A Package of News Briefs From the Caribbean

CARIBBEAN: Foreign ministers to meet in Barbados to discuss U.N. reform

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) - Caribbean foreign ministers will meet in Barbados next week to seek a common regional position on how to reform the U.N. Security Council, an official said Thursday.

Germany, Brazil, India, Japan, and South Africa have been pushing proposals to expand the council or to have a system of rotation that will permit other countries to sit on it.

The one-day meeting in Barbados Wednesday follows a decision made at a Caribbean Community summit in Suriname last month to study the proposals before July, when Caribbean leaders meet again in St. Lucia, Guyana Foreign Minister Rudy Insanally said.

The permanent peacekeeping body of the United Nations, the Security Council is composed of five permanent members - China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States - and 10 elected members.

HAITI: Gunfire erupts at pro-Aristide protest, killing at least one

CITE SOLEIL, Haiti (AP) - Gunfire erupted Thursday outside Haiti's capital at a protest of several thousand people calling for the return of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and at least one man was killed and another injured, witnesses said.

The shooting follows a spate of violence this week that saw two U.N. peacekeepers and two ex-soldiers killed in clashes, and gunmen open fire on the house of Haiti's justice minister, killing a police officer. The attacks underscored the country's shaky security climate ahead of fall elections.

Thursday's protest started peacefully in the seaside slum of Cite Soleil with marchers waving photos of Aristide, who was ousted from power last year, and chanting "Aristide forever!"

Several gunshots rang out as the demonstrators approached the local police station, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene. The origin of the gunfire was not clear and police officers immediately dropped to the ground but did not open fire. No injuries were reported at that point.

DOMINICA: China funds sports stadium

ROSEAU, Dominica (AP) - China signed an agreement to fund a sports stadium in Dominica, one year after the Caribbean island severed ties with Taiwan to establish diplomatic relations with the Asian economic giant, officials said.

China's Minister of Commerce Liao Xiaogi signed the US$12.3 million agreement at a ceremony Wednesday in Windsor Park, where the 8,000-seat stadium will be built in the capital, Roseau.

"China and Dominica are both developing countries and are committed to the common path of developing their national economies and improving the living standards of their people," Liao said.

This former British colony is one of the poorest in the region. It cut ties with Taiwan in March of 2004 in exchange for a six-year, Eastern Caribbean $300 million (US$112 million) Chinese assistance program.

The package includes plans to build the sports stadium and a middle school, renovate hospital wards, and upgrade a road to link the capital and the island's second largest city, Portsmouth.

PUERTO RICO: Man charged with murdering new boyfriend of ex-girlfriend

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - Police charged a man with murdering the new boyfriend of his elderly ex-girlfriend in Puerto Rico, authorities said Thursday.

Luis Ramos Morales, 44, of north-coast Camuy, was charged with first-degree murder and weapons violations, police said. He could not post $1.5 million bail and Superior Court Judge Jose Diaz Espinosa ordered Ramos to remain in custody until a preliminary hearing April 11.

Ramos allegedly stabbed 23-year-old Jose Rosa Muniz 18 times on Wednesday, authorities said. Muniz was found dead on the balcony of his home.

A 62-year-old woman Ramos had been involved with for the past 23 years broke up with him about three months ago and started a relationship with the younger Rosa Muniz, police said.

Source: The Associated Press