News

GENEVA/LONDON (Reuters) – The mosquito-borne Zika virus, which has been linked to brain damage in thousands of babies in Brazil, is likely to spread to all countries in the Americas except for Canada and Chile, the World Health Organization said yesterday.

NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – By giving scholarships to girls who are virgins, South Africa is trying to control women’s bodies while ignoring the role of men and sexual violence in spreading HIV/AIDS, a campaigner said.

A 24-member contingent of Barbadian manufacturing and services companies will be arriving in Guyana on Thursday, to participate in a series of pre-arranged business to business meetings – the final leg of a multi-country Caricom trade mission.

Twenty-five trainees last Friday became the latest batch of graduates of the Machinery Corporation of Guyana Limited (Macorp) Excavator Operator Training Programme.

SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) – The UN yesterday announced a US-financed pilot programme to help fight corruption in El Salvador, a Central American country so torn by drugs and gang warfare that it ranks among the most violent in the world.

The Mayor and City Council (M&CC) said it is one step closer to achieving its new and improved Georgetown Municipal Wholesale Depot, after overcoming protests and taking firm action to reclaim the produce section of Merriman Mall.

The Private Sector Commission (PSC) says it remains concerned that fuel prices in Guyana do not reflect the global trends where prices are low, and fears that the competitiveness of local manufacturers, farmers and service providers will be lost if urgent action is not taken.

About 0950h. today, the police say that two men, one of whom was armed with a firearm, entered the office of Lands and Surveys at D’urban Backlands, Georgetown, and held up the three females who were at work in the Finance Department.

The Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) is currently experiencing a drug shortage that has been described as critical.

The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) today said that it will tomorrow present 70 lists to contest local government elections in 550 constituencies and nine municipalities.

The government and the IDB today launched a US$15m plan to fight crime.

In light of the sharp fall in commodity prices, Suriname is contemplating financial support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to a statement from the IMF.

(Barbados Nation) At least 47 people will lose their jobs when the Massy Store, formerly JB’s, at Sargeant’s Village in Christ Church closes.

Guyana’s nominee as Ambassador to Venezuela, Cheryl Miles is still to be officially recognised by Caracas despite a UN-brokered agreement in September last year following months of border-inspired tensions between the two countries.

For last year, Mohamed’s Enterprise was the dealer who declared the highest amount of gold of 155 800 ounces, according to the Guyana Gold Board’s General Manager’s report which says that the agency will have audits of licensed gold dealers and traders.

With large acreage of paddy across the rice-growing belt under threat due to a lack of water, blame is being cast at officials who were warned months ago of the strong El Nino but took no action particularly in relation to pumping water into the Tapakuma Conservancy in Region Two.

Despite promises to speedily set up the Integrity Commission, the APNU+AFC government is yet to do so and there is no indication of when it will be done.

A team from Norway is due here this week for talks with Guyana on the five-year forest protection agreement which ended last year with mixed results.

Another person is in police custody along with the car that was allegedly used in the daring daylight robbery of the Bank of Baroda branch at Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara on Friday.

While 4434 land titles were distributed by the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA) in 2015, the agency was only able to allocate 251 house lots for the last seven months of the year.