BEIRUT, Lebanon — Seven years ago, Islam Dabbas, an engineering student, was thrown in prison for protesting against the Syrian government. His mother visited him twice, paying bribes to do so, but then the permissions stopped. She heard nothing of her son’s fate ever since.

Until last week, when a relative filed for a government registration document and was shocked to see that it gave Mr. Dabbas’s date of death: Jan. 15, 2013. “The news of his death devastated us, and we wish we had known then,” said his sister, Heba, who lives in exile in Egypt. “Since his arrest, we have lived days of hope and days of despair as uncertainty consumed our minds.”

In recent weeks, hundreds of Syrian families have suddenly learned that their missing relatives have been registered as dead by the government. Government officials have not commented publicly on the new information, said how many people it applied to, or explained how they died.(nytimes.com)…[+]

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – The Board of Directors of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has approved a USD9.3 million (mn) loan to the Government of Anguilla, to implement a reform programme that aims to restore fiscal sustainability and enhance resilience against natural disasters.

Anguilla is highly vulnerable to natural disasters, and since 1995, the island has been affected by eight named hurricanes. Following the passage of Hurricane Irma in 2017, Anguilla suffered damage and losses that were estimated at approximately 97 percent of GDP. The country is also heavily reliant on tourism, and the effects from Hurricane Irma have led to the closure of hotels and restaurants, causing significant unemployment and income losses.

The loan from CDB is the first of a series of three proposed policy-based loans, which will support Anguilla’s three-year reform programme to restore fiscal stability and build resilience, in order to promote and sustain economic recovery and growth. This first loan supports initial reforms under the government’s Medium-Term Economic and Fiscal Plan.

“This policy-based loan, which is the first of three, will fill the government’s fiscal gap and provide immediate liquidity needed to help shore-up the island’s finances, mitigate shocks to expenditure such as the fiscal implications of Hurricane Irma and assist with building longer term fiscal resilience” said Dr. Justin Ram, Director of Economics at CDB. Under the area of restoring fiscal stability, the funds provided will be used to help Anguilla strengthen its macroeconomic planning framework post-Hurricane Irma; enhance revenue collection; and improve expenditure and debt management…[+]

The senior Iranian military commander Qassem Suleimani has hit back at Donald Trump’s tweeted threats against Tehran in colourful language, likening him to a gambler and a cabaret owner, and saying Iran would be the one to “end” any war between their two countries.

“I’m telling you, Mr Trump the gambler, I am telling you: know that where you are not thinking of, we are near you. Places you cannot imagine, we are next to you,” said Suleimani, who is in charge of the Quds force, the external arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, during a speech in the western city of Hamedan on Thursday. “We, the Iranian nation, have gone through tough events. You may begin a war, but it is us who will end it. Go ask your predecessors about it. So stop threatening us. We are ready to stand up against you. “The Red Sea which was secure is no longer secure for the presence of American [military] … The Quds force and I are your match. We don’t go to sleep at night before thinking about you,” added Suleimani, according to the Tasnim news agency.

Suleimani’s intervention was in response to a tweet on Sunday by the US president, who warned Iran of “consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before”. It was prompted by a speech by the Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, who had warned that the US shouldn’t “play with lion’s tail” and that “America should know that peace with Iran is the mother of all peace, and war with Iran is the mother of all wars”.(theguardian)…[+]

After a 31-year-old man used a cargo truck to crush 86 people to death on the promenade in Nice, France, his distraught father rushed to tell reporters his son had once suffered a nervous breakdown. When Omar Mateen used a Sig Sauer MCX semiautomatic rifle to gun down 49 people at an Orlando nightclub, relatives described him as bipolar.

And in Canada this week, after a 29-year-old man opened fire on a street full of cafes, hitting 15 people and killing two, his family issued a statement: Faisal Hussain, it said, had long struggled with mental illness. The Islamic State offered another explanation: All three men, it claimed, were its soldiers. Not long after Mr. Hussain’s family issued its statement, the Islamic State’s news agency put out a bulletin claiming the attacker had been inspired by the terrorist group — and reigniting a debate about whether an individual who is mentally ill can truly be said to act at the behest of a terrorist group.(nytimes.com)…[+]

LAHORE— The party of Imran Khan, a former Pakistani cricket star, pulled firmly ahead in the early count after Wednesday’s elections, but the results were disputed by dozens of candidates who lodged complaints of vote rigging.

Mr. Khan, 65, is the country’s most dynamic politician, and many believe that Pakistan’s influential military has been helping his campaign by intimidating, blackmailing and impeding his political rivals. He has railed against the United States’ counterterrorism policy in the region.

Mr. Khan’s party was leading in 110 constituencies while the party in second place maintained a lead in 67 constituencies, according to reports by Pakistani state-run television stations, with about half of the votes counted by 3 a.m. on Thursday. The partial results were unofficial, the television station said.(NYtimes.com)…[+]

BEIRUT, Lebanon — The jihadists of the Islamic State launched a series of coordinated attacks in government-held areas of southern Syria on Wednesday, killing dozens of people. The attacks, which included suicide bombings at a vegetable market and a public square in a provincial capital, along with raids on nearby villages, showed that the Islamic State could still inflict great damage in Syria, despite having lost most of the territory it once controlled.

The high death toll undermines the Syrian government’s narrative that the seven-year war is heading toward its conclusion, with the leadership working to restore stability. About half of the dead were pro-government fighters, a conflict monitor said. The attacks hit the city of Sweida, the capital of the province of the same name, along Syria’s border with Jordan. Most of the area’s residents are members of the Druse sect, and the area has largely been spared the violence that has torn apart other areas of Syria during the war.(nytimes.com)…[+]

MATI, Greece — They nearly reached the water. As wind-fueled wildfires that killed at least 79 people in vacation areas outside Athens bore down on their seaside resort, 26 men, women and children gathered in the hope that they could find the narrow path leading to a small staircase down to the water.

The gated entrance stood only a dozen paces away, but with smoke blotting their vision and choking their lungs, they appear to have lost their way. Officials found their bodies the next day, Tuesday; several were still clinging to one another.

At sundown, an eyeglass case, a belt buckle, the carcasses of dogs and the shells of cellphones dotted the still-smoldering field where they fell. Amid the burned pine cones and the naked trees, leaning as if slammed by a nuclear wind, lay a large leather sandal and a small blue one with a Velcro strap.

All around were the discarded blue rubber gloves of the emergency workers who carried the bodies away. Greece, a country that understands tragedy all too well, woke Tuesday morning to its worst one in a decade. In addition to those killed by smoke or fire, or who drowned in the sea while trying to flee, 187 people were hospitalized, more than 20 of them children. Ten people remained in serious condition, the government said Tuesday night.(nytimes.com)…[+]

Two pregnant women are among a group of migrants left stranded at sea for almost a fortnight after Tunisia became the latest of four countries to refuse their ship entry.

The migrants, recovered by a Tunisian supply vessel after they were found adrift in a small wooden boat reportedly within Malta’s search and rescue zone, are anchored a dozen miles offshore as they enter the 13th day of their ordeal with supplies of food and medicine dwindling. It is understood the 40-strong group initially set sail from Libya, on a route frequently used by those seeking to reach Europe. Refused entry by Malta, France, Italy and now Tunisia, the passengers and crew of the ship, the Sarost 5, have become pawns in a much wider political game, as Europe seeks to increase pressure on north Africa to do more to control migrant routes that pass through its waters.(theguardian)…[+]

Port of Spain- The Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI) and Department of Sustainable Development, Ministry of Education, Innovation, Gender Relations and Sustainable Development in Saint Lucia engaged government, civil society and private sector stakeholders to input into a national workshop to enhance Saint Lucia’s environmental legislation from June 26-27, 2018.

The national workshop aimed to develop two new pieces of legislation, including a Climate Change Bill and Environmental Management Bill for Saint Lucia. The proposed Climate Change Bill provides a framework for ensuring intersectoral coordination and financing for effective planning, implementation and monitoring and evaluation of climate change adaptation and mitigation actions. The proposed Environmental Management Bill serves as umbrella legislation that addresses a range of key environmental issues, including biodiversity and protected areas, coastal zone and marine management, pollution, environmental approvals, monitoring and enforcement as well as climate change. In opening remarks at the workshop, the Chief Sustainable Development and Environment Officer, Ms. Annette Rattigan-Leo, highlighted that: “The legislation will provide support in helping the Department lead the process of achieving sustainable development by facilitating an integrated and participatory approach to governance and promoting environmental management“…[+]

Americans should be allowed to jump the border queues at Heathrow by using the e-gates reserved for British and EU travellers, the airport has demanded. Heathrow’s boss said some immigration queues for non-European passengers had reached “completely unacceptable” levels and called on the Home Office to change the rules.

John Holland-Kaye, Heathrow’s chief executive, said queues were increasing, citing a recent queue of close to three hours for non-EU passengers at the airport’s Terminal 4. Allowing low-risk passengers to use e-gates was an easy solution, he said: “There’s no reason we should treat a passenger from the US any differently from one from Lithuania. We have 60 e-gates at Heathrow and you’ll never see them all in use.

“Sajid Javid [the home secretary] could tackle this at the stroke of a pen.” He said he believed Brexit would not worsen immigration queues, but should be used to change the rules: “If the Americans aren’t considered safe then no one is – they’re at least as safe as our European partners. “What better way on 30 March to show the world has changed than have Americans, Canadians and Australians use the e-gates? You know who is coming to your country, why do we need to treat everyone like a criminal when they get to the border?” Currently only travellers from the European Economic Area and Switzerland who are issued with a biometric passport can use the e-gates.(theguardian)…[+]