Guyana News

(de Ware Tijd) BRUSSELS –The European Union will call Suriname to account on the controversial Amnesty Act and its observance of the constitutional state, NOS learnt from diplomatic sources in Brussels.

(Trinidad Guardian) A Guyanese national, who was accused of assaulting a store clerk after she failed to repair his cellphone, changed his plea to not guilty and was granted bail in the sum of TT$15,000 yesterday.

(Trinidad Guardian) “I am very happy to be free.” These were the words of Cheryl Miller as she left the Hall of Justice in Port-of-Spain yesterday at the end of a habeas corpus action challenging her 15-day stay at St Ann’s Psychiatric Hospital.

(Jamaica Observer) Prime Minister Bruce Golding says the oversight panel appointed by Transport and Works Minister Dr Omar Davies to oversee three major Government projects does not undermine the role of the contractor general who had expressed concerns about the contractual procedures relating to the projects.

(Jamaica Observer) Government has again defended its decision to establish the Independent Oversight Panel (IOP) to monitor three major projects, despite objections from Contractor General Greg Christie, arguing that Cabinet has the right to approve advisors for any minister.

(Barbados Nation) One of Barbados’  highest employing companies has gradually whittled down its staff from 1 200 to just over 250 in the last two years, with plans to lay off the others by the end of next month.

PORT-AU-PRINCE,  (Reuters) – Haitian lawmakers approved the nomination of a close adviser to President Michel Martelly as prime minister on Thursday, raising hopes of ending a political stalemate that has stalled reconstruction efforts after Haiti’s devastating 2010 earthquake.

“If you don’t have a permit, don’t go to the mining community,” Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment Robert Persaud  yesterday warned as he announced plans to intensify ‘Operation El Dorado,’ which targets illegal miners.

Two men and two women were yesterday granted bail between $200,000 and $500,000 when they appeared before Magistrate Hazel Octive- Hamilton in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court on charges involving trafficking in persons.

There are now two suspects in the murder of 18-year-old Nikita Ramischand, whose butchered body was found outside of her mother’s salon in Trinidad and Tobago last week.

The bloody body of miner Bryan Dickson was yesterday afternoon found in his bed at his East Street home, in Georgetown with numerous stab wounds suspected to have been inflicted with a pair of scissors.

A taxi driver was yesterday morning found with his hands and feet bound and his head bashed in at Logwood, Enmore, on the East Coast Demerara.

The government yesterday announced that with effect from June 1, the minimum wage for certain categories of workers–including security guards and sales clerks–will be increased by an order approved by Cabinet.

The government is in the process of determining the impact the budget cuts would have and would then present this information to the opposition to prove that its claims that many workers would be placed on the breadline are not mere “idle speculations.”

In a notice in yesterday’s Guyana Chronicle, the Ministry of Public Works is advising REDjet customers who were unable to travel because of the suspension of service by the airline to submit requests for refunds.

A policewoman was struck down by a speeding car while she was crossing the road to the Demerara Harbour Bridge, where she works.

The Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce said yesterday that following a meeting with representatives of the United Minibus Union (UMU) the fares for short drops in the city would remain at $60, but UMU President Eon Andrews denied that an agreement had been reached.

As part of its activities to celebrate the 174th anniversary of the arrival of Indians to Guyana, the Indian Arrival Committee (IAC) will seek to raise awareness of societal ills, such as domestic and alcohol abuse.

Guyana may once again move in the direction of suspending the Common External Tariff (CET) on cement imported from countries outside Caricom owing to its current high price, which government feels is being “orchestrated” by “shark operators” out to “make a killing”.

Acting Chief Justice Ian Chang on Wednesday discharged the action to overturn the four-month suspension of CNS Channel 6 last year and to contest the constitutionality of the Advisory Committee on Broadcasting (ACB).