The portents for a global food crisis may already be looming large as climate change unleashes a multi-faceted onslaught on the food production system according to a report from the Inter- governmental Panel on Climate Change, (IPCC) a United Nations body dedicated to providing an objective, scientific perspective on climate change, its natural political and economic impacts and risks and possible response options. And while the study does not undertake a specific examination of the prospects for the Caribbean its findings bespeak a randomness in the pattern of climate change which suggests the Caribbean enjoys no immunity from climate-related food security challenges.

The report, released in August this year but seemingly only sparingly publicized in the region, explores the impacts of climate breakdown on the global food system, making a case for climate change presenting the most formidable challenge to the world feeding itself in the years ahead.(Stabroek News)…[+]

OSLO- Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed won the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize today for his peacemaking efforts which ended two decades of hostility with longtime enemy Eritrea.

Though Africa’s youngest leader still faces big challenges, he has in under two years in power begun political and economic reforms that promise a better life for many in impoverished Ethiopia and restored ties with Eritrea that had been frozen since a 1998-2000 border war. “We are proud as a nation,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement, hailing a “collective win for all Ethiopians, and a call to strengthen our resolve in making Ethiopia – the new horizon of hope – a prosperous nation for all.”

The Nobel Committee said Abiy had won the prestigious prize for “efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation, and in particular for his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighbouring Eritrea.” It said the prize was meant to recognise “all the stakeholders working for peace and reconciliation in Ethiopia and in the East and Northeast African regions.” (Reuters)…[+]

Eleven people have been arrested in southern Mexico after the mayor of their village was dragged out of his office, tied to a pick-up truck and dragged through the streets. Police intervened to free Mayor Jorge Luis Escandón Hernández, who reportedly suffered no major injuries.

It was the second attack by farmers demanding that he fulfil his campaign promise to repair a local road. Extra officers have been deployed to the village in Chiapas state. Mayors and local politicians in Mexico are often targeted by drug gangs when they refuse to cooperate with their criminal schemes but it is less common for them to be attacked over their campaign promises. Mr Escandón said he would press charges for abduction and attempted murder.

Video taken by bystanders outside the mayor’s office showed a group of men pulling him out of the building and forcing him onto the back of the vehicle.Footage captured later by a CCTV showed him being dragged along, tied with a rope around his hands to the back of the truck through the streets of Santa Rita, which forms part of Las Margaritas.(BBC)…[+]

At least two people have been killed in a shooting in the eastern German city of Halle, police say. One person was arrested, police said, but other suspects were believed to have fled the Paulus area in a vehicle. Witnesses said one gunman was wearing military camouflage and carrying several weapons. A second shooting was then reported in Landsberg, some 15km (9 miles) east of the city. It was not clear if the incidents were connected.

A witness told German n-tv news that a gunman in camouflage opened fire with an assault rifle on a doner kebab shop.”The man came up to the Doner shop, he threw something like a grenade, it didn’t explode, and he opened fire with an assault rifle. The man behind me must have died… I hid in the toilet,” the witness told a TV reporter near the scene.

German media report that shots were also fired near a synagogue in Halle, but the details have not been confirmed. One witness said one attacker had thrown a petrol bomb or grenade over a cemetery wall. It happens as Jews celebrate Yom Kippur, Judaism’s holiest day. It was not clear where the arrest took place. Police are still warning residents to remain in their homes.(BBC)…[+]

Venezue­lan pi­rates who op­er­ate out of Patos Is­land, one of Venezuela’s small un­in­hab­it­ed is­land, have re­port­ed­ly kid­napped three Ica­cos fish­er­men for ran­som.

The is­land is lo­cat­ed in the north­west­ern Gulf of Paria and is said to be one of the hide­outs for des­per­ate Venezue­lan pi­rates who kid­nap and smug­gle drugs and guns in ex­change for ba­sic ne­ces­si­ties. Up to late yes­ter­day, ne­go­ti­a­tions were on­go­ing and rel­a­tives re­mained tight-lipped say­ing they had no in­for­ma­tion to give. Last night sec­re­tary of Fish­er­man and Friends of the Sea Gary Aboud said a US$10,000 has been de­mand­ed for their safe re­lease.

Po­lice said the fish­er­men Ramkissoon Har­richa­ran, 64, Car­lo Snei­der, 61, of Lovers Lane, Ica­cos and a third uniden­ti­fied man were snatched at gun­point around 7 am while they fished off Gal­fa Point in Ica­cos about half a mile from the shore. A fish­er­man who re­quest­ed anonymi­ty said he saw the Venezue­lan pi­rates ac­com­pa­nied by oth­er lo­cal Trinida­di­ans chas­ing down fish­ing ves­sels.

“We ran from them be­cause we re­al­ized they were pi­rates and they were com­ing to get our en­gines and nets,” the fish­er­man said. An­oth­er fish­ing crew from Erin was al­so pur­sued by the pi­rates. They even­tu­al­ly cap­tured the two old fish­er­men and took them aboard their pirogue. Two boat en­gines were tak­en and Snider’s boat Ger­man 1 was left adrift.(Stabroeknews)…[+]

A top al-Qaeda leader has been killed in a joint US-Afghan military operation, according to Afghanistan’s intelligence agency. Asim Umar, the head of al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), died in a raid on a Taliban compound in Helmand province on 23 September, the National Directorate of Security (NDS) said.

At least 40 civilians were reported to have been killed in the same operation. The US and al-Qaeda have not confirmed Umar’s death.

In a statement shared on Twitter on Tuesday, the NDS said the joint US-Afghan raid took place at a compound in the “Taliban stronghold of Musa Qala” district, where Umar and other AQIS members “had been embedded”. It said six other AQIS members were also killed, “most” of whom were Pakistani.

Raihan, Umar’s “courier” to al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, was named as one of those killed. The NDS shared pictures purportedly showing Umar both alive and dead alongside the statement. Further details of the operation and what happened to the bodies were not immediately clear. Officials also said air strikes conducted as part of the same operation had killed at least 40 civilians attending a wedding party.(BBC)…[+]

An attack on motorists in the western town of Limburg is being investigated as terrorism, security sources have told German media. On Monday, a man hijacked a lorry and ploughed into eight vehicles waiting at a traffic light, injuring eight people. Seven were treated in hospital.

A thirty-two year-old suspect has been arrested. Originally from Syria, the man has been living in Germany since 2015, local reports say. Public broadcaster ZDF quoted sources as saying the incident was being treated by investigators as having a “terrorist background”, although Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said on Tuesday he could not yet say how the incident was being classified.

Police searched a flat in Langen, south of Frankfurt, early on Tuesday and said it was linked to what had happened in Limburg, local reports said. Security sources told the DPA news agency the suspect had been known to the police for drug offences and grievous bodily harm.(BBC)…[+]

Forty-four-year-old Athlone Pitt yesterday admitted to chopping his wife to death in an attack at Bygeval Secondary School in 2016. The man was charged with murdering Candacy Pitt, on June 1st, 2016, at the Bygeval Secondary School, at Mahaica, East Coast Demerara. He, however, pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of man-slaughter when he appeared before Justice Jo-Ann Barlow.According to previous reports, Candacy and Athlone were married for 13 years and the man had made threats to end her life that she had never reported.(Stabroeknews)…[+]

The remains of a 5,000-year-old cityhave been discovered in Israel – the largest and oldest such find in the region. The city was home to 6,000 people and included planned roads, neighbourhoods, a ritual temple and fortifications.

An even earlier settlement, believed to be 7,000 years old, was discovered beneath the city. Israeli archaeologists said the discovery was the most significant in the region from that era. “This is the Early Bronze Age New York of our region; a cosmopolitan and planned city where thousands of inhabitants lived,” the excavation directors said in a statement. “There is no doubt that this site dramatically changes what we know about the character of the period and the beginning of urbanization in Israel,” the statement added.

Known as En Esur, the site spans 650 dunams (161 acres), about double the size of previous similar findings. The design of the city included designated residential and public areas, streets and alleys, the Israel Antiquities Authority said.

About four million fragments were found at the site, including rare figurines of humans and animals, pieces of pottery and various tools, some of which came from Egypt.(BBC)…[+]

A large tulip sculpture in Paris in tribute to the victims of the 2015 attacks in the city has been criticised for looking more like marshmallows – or even parts of human anatomy. The Bouquet of Tulips, a gift from US artist Jeff Koons unveiled near the Champs-Elysées on Friday, features the flower often used to symbolise love.

But the work, created in Koons’ typical kitsch style, has divided opinion. In November 2015, mass shootings and a bomb attack killed 130 people in Paris.

The co-ordinated terror attacks on a concert hall, a major stadium, restaurants and bars in the French capital wounded hundreds more. Unveiling his 40ft (12m) high structure near Le Petit Palais art gallery on Friday, Koons said the large handheld bouquet of balloon-like tulips was intended to show his support and US solidarity with the French people.”I did, as a citizen in New York, experience 9/11 and the depression that hung over the city,” he said, adding that 80% of the money raised after selling the copyright to the artwork would be given to the victims’ families.(BBC)…[+]