Staff Editor

BEIRUT,  (Reuters) – Senior Lebanese intelligence official Wissam al-Hassan, who led the investigation that implicated Syria and Hezbollah in the assassination of former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri, was killed by a huge car bomb in Beirut today.

LONDON, (Reuters) – British minister Andrew Mitchell resigned today after failing to shake off accusations he called police “plebs”, an insult laden with snobbery that fuelled perceptions Prime Minister David Cameron’s government is out of touch with voters.

The news that R&B artiste Chris Brown will be here for a Boxing Day concert this year has sparked concerns because of his infamous punching up of pop star Rihanna and this has let to a suggestion from a social activist that he donate money to the domestic violence fight here and spend time in jail with abusers.

The police say they are investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of boat-builder Calvin Roberts of Hobodiah, Mabaruma, NWD, which occurred at about 1300h on October 17, 2012.

(Trinidad Guardian) New information has surfaced more than 12 years after the mysterious death of 11-year-old Akiel Chambers and Government is moving to reopen the police investigation into his death.

(Trinidad Guardian) The Central Bank hired Canadian forensic auditor Bob Lindquist during the PNM administration’s term in 2009 to probe all aspects of former financial giant Clico, says former PNM minister of finance Conrad Enill.

(Trinidad Guardian) Corporations will now have to pay larger fees than smaller organisations for water pollution.

(Trinidad Guardian) President of the Law Association Seenath Jairam, SC, has been given a blistering reprimand over a perceived conflict of interest.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Sohail Muhammad Siddiq, the 41-year-old Pakistani businessman who pleaded guilty to breaching the Customs Act and failing to declare €$314,000 (approximately J$36 million), has been fined J$10,000 or three months’ imprisonment.

Dr John Fredericks passed away on October 15 at the age of 85.

(Jamaica Gleaner) The Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) is one step closer to swiftly investigating fatal police shootings through the procurement of a comparison microscope, engaging a ballistics expert and retrofitting an in-house laboratory at a cost of approximately J$50 million.

AMSTERDAM, (Reuters) – Dutch lender Rabobank has ended its 17-year sponsorship of professional cycling, saying it had lost faith in the sport’s leaders to clean up following the Lance Armstrong doping scandal.

(Trinidad Express) Pan pioneer/innovator Bertie Marshall died on Wednesday evening, succumbing to a longstanding illness that included complications brought on by diabetes and hypertension.

(Trinidad Express) Ten days after he accepted a brief from the Ministry of Finance to be its lead counsel in the CLICO/Hindu Credit Union Commission of Enquiry, Law Association president Seenath Jairam SC returned the brief to the ministry yesterday.

R&B superstar, Chris Brown is set to perform at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence on December 26, Minister of Tourism Irfaan Ali announced yesterday.

(Reuters) – Newsweek, one of the most internationally recognized magazine brands in the world, will cease publishing a print edition after nearly 80 years.

BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, OCTOBER (CUOPM) – LIAT’s newly-appointed Chief Executive Officer, Captain Ian Brunton has described thirty-five percent of the airline’s 112 daily flights as “social (uneconomic) routes”.

(Trinidad Guardian) Public Utilities Minister Nizam Baksh was misinformed when he made statements in Parliament last Tuesday that the Cove Industrial Estate in Tobago was responsible for blackouts in Tobago.

(Trinidad Guardian) The People’s Partnership administration wants one free hour of media time to air government programmes to inform the public, Communications Minister Jamal Mohammed said on Monday night.

Fly Montserrat Airways – one of whose planes recently crashed killing a Guyanese and two others – has been grounded after one of its planes rolled off the runway at the Caribbean island’s international airport.