Staff Editor

THE HAGUE,  (Reuters) – Former Liberian President Charles Taylor was jailed for 50 years today for helping Sierra Leonean rebels commit what a court in The Hague called some of the worst war crimes in history.

(de Ware Tijd) PARAMARIBO – Judges in the December murder trial have been pressured from several sides, including the government, to declare the Public Prosecutor’s Office ineligible to rule on the validity of the Amnesty Act.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados,  CMC – Estranged West Indies batsman Chris Gayle has not ruled out making himself available for the third Test of West Indies’ ill-fated tour of England but says a meeting with the West Indies Cricket Board on Sunday will take priority.

(de Ware Tijd) PARAMARIBO – The Ministry of Transport (TCT) has stricter rules in the pipeline for public transport.

The UK Guardian is reporting that debut novelist Rahul Bhattacharya has won the £10,000 Ondaatje award for his “brilliant” rendering of the history, people and landscape of Guyana, The Sly Company of People Who Care.

Police today said that two .243 rifles, one a Winchester and the other a Remington, were today found at about 14:20hrs at a Railway Line, Kitty address by police in Division ‘A’ Georgetown.

Police say that at about 18:30 hours on Sunday, five men, three of whom were armed with shotguns and the others with cutlasses robbed a mining camp at 23 Miles Issano of 7 ounces of raw gold, a firearm, a quantity of ammunition, a radio set, an ATV and $100,000.

Police in ‘E&F’ Division say they are investigating the circumstances which led to the death of Clifton Thomas, age 36 years, a labourer of Baramita Settlement, Mazaruni, whose partly decomposed body was found floating in the Konawaruk River, Potaro about 10:00 hrs today.

PARIS,  (Reuters) – A shell-shocked Serena Williams crashed to her earliest defeat at a grand slam when she was beaten 4-6 7-6 6-3 by French darling Virginie Razzano in a pulsating first round showdown at Roland Garros today.

PARIS,  (Reuters) – Military intervention to end the crisis in Syria cannot be ruled out if it is backed by the United Nations Security Council, French President Francois Hollande said today.

(Jamaica Observer)  A 15-year-old Ascot High student is dead after a bus which was allegedly being chased by a Transport Authority team overturned in Portmore, St Catherine this morning.

(Jamaica Observer) Consumers of patties, the popular Jamaican delicacy, are hopping mad about the new tax to be imposed on the product come Friday.

(Barbados Nation) Political scientist Peter Wickham has suggested that Barbados’ “sexual immaturity” when it comes to same-sex relations is hindering the country’s progress in its HIV/AIDS fight.

(Barbados Nation)  Government is to extend indefinitely what was to have been a temporary 2.5 per cent hike in the VAT rate when the House of Assembly meets today at 10 a.m.

(Trinidad Express) It is still scandalous squandermania. This was stated yesterday by Government Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal in the face of an e-mail from Calder Hart, former executive chairman of the Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago (UDeCOTT), who has denied that a $3 million Tobago house was purchased for him.

(Trinidad Express) Police Commissioner Dwayne Gibbs said yesterday that in the last two months of 2012 there has been a resurgence of homicides.

MILAN,  (Reuters) – An earthquake struck northern Italy today, killing at least 10 people, damaging buildings and spreading panic among thousands of residents still living in tents after a tremor shook the region just over a week ago, destroying their homes.

(Trinidad Express) Works Minister Jack Warner has no case to answer with respect to allegations of bribery purported to have taken place at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, in Port of Spain on or about May 10, 2011.

MANILA, (Reuters) – The Philippine Senate voted today to remove the country’s top judge for failing to disclose his wealth, a landmark victory for President Benigno Aquino as he pushes a campaign to root out endemic corruption in the Southeast Asian nation.

SANTA FE, N.M., (Reuters) – Five-time world boxing champion Johnny Tapia was found dead in his Albuquerque, New Mexico, home at the age of 45, officials said today.