jamaica v Combined Campuses and Colleges
* Fri Mar 11 - Mon Mar 14, Trinidad & Tobago v Leeward Islands
* Fri Mar 18 - Mon Mar 21, Combined Campuses and Colleges v Guyana
* Fri Mar 18 - Mon Mar 21, Jamaica v Trinidad & Tobago
* Fri Mar 18 - Mon Mar 21, Leeward Islands v Barbados
* Fri Mar 18 - Mon Mar 21, Windward Islands v England Lions
* Thu Mar 24 - Sun Mar 27, Jamaica v England Lions
* Fri Mar 25 - Mon Mar 28, Combined Campuses and Colleges v Barbados
* Fri Mar 25 - Mon Mar 28, Guyana v Trinidad & Tobago
* Fri Mar 25 - Mon Mar 28, Windward Islands v Leeward Islands
* Fri Apr 1 - Mon Apr 4, 1st Semi-final
* Fri Apr 1 - Mon Apr 4, 2nd Semi-final
* Fri Apr 8 - Mon Apr 11, Final
Ireland's Green Party quits government of Brian Cowen
The Republic of Ireland's Green Party is pulling out of the ruling coalition, a move expected to bring forward the general election due on 11 March.
The Greens' announcement wipes out the ruling coalition's two-seat majority and puts into question the passage of a vital finance bill.
It also follows the decision on Saturday by PM Brian Cowen to quit as leader of his Fianna Fail party but to stay on as prime minister.
Opponents said this was "farcical".
Fianna Fail had urged the Greens to stay in government to ensure the financial bill - which is needed as part of Ireland's international bail-out package - was passed before the election.
Ireland was forced to accept the 85bn euro ($113bn; £72bn) EU and IMF bail-out in November last year.
When asked whether he would now resign immediately, Mr Cowen said getting the finance bill through was the main issue.
'Persistent doubts'
The Green Party will join the opposition benches immediately.
But it said it would still support the finance bill and hoped Fianna Fail would fast-track the legislation so it could be approved speedily.
Green Party leader John Gormley, speaking after a meeting in a Dublin hotel, said: "For a very long time we have stood back in the hope that Fianna Fail could resolve persistent doubts about their party leadership.
"A definitive resolution of this has not yet been possible and our patience has reached an end. Because of these continuing doubts, the lack of communication and the breakdown in trust, we have decided that we can no longer continue in government.
"We will remain true to our promise to support the finance bill from the opposition benches."
After the Greens' announcement, Mr Cowen said: "The important thing now is to have an orderly completion of the finance bill in the interests of the country and then obviously we move to a dissolution of the [parliament] and a general election."
The loss of two Green Party cabinet ministers means Mr Cowen now only has seven of 15, the minimum constitutionally allowed.
The focus next week will fall on the finance bill and a no-confidence motion put forward by the opposition for Tuesday.
If Mr Cowen lost the motion he would be obliged to resign and call an election within four weeks.
Correspondents say he might try to persuade the opposition to hold off on that vote to allow for debate and passage of the finance bill, which is designed to cut the government's deficit.
The Greens want all-party talks on Monday to rush the bill through as soon as possible.
But the BBC's Ireland correspondent Mark Simpson says its passage is not assured, given the country's political system is in a state of chaos and filled with bitterness.
Mr Cowen's assertion on Sunday that it is "not possible to deal with it in a week" is unlikely to please the opposition.
Bungled reshuffle
Mr Cowen has been under increasing pressure over his handling of the economy and party disputes.
The criticism intensified this month following revelations he played golf with the former chairman of Anglo Irish Bank, Sean FitzPatrick, months before the bank was nationalised to prevent it from collapse. Mr Cowen has denied any wrongdoing.
Last Tuesday, Mr Cowen won a vote of confidence in his leadership of Fianna Fail. Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheal Martin, who had opposed Mr Cowen, resigned.
However on Thursday, Mr Cowen bungled a planned government reshuffle. The Greens were angered and blocked the reshuffle. Mr Cowen then called the general election.
His decision on Saturday to resign as Fianna Fail leader while remaining PM was met with an angry response by the opposition Fine Gael, Labour and Sinn Fein parties.
Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said it was "simply not tenable" for Mr Cowen to remain PM.
Ex-PM Brown feared voice-mail hacking amid scandal, source says
Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown wrote to the police last summer to ask if his voice mail had been hacked into, a source close to the situation told CNN Sunday.
The revelation comes amid an ever-widening scandal that has affected celebrities from model Elle MacPherson to members of the royal household, and forced the resignation of current Prime Minister David Cameron's spokesman on Friday.
Andy Coulson, who stepped down, was the editor of the News of the World newspaper in 2007 when its royal correspondent was convicted of hacking into voice mails.
Cameron said Friday that Coulson was quitting because "continuing pressures on him and his family mean that he feels compelled to do so. Andy has told me that the focus on him was impeding his ability to do his job and was starting to prove a distraction for the Government."
"Who Wants to be a Millionaire" host Chris Tarrant is among celebrities suing the paper over the scandal, his lawyer Mark Lewis said.
Coulson, News of the World, and the Rupert Murdoch-owned media conglomerate that owns the paper have denied knowing of widespread phone hacking in search of dirt for stories.
The Metropolitan Police investigation into the scandal is now closed and results have been passed to prosecutors, police told CNN Sunday.
Police declined to say whether Brown had written to them or what action they took. A spokeswoman for Brown would not comment on the record. Brown was ousted as prime minister in May when his Labour Party was defeated at the polls.
News of the World royal reporter Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire were sentenced to prison in 2007 for hacking into voice mails of members of the royal family's staff.
Mulcaire also admitted hacking into MacPherson's messages, among others.
The New York Times alleged in a detailed investigative story last year that -- far from Goodman and Mulcaire being lone culprits -- phone hacking was common practice at the newspaper.
The New York Times article in September prompted a furious response from a number of public figures, including former deputy prime minister John Prescott, who demanded that the police tell him if his phone had been hacked.
One of the few sources who went on the record in the Times article, former News of the World journalist Sean Hoare, said Coulson, then his boss at the tabloid, "actively encouraged me" to hack into the voice mails of public figures to get stories for the News of the World.
Coulson's allies have cast doubt on Hoare's credibility since the Times article came out September 1, pointing out that Hoare was fired from the paper over allegations of drug and alcohol abuse.
A British parliamentary committee twice investigated the tabloid.
Witnesses associated with the paper insisted there was no evidence that phone hacking extended beyond the two who were found guilty of it.
Palestinian 'offers' in peace process - papers leaked
Leaked documents released by al-Jazeera TV suggest Palestinian negotiators agreed to Israel keeping large parts of illegally occupied East Jerusalem.
The TV channel says it has thousands of confidential records covering the peace process between 2000 and 2010.
The papers also reportedly show Palestinian leaders proposing a joint committee to take over Jerusalem's holy sites of Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount.
The BBC has been unable to independently verify the documents.
Al-Jazeera says it has 16,076 confidential records of meetings, emails, communications between Palestinian, Israeli and US leaders.
The papers are believed to have leaked from the Palestinian side.
The alleged offers relating to East Jerusalem are the most controversial, as the issue has been a huge stumbling block in Mideast talks and both Israelis and Palestinians claim Jerusalem as their capital.
Israel has occupied the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since 1967, settling close to 500,000 Jews in more than 100 settlements.
Increasing frustration
According to al-Jazeera, in May 2008, Ahmed Qureia, the lead Palestinian negotiator at the time, proposed that Israel annex all Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem except Har Homa (Jabal Abu Ghneim), in a bid to reach a final deal.
"This is the first time in history that we make such a proposition," he reportedly said, pointing out that this was a bigger concession than made at Camp David talks in 2000.
The Israelis apparently rejected the concession as inadequate and made no offer in return.
PLO leaders also privately suggested swapping part of the flashpoint East Jerusalem Arab neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah for land elsewhere, according to the leaked documents.
And Palestinian negotiators were reported to be willing to discuss limiting the number of Palestinian refugees returning to 100,000 over 10 years.
These are all highly sensitive issues and have previously been non-negotiable.
Current peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians have been suspended for months, ostensibly over Israel's refusal to stop building Jewish settlements on occupied Palestinian land.
The BBC's Wyre Davies, in Jerusalem, says that for years, the same Palestinian leaders have been talking with Israeli and American negotiators - but getting nowhere.
Our correspondent says there has been increasing frustration and protest among many Palestinians over what they see as Israeli expansion and the weakness of their own leaders - a view that will be reinforced by the leak of these documents.
The chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, who features in many of the leaked papers, appeared on Al Jazeera Arabic TV on Sunday to strenuously deny that he had made these sorts of offers.
Brazil flood deaths top 800 with 400 still missing
Officials in Brazil say more than 800 people are now known to have died in floods and landslides in the south-east of the country this month.
More than 400 people are still missing after torrential rain caused whole hillsides to collapse.
The Brazilian government has said it will set up an early warning system to alert communities of impending danger.
The flooding is considered the worst natural disaster Brazil has ever experienced.
According to figures compiled by the newspaper O Globo, a third of all victims were under age.
The youngest fatality was a five-day-old baby buried in a mudslide in Nova Friburgo, the worst affected town with 324 dead.
Continuing danger
The number of missing has been declining as forensic experts identify more bodies, but rescue workers fear the full extent of the disaster is not yet known, with some remote communities still only reachable by helicopter.
Emergency workers say their priority is to make sure no new deaths occur.
They are warning of the risks of contaminated water.
Three people are known to have contracted leptospirosis, an infectious bacterial disease, which is caused by exposure to water contaminated with rats' urine.
In Teresopolis, doctors have been administering thousands of tetanus vaccines.
In Sao Jose do Vale, workers were erecting more than a hundred tents sent from the UK to house those whose homes were swept away or flooded.
Volunteers in Rio de Janeiro held an adoption fair in the hope of re-homing some of the 5,000 animals left without owners as a result of the disaster.
The government has allocated $240m (£150m) in emergency reconstruction money for the area.
Haiti's Preval: 'Baby Doc' Duvalier 'must face justice'
Haiti's ex-leader Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier had the right to return to the country but must now face justice, President Rene Preval says.
Mr Preval was making his first comments on the issue since Mr Duvalier's unexpected return from exile last week.
Mr Duvalier has been charged with theft and misappropriation of funds during his 1971-1986 rule.
He is also being sued for torture and other crimes against humanity. He has said he is ready to face "persecution".
In a news conference on Friday, Mr Duvalier called for national reconciliation, claiming his return from France had been prompted by the earthquake that devastated Haiti last year and his desire to help rebuild the country.
On Saturday, Mr Preval said that according to the Haitian constitution, no-one could be forced to remain in exile.
"Duvalier had the right to return to the country, but under the constitution, he also must face justice," he said at a news conference during a visit by the Dominican president.
"If Duvalier is not in prison now, it is because he has not yet been tried."
Mr Duvalier is barred from leaving the country pending the outcome of an investigation into his alleged crimes, Mr Preval said.
Swiss funds
Mr Duvalier arrived on the day Haiti was supposed to hold a second round of elections to choose a successor to Mr Preval.
The vote has been postponed because of a dispute over who came second in the first round.
Official results said it was Jude Celestin, a protege of Mr Preval's, but international observers have urged Haiti to revise the result in favour of singer Michel "Sweet Mickey" Martelly, who was placed third.
Some have voiced concern that Mr Duvalier's return could add to the political uncertainty.
One theory offered by analysts and lawyers to explain Mr Duvalier's return is that he was trying to stave off attempts by Switzerland to donate to Haiti nearly $6m (£3.7) frozen in Swiss bank accounts.
Under a new Swiss law that comes into force on 1 February, the funds can be released even if Haiti has not made a legal move to get them.
Mr Duvalier wrongly predicted that he might be able to avoid prosecution, observers say.
"If Duvalier goes back to Haiti and is not prosecuted, then he could say 'I was available for prosecution, and you didn't prosecute me: Give me my money back,'" said Reed Brody, a lawyer at Human Rights Watch.
UN calls for Mexico probe into migrant train abductions
The UN human rights chief has urged Mexico to investigate the possible involvement of officials in the abduction of about 40 migrants.
Navi Pillay said the Central American migrants had been "abducted in highly questionable circumstances" from a cargo train in Oaxaca state last month.
They were reportedly taken by gunmen who stopped the train in Chahuites.
Mexico has said it is investigating, after initially saying the reports were unsubstantiated.
'Complicity'
According to a statement from Ms Pillay's office, the train was first stopped by police and migration officials, who arrested 92 of the 250 migrants who had been stowed away.
The driver of the government-run train then took money from about 150 who re-boarded, the statement says, but he also allegedly warned of "more problems ahead" as he had not been happy with what they had paid him.
Shortly afterwards, gunmen seized the train, robbing the migrants and kidnapping 40 of them, including at least 10 women and a child.
Speaking on Friday, Ms Pillay called for "a thorough and transparent investigation of the alleged ill-treatment and abuse of the migrants by the [Mexican] Federal Police and the National Institute of Migration staff."
"The Mexican authorities need to ascertain whether or not any state officials ... were complicit with the criminal organisation that carried out the abductions and extortion, both in this and other cases," she added.
Ms Pillay said that, since the incident, "there has been no trace of [the migrants], and human rights defenders working with other members of the same group have been repeatedly threatened".
The Mexican Institute of Migration previously said that officials had boarded the train and detained a number of them, but that - after speaking to local and federal officials - there was no evidence that there had been a kidnapping.
But it has since said it is still investigating the incident.
Mexico's UN mission in Geneva had no immediate response to Ms Pillay's comments, according to AP news agency.
Dominican Republic confirms first cholera death
The Dominican Republic has officially registered its first cholera death since an epidemic of the disease began sweeping through neighbouring Haiti.
Health officials said the victim was a 53-year-old Haitian who was being treated in the eastern town of Higuey.
The government said it would step up its prevention system in the area.
Almost 4,000 people have died of cholera in Haiti and close to 200,000 have been infected since the epidemic broke out in October.
The Dominican Republic tightened its border controls and health checks to try to stop cholera from spreading from Haiti soon after the first cases were reported.
But with tens of thousands of Haitians travelling to the Dominican Republic to seek work, the task was always going to be a difficult one.
The Dominican Public Health Ministry said the first fatality to be reported had been receiving hospital treatment in Higuey - the same town where the first cholera case was registered in November.
Officials said the man had died on Friday, and that since then, no other deaths had been registered.
Gold company to invest US$185mto expand Suriname operations
The Toronto-based parent company of Lam-gold, the largest gold-mining enterprise operating in Suriname, says a portion of its US$460-million expenditure this year will finance expansion of its operations in the CARICOM country.
In a statement, Lamgold Corp said that without expansion, output at the Rosebel mill would decline.
The cost of the expansion in Suriname will total US$185 million over the next seven years.
The project will add grinding capacity to allow mill throughput to be maintained between 12 and 14 million tonnes per year, "even with the increased hard rock volumes", coupled with additional mining equipment to increase annual mining capacity to 70 million tonnes to optimise mill feed grades, the company said.
"The expansion essentially brings gold production forward in time and reduces long-term fixed costs by reducing the currently planned mine life," said Lamgold.
The gold miner said it anticipates a 60 per cent return on the expansion capital after tax, and annual gold production of 400,000 to 450,000 ounces throughout the life of the mine.
"Rosebel mine is a world-class asset that has already demon-strated the excellence of our corporate social responsibility programmes and our development and operational teams," said Lamgold's president and chief executive officer Steve Letwin.
- C MC
Ricky Gervais plays down Golden Globe furore
British comedian Ricky Gervais has defended jokes he made about Hollywood stars at Sunday's Golden Globes, insisting he did nothing wrong.
The Office star received mixed reviews as the award ceremony's host, after making jokes about Charlie Sheen, Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp.
"If they didn't want me, they shouldn't have hired me," he told Piers Morgan on his new US talk show.
"I don't think I did anything wrong," the 49-year-old said.
"I'm not going to apologise for being true to myself. My strategy is to make me laugh. If there's anyone in the world like me, that's a bonus."
At one stage during the evening, Gervais introduced Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr - who has a history of drug problems - saying: "Many of you in this room probably know him best from such facilities as the Betty Ford Clinic and Los Angeles County Jail."
Morgan asked Gervais whether he cared about what the stars might be going through in their private lives.
"I'm not judging them for what they did," Gervais said on the CNN programme.
"I'm confronting the elephant in the room. Like, I'm going to go out there and not talk about the issues in their industry.
"Don't forget, I've got to be an outsider there. I mustn't come out there as everyone's mate and schmooze - that's nauseating. I've got to come out there, and I've got to roast them."
The comic insisted that he only accepted the job on the condition that he could say what he wanted.
During the ceremony, viewers speculated whether Gervais had been asked to calm his performance down, after he disappeared from stage for nearly an hour.
But Gervais denied that was the case, insisting that he did "every single introduction I was meant to. There just happened to be a long gap".