Caribbean Times 6th Issue - Monday 3rd October 2016

2 c a r i b b e a n t i m e s . a g
Monday 3rd October 2016
Government to toughen stance vs US
By Everton Barnes
Antigua and Barbuda is
to adopt a tougher stance
against the United States in
the ongoing dispute over the
gaming issue.
Antigua and Barbuda
won a judgment against the
US at the World Trade Organisation
over its right to
offer online gaming services
to Americans, but more than
a decade later, the US has
Editor’s Note
failed to abide by that ruling.
Now Ambassador Colin
Murdoch said the government
is eyeing the success of
two South American countries
and how they were able
to have court rulings implemented
against the European
Union in one case and the
United States in the other.
He noted that Ecuador
was able to leverage suspension
of intellectual property
rights which brought negotiators
for the European
Union to the bargaining table
to settle the case. In the
other matter, Brazil used the
same tactic to get the US to
settle.
Murdoch said the government
will likely threaten
to suspend the IP rights
in negotiations with the US
government and that the issue
was raised at the latest
round of discussion held just
two weeks ago.
According to the ambassador
the US action in the
gaming issue was illegal;
as it destroyed the second
most important industry in
the country when it made
it unlawful for US citizens
to engage in cross border
gaming. “This industry was
rising and becoming a major
player in the economy. The
US destroyed it. Thousands
of jobs were lost. We are not
going to let that go. We are
going to pursue this matter
until we get a satisfactory
resolution!” he declared.
Murdoch was speaking
on the Big Issues program
on Observer Radio. Also appearing
on the program was
third year student in International
and European law,
Jamal Francis, who called
for an end to negotiations on
the gaming issue which according
to him was getting
Antigua and Barbuda, ‘nowhere’.
He was highly critical
of the ‘diplomacy route’ as
this was leading the country
down a path with no end in
sight, and he urged the country
to adopt the strategy employed
by both Ecuador and
Brazil to have their matters
settled.
Caribbean Times is printed
and published at Woods
Estate/Friars Hill Road.
The Editor is Justin Peters.
Contact: Caribbean Times,
P.O. Box W2099,
Woods Estate/Friars Hill
Road,
St. John’s,
Antigua.
Tel: (268) 562-8688,
Fax: (268) 562-8685.
Visit us online at our website:
www. caribbeantimes.ag
We ask you to send:
Pertinent news items to
news@caribbeantimes.ag.
Advertisement inquiries to
accounts@caribbeantimes.ag.
Letters to the editor to
editor@caribbeantimes.ag
cont’d from pg 1
Cannabis into the country.
The drugs were concealed
inside several Cheese cans
and fruit juice cans. He is
remanded at Her Majesty’s
Prison awaiting trial.
Meanwhile, the police
are investigating the circumstances
surrounding a
shooting incident in Grays
Farm on Thursday, which
left a 25yrs-old man nursing
a gunshot wound.
The allegations are that
the Grays Farm resident was
hanging out at a shop on
Bridge Road, when a man
dressed in dark clothing,
wearing a mask, approached
him and opened fire. He
was injured in the process
and had to be transported
to the Mount St. Johns Hospital
with a gunshot wound
to his left leg. According to
doctors at Mount St. Johns
Medical Center, his injury
is not life threatening, and
his condition was reported
as stable. Further investigations
are currently ongoing
into the matter. The police
are appealing to anyone with
information surrounding this
incident to contact the Grays
Farm Police Station at 462-
0481, or the Criminal Investigations
Department at 462-
3913\14.