Belgium has extradited Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam to face trial in France.

He was wounded and arrested in a dramatic raid in Brussels on 18 March after four months on the run.

The 26-year- old French national was born in Brussels and lived there before the Paris attacks.

Some 130 people were killed and dozens wounded in co-ordinated attacks carried out by so-called Islamic State in Paris on 13 November.

The federal prosecutor said Salah Abdeslam had been "surrendered to the French authorities this morning (in execution of the European Arrest Warrant issued by France on 19 March 2016)".

It is not immediately clear where he has been taken, although it is known that he was transferred recently from prison in Bruges to the high-security jail at Beveren, near Antwerp.

Salah Abdeslam was indicted by Belgian authorities last week over a shoot-out in the Forest area of Brussels in which four police were wounded, three days before he was arrested.

Trump's nomination by the Republican Party is the less certain, but in his typical bombastic style he responded to a reporter's question Tuesday night by saying he considers himself the presumptive nominee.

Clinton has not made that same declaration in the Democratic race but with a big delegate lead, she has in recent weeks focused on criticism on Trump at her campaign rallies, while also making overtures to supporters of her rival, Bernie Sanders. That continued Tuesday night as she advocated two key Sanders policies -- addressing special interest money in politics and income inequality.

Record-high temperatures and severe drought are causing misery for hundreds of millions of people in Asia.

“In Southeast Asia this heat wave joins the historical ones of 1960, 1983 and 1998, but as for duration, intensity and affected area it is definitely the strongest heat wave for Thailand, Laos and Cambodia,” said Maximiliano Herrera, a prominent climatologist who investigates world temperature records.

Last year’s India heatwave officially killed 2,422 people — the country's highest heat-related death toll in more than two decades.

This year, more than 150 deaths in India are blamed on the heat over the past two weeks.

“I am afraid the heat will persist and increase for the next weeks and unfortunately the death toll will surely rise,” Herrera told the press.

In India’s richest state of Maharashtra, the worst dry spell in four decades has not only destroyed crops but caused death of livestock, seen reservoirs go dry and affected output at hydroelectric and thermal power plants.

In Malaysia, hundreds of schools have been ordered closed and the country’s farmers are losing their vegetables. To the north, in Thailand, a record low rice yield is predicted for the dry season.

Vietnam, usually the world’s second biggest coffee exporter, has seen its robusta crop in the central highlands wither amid the worst drought there in at least three decades. “The first three months of this year have been so warm that 2016 is almost certain to be the hottest on record,” predicts the Times of India.

Some scientists remain cautious about attributing partial blame to climate change for the current spike in temperatures, as the time frame represents a relatively limited chunk of data.

Cambodia saw a national all-time record high of 42.6°C set in Preah Vihea province on April 15. That was two days after its neighbor to the north, Laos, set its own national all-time high temperature of 42.3°C at Seno.

Dozens of Thai weather stations have broken or tied their all-time record maximum temperatures this month.

The thermometer has been reaching 46.0°C in several towns in Myanmar, still shy of the national record high of 47.2°C at Myinmu observed on May 14, 2010.

Torrential rain in the impoverished Haiti killed six people over the weekend, including four children, authorities said yesterday Tuesday.

Three of the children — aged two, six and eight — were part of the same family and lost their lives when their house in the capital Port-au- Prince collapsed, according to the Interior Ministry.

Another family member in the house at the time, a 41-year- old adult, also died.

In the community of Delmas, the downpours caused a section of a wall to collapse, killing a 36-year- old man and a seven-year- old girl in a house below.

The rain also sparked flooding, with authorities saying water mixed with waste seeped into 4,612 houses in the communes of Port-au- Prince, located north of the capital, authorities estimated.

With the weather not expected to improve before today Wednesday, officials are urging the population to exercise caution.

Haiti is hit by storms every year from June to November but the absence of urban planning means that heavy showers during the country's first rainy season from April to June takes its toll on the poorest parts of the population.

Former Deputy Speaker and a member of the Shadow Government Dwayne Taylor was a guest on RTC’s Expressions today speaking about a variety of matters. Notably was the talk on politics as this year is year in which the Government could call elections.

Just last week, RTC met briefly with the Leader of the Opposition who says she is ready when and if the Premier should make the announcement.

On the other hand, PDA Leader & Former Chief Minister Oswald Skippings told RTC this morning that they are making the rounds, around the country, hosting a variety of town hall meetings to get seek supporters for their party. The PDA says that this election will be the dawn of a new day, with a new party.

This morning Campaign Manager for the PDM, Dwayne Taylor had a few choice words about the PDA.

The CM also spoke about citizenship, labour and jobs and the hot button issue crime. He spoke to the 12 point plan should they be elected tomorrow.

Dwayne Taylor, Campaign Manager for the PDM on Expressions today. The PDM says that they are confident that they will be the next Government after the elections.

Meanwhile, Shadow Minister & Leader of the Opposition the Hon. Sharlene Cartwright in a statement added that "My Party is deeply saddened by the rapid evolving headlines over the past week of a young lady being missing, discovery of a dead body and now confirmation of the body: that of the missing 26 yr old Dominican National, Yuneiry Veras in Providenciales. We had hoped that she would have been found alive but are grateful for this closure for her family and friends. We wish to offer our deepest and sincerest sympathy to her family and friends and to say to you that it is our prayer that God comfort you all during this experience.

Providenciales and Turks and Caicos Islands are losing their identity and are not what we knew them to be. We accept that things can and will change with expansion in population and other areas of development but there are certain things that we cannot and must not accept and these type of crimes can never be allowed to become commonplace in our societies. The senseless loss of a young life is a great tragedy and a further indication of the little value that some seem to place on human life. As a woman, I condemn this act against this young woman and call on all women to exercise great caution recognizing that women have fallen prey to violent and deadly crimes in recent history.

I however wish to remind us all that we all have a part to play in fighting crime which has waged a war against us. It is up to us, as well as the Police as to whether this matter will become a cold case or not. We are grateful that the Police has already opened a homicide investigation and we join them on calling on the people of this Island to lend any assistance you can to investigators.

We say to those of you who may have seen or heard something to come forward and do not dismiss anything as irrelevant or immaterial. I am a firm believer in the integrity of Crime Stoppers and its commitment to protecting the identity of callers and I encourage use of the call Crime Stoppers tip hotline 18008477. Your identity is protected and your assistance is greatly needed and appreciated.

I will never weary of calling for greater resources and modern crime fighting initiatives for the Police but equally I will never weary in calling on the people of this country to fulfill its obligation in this important partnership of People/Police.

I have recently released a 12 Point Crime Plan and know these initiatives will do much to aggressively tackle crime. We cannot allow crime, especially of this nature to affect our peace of minds, our means and way of life, and our reputation. We must do what we can to ensure that Turks and Caicos Islands is a safe place to live and do business."

The woman found dead by Police Officers this past weekend has been identified as 26-year- old Yuneiry Veras of the Dominican Republic.

Veras was last seen around 2 am on Monday 18th April 2016 at her residence in Blue Hills. Her lifeless body was discovered about1:04 pm on Saturday 23 rd .

Investigators are awaiting the official results of an autopsy that was done on Monday 25h April, however a homicide investigation is already in progress

Officer Clarke in a telephone conversation this evening told RTC news that they know that someone out there may know what happened to Ms. Veras on the night of her disappearance. She was well known and have been in contact with a few persons due to her working at a popular Bar and Night Club located on Aviation Drive.

Assistant Council, Edwin Hernandez in an interview with RTC news expressed shock on her passing.

To remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 1- 800 8477 or use the Crime Stoppers online reporting page: www.crimestoppers.tc.

The information you provide will be treated in the strictest of confidence.

Premier the Hon. Dr. Rufus Ewing says that he has no tolerance for crime. Revisiting the Premiers address to the nation over 10 months ago, the Premier then as he’s still doing now, calling on the Commissioner of Police to step up the plans to reduce illegal activities affecting our community.

The Premier then, as he is now, saying that his Government will continue to work closely with the Police to provide them with the resources and support they the need to do their job effectively. The Premier did however mention that in order to uproot and eradicate crime it has to be a community effort.

On June 23rd when that press conference was held the country’s chief added (and I quote) “my government will be ensuring that technical and vocational programs will be implemented at the Community college, that the Government will be working with the religious leaders, non-government agencies such as the TCHTA, utility companies to seriously look at an apprentice program for young people, starting with 3rd and 4th formers, instilling in them self-worth and pride.”

Just last week in the Press conference on crime and other matters, the Premier spoke about the recent crime report that shows the TCI has a 1% spike in crime. The Premier just recently committed new gears and tools that he says will reduce the countries crime rate from 1 to 0%.

There is a quiet revolution underway in that bastion of male dominance – the car industry – say Barnebys, the auction house search engine that monitors classic car sales around the world.

Barnebys, a Swedish owned company which offers no fewer than 1,600 auction houses under one roof, makes it dead easy to see who is selling what classic car where and for how much (besides art, wine, whisky, jewellery and many other collectables). The company has been tracking the gender change that is bringing the male dominated car world into the 21st century.

Barnebys points to a key moment when Anna Maria Peduzzi, one of the greatest female racecar drivers of the 1950s, became Ferrari's first female driver. She was the first woman to have raced for Scuderia Ferrari, the most successful racing team in history. The sad story behind the great yet enigmatic Peduzzi, is that little is known of her today, even her exact death has never been confirmed. Peduzzi competed in over 50 races at a time when motor racing was something of a blood sport, with no seat belts, lightweight helmets and no power-assisted steering or brakes. As a woman, Peduzzi’s strength on the track would have been considered something of a spectacle at the time.

In 2014, women had been out of F1 for 22 years, which all changed when Williams announced that Susie Wolff would be the first woman since 1992 to take part in an official F1 session. Prior to Wolff, Giovanna Amati for Brabham, at the Brazilian Grand Prix, was the last woman to compete in an F1 race weekend.

In F1, women have not only been behind the wheel, but at the helm as in 2012 Sauber made Monisha Kaltenborn F1's first female team principal.

Born in Dehradun, India, Kaltenborn’s family emigrated to Vienna when she was a child, where she took Austrian citizenship. In 2000, Monisha started at Sauber’s legal department, where she moved up the ranks to become CEO in 2010. In 2011, Peter Sauber, the team principal at the time, gifted Kalteborn 33.3% of the team’s equity, a sign that she would take on his role.

Other great women drivers include Helle Nice of Bugatti fame, maybe the greatest of them all, also Pat Moss, sister of Sterling Moss won the Monte Carlo Rally back in the late 50s and early 60s. and Divina Galica, a British female F1 driver who competed in the late 1970s. She wasn’t that successful in F1 because her car wasn’t very competitive but she’d been very good in saloon car racing, having previously been a member of the UK Winter Olympic team.

Women have also been making their presence felt in the car design. Last year, 34-year-old Michelle Christensen designed the new Acura NSX, which was made to compete with Ferrari. Christensen was the first female exterior designer at Acura, with her career in car design beginning in 2002 when a determined Christensen took night classes in car design to earn her a place at Pasadena’s Art Center College of Design’s automotive design programme.

Michelle’s first job was as an intern at Volvo and by 2005, just ten years later she was hired by Acura and her redesign for the NSX was applauded by her industry peers.

For 20 years, Alexandra ‘’Sandy’’ McGill has been the lead colour designer for the BMW Group DesignWorksUSA. McGill is responsible for designs for BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars and is the creative genius behind iconic colours which have adorned some of the world’s most popular and desired cars. A lot has changed for McGill since she first joined BMW.

‘’When I got to Munich [with BMW] in 1991, there were only two women in my design group, now there are many more.’’

Petrol heads it seems no longer only come in one gender.

With the Bugatti Veyron’s top-speed records, a price tag over $1 million, and distinctive melted-scoop-of-ice-cream styling, it was an instant rolling superlative when it debuted in 2005. Its successor, the new Chiron, is even more of a record- and headline-grabbing show pony. Is it faster? A 310-mph (500 km/h) speedometer and Bugatti’s claim that it’ll do 261 mph say it is.

Never mind that there are few places in the world where anyone could achieve 261 mph, and even fewer owners who will ever attempt the feat, what could hypercars such as the Ferrari LaFerrari, Porsche 918 Spyder, or McLaren P1 offer in retort? That their top speeds are lower, they’re less comfortable, or, critically, that they’re—gulp—cheaper? The Chiron’s game is to be so unattainable, so unimaginable, so magical as to reestablish Bugatti as the ultimate automotive accouterment for those who measure their cash reserves not by face value but with a yardstick.

Make Bugatti Great Again

Bugatti says the 4400-pound Chiron is “the world’s first production sports car with 1500 hp.” It’s best to simply shelve any expectations of modesty on Bugatti’s part. After all, when the car you’re replacing produced 1200 horsepower, hit 258 mph, and cost more than $2 million, adding an extra 300 horsepower, 3 mph of governed top speed, and half a million to the window sticker matters. Oh, and just 500 will be made, because nobody wants a mass-produced $2.6-million car.

Between Bugatti’s braggadocio and posturing, there are real improvements to the Veyron’s formula. Does it matter that, if every strand of carbon fiber in its new central tub were laid end to end, they’d “stretch nine times the distance between the earth and the moon”? No, and we pity the Bugatti employee charged with checking the arithmetic on that factoid. But it is indicative of a real effort to reduce—or at least hold the line on—the Chiron’s weight relative to that of the somewhat pudgy Veyron. All of that carbon fiber—the body panels also are made of the stuff—helps keep the Chiron right around the same weight as the 4486-pound Veyron, despite being 3.2 inches longer, 1.6 inches wider, and 0.3 inch taller. Bugatti further claims that the Chiron’s structure is as stiff as those underpinning LMP1 racing prototypes.

At the risk of sounding beguiled, the styling of the Chiron is notably more fetching than that of the Veyron. The C-shaped curve carved into each side of the body recalls Bugatti’s 1930s-era art-deco masterpieces, the Type 57 Atlantic and Atalante, as does the spear running down the car’s spine. The all-mesh tail appears to belong to a different car, but the surfaces bending and flowing beyond it are nearly beautiful. Up front, Bugatti’s horseshoe-shaped grille remains—stamped with a badge rendered from five ounces of silver—and is flanked by quad-LED headlights. Moving aerodynamic elements range from a hydraulically operated diffuser, front splitters, and a four-position rear spoiler/wing that can sit flush with the rear bodywork, extend slightly (the setting for top-speed runs), fully extend, or fully extend and tilt in its air-brake setting. The underbody is totally smooth save for NACA ducts that gulp air for cooling the engine, the transaxle, and the rear brakes.

What’s an Extra 3 mph?

When chasing top-speed honors, horsepower matters. Even so, there are diminishing returns in the fight against the atmosphere at higher speeds. The Chiron’s redesigned 8.0-liter quad-turbocharged W-16 engine produces 1500 horsepower, 300 more than the outgoing Veyron Super Sport—and yet it tacks only another 3 mph onto that car’s top speed, and only eight more atop the 1001-hp Veyron 16.4’s 253-mph max. Bugatti has tuned the Chiron’s four turbochargers to work sequentially, with two operating at low engine speeds for better response before the other two take over above roughly 3800 rpm for maximum power. Down the line, there no doubt will be additional variations on the Chiron theme that add precious miles per hour to the top speed.

Exhaust is routed from the turbos to a new titanium exhaust that Bugatti claims weighs 44 pounds, which is “extremely light compared with similar [16-cylinder] units.” Perhaps the automaker is referring to the chrome stacks on semi trucks, because it also proudly describes two of the catalytic converters as being “six times as large as [those] fitted to a medium-sized car” and boasts that the total exhaust-scrubbing area of all six catalytic converters is greater than that of 30 soccer fields. This should give you some idea of the level of emissions produced by an 8.0-liter 16-cylinder engine.

As in the Veyron, torque is routed to all four wheels via a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. Bugatti claims the clutches are the “largest, highest-performing” such components ever fitted to a car. They’d better be if they’re going to stand up to the 8.0-liter’s 1180 lb-ft of torque during sub-2.5-second rips to 62 mph. Also like the Veyron, the Chiron is a rolling heat-exchanger farm, with more than 13 gallons of coolant circulating through two separate cooling loops. The first loop holds 3.2 gallons of liquid and cools the turbochargers’ intercoolers; the larger loop services the engine and pumps 9.8 gallons of coolant through its veins into three radiators. There also are heat exchangers for the engine, transmission, rear-differential, and hydraulic oils, as well as those needed for cabin heat and air conditioning.

Bugatti has expanded the number of drive modes to five. There is a standard “EB” automatic mode, as well as Lift (for speed bumps and driveway entrances), Autobahn, Handling, and Top Speed. Moving among the settings alters the dampers, the ride-height actuators, the electrically assisted power-steering calibration, the electronically controlled rear differential, the active aerodynamics, and the stability control. The driver can select Lift, EB, Autobahn, and Handling modes using a dial on the steering wheel, but, as on the Veyron, Top Speed requires a separate “Speed Key” and unlocks the Chiron’s Vmax potential. The other drive modes limit top speed to 236 mph (Lift mode cancels out at 31 mph), still more than enough to get valet attendants in trouble. Anything past 112 mph automatically activates Autobahn mode, while in the Handling setting, the Chiron lowers itself, raises its rear wing to its highest position, and stiffens the dampers.

Bugatti claims the Chiron can pull 1.50 g’s in lateral acceleration; this probably has more to do with the car’s massive 20-inch 285/30 front and 21-inch 355/25 rear bespoke Michelin tires than outstanding chassis tuning or light weight. Those tires, by the way, also are said to boast a larger contact patch than the Veyron’s and will apparently be “easier to install and allow lower operating expenses.” Considering how the Veyron Super Sport’s tires cost $42,000 per set and required the replacement of all four wheels after three tire swaps ($69K), the change is welcome. Because the rear air brake alone won’t quickly shave big speed, the Chiron uses carbon-ceramic brake rotors that are all 0.8-inch larger in diameter and 0.1-inch thicker; the front rotors are 16.5 inches across and the rears are 15.7. The front brake calipers employ eight pistons, while the rears have six.

Inside Thoughts

The Chiron’s interior has been completely redesigned and seems to have been given nearly as much thought as figuring out how to make a 4400-pound chunk of carbon fiber and metal hurtle through the atmosphere at more than 200 mph. The aesthetic is spare yet clearly upscale. A glowing rib echoing the external “spine” sweeps down the middle of the cabin and is said to be “the longest light conductor used in the automobile industry.” A waterfall of simple aluminum dials for the climate system pours down a gleaming aluminum strip supported by carbon-fiber ribbing, while infotainment and navigation duties are handled by a pair of screens flanking the analog speedometer. The entire gauge pod, in fact, is an incredible piece of sculpture that is milled from billet aluminum.

Whatever isn’t slathered in leather or hewn from aluminum is covered in carbon fiber. The audio system is provided by Accuton, and it can be tuned to account for any of the 31 different leather choices and eight microsuede options for the interior. (Have you ever heard the reverb produced by soft Corinthian leather? Ask Ricardo Montalban.) And whether or not Bugatti is lobbing a pun when it says that the one-carat diamond membrane in each of the four tweeters deliver “crystal-clear sound,” we’re pretty sure the point is that there are diamonds in the speakers. For Chiron customers with Louis Vuitton–brand tinfoil hats, Bugatti says the car has “an extremely high level of electromagnetic compatibility” borne out by tests of an unspecified military standard.

Awestruck yet? There’s little doubt that the Chiron trumps even the mighty Veyron in the jaw-slackening department. The Chiron is undoubtedly an engineering triumph and the pinnacle of immoderation; the masses should be properly enthralled. Most critically, so should those with the considerable means to purchase one.