News

Government will be delivering on a promise to reduce the 16% Value-Added Tax (VAT) but will also be applying the tax to monthly electricity and water bills exceeding $10,000 and $1,500, respectively.

He entered the Parliament Chambers to loud cheers and desk thumping by his colleagues some of whom grabbed his hand as he passed, even as he momentarily had one hand in midair giving the impression that something good was in store, but when he concluded, perhaps even some of Finance Minister Winston Jordan’s colleagues might have agreed with an opposition heckler that it was a ‘three-hour death announcement’.

Deputy Mayor Sherod Duncan has managed to secure funding from the Ministry of Communities specifically to pay garbage collectors contracted by the Mayor and City Council monies.

Inflation for the 12-month period up to October 2016 was 1.1% and the rate at the end of the year is expected to be 1.3% while next year’s projected figure is targeted at 2.5%.

Government has set aside close to $1 billion in the 2017 budget for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects, which will include a large-scale solar farm at Mabaruma, according to Finance Minister Winston Jordan, who also announced plans to grant a range of tax exemptions for clean energy and recycling ventures.

Residents of Enterprise Gardens, East Coast Demerara are fed up with the unhygienic environment they are forced to live in as a result of a resident feeding stray animals on a daily basis, and are calling on the relevant authorities to intervene immediately.

The first phase of the long-awaited Linden to Lethem road project will commence next year, Finance Minister Winston Jordan announced yesterday.

Reform of the constitution is years away despite a manifesto promise by the APNU+AFC administration of swift changes.

Government has earmarked $43.1 billion or 17.2% of the proposed 2017 national budget for the education sector, where it hopes to provide “quality education across all levels.”

Two police constables who allegedly provided security to businessman Marcus Brian Bisram—said to be the mastermind in the murder of carpenter, Faiyaz Narinedatt—are currently under close arrest.

PPP/C MP Juan Edghill on Friday appeared before the Privileges Committee of Parliament and used the argument of fair comment to defend statements he made in the House about the quantum of controversial salary increases awarded to APNU+AFC ministers last year.

The two drivers involved in the fatal Sherriff Street collision, which resulted in four-year-old Ambeka Providence losing her life in September, were yesterday charged separately with causing her death and each granted their release on $400,000 bail.

A man was yesterday charged with robbing the home of People’s Progressive Party (PPP) General Secretary Clement Rohee of over $3.5 million in jewellery and cash.

Orin Arthur and Uree Varswyk, who are jointly charged with murdering security guard Wilfred Stewart during a raid at the Sterling Products Limited (SPL) offices at Providence in 2014, were yesterday committed to stand trial for the crime.

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s bolivar currency has depreciated an unprecedented 60 per cent in a month against the US dollar on the black market to trade at nearly 3,500 yesterday, according to the widely-tracked web site DolarToday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States has shifted millions of dollars in funding for Philippines law enforcement away from police drug control programs, State Department officials said yesterday, since the start of the country’s bloody crackdown on drugs this summer.

As the police continue their investigations into the 2012 Double Day Hotel pool murder of Sideek Juman, the High Court yesterday granted the police more time to keep two of the three men who were arrested in custody.

HAVANA (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of Cubans, some wrapped in red, white and blue national flags, paid final respects in Havana yesterday to Fidel Castro, who led a leftist revolution, ruled for half a century and resisted the United States throughout the Cold War.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) yesterday rolled out a new youth empowerment initiative, with the goal of reducing youth involvement in crime and violence through prevention.

BRASILIA (Reuters) – Leftist opponents of Brazil’s President Michel Temer sought yesterday to have him investigated and impeached for his alleged role in pressuring a former culture minister to approve a property development.