Guyana News

By Iana Seales Lester Charles, the reigning calypso monarch, says he will pray for the country this year in a bid to retain the title, but judging from his competition this year he also needs to slip in a prayer for himself.

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter  Balkenende’s coalition government collapsed yesterday when the  two largest parties failed to agree on whether to withdraw  troops from Afghanistan this year as planned.

The Mahaica, Mahaicony, Abary Agricultural Authority (MMA/ADA)is waging a “back-to-the-wall” battle to save cattle, sugar, rice and other agricultural crops in Region Five, an MMA release has said.

HAVANA (Reuters) – Cuba angrily criticized US  officials yesterday for meeting with government opponents  following high-level talks on migration issues and said it showed  the United States’ real goal is to topple Cuba’s communist  government, not move toward better relations.

The children’s costume parade yesterday was an explosion of colour and to mark the country’s 40th anniversary there were 40 floats taking part in the Ministry of Education sponsored road march.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Alexander Haig, a former  US Army general who became White House chief of staff during  the Watergate scandal and secretary of state during the Reagan  administration, died on Saturday at the age of 85.

-crops burn, losses mount As current El Niño weather conditions persist, rice farmers along the West Coast of Demerara have already suffered huge losses, while others remain optimistic that their crops will survive the dry spell.

Four Enmore men, including one who has a disability, were yesterday charged with having sex with a nine-year-old girl on several occasions over a seven month period.

Woman had forgiven husband for slashing her throat – relative Ten months after Maria Ward’s throat was slashed by her reputed husband Christopher Haynes, she forgave him and took him into her Trinidad apartment where they were both found dead on Wednesday morning.

Justice Roxanne George ordered that the Police Commissioner Henry Greene present Barry Dataram in her court today.

Two gunmen snatched $1M from a businessman in a daring afternoon robbery at Bel Air, Greater Georgetown yesterday.

A Detective Sergeant and a Detective Lance Corporal attached to the Sparendaam Police Station were yesterday charged with accepting a bribe in exchange for dropping charges against a woman.

A man was shot in his thigh during a robbery at Bagotstown, East Bank Demerara on Thursday night.

Two women were remanded to prison yesterday, after they were allegedly found with separate quantities of cannabis and cocaine in their possession for the purpose of trafficking at the Bartica Police Station.

US prosecutors in a case involving a Guyanese murder accused, who allegedly tracked his rape victim down and slashed her to death days before she was to testify against him, have been given the green light to use the DNA tracking technique that can nail criminals with a speck of blood or the mere touch of a finger.

Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson yesterday ordered that a carpenter of Huston Housing Scheme be remanded to prison for allegedly robbing a woman of a gold ring and a quantity of cash and afterwards raping her.

A 45-year-old man was on Wednesday remanded to prison after pleading not guilty to stealing a cell phone from A&N Electronics.

Saying that residents of riverain communities such as Bartica continue to suffer from neglect, PNCR-1G MP Judith David-Blair has referred to the 2010 budget as the one with the biggest promises from which Guyanese can expect very little.

– govt notes significant benefits to GRA, private sector The two-year US$6.7 million Guyana Threshold Country/ Implementation Plan (GTCP/IP) aimed at reducing Guyana’s fiscal deficit by boosting its ability to collect revenue has been completed.

Quincy Dundas, 25, of Amelia’s Ward, Linden was yesterday remanded to prison when he appeared at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court for being involved in the Valentine’s Day fatal accident on the Linden/Soesdyke Highway.