News

It is the government that decides the overall sum that will be allocated for local government authorities in the national budget and the formula in the Fiscal Transfers Act will then be used to determine how much of this sum each local government organ receives.

LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister David Cameron said yesterday he was tightening laws to end tax evasion without deterring “aspiration”, hoping to end scrutiny of his personal wealth and restore trust in his leadership.

BOGOTA (Reuters) – Colombia has doubled the reward for information leading to the capture of Usuga Clan gang leader Dario Antonio Usuga to nearly $1 million, President Juan Manuel Santos said yesterday.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – In a departure from 70 years of secrecy, candidates for United Nations secretary-general will this week make campaign-style pitches to the General Assembly as it hopes to influence the private Security Council poll that picks the winner.

The employment contracts for Patrick Mentore and the other civilian professionals of the Strategic Management Department (SMD) will not be renewed as government intends to scrap the unit.

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Some of the world’s biggest aid agencies voiced concern yesterday that they may be further exposed to risk from the murky world of offshore finance after the latest release of the Panama Papers showed the name of the Red Cross was falsely used.

(Trinidad Guardian) – Five men are now in police custody after coast guard intercepted a pirogue loaded with $1.5 million worth of marijuana on Sunday.

A Guyhoc Park resident was yesterday remanded to prison after he was charged with having an illegal gun and matching rounds of ammunition in his possession.

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s top court yesterday struck down an amnesty law approved last month by the opposition-dominated Congress, scuttling an effort by critics of President Nicolas Maduro to secure the release of jailed opposition activists.

LIMA (Reuters) – Authorities in Peru raided the local office of Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca yesterday, seizing accounting documents in an investigation into possible tax evasion and fraud, the country’s tax agency said.

In a day of fast moving political events swirling around the Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, the Chairman of the Alliance for Change, Nigel Hughes has tendered his resignation.

President David Granger this evening said that businessman Brian Tiwarie does not determine government policy.

BRASILIA, (Reuters) – An impeachment committee of Brazil’s lower house of Congress voted 38-27 today that there are grounds to impeach President Dilma Rousseff on charges of breaking budget laws to allegedly favour her re-election in 2014.

Businessman Brian Tiwarie today said that he had been appointed as a personal advisor to Minister of State, Joseph Harmon and not to the government.

About 2050h. last night, the police say that Parbatie Budhu, 54 years, of Albion, Corentyne, was about to enter her home when she was confronted by two men armed with firearms.

(Trinidad Guardian) Employees at the Rural Development Company (RDC) in Couva have not been paid for the entire first quarter of the year and are owed more than $.75 million in salaries.

The concentration of various powers in Minister Joseph Harmon was last night cited by the Alliance for Change (AFC) as the key reason for difficulties that have flared up around the government and it plans to raise this issue at Cabinet as a matter of “national importance”.

Clifton Bacchus, the owner of the proposed 150-room Sleepin Hotel and Casino, says he has the required permits and is ready to create 300 jobs despite attacks by competitors and others about the suitability of the hospitality and gambling outfit on Church Street, Georgetown.

After local government elections in 1994, there were by-elections to elect the chairperson and vice-chairperson of three Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) following a deadlock at the council level and in the absence of a compromise, there is a growing view that this should have been done following similar stalemates this year.

Minister of Social Cohesion Amna Ally yesterday defended under-fire Minister of State Joe Harmon saying that his being on the job is testimony that President David Granger believes he is not corrupt.