US artist and fashion icon Gloria Vanderbilt has died aged 95. She passed away at home with family members by her side, said her son Anderson Cooper, a CNN anchor, after suffering from stomach cancer.

Vanderbilt, known as the “poor little rich girl”, was the great-great-granddaughter of Cornelius Vanderbilt, a 19th Century tycoon. The socialite, who was married several times, made her name in the 1970s and ’80s as a designer jeans pioneer.

“Gloria Vanderbilt was an extraordinary woman, who loved life, and lived it on her own terms,” Mr Cooper said in a statement. “She was a painter, a writer, and designer but also a remarkable mother, wife, and friend. “She was 95 years old, but ask anyone close to her, and they’d tell you, she was the youngest person they knew, the coolest, and most modern,” the statement added. Vanderbilt was not even two years old when her father died.

As the beneficiary of a multimillion-dollar trust fund, Vanderbilt became widely known as the “poor little rich girl” in 1934 because of a high-profile custody fight between her mother and her aunt in New York. The aunt eventually won the legal battle, described by the media at the time as the “trial of the century”. Vanderbilt was a talented painter and actress. She was also the author of several books.(BBC)…[+]

KHARTOUM – Sudan’s ex-president Omar al-Bashir was charged with corruption-related offences yesterday, as he appeared in public for the first time since he was overthrown and detained in April. Looking much the same as prior to his removal by the military, he was driven to the prosecutor’s office in Khartoum.

He was charged with illicit possession of foreign currency and accepting gifts in an unofficial manner, prosecutor Alaa al-Din Abdallah told media, adding that Bashir would be given the chance to respond to the accusations. His trial will be a test of how serious the country’s transitional military council is about trying to erase the legacy of his autocratic 30-year rule, marked by widespread violence, economic collapse and the secession of South Sudan.

Bashir was charged last month with incitement and involvement in the killing of protesters, and prosecutors also want him questioned over suspected money laundering and terrorism financing. Sudan’s chief prosecutor said on Saturday that 41 former officials from Bashir’s administration were being investigated for suspected graft.(Reuters)…[+]

The Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha is concerned about Venezuelan migrants entering the country with Hindu marriage licences issued by a pundit in central Trinidad. Pundit Lutchmidath Persad Maharaj, in a telephone interview yesterday, said there was an investigation of Venezuelans coming in from Cedros, presenting Hindu marriage licences.

These licences, he added, were being issued by a pundit from central Trinidad. Maharaj, who is also the first vice-president of the Inter-Religious Organisation, said the Immigration Division has been contacted. According to Maharaj, almost 100 people have produced marriage licences with that pundit’s registration.He said this took place over an extended period of time and not during the recently concluded two-week registration period.

“There was an investigation going on because it meant the licence had to be shipped out of the country for them to be presenting it when they came in at the port in Cedros.” “It is a legitimate concern for the Maha Sabha,” he told Newsday. He said marriage licences are only issued after a particular set of religious rituals were performed, such as pre martial counselling and the balancing of astrologies or the planetary influences. “We would hope that the pundits’ practice the correct thing. Once you hold a Hindu marriage licence, the process of registering the marriage could only take place after the ritual is completed.”(Trinidad Newsday)…[+]