Regional News

(Reuters) – Ransom money was raised to pay for the release of a group Canadian and American missionaries kidnapped in Haiti, but a dozen of them escaped captivity on their own, the U.S.-based

HAVANA, (Reuters) – Cuba has vaccinated more of its citizens against COVID-19 than most of the world’s largest and richest nations, a milestone that will make the poor, communist-run country a test case as the highly contagious Omicron variant begins to circle the globe.

LONDON, (Reuters) – Britain’s Supreme Court today ruled to allow in part an appeal by Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido in a case over whether he or President Nicolas Maduro controls over $1 billion worth of Venezuelan gold stored at the Bank of England.

(Trinidad Guardian) The Chinese Embassy, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the St Augustine Medical Laboratory (STAML), have all condemned an Express newspaper article that challenged the efficacy of the Sinopharm vaccine.

(Trinidad Guardian) T&T recorded its highest death rate since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic with 33 new deaths reported yesterday.

(Trinidad Express) – Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley yesterday announced that effective mid-January, all Government employees will have to be vaccinated to be allowed access to their place of work.

(Barbados Nation) – The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) executive board has given the green light for Barbados to immediately receive another $48 million, which would bring to $850 million the amount of IMF funding Government has received since 2018.

(Barbados Nation) – Far from backing down, nurses who are staging industrial action will be ramping up their efforts, says Head of the Unity Workers’ Union (UWU), Senator Caswell Franklyn.

BRASILIA,  (Reuters) – Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro had a “direct and relevant” role in spreading disinformation about the country’s electoral process during live streams on social media, a federal police document reviewed by Reuters yesterday said.

MEXICO CITY,  (Reuters) – Mexico will impose visa requirements on Venezuelan visitors, the interior ministry said yesterday, as the country attempts to stem a steep rise in the number of people from the South American nation trying to enter the United States illegally.

(Trinidad Guardian) A St. James man is expected to appear again before the courts in January 2022, to face charges of three counts of murder.

(Jamaica Observer) The Integrity Commission and the Financial Investigations Division (FID) yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) aimed at strengthening both organisations’ response to public corruption, money laundering, organised crime, fraud and financial crime.

(Barbados Nation) With four convictions for assault with intent to rape, a previous 15-year jail term for rape and two new acts committed 16 days apart, there was no doubt, said Justice Randall Worrell, that Kinchar Kenny Lavonne Mascoll was a serious danger to society.

(Trinidad Express)  A 21 year old mother of three was killed on Thursday afternoon during an altercation near her Quash Trace, Sangre Grande home.

CAP-HAITIEN, Haiti, (Reuters) – The last 12 Canadian and American missionaries from a group kidnapped in October in Haiti have been released, police said yesterday, ending an ordeal that brought global attention to the Caribbean nation’s growing problem of gang abductions.

(Trinidad Guardian) A woman who died at a house in Freeport on Monday has been identified as Nita Gajadhar, 31, of McBean Village in Couva.

(Trinidad Express) The owner of Darryl’s Famous Foods (formerly Japs Fried Chicken) Darryl Mahabir has died of Covid-19, as did his mother ten days ago.

(Trinidad Guardian) Sixty-one-year-old Cpl Ian Regis passed away yesterday at the St James Medical Hospital after contracting COVD-19.

LAHORE,  (Reuters) – The West Indies tour of Pakistan has been cut short after the number of COVID-19 cases in the touring party increased to nine since their arrival in Karachi last week, the two cricket boards said today.

(Trinidad Express) The vehicle that was driven by the perpetrators of the killing of prison officer Nigel Jones at Siparia had been stolen at gunpoint in Aranguez.