A court in Bahrain has handed down prison sentences to 139 people, including 69 life sentences, for terrorism offences after one of the biggest mass trials in the country’s history. All but one also had their citizenship revoked, a statement from the public prosecutor, Ahmad al-Hammadi, said on Tuesday. Local news outlets said the defendants were accused of trying to build a Bahraini Hezbollah, similar to the Lebanese armed group funded by Iran, in order to sow discord in the Gulf kingdom.

Some had trained in Iran, Lebanon and Iraq, Hammadi said, and were found guilty of training with and using illegal weapons and explosives and launching terrorist attacks.  All the detainees are believed to be members of the Sunni-ruled country’s Shia majority, which has long accused the kingdom of discriminating against them. Thirty defendants were acquitted, Hammadi said.

According to rights groups, Bahrain is increasingly using terrorism-related charges and the removal of citizenship to crack down on mostly peaceful political activists. Opposition members and rights activists have been jailed or fled, and authorities have denies multiple accusations of torture. Since new laws were introduced in 2012 after the previous year’s Arab Spring protests, 990 people have had their Bahraini citizenship revoked, 180 of them in 2019 alone, and mass trials have become commonplace.(theguardian)…[+]

PARIS – A massive fire consumed Notre-Dame Cathedral yesterday, gutting the roof of the Paris landmark and stunning France and the world, but firefighters managed to save the shell of the stone structure and its two main bell towers from collapse. Flames that began in the early evening burst rapidly through the roof of the eight centuries-old cathedral and engulfed the spire, which toppled, quickly followed by the entire roof.

As it burned into the evening, firefighters battled to prevent one of the main bell towers from collapsing and tried to rescue religious relics and priceless artwork. One firefighter was seriously injured – the only reported casualty. “The worst has been avoided, even if the battle has not been totally won yet,” French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters at the scene shortly before midnight, as firefighters worked to further cool some of the interior structures still at risk of collapse.

Macron said France would launch a campaign to rebuild the cathedral, including through fundraising efforts and by appealing to “talents” from overseas to contribute. “We will rebuild it together. It will undoubtedly be part of French destiny and our project for the years to come,” a visibly moved Macron said.(Reuters)…[+]

Moya Gyan­dass paced anx­ious­ly along the Car­li Bay shore­line yes­ter­day, as the par­ty who went search­ing for her hus­band Sie­u­nar­ine Gyan­dass and neigh­bour Vedesh Mar­lo re­turned. But Gyan­dass’ hope for a mir­a­cle was quick­ly re­duced to tears as all the crew re­turned with was the life jack­et her hus­band was last seen wear­ing.

Sie­u­nar­ine was the own­er of a flat bot­tom boat that took the ill-fat­ed trip to the Gulf of Paria on Sun­day af­ter­noon. Two of his rel­a­tives drowned while he and Mar­lo dis­ap­peared af­ter the jumped over­board when the boat be­gan tak­ing in wa­ter. Two men al­so sur­vived the or­deal.

Ken­neth Ram­per­sad, who led the search team, said they reached close to Venezuela but had to re­turn be­cause their gas was run­ning low. Ram­per­sad, a cousin, said on their way back he spot­ted the life jack­et float­ing. Ac­cord­ing to re­ports, Sie­u­nar­ine, 51, his broth­er Chu­ni­lal Gyan­dass, 53, broth­er-in-law Ku­mar Lal­la, 49, cousin Ronald Nar­i­nesingh, 36 and Mar­lo, 23 and his cousin Glen Pra­ha­l­ad, 34, left Car­li Bay around 1 pm Sun­day to fish. But the chop­py sea con­di­tion caused the boat to take in wa­ter and around 3 pm when it be­gan to sink the men jumped out.

Lal­la, who wore a life jack­et and Pra­ha­l­ad were able to swim back to shore but the oth­ers drift­ed away.(Trinidad Guardian)…[+]