Confusion swirled over a possible breakthrough in the tanker standoff in the Middle East on Tuesday after Gibraltar scotched Iranian media reports that an Iranian tanker was due to be released.

The Fars news agency said that Grace 1, seized by British Royal Marines off Gibraltar on suspicion that it was taking 2.1m barrels of oil to Syria in breach of an EU arms embargo, was going to be released on Tuesday evening. The report cited Gibraltar authorities, but a source for the government of the British Mediterranean territory told Reuters it was not correct.

The seizure of the boat on 4 July led to reprisals by Iran, including the capture of the British-flagged Stena Impero. Both incidents fuelled worsening hostilities between Iran and the west that began when Washington pulled out of an international agreement curbing Iran’s nuclear programme last year and reimposed economic sanctions.

A court in Gibraltar is to decide the fate of the ship on Thursday, when an order for its detention lapses. Britain had said there would be serious consequences if Iran did not release the British-flagged tanker, and behind the scenes there have been negotiations on how to resolve the dual crisis. Formally, the Foreign Office and Iran say there is no link between the two boat seizures. On Tuesday the Foreign Office said the ship’s status was a matter for Gibraltar. The Stena Impero’s owners have said its 23 personnel on board have been properly treated by the Iranians since their capture. (TheGuardian)…[+]

CARACAS – Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido said yesterday President Nicolas Maduro’s government is preparing to dissolve the opposition-run legislature and call new legislative elections, potentially escalating Venezuela’s political crisis.

Guaido, who is also head of congress, said the decision would be made today by the all-powerful Constituent Assembly – a parallel legislature controlled by the ruling Socialist Party – and could involve more arrests of legislators.Such a move would likely fuel criticism of Maduro in the international community and halt Norway-brokered talks between the government and Guaido allies meant to reach a negotiated solution to Venezuela’s political stalemate.(Reuters)…[+]

A Po­lice Sergeant was ar­rest­ed on Sun­day night af­ter he al­leged­ly at­tacked his wife in­side a po­lice sta­tion where she went to make a re­port that he had threat­ened to kill her. Ac­cord­ing to po­lice, around 8.45p pm on Sun­day, a 53-year-old Ch­agua­nas woman went to the San Juan Po­lice sta­tion and re­port­ed that dur­ing an ar­gu­ment with her hus­band, who is a po­lice sergeant, he threat­ened to shoot and kill her.

Mo­ments af­ter she left the build­ing, of­fi­cers in­side heard a woman scream­ing and saw a young woman run in­to the sta­tion, beg­ging for as­sis­tance for her moth­er. Re­spond­ing of­fi­cers saw the se­nior po­lice­man drag­ging his vic­tim along the street and in­ter­vened. The woman was tak­en back in­to the sta­tion where, ac­cord­ing to the sta­tion di­ary re­port, the se­nior of­fi­cer at­tacked her again.

He was then “es­cort­ed” out of the build­ing. Short­ly af­ter, the of­fi­cers were told of a man out­side the build­ing try­ing to dam­age the tyre of a car parked in front of the sta­tion. When they in­ves­ti­gat­ed, they again found the sergeant try­ing to dam­age the ve­hi­cle and tried to sub­due him. He al­leged­ly be­gan fight­ing back and was even­tu­al­ly ar­rest­ed and tak­en in­to hold­ing at the sta­tion. The of­fi­cers searched his pri­vate ve­hi­cle, which was parked near­by and found a pis­tol with three mag­a­zines and 27 rounds of 9mm am­mu­ni­tion.(Trinidad Guardian)…[+]