Regional News

MIAMI, (Reuters) – Tropical Storm Erika weakened slightly yesterday as it dumped torrential rain on islands in the Eastern Caribbean and appeared to be headed for the U.S.

ERNESTO GUEVARA, Venezuela, (Reuters) – Hundreds of Colombians waded across a border river with fridges, chickens and mattresses on their backs as goats and children followed under the scorching tropical sun, victims of an escalating dispute with Venezuela’s government.

(Trinidad Guardian) Science and Technology Minister Dr Rupert Griffith says a permanent home for showcasing local innovation will be established in T&T.

SAO PAULO, (Reuters) – A federal judge in Brazil overseeing a sweeping corruption investigation said yesterday there were signs that President Dilma Rousseff’s former chief of staff had received bribes.

AUSTIN, Texas, (Reuters) – The United States and Mexico yesterday opened their first new rail link in more than a century as part of plans to update infrastructure carrying nearly $600 billion a year in bilateral trade, officials said.

BOGOTA/CARACAS, (Reuters) – Venezuela has stepped up deportations of Colombians, in some cases separating children from their parents, since President Nicolas Maduro ordered the closure of two border crossings last week, Colombia’s migration office said yesterday.

HAVANA, (Reuters) – Austerity measures and the restructuring of Cuba’s Soviet-style economy have reduced spending on research and development (R&D) by close to 50 percent over the last five years, according to a government report released last week.

GUATEMALA CITY, (Reuters) – Guatemalan President Otto Perez dismissed corruption allegations levelled against him by prosecutors and said yesterday he would not stand down, despite mounting pressure on the government and calls for his impeachment as a presidential election looms.

BRASILIA, (Reuters) – Brazil will sharply pare back the number of government ministries after years of expansion, the administration said yesterday, in a move to show wary markets President Dilma Rousseff’s commitment to an unpopular austerity plan.

(Trinidad Express) the foreign exchange shortage has been dealt with, says Finance Minister Larry Howai.

(Trinidad Express) The Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (TATT) is calling on cable television providers to remove 16 channels for which they have not acquired Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) from local channel line-ups.

(Trinidad Express) The Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (TATT) is calling on cable television providers to remove 16 channels for which they have not acquired Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) from local channel line-ups.

MEXICO CITY, (Reuters) – A Mexican government auditor yesterday exonerated President Enrique Pena Nieto and his finance minister from any wrongdoing over purchases of homes from public contractors, but opposition lawmakers poured scorn over the bid to lay the scandal to rest.

(Trinidad Guardian) The newly-formed Children’s Authority has been given one week (next Friday) to find a suitable location for the detention of a 14-year-old murder accused from Diego Martin.

BRASILIA, (Reuters) – The speaker of Brazil’s lower house of Congress was charged by prosecutors with corruption and money laundering yesterday, becoming the first sitting politician to be charged in a burgeoning kickback and bribery scandal.

LIMA, (Reuters) – Peru’s Congress unanimously passed legislation yesterday that would allow the military to shoot down unauthorized aircraft suspected of smuggling narcotics, a policy banned in 2001 that the United States has opposed.

(Trinidad Guardian) Some 200 workers were left on the breadline yesterday after a fire destroyed the popular Hearty Foods Supermarket at the corner of Sorzano and Pro Queen Streets, Arima.

(Trinidad Guardian) Caricom leaders are failing their people by excluding the lower section of society from working and travelling freely among Caricom nations.

BRASILIA, (Reuters) – Brazilian business leaders may have ideological differences with struggling leftist President Dilma Rousseff, but calls for her impeachment make many of them nervous, effectively giving her support from an unexpected quarter.

(Trinidad Guardian) Two days after he was shot in the head when a gunman opened fire on a Honda CRV Saturday night, two-year-old Jaheim Lord died.