JOHANNESBURG– South Africa has issued an arrest warrant for Zimbabwe’s former first lady Grace Mugabe over an alleged assault in an upmarket district of Johannesburg last year, a police spokesman said yesterday. After the alleged assault with an electric cable came to light in August 2017, the South African government granted Grace Mugabe diplomatic immunity.

That immunity was overturned by a South African court this year after the alleged victim, model Gabriella Engels, challenged the decision. “I can confirm that a warrant for the arrest of Grace Mugabe was issued last Thursday,” South African Police Service spokesman Vishnu Naidoo said, adding that police were seeking Interpol’s help to enforce the warrant. There was no immediate comment from Mrs Mugabe or from authorities in Harare.

Mrs Mugabe was seen as a potential successor to her 94-year-old husband Robert, who ruled Zimbabwe from 1980 until he was ousted in a coup late last year, at the time of the incident in a luxury hotel in Johannesburg’s Sandton district.(Reuters)…[+]

KINGSTON — The police are investigating the death of a United States resident, who turned up at a gas station with a gunshot wound in Mammee Bay, St Ann earlier today.

He has been identified as thirty-four-year-old Kevin Mechado of Mango Walk, St James and Pine Wood Court, Florida.  It has been reported that about 1:00 am, Mechado drove to the service station suffering from a gunshot wound to his right leg. According to the police, he subsequently fell out of the car clutching a firearm. He was assisted to hospital where he was pronounced dead. The police said a post mortem exercise will be conducted to determine the cause of death.

Investigations are ongoing.(Jamaica Observer)…[+]

BRIDGETOWN – The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has entered into a delegation agreement with the European Union (EU), to administer a Road Management and Rural Road Improvement Programme in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The programme will be financed through an EU contribution of EUR5.8 million (mn), and aims to improve climate change resilience in rural road networks, as well as stimulate economic activity in rural communities.

Developed road infrastructure is a key component in economic growth and sustainable development. This project is expected to strengthen institutional capacity, and provide the tools needed to plan for the effects of climate change on the road network in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. In addition, a better rural road network has the potential to stimulate growth in agriculture as well as employment in rural communities,” said Daniel Best, Director of Projects, CDB.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines is particularly vulnerable to natural hazards and its road network has already experienced some of the effects of climate change. Under the project, approximately six kilometres of rural, unpaved roads will be upgraded with enhanced climate-resilience features included. This is expected to improve access for farmers to transport their produce to market, and reduce costs associated with spoilage or loss of cargo. In addition, improvements in institutional capacity at the Ministry of Transport and Works supported under the Project are designed to lead to better road sector management and enhanced early-warning response in the event of a natural disaster or climate event. The Project will also provide for the development and operation of a road maintenance management system…[+]

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – Road traffic accidents are the seventh leading cause of death in Belize, with approximately 21 deaths per 100,000 persons. This is the highest fatality rate among CDB’s 19 Borrowing Member Countries (BMCs).

In response to this challenge, the Board of Directors of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) today approved funding of USD5.9 million (mn) to the Government of Belize, to support critical efforts to improve road safety. The project will focus on the Philip S. W. Goldson Highway, which joins Belize City through Ladyville, Orange Walk Town and Corozal Town to the Mexican Border. It will incorporate a multi-sectoral approach, focusing on changing behaviour through increasing awareness and understanding of risks, improved traffic law enforcement and improving post-crash response.   “An increase in road traffic fatalities has a significant impact on a country, not just on public health but also on social and economic development. Young people, particularly males, are more likely to be involved in accidents, which results in lost productivity and a greater impact on families for whom they may have been primary providers. CDB is pleased to support the Government of Belize in its efforts to implement road safety measures along the Philip S. W. Goldson Highway, where it is estimated that at least half of all road traffic accidents in Belize occur,” said Daniel Best, Director of Projects at CDB.

The Second Road Safety Project builds on the results and lessons learned in a previous project in Belize, which focused on a demonstration corridor between Belmopan and Belize City. The CDB-funded project, which was approved in 2012, saw road traffic fatalities decreasing from an average of 33 to nine per year, along the demonstration corridor. In contrast, road traffic fatalities increased from 70 to 90 per year in the entire country. The new Project will replicate the approach used in the first initiative…[+]

Three peo­ple were killed and one in­jured in two sep­a­rate po­lice-in­volved shoot­ings in east Trinidad yes­ter­day. Po­lice of­fi­cers have al­so launched a man­hunt for two oth­er sus­pects who were in­volved in one of the al­leged shootouts and who were be­lieved to be part of a home in­va­sion in Ma­tu­ri­ta, Ari­ma, that even­tu­al­ly led to the triple killings.

In that in­ci­dent, po­lice said at about 11 am of­fi­cers act­ing on in­tel­li­gence went in­to a forest­ed area near Dump Road, Ari­ma, where they were greet­ed by gun­fire. The of­fi­cers re­turned fire. Three men were lat­er found dead. Po­lice said they re­cov­ered two re­volvers near the bod­ies of two of the men.

One of them was iden­ti­fied as pris­on­er Ted­dy Singh, 26, of Ari­ma. Singh made a dar­ing es­cape from the Ari­ma Mag­is­trates’ Court on May 15, short­ly af­ter he was tak­en to the court by a pris­on­er trans­port van.Ac­cord­ing to a po­lice re­port, Singh was placed in the court’s hold­ing bay when he man­aged to es­cape. He was an in­mate of the Gold­en Grove Max­i­mum Se­cu­ri­ty Prison in Arou­ca. Singh, whose last known ad­dress was La Re­treat Road, Ari­ma, was charged with mur­der in De­cem­ber 2014.(Trinidad Guardian)…[+]

KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia said today it has filed criminal charges against Goldman Sachs and two of the U.S. bank’s former employees in connection with a corruption and money laundering probe at state fund 1MDB.

Goldman Sachs has been under scrutiny for its role in helping raise funds through bond offerings for 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), which is the subject of investigations in at least six countries. Malaysia’s Attorney General Tommy Thomas said criminal charges under the country’s securities laws were filed on Monday against Goldman Sachs, its former bankers Tim Leissner and Roger Ng, former 1MDB employee Jasmine Loo and financier Jho Low in connection with the bond offerings.

“The charges arise from the commission and abetment of false or misleading statements by all the accused in order to dishonestly misappropriate $2.7 billion from the proceeds of three bonds issued by the subsidiaries of 1MDB, which were arranged and underwritten by Goldman Sachs,” Thomas said in a statement.(Reuters)…[+]

Po­lice be­lieve a hit was called on the life po­lice con­sta­ble Krys­ton Ramirez. How­ev­er, they say they are close to mak­ing ar­rests af­ter re­ceiv­ing crit­i­cal in­for­ma­tion and in­tel­li­gence. Ramirez’s rel­a­tives are mean­while call­ing for “jus­tice.”

Speak­ing with Guardian Me­dia at the Foren­sic Sci­ence Cen­tre, St James, yes­ter­day, one of his rel­a­tives said Ramirez was pas­sion­ate about his polic­ing ca­reer and kept pur­su­ing stud­ies. “He did foren­sic stud­ies and oth­er in­ves­tiga­tive stud­ies just to keep im­prov­ing on him­self be­cause he want­ed to be and was striv­ing to be the best po­lice of­fi­cer in the ser­vice,” the rel­a­tive, who did not want to be named, said.

“He worked very hard for his chil­dren. One of them is five years and he worked very hard in try­ing to pro­vide them with the best and make them the best chil­dren in the world.” Ramirez was the fa­ther of three but lost one of his daugh­ters a cou­ple years ago due to ill­ness.(Trinidad Guardian)…[+]

BRIDGETOWN – The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) in partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), has mobilised more than USD85 million to increase the Region’s energy security through geothermal energy development.

On Thursday, CDB’s Board of Directors approved acceptance of further financing under the Sustainable Energy Facility (SEF) for the Eastern Caribbean from IDB, with resources coming from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and the Government of the Republic of Italy.

SEF is part of CDB’s GeoSmart Initiative, which aims to reduce the financial, technical and institutional barriers to geothermal energy development in five Eastern Caribbean states – Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The programme also helps governments build capacity and strengthen institutions so they can be better equipped to implement and manage geothermal energy initiatives.

USD85.6 million will expand the pool of existing resources under SEF Programme with USD80 million coming from GCF and USD5.6 million from the Government of the Republic of Italy. It will go towards financing the often cost-intensive stages of development from the pre-feasibility studies to exploration drilling, and eventually field and plant development such as developing wells and building power plants, sub-stations and transmission lines…[+]

BRIDGETOWN – The Board of Directors of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has approved a loan of USD36.6 million (mn) and a grant of GBP25 mn to the Government of Belize, to upgrade the Coastal Highway. The funds will be used to improve climate resilience along the road, and increase connectivity between the southern and northern sections of Belize.

“The Project will have a transformative impact in nearby communities by reducing travel time, improving access to services such as health and education, and boosting economic development. Currently, the distance between the northern and southern districts, specifically between Dangriga and Belize City is around 119 km via the paved George Price and Hummingbird Highways. This project is expected to upgrade the Coastal Highway from an unpaved gravel road to a paved road, and in doing so reduce travel distances to 45 km between the north and south of Belize,” said Daniel Best, Director, Projects Department, CDB.

The Sixth Road (Coastal Highway Upgrading) Project is also expected to improve climate resilience along the road. Currently, the highway is prone to flooding, as significant portions of the road are low-lying. The investments will support bridge repairs and replacement, pavement upgrading and safety improvements. In particular, the communities of La Democracia, Gales Point, Mullins River and Hope Creek will have improved access to economic participation and employment opportunities. The project also includes consultancy services to enhance the capacity of these communities to take advantage of the economic benefits that the highway upgrade is likely to provide…[+]