News

These results have been taken from polling stations visited by Stabroek News last night and this morning following the close of voting in the Local Government Elections.

President David Granger and First Lady Sandra Granger were among those who voted early this morning in D’Urban Backlands.

(Trinidad Guardian) She’s out. Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley yesterday fired Marlene McDonald from the post of Minister of Housing and Urban Development, revoking her appointment and making several other shifts within his Cabinet at the same time.

An inmate yesterday testified that Deputy Prisons Director Gladwin Samuels had ordered that the door to the Capital A section be closed prior to the fire inside that claimed the lives of 17 prisoners at the Camp Street Prison.

Trinidadian conglomerate Massy yesterday opened its Massy Stores Supermarket at Providence, East Bank Demerara, where Minister of Business Dominic Gaskin welcomed the investment, while making an appeal to the local private sector to develop value-added products for export.

According to the Guyana Elec-tions Commission (GECOM) everything is set for today’s historic local government elections.

Public service workers should not expect big salary increases, according to Finance Minister Winston Jordan and the main public sector union yesterday expressed concern that his remarks may prejudice negotiations on wage increases and said it was inappropriate.

If the voters of Constituency 13: East and West Ruimveldt vote to have Winston Harding as their councillor he will hold that seat until such time as the representative of the APNU+AFC First past the post list officially writes the Chairman of the Elections Commission requesting his removal.

With his third trial ending in a hung jury, Calvin Bailey was yesterday cleared of the murder of 18-month-old Shaquan Nero but he was sent right back to prison because of another pending murder charge against him.

Guyanese head to the polls today to participate in local government elections for the first time in almost 22 years and with a chance to shake up local politics as for the first time, independent candidates are running in key areas.

Private cane farmers supplying cane to the Wales Estate remain distressed over its planned closure and feel that the management can consider other options to keep the estate working.

Better roads and adequate water and power supplies are among the promises being made to residents of the Mabaruma Sub-region, in Region One (Barima-Waini), who will today vote to elect the new municipality’s first town council.

Osoffo Ward, who was one of the moneychangers robbed by armed bandits on America Street last November, yesterday identified accused Troy Abrams as one of the men who carried out the attack.

Speeding up trials and hiring temporary magistrates are among the initiatives being actively considered by government and the judiciary to help ease the overcrowding in the prisons, the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) said yesterday.

CAPE TOWN, (Reuters) – South African President Jacob Zuma fought back yesterday against suggestions that a prominent business family might have been behind his abrupt sacking of a finance minister, a move which shook confidence in the country’s economic management.

The accused in the attempted robbery of a police rank and his family, who were believed to have been trailed from the airport last October, was yesterday faced with a new charge related to the crime.

A Coroner’s Inquest is now underway to determine if anyone is criminally liable in the deaths of Paul Bascom and Alberto Grant, who were fatally shot by lawmen over two years ago.

AMSTERDAM/BOGOTA, (Reuters) – The International Court of Justice yesterday said it would consider a claim by Nicaragua to expand its maritime boundaries in a mineral-rich part of the Caribbean Sea toward Colombia, a ruling set to further strain relations between the two countries.

BRASILIA, (Reuters) – Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was sworn in as chief of staff to his successor Dilma Rousseff yesterday as a judge sought to block his appointment and Congress began proceedings to impeach her amid the country’s deepening crisis.

A taxi service dispatcher was yesterday charged with breaking and entering a Queenstown store.