Me­te­o­rol­o­gist Seigo­nie Mo­hammed says cit­i­zens should pre­pare for river­ine flood­ing to­day. “The is­sue is that we have a lot of fea­tures at play right now that are bring­ing out the flood­ing,” she ex­plained. “It’s river­ine flood­ing as op­posed to typ­i­cal flash or street flood­ing. “River­ine flood­ing means that the riv­er has reached to the point where it over­spills its banks and that will lead to wide­spread flood­ing.

“It’s the ma­jor rivers right now that have crest­ed their banks, which means that small­er trib­u­taries more than like­ly, es­pe­cial­ly with the ad­di­tion­al rain­fall, will lead to fur­ther over­spills in the small­er ar­eas as op­posed to just the Ca­roni Riv­er be­ing over­topped. “What we’re go­ing to see over the next sev­er­al days be­cause of the red alert ad­vi­so­ry, is river­ine flood­ing that goes in­to Oc­to­ber 26 even though the ad­verse weath­er alert ends on Oc­to­ber 23.”(Trinidad Guardian)…[+]

Tired of overflowing bins, potholes and exploding buses, Rome’s long-suffering residents are planning a protest in an effort to save their city from further decay. The aim is to send a message to the city’s administration, which since June 2016 has been led by the Five Star Movement, that enough is enough.

“We want to restart from here and tell those who have been governing Rome for two and a half years that we citizens see and understand everything and we’re not at all happy,” Emma Amiconi, a spokeswoman for a group of six women who are organising the demonstration, told Corriere della Sera. “Citizens want to live in a city that [guarantees] essential services so that we have a minimum of decorum.”

A Facebook campaign has attracted more than 15,000 members and a mass sit-in is planned for 27 October in front of the city hall. A video has been created that juxtaposes Rome’s celebrated architectural features, such at the Trevi fountain, with its many woes, including images of wild boars rummaging through uncollected rubbish.(theguardian)…[+]

Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett says 2018 is poised to be another excellent year for Jamaica’s cruise ship sector, with vessels from the world’s largest cruise companies expected to call at the island’s main ports. Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian cruise lines have all committed to having some of their biggest ships calling at Falmouth, Ocho Rios and Montego Bay, solidifying Jamaica as a first-choice cruise destination.

A total of 1.92 million cruise passengers visited the island last year, up 11 per cent from 1.65 million in 2016. In addition, spending per visitor increased to US$91.67, from US$90.24. “We did very well in 2017, and there’s every reason to believe that 2018 will be another banner year for the cruise-shipping sector,” Bartlett said in a recent interview with JIS News.

“When you look at Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian, you are looking at the companies that control close to 80 per cent of the cruise market space,” he pointed out. Bartlett said that Jamaica has all the ingredients to dominate the global cruise-shipping market and should do very well throughout the season.(JAMAICA OBSERVER)…[+]

Trinidad. In the case of Japhet Bennett v The Queen, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) today overturned the conviction of Mr. Japhet Bennett. Mr. Bennett had been found guilty of the 2009 murder of Mr. Ellis Meighan Sr. in Belize City and was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2013. During the trial, Mr. Marlon Middleton, Mr. Meighan’s brother-in-law, had denied parts of his statement to the police that had identified Mr. Bennett as standing over the body with a gun. The jury, however, found him guilty of murder despite a submission by his attorney that there was little evidence to convict Mr. Bennett. The CCJ, by a majority decision, allowed Mr. Bennett’s appeal.

In 2009, Mr. Middleton had given a detailed statement to the police two days after Meighan was shot and killed. He claimed that he was riding his bicycle in the vicinity of the shooting when he heard gunshots. Mr. Middleton said that he then sped towards the area and saw a body on the ground. He saw a man, who he recognised as Mr. Bennett, standing about two feet away from the body with a gun in his hand. His statement also revealed that Mr. Middleton had been approximately forty feet away from the body, in a well-lit area, with nothing obstructing his view. Additionally, he stated that he had known Mr. Bennett for about four months and had seen him one week before the shooting.

At trial, Mr. Middleton denied that he had seen Mr. Bennett at the scene of the crime. The prosecution pointed out that Mr. Middleton had given a contradictory statement to the police and that that statement was made of his own free will and was accurately recorded by a police officer, in the presence of a Justice of the Peace, and signed by Mr. Middleton. The trial judge admitted the statement into evidence and it was read aloud to the jury. There was no other evidence linking Bennett to the shooting…[+]

GAZA-One Palestinian killed and three injured Wednesday morning in Israeli airstrikes on military facilities in the Gaza Strip in response to a rocket attack from Gaza into Israel, security sources and medics said. Health Ministry Spokesman in Gaza, Ashraf al-Qedra, told reporters that Naji Za’aneen, 26 years old from northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun, was killed and three wounded in the Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.

Eyewitnesses and security sources in Gaza said that Israeli war jets targeted six different military facilities all over the Gaza Strip with missiles, adding that six huge bombs were heard all over the coastal enclave. An Israeli army spokesman said in a press statement that war jets of Israeli Air Forces carried out a series of airstrikes on the Gaza Strip in response to firing a rocket and arson balloons into Israel.

A rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel overnight and landed at a yard of a house in the town of Beer Sheba in southern Israel, which had lightly injured three Israelis. Israeli Radio reported that Israel announced that the two crossing points between the Gaza Strip and Israel for goods and individuals movement are closed and the allowed area for fishing has been reduced.(Xinhua)…[+]

A standoff is under way in the south Indian state of Kerala, where mainly female protesters are attempting to stop other women from entering the Sabarimala temple.

On Wednesday, the Hindu shrine will open its gates for the first time since 28 September, after the supreme court struck down an entry ban on women of menstruating age. The judges ruled the ban against girls and women aged between 10 and 50 as discriminatory and, therefore, unconstitutional. The decision triggered a public outcry in Kerala, with some female devotees saying it was more important to uphold religious tradition than be swayed by notions of gender equality.Thousands of protesters gathered on the roads leading to the hilltop temple and heckled any woman they suspected was going there. On Tuesday, the protesters intercepted all oncoming vehicles to prevent female passengers from visiting the shrine, one of Hinduism’s holiest. Female journalists have also been attacked.(theguardian)…[+]

As the in­ves­ti­ga­tions deep­en in­to the mur­der of Arch­bish­op Al­isa Ali, po­lice of­fi­cers have re­ceived crit­i­cal in­for­ma­tion that sug­gests there is a sec­ond sus­pect in the case—a woman. It is be­lieved the woman, who was said to be in the house at the time Ali was bru­tal­ly stabbed to death, fled the scene af­ter the at­tack. Po­lice al­so be­lieve the woman may have since fled to To­ba­go where she is be­lieved to be in hid­ing. Po­lice al­so have in­for­ma­tion on an­oth­er woman from the Bras­so area who was said to be “close­ly con­nect­ed to the sus­pect in cus­tody.”

Ac­cord­ing to po­lice sources, the sus­pect, who is a bish­op and a fa­ther of 13, has ex­pressed re­morse since his ar­rest on Sun­day night. He has re­port­ed­ly asked Ali’s fam­i­ly and mem­bers of her Spir­i­tu­al Bap­tist Church—St Michael’s Di­vine Heal­ing Taber­na­cle—for for­give­ness. How­ev­er, speak­ing with the T&T Guardian yes­ter­day, Ali’s daugh­ter, Kerdeisha, 25, called on the po­lice to speed up their in­ves­ti­ga­tion in­to the mat­ter.

“I want jus­tice for my moth­er be­cause she de­serves jus­tice and please for­give me but I can­not for­give him. That man was a wicked man, not on­ly to my moth­er but to me and my sis­ter,” Kerdeisha said.(Trinidad Guardian) …[+]

A Jamaican man who authorities said masterminded a lottery scam that defrauded at least 95 Americans out of more than US$5.8 million was sentenced yesterday to six years in federal prison. Lavrick Willocks, 29, operated the scam out of a Jamaica mansion in which he lived with his mother, Dahlia Hunter, prosecutors said. They eventually charged 27 people and identified victims in at least five states: North Dakota, South Dakota, South Carolina, Texas, and Arizona. Authorities said one of the victims died by suicide.

All the defendants have pleaded guilty or been convicted, and most have been sentenced, including Hunter, who was sentenced last week to about 1 ½ years of time served. The case is being prosecuted in North Dakota because the investigation began there in 2012, a year after an 82-year-old woman lost her life savings.

Willocks pleaded guilty in July 2017 to conspiracy, and prosecutors dropped 65 other counts of wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering. He faced up to 40 years in prison, but Assistant US Attorney Jonathan O’Konek recommended only about six years because Willocks cooperated and his plea deal prompted several other defendants to also plead guilty.(JAMAICA OBSERVER)…[+]

The sheer magnitude of the famine facing Yemen was initially underestimated by the aid sector, leaving food security experts rushing to update projections made at the UN general assembly a fortnight ago, sources have told the Guardian. The speed at which the Yemeni currency plunged in early September, forcing food prices to soar, is being blamed for miscalculations that mean between 1.5 million and 2 million more people than initially thought are now at risk of famine.

Humanitarians warn children will be worst hit in what is being forecast as the world’s most lethal famine for 100 years with up to 14 million people at risk, according to the UN. “The crisis in Yemen is so huge and of such magnitude, we have to be frank about whether we can together deal with what is facing us,” said Lise Grande, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator for Yemen. “We are literally looking at hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions of people who may not survive.”(theguardian)…[+]