PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC):

The main opposition United National Congress (UNC) yesterday condemned the decision of House Speaker Barendra Sinanan to bar former Prime Minister Basdeo Panday from entering the Parliament building as angry supporters shouted words of defiance over the move.

Panday himself has vowed to "return" as armed police maintained security around the building in the heart of the capital.

"In order to prevent them (supporters) from being brutalised, I have taken the decision to leave,' Panday said, adding "I will leave here (but) I will return as long as I live".

Lawmen said they had been instructed not to allow Panday, who served as Prime Minister from 1995-2001, entry into the building.

NEW YORK (CMC)

A United States Federal judge has restored a Jamaican educator to the ballot for a Special Election in a Brooklyn district.

Judge Nicholas Garaufis has ruled that Wellington Sharpe is eligible to contest the April 24 Special Election in the 40th Councilmanic District in Brooklyn.

New York City Board of Elections had ruled that Sharpe was not eligible to contest the poll since he failed to file the requisite 1,000 valid petitions to be on the ballot.

But Sharpe appealed the decision in Brooklyn Federal District Court, stating that Haitian Dr. Mathieu Eugene, who had won the first Special Election on February 20 but was not allowed to be sworn in because of growing concerns about his residence in the district, was at an unfair advantage.

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC):

Former television talk show host, Mark Benschop, who has been charged with treason, is currently on a hunger strike to protest his continued imprisonment and repeated failures to retry his case following a hung jury nearly three years ago.

"I am concerned about his health," parliamentary opposition leader, Robert Corbin said.

Corbin said Benschop has given a mandate to his lawyers to find out when his case will be retried and will not eat until he gets a response from them.

Benschop, a former press officer for ex-New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, was slapped with the treason charge following the storming of the Presidential Complex in the capital in July 2002 by a mixed group of protesters.

THE VALLEY, Anguilla (CMC):

Anguillan health officials say they will participate in the 'Vaccination Week of the Americas' project by maintaining the immunisation coverage of all infants and school children during the period April 21-28.

The aim, according to the local health care officials, is to increase and strengthen routine immunisation coverage and advance awareness of new and effective vaccines that can help save lives and prevent disease. 'Vaccination Week in the Americas' has been endorsed by the countries of the region and officials said that since the special week was started five years ago, nearly 147 million people have been vaccinated.

"Vaccination is an Act of Love" is the theme chosen for the week and local health officials said they want to also target the adult population who have not completed or never received immunisation.

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC):

Anti-smelter activist and University of the West Indies (UWI) lecturer, Dr. Wayne Kublalsingh spent Thursday night outside the offices of the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) after he was put out of the building by police.

Kublalsingh had gone to the EMA seeking an audience with the authority's chief executive officer, Dr. Dave McIntosh, regarding the decision to grant a certificate of clearance to Alutrint, a joint Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela concern, to establish a smelter plant here.

He told reporters that he would remain at the building until the EMA answered his question, "If at the time the Certificate of Environmental Clearance had been issued to Alutrint, whether they were in possession of a contract on how they would be disposing of spent pot-liners which are hazardous to human health".

KINGSTOWN, St Vincent (CMC)

St. Vincent and the Grenadines has described as "unfair" a report by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) on the island.

Attorney General, Judith Jones-Morgan, addressing a CFATF training seminar, said that too much emphasis had been placed on the production of marijuana and the effects of its proceedings on the economy in the St Vincent's 2004 CFATF Mutual Evaluation Process report.

Jones-Morgan said that it was her government's view that enough emphasis was not placed on the effects of the law enforcement agency in tackling the problems.

The seminar, held in collaboration the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, had as its theme 'Preparing for a Mutual Evaluation Mission'.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC):

A regional non governmental organisation yesterday called on regional trade negotiators and their European Union (EU) counterparts to let the Caribbean people know the scope of their negotiations for a new Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs).

The Barbados-based Caribbean Policy Development Centre (CPDC) said Caribbean citizens had a right to know what positions were being put on the table because the EPAs, due to be completed by yearend, contained tremendous economic and social implications for the entire region.

ST GEORGE'S, Grenada (CMC):

Grenada's Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell says he does not expect the tourism sector here to experience any massive fall-out from the lower than anticipated visitor arrivals which have plagued the 2007 Cricket World Cup.