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The Lindquist report named Sir Ronald as a “person of interest” in this alleged fraud which cost Antigua $14 million (£9.3 million) between 1997 and 2006.

Mr Lindquist found that the monthly surplus of $203,594 – amounting to 40 per cent of Antigua’s total revenue from petrol sales tax - was shared between various beneficiaries, apparently including Sir Ronald. The architect of the alleged fraud was the late Bruce Rappaport, a S

Sir Ronald Sanders, now the Ambassador of Antigua and Barbuda to Washington, apparently received monthly payments of £10,000 while serving as High Commissioner in London, according to a report ordered by his country’s government but never subsequently published.

The document says that “funds received monthly from the Government of Antigua” amounting to $403,334 were to be used to repay IHI to the tune of $199,74

Including funds that were channelled through Bellwood Services – a Panamanian company owned by Sir Ronald until 1996 – the Lindquist report says that he appeared to receive a total of $1,398,492 (£933,000).

But on 29 June 2015, Antigua’s police commissioner wrote to Sir Ronald’s lawyers saying this should never have happened, adding: “I hereby confirm that the Royal Police Force of Antigua and Barbuda has no interest in interviewing Sir Ronald Sanders and that there are no current or pending investigations that involve him in any way.”

Antigua's current government has described the Lindquist report as “riddled with hearsay, rumour and conjecture” and the result of a “partisan witch-hunt” launched by a previous administration. Sir Ronald has never been shown the report.

youth are a critical vulnerable group

Risk factors identified include teenage pregnancy, domestic violence, ineffective school systems and high health care costs.

at risk of becoming poor

grow up in abusive families and violent communities, leading to deviant behaviours such as drug abuse and violence, resulting in young males to be both the main victims and the main perpetrators of crime in the Caribbean

chain effect

gender violence

However, women showed greater resilience than men in retaining jobs during the 2009 economic crisis, possibly due to better secondary and tertiary educational performance.

Marijuana Symposium, which was hosted by the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus

“Politics of Ganja Decriminalisation”

Antigua & Barbuda.

not taking the marijuana discussion seriously.

“The average person disaggregates the issue and they just see a guy smoking a spliff and say he needs to stop

issue of crime when you make something criminal is something that is more academic, more refined.

“It really would do the workers a good deal of benefit if the major trade unions could see a difference between their trade union activities and any political interest they may have.

According to Grant, it could be uncomfortable for those members of the ABWU who are not necessarily supporters of the UPP, to hear comments coming from the UPP platform that they may not agree with.

American troops here cannot fire except in self-defense, and they are barred from responding with force even if Honduran or Drug Enforcement Administration agents are in danger. Within these prohibitions, the military marshals personnel, helicopters, surveillance airplanes and logistical support that Honduras and even the State Department and D.E.A. cannot.

Mr. Zuluaga has charged that Mr. Santos is liable to concede too much to achieve peace, including allowing guerrilla leaders to skip serious punishment. He has said, however, that he would consider continuing the talks if the FARC stopped all criminal activity.Mr. Zuluaga’s closeness to Mr. Uribe has been a central element of his campaign. Mr. Uribe, a polarizing figure with a strong political base, backed Mr. Santos when he ran for president in 2010. But they later became fierce enemies, splitting over the peace talks, which Mr. Uribe opposed.

the climate problem, while understood through science, can be solved only through faith. Faith in one another. Faith in our ability to do something bold, together. Faith that the pain of change, that the sacrifices required, will lead to a promised land.

She sees herself more like Cassandra, who predicted the fall of Troy but was not believed, or Jeremiah, whose omens were inspired by selfish kings and cultish priests in ancient Jerusalem. “We are warning people of the consequences of their choices, and that’s what prophets did,” she said, over plates of samosas and grape leaves, and “you get the same thing that prophets have gotten throughout history.”

In the United States, nearly 40 percent of university scientists have a religious affiliation, according to new research by Rice University professor of sociology Elaine Howard Ecklund; for scientists working outside of universities, that percentage jumps to 77. And many agnostic or atheist scientists still see themselves as spiritual, according to Ecklund and Christopher Scheitle, assistant professor of sociology at West Virginia University.

Hayhoe has built followings on Twitter, YouTube and TED.com, where her talk on climate has racked up 1.7 million views. She is also a lead author on the U.S. government’s latest National Climate Assessment, which says that the climate effects we are already suffering from are going to get worse for our health and economy.

I would argue, from my research, that we talk about climate change as something demanded to be addressed by faith, not politics,” Ecklund says. Politics creates boundaries, she says, but “faith is extremely motivating to people.”

When she put the climate problem in terms of the heart and soul, not just the brain or politics, her family started to see. Taking care of the planet was another way to take care of people. Another way to love

In the beginning — if recent history is our beginning — climate change began to make winters milder and heat waves more frequent. In the east, it made storms wetter; in the west, it made droughts drier. Human infrastructure was strained by melting permafrost in Alaska and larger wildfires in California. It was happening now, and not enough people understood, or believed, that they had a role to play in what could happen next.

A sweeping new plan for Honduras, focused more on judicial reform and institution-building, is now being jointly developed by Honduras and the United States. But State Department officials must first reassure Congress that the deaths have been investigated and that new safeguards, like limits on the role of American forces, will be put in place.

the new plan, according to a recent draft shown to The New York Times, is more aspirational than anything aimed at combating drugs and impunity in Mexico, or Colombia before that. It includes not just boats and helicopters, but also broad restructuring: several new investigative entities, an expanded vetting program for the police, more power for prosecutors, and a network of safe houses for witnesses.

The country’s homicide rate is among the highest in the world, and corruption has chewed through government from top to bottom.

The foreign minister, Mr. Corrales, a hulk of a man with a loud laugh and a degree in engineering, said he visited Washington in early 2011 with a request for help in four areas: investigation, impunity, organized crime and corruption.

Members of the Honduran police teams told government investigators that they took their orders from the D.E.A. Americans officials said that the FAST teams, deploying tactics honed in Afghanistan, did not feel confident in the Hondurans’ abilities to take the lead.

there were no detailed rules governing American participation in law enforcement operations. Honduran officials also described cases in which the rules of engagement for the D.E.A. and the police were vague and ad hoc.

the killing — along with the soaring homicide rate and the increased trafficking — sounded alarms in Washington: “It raised for us the specter of Honduras becoming another northern Mexico.”

Representative Howard L. Berman of California, the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, wrote to Mrs. Clinton, “Unfortunately, this is not the first time the United States has come perilously close to an overmilitarized strategy toward a country too small and institutionally weak for its citizens to challenge the policy.”

Mr. Brownfield, the assistant secretary, said it was impossible to “offer a zero risk program for interdicting drugs in Central America.” He noted that the shootings during interdiction raids happened in the middle of the night, in remote locations that were hard for investigators to reach. Despite these challenges, he said that investigations were conducted and that he was “basically satisfied” that he knew what had happened.

From the moment the Honduran pilot departed in his aging Tucano turboprop, just before midnight, he was in radio contact with Colombian authorities, who regularly receive radar intelligence from the American military’s Southern Command.

Mr. Corrales, the foreign minister, and some American officials have concluded that the downed planes amounted to misapplied military justice, urged on by societal anger and the broader weaknesses of Honduras’s institutions.

Creating a stronger system is at the core of what some officials are now calling Anvil II. A draft of the plan provided by Mr. Corrales shows a major shift toward shoring up judicial institutions with new entities focused on organized and financial crime.

The D.E.A.’s role will also probably change. A

“It’s a tragedy; there is no confidence in the state,” she said, wearing black in her university office. The old game of cocaine cat-and-mouse tends to look like a quicker fix, she said, with its obvious targets and clear victories measured in tons seized.

“This moment presents us with an opportunity for institutional reform,” Dr. Castellanos said. But that will depend on whether the new effort goes after more than just drugs and uproots the criminal networks that have already burrowed into Honduran society.

Resolution which would refer the border issue to a Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Organization of American States. Costa Rica was exercising its right as stipulated in the Charter of the Organization of American States (1948),

On December 7, 2010, at the Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Organization of American States (OAS), the delegations of the Member States approved Resolution RC.26/RES. 1/10 on the situation between Costa Rica and Nicaragua with 24 votes in favor, two votes against and five abstentions, whereby they called upon the parties to implement, simultaneously and without delay, the recommendations adopted through resolution CP/RES. 978 (1777/10), “Situation in the Border Area between Costa Rica and Nicaragua,” of November 12, 2010.

Now the Ortegas and their allies control fuel companies, television stations and public construction projects.

She went public with rape accusations in 1998. But her mother, who has had seven children with Mr. Ortega as well, stood by him.Joined by Mr. Ortega and their adult children, Ms. Murillo held a news conference calling her eldest daughter a liar who suffered from psychological problems.

her loyalty to Mr. Ortega and her public defense of him were rewarded in the influence she has gained across the country.

war raged in Nicaragua as the victorious Sandinista revolutionaries fought insurgents known as the contras, who were backed by the administration of President Ronald Reagan. Mr. Ortega officially became president in 1984 and left office in 1990, when Nicaragua took steps toward peace.

The National Assembly and the courts were stacked with allies. The law was changed so that Mr. Ortega could run indefinitely.

Supreme Court banished a leading opposition figure from his own party, the Liberal Independent Party, preventing him from becoming an opponent in the November election.

even more power will be consolidated in the Ortega family.

“If a private company does not allow a married couple to work together, how is that allowed for a nation?”

“This is a movie we already saw, and we know how it ends,” said Mr. Ramírez, the former vice president. “It ends badly.”

For the first time governmental institutions now recognise victims’ representatives as legitimate partners and take the lead in inviting them to meetings. Representatives’ proposals are taken into account when planning and implementing initiatives under the Victims and Land Restitution Law.

The support that MAPP/OEA provided to the victims during the trial was and remains a crucial element in the proceedings. The German contribution enables 100 victims to take part in each trial, offering general guidance, legal advice and psychological support throughout.

ourts, public prosecutors and victims’ associations use shared databases to exchange information with one another on the demobilised paramilitaries and update these databases continuously.

At the time of the groundbreaking in December 2014, the Chinese government said it was not involved with the project. This and Mr. Wang’s recent setbacks — he has reportedly lost about 80 percent of his $10 billion fortune — make some experts say the deal is probably dead.

Some question whether the canal would even be commercially viable. Few supertankers and massive container ships now afloat will not be able to pass through the expanded Panama Canal set to open soon. And few ports are big enough to welcome those megaships. In the short term, some experts say, the combination of the Panama and Nicaragua canals would lead to overcapacity and price wars.

That aspect has prompted protests from farmers, some of which have turned violent. Experts say Mr. Wang will have to pay only the assessed value, or about 5 percent of the market value, for any lands he takes. But many farmers would not be entitled to even that. In a country that is short of adequate roads and government offices, many do not have formal title to the fields they have cultivated for generations.

But the plan is much broader than just a canal. Mr. Wang’s vision includes new airports, new ports on both ends of the canal, new lakes in the mountains to make sure the canal has enough water, and new islands in Lake Nicaragua to dispose of excavated sediment and rock. Advertisement Continue reading the main story A 1,100-page study of the project, conducted by the British consulting firm ERM and issued five months ago, reinforced the notion of how much is at stake. It recommended further studies in many areas before going forward and noted that a wide range of mitigation efforts would be needed, like reforestation and job training.Some see hope in those efforts. Jeffrey McCrary, an American fish biologist who lives in Nicaragua and worked on the study, supports the project, saying Mr. Wang’s company will have to provide money to clean up environmental damage already caused by deforestation, poor land management, crop fumigation and general dumping into Lake Nicaragua.

milo Lara, a member of the Nicaragua Canal Commission, a group appointed by the government to oversee the project, said many critics of the project were political opportunists. Mr. Lara said the canal plan had been adjusted to deal with problem issues, like potential earthquakes, tsunamis and environmental concerns. And people who might be displaced by it, he said, could be moved to small cities with new schools and services they never had before.

In the meantime, speculating about the canal has become a national pastime, though polls show that Nicaraguans grow less inclined to believe that it will be built.“We used to talk about it every day,” said Carlos Fernando Chamorro, the editor of Confidencial, an investigative magazine. “Now we only talk about it every two days.”Some still hope it will lift this country out of poverty.But in Brito and the nearby city of Rivas, those who expect to be displaced are angry. Teresa de Jesus Henriquez Delgado, 31, is one of the residents who used a stencil to paint “Go Away Chinese!” on the outside of her house. Advertisement Continue reading the main story “I will resist with all of my strength when the bulldozers come to tear down my house,” she said. “I will fight until I die. I have to for my children. They can’t take this land from my family.”

, Ashe “gravely misrepresented the United Progressive Party government by implying that bribe money was necessary to gain an audience with me or my colleague ministers. That was never the case during the ten years of our administration.”

they have encountered a residue of corrupt practices from the former UPP regime, involving the abuse of public office and organized misappropriation of state resources.

We intend to have the best and most transparent governance structure in the Caribbean and beyond,” Browne said.

Browne noted that offences may also have been committed in Antigua under the Prevention of Corruption Act, which, he said, would be independently investigated by local law enforcement agencies.

that is their prerogative and there will be no political witch hunt by his government or the political party that he leads.

“Recent developments aimed at undermining the political opposition are simply a continuation of Ortega’s ongoing efforts to consolidate his control over all aspects of Nicaraguan political life

the digital divide in Latin America, even in an international context, always has been about more than just access to the Internet, or a computer.

a big majority of poorer areas within countries—the periphery of the periphery—continue to live in the dark, some with the equipment (machinery) but not the tools (knowledge) to promote  the same socioeconomic empowerment of their richer counterparts

a majority of the targeted populations have not become integrated like their more affluent neighbors

a problem of knowledge and sustainable innovation

over the last 10 years, the digital divide has been shrinking in terms of accessibility based on the numbers of fixed phone lines, mobile subscribers, and Internet users around the world.

Few reports can be found focusing on specific countries within the region, leading most international analysts to base their generalizations based on the experience on similar groups of countries

Unprecedented economic growth now gives Latin America the opportunity to address some of its most pressing need

opportunities in Latin America for sales growth are considered massive, especially for equipment manufacturers and as well as for telecom services providers

government-sponsored programs focus mostly on expanding access

computer ownership continues to rise with unprecedented speed, even if Internet access proliferation follows at much reduced speed.

policy initiatives have remained access-obsessed without evolving to tackle some of the effects of persistent inequality characteristic of the region

Dr. Sanabria successfully managed to implement ICTs to give medical advice to remote, marginalized communities

an understanding of how technology penetration works can, with some innovation, breed sustainable and meaningful development

the work of Fundación Proyecto Maniapure and other organizations like it are having a more lasting impact in alleviating poverty, health deficits, and inequality, than perhaps some nationally sponsored projects that are bringing more technology to communities, but are not quite putting it to its full possible use.

Fixed broadband and mobile Internet (measured by both adoption and speed) and overall data traffic in Latin America are all projected to grow,

Latin America is closing the gap, especially in mobile, with the rest of the developed world and nearly 400 million people will be connected in the near future.

Internet penetration by percentage of the population across all of Latin America is at least over 50 percent by now, which is higher than the world average

an emerging digital divide in the next phase of the Internet, ironically hidden by Latin America's current booming adoption of the consumer Internet.

Latin America isn't expected to make much progress over the near-term in the number of connected devices, especially of the M2M-variety.

But in Latin America, leading countries like Brazil and Mexico are expected to reach 32 percent by that year, falling behind the global average by about the same amount that the region as a whole currently surpasses global average Internet penetration today.

Then imagine 50 billion objects being connected together, from consumer goods to manufacturing systems, to appliances, healthcare systems, infrastructure, mass and personal transportation -- and the list goes on and on. In the future, IoT is what most of the Internet will be, and anyone left behind will be at a huge disadvantage

Given that, the political partnership of Ortega and Murillo leads many here to speculate that she aspires to succeed Ortega as president one day.

Barring illness or death, the 67-year-old Ortega is not likely to leave office soon, thanks to his backers in Congress and on the Supreme Court who approved a constitutional change allowing for unlimited re-election

he declared that the war on drugs had failed and that the international community needed to end the "taboo" of debating decriminalisation

Pérez Molina is unequivocal about the need to search for an alternative to the current paradigm,

For Colombia, drugs are a matter of national security; for other countries it is mainly a health and crime issue."

The cartels have grown in strength, the flow of arms towards Central America from the north has grown and the deaths in our country have grown. This has forced us to search for a more appropriate response."

The situation in Guatemala has become more serious as Mexican cartels – taking refuge from an attempt to militarily defeat them – have inserted themselves into Guatemala and sought to control the trafficking routes through that country

with the cartels come other nightmares: kidnapping, extortion, contract killers and people trafficking.

Pérez Molina concedes: "Drug traffickers have been able to penetrate the institutions in this country by employing the resources and money they have.

western countries fail to understand the reality that countries such as Guatemala and those of Central America have to live in," said Pérez Molina

due to a lack of understanding on the part of western countries.

arguing explicitly for the introduction of a regulated market for drugs. Not full legalisation, but a controlled, regulated market for the production, distribution and sale of narcotics.

the Guatemalans have been consulting with the Beckley Foundation, probably the leading global advocate of deploying science and empirical evidence to drive the debate about the war on drugs

"I believe they should reflect on this, to avoid these deaths that are occurring in transit countries. We don't produce and we don't consume, but we are countries that suffer deaths and place our institutions and our democracy at risk.