Staff Editor

Walter Stapleton, the 81-year-old who died in San Juan, Puerto Rico after falling ill on a Delta Airways flight on Tuesday had been on his way to New York for a check-up, relatives say.

(DOW JONES NEWSWIRES)  Toyota Motor Corp. (TM, 7203.TO) announced three separate recalls of a combined 1.5 million vehicles, including 740,000 in the U.S.,

West Indies cricket coach Ottis Gibson says that leaving out Ramnaresh Sarwan from the team for the upcoming series with Sri Lanka was a tough decision.

The Guyana Sugar Corporation this afternoon said that it  continues to be affected by strike action by harvesters attached to the estates of Rose Hall and LBI.

The Guyana Revenue Authority is urging members of the public, particularly non-residents who are interested in exporting goods as part of their luggage that a VAT-refund must be supported by documentary evidence.

A male passenger who was on board  a Delta Airlines flight bound for  New York on Tuesday passed away shortly after the aircraft was diverted to San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The Ministry of Public Works recently awarded three contracts for the installation of street lights along the Corentyne Highway, Region Six and the contractor is mobilizing for the work.

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) this afternoon said that West Indies Head Coach Ottis Gibson and newly appointed Captain and Vice Captain Darren Sammy and Brendan Nash will host a media briefing tomorrow in Kingston, Jamaica.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – A gunman using what  investigators believe was a high-velocity rifle fired up to  seven shots at the Pentagon early today, shattering two  windows but injuring no one.

Justice William Ramlal today quashed the indictment against a man who had been accused of murdering a woman in December 2005.

A former employee of murdered Guyana-trained Belizean lawyer Richard Stuart and his wife,  Maria  has been held in Belize connection with the investigation, newsbelize.com

GROZNY, Russia, (Reuters) – Islamist rebels killed at  least four people today as they tried to seize Chechnya’s  parliament in a brazen suicide attack that showed Russia has  failed to quell insurgency on its southern flank.

(Jamaica Observer) A number of Jamaican women facing deportation from Britain have refused that country’s offer of £5,000 to assist them to re-settle in their homeland before their prison sentences end, fearing that accepting this money will jeopardise the chances of winning their deportation appeal.

RALEIGH, North Carolina, (Reuters) – U.S. Olympic  400 metres champion LaShawn Merritt has been suspended through  July 2011 after testing positive for a banned substance found  in a male enhancement product, the U.S.

The General Secretary of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union, Seepaul Narine this morning said that sugar workers across the country have proceeded on strike.

The Office of the President is inviting bids for the building of Tipperary Hall at Buxton.

Several dozen persons were this evening undergoing treatment for suspected food poisoning at hospitals in Berbice and Georgetown after eating food served at a retreat coordinated by the ‘B’ Division Community Policing Group in the Ancient County.

A prominent Belizean lawyer, who was trained in Guyana, and his wife were murdered early this morning in Belize as they were about to enter their home.

The Guyana Sugar Corporation this afternoon said it was “extremely alarmed” at a threat made in the name of an official of the sugar union, GAWU for workers to go on an industry-wide strike from tomorrow.

Police on the Essequibo Coast are investigating the murder of a 40-year-old woman who was found in a pool of blood.