Staff Editor

(Barbados Nation) Financial difficulties took centre stage on the first day of the year’s final semester yesterday at the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI).

(de Ware Tijd) PARMARIBO – Plans by national airline SLM to expand its operations in Brazil are delayed as the agreement between the two countries containing the details of this expansion is lost.

(Trinidad Express) Tamper-proof driver’s licences are coming. This was announced yesterday by Transport Commissioner Reuben Cato who said that the first phase of the Motor Vehicle Authority had been completed.

(Trinidad Express) Minister of the People and Social Development, Dr Glenn Ramadharsingh, was robbed of cash, jewelry, and items at his home on Saturday.

NEW DELHI, (Reuters) – A swashbuckling West Indies and a talented Pakistan will pose the biggest threats to India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s dream of lifting his second Twenty20 World Cup title, according to former skipper Sourav Ganguly.

(Trinidad Express) National Security Minister Jack Warner yesterday defended the presence of acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams during the police detention of then-minister in the Ministry of National Security, Collin Partap.

(WICB) Bridgetown, Barbados — Guyana recorded an easy five-wicket win over Leeward Islands to end the West Indies Cricket Board’s Under-19 50-over tournament on a high today.

(Barbados Nation) Police discovered ten large packages of cannabis early this morning in Foster Hall, St John.

CAIRO,  (Reuters) – Egypt’s new Islamist president, preparing to make his debut on the stage of world diplomacy with an initiative over the Syrian crisis, called today for President Bashar al-Assad’s allies to help lever the Syrian leader out of power.

BOGOTA,  (Reuters) – Colombia’s government and leftist FARC rebels have signed an agreement to begin peace talks during a meeting in Cuba, regional media network Telesur reported today.

(Trinidad Guardian) When a fight broke out at a bar in Claxton Bay on Saturday night, teenager Tevin Alexander tried to avoid trouble by running away.

A government official says that Haiti’s death toll from Tropical Storm Isaac has jumped to 19, the Associated Press reported today.

(Jamaica Gleaner) General Manager of Caribbean Airlines (CAL), Jamaica Operations, Clive Forbes has dismissed claims that the airline has refused to employ Jamaicans.

(Barbados Nation) Barbados has been recognized for piloting three of the Caribbean’s best programmes that serve the elderly.

(Barbados Nation) The Customs & Excise Department continues to see a substantial increase in the submission of fraudulent documents, sometimes as often as twice a week.

PARAGUANA, Venezuela,  (Reuters) – A fire burned for a third day in two fuel storage tanks at Venezuela’s biggest refinery today, putting in doubt plans to restart the facility quickly after one of the world’s most deadly oil industry accidents.

MEXICO CITY,  (Reuters) – A 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck in the Pacific Ocean off El Salvador late yesterday, triggering a brief tsunami warning along a stretch of the central American coast but causing no major damage or casualties, early reports indicated.

AMMAN,  (Reuters) – Rebels shot down a Syrian helicopter gunship that was firing on the Damascus neighbourhood of Jobar during heavy fighting today between rebels and the military, witnesses said.

JOHANNESBURG,  (Reuters) – Violence has spread to the eastern operations of world No.

(Trinidad Express) Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar acted swiftly last night when she fired Collin Partap as Minister in the Ministry of National Security, rendering him a backbencher, the first and so far only one on the Government’s bench in the Parliament.