Regional News

Bank calls in Clico debt

(Trinidad Exoress) NASSAU – FirstCaribbean International Bank has called in a nearly $500,000 debt owed by Clico Bahamas, further eroding policyholders’ chances of fully recovering their money tied up in the troubled insurance firm, The Nassau Guardian can confirm.

Obeah in court

(Trinidad Express)- The names of a magistrate and police prosecutor were written on paper and stuffed into a powder-filled bottle and left outside the Princes Town Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

Brazil economy shrinks in 4th qtr as crisis hits

SAO PAULO, (Reuters) – Brazil’s economy had its  worst showing in more than a decade in the last quarter of  2008, shrinking a larger-than-expected 3.6 percent as the  global financial crisis took a heavy toll on Latin America’s  biggest country.

 Hubert Ingraham

Bahamians at risk from Clico liquidation

(Nassau Guardian) NASSAU, The Bahamas – Bahamian professionals, religious leaders, businesses, churches and two government entities – Bahamasair and the Broad-casting Corporation Of The Bahamas – collectively have US$23 million in annuities tied up in CLICO Bahamas and it remains unclear how much, if any, of that money will be recovered as the company is in liquidation.

Manning sees no conflict of interest in Karen and CLICO

(Trinidad Express) Half of the Cabinet has some type of an investment “portfolio”, “an annuity or something” with Colonial Life Insurance Co (CLICO), a subsidiary of the CL Financial Group, which received a multi-billion-dollar bailout from the State, says Prime Minister Patrick Manning.

CIB books in a mess – Central Bank Governor

(Trinidad Express) Non-performing loans on the books of the state-impounded CL Financial-owned Clico Investment Bank (CIB) could account for over 20 per cent, significantly more than the industry standard of two-to-three per cent, sources close to the bank have disclosed.

Piano kills 5-year-old

(Jamaica Gleaner) – Tragedy struck at a basic school in the Tucker-Irwin area of St James on Thursday afternoon when a little girl died after an abandoned piano in a schoolyard fell on her.

Missing-children broadcast probe

(Trinidad Express) – The Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (TATT) has begun investigations to determine whether the erroneous reports of the “discovery of children in a container on the port within Trinidad and Tobago was public mischief on the part of the broadcasting stations involved”.

BBC Caribbean News in Brief

Bahamas eyes beauty boost Officials in the Bahamas are hoping this year’s Miss Universe pageant will add some beauty to an ugly year for tourism.

BBC Caribbean News in Brief

Receiver seeks Stanford ease The court-appointed receiver in charge of the operations and assets of the Stanford Financial Group has asked a federal judge to release some client brokerage accounts that contain $250,000 or less.

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