Regional News

RIO DE JANEIRO,  (Reuters) – He is a symbol of Brazil’s biggest corruption investigation – a ballyhooed battle against impunity for powerful politicians and businessmen.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – Haiti’s decision to scrap the results of a disputed first-round presidential vote will prolong an already delayed process at a time the country needs a democratically elected leader, the State Department said yesterday.

LIMA, (Reuters) – Former investment banker Pedro Pablo Kuczynski inched closer to winning Peru’s presidency three days after Sunday’s election, holding on to a slim but steady lead over rival Keiko Fujimori with just 1 percent of votes left to tally.

BRASILIA,  (Reuters) – Brazil’s top prosecutor is seeking the arrests of the Senate leader and other senior ruling party politicians for allegedly trying to obstruct a corruption probe, threatening to undermine President Michel Temer’s interim government, O Globo reported yesterday.

CARACAS,  (Reuters) – Venezuelan security forces used tear gas to block hundreds of opposition protesters yesterday in the latest rally to demand a recall referendum to oust socialist President Nicolas Maduro.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, (Reuters) – Haiti’s interim president, Jocelerme Privert, said he will stay in office until next year to transfer power to an elected president unless parliament rules otherwise, after the electoral council on Monday scrapped the results of a disputed presidential vote.

MEXICO CITY, (Reuters) – Mexican security forces have committed crimes against humanity, with mass disappearances and extrajudicial killings rife during the country’s decade-long drug war, according to a report released by rights groups on Monday.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – Mexico’s foreign minister mounted a robust defense of her nation’s economic importance to the United States on Monday and condemned anti-migrant rhetoric and a “climate of intolerance” in its neighbor — a thinly-veiled critique of Donald Trump.

(Trinidad Guardian) The owner of a popular weight loss clinic in T&T was detained by police yesterday in connection with a fraud investigation.

(Trinidad Guardian) – Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has intervened in the ongoing immigration and manufacturing dispute between Jamaica  and T&T, and plans to pay an official visit there “in the not-too-distant future” to address the issue.

SAN CRISTOBAL, Venezuela (Reuters) – A Venezuelan woman died yesterday after being shot in the face when looters raided state food warehouses in the latest unrest in the crisis-hit OPEC nation, her family said.

(Trinidad Guardian) Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has intervened in the ongoing immigration and manufacturing dispute between Jamaica  and T&T, and plans to pay an official visit there “in the not-too-distant future” to address the issue.

(Trinidad Guardian) Desperately hungry but with their dignity well intact, boatloads of Venezuelans are continuing to show up along the shores of the southwestern peninsula, with the hope of building a better life in Trinidad.

(Trinidad Express) On the heels of an announcement that it will meet outstanding back-pay to public servants, Government has quietly withdrawn TT$2.5 billion (about US$385 million) from the Heritage and Stabilisation Fund (HSF).

(Reuters) – A tropical depression threatening Florida and parts of the southeastern United States with severe thunderstorms was upgraded yesterday to Tropical Storm Colin by the U.S.

(Trinidad Guardian) Desperately hungry but with their dignity well intact, boatloads of Venezuelans are continuing to show up along the shores of the southwestern peninsula, with the hope of building a better life in Trinidad.

HAVANA (Reuters) – The day after his 85th birthday, Cuba’s President Raul Castro quipped that the Castros were clearly “robust and long-lived” and he could easily manage several more five-year terms although he would stick to his promise to step down in 2018.

ASUNCION, Paraguay (Reuters) – Paraguay’s state-run oil firm Petropar said yesterday that  Vene-zuelan state oil producer PDVSA had set a 10-day deadline for the Paragua-yan company to pay off $287 million of long-standing debt.

GUATEMALA CITY,  (Reuters) – Guatemala’s attorney general accused ex-president Otto Perez yesterday of negotiating hundreds of bribes for public contracts, and ordered at least 50 people arrested for participating in the massive corruption scheme.

(Jamaica Observer) MANDEVILLE, Manchester – Arguing that Jamaica should never consider itself too poor to help others, Prime Minister Andrew Holness says he has issued instructions for ways to be found to help economically and socially distressed Venezuela.