SOUTH AFRICA –  Oscar Pistorius’ girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp did not love the South African Olympic athlete, her cousin Kim Martin has told a court.

The hearing is reconsidering Pistorius’ sentence after a court found him guilty of murdering Ms Steenkamp, overturning an earlier manslaughter verdict.

He faces a jail term of 15 years but it may be reduced due to time already spent in prison and mitigating factors. Ms. Martin said she did not believe the true version of events had come out. “I never heard him apologise… I don’t feel the true version came out. We just wanted the truth,” she said. Pistorius, 29, killed Ms Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentine’s Day in 2013 after firing four times through a locked toilet door.(BBC NEWS/photo: bbc.co.uk)…[+]

USA –  Norman Casiano froze, certain that the gunman was standing inches from him.

Casiano and dozens of other patrons at the Pulse Nightclub had crammed into a bathroom stall to hide from the shooter. And now, there was a figure looming right outside their bathroom stall door. More shots rang out. Then the person standing in front of the stall collapsed.

“It was another patron of Pulse, and he was bleeding,” Casiano said. The victim had been shot while looking for a place to hide. Casiano glanced at the floor to see a pool of blood spreading. Then, he heard it — a laugh. “It didn’t sound like a person,” Casiano said of the gunman. “He didn’t speak. The only sound we heard was the laugh.” To Casiano, it was the sound of ‘pure evil.’ “That’s what it sounded like. It was like a laugh of satisfaction like ‘I’m doing what I came here to do,” he told CNN’s Anderson Cooper. (CNN/photo: cnn.com)…[+]

FRANCE –  The murder of two French police officials by a man claiming allegiance to so-called Islamic State (IS) is ‘unquestionably a terrorist act’, President Francois Hollande says.

A police commander and his partner were stabbed to death at their home west of Paris. Their three-year-old survived. The attacker was killed in an police assault on the house. He had spent time in jail over jihadist links and had a list of targets including public figures, police say.

Named by French sources as Larossi Abballa, he had also been under recent police surveillance, including a wiretap, say media reports quoting police sources. Paris Prosecutor Francois Molin said that Abballa had pledged his loyalty to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi during negotiations prior to the police assault on Monday, and had stated that he was answering his call ‘to kill infidels’. Three people linked to the man were arrested and placed in custody, he said. (BBC NEWS/photo: bbc.co.uk)…[+]

The doctor attached to the New Amsterdam Hospital is refuting claims that he has agreed to dispense with the matter involving the Chief Executive Officer of the hospital, Colin Bynoe.

Dr. Shariq Ally, a Government Medical Practitioner attached to the Gynecology Department of the hospital, stated that he never offered to make any apology to the CEO and to have the matter dropped, since it was Bynoe who was wrong to him.

He said the CEO pushed him against the wall and pointed his fingers in his face and asked him if he wants to know what problems he has with him. The entire incident as previously reported did happen and all the information is in the report he made to Minister Joseph Harmon, and his letters to Minister Dr. George Norton and the Director Jevaughn Stephen.(KAIETEUR NEWS/photo: blog.tauedu.org)…[+]

The US-based Florida/ Guyana Hope Inc and its sister organization in Guyana the Guyana/ Florida Hope non-profit organization continues to come to the assistance of Guyanese.

The group, which was formed in December 2013 is a nonprofit organization made of Guyanese living in Florida and the Diaspora. In two years, the group has given over US$18,000 to the Guyana Chapter to help Guyanese in need.

They aim to touch all aspects of Guyanese lives and recently they assisted Dolaria Goberdhan of No69 village, whose house was razed by fire. The 76-year old was assisted with a cheque to help her rebuild.

The cheque was handed over to a senior police officer in the area. Others receiving assistance were Naline Baljit and Devika Tajnarine both of whom lost their husbands in tragic circumstances.(KAIETEUR NEWS/photo: kaieteurnewsonline.com)…[+]

MEXICO –  Mexican police have arrested a teachers’ union leader accused of siphoning off money raised illegally from union members in the southern city of Oaxaca.

Ruben Nunez has led a decade-long fight for better pay and working conditions. His supporters say Mr Nunez is innocent, accusing the Mexican government of having political reasons to arrest him. They have set up roadblocks around Oaxaca to demand his release.

The union has also called for demonstrations in Mexico City on Tuesday and Friday. Prosecutors have accused Mr Nunez of money laundering. “He raised more than 24m pesos ($1.3m; £900,000) illegally between 2013 and 2015,” said Prosecutor Gilberto Higuera. For two years the union demanded a 3.5% cut of purchases made by unionised members from some businesses in Oaxaca, added Mr Higuera. (BBC NEWS/photo: bbc.co.uk)…[+]

ERITREA –  Eritrea has accused Ethiopia of launching an attack at the countries’ heavily-militarised border.

Ethiopia has not commented on the reported fighting in the Tsorona area, about half-way along the frontier. Residents on the Ethiopian side of the border reported hearing gunfire and seeing a large movement of troops and artillery towards the border.

A peace deal in 2000 ended the countries’ two-year war but it has not been fully implemented. Ever since, the countries have been in a state of “neither war nor peace”, says the BBC’s Ethiopia correspondent Emmanuel Igunza. Eritrea says the tense relations with Ethiopia are why it has national conscription, which can last for decades. (BBC NEWS/photo: bbc.co.uk)…[+]

JAMAICA – A man was fatally shot during an alleged confrontation with an off-duty police officer in Heywood Hall district, St Mary, sundaymorning. He is 31-year-old Milton Allison, a taxi operator of Heywood district. The police did not provide details about the alleged confrontation. The police say that the matter has been reported to the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM). (Jamaica observer)…[+]

LIBIA – Libyan forces have retaken parts of Sirte from ISIS militants, gaining ground in the extremist group’s most significant stronghold outside Syria and Iraq, according to a Libyan military group. The offensive that has lasted almost two weeks has left more than a hundred fighters dead and about 400 others wounded, the Government of National Accord said, calling on the international community to provide urgent medical support to Libyan security forces. (CNN)…[+]

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES – Speed-seekers in Dubai have been founds using the emirate’s long, straight highways to hold illegal races, reaching speeds of nearly 200mph (300km/h), police say. But their pastime could be a thing of the past after police seized 81 vehicles they say were being raced. The number plates had been taken off to make the cars harder to identify. Drivers will face 100,000 dirham fines ($27,000; £19,000) and owners will need to pay 50,000 dirham, local media say. (BBC)…[+]