Madagascar Development

The United States Virgin Islands are a U.S. territory. It’s known for its white-sandy beaches with clear crystal waters and verdant hills. The main islands consist of St. Croix, St. John and St. Thomas and are all unique with adventurous things to do with 1.5 million tourists visiting this small American territory for over the past years. Only 400 miles away another territory of United States, Puerto Rico its neighbor, are similar in culture, climate and is under the same administration the United States of America. USVI government officials scramble to stave off the same kind of fiscal collapse that its neighbor Puerto Rico has encountered. The general debts of the Virgin Islands are smaller than those in Puerto Rico, which effectively made them declare bankruptcy two months ago during May 2017. Then it’s population of 3.4 million and its ability to pay. Compare to this unique territory of roughly 106,000 people, which owes $65 million to creditors and pensioners. They’re combi...

Puerto Rico's governor said Friday that he will go to court to fight a federal control board's call to cut a public pension system by 10 percent, furlough tens of thousands of government workers and eliminate Christmas bonuses. The comments by Gov. Ricardo Rossello come amid rising tensions between his administration and the board created by Congress last year to oversee the finances of a U.S. territory mired in a 10-year  recession . "We will take any steps necessary to protect the people of  Puerto Rico ," Rossello said. He said the board cannot impose those measures unilaterally by July 1 without the consent of his administration. A spokesman for the seven-member board did not respond to a request for comment. The board has proposed furloughs of two days a month for teachers and four days a month for other government workers as a way to cut  government spending  by up to $40 million a month in savings. In addition, all Christmas bonuses could be elimina...

NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with Carla Minet, executive director of the Center for Investigative Journalism in Puerto Rico, about the election Sunday in which people chose to make their island the 51st U.S. state. Turnout was small, and the referendum is non-binding. ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: Yesterday Puerto Rico held a non-binding referendum on whether to become a U.S. state, and 97 percent of people voted yes. But fewer than 1 in 4 Puerto Ricans actually voted. Opposition parties boycotted it. Carla Minet is executive director of The Center for Investigative Journalism in Puerto Rico. And considering the low turnout, I asked her, how do people in Puerto Rico really feel about statehood? CARLA MINET: As you may know, Puerto Rico is a colony of the United States since 1898. We have an official non-incorporated territorial status. So Puerto Ricans have been in this dilemma for as long as we have lived. Yesterday was just the fifth time we've been consulted about this issue. And t...

Amid a financial crisis, the Puerto Rican government has proposed cutting nearly $500 million from the university's budget. Students and faculty say it would cripple the leading institution. MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Now to Puerto Rico where the financial crisis has meant big trouble at the U.S. territory's largest public university. For nearly two months, students have been on strike, an action that has shut down classes for more than 50,000 students. From San Juan, NPR's Greg Allen filed this report. GREG ALLEN, BYLINE: At the University of Puerto Rico in a San Juan suburb, the normally bustling campus is now strangely empty. In the center, there's an ornate bell tower with a banner hanging from it. It says revolution, damn it. MINETTE BONILLA: It's been a really, like, symbolic space for the fight. ALLEN: Minette Bonilla is an architecture student who was set to graduate in June. Since the end of March, she's been not in classes, but part of a student g...

Puerto Rico  will begin its bankruptcy proceedings on May 17  in San Juan with a series of requests for managing the  case as the commonwealth begins restructuring 70 Billion Dollar debt.  Puerto Rico Is Bankrupt - Hearing On May 17

U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts on Friday appointed a federal judge based in Manhattan to oversee Puerto Rico's landmark bankruptcy case two days after the island's government filed for protection from creditors. In a brief statement, Roberts said he had designated U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain of the Southern District of New York to handle the biggest bankruptcy in the history of the U.S. municipal debt market. Puerto Rico, which has roughly $70 billion in debt, filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday.. Some of its public agencies are expected to do the same in coming days. Because the U.S. territory is not eligible for traditional bankruptcy protection, the filing came under Title III of PROMESA, the federal Puerto Rico rescue law passed last year. "I see the selection as a sign that Chief Justice Roberts knows very well the importance of this case and the need for the case to be perceived as having a fair process," said Melissa Jacoby, bankruptcy expert ...

In April, the U.S. economy added 211,000 jobs and the unemployment rate fell to a new post-crisis low of 4.4%. Wages, which are closely tracked by the Federal Reserve, rose 0.3% month-on-month, as expected. The the annual increase in wages, however, disappointed with wages up just 2.5% over the same month last year. The underemployment rate fell to 8.6% after hitting a post-crisis low of 8.9% in March. Last month, Gary Cohn, President Trump’s chief economic advisor, said the administration is focused on the underemployment rate. Capping a busy week for markets and political news, the report was expected to show a rebound in hiring last month after March’s report disappointed. April report tops expectations, unemployment rate rebounds

With its creditors at its heels and its coffers depleted, Puerto Rico sought what is essentially bankruptcy relief in federal court on Wednesday, the first time in history that an American state or territory had taken the extraordinary measure. The action sent Puerto Rico, whose approximately $123 billion in debt and pension obligations far exceeds the $18 billion bankruptcy filed by Detroit in 2013, to uncharted ground. While the court proceedings could eventually make the island solvent for the first time in decades, the more immediate repercussions will likely be grim: Government workers will forgo pension money, public health and infrastructure projects will go wanting, and the “brain drain” the island has been suffering as professionals move to the mainland could intensify. Puerto Rico is “unable to provide its citizens effective services” because of the crushing weight of its debt, according to a filing on Wednesday by the federal board that has supervised the island’s...

President Donald Trump has put Puerto Rico straight in his Twitter crosshairs in an attempt to tie the island's financial situation to partisan budget negotiations on Capitol Hill. On Wednesday night, Trump tweeted that "Democrats are trying to bail out insurance companies from disastrous  #ObamaCare , and Puerto Rico with your tax dollars. Sad!" On Thursday morning, he tweeted that Democrats "want to shut government if we don't bail out Puerto Rico and give billions to their insurance companies for OCare failure. NO!"  Follow Donald J. Trump   ✔ @realDonaldTrump Democrats are trying to bail out insurance companies from disastrous  # ObamaCare , and Puerto Rico with your tax dollars. Sad! 7:06 PM - 26 Apr 2017     14,393 14,393 Retweets     48,153 48,153 likes Trump's tweets come as island officials have been lobbying members of Congress to close a Medicare and Medicaid shortfall and earmark fund...