The Washington-based financial institution said about 1.8 million women and children in the earthquake-ravaged, French-speaking Caribbean country will benefit from one grant from the International Development Association (IDA), approved by the Board of Directors of the World Bank.

The World Bank said the US$70 million grant will increase access to maternal and child basic health services, “while the whole economy will benefit from another grant for US$20 million, which will improve the country’s business climate to attract private investment and generate growth”.

It said that three-and-a-half years after the earthquake, the Haitian government and partners are shifting their focus to lifting the structural bottlenecks that hamper the country’s long-term development, said Alexandre V. Abrantes, the World Bank’s Special Envoy to Haiti.

“These projects aim to improve Haiti’s outlook for the future by improving the health status of Haitian families, building a stronger health system, creating jobs and jumpstarting sustainable growth,” he added.

Abrantes said the US$70 million Improving Maternal and Child Health through Integrated Social Services Project will increase access to and use of maternal and child health, nutrition and social services in at least three departments: West, Northeast and Northwest.

He said the project, which is co-financed by a US$20 million grant from the Multi-donor Trust Fund for Health Results Innovation, will benefit 1.8 million people, including pregnant women, children under five and vulnerable families.

Specifically, Abrantes said the project will provide 450,000 women access to free reproductive health services, including family planning, prenatal care, delivery services, and breast-feeding support.

It will also provide more than one million people with preventive and basic curative services for cholera, diarrhoea, tuberculosis, and other childhood diseases, as well as 180,000 children under five with immunizations and vitamin supplements.

Abrantes said the project will support the Haitian government to set-up a mechanism for contracting existing health facilities to provide services at a quality standard of care.

In addition, he said it will provide support to the most vulnerable families in the project area through a network of community agents (Kore Fanmi), “who will deliver basic nutrition and social services, and refer them to health and other service providers”.

Abrantes said the second project for US$20 million, Business Development and Investment Project, “will foster economy-wide business environment reforms, in order to spur local and foreign private investment and job creation in light manufacturing, apparel, tourism and agribusiness, among others”.

He said this project includes a plan to support the growth of micro, small and medium enterprises by simplifying procedures to obtain operational licenses and certifications, as well as improving access to finance and transparency in competition.

The World Bank official said the project will also improve the regulatory and institutional framework governing Integrated Economic Zones (IEZs), and assist the government in the preparation of feasibility studies for at least one new IEZ outside of Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital.

By providing training and technical assistance, the project will build the capacity of micro, small and medium enterprises and help them increase production volume, standardize products, reduce costs and increase income through investment grants, Abrantes said.

The World Bank said it supports government efforts to reduce the Haiti’s  vulnerability to natural disasters, reconstruct critical infrastructure, build human capital, promote decentralized and inclusive growth, and strengthen governance.

“Continuing technical and financial support in key areas, such as service delivery and investment for growth, is of the outmost importance for the country’s reconstruction and long-term development,” it said.

In this nexus, the World Bank said IDA allocated US$500 million to Haiti for the 2012-2014 period, of which US$385 million have been provided to date in form of investment projects and development policy grants.

A government statement Wednesday said that the two leaders also discussed co operation in the economic, commercial and investment fields.

The statement said that the meeting was attended by several high ranking Kuwaiti officials and that Dr. Douglas, who is leading a three-member delegation, also met the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah at the Bayan Palace.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Energy and Ports, Lucien Blackmore, speaking at a function organised by the Dominica Association of Industry and Commerce (DAIC), said  the Roosevelt Skerrit government is exploring the possibility of developing the geothermal potential in the southern and northern sections of the island.

“In Dominica we still know we have the south, the Soufriere source field, and of course we are looking at starting very soon after we get it right with Wotten Waven and to look into the northern parts of the country as well,” he told the business community.

Blackmoore said the government is looking at “the production facility picking up by 2015 and to start up we would want to start with the domestic plant at 2015.”

“We are looking at 10 megawatts … within an additional year, say by 2016, an additional five megawatts. So by the end of 2016 we will have 15 megawatts of power coming from geothermal on our local grid (and) by 2018 we should have 20 megawatts available to the local grid.”

The government has spent millions of dollars to date developing the geothermal energy project here and Blackmoore said that the project would also be beneficial to regional development.

“We have heard geothermal is not only a question of producing power for Dominica  but also seeing it as a serious means of regional integration and we can think of no better way of starting as we say ‘charity begins at home’.

“Normally our neighbours are an extension of our family and of course the department of Guadeloupe and Martinique has been intimately involved in the project process from inception,” he added.

He said with the necessary arrangements in place, Dominica will ensure that by 2018, 40 megawatts of geothermal energy will be exported to Martinique and 50 megawatts to Guadeloupe by 2020.

Project Officer in the ministry of Energy and Ports, Alexis George, said the project is a national priority and will seek to enhance competitiveness.

“The geothermal resource development is indeed a national priority it is a very big project and it is cutting across all sectors of the economy.

“We recognize that the geothermal resource is about bringing about cheaper, more affordable electricity to the community and the country of Dominica,” he added.

The Philippines coast guard says its crew acted in self-defense, believing the Taiwanese fishing boat was trying to ram its vessel. A Taiwanese investigation in tghe May incident found 59 bullet holes in the fishing boat.

Prime Minister Dr. Denzil L. Douglas in a message to the Taiwanese Resident Ambassador described the death as an “unfortunate development that has seemingly heightened tensions at the diplomatic level and could result in the untimely escalation of conflict between both countries.

“We express our firm solidarity with your government, your beloved country and people at this difficult time,” said Dr. Douglas, adding that as a strong ally and close international partner Taiwan, the twin island Federation stands unequivocally in its support to the decisive measures taken by the Taiwan government in response to the atrocity which demonstrated frivolous disregard for human life.

“Notwithstanding, in the interest of peace and security, St. Kitts and Nevis would like to recommend that both parties exercise restraint. We are of the view that this maritime boundary dispute could be settled through collaboration and without recourse to military force or coercion, which could result in further loss of lives, if not resolved amicably,” said the Prime Minister.

“St. Kitts and Nevis expresses continues support for the Government and people of the Republic of China and looks forward to the timely resolution of this matter,” he said.

Meanwhile, Taiwan in its latest statement on the matter said negotiations have taken place between the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in the Philippines and the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) in Taiwan.

During the two-hour meeting, the two sides agreed to provide mutual legal assistance when requested, which laid the groundwork for cooperating on the investigation into the incident.

Prime Minister Kenny Anthony

CASTRIES, St. Lucia, May 22, CMC – The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) Wednesday began its 43rd Board of Governors meeting here with St. Lucia’s Prime Minister Dr. Kenny Anthony calling on the international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to develop a new strategic partnership with the region.

Anthony, in a wide ranging address to the governors that also include heads of governments, finance ministers and representatives of developed countries, such as Britain and Canada, said that the financial institutions “prescribe for us but very rarely do we tell them what we expect of them, what we want from them”.

He said the international institutions, of which the region holds membership, must be able to “facilitate our integration into the global economy.

“To do this we must be must be very clear of our objectives and our relations with these institutions. The IMF for instance, must join with us to petition the international community for special terms on which debt can either be restructured or reduced.

“If the institution insists that debt above certain levels is a binding constraint on growth and countries have exhausted all the avenues recommended by them, then the international community will have to play a critical role so that growth can be re-started”.

Anthony said also that the World Bank group must also be encouraged to mobilise significant funding on reasonable terms for infrastructural development “and to re-start the growth process.

“In addition, through the IFC, they need to make major efforts, along with the governments at the national level, with developing the domestic private sector and to encourage the entry of foreign investments in the sectors identified for leading the growth process”.

Anthony, the outgoing chairman of the region’s premier lending banking institution, said “concentrated effort is needed by the World Bank group to get the engine of growth moving again.

“”I want to suggest that we look into the possibility of creating a consortium like the former Caribbean Group for Cooperation for Economic Development which was responsible for significant success in mobilising substantial funding in the 1980s when the region experienced one of its fastest rates of growth”.

The St. Lucia Prime Minister said that the various initiatives now being undertaken by the IMF with the discussion on small states, the World Bank and the Caribbean Growth Forum “can culminate in such an institutional framework to pursue certain…objectives with specific timelines.

Anthony said even the World Trade Organization (WTO), “despite the pain it has unleashed on the banana producing countries of the region, is crucial to the integration of the region into the international financial system.

“The region has to devise a strategy to treat with the trade and access to markets for existing and new goods and services. You will have to jointly on a regional basis devote the requite resources to the hosting of opportunities and making the connections to successfully insert ourselves into the major supply chains that service international trade.”

Anthony said that the United Nations has a number of agencies which can be vital in “facilitating the restructuring of our domestic economies and their insertions into global economy”.

But he made it clear, “we need to be selective and form a clear…view of our approach to all of these institutions of which we are members.

“The way forward is not going to be easy, but sheer necessity suggests we need address this perennial economic problem, not only with new vigour, but with new ideas and commitment,” Anthony said, adding that the “case must be made for stocktaking of the most fundamental kind.

“The challenges we face are so monumental …that these reflections and thinking, as often said out of the box, are not optional. We are at the cross roads, it is definitely required”.

Anthony warned the governors that if the Caribbean countries continue along the same socio-economic path they would be heading for an “unsatisfactory outcome.

“We need to find another way to secure a different outcome. Better outcomes, however, will not appear out of thin air,” he warned.

“In short, things will not resolve themselves  if left alone and so we need good governance, technical and administrative capacities and social consensus and accountability to effect change and achieve success,” Anthony said, outlining three scenarios that are possible in this conjecture.

He said the countries could maintain their current policies, change the policies while the international community remains in current faze or thirdly “both circumstances change leading to increased growth and economic transformation iof we have the appropriate policy”.

Francesco Schettino, the captain of the Costa Concordia, will be tried for dereliction of duty and several manslaughter charges in an incident that left 32 people dead.

The ruling came in a preliminary hearing in the city of Grosseto.

The men are now en route to the capital, Cairo, Ahmed Mohammed Ali said on his official Facebook page.

Their release is a result of “the efforts made by the Egyptian military intelligence services with the cooperation of the tribal sheikhs and the noble people of Sinai,” he said.

After the news, Egyptian authorities reopened the Rafah border crossing into Gaza in both directions, Egypt’s state-run news agency Egy News reported.

The crossing was closed for five days by Egyptian security forces to protest the kidnapping of their fellow soldiers, the official Jordanian news agency Petra said.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniya congratulated Egypt on the release of the soldiers, calling it a “major achievement by the Egyptian military and a reassurance of the Egyptian sovereignty in Sinai,” Egy News reported.

Gaza has been controlled by Hamas, a militant Islamic group that does not recognize Israel, since 2006. Some in the Egyptian armed forces reportedly suspect it of supporting radical Islamists in the Sinai Peninsula.

Hamas on Sunday rejected allegations that it played a role in the kidnapping of the soldiers. “The only beneficiary of the problematic developments at the Rafah crossing in the southern Gaza Strip is the Zionist occupation,” said Hamas spokesman Salah Bardawil, according to the Hamas website.

It’s not yet clear who kidnapped the seven soldiers or how their release was secured.

Radical Islamist militant activity has been on the rise in the Sinai.

The official Egypt State Information Service reported Tuesday that a military operation was planned to secure the soldiers’ release but it cited presidential spokesman Omar Amer as saying only that all options were open.

Amer said Monday that Egypt would deal “decisively” with the kidnapping situation, the news agency reported.

The government wanted to ensure the safe release of the soldiers and was determined that the same scenario should not occur again, Amer was quoted as saying.

The Egyptian army sent dozens of armored vehicles and personnel carriers across the Suez Canal into North Sinai early Monday, the news agency said.

This comes amid an uptick of violence across Iraq, most prominently Sunni-Shiite sectarian strife. But religious extremists from both persuasions who have targeted the prostitution business over the last decade have claimed many lives. No one has claimed responsibility and police are investigating.

The incident occurred in Zayouna, a religiously mixed neighborhood with several brothels. Police say seven gunmen shot dead five men and seven women and wounded a man and a woman. One of the gunmen wrote “Wanted” on the wall of the house.

Bombings in Iraq kill 19 people as worries over sectarian violence grow

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, right, and Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei wave during a conference in Tehran on May 11

Tehran (CNN) — Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will challenge the disqualification of his top aide from next month’s presidential election, Iran’s state-run Press TV reported Wednesday.

Only eight candidates have been approved to run for office from more than 680 candidates who had registered for the June 14 election.

Along with Ahmadinejad’s aide, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, the name of former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was also notably absent from the list of approved nominees, as was that of former Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.

The vetting process was carried out by Iran’s Guardian Council, the country’s most influential clerical body, which operates under the watchful eyes of Supreme Leader Seyed Ali Khamenei.

Ahmadinejad appealed for his supporters to be patient Wednesday, saying on his website that he would seek help from Khamenei.

Ahmedinejad said “the rights of the oppressed will not be trampled on in a country where there exists a supreme religious leader,” referring to Khamenei, and insisted that he expected the issue to “be resolved.”

Ahmadinejad, who is term-limited and so cannot run for a third consecutive term, has been grooming Mashaei to take over for years.

The head of Rafsanjani’s election campaign office said the former president will not object to the Guardian Council’s decision, Press TV reported.

The eight approved nominees, whose names were released by Iran’s Interior Ministry late Tuesday, are:

– Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, a former Parliament speaker whose daughter is married to Khamenei’s son;

– Saeed Jalili, Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, who also represents Iran in talks with the European Union;

– Mohsen Rezaei, currently a member of the Expediency Council and formerly the country’s top commander during the war with Iraq;

– Hassan Rouhani, currently head of the Center for Strategic Studies and Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator under former President Mohammad Khatami.

– Mohammad Reza Aref, an education minister in the Khatami presidency who could be characterized as independent;

– Mohammad Ghalibaf, a member of the Revolution Guard’s Corp and currently the mayor of Tehran;

– Mohammad Gharazi, a minister during Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani’s presidency;

– Ali Akbar Velayati, twice foreign minister during the Rafsanjani presidency and currently the supreme leader’s top adviser.

Among the approved nominees, only Gharazi, Aref and Rouhani are not known to be devout followers of Khamenei.

The run-up to the elections has been characterized by factionalism and political infighting, observers say.

Four years ago, Ahmadinejad’s reelection sparked mass protests amid claims of electoral fraud. His chief rival, reformist Mir Hossein Moussavi, became a leader of the opposition Green Movement along with Mehdi Karrubi. The two subsequently were placed under house arrest, where they remain.

Rafsanjani’s last-minute registration on Saturday had the potential to change the face of the election.

Rafsanjani, who served two terms as president from 1989 to 1997, has long been a staunch critic and bitter political rival of Ahmadinejad.

Weeks after the 2009 elections, Rafsanjani condemned the regime’s violent crackdown against the opposition movement and spoke out for the people’s right to peacefully protest. He later toned down the attacks and made statements of apparent support of the regime and Khamenei.

He is widely believed to be one of the wealthiest and most politically powerful men in Iran.

A government news website cited the Interior Ministry’s elections chief, Seyed Solat Mortazavi, as saying official campaigning would begin on Friday and last for 20 days, ending June 12.

Voters also will elect members of city and rural Islamic councils on June 14.

Iran’s semiofficial Fars news agency said the eight presidential candidates would collectively have 539 hours of free TV and radio time to outline their plans.

“We’ll try to get it passed as soon as I can,” Glenn Lewis said.

The ordinance would apply to single-family and multifamily homes.

At least 24 people, including nine children, were killed in Monday’s mammoth tornado, the state medical examiner’s office said. Another 324 people were injured, Gov. Mary Fallin said Wednesday.

Lewis said he does not expect the death toll to rise.

But some loved ones are still missing after the twister ripped through 17 miles of central Oklahoma and pummeled 2,400 homes.

Cassandra Jenkins has no idea what happened to her grandparents, more than a day after the twister struck their hometown of Moore.

“All we know is that their home is still left standing. However, they have not been seen or heard from since the storm hit,” she said as her daughters clutched photos of their great-grandparents.

“We’ve tried to locate them at every hospital, every shelter, every Red Cross. Anything we could possibly reach out to, we have.”

Young lives remembered

One of the most heartbreaking scenes in Moore is the pile of wreckage where Plaza Towers Elementary School once stood.

Seven of the nine children killed in the storm were inside the school when it collapsed.

The children were in a classroom, Moore Fire Chief Gary Bird told CNN Wednesday. He also said their deaths “had nothing to do with flooding, from what I understand.” On Tuesday, Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb told CNN the youngsters had drowned in a school basement.

Local resident Adam Baker told CNN he rushed to the school to help in the aftermath. He found some children who had died in a shallow space.

“The ones that were deceased had bumps, scrapes, and they probably would have made it if they weren’t pinned. It looked like most of them just drowned — all blue and stuff.” Pieces of pipe, metal, desks, 2-by-4s, and other debris were on them, he said.

Officials have not yet released official causes of death.

Ja’Nae Hornsby, 9, was one of them.

“There’s no other kid like her,” Ja’Nae’s aunt Angela Hornsby said. “She’s the sweetest thing, the bossiest thing, the most fun, always trying to make us laugh.”

Ja’Nae’s father, Joshua Hornsby, isn’t ready to accept that his little girl is gone.

“I’m still hoping for that call to say, ‘We’ve made a mistake,’” he said. “I just pray that’s what it is.”

Destruction on a colossal scale

Damage assessments Tuesday showed the tornado had winds over 200 mph at times, making it an EF5 — the strongest category of tornadoes measured, the National Weather Service said.

Lewis said the devastation was so catastrophic that city officials rushed to print new street signs to help guide rescuers and residents through the newly mangled and unfamiliar landscape.

Insurance claims related to damage from Monday’s tornado and storm in metropolitan Oklahoma City are likely to top $2 billion, said Kelly Collins, a representative of the Oklahoma Insurance Department.

Craig Fugate, the Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator, told CNN the agency is in “good shape” to support the recovery in Oklahoma and in other disaster zones, such as rebuilding after Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey and New York. “We got full allocation last year with the Sandy supplemental funds. We are looking to continue the response here as well as the previous disasters.”

But “if we have another hurricane, we may need more money,” he said Wednesday.

About 10,000 customers remained without power on Wednesday, down from 37,000, Governor Fallin said.

Those helping in Moore include police and firefighters from Joplin, Missouri — a city all too familiar with grief and devastation.

Wednesday marks the second anniversary of the tornado that pulverized Joplin, killing at least 158 people. It was the deadliest single U.S. tornado since federal record-keeping began in 1950.

“We remember the amount of assistance that we received following the tornado two years ago, and we want to help others as they helped us,” Joplin City Manager Mark Rohr said.

“We know too well what their community is facing, and we feel an obligation to serve them as they have served us.”

‘Still can’t believe this’

Some residents of Moore ventured back to where their homes once stood, only to find unrecognizable scraps of their lives.

“You just want to break down and cry,” Steve Wilkerson said, his voice trembling.

He held a laundry basket that contained the few intact belongings he could find.

“I still can’t believe this is happening. You work 20 years, and then it’s gone in 15 minutes.”