PORT AU PRINCE, Hait – The United Nations Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) is calling for an end to the abductions of women and children in Haiti, saying that for the first eight months of this year kidnappings have already exceeded last year’s total.

ST. JOHN’S, Antigua – A senior Chinese diplomat says the Caribbean region should not be viewed as a “battleground” where major countries form small circles pitted against one another.

GEORGETOWN, Guyana – Caribbean Community (CARICOM) foreign ministers have discussed the ongoing socio-economic and political situation in Haiti examining possible “modes” of intervention, according to a statement issued here by the Guyana-based CARICOM Secretariat.

GEORGETOWN, Guyana – Guyana has urged Caribbean governments to make disaster risk reduction a national priority and ensure mainstream disaster risk management into all aspects of their countries’ developmental efforts.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Caribbean nations of Jamaica, Haiti and St. Vincent and the Grenadines are among four countries due to receive more doses of COVID-19 vaccines through the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) Facility.

LONDON, UK – The London-based human rights watchdog Amnesty International claims that Curaçaoan and Dutch authorities have violated the rights of Venezuelans seeking international protection in Curaçao.

NEW YORK, NY - Hindu Caribbean nationals across the region and in the Caribbean Diaspora joined Hindus, Jains, Sikhs and some Buddhists, notably Newar Buddhists around the world to celebrate Diwali or the Festival of Lights on Thursday.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – A senior official of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Monday said the first economic policy for Caribbean countries hard hit by the coronavirus (COVID-19) is to improve health conditions and “for that, we need to accelerate vaccination campaigns to bring the pandemic under control.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Jamaica and Guyana are among four Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) member countries slated to benefit from 1.3 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines recently donated by the United States, Canada, Germany and Spain.

ST. JOHN’S, Antigua – Antigua and Barbuda celebrated its 40^th anniversary of political independence from Britain on Monday, overshadowed by the “seemingly endless litany of COVID-19 related ailments” that have curtailed the traditional celebrations.

MEXICO CITY, Mexico – The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) says regional countries have initiated the process to implement the Plan for Self-Sufficiency in Health Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean, approved unanimously by the Heads of State and Government of the 32 countries of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).

KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent – Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretary General, Dr. Carla Barnett will address the United nations Security Council on Friday when it meets to discuss the ongoing situation in Haiti, St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves has said.