GILROY, Calif– Police were searching today for a suspected accomplice of the gunman who killed three people, including a 6-year-old boy, in a mass shooting at a food festival in California. The gunman was shot dead by police officers within minutes of opening fire early on Sunday evening at the three-day Gilroy Garlic Festival, about 30 miles (48 km) southeast of the city of San Jose.

Among those killed was a 6-year-old boy, according to news reports. Fifteen people were injured, but it was unclear how many were shot or otherwise hurt in the crush of bystanders trying to flee, according to police. One person was in critical condition, a hospital spokeswoman said. A second suspect “was involved in some way, we just don’t know in what way,” Gilroy Police Chief Scot Smithee said late on Sunday, without giving further details.

“We have no idea of a motive,” he said. Police recovered a rifle at the scene, Smithee said. The gunman, who has not been publicly identified, cut through a fence to evade metal detectors and other security at the festival’s entrance, police said.(Reuters)…[+]

A man who broke into his wife’s home and stole more than $5,000 in items has been sent to prison. Naindra Ramdath, 36, of Golconda, was jailed for 14 months for the offence of housebreaking and larceny. He said his drug problem led to him committing the offence.

Police prosecutor Ramdath Phillip told the San Fernando court it was around 4.30 p.m. on June 28 that Sandra Boodoo locked and secured her Golconda home. She returned two hours later to find the house broken into and two gold and diamond rings, a grinder, steel rims and a radiator fan missing. The items together cost $5,200. Camera footage showed Ramdath used a ladder to access a window, which he opened and gained entry into the house. He was seen lea­ving with some of the items. Around 12.30 a.m. yester­day, Ramdath was spotted sitting at the side of the road and PC Emrith told him of the report of housebreaking and larceny.(Trinidad Express)…[+]

WASHINGTON – The United States imposed sanctions yesterday on 10 people and 13 groups in a Venezuelan food subsidy scheme the U.S. Treasury said lined the pockets of President Nicolas Maduro, his stepsons and others as ordinary Venezuelans suffer food shortages.

The Treasury Department said Colombian national Alex Nain Saab orchestrated a vast corruption network for food imports and distribution in Venezuela and profited from overvalued contracts, including the food subsidy programme. Saab bribed Maduro’s three stepsons to win no-bid, overvalued government contracts, said Sigal Mandelker, undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.

“Alex Saab engaged with Maduro insiders to run a wide-scale corruption network they callously used to exploit Venezuela’s starving population,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. “Treasury is targeting those behind Maduro’s sophisticated corruption schemes, as well as the global network of shell companies that profit from” the country’s military-controlled food distribution program, he said. (Reuters)…[+]

GENEVA– The hot air that smashed European weather records this week looks set to move towards Greenland and could cause record melting of the world’s second largest ice sheet, the United Nations said today.

Clare Nullis, spokeswoman for the U.N. World Meteorological Organization, said the hot air moving up from North Africa had not merely broken European temperature records on Thursday but surpassed them by 2, 3 or 4 degrees Celsius, which she described as “absolutely incredible”. “According to forecasts, and this is of concern, the atmospheric flow is now going to transport that heat towards Greenland,” she told a regular U.N. briefing in Geneva.

“This will result in high temperatures and consequently enhanced melting of the Greenland ice sheet,” she said. “We don’t know yet whether it will beat the 2012 level, but it’s close.” Nullis cited data from Denmark’s Polar Portal, which measures the daily gains and losses in surface mass of the Greenland Ice Sheet.

“In July alone, it lost 160 billion tonnes of ice through surface melting. That’s roughly the equivalent of 64 million Olympic-sized swimming pools. Just in July. Just surface melt – it’s not including ocean melt as well.” The Greenland Ice Sheet covers 80% of the island and has developed over many thousands of years, with layers of snow compressed into ice. The dome of ice rises to a height of 3,000 meters and the total volume of the ice sheet is approximately 2,900,000 cubic kilometres, which would raise global sea levels by 7 metres if it melted entirely, according to the Polar Portal website. (Reuters)…[+]