03 July, 2009 - Published 21:58 GMT
BBC Caribbean News in Brief
Douglas reports on Africa summit
St Kitts Prime Minister Denzil Douglas has been reporting to his country's parliament, on his recent attendance to this week's African Union summit in Libya.
Also present at the talks were the leaders of Dominica and St Vincent and the Grenadines.
Dr Douglas said they also held talks with Libyan officials, focusing on developing closer cultural and economic ties between Tripoli and the Caribbean.
He said St Kitts and Nevis is being considered as the possible headquarters of the proposed Libyan Development Bank in the Caribbean.
New financial regulator steps down
Antigua's new top financial regulator has stepped down, just one week after being tapped for the job.
Everett Christian was appointed last week to replace Leroy King, who was fired for alleged ties to a multi billion dollar fraud scheme by Texan billionaire Allen Stanford.
Mr Christian said his wife works for an offshore bank and he was stepping aside to avoid a possible conflict of interest.
Acting prime minister Harold Lovell said Friday that the government would soon name a new chief financial regulator.
Haiti stabilised, but poverty remains
Five years after a United Nations peace-keeping mission was launched in Haiti, security has improved and the political situation has stabilised, but most of the nine million inhabitants still live in poverty.
In an interview the mission's military commander, Brazilian General Floriano Peixoto, noted that "security does not fill the stomachs of the inhabitants and does not produce jobs".
He said international support was key to helping to develop Haiti, the poorest nation in the Americas, which occupies the western third of Hispaniola Island.
Some observers say a fragile balance exists that worries all Haitians, who claim that national forces - who lack training and equipment - are unable to maintain order.
Clinton headed to Haiti
Former US President Bill Clinton is due to make his first trip as United Nations special envoy to Haiti on Monday.
Mr Clinton's three-day mission will seek to ensure the world delivers on a $335 million aid pledge.
Three international organisations this week cancelled $1.2 billion of Haiti's debt.
Antiviral drugs donated
The US has announced it will provide 420,000 courses of the anti-viral medication Tamiflu to fight swine flu in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Health and Human Services Department said treating and preventing the virus helps the security of the region, as well as that of the United States.
St Vincent is the latest Caribbean nation to report a case of the virus.
The United Nations' top health official has said the worldwide spread of swine flu is now unstoppable.
Margaret Chan, the head of the World Health Organisation, was speaking at a global forum in Mexico, where the virus first took hold.
Dr Chan stressed that most cases of the H1N1 virus were mild.
St Vincent signs nuclear treaty
St Vincent and the Grenadines is the latest country to sign the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, according to the global nuclear watchdog.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said the signing ceremony took place on Thursday at United Nations Headquarters.
Thirty of the 33 States in Latin America and the Caribbean are now signatories to the treaty.
The three non-signatories are Dominica, Trinidad and Tobago and Cuba.
A standstill has been reached in the agency's investigation of Iran, a new diplomatic ally of St Vincent.
Caricom fund looking for more money
Barbados Prime Minister David Thompson has said the Regional Development Fund is searching for more money and is fine-tuning disbursement rules.
The fund was established to help disadvantaged sectors and countries of the Caricom Single Market.
Mr Thompson, whose country chairs the committee that's looking for money, said that so far the RDF's kitty has US$70 million.
It needs at least another $180 million.
He said rules for accessing the fund are being finalised as some countries need money immediately.