Regional News

(Trinidad Guardian) Government had no choice but to step in to save Clico as the insurance giant was too big to fail, says Finance Minister Karen Tesheira.

(Jamaica Gleaner) The University of the West Indies (UWI) has transformed its law faculty into a self-financing entity, which has responded by rolling back subsidised tuition for its student enrollees.

(Jamaica Gleaner) The Media Association of Jamaica Ltd (MAJ) and the Press Association of Jamaica (PAJ) have come out in strong support of Prime Minister Bruce Golding’s endorsement of proposed amendments to libel laws that would engender higher levels of accountability among public officials.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Even as discussions continue for Jamaica to resume a borrowing relationship with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the way has been cleared for the country to get approximately US$320 million (J$28.5 billion) from the fund by early next month.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Remittance inflows to Jamaica have already dropped close to 16 per cent since January, and a multilateral agency is predicting that money transfer markets will continue to slide and that the drop would be widespread across Latin America and the Caribbean region.

(Trinidad Express) A single phone call on Thursday from the Express corrected a 37 year-old mistake that had denied a 102-year-old man his pension payments.

CARACAS, (Reuters) – An avalanche of laws being  written to regulate business and promote “Marxist trade” in  Venezuela marks a new push by President Hugo Chavez to build a  socialist economy in the shopping-mad oil-exporting nation.

(Trinidad Express) The 38 transferred police officers who were once stationed at the St Joseph Police Station will have to undergo a series of DNA and fingerprint tests to ascertain whether they were involved in planting a cache of arms, ammunition and drugs in the station’s ceiling.

(Trinidad Express) Cabinet has approved financial help to the tune of TT$5 billion to help cash-poor insurance giant CLICO recover.

(Trinidad Express) The worst of the downturn in the local economy is on the way.

RIO DE JANEIRO, (Reuters) – The expected ruling  party candidate in Brazil’s 2010 presidential election has been  drawn into a scandal by an accusation that she tried to stop a  probe into the finances of the Senate chief’s family.

(Barbados Nation) Attorney-General Freundel Stuart will soon be entering discussions with the Royal Barbados Police Force to get interrogation rooms equipped for tape recordings started.

(Trinidad Express) Forty police officers ranging in rank from Inspector to Constable will take up duty at various police stations along the East-west Corridor after being transferred from the St Joseph Police Station.

(Trinidad Express) A full-fledged investigation has been launched into the discovery of seven firearms, a large quantity of ammunition and illegal narcotics stashed in the ceiling of the St Joseph Police Station.

BOGOTA,  (Reuters) – Colombia yesterday released 11  Ecuadorean troops a day after they were seized in Colombian  territory at a time of heightened tensions between the Andean  neighbors, authorities from both countries said.

TEGUCIGALPA, (Reuters) – The de facto rulers of  Honduras snubbed the head of the Organization of American  States yesterday and cancelled a planned visit for talks on the  crisis caused by a coup in June.

MIAMI, (Reuters) – Former U.S. President Bill Clinton  said yesterday he would lead an international trade mission of  private investors to Haiti in October to pursue energy and  other development amid signs the nation is stabilizing.

(Trinidad Express) Beleaguered Port of Spain insurance giant CLICO has had its financial strength downgraded by a prominent United States ratings agency.

BOGOTA (Reuters) – Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez  yesterday told Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to show up to  a regional summit to explain a plan to expand the US troop  presence at Colombian military bases.

HAVANA (Reuters) – Cuba, in the grip of a serious economic crisis, is running short of toilet paper and may not get sufficient supplies until the end of the year, officials with state-run companies said yesterday.