A woman and her daugh­ter had to be res­cued yes­ter­day by of­fi­cers from the Guard and Emer­gency Branch, Spe­cial Op­er­a­tions re­sponse Team (SORT) and the North­ern Di­vi­sion af­ter a two-hour or­deal where they were held hostage by the woman’s hus­band. The in­ci­dent took place at Mal­abar yes­ter­day morn­ing and saw scores of heav­i­ly armed po­lice of­fi­cers in the area as they tried to bring a peace­ful end to what could have been a dead­ly sit­u­a­tion.

Ac­cord­ing to a po­lice re­port, of­fi­cers were told the 34-year-old man, who lives with his wife and daugh­ter at Har­ri­nanan Av­enue, Mal­abar be­gan “act­ing-up” at about 7 am. He is said to suf­fer from a men­tal ail­ment.  Po­lice said they were told that the sus­pect was at­tempt­ing to pre­vent the two fe­males – the moth­er and her daugh­ter, from leav­ing the house and even­tu­al­ly held them against their will.

The man was said to be throw­ing any­thing he got his hands on in­clud­ing fur­ni­ture in­side the house. It was un­clear if he was armed or had any weapon when he held his wife and daugh­ter in­side the house against their will.(Trinidad Guardian)…[+]

Northern Ireland’s abortion law breaches the UK’s human rights commitments, the High Court ruled. The case was taken in Belfast by Sarah Ewart, who challenged the law after she was denied a termination. The judge said she ruled in Mrs Ewart’s favour as it was not right to ask another woman to relive the trauma that she had already experienced. Mrs Ewart said the ruling was “a turning point for women” in their campaign against “outdated laws”.

The judge said a formal declaration of incompatibility would not be made at this stage. Mrs Justice Keegan made that decision in light of impending legislation, already passed at Westminster, which will decriminalise abortion if there is no deal to restore devolution in Northern Ireland by 21 October. Members of the anti-abortion campaign group Precious Life protested outside the court during the hearing. “It’s a very sad day that the court has denied the right to life for unborn children,” said director Bernie Smyth.(BBC)…[+]

Thieves stole some of Mahatma Gandhi’s remains on what would have been his 150th birthday, police say. The ashes were taken from a memorial in central India, where they had been kept since 1948 – the year of Gandhi’s assassination by a Hindu extremist.

The thieves also scrawled “traitor” in green paint across photographs of the independence leader. Some Hindu hardliners view Gandhi as a traitor for his advocacy of Hindu-Muslim unity. This is despite Gandhi being a devout Hindu himself.

Police in Rewa, in Madhya Pradesh state, confirmed to BBC Hindi’s Shuriah Niazi that they were investigating the theft on the grounds of actions “prejudicial to national integration” and potential breach of the peace. Mangaldeep Tiwari, caretaker of the Bapu Bhawan memorial, where the ashes were being held, said the theft was “shameful”.

“I opened the gate of the Bhawan early in the morning because it was Gandhi’s birthday,” he told Indian website The Wire. “When I returned at around 23:00 [17:30 GMT], I found the mortal remains of Gandhi missing and his poster was defaced.” Police took action after Gurmeet Singh – leader of the local Congress political party – filed a complaint. “This madness must stop,” Mr Singh told The Wire. “I urge Rewa police to check CCTV cameras installed inside Bapu Bhawan.”(BBC)…[+]