Guyana News

– weak ID evidence, no-case submission upheld Weak identification evidence in the Sumner/Mc Lennon murder trial resulted in Justice Roxane George upholding a no-case submission by the defence and subsequently ordering the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty.

The education department of Region Five had to be called in on Monday to investigate a case of abuse of an eight-year-old Grade Three student of a West Berbice Primary School.

The Inter-American Deve-lopment Bank (IDB) has approved a multi-faceted programme at a total cost of some US$32.55 million to improve competitiveness and boost private sector development in 15 Caribbean countries.

Residents at the Palms, Brickdam were sent into a panic late Tuesday night when two stray bullets from a shoot-out between several men on Brickdam, hit their building.

President Bharrat Jagdeo has lashed out at recent reports and analyses in the local media concerning the Amaila Falls Hydropower project labeling them as “cake-shop” reports which sought to discredit the development that was taking place in the country.

The government says that Zublin Grenada Limited is only one of a number of prospective investors who have shown interest in investing in the Marriott Hotel project here.

The Humanitarian Assistance Program (HAP), Food for the Poor (FFTP) and the Region Seven Democratic Council donated a number of sneakers and book bags to the region’s primary schools.

The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) recently met with representatives from Indonesia to discuss that country’s interest in engaging local businesses in trading in areas including sugar, machinery, footwear, building material and consumer products.

-GHRA The Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) says that Guyana’s report to the UN Human Rights Council did not benefit from consultations and is contemptuous of the council and civil society here.

Caricom says a Task Force on Elections in Haiti including Assistant Secretary-General, Foreign and Community Relations Colin Granderson held its first meeting in Port-au-Prince on Monday.

-training course told Stepped up US interdiction of the drug trade on its border with Mexico could force more of the illicit substances through the Caribbean, a regional official has warned.

President Bharrat Jagdeo says he is pleased that the Maria’s Pleasure Primary School in Wakenaam has resumed classes and he announced that renovations to the Island’s high school will start by August.

CHICAGO, (Reuters) – Anyone arrested in Chicago and  held overnight during the past decade could be eligible for  compensation of between $90 and $3,000, based on a settlement  approved by the city council yesterday.

-more samples for US The Ministry of Agriculture’s Musa Disease Management Unit  (MDMU) had sent  sigatoka  disease samples  to CABI Bio-Science  Labora-tory  in the United States for further analysis and to determine the origin of the disease affecting banana and plantain farms, and the lab  has since explained  that the analysis has been inconclusive and further samples will be needed.

DUNDGOBI, Mongolia, (Reuters) – The winter camps of  southern Mongolia are quiet during this year’s breeding season,  after an unusually harsh winter wiped out herds and left  nomadic families with little but debt to their name.

-court told A man was remanded to prison yesterday when he appeared before Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton charged with robbery under arms.

OSLO, (Reuters) – Coastal nations have quietly taken  over areas of seabed totalling almost the size of Australia  since 2002 and far more is up for grabs in one of the biggest  redrawings of the world map in history, experts said.

A koker door at the Garden of Eden, East Bank Demerara broke yesterday afternoon under the pressure of the high tide and quick work by the Ministry of Agriculture limited the damage, GINA said last night.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – Donor countries yesterday  pledged a record $4.25 billion over the next four years for the  Global Environment Facility, the world’s largest public green  fund that helps developing countries tackle climate change.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – President Barack Obama  presented a unified front with Afghan President Hamid Karzai yesterday in a bid to show their differences were behind them  and the United States was on track to start withdrawing troops  next year.