BALMARYA – A 2,000-year-old Roman arch of triumph in the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria has been blown up by Isis militants, the country’s antiquities chief has said. Maamoun Abdulkarim told Reuters that local sources had confirmed that the arch had been virtually destroyed. Khaled Al Homsi, an archaeologist and human rights activist from Palmyra, tweeted a photograph of the monument before it was blown up, indicating that the main central arch and two supporting ones on either side were now gone. Isis blows up the #Triumphal Arch at entrance to colonnade today, he wrote (independent.co.uk)…[+]

GUATEMALA – Hopes are fading in Guatemala of finding more survivors following a landslide that has killed at least 131 people and left 300 missing. Rescuers have dug for days in the village of Cambray near the capital, but say some of the homes they have reached are filled with water. Tons of rain-sodden soil slid off a mountain on Thursday, burying houses. Bulldozers were used to speed up the work but no survivor had been found over the weekend. Rescuer reported that the smell of rotting bodies was spreading across the mound of earth that had buried the village…[+]

GUYANA- Mangal, GECOM’s longest-serving Commissioner passed on Friday. Kaieteur News understands that Mangal suffered renal failure.In January, Mangal resigned from his post at GECOM, citing ill health. The prominent octogenarian had been battling illness for the past several months. Mangal, sat on GECOM’s Commission in representation of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic, serving in this capacity for about 22 years. He began working with the Commission when it was a temporary body for the 1992 and 1997 elections. Mangal also served as Chairman of the Guyana Oil Company. He was a surgeon by profession and devised a revolutionary surgical procedure.(KAIETEUR NEWS/ kaieteurnewsonline.com)…[+]

GUYANA-With responsibilities such as the provision of health, security, and educational services, Guyana’s public service has a significant role to play in the development of this nation. But even with this mammoth responsibility Guyana’s public service is apparently underperforming and therefore reforms are necessary to bring it up to standard. These statements were made by Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, during the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) 21st Biennial Delegates’ Conference held at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre. The convention came to an end on Friday. During his remarks, Harmon opined that the public service played the crucial role of delivering services to the citizenry. He said too that the Guyana Government viewed the public service as “the engine of the executive”.(KAIETEUR NEWS/ kaieteurnewsonline.com)…[+]

IRAQ-The killing of a police accountant by a 15-year-old gunman is believed to be linked to terrorism, Australian police say. Curtis Cheng, 58, was shot as he was leaving work Friday outside a police headquarters in a suburb of Sydney. Police say the teenage gunman also fired shots at special constables who came out of the building. He was killed in an exchange of gunfire. The shooter was born in Iran, and was of Iraqi Kurdish background, according to police. “We had no information that this individual posed this type of threat, but we will investigate thoroughly,” Commissioner Andrew Scipione of New South Wales Police said Saturday. (CNN/cnn.com)…[+]

SYRIA-There is no ambiguity now about Russia’s current tactics in Syria — they are seeking to take over the airspace in the region and be the agenda-setting force on the ground, several senior administration officials told CNN. Thursday demarche to the U.S. by Russian officials in Baghdad was clear in its intent,” one senior administration official said. “Make sure you don’t have anyone around ISIS targets and get out of the air.” And while U.S. officials have no plans to cede Russia any ground, they also said it appears that Russian President Vladimir Putin made a dramatic chess move that the Russians have not thought through — one official even called it a “strategic blunder.” (CNN NEWS/cnn.com)…[+]

GUYANA- “Skeptics will always be skeptics and especially persons who don’t want to try new strategies. I have tried it and obviously it is successful” Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan, has lashed out at skeptics of his gun amnesty programme. He has said that had they tried it while they had the chance, the crime rate involving the use of guns might not have been so high. Ramjattan was directly referring to former Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee who had publicly criticized the programme, boldly declaring that it will not work in Guyana. “Skeptics will always be skeptics, especially persons who don’t want to try new strategies. I have tried it and obviously it is successful,” Ramjattan told this newspaper yesterday. So far, the amnesty, which was originally scheduled to last for one month and which has been extended by two weeks, has already realized the surrender of a total of 142 illegal firearms, a figure which Minister Ramjattan described as excellent.(KAIETEUR NEWS/ kaieteurnewsonline.com)…[+]

GUYANA-Technical and Commercial line loss which currently stands at 28.5 percent, has bled the Guyana Power and Light Inc. of millions of dollars annually. But with the help of a loan programme sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), this state of affairs is expected to be drastically improved. Minister of Public Works, David Patterson, who also shares responsibility for the energy sector, told this newspaper last night that GPL intends to “significantly reduce” the loss way below 23 percent at the end of the loan programme. Asked if there is going to be a complete restructuring of the company, given its worrying financial performance, Patterson said, “No, not at this moment.(KAIETEUR NEWS/ kaieteurnewsonline.com)…[+]

GUYANA-Minister Keith Scott, Central Housing Planning Authority (CHPA) Chief Executive Officer (Ag), Denise King-Tudor and other technical staff, during a meeting with the Republic Bank Managing Director, Richard Sammy and General Manager (Credit) Patricia Plummer. Chief Executive Officer (Ag), Denise King-Tudor and other technical staff, during a meeting with the Republic Bank Managing Director, Richard Sammy and General Manager (Credit) Patricia Plummer.Minister within the Ministry of Communities, Keith Scott, yesterday held a successful meeting with the Managing Director of Republic Bank, Richard Sammy, and General Manager (Credit), Patricia Plummer. The discussion saw the two sides agreeing on areas of cooperation. (KAIETEUR NEWS/ kaieteurnewsonline.com)…[+]

SYRIA-Russia carried out new airstrikes inside Syria on Thursday, the country’s Defense Ministry said in a statement, a day after it changed the calculus of Mideast politics by entering the Syrian civil war on the side of President Bashar al-Assad.”Russian Aerospace Forces engaged another four #ISIS facilities in #Syria this night,” the Russian Ministry of Defense announced on Twitter along with gun camera video showing large explosions. The strikes were carried out by eight Russian SU-24 and SU-25 jets, which claimed to hit ISIS “terrorist staff” and an ammunition dump near Idlib and another headquarters in Hama.(CNN NEWS/cnn.com)…[+]