A British Muslim schoolteacher travelling to New York last week as a member of a school party from south Wales was denied entry to the United States.

Juhel Miah and a group of children and other teachers were about to take off from Iceland on 16 February on their way to the US when he was removed from the plane at Reykjavik. The previous week, on the 10 February, a US appeals court had upheld a decision to suspend Donald Trump’s executive order that temporarily banned entry to the country from seven Muslim-majority countries.The trip proceeded as planned but pupils and colleagues from Llangatwg comprehensive in Aberdulais were left shocked and distressed after the maths teacher, who had valid visa documentation, was escorted from the aircraft by security personnel. Miah, 25, from Swansea, said he was made to feel like a criminal and was so worried by what happened to him that he did not eat or sleep for two days. He told Wales Online that shortly before the flight was due to leave he was approached by an official who told him he could not board the plane.(The guardian)…[+]

A plane that crashed into a shopping centre near Essendon airport in Melbourne, killing four US tourists and their Australian pilot, had a “catastrophic engine failure” shortly after takeoff, police have said.

The twin-engine aircraft, which issued a mayday shortly after leaving the airport about 9am on Tuesday, was taking the tourists to King Island to play golf. “The pilot unfortunately attempted to return to Essendon but has crashed into the DFO at Essendon Fields,” a police assistant commissioner, Stephen Leane, told reporters.

Leane said none of the staff at Direct Factory Outlets – which was not yet open to the public – had been injured. “Looking at the fireball, it is incredibly lucky that no one was at the back of those stores or in the car park of the stores that no one was even hurt,” he said.(the guardian)…[+]

BARBADOS  – The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and the United Nations Office for Projects Services (UNOPS) have signed an agreement that provides a framework to improve cooperation between the two entities. The signing took place at the Bank’s headquarters in Barbados on February 7, 2017.

The agreement allows CDB to utilize expertise from UNOPS in the execution of specific projects, which the Bank is funding, so that the most effective outcomes for the Bank’s 19 borrowing member countries are achieved. Under the agreement, UNOPS may be called upon to provide technical advice, financial management, project management and technical infrastructure support for projects financed by CDB, where external support is needed.  There is also expected to be an exchange of knowledge and information relating to sustainable actions and social responsibility.

Vice-President Operations at CDB, Patricia McKenzie signed on behalf of the Bank.

Giuseppe Mancinelli, Deputy Regional Director, Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, signed on behalf of UNOPS…[+]