USA  –  A Memphis Police Department officer is dead following a string of shootings near the city’s famed Beale Street, authorities said.

Officer Verdell Smith, 46, was struck by a suspect’s vehicle while trying to clear a crime scene last weekend, Memphis Police Department Director Mike Rallings told reporters. Smith was killed after two separate shootings Saturday night.  “I am angry this morning angry at the senseless loss of a dedicated public servant, and angry at the absolutely unacceptable level of violence in our city,” Mayor Jim Strickland said in a statement. “We must not accept this as our norm. I most certainly will not, and I will continue to act to make our city safer.”(CNN.COM/Photo: wgntv.com)…[+]

Police were last weekend summoned to the Kaieteur News Saffon Street offices after unidentified individuals hurled a grenade under a vehicle belonging to owner and publisher Glenn Lall.

The incident occurred shortly after 22.00 hrs, and Mr. Lall’s vehicle, a Lexus, was parked on the western side of Saffon Street. Mr. Lall and other staffers were outside the Kaieteur News building participating in a wake for Assistant Editor Dale Andrews, when a security staffer heard an unusual sound near Mr. Lall’s vehicle. Thinking at first that someone had shattered one of the windows, the staffer checked the vehicle, but observed no damage.(Kaieteurnews.com/Photo: kaieteurnews.com)…[+]

The Board of the Guyana National Broadcasting Authority (GNBA) has finally set in motion a plan that will see all broadcasters having to reapply for licences to operate.

Even before the new Board of the Authority was appointed, the APNU+AFC government had said that it will make good on its promise to regulate the Broadcast industry and revoke all those radio licences that former President Bharrat Jagdeo had granted days before demitting office. Today, the licences remain valid. GNBA said that it was caught between a rock and a hard place when it tried to maneuver ways and means to revoke the licences without legal implications. The new GNBA board was appointed in September. Leonard Craig was named Chairman. In April, the GNBA held its first press conference. At that forum, strong statements were made to the effect that the Board intends to act forcefully in the best interest of Guyana. The media was told that within two to three weeks it would have received information about the way forward with regards to revoking the radio licences. Nothing was heard.(Kaieteurnews.com/photo: kaieteurnews.com)…[+]

USA  –   Radio legend Garrison Keillor says he’s feeling “fortunate” after the Prairie Home Companion host suffered a seizure over Memorial Day weekend.

According to a message posted on his Facebook page, he hosted two back-to-back shows at the Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in Vienna, Virginia, yesterday before suffering from a medical emergency. Keillor said he “flew to Mayo to get checked out and saw an MRI image of my skull with a black hole where a previous stroke struck close to the language center of the brain, so I came away feeling vastly fortunate.”(CNN.COM/photo:  images.starpulse.com)…[+]

USA  –   Boxing legend Muhammad Ali has been hospitalized, his family spokesperson said in a statement on Thursday.

According to Ali’s spokesperson, Bob Gunnell, Ali is being treated by his team of doctors for a respiratory issue and is in fair condition. “A brief hospital stay is expected,” the statement said. Ali, 74, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, previously was hospitalized in January 2015 with a urinary tract infection. He also was hospitalized in December 2014 with pneumonia. In recent years, Ali has largely stayed out of the limelight. But he once was known not only for his athletic prowess as a boxer but also for his social activism.(CNN.COM/photo: a5.files.biography.com)…[+]