Police have found dismembered body parts believed to belong to a Japanese woman who disappeared after meeting up with an American tourist via a dating application. The gruesome discovery of a torso, arms and legs occurred a day after police found a human head in a suitcase at a lodging facility in Osaka, a major port city about 400km (250 miles) south-west of Tokyo.

The suspect has been named in Japanese media as Yevgeniy Vasilievich Bayraktar, 26, of New York. He was arrested last week on suspicion of illegally confining the woman to another short-term rental property in Osaka’s Higashinari ward. The woman, 27, went missing after telling a friend on 15 February that she was travelling from the inland city of Sanda to meet a male acquaintance, local media reported. The pair had been in contact through a dating app that matches Japanese people with foreigners, according to Kyodo News, which cited anonymous investigative sources.Those same sources said the two were seen on security camera footage entering the condominium early on 16 February, but later vision appeared to show the man repeatedly going in and out of the property carrying a large bag. Traces of blood were found at the property, where a large amount of air freshener had also been used, Kyodo reported.(theguardian)…[+]

Airstrikes and mortar attacks have resumed in the rebel-held Syrian enclave of eastern Ghouta, hours into the first daily “humanitarian pause” ordered by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. The fresh clashes on Tuesday highlight the limits of Russia’s influence over Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, and raise doubts about the sincerity of its effort to limit the violence. Residents and activists said the violence was continuing despite claims that a humanitarian corridor would be opened to allow civilians to escape. “Only the fighter planes have been reduced, but the shelling and land-to-land rockets are continuing,” said Nour Adam, an activist in the area. “None of the families or civilians have come out of the bomb shelters because nobody trusts the regime or the Russians.”(theguardian)…[+]

BRIDGETOWN – Despite major setbacks caused by a destructive 2017 Atlantic Hurricane Season, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) is reporting a year of several developmental gains for the Region.

The Bank last year approved USD364 million (mn) in loans and grants, an increase of USD58 mn on the previous year, which has paved the way for the implementation of projects that focus on strengthening resilience, building back better and placing the Caribbean further along a path toward sustainable development.

“This path will not be without challenges but CDB remains committed to partnering with our BMCs to make extreme poverty in our Region a thing of the past,” said Daniel Best, Director of Projects, CDB during the Bank’s Annual News Conference on February 7, 2018. Pointing to the Bank’s flagship poverty reduction programme, the Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF), in his presentation to media, Best said that the allocation of USD40.8 mn in resources from the Bank’s Special Development Fund last year is helping CDB to continue addressing the needs of the Region’s most vulnerable through the programme. In 2017, BNTF also expanded its support to include entrepreneurial development, particularly among the Region’s youth. The Director also confirmed that in 2017, the Fund completed 152 sub-projects across its participating countries.

Best highlighted that, through partnerships with international donors, CDB last year mobilised additional concessional resources for infrastructural development across the Region. The Bank, in collaboration with development partners such as Agence Française de Développement; European Investment Bank, European Union; and the Governments of Canada and the United Kingdom, mobilised and operationalised concessional resources for infrastructure projects spanning the agriculture; education; energy; and water and sanitation sectors.(CDB)…[+]