One man is dead following a confrontation with an off-duty police officer in La Horquetta on Monday afternoon. The deceased has been identified as Teesfa Wright. According to reports, shortly after 1 p.m., the officer was at a house in Phase 4, La Horquetta, when he was confronted by Wright, who was holding a firearm. The officer was told to hand over his cash and valuables. However, the officer instead reached for his licensed firearm which he was carrying on his person.

Before Wright could react, the officer drew his weapon and shot the assailant several times to his lower body. Wright dropped the weapon and fell to the floor. The officer called for paramedics and the injured man was taken to Arima District Hospital, where he died shortly after arrival.

A firearm and a mask were recovered by crime scene investigators. They are expected to be sent for ballistic testing.  Wright, police said, was well known to officers, having been linked to several robbery offences in the past. An autopsy is expected to take place tomorrow at the Forensic Science Centre in St James.(Trinidad Express)…[+]

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has set a date for Oral Hearings on jurisdiction in the case of the long-running border controversy between this country and Venezuela. According to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs the ICJ has notified Guyana that hearings will be held in The Hague, the Netherlands from March 23 to 27, 2020.

It will determine whether the Court has jurisdiction over the case filed by Guyana on March 29, 2018 to obtain from the Court a final and binding judgment that the 1899 Arbitral Award, which established the location of the land boundary between then-British Guiana and Venezuela, remains valid and binding, and that Guyana’s Essequibo region belongs to Guyana, and not Venezuela.

Guyana brought its case to the Court following the decision by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, in January 2018, that the controversy between Guyana and Venezuela should be decided by the World Court.  In taking his decision, the Secretary-General was exercising the power vested in him in the 1966 Geneva Agreement between Guyana, Venezuela and the United Kingdom to decide how the controversy should be settled.(Stabroek News)…[+]

A second family has arrived in Guyana to a Ministerial welcome after surviving Hurricane Dorian in The Bahamas.

At about 10 pm on  Sunday, Minister of Citizenship, Winston Felix, welcomed Guyanese Vanessa Tate, her Bahamian husband, Stevie Cooper and their three children, Stevie Jr., age 5; Steven, age 3 and 3-month-old Steve at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri.

Caribbean Airlines flew the family home free of cost following a request for humanitarian assistance in getting 23 Guyanese back on home soil.

Minister Felix, according to a statement from the Ministry of the Presidency, told reporters at the airport that government has sent the message to Guyanese in the hurricane ravaged islands that they are willing and ready to help them on return to Guyana.

“Initially, we had a list of about 102 persons indicating an interest. Then it broke down to about 28. Five came last week, five arrived [Sunday night] and two are to come … next week. We don’t know if others will join that list but so far, we know that two others are expected to return to Guyana on this very flight next Sunday night,” he said.(Stabroek News)…[+]

A Haitian senator opened fire during a protest outside the country’s parliament building, wounding two people including a photographer.

Chery Dieu-Nalio, a photographer for the Associated Press, was hit in the face. Leon Leblanc, a security guard, was also wounded in the incident. Senator Jean Marie Ralph Féthière opened fire as he left parliament in the capital, Port-au-Prince.

He claimed he was defending himself from protesters. Mr Dieu-Nalio, who was wearing body armour clearly marked with the word “Press”, was struck on the chin. Reports said he was treated in hospital but his injuries were not severe. Mr Leblanc’s condition was not immediately known.

Mr Féthière, a senator from the north, told local media he had attempted to defend himself after “armed individuals threatened me”. “I was attacked by violent militant groups, so I defended myself,” he told Haiti’s Radio Mega, adding: “Self-defence is a sacred right.” Another senator, Patrice Dumont, told local media that Mr Féthière issued a warning before opening fire.(BBC)…[+]

Spain’s Supreme Court has ruled that the remains of dictator Francisco Franco should be exhumed. It backed the Socialist government’s plan to move the remains from a state mausoleum to a less controversial site. An appeal by Franco’s family against the exhumation and proposing an alternative site was rejected.

The issue has divided opinion in Spain, which remains haunted by the Franco era. He won the 1930s civil war and went on to rule Spain until 1975. In a unanimous ruling, the court said it had decided to “completely reject the appeal lodged by the family in relation to Francisco Franco’s exhumation”.

In a tweet (in Spanish), Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez hailed the decision as a “great victory for democracy”. Mr Sanchez’s deputy, Carmen Calvo, said the exhumation would be completed “as soon as possible”. The government wants to carry it out before elections on 10 November.(BBC)…[+]

The Duchess of Sussex has told teenage girls in a deprived part of South Africa she is with them “as a woman of colour and as your sister”. Meghan was visiting a women and children’s centre in Nyanga township alongside her husband, Prince Harry. It’s the pair’s first official overseas tour with four-month-old son, Archie.

Speaking at the centre, which is in an area with a high crime rate, the duchess praised its work to counter violence against women and children. “I am here with you as a mother, as a wife, as a woman, as a woman of colour and as your sister,” she said.

Her comments come amid a recent spike in violence against women which has ignited protests in many areas of South Africa. Approximately 2,700 women and 1,000 children were murdered by men in the country last year. At least 100 rapes were also reported daily.(BBC)…[+]

A German court has ruled hangovers are an “illness”, in a case against the maker of an anti-hangover drink. The firm was taken to court in Frankfurt after being accused of making illegal health claims about its anti-hangover shots and drinks powders.

In its ruling, the court said illnesses included even small or temporary changes to the body’s normal state. Food products, including drinks, cannot be marketed as being able to prevent or treat illnesses, it added. “Information about a food product cannot ascribe any properties for preventing, treating or healing a human illness or give the impression of such a property,” the superior regional court’s ruling said.

“By an illness, one should understand even small or temporary disruptions to the normal state or normal activity of the body.” This, it said, includes the tiredness, nausea and headaches commonly associated with hangovers – and which the company, which was not named in the ruling, claimed its shots and powders could cure. The ruling comes just days after the annual Oktoberfest beer festival kicked off in Munich.(BBC)…[+]

All schools will be closed today as the country continues on a riverine high risk alert.

Government offices and businesses, however, will remain opened. This was announced by Minister of National Security Stuart Young at a press conference in Port-of-Spain yesterday afternoon. Tomorrow is a public holiday – Republic Day.

Young said the decision was taken following a meeting with the Trinidad and Tobago Meteorological Services. He said there was no need, at this time, to shut down Government offices and other businesses. He also warned citizens to remain indoors unless it is absolutely necessary.

Young said, “We want to warn citizens when there are heavy rainfall and flash flooding it is not a good idea to jump in vehicle and go out there. Exercise caution in next 24 hours. Do not venture out until it is absolutely need to. We are asking please avoid going out in vehicle unless necessary in next 24 hours.” He also warned homeowners to steer clear of live electrical wires.

And parents were warned against encouraging children to enter flood waters.

Minister of Local Government Kazim Hosein said there were reports of flooding in areas in west Trinidad. He said the ministry was informed of fallen trees in San Fernando, Mayaro, Tuna-puna and other areas.(Trinidad Express)…[+]

Danion Welcome, the driver of the truck that crushed seven-year-old Ciarra Benjamin to death three months ago on the Agricola Public Road, was granted bail when he appeared before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court yesterday.

It is alleged that the 39-year-old father of four, on June 1st at the Agricola Public Road, drove motor lorry GWW 962 in a manner dangerous to the public thereby causing the death of Benjamin. Welcome pleaded not guilty to the charge.Facts presented to the court by police prosecutor Gordon Mansfield indicated that on the day in question, at about 16:10 hours, the defendant was driving the lorry which was heading north on the eastern driveway of the western carriageway. At the time, the prosecutor said, Welcome was travelling at a fast rate and while in the vicinity of the Agricola Public Road, he lost control of the lorry which swerved and collided with Benjamin. The girl was crushed by the vehicle.(Stabroek News)…[+]

A Belgian air force F-16 fighter plane has crashed in north-western France, leaving one pilot caught on a high-voltage electricity line. Both pilots were lightly wounded after they ejected from the plane near Pluvigner in Brittany.

The plane had clipped the roof of at least one house before crashing in a nearby field. The man was eventually retrieved from the power line after a two-hour rescue operation by French emergency services. The cable was high voltage at 250,000 volts, local media reported. The plane had been flying at 500m (1,500ft), said the commander of the Belgian air force, Frederik Vansina.

The aeroplane was on a practice flight from Florennes in the Belgian province of Namur to a French airbase at Lorient, some 30km (19 miles) from the crash site, according to Belgian reports.(BBC)…[+]