News

Two outgoing passengers who were nabbed at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri with cocaine in their luggage on separate occasions last week, appeared yesterday in the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court and denied the allegations made against them.

A man who admitted to a charge of threatening behaviour was placed on $20,000 bail or an alternative of 12 days imprisonment when he appeared at the Blairmont Court yesterday.

Magistrate Geeta Chandan sent a police officer on self-bail yesterday when he appeared before her at the Blairmont Court on a simple larceny charge.

After successful arguments by the defence a 30-year-old man who was charged with four counts of carnal knowledge was granted pre-trial freedom in the sum of $200,000 at the Blairmont Court yesterday.

The first tranche of $1 billion (3.27 million euros or US$5 million) out of a total European Union grant of 89 million euros (US$135 million) has been made available to the Guyana Government, a release from the Delegation of the European Commission to Guyana said.

Grieving church members, gripped with disbelief and shock, gathered at their Hadfield Street, Lodge church compound yesterday consoling each other over the news that their pastor had been cold-bloodedly murdered.

President Bharrat Jagdeo says he never took any recommendations from the search committee he had suggested be set up to look for a suitable candidate for the position of Chief Justice, as it may have opened “a can of worms” for him.

An overseas-based Guyanese was yesterday relieved of his licensed firearm and $215,000 when two gunmen, pretending to be prospective tenants, invaded his home.

Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday said that the recent disappearance of an AK-47 rifle from the military headquarters was unacceptable, but he praised the administration for its tough action so far, saying that in the past weapons went missing and the nation had a hard time knowing.

The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) on Wednesday filed a statement in the High Court of Amount Due as Value Added Tax (VAT) from Friendship Hotel and Restaurant Holdings Limited, franchise holders of KFC and Pizza Hut.

Around $13M went up in flames on Saturday night when the boys’ dormitory of the Bartica Secondary School went up in flames, Regional Chairman of Region Seven Holbert Knights said yesterday.

The Ministry of Home Affairs and other security agencies yesterday signed a Memorandum Of Understanding with airlines establishing an inter-agency committee to stamp out narcotics trafficking through Guyana’s international airport.

Digicel on Friday launched its Christmas Money Tree, which offers customers a chance to win cash and other prizes as well as an entry into the grand cash prize draw.

An $74.6M all-weather road has been constructed under the Poor Rural Communities Support Services Project (PRCSSP) of the Ministry of Agriculture for farmers in Naamryck, East Bank Essequibo, a Government Information Agency (GINA) release has said.

Police have concluded that Terrence Marks whose body was found last Monday on the Westbury foreshore, Essequibo Coast, died by drowning.

Two years after Shivnanand Persaud’s wife was killed, and his son injured when their house at Number 71 Village collapsed, the man’s one-bedroom house was destroyed by fire yesterday, and his hospitalized with burns.

President Bharrat Jagdeo said yesterday that government is looking at how pensioners and persons in need of special assistance could benefit from some of the VAT revenue collected.

There has been no announcement with regard to the appointment of Acting Police Commissioner Henry Greene, though President Bharrat Jagdeo was high in praise of his work.

School choirs, which have been fading away across the country, have received a boost from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) through a funded programme aimed at reviving music in the education system.

Government does not believe that the $30 million which it lent to the owners of the yet-to-be-completed Casique Hotel is at risk and hopes to work with them to ensure that the hotel is completed and the money repaid.