Yemen peace talks have been held onboard a UN-chartered boat anchored in the Red Sea in an attempt to find a neutral venue acceptable to both sides.

Patrick Cammaert, a retired Dutch general and head of the UN mission in Yemen, chaired the meeting on the ship moored off the port city of Hodeidah. Houthi rebel military officials had refused to meet in government-held areas in southern Hodeidah, citing security fears.The dispute over the talks venue had prevented military leaders from the two sides meeting since 2 January. The first two meetings had been held in Houthi-controlled zones.The meetings of the regional redeployment committee (RCC) are seen as critical to building on the UN-brokered agreement reached in Stockholm in Decemberthat under which Houthi fighters would be redeployed out of Hodeida’s city and port. The agreement envisaged a new security force taking over the city, a move critical to preventing famine and to opening humanitarian corridors.(theguardian)…[+]

WASHINGTON – The United States announced yesterday it will withdraw from the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia in six months unless Moscow ends its alleged violations of the landmark 1987 arms control pact.

The United States would reconsider its withdrawal if Russia, which denies violating the treaty, came into compliance with the agreement, which bans both nations from stationing short- and intermediate-range land-based missiles in Europe.

Announcing the move, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States would cease to regard itself as being bound by the treaty starting Saturday, which is when Washington will formally inform Moscow of its intent to withdraw, a senior U.S. official told reporters. The announcement may aim to pressure Russia to come to terms during the next six months but it also raised fears of a new U.S.-Russian nuclear arms race in Europe as well as one between the United States and China in Asia. U.S. President Donald Trump repeated U.S. allegations that Russia had violated the INF treaty, which limited only U.S. and Russian arsenals, and he held out the prospect of negotiating a wider agreement, possibly including other nations.(Reuters)…[+]

Even po­lit­i­cal par­ties must find in­no­v­a­tive ways to raise funds to sus­tain op­er­a­tions.

In the case of the Peo­ples Na­tion­al Move­ment, who are con­struct­ing a mul­ti-storey Bal­isi­er House on the site of the ex­ist­ing premis­es, the chal­lenge has been to come up with an idea to raise mil­lions to bankroll the project. That idea has come from one of their mem­bers who saw the work of Caribbean Jew­ellers and sug­gest­ed that an ex­clu­sive col­lec­tion of jew­el­ry could be one of the fundrais­ing tools.

Caribbean Jew­ellers, well known for cre­at­ing com­mem­o­ra­tive pieces for the ed­u­ca­tion sec­tor’s grad­u­a­tion events, have come up with the Bal­isi­er Col­lec­tion, a set of su­perbly craft­ed loy­al­ty rings and oth­er items in­tend­ed to re­flect “un­wa­ver­ing sup­port for the PNM”. The man be­hind this strate­gic part­ner­ship, An­gad Sand­hu, Man­u­fac­tur­ing Di­rec­tor, Sat Naam In­dus­tries Ltd, the par­ent com­pa­ny of Caribbean Jew­ellers, said their di­ver­si­fi­ca­tion ef­forts over the years had gen­er­at­ed the con­cept for this se­ries. “A par­ty mem­ber saw the work we did and ap­proached us. I did the best I could to ful­fil their vi­sion and with our dis­tinc­tive com­pe­ten­cies came up with an ex­ten­sive line of loy­al­ty rings.”(Trinidad Guardian)…[+]

The victims and grieving relatives of a Canadian truck crash, in which 16 people died, will have to wait until March to learn the driver’s sentence. Following an emotionally charged week of victim impact statements, the judge overseeing the case has asked for nearly two months to consider how to sentence the driver, Jaskirat Singh Sidhu. On 6 April last year, his semi-trailer truck collided with the bus of the Humboldt Broncos hockey team after he failed to stop at an intersection in central Saskatchewan.

Sidhu had previously pleaded guilty to all 29 charges he faced — including 16 counts of dangerous driving causing death. Young hockey players, coaches, a trainer and a radio announcer were among those killed. The crown had asked for a 10-year prison sentence and a further 10 years of suspended driving. As part of the sentencing, 75 written victim impact statements were submitted to the court, with 65 read by friends and family over a four-day period. Some included grim details of the parents being unable to fully identify their children – and the tragic extent of some injuries.(theguardian)…[+]

MOSCOW/NEW YORK-  A law firm appointed to act as a buffer between Russian metals magnate Oleg Deripaska and one of his businesses, under a deal that allowed Washington to lift sanctions on the firm, has worked closely with Deripaska for years. Asked about the law firm, the U.S. Treasury Department said it would vigorously monitor arrangements to ensure Deripaska cannot influence board members of the businesses. A representative for Deripaska said there was no scope for the businessman to influence how the law firm acted.

But a senior U.S. senator said the connection between Deripaska and the law firm further bolstered the argument, being made by U.S. President Donald Trump’s Democratic opponents, that the sanctions should not have been lifted. The U.S. Treasury Department agreed to lift sanctions on three businesses controlled by Deripaska on condition that the tycoon – who will still be under sanctions himself – reduces his ownership in the businesses and severs his control.

As part of the deal, some of Deripaska’s voting rights as a shareholder in his main company, En+, were handed over to a “voting trust obligated to vote in the same manner as the majority of shares held by shareholders other than Deripaska,” according to the Treasury Department. On Monday, announcing names of this and other trustees, En+ said that one of the trustees exercising the voting rights was called “Ogier Global Nominee (Jersey) Limited.”(Reuters)…[+]

Police responding to a report of a car crash found more than a kilogramme of marijuana in the vehicle. The accused, Gabriella Jardine, of Cassia Drive, Petit Valley, appeared before the Port of Spain Magistrates’ 4A Court yesterday charged with possession of 1.104 kilogrammes of marijuana, for the purposes of trafficking.

She pleaded not guilty to the offence. Jardine was represented by defence attorney Ian Brooks. She was charged by PC McClean of the Western Division Task Force (WDTF). Magistrate Aden Stroude presided over the matter. After submissions to the court, the matter was adjourned to February 26. Bail was granted, with a surety, at $25,000.

According to police reports, at about 11.15 a.m. on Tuesday, officers of the WDTF, comprising PC McClean, PC Sahadath and WPC Mathews, as well as Sgt Hudlin, PC Davis, and a party of officers from the Police Traffic Branch, responded to a report of a vehicular accident in St James. In the vicinity of Panka Street and Clarence Street, St James, the officers observed a crashed Nissan Note. The officers stopped to render assistance, but they observed two brown packages in the car.(Trinidad Express)…[+]