Regional News

Bahamas protects CLICO policyholders The Bahamian government has announced it will establish a statutory insurance guarantee fund following the financial problems of the CLICO insurance group.

(Trinidad Guardian) – Travellers making reservations at Caribbean Airlines’ southern ticketing office were forced to lie on the floor on Wednesday, as bandits robbed them of cash, jewellery and cellphones.

(Jamaica Observer) – A late night joyride turned deadly on Monday when a pickup truck driven by a 15-year-old boy crashed into a utility pole along the Port Henderson main road in Portmore, St Catherine killing three children.

(Jamaica Observer) – Four alleged gunmen were killed and a policeman injured during what the cops said was a gun battle in the Kintyre area of Papine, St Andrew on Monday.

(Trinidad Express) – The Royal chauffeur suspended after allegedly accepting money to show two undercover reporters around Buckingham Palace has turned out to be a Trinidadian who once worked as a constable at the San Fernando Police Station.

(Trinidad Express) – The protective order she had against a man who refused to let go recently expired, and he returned for a second chance.

on airline ticket tax Travellers within the OECS could pay higher fares, after leaders agreed to a recommendation by tourism ministers for a new tax on airline tickets for travel within the sub region.

(Trinidad Guardian) – Trinidad and Tobago and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) have moved one step closer to economic and political union.

(Trinidad Express) – Nationals of other Caricom countries who live in Trinidad and Tobago and have broken the law have received “soft” treatment as opposed to being deported, says Prime Minister Patrick Manning.

Haiti death toll rises Emergency management officials in Haiti say the death toll from heavy rains has risen to 13.

(BBC) – The leader of Colombia’s second-largest rebel group has appealed to the country’s largest, the Farc, to end fighting between them.

(BBC) – Rival marches have been held in Bolivia’s constitutional capital, Sucre, as the nation celebrates 200 years of independence from Spain.

(Jamaica Gleaner) The parish of St Ann was thrown into a state of shock on Saturday as residents awoke to the news that five teenagers, wards of the state, perished in a fire that engulfed a section of the Armadale Juvenile Correctional Centre in Alexandria, Friday night.

(Trinidad Express) CL Financial’s former corporate secretary Gita Sakal, has had to pay back US$5 million (TT$31.5 million) which had been paid into her personal account from the disputed proceeds of the sale of CL’s 51 per cent interest in Clico Energy Co Ltd.

(Trinidad Express) Guyana’s Honorary Consul to Trinidad Ernie Ross said yesterday that he has a list of employers accused of physically and sexually abusing illegal immigrants at the workplace.

(Trinidad Express) Ten inter-Caribbean LIAT flights were cancelled on Friday as four separate flight crews called in sick.

QUITO (Reuters) – Ecuador’s government plans to  crack down on media companies that used corruption to get  state-issued radio and television concessions, President Rafael  Correa said  yesterday.

CARACAS (Reuters) – President Hugo Chavez on Thursday ordered the nationalization of several small iron and ceramics companies, part of a drive to build a socialist state in the OPEC nation.

(Trinidad Express) – Stabbing him to death was not enough. So the person who murdered Dave Holder, 49, on Thursday took it a step further and sliced off his genitals, stuck a knife into the bloody stump and then used the victim’s blood to draw a moon and a star on a piece of paper which was left on Holder’s chest, a female relative said.

USVI eyes OECS ties Governor John de Jongh of the US Virgin Islands has said he wants formal observer status in the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).