Several hawkers who operate inside the facility say those selling on the sidewalks have an unfair advantage.

Greene told OBSERVER media that all vendors, who rent space inside the market, are able to shift their operations outside for a fee.

He says those operating illegally are the main culprits.

LISTEN:

Harris, an Antiguan by birth, says technology regions in the United States such as Utah and Silicon Valley, for example, are actively recruiting workers from around the world.

LISTEN:

On Wednesday, the US Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill to overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws.

Amongst other things, the bill would remove the requirement that companies look for US workers first, before hiring a foreign worker.

Harris says the immigration bill does not go far enough and should not be considered an overhaul like some politicians claim.

LISTEN:

The bill will next move to the floor of the senate. If passed there, it goes to the House of Representatives for approval before going to the president to be signed into law.

Ammar Ghazala, was shot in the upper body multiple times in an attempted robbery Wednesday night. He was pronounced dead at Mount St John’s Medical Centre (MSJMC) in the early hours of Thursday.

ST JOHN’S, Antigua – A fourth person has been gunned down for the year. The victim, Ammar Ghazala, was pronounced dead at Mount St John’s Medical Centre (MSJMC) in the early hours of Thursday (Today).
The 28-year-old Syrian national, who operated Omar’s Pizza on Factory Road, was attacked while sitting outside the fast food shop around 11:45 pm Wednesday.
According to police reports, a masked man, described to be slimly built and dark in complexion, held Ghazala and two patrons at gunpoint and demanded money.
During the incident, the robber fired several shots which struck the businessman in the abdomen multiple times.
Police said one of his patrons, a 31-year-old Buckley’s man, was also shot in the leg.
Investigators have issued an appeal to anyone with information to contact the Criminal Investigations Department at 462-3913 or 462-3914, or call Crime stoppers at 800-TIPS (8477).
Up to moments ago, the scene of the killing was cordoned off with yellow police caution tape.
In St John’s, numerous Syrian proprietors have closed business for the day out of respect for their murdered fellow country man.

In December, Executive Secretary of the Board of Education D Gisele Isaac said the library would be finished by June and operationalised by the start of the new school year in September.

“By June the project will be, if not complete, near completion because we are looking at operationalising the facility in time for the 2013 school year (in September),” Isaac told OBSERVER media at the time.

But OBSERVER now understands from contractors that delays have hit construction again and neither deadline is now likely to be met.

Project manager and architect Lowell Jarvis has declined to speak on the matter just yet, but promised a media walk through in the coming weeks.

Despite problems, though, sources said the library still seems likely to be completed this year.

Delays have plagued the construction of the public facility since it began in the early 1990s.

Most recently, work was halted for well over a year after fallout between the Board of Education and contractors.

An additional $250,000 payment to contractors helped smooth things over and construction restarted in January.

Since 2008, when the project was handed over to a local consortium of contractors, almost EC$10 million has been spent on attempting to finish the building.

In 2008 completion of the facility was budgeted at $6.4 million, which was provided by the BoE. After delays and unexpected problems, the Board agreed to provide a further $2.7 million in 2011 through a loan with Antigua Commercial Bank (ACB).

The BoE then paid a further $200,000 to the construction company ABCEL, last December and an additional $50,000 in January, as part of negotiations to have construction of the building resume.

It’s not clear how much Public Works spent on the building in the near two decades of construction before 2008.

Economist Lennox Weston

St. John’s Antigua- Suggestions that the Eastern Caribbean devalue its currency or adopt the US dollar, recently made by Moody’s Investment Services, have been deemed “foolish” by Economist Lennox Weston.

“Devaluation is based on the old model of having a commodity export sector where you can then lower the prices for the first world and you can hopefully grow your way out of these debts. That is foolishness,” he said.

In one of its weekly Credit Outlook reports published May 20, Moody’s suggested that the Caribbean countries are facing a “debt crisis.”

The agency said that Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) countries should devalue the EC currency in order to become more competitive on the international market, and to ultimately improve economic growth and fiscal imbalances.

Common economy theory states that the devaluation of a nation’s currency reduces the price foreigners pay for its goods, therefore increasing its exports, although imports, in turn, become more expensive.

Weston said this economic theory would not work as expected in Antigua & Barbuda as tourism is the main industry.

“Our main export in the Eastern Caribbean is a competitive industry called tourism. Lowering the cost will only lower our earnings. We don’t have any sugar and banana to export so that the prices will be lower and we can penetrate markets,” he said.

“Our fundamental infrastructure for manufacturing is not there. We are service-based economies.”

The Moody’s report admitted that the devaluation of the EC currency is highly unlikely as Caribbean countries rely “heavily” on food and fuel imports, which would, as a result of devaluation, become more expensive.

“We are open economies. We import much more that we export. So, if we devalue, basically things will become much more expensive,” Weston told OBSERVER media.

The opposition senator said the proposed devaluation could have the counter-effect of making it harder to service debt.

“Our debt burden will be higher because we have to find more local resources to pay off the existing US-denominated debt,” he said.

Weston also dismissed another of the report’s suggestions – for the region to adopt the US dollar as its main currency – as an attempt to make the region a “lackey” of America.

“We are virtually dollarised in the sense that we have nearly 100 per cent backing of our Eastern Caribbean currency with US dollars and if the US dollar is ever devalued it will wipe out our currency,” he added.

Weston said the “debt crisis” which the Caribbean is facing, is a result of an unlevelled economic playing field internationally.

“It is a problem mainly because the Caribbean countries have not found productive enterprises, which are internationally competitive, that they can use to earn the kind of income to generate the type of jobs to service their debt,” he said.

The senator said Caribbean debt is the result of the failure of the development models forced upon it by the international community.

“If they make development capital available to us at the rates at which first world countries have access to capital, then we will have a chance in terms of developing the infrastructure required to attract investors,” he added.

He said until the current open market model, where Antigua & Barbuda and other small states have to go head to head with larger nations, is removed the Caribbean will not be able to compete.

That’s the reason the operators decided to scrap the programme, not only here, but also in three other Eastern Caribbean countries where it is equally costly to function.

Local business manager for Magna, Andrea Winter-Bristol said customers have until mid-September to redeem Magna vouchers.

“We’re closing our operations in Antigua, St Vincent and Grenada. The cost to manage it has been too great so we are closing and like us, they also close operations on September 15. Our office would be closed from September 13 because September 15 is a Sunday,” the official said.

She explained that operators of the Magna Rewards Programme earned monies through merchants who would pay them six to seven per cent of their sales while customers would receive a cash voucher for one per cent of their total purchase.

The voucher could be used to make purchases at any business that subscribes to the Magna Rewards programme.

Winter-Bristol said because of the small size of the Eastern Caribbean islands and the fact only few merchants subscribed to the Magna programme, the operation was unprofitable neither could it cover its own expenses.

The programme was scrapped at the end of March and all Magna Reward Cards became useless from March 31.

However, card users who earned points earned up to that day, can redeem vouchers which are valid until September 15.

Winter-Bristol said customers could pick up Magna Reward vouchers from the Newgate Street office located in Island House.

The Chinese-funded terminal will now cost US 75 million – an increase of US $30 million from the initially announced sum of US $45 million. (Photo by Martina Johnson)

St. John’s Antigua- The new VC Bird International Airport terminal will be completed later than expected and the cost for the facility has been revised upwards, the Antigua & Barbuda Airport Authority confirmed on Wednesday.

The Chinese-funded terminal will now cost US 75 million – an increase of US $30 million from the initially announced sum of US $45 million.

Completion of the terminal, originally carded for December 2013, will now happen four months later, in April of 2014.

In announcing these developments, B T Lewis, the engineer overseeing the operations from the airport authority’s end said the delay and additional costs are both due to construction of a new wing of the building, which started in January.

“We had expected that this addition would have started either June or July last year,” Lewis said.

The engineer explained that the original master plan for the terminal called for floor space of 23,000 square meters but construction started with only 17,000 – a deviation from the master plan.

He said for some reason unknown to him, the original project was shelved, “and when it was resurrected, we were told the money that was available for the 23,000 square meter building was no longer there.”

Lewis said construction started on the facility with floor space of 17,000 square meters in January of 2012 and it was only in 2013 that the additional 7,000 square meters of space was approved.

With construction now ongoing for the originally intended size of the building, Lewis has been able to put aside rumours that the building is smaller than the existing terminal.

“That building is more than 50 per  cent bigger than the existing terminal without the addition,” Lewis told OBSERVER media.

The new price tag for the airport will include the car park, which is also under construction adjacent to the terminal. The US $75 million will also include the cost of United States-manufactured generators.

The announcement by Lewis came after questions were raised about the quality of work and level of local supervision of the project being undertaken by the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation.

Lewis said at every stage of the project, from finalisation of the design to the current stage of construction, local authorities have been engaged.

“It’s a government building and Cabinet made the decision that Public Works must be involved, so before any work started, Public Works was involved along with members of the airport authority.”

Government hopes that the new terminal will significantly increase the country’s ability to accommodate larger numbers of visitors and will allow Antigua & Barbuda to effectively handle larger aircraft and more frequent flights.

It will boast three jet bridges – a first in the OECS region – as well as more space for airlines, airport security personnel and immigration.

The victim was gunned down on a dirt road while allegedly on his way to purchase cattle on August 21, 2010. He was reportedly shot in the right arm and died on the scene.

On trial for his murder are Lasana Anthony Riley, Jevorny Richards and Chester Joseph.

Kelvin Galloway of Gray Hill, who was transporting George to procure the cattle, testified that while driving on a dirt road in Bendals, two men brandishing firearms emerged from some nearby bushes.

Galloway said before the vehicle could come to a stop, one of the bandits whom he described as a “Rasta man” fired a single shot through the vehicle’s window.

He said George was shot in the right arm.

“Two guys ran up on the right side of the truck and one of them fired a shot into the truck. Then I saw Rondel (George) bleeding from his right arm.

“At the same time I felt a burning in my hip. When I looked down, I realized I got shot too. I saw blood at my right hip,” Galloway told the court.

The witness said the other attacker, whose hair was braided, came to the driver’s side of the vehicle, where he was and demanded his money and cell phone.

Galloway testified that after handing over his possessions, he was ordered to the ground.

He said the man took his clothing (vest and basketball shorts) before fleeing into the bushes with his accomplice.

The carpenter and trucker said he went to check on George, who was still inside the vehicle.

“After the men left, I went back to the truck and called Rondel (George). He was not moving, so I shook him. So, he still was not moving. So I went to the back of the truck for an overall I had.

“I put on the overall and ran to the main road to look (for) help. I went to a bakery next to the clinic. I asked for a phone call, but did not get it,” Galloway said.

He testified that he then ran to the home of his daughter’s great grandmother, who lives in the area, and telephoned his brother.

His sibling and a police inspector arrived on the scene and the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) was summoned.

Police subsequently came and investigations were conducted.

Galloway was transported to the hospital.

On October 6, about 10:30 am, he picked Riley from an identification parade at Langfords Police Station.

The following day about 2:30 pm Galloway identified Richards from an ID parade as the person who robbed him.

He was asked if any of the men who robbed him were present in court. Galloway pointed to Riley, who sports dreadlocks and Richards, whose hair was not braided, but in a short Afro.

During cross-examination by attorney Ralph Francis, who is defending Richards, the Gray Hill man said the men’s faces were not covered.

Galloway, who admitted he was frightened and concerned for his safety and wellbeing, said he could have missed “something in fright.”

In response to a question by attorney Steadroy “Cutie” Benjamin, who is defending Joseph, Galloway told the court the young man was not on the scene during the robbery and shooting.

He said the ordeal lasted for about 25 minutes adding he could see the faces of both men at all times.

George Lake asked Galloway whether his client, Lasana Riley took money from him, and he said no.

He also said that he did not see Riley approach George and take money from him.

One of the prosecution’s five witnesses who testified yesterday will have to be recalled because she appeared nervous and incoherent.

The woman did not give answers to direct questions being asked of her.

The trial continues this morning, when Constable Frestan (Spencer) Ireland will read Riley’s interview into evidence.

Shannon Jones is assisting Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Anthony Armstrong in prosecuting the case.