Regional News

 (Trinidad Express) Wealthy businesspeople are grooming police officers for favours, says acting Police Commissioner McDonald Jacob.

(Trinidad Guardian) Police have charged one man with the murder of security guard Andy Hosein during a jewellery store robbery last week.

(Trinidad Express) The Central Bank and CLICO are claiming that two former exec¬u¬tive directors of CL Financial (CLF) operated or procured the ope¬ration of two types of Ponzi schemes in the group, which collapsed in January 2009, posing a danger of disruption to the financial system of Trinidad and Tobago.

(Trinidad Guardian) Chaguanas Mayor Faaiq Mohammed has hit back at Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley on his claims about a high demand for Venezuelan prostitutes in Chaguanas, saying it was based on a report that shows no real investigation or information based upon sound research.

PUERTO ORDAZ, Venezuela, (Reuters) – A birthday party held on a mountain sacred to indigenous Venezuelans has generated outrage over damage to the area in an episode critics see as entitled excess playing out amid Venezuela’s prolonged economic collapse.

MANAGUA, (Reuters) – Retired Nicaraguan general Hugo Torres, a former revolutionary comrade of President Daniel Ortega later considered a political prisoner by the opposition, died yesterday in a Managua prison aged 73, his political party and local media said.

MEXICO CITY, (Reuters) – The U.S. government yesterday expressed concern over continued violence against journalists in Mexico, two days after the latest killing of a reporter.

SAO PAULO,  (Reuters) – Brazil recorded the most deforestation ever in the Amazon rainforest for the month of January, according to government data yesterday, as destruction continues to worsen despite the government’s recent pledges to bring it under control.

SANTIAGO, (Reuters) – Chile will begin to phase out the use of plastic cups, straws, takeout containers, forks, spoons and knives at restaurants and other dining establishments as a new law regulating single-use plastics enters into force tomorrow.

BRASILIA, (Reuters) – A group of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s allies allegedly is coordinating a disinformation campaign and targeting of his political rivals ahead of the Oct.

SAO PAULO, (Reuters) – Brazil recorded the most deforestation ever in the Amazon rainforest for the month of January, according to government data on Friday, as destruction continues to worsen despite the government’s recent pledges to bring it under control.

(Trinidad Guardian) “It have some animals outside there, some demons, because I don’t know what to call them,” a tearful Patrice Cudjoe said while gazing at her daughter’s casket.

 (Trinidad Express) Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has once again sympathised with the family of the infant killed when the Coast Guard ­intercepted a vessel carrying Venezuelan migrants.

(Trinidad Guardian) Venezuelan father Yemmi Santoyo had a day of mixed emotions yesterday when he had to identify the body of his baby boy, who was shot dead by members of the Coast Guard over the weekend, but was hours after reunited with his daughter.

(Trinidad Guardian) A hearse belonging to Dennie’s Funeral Home caught afire while carrying a body to his funeral along the North Coast Road yesterday.

MIRITI-PARANA, Colombia  (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Scurrying nimbly through thick Colombian Amazon rainforest, teenager Pablo Galindo Tanimuca abruptly slows his pace and puts a finger to his lips, asking for silence as he approaches a small salt-water pond regarded as sacred by his indigenous community.

(Trinidad Guardian) Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has said that the shooting death of a Venezuelan baby by the Coast Guard on Saturday was an accident and added that the Coast Guard members were carrying out “reasonable and professional orders under international protocols and law”.

BOGOTA,  (Reuters) – At least 14 people were killed and 35 injured after a landslide covered several homes in central Colombia yesterday, the country’s disaster management agency said.

BUENOS AIRES,  (Reuters) – Thousands of Argentines marched through the streets of Buenos Aires yesterday to protest against a likely deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to revamp more than $40 billion of debt the country cannot pay back.

BOGOTA,  (Reuters) – The United States will contribute $8 million to Colombia’s national police to support human rights and anti-corruption training of the force, U.S.