RJRGLEANER Communications Group CEO Anthony Smith died after getting sick for a short period, and the Jamaican media company dropped the news over the weekend. Smith took the top job back in early 2024 after working as deputy chief for print and digital operations since late 2022, and his background was actually in engineering, plus telecom executive roles at Cable & Wireless and Massy Technologies before jumping into media management.
Culture Minister Olivia Grange called him one of Jamaica's standout media figures, while the Media Association and Caribbean Broadcasting Union both sent condolences to his family and the company. The industry lost someone who was apparently big on digital transformation and corporate strategy during his...
Antigua and Barbuda just locked down visa deals with the UAE, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, and Benin after Foreign Affairs Minister E.P. Chet Greene told Parliament the country wants better travel options for its citizens while building economic connections. Greene said the arrangements are meant to make life easier for people moving around internationally instead of just being empty diplomatic gestures, and he framed the whole thing as practical foreign policy that helps with trade and investment opportunities.
The minister mentioned Japan during the budget debate, but clarified that the relationship was already solid without needing fresh paperwork. Officials have been pushing visa access as a major flex for small island nations since...
CARICOM's crime agency helped Virgin Islands cops pull off a massive drug bust that netted over 772 kilos of cocaine and six arrests after intelligence reports flagged sketchy boat activity in local waters. The December operation brought together the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force, customs officials, and US Border Protection agents who acted on real-time intel shared through regional security channels to intercept the vessel carrying the narcotics.
Executive Director Michael Jones from CARICOM IMPACS said the coordinated takedown shows what happens when Caribbean law enforcement agencies actually work together instead of running solo operations against transnational crime networks. The suspects got hit with importation and...
A jury in St. Thomas nailed former US Virgin Islands budget director Jenifer O'Neal on bribery and money laundering charges after prosecutors showed she approved fake invoices worth an extra $70,000 that were supposed to fund ex-Police Commissioner Ray Martinez's restaurant. O'Neal, who came from Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands, got convicted on every single count after the government proved she was moving government contract money around while getting personal kickbacks.
The case leaned hard on cooperating witness David Whitaker, whose shady business dealings with officials gave prosecutors their smoking gun evidence. Text messages showed O'Neal laughing about the inflated $216,000 invoice before telling her staff to push...
The Dominican Republic just let the US military park some aircraft at San Isidro Air Base and Las Américas International Airport for Caribbean operations that involve surveillance and transport missions. The government approved temporary permits for planes like the KC-130 tanker and C-130 Hercules to run logistics support from restricted zones at both facilities.
Officials stayed quiet about flight schedules and exact aircraft numbers, but they mentioned the deployment could handle maritime patrols, aerial monitoring, sensitive cargo movement, midair refueling, and shuttling technical crews around the region. The C-130 has been doing heavy lifting since the 1950s from Vietnam through Desert Storm, plus Haiti disaster relief, while the...
The US and Canada hyped up a December conference in New York where 18 countries pledged troops and resources for Haiti's Gang Suppression Force after the place kept getting wrecked by violent gangs. Chad apparently offered 1,500 soldiers, while Bangladesh and Sri Lanka threw in combat units, and Kenya already has 700 cops deployed on the ground dealing with the chaos.
The whole operation is supposed to hit 5,500 personnel with help from African and South Asian nations stepping up since Haiti's transitional government wants to run actual elections for the first time in almost ten years. Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé said the international backup shows everyone gets how bad the security crisis has gotten, and the force needs to...
Zimbabwe police threw an awards ceremony for detectives who nabbed the crew suspected of murdering businessman Joseph Mutangadura, and Commissioner Crispen Charumbira said Commissioner-General Stephen Mutamba wants cops locking up over 20,000 criminals before February hits. The Criminal Investigations Department honored officers for exceptional work while Charumbira talked about how modern detective work requires next-level problem-solving since cyber criminals and international crime rings keep evolving their tactics.
Charumbira gave props to Business Against Crime Forum of Zimbabwe, plus various Crime Liaison Committees, for funding the whole thing, and he stressed that forensic science teams working alongside detectives show what...
A UN prison advisor swung through Zimbabwe and basically fanboyed over how the corrections system runs things with actual humanity instead of just warehousing people. Meissner Phillip from the crime prevention unit said Commissioner General Moses Chihobvu and the Pathways to Reintegration Foundation get it right by treating rehabilitation like a group project where everyone has to pitch in, not just guards throwing inmates back on the street after their time runs out.
Phillip visited Mazowe Farm Prison, which has been around since 1987 and runs mining operations plus a brick factory through public-private deals that employ around 150 people. The facility officer, Tafirenyika Chikazinga, explained they want ex-cons learning trades and...
President Mnangagwa commissioned 60 new garbage trucks for Geo Pomona Waste Management and told everyone that cities need to stop being trash heaps since the country was just got voted the best travel destination for 2025. The president said waste management needs to transform from bleeding money into an actual business that creates jobs and generates power, while making sure the whole public-private partnership model gets copied nationwide under the National Development Strategy 2.
Mnangagwa wants local governments to team up with companies to handle waste better as urbanization picks up steam from all the industrial growth happening under his administration. He announced plans to give awards to cities that actually show up for the...
