Guyana News

Meats, toothpaste, local clothing, eggs and soap powder are among 40 more items that are to be VAT zero-rated, President Bharrat Jagdeo disclosed yesterday.

Over 760 children will benefit from a $32.9 million grant, which is aimed at assisting children who fall victim to child labour and ensuring that they receive a sound education.

Beginning this month, Guyana will be one of six CARICOM countries that will be provided with narcotics and explosives trace detection technology by the Canadian government through the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).

The Guyana Power and Light (GPL) says it found a high incidence of meter tampering in several West Coast Demerara communities in its first foray into the area this year.

The PPP has condemned Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Clarissa Riehl for disallowing an intervention by Prime Minister Sam Hinds at Tuesday’s sitting of National Assembly to close debate on a PNCR-1G motion criticizing the PPP/C Government’s plans for the design and construction of the Berbice Bridge.

A Customs officer who allegedly took $110,000 from a US-bound passenger who wanted to smuggle a number of protected birds out of Guyana, appeared yesterday in the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court on two charges.

There has been a notable increase in acute diarrhoeal disease and vomiting (gastroenteritis) in several areas along the coast and especially in the Canje, Berbice area which the Ministry of Health says it is concerned about.

The main opposition party, the PNCR, yesterday accused the PPP/C government of continuing with what it called “its communist manifestations” by its “vicious attack” on Stabroek News and subsequently withdrawing advertisements from the widely circulated newspaper.

The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) on Wednesday expressed concern that the administration of President Bharrat Jagdeo has in its view “joined the list of governments that manipulate placement of advertising to punish critical or independent new media.”

The Ministry of Human Services and Social Security is recruiting social workers countrywide in order to boost its services.

A mysterious fire yesterday destroyed a small part of a newspaper vendor’s residence in Sophia.

An 11-year-old student of the New Amsterdam (NA) Primary School in Chapel Street had to be hospitalized and given oxygen after she was badly beaten by another student last Friday.

Minister of Amerindian Affairs Carolyn Rodrigues met with Waini, Region One residents to discuss the process of obtaining land titles for these communities.

Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud on Tuesday commissioned a sanitary block at the Rose Hall Community Centre.

The Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) is advising all customers of Agriculture Road, Triumph that a boil order is in effect for water used for food preparation and for personal consumption.

The Rice Factories Amendment Bill would force millers who are out of favour or are deemed non-supporters of the PPP/C to stop their business operations while new persons entering the industry would find partisan political agendas at work.

Three companies are providing an $18M support package to the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport for this year’s Mashramani activities.

The Region Seven Regional Democratic Council (RDC) has approved committees for the mining, transportation, agriculture and tourism sectors.

Local representatives of Caricom and the UN yesterday convened a meeting aimed at facilitating a more responsive programme of cooperation between the two institutions.

Minister of Education, Shaik Baksh, yesterday said that he would be sending some of his officers into the secondary school where a student was found with a quantity of marijuana and it was discovered that a gang was peddling drugs and stolen items.