Montego Bay– The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on Monday signed an agreement to strengthen their partnership to help countries in the Region achieve key development goals in agriculture. The Framework Cooperation Agreement makes provisions for CDB to partner with FAO to provide technical assistance for projects financed by the Bank. It will also allow countries with common membership in both organisations to directly engage FAO using loan or grant funds provided by CDB.

For more than three decades, CDB and FAO have partnered on several interventions, including the development of an Agricultural Water Investment Plan for Belize; a study on the Feasibility of Rainwater Harvesting in the Caribbean; an Evaluation of Greenhouse Technology in Crop Production; and studies in support of CDB’s preparation and appraisal of agricultural development projects in Jamaica. During the signing ceremony, Best also announced that CDB and FAO are collaborating on a study, “The State of Agriculture in the Caribbean”, scheduled for completion in May. It will detail key trends in agriculture in the Bank’s borrowing member countries, and highlight related opportunities for investments to support social and economic growth, poverty reduction, and sustainability.(CDB)…[+]

Survivors of sexual and physical abuse in schools run by the Catholic church in Ireland have demanded a meeting with Pope Francis during his visit to the country in the summer to discuss compensation.

The Irish Catholic church has invited the pontiff to a religious conference in August. It will be the first papal visit to Ireland since John Paul II’s tour in 1979. The Guardian has seen a letter from the Irish Survivors of Child Abuse (Soca), in which the campaign group calls for a meeting with Francis to ask why Catholic religious orders have not paid out more in compensation. The letter has been sent to archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, asking him to pass on their request to the Vatican.

Soca is angry about a deal between the Catholic church and the Irish government in 2002 that resulted in the taxpayer footing most of the bill for compensating those abused in religious institutions. The deal resulted in the church having to pay out €128m of a €1.3bn compensation bill.(theguardian)…[+]

A fight has broken out in Italy’s Democratic party, which badly lost Sunday’s election after ruling the country for six years, as it debates whether it should join forces with populists and create a new government.

The infighting erupted as fresh analysis of Sunday’s election, which resulted in a hung parliament, showed clear links between a surge in support for the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) and regions in southern Italy where economic growth falls far below the EU average. About half of all Italian voters supported the country’s two populist parties , the M5S and the League, the latter of which ran as part of a centre-right coalition, and leaders in both groups are competing for the chance to lead the formation of a new government. No single party or coalition won an outright majority on Sunday, leaving the task of mediating a solution to the Italian president, Sergio Mattarella. What is not clear is how interventionist Mattarella will be and whether he might seek ways to stymie some of the most radical populist campaign promises , such as seeking to abolish a recently passed jobs act.(theguardian)…[+]

Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that “darkness is descending” as Iran expands its sphere of influence in the Middle East. “The force behind so much that is bad is this radical tyranny in Tehran,” the Israeli prime minister told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) conference in Washington on Tuesday. “If I have a message for you today, it’s a very simple one: we must stop Iran, we will stop Iran.”

Plagued by a corruption scandal at home, Netanyahu is clearly relishing the role of international statesman during a five-day US trip, putting on a united front with Donald Trump on Iran and the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Netanyahu told Aipac he had warned against the Iran nuclear deal brokered by the Barack Obama administration and claimed vindication. Pointing to a map of the Middle East showing Iran’s alleged dominance, he said: “Darkness is descending on our region. Iran is building an aggressive empire: Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, Yemen, more to come.”(theguardian)…[+]

Plans to deny millions of people the right to access immigration data held on them by the Home Office are illegal and will be challenged in court, the government has been told. Organisations representing up to 3 million EU citizens living in the UK and digital rights activists have written to the home secretary, Amber Rudd, giving notice that they will take legal action if a clause in the data protection bill is enacted.

The threat is aimed at proposals in the bill to introduce an exemption for immigration information. It is claimed that the clause would prevent those facing deportation from obtaining and challenging the accuracy of personal data held on them by the government. The two groups – the3million, a grassroots organisation representing EU citizens living in the UK, and the Open Rights Group (ORG), which campaigns on privacy rights and free speech online – argue that the clause in the bill breaches the government’s obligations under the EU’s general data protection regulation (GDPR).

The bill will be debated in parliament on Monday. Rosa Curling, a human rights solicitor from law firm Leigh Day, which is acting on behalf of the3million and ORG, said: “The immigration exemption creates a discriminatory two‐tier system for data protection rights. The clause is incompatible with GDPR, as well as EU law generally and the European convention on human rights.(theguardian)…[+]

Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the US from the Paris agreement has created serious problems for global efforts to tackle climate change, Ban Ki-moon has said.

The former UN secretary general said the US president’s move was politically damaging to international action to limit carbon emissions, and had created difficulties for delivering financial aid from richer to poorer countries to help the latter cope with a warming world. “United States is a big problem now. I think the United States’ decision to withdraw from this Paris agreement really creates a serious problem,” Ban said in an interview with the Guardian. “They [the Trump administration] have given serious damage to the political side. All the countries are very serious and concerned about this [the US declaring its withdrawal from the climate deal].”(theguardian)…[+]

An aid convoy has entered the besieged, rebel-held Syrian enclave in eastern Ghouta, two weeks into a renewed regime offensive that has killed more than 700 civilians. Despite being allowed to deliver food for about 27,000 of the 400,000 people trapped in the enclave, humanitarian officials said the Syrian military had refused to allow the loading of critically needed medical aid. A desperate shortage of supplies meant that the wounded have been dying from treatable injuries and illnesses, aid organisations said. The convoy of 46 trucks, sent by the International Committee for the Red Cross, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and the United Nations, started to cross a final Syrian army checkpoint at al-Wafideen on Monday morning.“Feels like racing with time,” tweeted Pawel Krzysiek, the head of communications for the ICRC in Syria.(theguardian)…[+]

A dangerous extremist who attempted to build an army of child jihadists by radicalising pupils at a fee-paying Islamic school has been convicted of a range of terrorist offences. Umar Haque, 25, taught an Islamic studies class despite the fact that he had no teaching qualifications and was employed as an administrator. He was allowed to supervise classes of 11- to 14-year-olds on his own, during which he re-enacted attacks on police officers and showed students videos of beheadings.

Haque attempted to radicalise at least 110 children with whom he was in contact at the Lantern of Knowledge school and Ripple Road mosque, both in east London. Thirty-five of those children are receiving long-term support.

The schools watchdog, Ofsted, is now facing questions over how it was able to rate the £3,000-a-year school as “outstanding” after an inspection held at a time when Haque was preaching hate to the children. In response to the conviction it said that Haque’s activities were a matter of deep regret and said it was “hampered by limitations on our powers” to inspect out-of-school settings. Haque was convicted by a jury at the Old Bailey on Friday of a range of offences, including plotting terrorist attacks and collecting information useful for terrorism. He had previously admitted four charges of collecting information useful for terrorism, and one count of disseminating a terrorist document.(theguardian)…[+]

Huge “mega-colonies” of penguins have been discovered near the Antarctic peninsula, hosting more than 1.5 million birds. Researchers say it shows the area is a vital refuge from climate change and human activities and should be protected by a vast new marine wildlife reserve currently under consideration. The huge numbers of Adélie penguins were found on the Danger Islands in the Weddell Sea, on the east side of the Antarctic Peninsula. It is a difficult place to reach and has seldom been visited. But scientists, prompted by satellite images, mounted an expedition and used on-the-ground counts and aerial photography from drones to reveal 751,527 pairs of penguins.(theguardian)…[+]

The US National Rifle Association’s chief lobbyist has claimed Donald Trump has reversed his position on gun control, just a day after the US president held a televised meeting with lawmakers in which he said he supported increased background checks for gun buyers.

Chris Cox tweeted late on Thursday night that he had met Trump and the vice-president, Mike Pence, and they “don’t want gun control”. They also “support strong due process”, he added. Trump later tweeted a confirmation of an Oval Office meeting with the NRA, saying it was “great”, but not elaborating on whether he had changed position. The president’s remarks on Wednesday, warning lawmakers not to be afraid of the NRA and speaking in favour of a law expanding background checks for gun sales, as well as other gun-control measures, had shocked his allies and opponents alike.(theguardian)…[+]