Cheryl Springer

MIAMI (Reuters) – A visit by American pop star Beyonce and rapper husband Jay-Z to Havana last week was a cultural trip that was fully licensed by the US Treasury Department, a source familiar with the itinerary said yesterday.

Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh today announced a $208.8 billion budget that, among other things, will see more help for GuySuCo and the Guyana Power and Light as well as a $2,500 increase for pensioners.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Joe Weider, the self-made fitness and bodybuilding guru who built a magazine empire that included more than a dozen popular publications such as Muscle and Fitness, Shape and Men’s Fitness, died today at the age of 93.

LAGOS (Reuters) – Nigerian novelist and poet Chinua Achebe, widely seen as a grandfather of modern African literature, has died at the age of 82, publisher Penguin said today.

Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee finally got his day in the House this afternoon after Speaker Raphael Trotman denied APNU’s last ditch attempt to silence him.

(Reuters) – Peter Banks, a founding member of the British progressive rock band Yes and its original guitarist, has died at his home in London.

LONDON (Reuters) – With a range spanning the cardigan-clad sweetheart in the hit musical Grease and the leotarded gym instructor in the raunchy single “Physical”, no one could accuse Olivia Newton-John of playing it safe in 40 years of singing country, pop and rock.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States has expelled two Venezuelan diplomats in retaliation for Venezuela’s having last week ordered two US military attaches to leave the South American oil exporter, a US official said today.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A new feature film that debuted in U.S.

LONDON (Reuters) – Canadian pop star Justin Bieber was filmed lunging and shouting abuse at a photographer today during an ill-fated stay in London which has gone from bad to worse after he collapsed on stage the day before.

CARACAS (Reuters) – From Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Cuba’s Raul Castro, about 30 heads of state joined Friday’s funeral of Hugo Chavez in a last goodbye to the charismatic but divisive Venezuelan leader who changed the face of politics in South America.

Patrick Lester, 58, of Golden Grove, died last night following an accident on the Public Road at Nabaclis, East Coast Demerara.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is “battling for his life”, according to Vice-President Nicolas Maduro.

(CBS) Fearing for her safety, Rihanna has filed for and been granted a restraining order from an obsessed fan.

(Reuters) – Former Temptations singer Richard Street has died aged 70, his widow Cindy Street told CNN.

LOS ANGELES  (Reuters) – Anne Hathaway won her first Oscar yesterday and harrowing Austrian film Amour was voted Best Foreign Language Film as the movie industry scattered its highest honours across multiple films.

(Reuters) – Otis “Damon” Harris, a former member of The Temptations who sang on the group’s 1972 hit “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone,” has died at the age 62, the Baltimore Sun reported on Friday.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Oscar winners Russell Crowe, Jennifer Hudson and Catherine Zeta-Jones will perform at the Academy Awards in a tribute to the resurgence of big-screen musicals, organisers said on Wednesday.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The movie studios behind this year’s Best Picture nominees already have brought home a treasured prize: big box-office sales that placed the Oscar contenders among the most-watched films of 2012.

Caricom has rescinded the offer of the position of Deputy Secretary-General made to Guyanese Dr Naresh Singh, who is under investigation in Canada over a possible conflict of interest.