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)…[+]

USA   – At least four people at a Bernie Sanders rally in Oakland rushed the stage Monday, spurring Secret Service agents to jump onto the raised platform and protect him.

The Democratic presidential candidate was uninjured and continued speaking, but not before several agents hugged him and pushed him away from the microphone. The identities of the individuals, who yelled as they approached the stage, were not immediately known. They were apprehended and led away by Secret Service from the podium at the Frank Ogawa Plaza, where the rally was being held. After the events of Monday night in Northern California, Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs said, “It was handled professionally by the Secret Service.” An animal rights group, Direct Action Everywhere, claimed responsibility for the disruption in a press release.(CNN.COM /photo: cnn.com)…[+]

POLAND   –   Poland’s government will appeal a court’s decision to block Roman Polanski’s extradition to the United States, an official said yesterday, reviving prospects the aging filmmaker could face justice over a decades-old child sex conviction.

Zbigniew Ziobro, Poland’s attorney general and minister of justice, will submit his appeal to the Supreme Court, his spokesman told CNN. In October, a Polish court rejected a U.S. extradition request as “inadmissible.” U.S. officials have pursued Polanski’s extradition for decades, seeking to bring him to account for underage sex with a 13-year-old girl in California in 1977 when the director was 43. Polanski pleaded guilty at the time under a deal with prosecutors that included dropping more serious charges.(CNN.COM/photo: cnn.com)…[+]

A husband and wife team along with an elderly man was charged with four counts of simple larceny after they appeared yesterday in the Sparendaam Magistrate’s Court. The charges against the trio stemmed from a staged robbery orchestrated by two RK security guards during which one of them was shot.

However, police were able to ascertain the real circumstances behind the event and arrested the two guards, 35-year-old Dameon Pearce of Sophia Squatting Area and Cleveland Pyle, 53, of Lot 337 Number 9 Village, West Coast Berbice along with Pearce’s reputed wife, Eulesie Stephen. Police are alleging that the guards planned to steal a large quantity of money that was in their possession. The cash was obtained from businesses to be deposited in the bank.(Kaieteurnews.com/photo: Kaieteurnews.com)…[+]

USA – Three people have died in flood-related incidents in southeast Texas after the region was inundated with rain, authorities said. All three were killed in Washington County, about 75 miles west of Houston, an area hammered with 17 inches of rain Thursday. Although the rain stopped Friday night, the area remains clogged with floodwaters. Rescue boats helped people stranded in their homes and trapped in their cars.

The body of a man who was reported missing was found Saturday morning, said John Brieden, a county judge. The other fatalities in Washington County include a person found in a mobile home in Brenham city and thought to have drowned, said police spokeswoman Angela Hahn. An additional person found dead in a vehicle swept away is believed to have died of a heart attack, Hahn said. (CNN/foto: bostonherald.com)…[+]

GYUANA – In keeping with a policy to ensure that vacancies in the Guyana Police Force are filled, the Police Service Commission (PSC) has announced the appointments of 50 sergeants and one corporal to the rank of inspectors.

The promotion comes almost six months after the release of the force’s annual list of promotions for both senior and junior ranks. Kaieteur News understands that the staggered promotion was as a result of the late submission of recommendations by the Police Force administration to the Police Service Commission. While there has been the usual grumblings, this newspaper was told that all of the persons promoted have satisfied the requirements of the PSC. “All the applicants were interviewed and the commission is satisfied that they will be successful inspectors”, the source said. “What we found is that some sergeants did not pass the required examination and that is why they have not qualified”,he added. (Kaieteur news/photo: kaieteurnewsonline.com)…[+]

TURKEY – Thousands of Kurdish Peshmerga troops are involved in an offensive to regain formerly Kurdish villages near the ISIS-held town of Mosul, Kurdish officials say.

The Peshmerga-led ground offensive, backed by international coalition air support, was launched early Sunday to retake several villages near Khazir, east of Mosul. The operation includes approximately 5,500 Peshmerga fighters. The move comes ahead of a joint offensive by Kurdish forces and Iraqi troops to retake Mosul, Kurdish media says. Kurdish media outlet Rudaw reported that the Peshmerga troops, accompanied by Zeravani Special Forces — a Kurdish paramilitary outfit — picked their way across ISIS-held territory, retaking abandoned villages it says were once populated by Kurds. (CNN/foto: businessinsider.com)…[+]