Regional News

(Antigua Sun) – Guyanese Latchman “Ricky” Bhola was convicted, fined and ordered deported from Antigua and Barbuda after he pleaded guilty to presenting forged documents to immigration officials.

(Jamaica Gleaner) – Angry residents last night set fire to a police service vehicle in Kitson Town, St Catherine to protest against a police killing.

(Barbados Nation) The Barbados Association of Journalists (BAJ) is urging a speedier processing of the Freedom of Information Act and Defamation Act so that media workers can work in a “freer and more friendly” environment.

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) – Honduras’ ousted president and  de facto leader gave signs they would try again on Saturday to  form a unity government to guide the country out of a four-month  crisis after the process collapsed a day earlier.

(Trinidad Express) Republic Bank has recorded an annual net profit attributable to shareholders of TT$948.4 million for 2009.

(Jamaica Observer) It may take another 40 years before Jamaica’s productivity increases to the level of its Caribbean neighbours.

(Antigua Sun) A 21-year-old Guyanese man was ordered deported from Antigua after he was convicted for remaining in the country after the expiration of his permit.

(Trinidad Express) The three-storey structure currently being constructed at the Prime Minis-ter’s residence in St Ann’s is estimated to cost $10 million and will be completed by year’s end.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Police seized 15 guns and arrested 69 students for criminal offences at public schools throughout Jamaica during the 2007/08 academic year, according to statistics compiled by the Ministry of National Security.

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – United Nations peacekeeping forces will not leave Haiti any time soon as the country, one of the world’s poorest, remains fragile, the Brazilian general in charge of the UN troops told Reuters.

Cuba must make human rights gestures The European Union’s development commissioner wants Cuba to show signs it’s serious about protecting fundamental human rights.

(Jamaica Gleaner) – Jamaica’s Police Chief, Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin, has tendered his resignation to the Police Service Commission, ending weeks of speculation that a show-down with the government was imminent, The Gleaner has learnt.

(Trinidad Express) – All that remained of six-year-old Khris Ramkhelawan were his burnt bones after the car in which the boy was a back-seat passenger burst into flames after slamming into a guard rail along the Southern Main Road near Trantrill Road, Spring Village.

(Trinidad Express) – Two women and two men are currently assisting the Tobago Homicide Bureau with investigations into the sister island’s latest murder.

Bleak outlook The Economist Intelligence Unit, a respected think tank, says economic conditions in the Caribbean may deteriorate further before they improve.

(BBC) The UK’s Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies have been told to improve standards of regulation, and find new methods of raising tax.

(Trinidad Express) Prime Minister Patrick Manning will tomorrow meet with Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday to discuss crime and constitutional reform among other issues of national importance but which are unlikely to include the woes of the depositors and shareholders of the Hindu Credit Union (HCU).

(Barbados Nation) Rejecting opposition forecasts, Government is predicting a ten per cent decline in tourist arrivals by year-end.

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela said on Friday it had arrested eight Colombians and two local residents suspected of paramilitary activities on the border between the two feuding South American neighbours.

– president designates new nominee PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) – Hours after Haiti’s Senate voted Prime Minister Michele Pierre-Louis out of office on Friday after lawmakers criticized her performance in promoting economic recovery in the impoverished Caribbean nation, President Rene Preval designated Jean Max Bellerive to be prime minister of the Caribbean country, a ruling party senator said.