Regional News

(Jamaica Observer) KINGSTON, Jamaica — Prime Minister Andrew Holness has declared a state of public emergency for the parish of St James.

(Trinidad Express) A 17-year-old Tobago schoolboy is fighting for his life in hospital after he was beaten into unconsciousness at school on Wednesday.

(Trinidad Express) A man was killed in Port of Spain shortly before midday.

CARACAS,  (Reuters) – Venezuela’s government yesterday said online media had published “false information” about the petro cryptocurrency being proposed by President Nicolas Maduro.

(Trinidad Guardian) Environmental activist group Fishermen and Friends of the Sea (FFOS) has obtained an interim injunction barring the Government from continuing work on the first phase of the $400M Churchill Roosevelt Highway Extension to Manzanilla.

SANTIAGO, (Reuters) – Pope Francis publicly expressed “pain and shame” yesterday over the rape and molestation of children by priests in Chile and later listened, prayed and cried at a private meeting with victims.

CARACAS,  (Reuters) – Rogue Venezuelan helicopter pilot Oscar Perez was killed in a police operation on Monday along with six other anti-government militants, the interior minister said yesterday, spurring opposition complaints of human rights violations.

(Trinidad Express) An Arima man was shot dead in his home on Monday night.

CARACAS, (Reuters) – Venezuelan authorities yesterday arrested five members of a “terrorist cell” linked to self-proclaimed rogue Venezuelan helicopter pilot Oscar Perez, and killed several other militants during a shootout in a poor area outside Caracas.

BRUSSELS, (Reuters) – European Union officials have proposed removing eight jurisdictions from the blacklist of tax havens the bloc adopted in December, in what critics may see as a blow to its campaign against tax avoidance.

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – A Brazilian court yesterday ordered the world’s largest iron ore miner Vale SA to repair environmental damages its operations caused in land belonging to a community of descendants of escaped slaves in northern Brazil.

(Trinidad Guardian) Robbers shot dead a security guard at a Church’s Chicken outlet at the newly opened O’Meara Plaza in Arima on Saturday night after they became enraged that they were unable to open the cash register.

(Trinidad Express) Three men were killed in Manzanilla, and Fyzabad and Arima on Saturday night.

(Jamaica Gleaner) When president of the National Parent-Teacher Association of Jamaica Everton Hannam chose Fly Jamaica Airline to take him to Guyana for his annual end-of-year vacation, he could not guess the ordeal he would face.

(Jamaica Observer) Fear. That’s what has forced the cancellation of plans to hold a funeral service for slain St Andrew businessman Dennis Ramdial in Jamaica.

(Jamaica Gleaner) The country’s murder rate continues to spiral as police figures show 61 murders have been committed since the start of the year.

MEXICO CITY, (Reuters) – The Guatemala attorney general’s office confirmed yesterday the arrest of congressman Julio Juarez Ramirez, who is accused of plotting the murders of two journalists in 2015.

SANTIAGO,  (Reuters) – Chilean officials yesterday criticized the World Bank, saying it treated the South American country unfairly in its closely watched annual “Doing Business” competitiveness rankings.

SAN JOSE, (Reuters) – Costa Rica’s civil aviation agency suspended local airline Nature Air on Friday, two weeks after one of its small planes crashed near a tourist beach, killing two Costa Rican pilots and 10 U.S.

(Trinidad Guardian) Energy Minister Franklin Khan said yesterday that the reports coming out of two independent investigations into A&V Oil and Gas Ltd have been referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions for advice.