Regional News

(Barbados Nation) Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley was awarded one of Venezuela’s top honours.

QUITO,  (Reuters) – Nearly a sixth of the inmates in Ecuador’s prisons have not been sentenced, a national census showed yesterday, as President Guillermo Lasso urged the judicial system to be speedier to help ease the burden on overcrowded jails.

HAVANA,  (Reuters) – Cuba yesterday accused the U.S. government of bearing “direct responsibility” for the protests that rocked the Caribbean island two years ago, marking the largest demonstrations since Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution.

HAVANA,  (Reuters) – Cuba will look to expand cooperation at an upcoming summit of European Union, Latin American and Caribbean leaders next week, its foreign minister said, but accused the EU of “manipulative behavior” that could hamper leaders’ ambitions.

A 6.6 magnitude earthquake struck today in the Atlantic Ocean near the northern Caribbean, causing some buildings to lightly sway in the region..

(Trinidad Express) The burglar-proofed windows and steel doors which 75-year-old Freeport pensioner Lutchmin Bickram lived behind were not enough to secure her from a criminal on Friday.

(Trinidad Guardian) A joint exercise which saw several arms of national security working together yesterday morning resulted in 200 Venezuelan nationals being detained after it was discovered they were undocumented.

(Trinidad Guardian) Historian, author, academic, former government minister, and Professor Emeritus at the University of the West Indies Dr Brinsley Samaroo died at the age of 84 yesterday.

(Trinidad Guardian) The sudden death of PC Shiva Hosein on Thursday has left his colleagues at the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) in Aranguez in shock.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Broadcaster Winston ‘The Whip with the Solid Kick’ Williams, who worked in Jamaican media for more than 50 years and won awards for being the top DJ on radio, has died.

(Trinidad Guardian) Two men were ambushed by gunmen during the early hours of Saturday morning in Maraval, in an attack that left one dead in the car, while the second died later at hospital.

BOGOTA, (Reuters) – The presidents of Brazil and Colombia discussed regional coordination to fight deforestation and protect the world’s largest and most biodiverse rainforest at a meeting in Colombia’s Amazonian city of Leticia yesterday.

GUATEMALA CITY, (Reuters) – The Organization of American States (OAS) condemned the Guatemalan Constitutional Court’s (CSJ) decision to continue reviewing the results of June 25 elections, where political party challenges have delayed the official results to determine who will compete in an August 20 runoff.

(Trinidad Express) There is need for caution in free movement under the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME), as it can create tension between nations, says former head of the public service Reginald Dumas.

(Trinidad Guardian) Thousands of residents across Trinidad were left to hang dry after begging and pleading for water for the past three days.

MEXICO CITY,  (Reuters) – Two workers died and another remained missing after a raging fire broke out early yesterday morning at an offshore platform run by Mexican state oil company Pemex just off the southern edge of the Gulf of Mexico.

SAO PAULO, (Reuters) – An apartment building collapsed in northeastern Brazil yesterday, leaving at least eight people dead and five missing, according to officials, as rescue workers scoured the rubble in a frantic search for survivors.

BRASILIA,  (Reuters) – Brazil’s lower house of Congress approved in the early hours of today the main text of a tax reform that will restructure the country’s complex consumption taxes, a move President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva touted as a “great victory”.

SAN JOSE, (Reuters) – Costa Rica said yesterday it has charged former President Luis Guillermo Solis with corruption, accusing him of involvement in a 2017 improper transfer of government funds to state-owned Bancredito.

GUATEMALA CITY, (Reuters) – Official results from Guatemala’s first-round presidential election late last month will be released next week, the country’s electoral court announced yesterday, following a extended delay triggered by challenges from parties.