A United States-based Guyanese owner of an executive jet service was Monday granted US$100,000 bail on a charge of bulk-cash smuggling in Puerto Rico. Mr. Khamraj Lall was granted bail by Judge Marcus Lopez in Court 10 in the US District Court  of Puerto Rico, his lawyer, Rafael Castro-Lang and a spokeswoman for the Department of Justice’s office told Caribbean ...

San Juan, Dec 1 (EFE).- Caribbean airline LIAT terminated the contract of two pilots “charged with blatantly disregarding instructions from the company” and flying an aircraft hours before the recent passage of Tropical Storm Gonzalo.“This decision to terminate followed a full internal investigation of the incident during which the pilots were represented,” LIAT Chief Executive Officer David Evans said Monday ...

Brasilia, Dec 1 (EFE).- Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff on Monday named the former president of the country’s top industrial business association, Armando Monteiro, to be her new development, industry and foreign trade minister.Monteiro is a senator with the Brazilian Labor Party, or PTB, and headed the National Confederation of Industry, or CNI, the most important association in the sector, from ...

Caracas, Dec 1 (EFE).- President Nicolas Maduro’s administration wants tourism to account for 9 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), or more than double the current level of 4 percent, by 2019, Tourism Minister Andres Izarra said.Izarra made the announcement during the closing ceremony of the 2014 Venezuelan International Tourism Fair, or Fitven, which the government hosts each year ...

Havana, Dec 1 (EFE).- The government of Cuba estimates the country’s economy will grow 1.3 percent this year, almost a full percentage point below previous projections, but expects gross domestic product to expand by more than 4 percent in 2015, official media said Monday.“In 2015, GDP is expected to expand a notch above 4 percent thus reverting modest growth rates ...

Thirteen Caribbean countries including Guyana are on track to be certified as having eliminated HIV transmission from mothers to children while three are close to reaching this goal, UNAIDS Caribbean said in a statement to mark World AIDS Day 2014. Over the last decade, countries have successfully increased access to antiretroviral medicines during pregnancy and empowered women to make informed ...

Havana, Dec 1 (EFE).- Cuba’s government has enacted new regulations for the sale, purchase and gifting of homes to prevent attempts at tax evasion, Communist Party daily Granma said Monday.The new rules for property transactions were approved last Friday’s Cabinet meeting, chaired by President Raul Castro.The rules provide for “a new market-related reference value to be applied to the donation ...

San Juan, Dec 1 (EFE).- The International Monetary Fund estimates that annual economic growth in St. Vincent and the Grenadines could climb to 3 percent starting in 2016, due in part to the expected completion in late 2015 of the nation’s first international airport.The IMF revealed Monday the preliminary findings of a staff mission that visited the Caribbean territories Nov. ...

San Juan, Dec 1 (EFE).- A commission to evaluate the performance of Jamaican security forces during the disturbances of May-June 2010 in Kingston’s Tivoli Gardens community began work here on Monday.The Commission – chaired by former Barbados Justice Secretary David Simmons – started hearings with a discussion as to whether community residents should receive financial compensation.Lloyd D’Aguilar, convener of the ...

A former Guyanese soldier, who had shot dead his colleague while they were on a peace-keeping mission in Haiti 16 years ago, committed suicide on Sunday by shooting himself in his mouth after discharging several rounds at a house where a man who offended him lives. Forty-three year old Samuel La Fleur of Prospect, East Bank Demerara  killed himself by ...