Regional News

(Jamaica Gleaner) On the heels of last weekend’s titanic clash between dancehall artistes Beenie Man and Bounty Killer that captured the attention of international fans, media outlets, and industry players, there is a push for the two to be reissued with United States visas to promote Jamaican music and culture.

(Trinidad Guardian) National Security Minister Stuart Young says over 300 nationals stuck on a ship off Barbados will be allowed to come home if the cruise ship company agrees to quarantine them at sea off Trinidad and Tobago.

(Trinidad Guardian) As medical personnel at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital (POSGH) prepared to resume elective surgeries on Friday, they were delayed for a few hours more after a wild monkey was found in the operating theatre.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Sharon Hollister* is thankful her 15-year-old son has completed another month without having a run-in with the law.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Three weeks after a probe revealed that most local private hospitals were unregistered, The Sunday Gleaner has learnt that the island’s private ambulance service is operating without oversight, putting members of the public at risk.

BRASILIA,  (Reuters) – Indigenous organizations in Brazil protested on Friday against the inclusion in a bill on emergency assistance to tribes in the coronavirus pandemic of a paragraph authorizing Christian missionaries to remain in indigenous communities.

(Jamaica Observer) Jamaicans, who visited the United States and overstayed their time as a result of COVID-19 travel restrictions, will not be penalized by the United States Immigration department. 

(Trinidad Express) On the same day that he was involved in a road traffic accident which cost him his left leg, Police Constable Shane Smith said his son was born.

(Trinidad Guardian) Christine Ramdeen, the mother of Junior Soogrim, who drowned with his younger brother Jason, 7, in a pool at an abandoned quarrying site in Valencia last Sunday, says she is now fearful for her life after she has received two death threats during the week.

(Trinidad Guardian) Soca artiste Kimba Sorzano was granted $85,000 bail after he appeared before a Point Fortin magistrate today (Friday) charged with two sexual offences.

(Jamaica Observer) Jamaican born NBA great Ewing hospitalized with COVID-19 WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) – Jamaican born National Basketball Association (NBA) Hall of Famer Patrick Ewing, now the head basketball coach at Georgetown University, is in hospital with COVID-19.

(Jamaica Gleaner) National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang says that like the 1,044 Jamaican crew members who returned to the island this week via the Adventure of the Seas, there are nine other cruise ships on the high seas with nationals eager to come home.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of 963Img Radio and member of the Evangel Church in New York, Patrick Thorpe, has been very busy in recent times as he organises thousands of food packages for those hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.

(Jamaica Gleaner) After the alleged brutal slaying of her two sons 10 years ago during the so-called Tivoli incursion, Marjorie Williams is struggling to erase from her thoughts nightmarish flashbacks that remind her of the horrific event.

RIO DE JANEIRO/BRASILIA, (Reuters) – Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said he was unwilling to see his family get “screwed” because of his inability to change law enforcement officials, according to a video released yesterday set to deepen the political crisis surrounding him.

(Trinidad Guardian) As of Thursday, there are no active cases of COVID-19 in the country.

HAVANA,  (Reuters) – Communist-run Cuba said this week that use of two drugs produced by its biotech industry that reduce hyper-inflammation in seriously ill COVID-19 patients has sharply curbed its coronavirus-related death toll.

RIO DE JANEIRO,  (Reuters) – Brazil became the world No. 2 hotspot for coronavirus cases on Friday, second only to the United States, after it confirmed that 330,890 people had been infected by the virus, overtaking Russia, the Health Ministry said.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – The United States yesterday sought to further pressure on Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega by imposing another round of sanctions, this time targeting the country’s army chief and finance minister.

 (Reuters) – A flotilla of five tankers carrying Iranian fuel for gasoline-starved Venezuela is approaching the Caribbean, with the first vessel expected to reach the South American country’s waters on Sunday, according to Refinitiv Eikon tracking data.