Staff Editor

(Jamaica Observer) Jamaica has, for nearly six years, sat on a US$100-million ($8.6 billion) credit line aimed at boosting the domestic sugar industry without using any of the funds made available by the Brazilian government.

As a result of the high interest in the decision of Chief Justice Ian Chang with respect to the advice tendered by the Director of Public Prosecutions to charge the Commissioner of Police Henry Greene with rape, Stabroek News is publishing the entire decision.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Brazilian Ambassador Antonio Francisco da Costa e Silva Neto urged ethanol manufacturers on Tuesday to negotiate with Brazilian companies in an attempt to re-energise the biofuel trade with the United States.

(de Ware Tijd) PARAMARIBO – In spite of all the arguments used by the supporters of amending the 1989 Amnesty Act in recent days, the proposal’s only goal is to prevent President Desi Bouterse from being convicted by the court-martial, A Combinatie leader Ronnie Brunswijk said plainly in an interview yesterday.

(de Ware Tijd) THE HAGUE – Amnesty International’s Secretariat in London has started a worldwide ‘Urgent Action’ campaign against passage of the Amnesty Act.

Judith Seymour, a Guyanese woman, was among seven persons killed when an enraged former student opened fire at an Oakland, California nursing school on Monday morning.

(Barbados Nation) Employees and shareholders yesterday reacted with shock to news of the impending closure of Almond Beach Village at monthend, which puts more than 500 workers out of work.

(Barbados Nation) REDjet Boss Ian Burns is expecting the low-cost carrier to be flying again soon.

CARACAS, (Reuters) – The European Union banned Venezuelan state airline Conviasa today from flying in the 27-nation bloc over safety concerns in a move that Venezuela’s government said was disproportionate.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Kingston businessman Dick Hart was today sentenced to six months’ imprisonment at hard labour for bribing a policeman.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Workers at Caribbean Cement remain off the job this afternoon as discussions continue at the labour ministry over an industrial dispute.

LONDON, (Reuters) – James Murdoch resigned as chairman of BSkyB today to prevent his links to a tabloid phone-hacking scandal from undermining the pay TV group, which has so far escaped the worst of the damage convulsing its controlling shareholder News Corp.

Chief Justice Ian Chang today declined to respond to a raft of withering public criticism at his ruling last Friday in which he dismissed the advice of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to charge Commissioner of Police Henry Greene with rape.

(de Ware Tijd) PARAMARIBO – A possible conviction of Desi Bouterse, main suspect in the ‘December murders’, will create much unrest in Suriname, and that is why amnesty should be granted for these crimes, so the current positive economic developments may continue, Theo Vishnudatt (MC/NDP), chairman of the reporting committee, told Parliament yesterday.

(de Ware Tijd) PARAMARIBO – Yesterday, opposition members, at times supported by some coalition members, tore to pieces the proposed amendment to the 1989 Amnesty Act submitted by some coalition members.

(Trinidad Guardian) Thieves made off with large chunks of a 68-foot metal bridge across the Cap-de-Ville River, Cedros, over the weekend in a brazen theft of material for sale as scrap metal.

Notice has been served by Parliament Office that APNU MP Carl Greenidge will be asking Finance Minister Ashni Singh whether the regulations for the former presidents benefits Act have been presented to Parliament.

Major rehabilitation works including the redesigning and re-engineering of several aspects of the troubled multi-million dollar Skeldon Sugar factory are being planned and the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) anticipates a significant increase in production at the factory next year.

(Jamaica Observer) National Integrity Action Limited’s executive director, Professor Trevor Munroe, has been appointed an individual member of Transparency International.

(Barbados Nation) More than a dozen international business companies (IBCs) left Barbados over a two-year period, taking away a quarter of the island’s tax base, says Opposition Leader Owen Arthur.