Regional News

BOGOTA, (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Ecuador’s indigenous groups in the Amazon have launched an information dashboard to monitor the coronavirus and identify contagion hotspots as the disease spreads through the rainforest and threatens ancient cultures, a leading rights group said yesterday.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Police detectives are now combing through sections of Sherwood Forest in eastern Portland following the discovery of the body of the wife of a prominent businessman. 

(Trinidad Express) Radio announcer Andy Williams was ambushed and shot at his Chaguanas home at daybreak Monday.

MEXICO CITY,  (Reuters) – Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said yesterday he would maintain a less confrontational approach to battling drug gangs even after one of Mexico’s most powerful cartels showcased its firepower in a video that stunned Mexicans.

BRASILIA,  (Reuters) – A commission linked to the Organization of American States (OAS) yesterday asked Brazil’s government to take steps to protect the indigenous Yanomami and Yekuana peoples from the spreading coronavirus pandemic.

MEXICO CITY, (Reuters) – Mexico has spoken to a host of foreign companies, particularly steelmakers, in an effort to lure business from Asia to capitalize on a new North American trade deal, Economy Minister Graciela Marquez said yesterday.

(Barbados Nation) Barbados will not be stepping down from using Cuban nurses in the fight against the coronavirus (COVID-19) in spite of threats from the United States.

(Jamaica Gleaner) The Trelawny police have charged a fourth person in connection with the murder of 36-year-old Tamara Geddes, the Trelawny woman who was shot dead in the bedroom of her Reserve district home three weeks ago.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Meet the 21-year old seeking to become a Florida state senator.

(Jamaica Gleaner) A 15-year-old boy reportedly perished trying to save his 17-year-old brother on Sunday, ruining what was planned to be a joyous family reunion for a matriarch celebrating her 80th birthday.

(Trinidad Guardian) He dreams big and takes calculated risks, and believes these two ingredients are the bedrock of success.

(Trinidad Guardian) Corruption at the hands of state officials and law enforcement officers is a significant factor in the facilitation of human trafficking between Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago, according to some of the findings of a 2019 CARICOM Human Trafficking study.

RIO DE JANEIRO/ MEXICO CITY,  (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – As a gay man growing up in Brazil, Afif Sarhan was banned from donating blood for most of his life.

HAVANA,  (Reuters) – Cuba for the first time in 130 days yesterday said there were no new domestic cases of COVID-19 as most of the country moved into the final phase of resuming normal activities with masks and social distancing.

(Trinidad Express) From today, bars will be allowed to stay open until 10 p.m.

(Jamaica Observer) Legal luminary Crafton Stephen Miller is not even thinking of a water break as he moves on from 90 to a score that will take him further into life’s record books.

(Jamaica Gleaner) A Jamaican medical student who has been studying in China for the past five years is excited to be home.

(Jamaica Gleaner) With another Cabinet minister in the Andrew Holness administration stripped of portfolio responsibilities over a controversial land arrangement and another thrust under the microscope over contracts awarded to a public-relations firm, one political analyst has described last week as one from hell.

(Trinidad Guardian) Political leaders of some smaller parties have blanked United National Congress (UNC) leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s unity call while some have called for the UNC to fix certain things and questioned why the unity call came so late.

SAO PAULO,  (Reuters) – Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said yesterday that lockdown measures used to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus “kill” and have “suffocated” the country’s economy.