World News

(BBC): The world's first gun made with 3D printer technology has been successfully fired in the US. The controversial group which created the firearm, Defense Distributed, plans to make the blueprints available online. The group has spent a year trying to create the firearm, which was successfully tested on Saturday at a firing range south of Austin, Texas.  Anti-gun campaigners have criticised the project. Europe's law enforcement agency said it was monitoring developments. Victoria Baines, from Europol's cybercrime centre, said that at present criminals were more likely to pursue traditional routes to obtain firearms.

(CNS): Local runners Derek Larner, Tom Gammage and Beth Florek, who took part in the Boston Marathon on Monday, are all safe in the wake of a double bomb explosion at the race finish line, which killed at least three people and injured over 130 others, many of whom are in critical condition, according to the US media. The first explosions occurred on Boylston Street shortly before 2:50pm local time and the second came 13 seconds later several hundrd feet away. There was no word Monday night on the motive or who may have launched the attack. The three Caymanian runners had already completed the race when the bombs went off, which brought an abrupt end to one of the world’s most popular annual endurance races. A no-fly zone declared over the area following the blasts that happened several hours after the winners had crossed the line.

(The Guardian): Millions of internal records have leaked from Britain's offshore financial industry, exposing for the first time the identities of thousands of holders of anonymous wealth from around the world, from presidents to plutocrats, the daughter of a notorious dictator and a British millionaire accused of concealing assets from his ex-wife. The leak of 2m emails and other documents, mainly from the offshore haven of the British Virgin Islands (BVI), has the potential to cause a seismic shock worldwide to the booming offshore trade, with a former chief economist at McKinsey estimating that wealthy individuals may have as much as $32tn (£21tn) stashed in overseas havens.

(BBC): Hong Kong's top court has ruled that domestic workers are not eligible to apply for permanent residency, ending a two-year battle that has split opinion. The case had centred on Evangeline Banao Vallejos, a maid from the Philippines who has worked in Hong Kong for more than 17 years. Domestic workers had argued that denying them permanent residency was unconstitutional. The ruling has implications for Hong Kong's 300,000 domestic workers. These workers come mainly from the Philippines and Indonesia, often spending years in the territory.

(BBC): French ex-President Nicolas Sarkozy has been placed under formal investigation over claims his 2007 election campaign received illegal donations from France's richest woman. Sarkozy is accused of accepting thousands of euros from L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, now aged 90. The former leader denies taking financial advantage of Bettencourt. His lawyer said he would file an appeal against the "incoherent and unfair decision", AFP news agency reports. Magistrate Jean-Michel Gentil, who leads the inquiry, unexpectedly summoned Sarkozy for a face-to-face encounter with Bettencourt's butler, Pascal Bonnefoy, in the city of Bordeaux.

(CNS): As relations between the Cayman Islands and the UK appear to have improved a little, the mood between the Turks and Caicos Islands and the mother country seems to have deteriorated further. In a letter leaving the new TCI premier in no doubt who is in charge of the territory, the British Foreign Secretary has told Rufus Ewing that Britain expects its territories to meet the same high standards of good governance and public financial management as the UK. Reminding the TCI premier of the corruption scandal surrounding his party, the PNP, William Hague emphasised his support for the governor and the UK’s expectations of the TCI government if it wants to remain a territory.

(BBC): Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, elected as the Catholic Church's new Pope, Francis, has greeted crowds in St Peter's Square in Rome. Appearing on a balcony over the square, he asked the faithful to pray for him. Cheers erupted as he gave a blessing. The 76-year-old from Buenos Aires is the first Latin American and the first Jesuit to be pontiff. An hour earlier, white smoke from the Sistine Chapel chimney announced the new Pope's election. He will be installed officially in an inauguration Mass on Tuesday 19 March, the Vatican said.

(CNS): Civil services bosses in the Turks and Caicos Islands have been warned that they will face jail if they misuse government credit cards. The TCI Cabinet has launched a pilot project relating to payment processes and from 1 April Permanent Secretaries will be given official credit cards for government related purchase. The TCI premier, Rufus Ewing aid the penalty for misuse of the cards would be jail as he announced the pilot project on Friday. The introduction of the credit cards is aimed at improving government efficiency when it comes to accessing services that are only payable via credit cards, the current premier stated.

(CNS): A planned bye-election in the Turks and Caicos Islands set for 22 March in the Cheshire Hall district as a result of a successful legal challenge has been thrown in question after the former holder of the seat missed a crucial disclosure deadline to the country’s integrity commission ahead of the poll. TCI Acting Attorney General Rhondalee Braithwaite-Knowles has also announced that five other legal actions will be filed in the courts in connection with sitting members of the House of Assembly who she said should be challenged under section 53(2) of the Constitution for not declaring contracts they have with the TCI government.

(CNS): Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez has died at the age of 58. Chavez had been seriously ill with cancer for more than a year, undergoing several operations in Cuba, but returned home to Venezuela last month. Nicolas Maduro, his vice president, made the announcement on Tuesday, flanked by political and military leaders. The Venezuelan leader had suffered a severe respiratory infection just before his death, officials in the country stated. In the wake of the president’s death Maduro also announced that the government had expelled two US diplomats from the country for spying on Venezuela's military.

(CNS): The UK’s overseas territories minister has given in to the pressure from elected officials in the Turks and Caicos Islands not to introduce VAT. Mark Simmonds wrote to both Premier Dr Rufus Ewing and Opposition Leader Sharlene Cartwright-Robinson stating that he would instruct the local governor not to sign the order which would have introduce the sales tax to the territory on 1 April. However, Simmonds makes it clear that the new government will need to find the money from somewhere to produce surplus budgets and find its own way to replace the loan guarantee from the UK by 2016.

(CNS): The new premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands has written to the UK’s foreign secretary asking him to withdraw the local governor, attorney general and chief financial officer from the territory. Rufus Ewing, the leader of the PNP, currently holds office by default after losing one of his party's seats following a successful challenge to the November election result. He has alleged that “atrocities and wrongful acts” are being committed by the UK’s officials in the country. Ewing said Ric Todd, Huw Shepheard and Hugh McGarel Groves are obstacles to prosperity. “They never have, and even more so now, enjoyed the trust, confidence and support of the people of the Turks and Caicos Islands,” he writes in his letter to William Hague.

(CNS): The Carnival Triumph cruise ship, which was crippled by an engine-room fire in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico more than four days ago, was limping towards Mobile, Alabama Thursday evening at what was described as an agonizingly slow pace for the passengers on board the 893 foot ship. Pulled by a tugboat, the ship was expected at the US port around midnight as miserable passengers continued to face food shortages, overflowing toilets, dirty conditions, foul odours and dangerously dark passageways. More than 4,200 passengers and crew suffered another misfortune during the day on Thursday when a towline snapped, bringing the vessel to a dead stop.

(BBC): Chief constables in England and Wales will have to declare all gifts and hospitality on a public register under new anti-corruption measures. The move is part of a package of measures aimed at rooting out police corruption and misconduct announced by Home Secretary Theresa May. All officers will have to declare any second jobs they do. The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) will also be expanded to investigate all serious complaints. And there will also be a national register of officers who have been struck off in a bid to stop dismissed officers being recruited by other forces.

(CNS): The United Nations High Commission for Refugees is urging Caribbean countries such as the Cayman Islands, Jamaica and the Bahamas not to deport Haitian and Cuban refugees without proper screening. The agency has said it is concerned that people in need of international protection are being intercepted in Caribbean waters and being deported. In the first two months of 2013, there has been a dramatic rise in the number of boats transporting individuals in region and the UNHCR said governments should screen all individuals intercepted at sea to determine if they have a fear of persecution or other protection concerns before they are returned to their countries of origin.