Forex / Caribbean news

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (AP) - Caribbean leaders called for implementation of an existing law that would make it easier for skilled workers to seek employment throughout the region, hoping to bolster a sagging economy.Leaders from 11 countries are meeting privately through Wednesday in Barbados as part of the Caribbean Community's midyear summit...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Unemployment benefits data due out Thursday are forecast to show new claims dropped last week after rising unexpectedly the week before.New claims for the week ended June 23 are expected to drop to 318,000, according to the consensus estimate of Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson/IFR...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The House voted overwhelmingly Friday to delay for 17 months new rules requiring passports for U.S. land and sea travelers entering the United States from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda.The State Department has been flooded with passport applications since new rules requiring passports for air travelers went into effect in January...

WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. officials asked their Chinese counterparts to increase oversight of food and drug exports Thursday as the list of potentially deadly products reaching U.S. shores kept growing.The U.S. asked China to require exporters to register with the government, amid other measures meant to provide greater assurance of the safety of their products...

(AP) - Major business events and economic events scheduled for the coming week (some dates are tentative):MONDAY, May 7WASHINGTON -- Treasury bill auction, 2 p.m.; Federal Reserve reports on consumer credit for March, 3 p.m.SAN FRANCISCO -- McKesson Corp...

(AP) - Major business events and economic events scheduled for Tuesday:WASHINGTON -- Labor Department reports on consumer price index for March, 8:30 a.m.WASHINGTON -- Commerce Department reports on housing starts for March, 8:30 a.m.WASHINGTON -- Federal Reserve reports on industrial production for March, 9:15 a...

(AP) - Major business events and economic events scheduled for the coming week (some dates are tentative):MONDAY, April 16WASHINGTON -- Commerce Department reports on retail sales for March, 8:30 a.m.; Commerce Department reports on business inventories for February, 10 a...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - The owners of a large Dominican Republic nickel mine will consider refining oil to sell in this energy-starved Caribbean country, an Xstrata Nickel company spokesman said Wednesday.The company will hire a consultant to look into expanding an in-house oil refinery that services the former Falconbridge mine, some 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Santo Domingo, spokesman Ian Hamilton said by phone from Toronto...

(AP) - U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS: Oil refinery to shut several units next month for maintenanceSAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- Crews have erected scaffolding at the Hovensa refinery in the U.S. Virgin Islands to prepare for a scheduled round of maintenance and inspection that will require the shutdown of several processing units at the Western Hemisphere's second-largest oil refinery...

ROSEAU, Dominica (AP) - Dominica's main opposition party is urging the government to reject Venezuela's offer to build an oil refinery, saying it will damage the Caribbean nation's image as a nature island.United Workers Party leader Edison James said the government should instead seek to take control from Venezuela over the tiny, nearby Isla de Aves, or Bird Island, to help lure ecotourists...

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) - China is seeking to join the Inter-American Development Bank, Latin America's largest financing institution, as a way to fuel its economic development and increase its influence in the region, officials said Saturday.Bank President Luis Alberto will sign an agreement of understanding on Sunday with Zhou Xiaochuan, the head of the People Bank of China, to formalize talks over Beijing's request to become a member...

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) - Foreign energy investors said on Friday that they warned the Dominican Republic it had to mend its crippled power sector months before filing a US$680 million (euro510 million) lawsuit against the country for lost electricity revenue...

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) - A team of Czech experts are evaluating quarries in this Caribbean nation to help it improve mining operations and develop plans for maximum efficiency."We're developing a plan for our quarries where we're going to show people that you can mine in such a manner that it is attractive and sustainable," said Victor Cummings, minister of state in Jamaica's Ministry of Agriculture and Lands...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will visit Guatemala and Peru next week as the Bush administration continues efforts to repair ties with Latin America.The Treasury Department said Wednesday that Paulson would represent the United States at the annual meetings of the Inter-American Development Bank next week in Guatemala City...

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez shadowed his political foil President Bush on a tour of Western Hemisphere countries, stopping Monday in Jamaica to meet with the island nation's first female prime minister.Chavez, who left Nicaragua as crowds greeted Bush in Guatemala, made an unannounced stop in Montego Bay, a resort city in northwestern Jamaica -- a country that has taken advantage of Venezuela's Petrocaribe initiative to buy oil under preferential terms...

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - President Hugo Chavez said Friday that Venezuela is seeking to sell at least one more U.S.-based Citgo refinery because he would prefer to bring the benefits of the business to another country.Venezuela's state oil company, which wholly owns Citgo Petroleum Corp...

(AP) - CUBA: US commerce secretary sees no softening of policy toward communist-run islandWASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said Wednesday it would be a "great disservice" for the Cuban people if the United States eased economic and political ties with the island in the post-Fidel Castro era...

SUNRAY, Texas (AP) - Witness accounts to federal investigators looking into a fire at a Texas Panhandle refinery last week suggest that liquid propane ignited to cause the blaze, a U.S. Chemical Safety Board investigator said Wednesday.Liquid propane vaporizes quickly in the atmosphere and expands to form a vapor cloud, which ignited a short time after it was released, Don Holmstrom, a supervisory investigator for the board, said during a conference call...

KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent (AP) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Saturday touted the fuel facilities and public works projects his government has built in the Caribbean in an effort to make inroads in a region where the U.S. has long been dominant...

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will discuss plans with Dominica for a $80 million oil refinery on the island during his upcoming Caribbean trip, the government said.The proposed facility would be able to process up to 10,000 barrels a day and have enough capacity for Dominica to also export refined oil, the government said in a statement Thursday...