LUXEMBOURG – Britain can unilaterally reverse its decision to leave the European Union, an urgent hearing of Europe’s top court was told today in a case supporters of EU membership hope could pave the way to a second referendum and ultimately stop Brexit.

Lawyers for a group of Scottish politicians want the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to interpret whether Britain can revoke its notice to withdraw from the EU under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty without agreement of the other 27 states.Britain is due to exit the EU on March 29, two years after London served notice in line with a June, 2016 vote to leave.But the fate of Brexit remains up in the air, with Prime Minister Theresa May’s draft divorce deal, agreed with the EU on Sunday, facing a difficult vote in parliament on Dec. 11. May has said that if her deal is voted down, Britain could leave without a deal or there could be no Brexit at all.

Some opponents of Brexit want a second referendum giving British voters the option to remain in the EU. May’s government says a second referendum will not happen, and any ruling that would allow the reversal of Britain’s withdrawal notice would be irrelevant since it is against government policy.(Reuters)…[+]

MORE than 500 police patrol vehicles worth tens of millions of dollars have ended up as scrap over the past three years. And Police Commissioner Gary Griffith has a plan to keep the new fleet roadworthy by targeting road hogs—in police uniform.

Griffith acted last Friday after CCTV footage captured two newly-purchased Toyota RAV-4 patrol vehicles crashing into a truck in Charlieville that day. It turned out that the police officers driving those vehicles were not responding to any distress call.

The officers, assigned to the newly-launched Emergency Response Patrol, had just installed a GPS tracking system in the patrol vehicles. And it was that very tracking system that allowed their seniors to know that before the crash, the officers were driving at 140 kilometres per hour on the Uriah Butler Highway, where the speed limit is 100kph, and at 89 kph on the secondary road (the speed limit is 40kph) when they wrecked the State vehicles.

The officers have been suspended from driving police vehicles until the case is investigated by an internal disciplinary committee. The two patrol vehicles, worth more than $500,000, were extensively damaged and have joined the hundreds of other cars, SUVs, pick-up trucks and police buses being kept at compounds in north and south Trinidad.(Trinidad Express)…[+]

Port of Spain- Local community enterprises are a powerful pathway to a blue economy that is inclusive and fair, environmentally sustainable and resilient.

This was the message from a side event at the international Sustainable Blue Economy Conference held this week in Nairobi, Kenya by the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI). The event entitled “Local blue enterprises: SIDS inclusive economic development through community-led conservation and social enterprises” attracted participants from the Caribbean, Latin America, Africa, the Pacific, the United States and Europe.

The international conference is being attended by over 4,000 participants from all over the world, including a strong Caribbean contingent from government, regional agencies and civil society. The conference is exploring how ocean resources can be sustainably used to support inclusive economic development. CANARI’s participation was supported by the Commonwealth Foundation.

CANARI’s Executive Director, Nicole Leotaud, explained that blue economy is based on the same principles as green economy but focuses on ocean resources. She emphasised that “it’s not important what colour we call it, but that we focus on the four key principles of economic development, environmental sustainability, inclusiveness, and resilience to climate change and natural hazards.”

She presented a tool developed by the Institute to support local community small and micro-enterprises to enhance their delivery of economic, environmental and social co-benefits. The self-assessment tool is called the Local Green-Blue Enterprises Radar and uses specific indicators of economic, environmental and social benefits to help community entrepreneurs identify where their business is strong and where they can improve…[+]