News

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 ...

BY BY DEAN OLSEN The (Springfield) State Journal-Register SPRINGFIELD, ILL. — He takes long, hot showers, has developed a sweet tooth, calls his American hosts “Mom” and “Dad,” wrestles with the boy who sleeps below him in their bunk beds and plays on a trampoline with the other children who live in their spacious home on Springfield’s south side. Satchian Basdeo ...

The self-propelled semi-submersible vessel, built in northwestern Guyana to move a large consignment of cocaine possibly to Africa, is to be sent overseas for forensic tests, according to an official of the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU). The vessel is at the John Fernandes Limited (JFL) wharf from where it will be placed on a Seaboard ship, possibly for Florida, United ...

The Guyana government announced salary increases of between five and eight percent for public servants and the security services but teachers earning more than GUY$50,000 (US$236) monthly would not be entitled to a retroactive pay increase, according to a statement from the Office of the President. President Donald Ramotar’s office said that more than 20,000 public servants and members of ...