Regional News

(Trinidad Guardian) Government will no longer be providing free textbooks to the majority of students as it seeks to cut costs, says Education Minister Anthony Garcia.

CARACAS, (Reuters) – Members of Venezuela’s ruling Socialist Party have filed Supreme Court appeals to challenge the election of eight opposition legislators, spurring accusations the party is trying to undermine the opposition’s landslide victory this month.

(Trinidad Guardian) National midfielder Keron Cummings, 27, was shot and wounded yesterday by a masked gunman, moments after he returned to his home from a boat cruise lime.

(Trinidad Guardian) Three days after being sacked as Central Bank governor, Jwala Rambarran on Saturday issued a strongly worded statement in which he accused the Government of mishandling the matter and threatened legal action.

JERUSALEM/BRASILIA, (Reuters) – Brazil’s reluctance to accept an Israeli ambassador who is a West Bank settler has set off a diplomatic crisis and led to concerns in the Israeli government that the clash could encourage pro-Palestinian activism against it.

(Barbados Nation) Government plans to clamp down on the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), called drones, to prevent their misuse and unregulated activity.

(Jamaica Observer) Never one to shy away from controversy, Bounty Killer has hit out against Billboard Magazine for naming British singer Joss Stone ‘Reggae Artiste of The Year’.

ASUNCION/BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – More than 100,000 people have had to evacuate from their homes in the bordering areas of Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina due to severe flooding in the wake of heavy summer rains brought on by El Niño, authorities said yesterday.

(Jamaica Gleaner) – A police constable is now in custody after a Christmas Day domestic dispute with his female companion turned deadly.

BUENOS AIRES, (Reuters) – Days into his presidency, Mauricio Macri faces his first big threats as he seeks to fix Argentina’s ailing economy: inflation and recession.

(Trinidad Guardian) Central Bank Governor Jwala Rambarran has been fired. The T&T Guardian confirmed that Rambarran was dismissed by the Minister of Finance, Colm Imbert yesterday.

(Jamaica Observer) KINGSTON, Jamaica – The St Thomas police are now seeking Marlon Perry otherwise called ‘Duppy Film’ in relation to the murder of two cops outside a wholesale on the Poor Man’s Corner main road in St Thomas Tuesday night.

(Trinidad Express) An autopsy on the body of Stacy Ramkissoon has confirmed that she died as a result of the H1N1 virus – swine flu.

(Trinidad Express) A 17-year-old who was a State witness in a robbery in which he was the victim, was shot and killed outside his girlfriend’s house during another robbery on Tuesday night.

(Barbados Nation) Barbados’ tourism rebound has had a positive ripple effect on the bottom line of one of its largest hotel operators.

(Trinidad Express) A 33 year old watchman appeared in the Port of Spain Magistrates’ Court yesterday charged with the murder of Police Constable Russel Ramnarine and UWI electrical engineering student Avery Keshwar.Accused

CARACAS, (Reuters) – Venezuela’s Congress yesterday named 13 justices to the Supreme Court in a maneuver critics slammed as a last-minute court-packing scheme by the Socialist Party in the final days before it loses control of the legislature in January.

BUENOS AIRES, (Reuters) – Argentina’s new government fired the country’s chief media regulator yesterday, saying the head of the AFSCA television and radio watchdog commission was openly acting against the country’s new center-right President Mauricio Macri.

BRASILIA, (Reuters) – A key member of Brazil’s Congressional budget committee has recommended the approval of the 2014 accounts of President Dilma Rousseff’s government, which could undermine her opponents’ case for impeaching her.

(Reuters) – U.S. authorities have traced over $1 billion to a conspiracy involving a Venezuelan magnate who allegedly paid bribes to obtain contracts from Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA, according to U.S.