Regional News

(Trinidad Express) – While the rest of the country celebrated the festive season, two men were murdered on Sunday, bringing the number of people murdered in T&T for 2009 to 500, according to a Sunday Express tally.

Montserrat delays treaty signing Montserrat has said that it will not sign the treaty establishing an economic union of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean states today.

PARAMARIBO (Reuters) – Police and troops on Christmas Day put down a riot and looting rampage in Albina, a Surinamese town bordering French Guiana, in violence which wounded 13 people, a government minister said.

MIAMI, (Reuters) – U.S. federal authorities are  investigating millions of dollars contributed by accused  fraudster Allen Stanford and his staff to U.S.

(Trinidad Express) Killers, you have reached your mark. While the rest of the country celebrated the festive season, two men were murdered on Saturday, bringing the number of people murdered in T&T for 2009 to 500, according to a Sunday Express tally.

(Jamaica Gleaner) A study on violence and dancehall, led by Dr Donna Hope-Marquis, has found that there is no correlation between the two.

(Trinidad Guardian) United National Congress (UNC) leader Basdeo Panday has been given a major Christmas gift with the political endorsement of most of his Members of Parliament and Senators.

(Trinidiad Express) A $30 million fire in Tobago has left 95 people jobless.

Five injured, 9 missing in ship fire in Caribbean CARACAS (Reuters) – Nine sailors were killed and five were burned in a Christmas Day blaze aboard a Greek freighter in waters off a Venezuelan Caribbean island, the official Venezuelan news agency ABN reported on Friday.

(Trinidad Express) A woman used her body as a shield for her younger brother when gunmen began shooting at him Thursday morning.

(Jamaica Gleaner) – Prime Minister Bruce Golding dramatically changed course on Wednesday night as he roundly rescinded the General Consumption Tax (GCT) on a list of items announced by Finance Minister Audley Shaw a week ago.

CARACAS (Reuters) – Rafael Caldera, who served twice as Venezuela’s president and released current leader Hugo Chavez from jail after his failed coup attempt in the 1990s, died at age 93 on Thursday, his family and state media said.

(Jamaica Observer) – A probe to find out what caused American Airlines Flight 331 to plough through the perimeter fence at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston on Tuesday night and crash land close to the sea, will continue over the next few days as local and international investigators continue to comb the wreckage for clues.

(Jamaica Gleaner) – One hundred and forty-five passengers aboard American Airlines flight 331 from Miami narrowly missed death as the aircraft overran the Norman Manley International Airport runway in Kingston, ending inches away from the sea along the Port Royal main road on Tuesday night.

(BBC) Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has been sworn in for another term after leading his Labour Party to an overwhelming election win.

(Trinidad Express) Finance Minister Karen Nunez-Tesheira has taken ’offence’ to the description of the Property Tax bill as a revenue-raising measure.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Biting criticism of and widespread disgust with the Government’s latest tax package has forced the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) government into reverse gear as it changes course on measures deemed by many to be “oppressive”.

(Trinidad Guardian) The disciplinary committee of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) has disciplined and fined one of its members, Ramganie Bob Gopee, for alleged misconduct, regarding a United Kingdom client.

(Trinidad Express) – The theatre fraternity was thrown into shock on Sunday with the unexpected death of comedienne Mairoon Ali.

(Jamaica Gleaner) – Reacting to torrents of criticism nationwide and threats of street demonstrations by the opposition, Prime Minister Bruce Golding on Sunday succumbed to pressure over a $21 billion tax package slated to take effect on January 1, 2010.