Two killed in Mandeville taxi shooting as police hunt gunman

Police in Manchester are hunting a gunman after two young women were fatally shot in what investigators call a targeted attack along Horseshoe Curve in Mandeville on Saturday night.

Dead are Denika Ponal, a 24-year-old nursing student of Harties, and Sadifa Henry, 21, of Greenville. Reports say the pair boarded a taxi in the Mandeville town centre before a man believed to be posing as a passenger entered the vehicle. En route toward Royal Flat, he allegedly asked the driver to stop at Horseshoe Curve, left the taxi, then opened fire on those inside, striking both women.

The Major Investigation Division and Manchester police have launched a manhunt. Officers say it remains unclear how many people were in the taxi and whether the women were the intended targets. Anyone with information is being urged to contact the authorities.

In St. Catherine, eight Haitian nationals — four men and four women — found on Thursday are being housed at the Old Harbour Bay Community Center while officials process their cases. Authorities believe the group was left and abandoned rather than landing from a vessel along the shore. Since Friday morning, the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, the police, the Ministry of Health, and the Bay Citizens Association have assisted, including health screening. Community residents have also provided meals.

A St. Elizabeth goat farmer is thanking police and neighbours after five stolen goats were recovered on a property in Santa Cruz. Officers from the parish, Area 3, and the Agricultural Protection Branch acted on tip-offs. The animals, whose ropes appeared cut with knives, were valued at about $600,000. Farmer George Ibangs said three of his goats were taken while he briefly slept after keeping watch; he hopes the remaining animals will also be found and warned thieves not to return.

Residents near the Marsville dump in St. Elizabeth, including communities such as Buena Vista, Northampton, Warminster, Southampton, Leeds and Goshen, are pressing authorities to curb heavy smoke that began last week, saying it has worsened sinus problems and forced people to seal their homes in the heat.

In sport, Spain claimed the 2026 FIFA World Cup with a 1-0 extra-time win over Argentina, Ferran Torres scoring in the 106th minute — Spain’s second world title after 2010.

Caribbean stayover arrivals reached 35 million in 2025, more than 900,000 above 2024. Martinique’s tourism officials say limited U.S. airlift — including only three weekly flights from Miami — still constrains growth, even as the French overseas territory became a CARICOM associate member in June 2026.

Overseas, the U.S. military said it struck Iranian targets after a Friday attack on a base in Jordan killed two American service members, left one missing, and sent others to hospital. U.S. Central Command said the raids aimed to weaken Iran’s capacity to disrupt tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which carried about a fifth of global oil before the conflict. Sixteen U.S. service members have died and more than 430 have been wounded since the war began.