Guyana News

MARJAH, Afghanistan (Reuters) – A NATO airstrike in Afghanistan mistakenly killed 27 civilians, the government said yesterday, hurting a campaign to win over the local population and defeat Taliban insurgents.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Genetically altered mosquitoes that cannot fly may help slow the spread of dengue fever and could be a harmless alternative to chemical insecticides, US and British scientists said yesterday.

CARACAS (Reuters) – A Venezuelan cable TV station known for fierce opposition to President Hugo Chavez yesterday accepted new broadcast rules to get back on the air again, after the government last month suspended it.

GAWU said its felicitations on Guyana’s 40th Republic anniversary are tempered by sober reflection on the nation’s progress which has been mixed with a number of challenges and urges leaders to pass this milestone with less confrontation.

A lone gunman yesterday robbed a building contractor of $2.5 million as he was about to make a purchase at a Charlestown Hardware store.

Magistate Nigel Hawke sentenced a labourer of Number Four Settlement, Blairmont, West Bank Berbice to three years imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to possession of 13 grammes of cannabis sativa.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters Life!) – A very rare, first edition Superman comic book in top condition sold yesterday for a record $1 million in a public sale held by website ComicConnect.com.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A mild 4.7 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti on Monday 20 miles (35 km) west of Port-au-Prince, the US Geological Survey reported.

–US court documents now reveal Convicted drug trafficker Roger Khan may have paid US$250,000 for the infamous spy equipment on which he had a list of names that he called the “target list”, according to a recent US court document.

A 23-year-old Guyanese became the first murder victim for the year in the New York town of Schenectady when he was hit by a hail of bullets early Saturday morning  on Maple Avenue.

-4,000 plants destroyed Police arrested three persons on Saturday and destroyed a marijuana field and two camps while seizing a quantity of chemicals and other items during a raid at Sand Hills, 60 miles up the Berbice River.

…boat capsized near Dalgin The bodies of a mother and her young son were pulled out of the Demerara River early yesterday morning, two days after they went under when the boat they were in capsized.

President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday told farmers of Region Two (Pomeroon/Supenaam) reeling from drought conditions that $258M will be set aside to support the Ministry of Agriculture’s efforts to bring relief to them.

As he was being beaten by one of the bandits who invaded his family’s Grove, East Bank Demerara store on Saturday night, 38-year-old Bhojindra Gopaul thought he was going to die so he attacked the man who was armed with a gun.

The Guyana Bauxite & General Workers Union (GB&GWU) is again calling on President Bharrat Jagdeo to  intervene to reinstate tax-free overtime pay for bauxite workers.

Aubrey McClennon, the taxi-driver stabbed by a man believed to be mentally unsound, remained in the Intensive Care Unit of the Georgetown Public Hospital yesterday, having completed surgery on his intestines.

-Shelly G fails to turn up for title defence Four years of trying paid off for soca singer Orlando ‘Bonesman’ when he was crowned the Carib Soca Monarch early yesterday morning but some of the sheen from his victory may have been lost as the reigning soca queen failed to turn up and defend her crown.

Even as use of the Mandela Landfill as a means of disposing of waste gradually comes to an end, residents in the area were yesterday forced to endure the effects of yet another fire.

Twenty-five women are currently being empowered through a three-month sewing class, conducted by a Canadian-based Berbician, Dr.

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico, (Reuters) – The death toll  from last month’s devastating earthquake in Haiti could jump to  300,000 people, including the bodies buried under collapsed  buildings in the capital, Haitian President Rene Preval said yesterday.