Regional News

CARACAS, (Reuters) – President Hugo Chavez’s cancer  ordeal has revived his emotional connection with Venezuela’s  masses, meaning opponents will struggle to beat him at next  year’s election, a U.S.

(De Ware Tijd) PARAMARIBO – The nearly ninety minutes that power was out in large parts of the country on Thursday evening could soon yield more than US$ 20 million in damage.

(Trinidad Guardian) The Republic Bank Group has recorded a profit attributable to shareholders of TT$1.1 billion, a 12.8 per cent increase over last year’s performance. 

(Trinidad Express) A 42-year-old school teacher was denied bail on Thursday when he appeared before a Sangre Grande magistrate charged with having sex with a 15-year-old girl.

HAVANA, (Reuters) – Cuba’s government has given  Cubans the right to buy and sell their homes for the first time  since the early days of the 1959 revolution in a long-awaited  reform that creates a real estate market and promises to put  money in people’s pockets.

(Jamaica Observer) Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller has called on Prime Minister Andrew Holness to sign off on a programme of social transformation for inner-city areas ahead of her participation in any walk through garrison communities with him.

(Barbados Nation) Barbados will not be dictated to by Britain or any other when it comes to homosexuality laws, says Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite.

(Barbados Nation) A Barbadian dubbed the ringleader of a sophisticated drug enterprise that transported illegal drugs between Barbados, other countries and New York faces a 20-year minimum sentence in the United States.

(Trinidad Express) Seven police officers assigned to the Southern Division Robbery Squad and CID have been charged with the murders of Abigail Johnson, Allana Duncan and Kerron “Fingers” Eccles.

BOGOTA, (Reuters) – Colombian President Juan Manuel  Santos has shuttered the nation’s intelligence agency after a  scandal that jailed dozens of government officials from the  previous administration believed to be involved in spying on  political opponents, journalists and judges.

(Jamaica Observer) Jamaica Debates Commission (JDC) is preparing to stage at least three national debates with representatives of the two major political parties ahead of the general election, which is likely to be announced soon.

(Barbados Nation) Law-yers for CLICO Holdings (Barbados) Limited are making a last-ditch effort to ensure that company executives are not hauled before the court.

(Trinidad Guardian) Mil-lions of gallons of asphalt and bitumen from Trinidad Lake Asphalt, La Brea, cannot be accounted for, Works Minister Jack Warner heard when he visited the facility on Monday.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Prime Minister Andrew Holness has written to the Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller, inviting her to walk with him as part of a move to end garrison politics in Jamaica.

(Jamaica Observer) One of the world’s leading contractors, China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC), has signed an agreement with the government of the Bahamas to build a new port in North Abaco.

(Trinidad Express) The seventh police officer wanted in connection with the shooting deaths of three people from Moruga is now in police custody after he turned himself in to the Homicide Bureau of Investigations office at Coffee Street, San Fernando, late on Friday.

(Barbados Nation) A decision will be made shortly on whether criminal charges will be laid against officials of CLICO International Life (CIL) after the company continued to write new insurance policies despite being debarred by the Supervisor of Insurance back in 2009.

(Trinidad Guardian)After 40 years in politics, Patrick Manning, the man who served this country as Prime Minister four times, on Friday announced that he will bowing out of politics for good at the end of this parliamentary term. 

(Trinidad Guardian) Former prime minister Patrick Manning admitted on Friday that he made mistakes during his 40 years in politics as he apologised to all the people he hurt or disenfranchised during his tenure, saying he was not perfect. 

(Jamaica Gleaner) Up to late Friday evening, the Mandeville police were working relentlessly to solve the murder of eight-year-old Sadie McLean during an early-morning incident in Manchester.