Regional News

(Barbados Nation) One hundred and eighty employees will be sent home this year from regional airline LIAT.

CARACAS, (Reuters) – Venezuelans puzzled yesterday over the impact of a complicated currency devaluation and fretted that dire product shortages in the OPEC nation’s recession-hit economy would not go away.

(Trinidad Express) The decomposing body of a man found in bushes near the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba this morning, is believed to be that of Azad Ali, the wheelchair-bound man suspected of murdering 19-year-old Salma Chadee of Caroni and Sherlene Mahangoo-Charles of Tarodale.

St Kitts and Nevis has been thrown into political turmoil following a British judicial decision to strike down new electoral regulations a few days before the state’s general election, the UK Guardian reported yesterday Five British justices sitting on the judicial committee of the privy council in London overturned the introduction of fresh constituency boundaries ahead of the poll, which is scheduled for Monday.

CARACAS/SAN CRIS-TOBAL, (Reuters) – Venezuelan security forces faced off with stone-wielding protesters yesterday as supporters of President Nicolas Maduro also rallied on the anniversary of last year’s fatal unrest.

  (Barbados Nation) For the first time in almost half-century of its existence, the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies in Barbados will be headed by a woman.

(Trinidad Express) THE region—and possibly Trinidad and Tobago—are still “long overdue” for a “great earthquake” and the population must catch up on preparedness, Dr Joan Latchman, director of Seismic Research at the University of the West Indies, warned yesterday.

(Barbados Nation) Two individuals who recently entered the island from Ebola-affected countries are being monitored by the Ministry of Health.

SAO PAULO, (Reuters) – Brazilians are hoarding water in their apartments, drilling homemade wells and taking other emergency measures to prepare for forced rationing that appears likely and could leave taps dry for up to five days a week because of a drought.

RIO DE JANEIRO, (Reuters) – At least three workers were killed and 10 injured yesterday by an explosion on an offshore oil and gas platform operated by state-run Petrobras , a disaster that could further hurt the reputation of a company struggling with a corruption scandal and safety concerns.

The privately-owned Antigua Power Company (APC) has named the Export-Import (EX-IM) Bank of China as well as several members of the former Antigua government in a lawsuit relating to the provision of a power station and the current administration has called on the company to “do the patriotic thing” and remove the Bank from the lawsuit.

(Jamaica Gleaner) The House of Representatives yesterday afternoon gave the nod to three bills which will clear the way for Jamaicans to take their final appeals to the Caribbean Court of Justice as their final court of appeal.

CARACAS, (Reuters) – Venezuela on Tuesday will unveil a new foreign exchange system that is likely to ease the country’s three-tiered currency controls but would also mean a hefty devaluation of the bolivar currency.

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) – Anti-government street protesters shut down Haiti’s capital yesterday as the country plunged deeper into political and economic crises even as many prepared for the annual Carnival, normally a time of peaceful revellry.

(Trinidad Express) – The decomposing body of a man found this morning is believed to be missing Caribbean Airlines Limited (CAL) director Azad Niamat. 

SANTIAGO (Reuters) – After a gruelling journey up into the rarefied air of the Andes mountains, an expedition team announced it has discovered the fuselage of a passenger plane that went missing over a half century ago.

MIAMI (Reuters) – A former Venezuelan judge was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison in US court in Miami yesterday after being accused of taking bribes from a South American drug cartel boss.

(Reuters) – Netflix Inc launched its movie and TV streaming service in Cuba yesterday, joining the list of US companies looking to take advantage of thawing diplomatic relations between the United States and the communist-ruled island country.

(Barbados Nation) The Barbados Labour Party (BLP) has called on Acting Commissioner of Police Tyrone Griffith and Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Charles Leacock to investigate a number of bank accounts into which funds from troubled insurer CLICO were reportedly channelled.

(Trinidad Express) Former National Security minister Gary Griffith has named Communications Minister Vasant Bharath as the minister who tried to influence him not to speak out in the alleged witness tampering matter involving fired attorney general Anand Ramlogan and Police Complaints Authority (PCA) director David West.