Sources at the dorms of the Anna Regina Multilateral School in Essequibo are angry over a report in Guyana Times about the students being affected because the kitchen was out of “essential food items.”

The Duke of York has answered questions about his links to Jeffrey Epstein for the first time, in a BBC interview. He spoke to BBC Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis in an interview recorded at Buckingham Palace on Thursday.

Maitlis said it was a “no holds barred interview”, which will be broadcast on BBC Two at 21:00 GMT on Saturday. The duke faces serious claims over his ties to the 66-year-old US financier, who took his own life while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.

In 2015, Prince Andrew was named in court papers as part of a US civil case against Epstein. One of Epstein’s accusers, Virginia Roberts – now Virginia Giuffre – said she was forced to have sex with the duke three times between 1999 and 2002, in London, New York and on a private Caribbean island owned by Epstein.

At the time she was under-age according to Florida state’s law.(BBC)…[+]

For the second year in a row, Canada has refused visas to dozens of researchers – most of them from Africa – who were hoping to attend an artificial intelligence (AI) conference in Vancouver. The hassles have caused at least one other AI conference to choose a different country for their next event.

The Neural Information Processing Systems conference (NeurIPS), which brings together thousands of experts and researchers from all over the world, will be held in Vancouver next month. Last week, NeurIPS began hearing that several attendees had had their visas denied.

It was the second year in a row the conference has had visa troubles. In 2018, when the conference was held in Montreal, more than 100 attendees were denied visas.

The issue prompted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to defend Canada’s immigration system during the G7. “I can assure you that Canada is world-class in the way that it approves visas and encourages people from around the world to come participate in important global conversations like these,” he told Wired Magazine at the G7 in 2018. “I’m sure that  there will be people looking into what you have described.”

This year, event organisers had been working with Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada to try to make the visa process smoother, providing a list of names of people invited to attend the conference. But still problems persisted.(BBC)…[+]

The army general overseeing the reconstruction of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris has said the building’s chief architect should “shut his mouth”. General Jean-Louis Georgelin and architect Philippe Villeneuve disagree over whether the cathedral’s new spire should look modern or medieval.

Notre Dame caught fire in April, losing its spire, roof and many artefacts. French President Emmanuel Macron has set a five-year deadline for completing the huge restoration project. Some experts warn that this target may be too ambitious – and Mr Villeneuve has previously said the only way it can be met is if the spire is a replica of the one that burned down.

A public argument over the spire’s design broke out at a meeting of the French National Assembly’s cultural affairs committee late on Wednesday. “As for the chief architect, I have already explained that he should shut his mouth,” General Georgelin snapped, prompting gasps from those at the meeting, AFP news agency reported. He later said that all involved ought to “move ahead in wisdom so that we can serenely make the best choice for Notre Dame, for Paris, for the world”. A final decision on the spire would be settled on in 2021, he added.(BBC)…[+]

Three cows swept off an island in North Carolina during Hurricane Dorian have been found alive after apparently swimming for several miles. The cows belong to a herd on the US state’s Cedar Island but were swept away in September by a “mini tsunami” generated by Dorian.

They were presumed dead until they were spotted at the Cape Lookout National Seashore park on the Outer Banks. Plans are now under way to send them back home. Park officials say they believe the three stranded cows swam up to five miles (8km) to make it to the Outer Banks barrier islands.Spokesman BG Horvat told the McClatchy news group that park staff spotted the first cow on the North Core barrier island about a month after the storm, while the two others were discovered in the past two weeks.(BBC)…[+]

THE driver of the garbage truck that killed seven-year-old Clan Carthy Primary School student Benjamin Bair was yesterday charged with manslaughter. The police have identified him as 52-year-old Alten Brooks of 9 Miles, Bull Bay in St Andrew.

He is expected to appear in the Home Circuit Court tomorrow. Benjamin was on October 28 crushed to death by the garbage truck at his school in St Andrew.

Reports are that Brooks had left the truck to collect refuse on the school compound when the parked vehicle ran back, crashing into a taxi before overturning on Benjamin. A parent, who was exiting the taxi, suffered a fractured limb during the incident. Brooks reportedly fled the scene before surrendering to police four days later. Drivers involved in any form of accidents are allowed 24 hours to report the matter.(Jamaica Observer)…[+]

An Arctic air mass has brought record-breaking low temperatures to several places in the US. The Arctic blast, which began in Siberia, has brought heavy snow and ice to many areas.

Daily records have been set in states including Kansas and Illinois. Forecasters say hundreds of records could be matched or broken this week. Four traffic deaths have been linked to the bad weather and more than 1,000 flights have been cancelled.

Schools have also been closed in some areas. The National Weather Service (NSW) said the air mass was continuing to spread from the Plains towards the East Coast.

It warned that the cold front would make it feel like “the middle of winter” rather than November for much of the eastern two-thirds of the country.(BBC)…[+]

Australian authorities have warned that massive bushfires raging in two states will continue to pose a threat, despite “catastrophic” conditions easing.About 150 fires are still burning in New South Wales (NSW) and Queensland, feeding off tinder-dry conditions.

Fifty houses were destroyed or damaged in NSW on Tuesday but no lives were lost, officials said. At one point, fires broke out in suburbs of Sydney. On Wednesday, blazes caused fresh emergencies in Queensland. “The conditions are of concern to us,” Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk told reporters.

The threat in NSW has been downgraded from catastrophic – the highest level – but officials urged residents to remain vigilant. “We’ve got the worst of the summer – the worst of the season – still ahead of us as we head into summer,” said NSW Rural Fire Services Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons.

Australia’s government has often avoided questions on whether climate change could have contributed to the fires, in a response that has drawn criticism.(BBC)…[+]

The police are seeking the assistance of the public in locating a 26-year-old man who is wanted in connection with the murder of Festival City resident, Darrell Breedy, who was fatally shot during a home invasion in early October. In a wanted bulletin issued yesterday afternoon, the police said Terrence Pitt also known as ‘Sonna Boy’ and ‘Shots’, whose last known addresses are  ‘B’ Field Sophia and 3rd Street Timehri, East Bank Demerara is wanted in relation with the murder of Breedy which occurred on October 10 at North Ruimveldt, Georgetown.

Stabroek News had previously reported that Breedy, 53, who worked as a tout outside the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts, was shot once in his abdomen.(Stabroek News)…[+]

A US citizen suspected of being an Islamic State militant is stranded on the border between Greece and Turkey, after Turkey expelled him. The alleged militant was deported on Monday as Turkey launched a drive to repatriate captured jihadist fighters held in its prisons.

Greek police said they refused him entry when he tried to cross the border near the Greek town of Kastanies. The man is reported to have spent the night stuck between the two borders. He has been named by Turkey’s Demiroren News Agency as Muhammed Darwis B and is said to be a US citizen of Jordanian descent.

A Turkish official told AFP news agency that he had refused to be returned to the US and instead asked to be sent to Greece. On Tuesday he was still stuck on a strip of road between the two countries and witnesses said he had been trying to shout to reporters on the Turkish side.(BBC)…[+]