A war of words has intensified between the police and the magistracy with Police Commissioner Gary Griffith directly calling on a magistrate to not bully his officers, and the magistrate accusing policemen of pedalling misinformation about the courts. Griffith’s latest salvo comes in a release this weekend in which he claims a magistrate, Aden Stroude, is picking a “cat fight” with the police.

The CoP’s ire arises from an article published in Newsday under the headline, PoS Magistrate scolds police for blaming courts. The magistrate was angered by policemen who were claiming that the judicial officers were not in court to deal with their matters. Stroude’s concerns stemmed from an excuse allegedly made by police, on Tuesday, as to why Valsayn businessman Emile Sanowar did not appear before a magistrate, although he was taken to court that day.(Trinidad Newsday)…[+]

The Education Ministry has confirmed that it has received “isolated reports” of the hand, foot and mouth disease across the island. However, it says the Health Ministry, which has been monitoring the reports, has indicated that “there is no general outbreak of the disease.”

“Surveillance data indicate that there is no unusual number of cases in any area in the island,” the education ministry said in a statement today. In the meantime, the ministry urged school administrators to take every precaution to prevent the spread of the disease and monitor their students for symptoms. (Jamaica Gleaner) …[+]

The father and brother of a British student who disappeared after a beach party on a Cambodian island have arrived to join searches for her. Amelia Bambridge, 21, from Worthing, who was on her gap year, was last seen in the resort of Koh Rong on Wednesday, but did not return to her hostel.

Her mother Linda is also on her way to the island, where divers and drones are being used to find Ms Bambridge. Sussex Police said they were supporting the family. On Sunday, Ms Bambridge’s sister Georgie said her father and brother had arrived on Koh Rong late at night when searches had halted overnight.

“They’ll join the police and start searching tomorrow,” she said. “There was a search today, with the number of people up to 90, and they are using divers and drones.”

She said her mother had arrived in Cambodia and was hoping to get a ferry to the island first thing on Monday. She and Ms Bambridge’s two other sisters have remained in the UK where they were working to raise money for extra searches and trying to spread awareness of the family’s plight, she added.(BBC)…[+]