Guyana News

(Jamaica Observer) Jamaican finger-rape victim Shanique Myrie says a flood of bitter memories fell on her like a ton of bricks on her return to the Eastern Caribbean island of Barbados last week.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Jamaicans who frequent the United States (US) – including merchants, athletes, pilots and entertainers – should soon expect to see their income and savings above US$50,000 disclosed to that government under a measure to catch tax dodgers called the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).

(Jamaica Gleaner) The head of one major financial institution in Jamaica is urging the government delegation now meeting with International Monetary Fund (IMF) officials in Washington to use the opportunity to engage members of the Barack Obama administration in discussion on the controversial Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), and how it will impact local financial institutions.

(Barbados Nation) The governments of Barbados and its regional neighbours have been severely criticized for their increasing “appetite for taxation of the tourism industry” which is biting into the sector’s earnings.

(de Ware Tijd) PARAMARIBO – VHP legislator Asiskumar Gajadien is not surprised the coalition has fewer members now, as this was to be expected.

(Barbados Nation) Barbados’ main economic engine seems to be sputtering as commercial banks report that a sizeable portion of their non-performing loans are linked to the tourism industry.

OSLO, (Reuters) – Around 40,000 people gathered in Oslo today to sing a popular children’s song ridiculed by Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 people last July, as a show of protest against the right-wing activist’s anti-immigrant views.

KADUNA, Nigeria,  (Reuters) – The office of Nigeria’s This Day newspaper in the northern city of Kaduna was bombed today, security sources said, the same day a bomber killed at least three people in the paper’s building in the capital Abuja.

THE HAGUE, (Reuters) – A United Nations-backed court convicted former Liberian president Charles Taylor of war crimes today, the first time an African head of state has been found guilty by an international tribunal.

-GINA, NCN, Gecom among affected In a ground-breaking move yesterday, the combined opposition voted against expenditures in the 2012 budget to the tune of $2.233 billion, including $1 billion from an allocation of $6 billion for the Guyana Power and Light and sums allocated to GINA and NCN in what was a boisterous session which is set to continue today when the budget comes up for a final vote.

Opposition Leader David Granger says that the APNU intends to use the cuts it jointly made with AFC last evening to the government’s $192.8B budget as a form of “leverage” to get the PPP/C administration to address the core concerns raised by the Opposition.

Despite losing almost its entire $81M subvention to opposition cuts yesterday, CEO of the state-owned National Communications Network (NCN) Mohammed ‘Fuzzy’ Sattaur says the company will continue to fulfill its mandate of educating citizens on government’s developmental programme.

Photos by Anjuli Persaud You knew something big was about to happen yesterday when APNU’s Chief Whip Amna Ally, before the National Assembly reconvened, herded her MPs and told them that no “walking about” was going to be tolerated during the sitting.

While the business community remains optimistic that their profits will increase this year they want the current 16 percent Value Added Tax reduced to at least 12 percent.

With their government subvention reduced to a single dollar, the National Communications Network (NCN) and the Government Information Agency (GINA) staffers last evening staged a candlelight vigil.

An ex-Guyana Defence Force soldier appeared in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court yesterday accused of chopping a miner to death at Puruni Backdam in Region Seven last Saturday.

A man accused of performing the duties of a registered medical practitioner  when he was not licensed was remanded yesterday by acting Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.

A woman and her five children lost their La Parfaite Harmonie Housing Scheme, West Bank Demerara home early yesterday morning after her husband, from whom she is separated, set it on fire.

Minister of Local Government and Regional Development Ganga Persaud revealed on Tuesday that former minister Clinton Collymore is employed as an advisor to him and is earning $362,000 a month in salary and allowances.

The couple, who were held for allegedly operating a prostitution ring of young girls in the Oko Backdam in Region Seven, have been released from police custody since the 72 hours that a person could be held without charge had elapsed,  Crime Chief Seelall Persaud said yesterday.