Guyana News

The two Jamaica-bound passengers who were nabbed at the airport on Monday following the discovery of cocaine stuffed in the soles of several pairs of shoes in their luggage, pleaded guilty yesterday to their trafficking-in- narcotics charges.

Following vigorous debate the National Assembly yesterday passed a bill amending the Value Added Tax Act to facilitate the Minister of Finance making changes to the list of zero-rated and exempt items and other areas.

Businessman Roger Khan has filed an appeal in a US court against the decision of a New York judge to deny him bail on his drug indictment charge.

A policeman yesterday appeared in the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court charged with collecting a $100,000 bribe from a woman and attempting to get rid of evidence in September last year.

Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee says that the recent break out of nine inmates from the Mazaruni prison was more than just a prison escape.

When members of the opposition opposed the controversial casino gambling bill, they had more than the religious fallout on their minds but in the end the argument offered by PPP/C MP Moses Nagamootoo that the government has a mandate prevailed.

The police have arrested two men in relation to the robbery committed at the CCS Store on Camp Street on Monday morning during which $1,650,953, which belonged to Money Gram, was stolen.

A number of Guyanese who travelled to Barbados last Wednesday and Thursday on Caribbean Star are still awaiting their luggage, which they learnt was left at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri.

TravelSpan Inc says from March 6 it will be operating a scheduled service from Ft Lauderdale to Guyana every Tuesday.

The Central Corentyne Chamber of Commerce (CCCC) reaffirmed its commitment to working with the government to create jobs and improve the standard of living at its recently held annual general meeting.

In yesterday’s edition of the Guyana Chronicle (GC) under the headline `Stabroek News attempting to mislead public on VAT impact – GINA’ it was stated by GINA that a report in the Sunday Stabroek on the Banks DIH Annual General Meeting was a “deliberate attempt to misrepresent the facts regarding the impact of the Value Added Tax (VAT) on the company, and the business community as a whole”.

The Guyana/Cuba Friendship Association is inviting members of the public who are interested in fostering good relations between the two countries to join their group.

Leader of the Opposition, Robert Corbin submitted a motion to the National Assembly on Friday calling for, among other things, the immediate establishment of a special all-party Parliamentary Committee to make recommendations aimed at bringing Value Added Tax (VAT) relief.

The Rice Factories (Amendment) Bill 2006, which was recently passed in the National Assembly, aims to alleviate problems facing rice farmers by, among other things, guaranteeing that they are paid a minimum of 95% of outstanding purchases by millers at year-end before the renewal of their mill/export licences.

The Guyana Power and Light (GPL) says during the last quarter of 2006 hundreds of van loads of illegal connections were dismantled but the power theft problem is continuing and in a changed strategy GPL fraud squads have “taken up residence in some communities”.

The Government Information Agency (GINA) was yesterday reported in the state-owned Guyana Chronicle newspaper as being gravely concerned over what it said was the “eruption of unsubstantiated criticisms” of the agency’s decision to withdraw ministry advertisements from Stabroek News (SN).

A man who allegedly abducted another man after hiring his taxi was yesterday refused bail by Acting Chief Magistrate Cecil Sullivan at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.

Acting Chief Magistrate Cecil Sullivan yesterday refused bail to a 28-year-old man who allegedly had carnal knowledge of a 12-year-old girl over a two-month period last year.

A forty-one-year-old man who allegedly manually strangled a nine-year-old girl and left her on a beach at Parika appeared yesterday at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.

A bank worker appeared at the Vreed-en-Hoop Magistrate’s Court yesterday on a charge of assaulting a teacher and was released on her own recognizance.