Roosevelt Skerrit first became Prime Minister in 2004

Dominica's Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has been sworn in for another term after leading his Labour Party to an overwhelming election win.

Mr Skerrit took the oath of office before President Nicholas Liverpool at a brief ceremony at the Office of the President.

The Labour Party won 18 seats in Friday's vote with the other three going to the United Workers Party.

The Opposition Leader in the last parliament, Ron Green, has said he would challenge a result which handed his old seat to the candidate of the governing party by two votes.

Mr Skerrit said he would delay naming his new cabinet until after Christmas.

Golding rethinks tax measures

The Jamaica government has announced that it will conduct a review of a US$249 million tax package unveiled on Thursday.

Prime Minister Bruce Golding said he wanted to determine if there are suitable revenue alternatives to support the programme negotiated with the International Monetary Fund.

The announcement came hours after the Opposition People's National Party said it would lead protests against the taxes which are scheduled to be imposed on 1 January.

Weather causing travel pains

The icy weather across Europe and North America has led to some flight delays and cancellations to and from the Caribbean.

The St Kitts and Nevis authorities said a major snow storm prevented American Airlines from operating its New York to St. Kitts service on Sunday.

The storm that paralyzed much of Maryland stranded 148 Jamaica-bound passengers on a plane for more than eight hours, according to witnesses.

They said the Air Jamaica flight was supposed to leave Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport at 7 a.m. Saturday but encountered problems with ice and snow and never left.

BA strike fear continues

A strike by British Airways cabin staff may have been averted this Christmas but the threat of industrial action remains.

The Financial Times newspaper says British holidaymakers planning to go to the Caribbean for the February school spring break may be particularly vulnerable to a renewed attempt at strike action.

The FT quoted tour operators as saying the next peak travel time union leaders might target for maximum impact would be the week of 15 February, when most schools are closed.

BA dominates flight schedules from the UK to the Caribbean, offering more than 50 flights a week, compared with about a dozen flights for Virgin Atlantic.

Pay-out to immigration detainee

US immigration officials have paid $47,500 to a detained Haitian woman who was denied treatment for uterine fibroid tumours, according to her attorneys.

The woman, identified only as "Rosemarie M" in court documents for privacy reasons, had suffered from daily bleeding and pain for months before immigration detained her in Florida in April.

Tania Galloni, an attorney at the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Centre, said medical records provided to the department showed that she needed surgery, but detention medical staff trivialized her complaints.

The woman underwent surgery 1 December. She was released from custody 11 days later after reaching a settlement with the department.

Questions remain about sailor's trip

Authorities in The Netherlands are trying to piece together how a teenage girl sailor managed to slip out of the country and fly to the Caribbean, and whether anybody helped her flee.

In October, a Dutch court had refused to let Laura Dekker, who's 14, try to become the youngest person to sail round the world alone - an ambition supported by her father.

The court also appointed a temporary guardian for her.

A police spokesman in the Netherlands said Laura was spotted in St Maarten by a resident who'd heard media reports of the girl's disappearance.

It was unclear whether she had any plans to use the territory as a start point for a sailing voyage.