Staff Editor

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – President Barack Obama today nominated former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel as his next defense secretary and counterterrorism adviser John Brennan to head the CIA, potentially setting up at least one Senate confirmation battle and establishing a tough tone to start his second term.

MELBOURNE, Australia (CMC) — West Indies all-rounder Marlon Samuels has been charged with two offences following his ugly clash with Shane Warne during a match between Melbourne Renegades and Melbourne Stars in the Australian Big Bash league on Sunday.

The police today said that a total of 137 murders were recorded for last year in comparison to 130 murders during the year 2011; a 5% hike.

The Police today said that 750 Guyanese were deported from various countries last year.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – A group of 10 mortgage servicers agreed today to pay a total of $8.5 billion to end a government-mandated case-by-case review of foreclosures in an acknowledgement the reviews had proven too cumbersome and expensive.

The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry today called on all parties to honour the pact reached on August 21 last year to end the Linden crisis.

(Jamaica Observer) The Government could step up efforts to create a single anti-corruption commission this year, following its latest confrontation with the Office of the Contractor General (OCG).

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad,  CMC – Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica played to a no result in the opening match of the Caribbean Twenty20 at Queen’s Park Oval here yesterday.

VATICAN CITY,  (Reuters) – Pope Benedict today urged the international community to end what he called the endless slaughter in Syria before the entire country became a “a field of ruins.”

NEW DELHI,  (Reuters) – Five men accused of the gang rape and murder of an Indian student appeared in court today to hear charges against them, after two of them offered evidence possibly in return for a lighter sentence in a case that has provoked widespread anger.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica played to a no result in the opening match of the Caribbean Twenty20 at Queen’s Park Oval here Sunday.

MELBOURNE,  (Reuters) – Shane Warne has been fined A$4,500 ($4,700) and banned for one game after a heated row with Marlon Samuels in a match in Australia’s domestic Twenty20 competition on Sunday night ended up with bats and balls being thrown.

Following an outcry over the monument site for the 1823 slave rebellion, the Coalition of the 1823 Parade Ground Monument will raise funds to construct their own memorial.

JOHANNESBURG,  (Reuters) – Former South African President Nelson Mandela has recovered from a lung infection and surgery to remove gallstones that kept him in hospital for nearly three weeks, the government said today.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke has ordered a probe into the operations of the National Irrigation Commission (NIC) following questionable pre-election spending amounting to millions of dollars.

(Jamaica Gleaner) One man is in custody while a top level police hunt continues for the remainder of a group who it is believed robbed and killed businessman Melvin Chung yesterday afternoon.

(Barbados Nation) What is one of the worst sights a farmer can ever face?

Alliance For Change Leader Khemraj Ramjattan has accused the government of not saying all it knows about the huge Curacao heist which was believed to comprise smuggled gold from Guyana.

MELBOURNE, Australia,  CMC – A nasty on-field confrontation with star Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne today plunged West Indies all-rounder Marlon Samuels into controversy yet again.

(Barbados Nation) Julian Hunte  is about to pull stumps on his tenure as West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president.