Gaulbert Sutherland

Despite saying that they would do so amid a public outcry, logging company Baishanlin is yet to begin work on a wood processing plant at its Moblissa site even as the company continues to use the defunct Coomacka sawmill at Linden as the base for packing containers of logs for export.

Amid political deadlock and facing growing criticism over his decision to suspend parliament, President Donald Ramotar yesterday announced that he will call general elections but declined to name a date, saying that he will “announce further steps” in this direction early next year.

Facing criticism of their “slow motion” efforts to end the suspension of parliament, leaders of the opposition APNU and AFC yesterday rejected claims that momentum is being lost with APNU Leader David Granger saying that resources needs to be mobilized for a sustained campaign.

While not completely closing the door to talks with the government, the opposition is deeply skeptical that any future discussions with the Donald Ramotar administration will bear fruit given its response to previous meetings.

There were tears, raised voices, accusations, counter-accusations and promises of money.

No fish has ever gotten under my skin quite like the arapaima.

In her first glimpse of humans, weeks after wandering lost in the jungle near starvation with her sister, watching her uncle die, and escaping a stalking jaguar, 13-year-old Bertina Domingo felt the courage drain out of her.

Armed with information about the natural resources of the area, north Rupununi communities are calling on government to support a project to continue monitoring their communities’ resources and tackle the “clear and present danger” from encroaching threats such as logging and mining.

AFC chairman Nigel Hughes has endorsed the party’s vice-chairman Moses Nagamootoo to be the Presidential candidate for the next general elections and says that he is willing to serve in any position to which he is elected by the membership.

Vice-Chairman of the AFC Moses Nagamootoo is the front-runner to be the party’s presidential candidate in the next general elections and he has gained the support of party leader Khemraj Ramjattan who has also endorsed AFC Chairman Nigel Hughes as the prime ministerial candidate.

Fearful of impacts from proposed logging activities by Bai Shan Lin in the North Rupununi, community leaders on Friday raised concerns with the Guyana Forestry Commis-sion (GFC) Board in Annai but left the meeting dissatisfied with the responses received.

-cites exclusion of stakeholders -points to logging without value added The Norwegian government agency through which funds are channelled to Guyana for protecting its forests has warned of the risk to Norway’s reputation if the controversial Amaila Falls Hydropower Project (AFHP) is funded by the Chinese and has urged Oslo to send a high-level team here to discuss these and other issues.

In the wake of contradictory figures from the forestry commission, Minister of Finance Dr Ashni Singh’s statement that the increase in timber export earnings this year was due to “an expansion in plywood exports” has come under fire from the opposition.

Two miners, one of whom was the chairman of the Marudi Miners Association died when the tunnel they were working in at Mazoa Mountain, Marudi, Region Nine caved in yesterday morning.

Government’s move to open new lands for mining is likely to increase deforestation and this could impact the deal under which Norway is paying Guyana to protect its forest, with the Scandinavian country last week reiterating that its focus is on keeping deforestation rates down.

Patrick Pereira, the businessman and miner who stood up for the mining sector during a period of great uncertainty for the industry in 2010 when many miners feared that proposed conservation regulations would put them out of business, died on Wednesday.

With his administration’s extra-budgetary spending becoming a lightning rod for an AFC-led push for a vote of no-confidence against his government, President Donald Ramotar yesterday defended the expenditure saying that the opposition can have the court decide whether it is constitutional or not.

A sale of the long-languishing Casique Hotel and Banquet Hall at Providence, East Bank Demerara to Chinese logging company Bai Shan Lin is being finalised, multiple sources have confirmed.

The Caribbean Develop-ment Bank (CDB) was willing to provide financing to upgrade and operationalize the Tumatumari hydropower facility but the funds needed is below the minimum the bank lends and the project is stalled as local institutions are unwilling to act as the intermediary.

The recent shutting down of eight miners working on Isseneru’s titled land coupled with what appears to be the application of a new mechanism to deal with mining on Amerindian lands has raised alarm among villagers of the Region Seven community, who say that they are being put under pressure for complaining to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) over their land rights.