US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said on Tuesday that she supports President Rene Preval's position that elections should be held in quake-hit Haiti as soon as possible.

	Mr Preval wants elections held "as soon as possible"

Legislative elections that were originally set for February were postponed after the 12 January earthquake that demolished the capital Port-au-Prince, killing more than 220,000 people.

Mrs Clinton, standing next to President Preval at a news conference in Washington, said holding elections in Haiti as soon as possible was important.

Mr Preval himself told reporters that before he leaves office, there must be a new parliament and new president.

He is due to step down next February.

Suriname formalising route

Suriname is moving to formalise what's being described as an illegal immigration route with neighbouring Guyana.

At their end at Nickerie the Surinamese plan to build customs, police, immigration and port health authority facilities.

But the story is different at Skeldon, the Guyana end.

The government in Georgetown says Skeldon is not a designated port of entry and exit, and that using it to leave Guyana is illegal.

An estimated 400 Guyanese and Surinamese shuttle each day across the Corentyne River between these two points.

Cuba loosening reigns

A senior Cuban official is pushing for less state intervention in the economy, saying the government can no longer afford its all-encompassing control and paternalism.

Cuba's Economy Minister, Marino Murillo, is reported to have told Cuba's military officials that the "the gigantic paternalistic state can no longer be", because there is no longer any way to maintain it.

Cuba is grappling with a financial liquidity crisis triggered by the global recession which forced it to slash imports by 37% last year.

Inefficiencies in the country's centralised economy have also reduced productivity.

Alleged rapist chased by crowd

Vincentian police say they are searching for a man alleged to have raped a nine year old student at a primary school in a rural part of the country.

The police say the child has been hospitalised.

They are searching for the man described as an unstable individual who was released recently from the main Mental Health Facility in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

He is reported to have been chased by a pack of angry villagers as he ran naked out of the school's washroom after being discovered with the nine year-old.

Google welcomes relaxed restrictions

Internet search engine Google has welcomed a US decision to relax restrictions on exporting Internet communications services to Cuba, Iran and Sudan.

Director of policy communications Bob Boorstin said Google would now be able to offer some of its other products in these countries including the mapping satellite software Google Earth.