Bahamian Court blocks demolition of Shanty Towns
Supreme Court Justice Cheryl Grant-Thompson on Saturday granted an injunction blocking the demolition of shantytown structures.
The government had given residents of most shantytowns on New Providence until August 10 to leave before demolition begins.The injunction was granted a day after the judge granted leave for a judicial review of the government’s actions regarding the shantytowns.
On Friday, the judge agreed to hear the injunction application at 1 p.m. on Saturday via telephone conference.It is unclear how long the injunction is in place.
“The exact terms of the injunction are being discussed between [attorney] Fred Smith and myself because I don’t accept that his interpretation of what the judge said is correct,” said Attorney General Carl Bethel. “I’ve sent him some wording that reflects my view of what I heard the judge say and so I’m waiting to hear from him.
“Whatever the actual wording was the judge clearly issued an injunction restraining any steps towards any sort of relocation or removal of derelict structures past the 10th deadline.
The attorney general stressed that as the matter is now in court, it would be inappropriate for him to deal with the merits of the case.
But he said there is no possibility that demolition will commence when the deadline expires on Friday.Lawyers representing a group of 177 shantytowns residents – including some people who live in Abaco shantytowns – filed an application for leave to apply for judicial review last Tuesday.
The applicants are seeking a declaration that the decisions made as a part of the government’s shantytown eradication program are unconstitutional, and are therefore void, illegal and of no effect.
Among other reliefs, they are seeking an order restraining the government from entering the shantytowns and causing any utilities connected to it to be disconnected other than according to law.
They are also seeking damages for the “infringement” of the applicants’ constitutional rights.
That application also sought an interim injunction “pending the determination of this action or pending determination of this application or until further order restraining the respondents directly or through their agents, appointees or employees from taking possession of, demolishing any building on, or otherwise interfering with the individual applicants’ and other residents’ and occupiers’ enjoyment of land in shantytowns throughout The Bahamas, including by disconnecting any utilities other than pursuant to the relevant enabling legislation.”
“The application is about the lawfulness of the decisions by which the government respondents are seeking to implement the policy, and the constitutionality of the policy itself,” the court document states.
“In essence they have presumed a right to take possession of land where no right has been established or lawfully exercised, and they have used unlawful threats to demolish buildings and disconnect utilities as a proxy for taking possession. “More generally, the policy is unconstitutional because in applying only to the areas the government has designated as shantytowns it discriminates unlawfully against people of Haitian race or origin.”
New Haitian prime minister appointed
Almost a month after the Haitian fuel-price subsidy riots that caused previous Haitian prime minister, Jack Guy Lafontant, to resign his position, President Jovenel Moïse has appointed Jean-Henry Céant to become the new prime minister of Haiti.
Moïse made the announcement of selecting Céant on Twitter: “After consultations with the presidents of the two branches of Parliament, I made the choice of citizen @jeanhenryceant as new prime minister.”
Céant, who was also a presidential candidate in the 2016 Haitian elections, comes in at a time where anger and resentment over the fuel-price subsidy removal is still fresh in the mind of Haitians.
The fuel-price subsidy removal, which was reversed by his predecessor Lafontant shortly before resigning his post or facing an all but certain expulsion through a vote of no confidence, is still an issue Haiti is grappling with, as the costs of continuing the subsidy far outweigh spending on healthcare, the World Bank estimated in its 2014 report on the Haitian post-earthquake recovery efforts.
Céant has limited experience in public and government administration, but has been a part of, or has founded or co-founded several social charities and socially conscious organisations in Haiti and is very active in Haitian civil society.
American billionaire Stan Kroenke makes $777m offer for 100% ownership of Arsenal
The takeover battle for English Premier League side Arsenal between American and Russian billionaires could be about to end.
On Tuesday, Arsenal majority shareholder Stan Kroenke made a $777 million (£600m) offer to assume full control of the English Premier League club, which would take its value to $2.33 billion (£1.8 billion).
Kroenke, who currently owns 67% of the club through his company KSE, has put forward a proposal to buy the remainder of the club's shares -- 30% of which are owned by Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov and his company Red and White Securities. The deal was published on the London Stock Exchange Tuesday.
"We at KSE are moving forward with this offer leading to 100 per cent ownership of the club," the statement read. "We appreciate Mr Usmanov's dedication to the Arsenal Football Club and the storied ethos and history the club represents."
Uzbek-born businessman Usmanov tycoon is worth $12.8 billion, according to Forbes, but he never attained a seat on the Arsenal board.
"KSE's ambitions for the club are to see it competing consistently to win the Premier League and the Champions League, as well as the major trophies in the women's senior game and at youth level," added the KSE statement. Arsenal finished sixth last season and will play in the Europe's second tier competition -- the Europa League -- during the 2018/2019 campaign.
Dez Bryant indicates he is open to playing for Browns
The Cleveland Browns traded wide receiver Corey Coleman to the Buffalo Bills this week, and some have wondered if the move was made to create room for Dez Bryant. If his social media activity is any indication, Bryant might be hoping that is the case.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reported on Monday that the Browns have interest in Bryant but are in a “holding pattern” as the former Dallas Cowboys wideout decides whether or not he wants to visit with the team. ESPN’s Josina Anderson had a similar report on Tuesday, noting that the Browns are skeptical that Bryant would sign with them.
However, a comment Bryant made on Instagram Monday night appeared to indicate he has interest in joining the Browns. When one of his fan pages shared a photoshopped image of Bryant in a Cleveland uniform, he commented, “I don’t look bad in that browns uniform.”
Bryant is said to be seeking a specific type of contract, and the Browns still have plenty of salary cap space. They also already have a loaded wide receiver group led by Josh Gordon and Jarvis Landry, so Bryant could conceivably have a big year in Cleveland if he faced a lot of single coverage. If contending for a championship in 2018 is a priority for him, the Browns don’t really make sense. That said, it doesn’t seem like Bryant has a ton of options at this point.
Sargassum: The seaweed deluge hitting Caribbean shores
When waves of sargassum - a type of seaweed - washed up on Eastern Caribbean shores seven years ago, people hoped it was a one-off. Matted piles swamped coastlines from Tobago to Anguilla.Three years later the seaweed returned, in larger quantities.
Now it is happening again and everything suggests 2018 could be the worst year yet."On satellite images the quantity that's being picked up is greater than ever before," says Prof Oxenford, who is based in Barbados.
"Certainly we've had it for longer and in huge amounts. And some of the islands are getting it for the first time."
Caribbean governments are acknowledging that the seaweed, which impacts on tourism, fisheries and wildlife, could pose a long-term threat."The same way we prepare for hurricanes, we have to prepare for sargassum," Antigua's environment minister said recently.
On shore, as well as blocking beaches and repelling swimmers, the sargassum stinks as it decomposes.
Removal is time-consuming, expensive and can damage the beaches. Incoming rafts smother sea grasses and coral reefs, while fishermen struggle to get in the water."The sargassum tangles up their motors, their engines, their nets, their lines," says Ms Monnereau.Then there is tourism. In one extreme case, a resort in Antigua was forced to close its doors until 30 September.
"The issue is that we never know what it's going to be like - we can have a week or two weeks where it's very clear and then all of a sudden overnight it washes in," says Larry Basham of Elite Island Resorts, which runs St James's Club.
"We've spent an ungodly amount of money on tractors, heavy equipment, we've tried a number of different barrier systems on the water, none of which has worked well. The sargassum is mostly affecting southern and eastern coasts and in the Eastern Caribbean, many of the main tourist beaches face west.
The reason southern and eastern shores are worst hit lies in the seaweed's source. In 2011 people initially assumed the Caribbean influx had, for some reason, drifted from its traditional home in the Sargasso Sea.But now research indicates the sargassum is from a new source - an oval band stretching from the Brazilian coast to West Africa.
James Franks, of the University of Southern Mississippi's Gulf Coast Research Laboratory says the sargassum circulates through this band, consolidates off Brazil and then is periodically released northwards by currents into the Caribbean.
But he says it is not yet clear what has caused this huge new bloom.
One major question is how long the phenomenon will continue.Satellite images from the University of South Florida's (USF) Optical Oceanography Laboratory currently show historically high monthly levels of sargassum in the region.
"It is likely this bloom will occur until September this year," says Dr Mengqiu Wang of USF.But it is not clear what will happen next year, or the year after. Mr Franks says prediction strategies will be very important in planning for influxes but they are in "the elementary stage of development at this point".
Lombok earthquake death toll rises to 105 amid search for survivors
At least 105 people are dead after an earthquake rocked the Indonesian island of Lombok over the weekend.
Another 236 people have been injured in the quake, according to the government's disaster management spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, who told the Antara News Agency that the casualty numbers could rise as the search continued for survivors.
More than 20,000 people have been displaced since the 6.9-magnitude quake struck Lombok, a popular tourist destination, on Sunday night.
Most of those killed were struck by falling debris from collapsed buildings, according to Nugroho. Among the many buildings destroyed on Lombok were two homes which housed around 80 underprivileged children.
The roads in the jungle leading to northern Lombok were treacherous and badly damaged in the quake, which is likely to hamper aid efforts, said Endri Susanto, who runs a nongovernmental organization assisting with relief efforts.
The earthquake was also felt in neighboring Bali, another popular tourist spot. More than 100 aftershocks rattled the region after the main quake.
Sturgeon to challenge May over Brexit 'plan B'
Prime Minister Theresa May is to face questions about her Brexit plans from Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon during a visit to Edinburgh.
Mrs May is in Scotland to mark the signing of a "city deal" investment package for the south east region.
She will also take in the Edinburgh festival before talks with Ms Sturgeon. The first minister has challenged Mrs May to set out her "plan B" if she is unable to sell her preferred Brexit plans to European leaders.
Mrs May said she was aiming to "create more good jobs and spread economic prosperity across the country" as the UK leaves the EU.
The trip is the prime minister's first domestic appearance since she cut short her summer walking holiday for talks with French President Emmanuel Macron.
She has also spoken to the EU's chief negotiator Jean-Claude Juncker in a bid to win him over to the vision of Brexit she agreed with her ministers at Chequers in July.
And while in Edinburgh she will come under pressure from Ms Sturgeon to set out more details of what the UK's future relationship with the EU might look like after it leaves in March 2019.
The Scottish and UK governments have long been at odds over Brexit, having failed to come to an agreement over the future of devolved powers which saw MSPs refuse to give their backing to the EU Withdrawal Bill.
The unapproved antidepressant that's poisoning people
From 2014 through 2017, there was an increase in US poison control calls related to the intentional abuse and misuse of tianeptine, an unapproved antidepressant drug, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a report on Thursday.
Tianeptine, marketed as Coaxil or Stablon, is used as a prescription antidepressant in Europe, Asia and Latin America. In the US, it can be purchased on the Internet, even though the US Food and Drug Administration has not approved its use.
There have been reports that recreational abuse might result in severe side effects including vomiting, confusion, coma and kidney failure. The drug can be lethal in rare cases.
"Deaths associated with misuse of tianeptine have been reported outside the United States," CDC researchers wrote in the new report. They added that two recent deaths attributed to "tianeptine toxicity" occurred in the US after the drug was purchased online.
California fire explodes in size, is now largest in state history
Catastrophic wildfires continue to ravage California, as one blaze nearly doubled in size over the last three days, making it the largest in the state's history.
No one has been injured in the Mendocino Complex Fire, which consists of two fires -- the Ranch Fire and the River Fire -- burning around Clear Lake, in several counties in Northern California.
Combined, they form the biggest blaze that California firefighters are currently battling. Altogether, the Mendocino Complex Fire has burned 283,800 acres -- growing about 80% since Friday night. As of Monday evening, it was 30% contained and had destroyed 75 residences.
The Mendocino Complex Fire has now surpassed last year's Thomas Fire, which burned 281,893 acres in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, as the largest fire in Cal Fire history.
Exhausted firefighters across the state are trying to contain 16 major fires that are burning in hot, dry and windy conditions.
On Monday, another fast-moving fire ignited in the state -- this time in Orange County, where firefighters battled the Holy Fire that expanded to more than 4,000 acres. That fire started in the Cleveland National Forest and evacuations in the nearby areas have been ordered, according to the Orange County Fire Authority.
Trump warns countries against doing business with Iran as sanctions kick back in
President Donald Trump has warned that countries doing business with Iran will "NOT be doing business with the United States" as his administration reimposed sanctions on Iran Tuesday.
In an early morning tweet, Trump described the measures as "the most biting sanctions ever" and warned they would "ratchet up to yet another level" in November, when US sanctions on Iranian oil will be reimposed."I am asking for WORLD PEACE, nothing less!" Trump added.
Trump's warning appeared to be aimed at the European Union, which is attempting to protect European businesses trading in Iran from facing US sanctions. US sanctions are being unilaterally reimposed on Iran in waves following Trump's decision to withdraw from the Iranian nuclear deal earlier this year.
The deal, officially titled the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, is a landmark agreement to restrict Iran's nuclear program in return for the lifting of international sanctions.
Orchestrated by the Obama administration, it was signed by Iran, some European countries, China and Russia in 2015. Trump has long been a fierce critic of the deal, calling it "insane" and maintaining that, even with the current restrictions in place, Iran continues to pose a threat to the US.
In May, the US pulled out of the deal, with the first round of sanctions reimposed on Tuesday. They affect, among other things, the purchase or acquisition of US dollars by the Iranian government, the country's auto industry and trade in gold or precious metals.