Staff Editor

CARTAGENA, Colombia,  (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama tried today to convince skeptical Latin Americans that Washington has not turned its back on them, but ruled out a drug policy U-turn that some in the region want.

At about 1000h today, police said that Stanley Persaud, 37 years of Soesdyke, EBD, was walking along Regent Street, Georgetown, when he was attacked by a man armed with a knife and who took away his gold band valued at $260,000and escaped on a bicycle.

CARACAS, (Reuters) – Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez will not attend this weekend’s regional summit in Colombia and will instead fly straight to Cuba to continue being treated for cancer, his foreign minister said today.

CARTAGENA, Colombia, (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama stressed today the “great promise” for business growth in the Americas, seeking to play up the economic heft of the region he has paid little attention to in his first three years in office.

(Jamaica Observer) President of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) Sir Dennis Byron says he welcomes the move towards unanimity between Jamaica’s main political parties on accepting the regional institution as its final appellate court.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Mobile operator Digicel Jamaica says that about 120 of its local staff or 10 per cent of its workforce could to take-up its ‘voluntary separation programme’ announced Thursday.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Absolutely nothing could dampen the spirits of 12-year-old Shemar Pringle.

(Barbados Nation) This month end is going to be a sad one for 500 staff members of Almond Beach Village in St Peter but, as a group, the employees and management team are expected to walk away with approximately Bds$14 million in severance and other compensation.

(Barbados Nation) Former minister of social transformation Hamilton Lashley thinks it is time to take the PetroCaribe deal being offered by Venezuela as a means of getting Barbados out of its current economic energy crisis.

(Trinidad Guardian) Police reports of rape, incest and other sexual offences have gone up by 100 per cent in 2012.

(Trinidad Express) Transport Minister Devant Maharaj has said he will not meet with REDjet executives until the regional low-fares airline receives an Air Operators Certificate (AOC) from the Barbados government.

(Trinidad Express) Darren Bravo has constantly had his batting style compared with that of retired batting maestro Brian Lara, who is also his cousin.

(Trinidad Express) Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has threatened legal action against the Express over the publication of a front-page story entitled “Neighbours Flee”, which she is claiming was libellous and damaging to her character.

(Trinidad Express) Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and other Caricom heads will be holding bilateral discussions with United States President Barack Obama tomorrow in Cartagena, Colombia.

CARACAS,  (Reuters) – Feisty Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez acknowledged o n Friday that radiation treatment for cancer was wearing him down, but he vowed to squash his opponents in October’s presidential election.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Broadcaster Wayne Whyte, 44, and another man, 35-year-old Safari Farr both of Harbour View addresses have been charged in connection with the shooting of radio worker Jody-Ann Gray.

LOS ANGELES, (Reuters) – Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, one of the world’s best known couples, are engaged to marry, ending a fevered, seven-year celebrity media dance over whether they will ever say “I do.”

The police say they are investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of Allinva Andrews, 46 years of Moraikobe, Mahaicony River, ECD.

The police say they are investigating the circumstances surrounding the demise of Hilbert Mayers, 48 years of Section ‘C’, Golden Grove, ECD, whose body was found in a neighbouring yard this morning and the power company says that the death occurred as a result of electricity theft.

Police say that Vincent Vandenburg, 26 years of LFS Burnham Street, New Amsterdam, Berbice, was today charged with murder committed on Lord Edwards of Edinburgh Housing Scheme, EBB.