Regional News

CARACAS,  (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said yesterday that former Brazilian leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was trying to arrange a meeting between Maduro and his Colombian counterpart to help resolve a dispute between the South American neighbours.

(Trinidad Express) Despite money troubles at cash-strapped Caribbean Airlines (CAL), salaries of top executive managers over the past two years range between TT$36,000 and TT$128,000, documents obtained by the Express have revealed.

(Trinidad Express) A police officer was one of three men shot and killed Thursday night in separate attacks in north, east and south Trinidad.

(Trinidad Express) Cabinet yesterday approved a new policy to lend assistance to all farmers—crops, livestock and fisherfolk—who are affected by natural disasters.

(Trinidad Express) A notorious gang leader has been named as the person responsible for firebombing the Valsayn home of National Petroleum (NP) chairman Neil Gosine on Carnival Monday (February 11).

(Trinidad Express) The Auditor General’s report on Trinidad and Tobago’s public accounts for Government’s financial year 2012 (October 1, 2011 to September 30, 2012) has revealed that Government ministries paid millions of dollars in overpayments to contract employees.

(Jamaica Observer) ST CATHERINE, Jamaica – Police this morning shot and killed three men during an operation in St Catherine.

(Jamaica Observer) BETHEL TOWN, Westmoreland — Sorrel farmers in Westmoreland will soon have a facility for the processing of value-added products made from the sorrel plant.

The National Housing Corporation (NHC) is being asked to account for over Bds$40 million received in monthly advances without parliamentary approval.

(Trinidad Express) While the dollar value of the country’s food import bill has risen steadily since 2008, the actual amount of food imported in terms of weight and quantity has consistently decreased since 2010.

(Trinidad Express) The Integrity Commission yesterday issued a statement disclosing that it had obtained a legal opinion which advised that the IC has the power to investigate the e-mail allegations raised in Parliament by Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Trinidad’s Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan, says there will be increased checks for travellers to and from Venezuela where the Swine Flu virus has killed 17 people and infected nearly 300 in recent months.

(Jamaica Observer) SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth — After weeks of mysterious burnings and reports of people being hit with stones thrown by “invisible” hands, a purported “haunted house” was destroyed by fire at Rose Hall district, in south east St Elizabeth yesterday.

(Jamaica Observer) JAMAICA is the lead country in a Caribbean project aimed at developing programmes and strategies to address educational underachievement in boys.

(Barbados Nation) POLICE HAVE scored another breakthrough in the fight against the importation of illegal drugs with the seizure of more than 800 pounds of cannabis.

(Trinidad Express) A 28-YEAR-old Siparia woman was found dead in her house on Tuesday afternoon.

(Trinidad Express) Trinidad and Tobago may soon join the growing list of countries to restrict the production, sale and use of plastic bags, following a suggestion to that effect by President Anthony Carmona in his World Environment Day message yesterday.

BRASILIA/SAO PAULO,  (Reuters) – Lawmakers from the Brazilian farm state of Mato Grosso do Sul asked President Dilma Rousseff’s government yesterday to send troops to end land invasions by Indians claiming their ancestral territory.

(Barbados Nation) The President of the Barbados Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BCCI) has described as alarming the level of unoccupied or unsold properties in prime Bridgetown locations.

(Barbados Nation) The elderly man charged with the death of his 12-year-old granddaughter also faced two counts of unlawful sexual intercourse when he appeared in the District “A” Magistrates’ Court yesterday.