Staff Editor

(Barbados Nation) The man who has held more positions in West Indies cricket than any other is optimistic that the regional team will return to the top of the world game.

LOS ANGELES,  (Reuters) – A Los Angeles man who wrote a book about his alleged gay encounters with John Travolta filed a libel lawsuit on Thursday against the actor and his attorney.

(Barbados Nation) Give Trinidad & Tobago a dose of its own medicine if it continues to block Barbadian exports.

(Barbados Nation) Not in my church! Rector of the St Lucy’s Parish Church, Reverend Curtis Goodridge, is putting a ban on funerals with “mourning colours optional” requests.

(Trinidad Express) Fifty criminals are to be pardoned for the country’s 50th Independence anniversary.

(Trinidad Express) Government is to provide a free vaccine which prevents the infection “closely linked” with cervical, oral and anal cancers in men and women to young girls.

KARACHI,  (Reuters) – A contrite Salman Butt apologised to the Pakistan nation today and blamed himself for not alerting authorities earlier on his return home from England after serving seven months in jail for spot-fixing.

(Reuters) – The Miami Heat demolished the Oklahoma City Thunder 121-106 yesterday to win the National Basketball Association championship 4-1, sweeping the last four games of the series.

SAN FRANCISCO,  (Reuters) – Two service outages within the course of several hours rocked microblogging platform Twitter today, as users worldwide reported significant down-time and slow service across both Twitter’s website and mobile applications.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Popular entertainer Vybz Kartel was today freed in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate’s Court of possession of ganja.

(Jamaica Gleaner) The police say a second autopsy conducted on the body of Trinidadian school teacher Michelle Coudray-Greaves has revealed that her death was caused by injuries to the right side of the head.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Jamaican Reggae superstar Buju Banton today lost his appeal against the 10-year prison sentence he is now serving.

The police say they are investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of Kevin Huggins, 29 years, a miner of Johanna Cecilia, Essequibo Coast.

(Reuters) – The World Boxing Organization (WBO) ruled yesterday that Manny Pacquiao should have won his controversial defeat to Timothy Bradley and has recommended a re-match between the fighters.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – U.S. Commerce Secretary John Bryson, who has been under investigation for his role in two car crashes earlier this month, said today he was resigning to “prevent distractions” at the department he led for less than a year.

HOUSTON,  (Reuters) – Laura Pendergest-Holt, the chief investment officer for Allen Stanford’s defunct financial firm, pleaded guilty to one count of obstruction today as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The United States today named three alleged leaders of the Nigerian militant group Boko Haram as “foreign terrorists”, the first time it has blacklisted members of the Islamist group blamed for attacks across Africa’s most populous nation.

An attempt was made early this morning to burn down a bond owned by murdered Pest Control Plus boss Mohammed Baksh.

(Jamaica Observer) Former Prime Minister P J Patterson says Jamaica’s trade deficit with non-Caribbean Community (Caricom) countries deserves as much attention as that being given to the imbalance with the regional bloc.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Telecommunications firm Digicel has accused the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) of being “unconstitutional” and setting itself up as “judge, jury and executioner”.