Regional News

BRASILIA,  (Reuters) – Deaths in Latin America and the Caribbean from COVID-19 topped 500,000 yesterday, and cases soared above 15 million amid holiday festivities, according to a Reuters tally of figures in official government reports.

CARACAS,  (Reuters) – Venezuela has signed a contract with Russia to acquire enough of the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine to inoculate 10 million people in a first phase, Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said yesterday.

BRASILIA, (Reuters) – Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine has requested regulatory approval to launch Phase 3 trials in Brazil, Brazilian health regulator Anvisa said late yesterday.

(Jamaica Star) Roderick Queensborough and his son, Romeo Queensborough, were like peas in a pod.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Attorney-at-law Bert Samuels is seeking immediate answers into whether four Jamaicans arrested at sea by the United States Coast Guard were “kidnapped” under the veil of the Shiprider Agreement two months ago.

(Trinidad Guardian) National Security Minister Stuart Young and the Law Association of T&T (LATT) seem to be engaged in a war of words over statements Young and the prime minister have made about attorneys over the past several days.

(Trinidad Guardian) Avoid that Old Year’s night party because it can be a COVID-19 super-spreader – and you will also attract police attention if parties at private homes carry a cover charge or “bring a bottle” arrangement.

RIO DE JANEIRO,  (Reuters) – Brazil’s Fiocruz biomedical institute will seek approval for the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine against COVID-19 with federal health regulator Anvisa on Jan.

CARACAS, (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro yesterday said a move by the opposition-controlled National Assembly to extend its term into next year was “unconstitutional,” and called on the South American country’s justice system to “do its work.”

HAVANA,  (Reuters) – Cuba announced yesterday it would allow fewer flights from the United States and several other countries beginning Jan.

TEGUCIGALPA,  (Reuters) – Masked men armed with guns and machetes killed a Honduran environmentalist activist in front of his family, police said yesterday, the latest in a string of such attacks in the Central American country.

(Trinidad Guardian) Since the Demerit Points System (DPS) went into effect in June 2020, law enforcement officers have issued close to 54,000 fixed penalty notices (FPNs) or tickets to errant drivers and traffic violators across the country.

(Trinidad Guardian) Although Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said his daughter got no favours in her repatriation from the United States, former Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the US Dr Neil Parsan is saying otherwise.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Before Jamaica gets its shipment of COVID-19 vaccines next year, Cuba could well inoculate half of its 11 million citizens against the virus which has crippled global economies, trade and travel for much of 2020, leaving behind a staggering death toll.

(Trinidad Guardian) The ill-fated boat carrying 41 Venezuelans which capsized off Guiria three weeks ago only had the capacity for eight people and had no life jacket or navigation equipment.

(Trinidad Express) A man who obtained an illegal electrical connection from a Heritage Petroleum low voltage power line to his Palo Seco home was electrocuted on Saturday.

(Trinidad Guardian) At least 20 officers at the Licensing Division are currently under suspension for unethical and fraudulent practices on the job.

(Trinidad Guardian) The ill-fated boat carrying 41 Venezuelans which capsized off Guiria three weeks ago only had the capacity for eight people and had no life jacket or navigation equipment.

CARACAS, (Reuters) – Venezuela’s opposition-held National Assembly yesterday approved a statute extending its term into 2021, after a disputed Dec.

(Trinidad Express) On the eve of Christmas, two women lost their lives in separate road traffic accidents on Thursday in San Juan and Cunupia.