BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and UN Women have signed an agreement to support a common approach to measuring Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in the Caribbean. Although GBV, in particular violence against women and girls, affects much of the Region, many countries do not generate or have access to comprehensive data on the frequency, nature and response to this issue.

The agreement was signed today at CDB’s headquarters in Barbados. It makes provisions for both agencies to work together to close the data gap, ensuring regional policy measures are put in place to address the problem more effectively. “This agreement aims to support the CARICOM Secretariat in building regional knowledge transfer and sustainability in systematic collection, analysis and dissemination of comparable prevalence data on GBV in the Caribbean. This intervention is part of a broader project in which CDB and UN Women will cooperate in the production of data on gender-based violence in the Region and the building of regional capacities in this regard,” said Monica La Bennett, Acting Vice-President (Operations) at CDB, who signed on behalf of the Bank.

CDB and UN Women will work in tandem to support the deepening of the CARICOM region’s expertise in data collection and analysis on GBV, through the implementation and formal adoption of the CARICOM Model. The CARICOM survey model collects data on the frequency of GBV against women, and also highlights the consequences for women, their children and families, and risk and protective factors for violence. This information can directly inform service provision and prevention strategies.(CDB)…[+]

Pakistan’s ousted prime minister moved on Saturday to install his younger brother as his successor, less than 24 hours after he was forced aside in the wake of a corruption scandal. The ruling party that Nawaz Sharif headed until a court ruling disqualified him from office nominated his brother, Shahbaz, to eventually take over as leader – although he must first have to stand for election to the national assembly. Sharif also put forward Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, a staunch ally, to serve as interim prime minister while his brother contests a byelection.

The move was immediately condemned by the opposition leader, Imran Khan, who likened Pakistan’s tradition of political dynasties to “a form of monarchy”. “Political parties don’t have democracy in them. They are family parties … Actually, it’s like a form of monarchy.” Sharif revealed the succession plan in a televised speech. In an emotional appeal, he pleaded for support for his brother. He said he had tried his best to put Pakistan on the path of progress, but said he was being unfairly penalised by his disqualification.(theguardian)…[+]

Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard said on Saturday that US navy ships came close to its vessels in the Gulf and shot flares.

The USS Nimitz and an accompanying battleship drew close to a rocket-bearing Iranian vessel on Friday and sent a helicopter near a number of vessels close to the Resalat oil and gas platform, the Guard said in a statement published by its official news site, Sepah News. “The Americans made a provocative and unprofessional move by issuing a warning and shooting flares at vessels,” the statement said. “Islam’s warriors, without paying attention to this unconventional and unusual behaviour from the American vessels, continued their mission in the area and the aircraft carrier and accompanying battleship left the area.”

The US navy’s Bahrain-based fifth fleet said the incident happened while one of its helicopters was on a routine patrol in international airspace. The aircraft saw several Guard vessels approaching US ships “at a high rate of speed” and sent out flares after receiving no response when it tried to establish communications, the navy said. That prompted the Iranian boats to halt their approach.(theguardian)…[+]

An Australian state MP has been prevented from entering the United States, and fellow travelling politicians have been given no reason for the move. Lebanon-born Khalil Eideh, a Labor MP in Victoria, was stuck in Vancouver on Friday after a United Airlines staffer told him he was not allowed to board a flight to Denver with the rest of the group. “The United Airlines staff knew he had been denied entry to the US before any of us,” the Sex party MP Fiona Patten told AAP from Denver on Friday. “He was incredibly upset … disbelieving.” Patten said Eideh was not told why he wasn’t allowed on the plane.

Labor MP Natalie Suleyman said Eideh was originally told he was not booked on the flight before the check-in staff broke the bad news. “They said “you’ve been denied entry to the States,” Suleyman said. Eideh was given no explanation, she said.
Eideh was born in Tripoli in Lebanon to Syrian parents who follow the Alawite Islamic faith. He moved to Australia in 1970 aged 15 and later became a mail officer with Australia Post. From the 19 years up until he entered parliament in 2006 he was managing director of Bluestar Logistics, a trucking company based in Melbourne’s west.(theguardian)…[+]

Donald Trump’s new communications director has launched an extraordinary, foul-mouthed tirade against two senior colleagues, raising the prospect of all-out civil war at the White House. Anthony Scaramucci told an interviewer that Chief of Staff Reince Priebus is “a fucking paranoid schizophrenic” who will be asked to resign, and that Scaramucci is not like Steve Bannon, the chief strategist, because “I’m not trying to suck my own cock”.

The profane language was shocking even by the standards of the Trump era and suggested that a major staff shake-up is imminent. New Yorker correspondent Ryan Lizza wrote that Scaramucci called him on Wednesday night, angry that Lizza had tweeted that the communications director was having dinner at the White House with Trump; his wife, Melania; Fox News host Sean Hannity; and former Fox News executive Bill Shine. “Who leaked that to you?” Scaramucci demanded, according to Lizza’s account. When the journalist refused to disclose his source, Scaramucci allegedly threatened: “What I’m going to do is, I will eliminate everyone in the comms team and we’ll start over.”(theguardian)…[+]

Pakistan’s supreme court has removed the prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, from office in a unanimous verdict over corruption allegations that will further upset the country’s unstable political landscape. The verdict by the five-member court caps a year of political controversy over corruption allegations unleashed by the 2016 Panama Papers leak.

The governing party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), said Sharif had stepped down immediately. The party must now choose an interim prime minister to be accepted by parliament. The ruling will throw the governing party and the country at large into turmoil ahead of elections due next year. The 10-year disqualification of Sharif cut short the third tenure of a man who has been a leading figure in Pakistani politics for nearly three decades since his first term from 1990 to 1993. It is the most serious political ramification yet of the Panama Papers leak, which detailed financial dealings of the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.(theguardian)…[+]