Regional News

BUENOS AIRES,  (Reuters) – Argentines held a special Mass and lit candles today, mourning in shock for their countryman Pope Francis, who has died after battling serious illness in recent months.

(Trinidad Guardian) Roman Catholic Archbishop Jason Gordon has urged political parties in the April 28 General Election race not to make “fanciful” promises to the population that they know cannot materialise.

(Trinidad Guardian) Gibbons Coker’s final steps through a forest in Moruga were not taken for money, land, or fame, but were out of love for his daughter – Melissa.

(Trinidad Express) “It’s a sigh of relief. There’s no chance of him getting out of the system.”

TORONTO (Reuters) – Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s campaign platform plans released on Saturday include tax cuts and new spending on infrastructure and defense, as he pledges a new economic order that is less reliant on the United States.

SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) – El Salvador President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed sending 252 Venezuelans deported from the U.S.

(Trinidad Guardian) National Security Minister Marvin Gonzales says the fatal shooting of a man outside the Piarco International Airport has raised serious concerns and is prompting a full review of national security measures.

(Trinidad Guardian) A 52-year-old man who confessed to the murder of 15-year-old autistic teenager Malini Persad took his own life while in police custody, using his pants to hang himself in a cell at the Barrackpore Police Station.

(Trinidad Guardian) The body of O’delle Lalman-Baptiste, the wife of a Point Fortin car dealer, was found with stab wounds and her throat slit hours after she was kidnapped during a robbery at Carlsen Field, Chaguanas, late Friday night.

(Trinidad Express) The Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers’ Association (TTUTA) has accepted Government’s 5 percent wage increase offer for the 2020–2023 bargaining period.

(Trinidad Guardian) United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio has agreed to “work very closely” with the T&T Government to find solutions to the Dragon gas deal.

(Trinidad Guardian) The Finance Ministry has launched an SME Forex Window via the Export Import Bank of Trinidad and Tobago (EximBank), which it said will increase the availability of forex to small and medium-sized businesses. 

PARIS,  (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron is to set up a joint Franco-Haitian commission to examine France’s past with its former Caribbean colony, but he made no mention of the possibility of reparations that Haitian activists have long called for.

(Reuters) – Nearly half of the homes and businesses in Puerto Rico that receive electricity from the commonwealth’s main utility were still without power yesterday, a day after a widespread blackout struck the island, Luma Energy said in a statement.

BELIZE CITY,  (Reuters) – A U.S. citizen hijacked a small Tropic Air plane in Belize yesterday at knifepoint, injuring three others before being shot and killed, police said.

(Trinidad Guardian) Security has been increased at Piarco International Airport following a fatal shooting early yesterday morning.

PARIS, (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron is to set up a joint Franco-Haitian commission to examine France’s past with its former Caribbean colony, but he made no mention of the possibility of reparations that Haitian activists have long called for.

(Trinidad Guardian) Within less than an hour of arriving in Trinidad from Panama, a 38-year-old Maraval man was gunned down early this morning.

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador,  (Reuters) – Democratic U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen said yesterday authorities in El Salvador had denied him access to Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran man mistakenly deported and being held in a notorious prison in the country.

(Trinidad Express) A 17-year-old boy was gunned down in La Horquetta on Tuesday night, shortly after returning from a political meeting.