Regional News

LIMA (Reuters) – The battle for second place in Peru’s presidential race has intensified a month before voting as any one of four candidates could squeak through to a likely runoff election against front-runner Alejandro Toledo.

Boycott call attacked Officials of the governing party in Jamaica have criticised the main opposition party’s decision not to contest a parliamentary by-election next month.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Police investigators believe the Clansman gang, one of the deadliest criminal organisations in the country, is raking in over J$400 million a year from its nefarious activities.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – U.S. State Department  spokesman P.J. Crowley resigned yesterday after reports that he  labeled as “stupid” and “ridiculous” the Pentagon’s treatment  of a U.S.

(Trinidad Express) The One Caribbean Media Ltd Group of Companies has posted revenues of $474 million for its financial year ended December 31, 2010.

(Trinidad Express) “Ungrateful monsters!” This is how several Nigerian doctors described the person who shot and killed their colleague, Dr Chudi Ezezue, in the yard of his 22 Ninth Street, Barataria apartment late Thursday night.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, (Reuters) – Exiled former Haitian  President Jean-Bertrand Aristide will return to his homeland  within days, according to a spokeswoman who said yesterday the  return is unrelated to Haiti’s upcoming presidential election.

MADISON, Wis,  (Reuters) – Wisconsin’s governor  signed into law yesterday sweeping limits on collective  bargaining rights for public sector workers that have ignited a  national debate over unions as other states weigh similar  curbs.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – The United States and  Colombia yesterday failed to resolve labor and violence  concerns blocking approval of a bilateral free trade agreement  and other trade legislation but agreed to meet again soon for  more talks.

(Jamaica Observer) Attorney General and Minister of Justice Dorothy Lightbourne, yesterday withdrew a statement she made about People’s National Party (PNP) attorney KD Knight at the Dudus/Manatt Commission of Enquiry on Thursday.

TEGUCIGALPA, (Reuters) – Honduran police discovered  a Mexican-run cocaine lab yesterday, the first ever found in  the Central American country, in a sign Colombian-dominated  production of the drug is moving north.

BUENOS AIRES, (Reuters) – Argentine economists vow  to resist a government crackdown on their independent inflation  estimates and accuse President Cristina Fernandez of trying to  silence critics before October’s election.

(Trinidad Guardian) After delivering what many fans consider to be his best performance of the season Machel Montano claimed the two million dollar grand prize in the Power Soca category at the 2011 International Soca Monarch Competition at the Hasley Crawford Stadium on Friday night.

(Trinidad Express) The laptop stolen from the Cascade home of local novelist Earl Lovelace is of more value in his hands than in the hands of the person who took it, the author said on Friday.

(Jamaica Gleaner) The police are warning that they will take action against residents of Tivoli Gardens in West Kingston if they continue to attack cops on patrol in the community.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Justice Minister and Attorney General Dorothy Lightbourne on Thursday conceded that last year’s public outcry forced her to sign the extradition request for former Tivoli Gardens strongman Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke.

(Jamaica Observer) The island’s 44 resident magistrates stayed off the job on Thursday in a rare protest against working conditions, including security, and remuneration.

(Jamaica Observer) Agriculture Minister Christopher Tufton says 45 per cent of the food imports can be replaced with local produce, which he said would lessen the country’s vulnerability and dependence on imports given the global concerns about food safety.

(Go Jamaica) The Sugar Association of the Caribbean says Jamaica led sugar production in the region in January this year with 22,872 tonnes.

(Trinidad Guardian) Visham Babwah, the president of the T&T Automotive Dealers’ Association (TTADA), which is the body representing foreign used car dealers, is accusing Philip Knaggs, President, Auto-motive Dealers Association of T&T of talking “rubbish.”