GUYANA-The police have wrapped up their investigations into a $500M-plus fraud at the Public Service Ministry. The files were yesterday handed over to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for advice, according to Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum. The Ministry of the Presidency had filed an official complaint to the police in late July after finding more than $120M missing from the bank accounts of the Ministry. However, investigators stumbled on more than $400M missing from the bank’s accounts. The police, whom the matter had been handed over to, had dispatched a special team to the Ministry of the Presidency to examine records of the payments. (KAIETEUR NEWS/ kaieteurnewsonline.com)…[+]

GUYANA-Hope of finding Gyaneshwarie Laleta Sivanand alive has almost faded, after a team from the Special Forces of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) completed a search of the gorge below Kaieteur Falls, but came up empty-handed. Sivanand, a female tourist, disappeared while on a tour of the world famous Kaieteur Falls. Officials now believe that after a week of searching the area, it will be a miracle if she is found alive. We do not have any evidence that she fell off or plunged over the falls. (KAIETEUR NEWS/ kaieteurnewsonline.com)…[+]

SYRIA-UK Prime Minister David Cameron faces questions Tuesday after he confirmed the killing of two Britons in a UK drone strike inside Syria — despite Britain’s Parliament having voted in 2013 against UK military action in Syria. Cameron told Parliament on Monday that Reyaad Khan was killed in a targeted attack by a UK Royal Air Force drone as he was driving in a vehicle near the ISIS-controlled Syrian town of Raqqa last month. (CNN NEWS/ cnn.com)…[+]

NEPAL- An American woman who went to Nepal to help in the aftermath of April’s devastating earthquake has been beaten to death, police said. Dahlia Yehia, 25, arrived in Nepal on July 20 to serve in Pokhara, where she was killed by a teacher named Narayan Paudel, according to Hari Bahadur Pal, the Kaski District Police superintendent:. Police said Paudel confessed to beating Yehia to death, putting her body in a sack and dumping it in the river. She met Paudel through the Couchsurfing website, which connects travelers with local hosts for accommodations. (CNN/ cnn.com)…[+]

GUYANA- For those who believe that the coalition administration is slow to prosecute the “big fish”, President David Granger reassured that his government is only taking time to do proper investigation to bring to light over 20 years of corruption.The Head of State disclosed that his government is seeking international assistance to help trace illegally spent monies from the government’s coffers. Facing questions from this newspaper on government’s revamped show, “The Public Interest” regarding the prosecution of the perpetrators of corruption and stolen state assets, Granger noted that already, moves are being made to address these two issues.(KAIETEUR NEWS/ kaieteurnewsonline.com)…[+]

Preparations are in full swing to transform Mahdia, a hinterland mining community located in Region Eight, into a town. Government is currently conducting consultations with stakeholders and examining different areas that need development. On Saturday, a team comprising Ministers of Communities and Public Infrastructure, Ronald Bulkan and David Patterson respectively, APNU+AFC Parliamentarian Gloria Bancroft and engineers of the two Ministries visited the community. During an interactive meeting with residents and Regional Officials including Regional Chairman Bonaventure Fredericks at the Mahdia Community Centre, the Ministers reaffirmed Government’s commitment of developing Mahdia. All developmental works that would be executed in the community would be done in consultation with the RDC.(KAIETEUR/ kaieteurnewsonline.com)…[+]

Russian oil major Rosneft has signed a preliminary agreement with the Essar group, controlled by the Ruias, to buy a 49 per cent stake in Essar Oil’s Vadinar refinery and supply 100 million tonnes of oil to the latter for the next 10 years. Refining accounts for over 95 per cent of Essar Oil’s overall business. The deal is subject to regulatory approvals. According to the deal contours, Rosneft will supply five million tonnes of crude oil to Essar Oil in 2015. Rosneft and Essar Oil had last December signed a preliminary contract for supply of 10 million tonnes of oil a year for 10 years. Commenting on the signing of the agreement, Rosneft Chairman Igor Sechin said: “The performance of the terms of the signed documents will have a substantial impact on the scale of economic cooperation between Russia and India. The goods trade between the two countries will grow by more than 50 per cent.”( Business Standard/India Digest)…[+]

BEIJING — Chinese economy has improved in August with better indicators including power consumption, rail freight transportation and home market, an official said on Saturday. China electricity consumption in August went up 2.47 percent year on year, said Li Yangzhe, head of bureau of economic operations regulation under National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). The growth rate was 5.88 percentage points higher than in the equivalent period last year and 4.47 percentage points higher than in July, marking the highest monthly growth this year. The increase was backed by figures from key provincial regions. (Xinhua)…[+]

RAMALLAH — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday ordered the ambassador to the UN to take immediate actions aiming at absorbing displaced Palestinian refugees into the West Bank. Abbas has been making contacts with the UN, the European Union and other relevant actors and urging them to pressurize the Israeli government to allow Palestinian refugees back into the West Bank, according to the Palestinian presidency statement. “This action is intended to help stop the Palestinian refugees’ suffering and death as a result of the ongoing displacement, especially refugees fleeing the war in Syria,” the statement said. (Xinhua)…[+]

BEIJING — Chinese President Xi Jinping and his South African counterpart Jacob Zuma on Friday vowed to make a China-Africa summit late this year a successful event. The two countries announced Friday morning in Beijing that the sixth ministerial meeting of Forum on China-Africa Cooperation will be upgraded into to a summit, scheduled on December 4-5 in South Africa.

Heads of state of the two countries will invite African state leaders to the summit, Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his South African counterpart Maite Nkoana-Mashabane jointly announced. During a meeting with Zuma, President Xi said China will work with African countries for the success of the summit. South Africa will also work hard to host a successful summit, said Zuma, who is in Beijing for activities commemorating the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese people’s war against Japanese aggression.

Xi said Zuma’s attendance of China’s V-Day celebrations on Thursday showed the South African government’s and Zuma’s own commitment to world peace and justice, as well as the China-South Africa ties. Zuma said China had suffered great losses in the World Anti-Fascist War and made great contributions to the victory of the war. The V-Day celebrations fully demonstrated China’s resolution in safeguarding world peace and stability, Zuma said.(Xinhua)…[+]