Regional News

CARACAS, (Reuters) – Venezuela’s pretrial cell blocks in 2020 were overcrowded at a level amounting to triple their capacity, a rights group warned yesterday, criticizing unsanitary conditions in the facilities due to underfunding in the crisis-stricken country.

(Trinidad Guardian) The limited availability of foreign exchange has meant that individuals and business have had to turn to the black market for US dollars.

The former chief of Antigua’s Financial Services Regulatory Commission (FSRC) was sentenced yesterday to 10 years in prison for his role in connection with a $7 billion Ponzi scheme involving the Stanford International Bank (SIB).

CARACAS,  (Reuters) – Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said yesterday that the head of the European Union’s delegation in Caracas had 72 hours to leave the country and declared her persona non grata after the bloc imposed new sanctions on Venezuelan officials this week.

TEGUCIGALPA,  (Reuters) – Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez said yesterday that allegations by U.S.

BRASILIA,  (Reuters) – Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro signed into law yesterday a legislation that establishes the autonomy of the country’s central bank to make sure it is free of political interference.

BRASILIA, (Reuters) – Brazil had 66,588 new cases of the novel coronavirus reported in the past 24 hours, and 1,428 deaths from COVID-19, the highest daily toll since Jan.

(Trinidad Guardian) A specially-commissioned report into the operations of the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) has found the cash-strapped entity plagued by financial mismanagement, a lack of managerial accountability, corruption, parallel operations by representative trade unions and a general refusal by employees to work.

CARACAS/MEXICO CITY,  (Reuters) – Venezuela is shipping jet fuel to Iran in return for vital gasoline imports for the South American nation as part of a swap deal agreed by the two state-run oil firms, three people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

MEXICO CITY,  (Reuters) – Mexico’s Federal Audit Office (ASF) retracted a report that found President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s decision to cancel a partly built airport in Mexico City had cost 332 billion pesos ($16 billion), hours after the president denounced its findings.

(Trinidad Guardian) Four days after he renewed calls for the World Health Organisation (WHO) to help ensure equity of access to COVID-19 vaccines, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley revealed yesterday that “charlatans” are attempting to peddle vaccines to the government at inflated prices as high as US$25 per dose.

(Trinidad Guardian) There is no agreement yet between T&T and India for either the purchase or donation of Oxford-AstraZeneca Covishield vaccines.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton is once again urging the public to follow the protocols outlined by the government to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

BRUSSELS,  (Reuters) – The European Union yesterday imposed sanctions on 19 senior Venezuelan officials, lawmakers and members of the security forces in response to December’s legislative election that the bloc said was rigged in favour of President Nicolas Maduro.

(Barbados Nation) Barbados has been officially removed from the European Union’s (EU) controversial tax blacklist.

(Trinidad Guardian) There has been a massive public outcry over the past several weeks about the failure of police officers to attend court hearings leaving magistrates with no choice but to dismiss matters that have been dragging on for years.

(Trinidad Guardian) Charlatans are attempting to peddle over-inflated—and even downright fake—vaccines to the Government.

(Trinidad Express) A Mayaro ‘thief’ who targeted a group of fitness enthusiasts on the beach had the tables turned on him on Saturday.

(Trinidad Guardian) Close to 22 officers from the Special Operations Response Team (SORT) have been fingered in the deaths of Joel Balcon and Andrew Morris, the prime suspects in the murder of Andrea Bharatt, 23, of Arima, according to a preliminary report.

(Trinidad Express) Government yesterday announced the roll back one of the Covid-19 coronavirus restrictions to allow sporting and recreational outdoor activities for maximum of 22 people.