Regional News

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – The U.S. Treasury Department yesterday imposed sanctions on four high-ranking Nicaraguan government officials for allegedly preventing their country’s citizens from exercising fundamental freedoms.

TAPACHULA, Mexico, (Reuters) – Millions of new trees will soon begin sprouting in El Salvador thanks to a programme funded by the Mexican government that aims to help impoverished communities that often create fertile ground for fleeing migrants.

PHILADELPHIA,  (Reuters) – A massive fire at Philadelphia Energy Solutions Inc’s oil refinery yesterday damaged the largest U.S.

(Trinidad Guardian) The hur­ri­cane fore­cast for 2019 is just as bad as the fore­cast of 2018 and with nine to 15 named storms ex­pect­ed to form in the At­lantic this year, of­fi­cials from the Com­mon­wealth of Do­mini­ca wants the rest of the Caribbean to pre­pare.

(Jamaica Observer) A report that an 11-year-old schoolgirl had been given the choice of either being knocked out or killed after she was abducted and raped in Manchester, allegedly by a 15-year old boy on Wednesday this week, shocked participants at a child protection symposium yesterday.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Jamaicans who have overstayed their visas for long periods have been warned by immigration attorneys to regularise their status in the face of threats by the Trump administration to kick out millions of migrants living illegally in the United States.

(Trinidad Guardian) There is said to be an “in­va­sion” of Colom­bians and Venezue­lans at Brick­field in Cara­pichaima which are caus­ing grave con­cerns by vil­lagers who are claim­ing that il­le­gal ac­tiv­i­ties are on a ram­pant in­crease in­clud­ing State land grab­bing, drug traf­fick­ing, guns and am­mu­ni­tion traf­fick­ing and hu­man traf­fick­ing.

(Trinidad Express) A spiritual leader who attempted to exorcise a ‘buck’ allegedly terrorising a Gasparillo family in March was shot multiple times on Tuesday.

(Trinidad Express) A security officer on duty at a Woodbrook casino was shot dead by “Spanish-speaking” men early yesterday morning.

(Jamaica Gleaner) A motor vehicle accident yesterday morning along a section of the Barbican main road in Hanover claimed the lives of two drivers and left 18 other persons, including three teenagers, injured.

(Trinidad Guardian) This coun­try’s lat­est fast fer­ry, the HSC Jean de la Valette, once out­ran some pi­rate ships, a de­scrip­tion from the Ship Tech­nol­o­gy web­site has claimed.

(Jamaica Observer) An associate of former deputy superintendent at the Road and Works Department at the Manchester Municipal Corporation Sanja Elliott testified in court yesterday that she had encashed approximately 41 cheques, amounting to about $15 million from the local government body for work not done.

(Trinidad Newsday) A Santa Flora pundit who was shot five times in front of his home is in critical condition at the San Fernando General Hospital.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Steven Watt, senior staff attorney at the United States-based human rights group America Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), has hit back at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade for what can be described as dereliction of duty after it issued a statement on the five fishermen who have claimed that they were detained at sea by the US Coast Guard for 32 days in inhumane conditions.

(Trinidad Express) The mother of Ornella Phillip was one of four prosecution witnesses cross-examined on Monday during the enquiry into her daughter’s death.

(Trinidad Guardian) Po­lice are in­ves­ti­gat­ing the pos­si­bil­i­ty that the hit on 36-year-old Can­dy-Ann Mc In­tyre was or­dered from a pris­on­er at the Max­i­mum Se­cu­ri­ty Prison.

(Reuters) – Right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro issued a new decree yesterday putting decisions on indigenous land claims in the hands of the Ministry of Agriculture, four weeks after Congress rebuffed him on the move that is sought by Brazil’s farm lobby.

MADRID,  (Reuters) – Cuba’s state security is pressuring dissidents to go into exile in its attempt to weaken opposition on the Communist-run island, a non-governmental human rights organization said on Wednesday.

(Jamaica Observer) There has been a drop in skin bleaching among students attending schools in western Jamaica since Irwin High decided to take a stand against the problem more than a year ago.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Discharged from the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) eight years after a motor vehicle accident left him visually impaired, Rohan Dwight Brown has defied the odds by successfully re-enlisting, and today he occupies the post of detective inspector.