Regional News

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s government has published dozens of new textbooks that glorify late president Hugo Chavez and belittle his adversaries, infuriating opposition critics who call them part of a campaign to indoctrinate school children.

HAVANA (Reuters) – A Cuban intelligence officer recently released from a US prison said yesterday that a similar deal to the one that freed US Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl should be negotiated in the case of jailed US contractor Alan Gross and three Cuban agents behind bars in the United States.

Mandeville, Manchester (Jamaica Observer) — A policeman who dressed as a female to catch serial rapists was one of two officers who received top awards in the Manchester parish.

(Barbados Nation) The United States National Security Agency (NSA) has refused to confirm or deny if it has been eavesdropping on Barbadian cellphone calls.

(Trinidad Express) A NINE-YEAR-OLD boy and his 15-year-old brother, both believed to be instrumental in seve­ral robberies in the Port of Spain area, were yesterday killed when gunmen entered their family’s home, forced them to lie down and shot each one in the head.

HAVANA, (Reuters) – Cuba opened its first wholesale market for farmers in decades yesterday, an experiment limited to agricultural supplies in one area and the latest market-oriented reform for the communist-run island.

(Trinidad Express) Indentured immigrant, 110-year-old Sogaree Jattan, died at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex on Saturday.

SEBASTIAN, Fla., (Reuters) – The man believed to be the first American suicide bomber in Syria was born in Florida and loved to play basketball.

CARACAS, (Reuters) – An imprisoned former Caracas police commissioner at the center of stalled political talks between Venezuela’s government and opposition ended a hunger strike yesterday after demands for his release due to frail health were rejected.

(Jamaica Observer) Tashoy Lawrence had only a few weeks ago cheated death when he escaped from a burning car that had overturned as he made his way to a funeral.

Controversial author Sir Salman Rushdie checks his messages and e-mails at Treasure Beach, St Elizabeth yesterday as he prepares for his participation today at the Calabash International Literary Festival.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – Embattled Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki resigned yesterday following a meeting with President Barack Obama that came amid a firestorm of outrage over delays in medical care for U.S.

(Trinidad Express) Sport Minister Anil Roberts has effectively blocked the Congress of the People (COP) from investigating a “ganja video” showing a man resembling a Government minister rolling a joint.

PARIS/BUENOS AIRES, (Reuters) – Argentina reached an agreement yesterday with the Paris Club of creditor nations on repaying overdue debts in a landmark deal that helps the country put its record default behind it and should open up much-needed sources of international financing.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Former Prime Minister PJ Patterson is urging that the debate over Jamaica’s buggery law be framed within the context of current world trends and the realities that various differences exist in the society.

(Barbados Nation) The gruesome discovery of a naked body yesterday morning transformed the usually tranquil Mount Pleasant Memorial Gardens cemetery in St Peter into a murder scene.

(Trinidad Express) Sport Minister Anil Roberts has effectively blocked the Congress of the People (COP) from investigating a “ganja video” showing a man resembling a Government minister rolling a joint.

(Barbados Nation) As many as 100 workers from Amaryllis Beach Resort will lose their jobs when the hotel closes in six days.

(Trinidad Express) A police investigation has been launched into the issue of people bearing placards with racist slogans, acting Superintendent Joanne Archie has said.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Former Prime Minister P.J. Patterson is lamenting over the state of Jamaica’s moral decline, which he said has deteriorated ‘beyond belief’ over the last twenty years.