Regional News

BRASILIA, (Reuters) – China’s President Xi Jinping and his Brazilian peer Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva yesterday upgraded the status of diplomatic relations and struck agreements on infrastructure, energy and agribusiness, tightening links between two of the world’s largest developing economies.

(Reuters) – Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega proposed a constitutional reform to expand presidential powers over other branches of government, according to an official document seen by Reuters yesterday.

(Jamaica Gleaner) In a first for Jamaica, 16 tonnes of liquid medical-grade oxygen have been exported to Caribbean neighbour The Bahamas.

CAIMITO, Cuba,  (Reuters) – Cuban farmer Leonardo Abreu clambered over fallen banana plants in a field beside his home, taking stock of the wreckage two weeks after Category 3 Hurricane Rafael ripped across Cuba.

PARAMARIBO,  (Reuters) – Suriname’s state-run oil company Staatsolie said yesterday that U.S.

(Trinidad Express) Port workers have been directed by the Industrial Court to return to work with immediate effect.

(Trinidad Guardian) bp has been awarded the NCMA 2 block offshore Trinidad as part of the Shallow Water 2023/24 bid round that closed in May 2024.

(Jamaica Gleaner) The two policemen charged for the recent shooting deaths of two men and a teen boy along Windward Road in Kingston were today remanded for a bail application on December 17.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday called Venezuela’s Edmundo Gonzalez the country’s “president-elect” for the first time, signaling that Washington wants to step up pressure on incumbent President Nicolas Maduro.

BUENOS AIRES,  (Reuters) – The Argentine government will call for a national and international public tender to privatize its stretch of the Paraguay-Parana waterway through a 30-year concession, cabinet chief Guillermo Francos said yesterday.

BRASILIA,  (Reuters) – Brazilian police today arrested five people, including a member of former President Jair Bolsonaro’s cabinet, suspected of involvement in an alleged plan to kill then-President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in 2022, days before he took office.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, (Reuters) – The United Nations Humanitarian Air Service will restart flights within Haiti tomorrow after around a week’s hiatus and resolving regulatory issues, according to a statement from the U.N.

CARACAS,  (Reuters) – Eleven people have been arrested as part of an investigation into an explosion and fire at a major gas complex last week, Venezuela’s vice-president and oil minister Delcy Rodriguez said yesterday.

QUITO,  (Reuters) – Ecuador’s government declared a 60-day national emergency due to raging forest fires made worse by a severe drought, risk management officials said yesterday.

SAN SALVADOR,  (Reuters) – A court in El Salvador yesterday ruled to bring a former president and retired military officials to trial for their alleged roles in the prominent murder of six Jesuit priests and two collaborators during the country’s civil war 35 years ago.

BUENOS AIRES,  (Reuters) – A group of supporters of Argentine President Javier Milei announced the creation of what they termed an armed wing of his libertarian party, touting the group as loyal foot soldiers determined to defend the far-right politician’s agenda.

(Jamaica Gleaner) In an assembly of civil society representatives, Richard Jones, executive director of the Caribbean Policy Development Centre (CPDC), has called for enhanced whistleblower protections for the nonprofit sector.

CARACAS, (Reuters) – Currency depreciation is set to reverse years of declining inflation in economically beleaguered Venezuela, public and private sector sources say, as foreign currency sales fall short of demand and the socialist government keeps tight-lipped about its strategy.

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) – Slow-moving Tropical Depression Sara unleashed major rainfall over Honduras this weekend, causing at least one death while forcing thousands to flee their homes and destroying bridges and a highway due to flooding, officials said on Sunday.

(Jamaica Observer) With 19 deaths recorded up to Friday, November 15, the number of children killed in motor vehicle crashes this year has seen an alarming 46 per cent increase when compared with the same period in 2023.