News

(Trinidad Express) Corruption-accused Jack Warner has written to ­several ­officials that Prime Minister ­Kamla Persad-Bissessar received ­multi-million-dollar payments to thwart the extradition of businessmen and United National Congress financiers Ishwar Galbaransingh and Steve Ferguson.

TRIPOLI, (Reuters) – A Libyan court yesterday sentenced Muammar Gaddafi’s most prominent son, Saif al-Islam, and eight others to death over war crimes including killings of protesters during the 2011 revolution that ended his father’s rule.

MEXICO CITY, (Reuters) – Five men in northern Mexico were sentenced to an unprecedented 697 years in prison for the gender-driven killing of 11 women, in a state where hundreds of young women have been murdered since 1990.

The police say that investigations are being conducted into an armed robbery that occurred at about 1340h.

The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions today recommended that former Minister of Public Service Jennifer Westford be charged over her alleged attempt to transfer a government vehicle into her name.

Former President Donald Ramotar today criticised the decision of the APNU+AFC government to shorten the life of the inquiry into the killing of Dr Walter Rodney and said that history will record that the PPP/C government had established a credible probe commission.

At about 1830h yesterday, miner Morvin James, 40 years, of Baramita, North West District, was involved in an argument with another man at Baramita, during which he was fatally stabbed to his chest.

Hours after Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan urged Shawn Hinds to go to the police, the self-confessed death squad member turned himself in with his attorney and though he remained in custody up to press time, he was not saying anything, police said.

Stating that rice is too big to fail, President David Granger yesterday urged rice farmers and millers to demonstrate their commitment to the industry by being proactive about marketing their product.

Presidential adviser Professor Clive Thomas is tipped to be the Chairman of the new GuySuCo Board of Directors, which would also include union leader Seepaul Narine and industry expert Anthony Vieira.

The Public Infrastructure Ministry is in the process of reviewing three private hydropower proposals as government awaits the economic feasibility study on the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project (AFHP) done by the IDB and contemplates a variety of outstanding issues.

Nonpareil resident Bennita Kissoon is frustrated that her yard is constantly flooded – not just when it rains, but because of an inconsiderate neighbour.

General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party Clement Rohee has accused this newspaper of colluding with the government to put the party and its supporters in a psychological mode of discomfort and hostility to the Venezuelan people through its publication of a 1964 plot by Venezuela to kidnap Dr Cheddi Jagan when he was government premier responsible for internal affairs.

Agriculture Minster Noel Holder has revealed that the new Board of Directors for the Guyana Rice Development Board has been gazetted with Claude Housty as the Chairman.

For a third consecutive year Guyana has been placed on the Tier 2 Watch List of the US State Department’s annual Trafficking in Person (TIP) report as the country is again deemed one that is a source and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labour.

General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Clement Rohee said yesterday that his party has no relations with self-confessed death squad member Shawn Hinds but confirmed that the man did visit the party’s Robb Street headquarters Free-dom House one day in last week and when questioned said he was there to see someone.

Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry John Tracey yesterday pushed rice stakeholders to introduce a financial instrument for the payment by millers to farmers that would alleviate the frustrations in dealing with the delays that continue to hinder the sector.

Two men who were yesterday charged with endangering lives which resulted in the death of 21-year-old Kelton Benjamin of Coffee Grove, Essequibo Coast, were granted bail when they appeared before Magistrate Sunil Scarce at the Charity Magistrate’s Court.

After saying he knew nothing, Guyanese Heeralall Sukdeo, who has been charged in the United States with attempting to smuggle 268 kilogrammes of cocaine in a shrimp shipment, is now in plea negotiation the US government the results of which may be known on August 9.

As the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the death of Dr Walter Rodney began its final hearings yesterday, the attorney for Donald Rodney, brother of the deceased, submitted that there was compelling evidence that the Forbes Burnham-led PNC government was responsible for the politician’s June 13, 1980 death.