It was just last year the former PPP/C administration set aside $1B for a massive a ‘Clean up my Country’ Campaign. But under a new administration, several inconsistencies have surfaced on how that money was spent, and an investigation has been launched. At least this is according to an audit report on the expenditure conducted by the Auditor General and made public last week when the report was laid in the National Assembly. Among the red flags raised, according to the Auditor General, is that despite repeated requests, all payment vouchers, together with the requisite supporting documents were not presented for audit verification of the money. About a third of the $1B was expended on the acquisition of tools and equipment including tractors and trailers, mini excavators and skid steer loader. According to the records kept at the Ministry, the tools were issued to various community groups to clean their environs and should have been returned at the completion of the exercise.(Kaieteurnieuws.com/photo:Kaieteurnieuws.com)…[+]

After twelve fruitless years of trying to have a baby, 33-year-old Liloutie Ramlall had all but given up on her dream of becoming a mother. So when doctors told her that she was pregnant a year later, she and her husband, Nizam Khamis were stunned to learn that they were going to be parents at last- and that Ramlall much longed-for baby ( a boy) was due in a matter of months. A happy Ramlall spent the last few months shopping for his son and at times hoped that the baby would come sooner while her husband would visit her often from Canada. Liloutie Ramlall started to experience labour pains and her relatives rushed her to a private hospital in the city.  It never entered their thoughts that when she walked into the medical institution, 33 weeks pregnant, they would not see her walk out back. The Greenfield Beehive, East Coast Demerara woman delivered a little boy but later bled to death in the Operating theatre.(Kaieteurnieuws.com/photo:Kaieteurnieuws.com)…[+]

TURKEY – Turkey is preparing for tens of thousands more refugees from Syria as government forces and Russian warplanes pound opposition-held areas, and officials said many would try illegally to get to Europe. Syrian government troops and their allies, backed by Russian jets, launched an offensive against rebels battling to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad south of Aleppo, still home to two million people, a week ago. Another offensive in Hama province, southwest of Aleppo, has also displaced tens of thousands, aid workers say. Estimates of the overall numbers on the move ranged between a U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) figure of 30,000 to as many as 100,000…[+]

IITALY – Pope Francis encouraged bishops from more than 120 countries to speak freely when they gathered at the Vatican nearly three weeks ago for a broad discussion of family matters related to the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics. And speak freely, they have. The result has been the most momentous, and contentious, meeting of bishops in the 50 years since the Second Vatican Council, which brought the Church into the modern era. The meeting has exposed deep fault lines between traditionalists focused on shoring up doctrine and those who want the Church to be more open to Catholics who are divorced, gay, single parents or cohabiting. s the bishops face a deadline tomorrow to present their report to the Pope, it is increasingly clear that Pope Francis is struggling to build consensus for his vision of a more inclusive and decentralized Church…[+]

FRANCE – At least 42 people, most of them elderly, were killed when a coach collided with a lorry and caught fire in southwest France on Friday (Oct 23) in the country’s worst road accident for three decades, officials said. Many of the victims were thought to have died in the fire, while the driver of the lorry was also killed, according to fire officials and local authorities in the department of Gironde. The two drivers were killed, while the rest of the victims were passengers on the coach, officials said. Images shown on French television showed the coach as a charred shell that had been entirely burned…[+]

U.S –   A shooting that left one person dead at Tennessee State University started after an apparent dispute over a dice game, Nashville police said.  Two others were injured in the shooting at an outdoor courtyard at the campus in Nashville. They were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, said Kelli Sharpe, a university spokeswoman.(CNN.COM/photo: yimg.com)…[+]

Local manufacturing and distribution company, Sueria Manufacturing Inc., has been forced to downsize its operations, sending home at least 10 of its staffers from its Distribution Department in the process. Frank Sanichara, the company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), said the move is as a result of the entity facing months of discrimination and harassment by the Food and Drugs Department.(Kaieteurnieuws.com/photo:Kaieteurnieuws.com)…[+]

Two days after surrendering to the police, alleged baby killer Marc Angoy made his first court appearance Thursday at the Vigilance Magistrate’s Court to face the murder charge. Clad in a pair of jeans and burgundy long sleeve shirt, the 45-year-old Angoy appeared before Magistrate Alicia George and was not required to plead to the indictable charge. This was after the advice of the Director of Public Prosecutions was obtained Thursday.(Kaieteurnieuws.com/photo:Kaieteurnieuws.com)...[+]

JERUSALEM   –  Two Palestinian men armed with knives tried to board a bus carrying children in Israel but were forced back by people inside the vehicle, police said.

After being kept off the bus, the Palestinians stabbed an Israeli man at a bus stop in the city of Beit Shemesh, west of Jerusalem, said police spokeswoman Luba Samri. Police officers shot the two attackers, wounding both of them, she said. They and the Israeli they stabbed were hospitalized, and one of the Palestinians later died of his wounds.(CNN.COM/photo:cnn.com)…[+]

Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan, is maintaining that he will not relent on his position that November 10 will be a public holiday to celebrate the Hindu festival of Deepavali. Ramjattan’s announcement comes amidst confusion among Hindu groups on the official date of the Festival of Lights.(Kaieteurnieuws.com/photo:Kaieteurnieuws.com)…[+]