A taxi driver was shot by his spouse’s brother-in-law, in Campbell Street, Albouystown, Georgetown.
It is alleged he was not the intended target, his mother-in-law told police that the bullet was meant for her. The injured man has been identified as 32-year-old Rafael Hintzen.
Investigations by the police revealed that the victim and one of the suspects are known to each other as they both share a relationship with two sisters who reside in Campbell Street, Albouystown area. According to police, “Information received from the 41-year-old mother-in-law of both the suspect and victim is that on Phagwah day, her nephew sprayed water from a ‘water gun’ on one of the suspect’s friends, to which he (the suspect) was annoyed. Subsequently, she and the suspect (son-in-law) were engaged in a heated argument when he threatened to ‘kill’ her.”
At around 00:10hrs on last Wednesday, Hintzen was in his car which was parked in from of the Campbell Street home. His mother-in-law was said to be seated on a chair in the yard, when the suspect and three other men, all armed with hand guns appeared out of the alleyway opposite the house. The statement from the police said that the men, “started to discharge several rounds in the victim and his mother-in-law’s direction. The victim exited his car and ran into the yard where his mother-in-law was, upon realizing that he was shot in the foot, tried to pull him up the step to get him into the house.”
Furthermore: “In the process of doing so, the woman said that she saw the suspect (her son-in-law) and his accomplices running through the front gate in her direction, firing several rounds at her. Anastacia claimed that she immediately left the victim at the bottom of the stairway, ran upstairs, and closed the door.”
The woman told police that the suspect and his accomplices did not further injure the victim when they caught up with him since she assumed that she was the intended target. It is alleged that there was a car waiting on Campbell Street that the armed men ran back to and made good their escape. The injured man was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation by a relative, where he was seen by a doctor, examined, admitted, and is receiving medical treatment. His condition is stable. Spent shells and warheads were recovered by detectives at the scene and a number of persons were questioned and useful information was received. Police are looking for the suspects as investigations continue. (Kaieteur News)…[+]

Leader of the Opposition, Aubrey Norton has underscored that the opposition does not have the power to hold ExxonMobil Guyana Limited accountable for the allege misuse of revenues generated from oil.
He said too, that holding Exxon accountable falls under the government’s purview, adding, “Unfortunately, the Vice President [Bharrat Jagdeo] and President [Irfaan Ali] seem not to want to do that.”
Norton was commenting on remarks made by Vice President Jagdeo in relation to Exxon’s expenses. During one of his March press conferences, Jagdeo was asked to provide an explanation to the nation of the massive expenses racked up by United States oil major, Exxon. This publication had asked the politician, who is charged with oversight of the petroleum sector, to provide an explanation on the $133 billion depreciation and amortization costs that were charged to Guyana’s oil revenue by Exxon. In response, Jagdeo said that Kaieteur News should seek clarity from Exxon.
Norton said: “We don’t need to meet out to Exxon. So we don’t have to call on Exxon to do anything this contract [2016 Production Sharing Agreement] gives certain rights duties and responsibilities to the government and those to Exxon.”
He criticised the government’s perceived negligence and incompetence, pledging continued pressure for accountability. The Opposition Leader stated, “If there is transparency that we are calling for, then you will have the information to further pressure the government rather than run in believing that we have somewhat locus standi based on the PSA, to hold the oil company accountable we have to hold the government accountable and the government has to hold the oil company accountable.”
Norton clarified the opposition’s role is pressuring the government for accountability, acknowledging their limitations in contractual matters. “When we become the government we will. But for now, we will keep calling on the government to do what they should,” he added.
Moreover, he noted, “So we will raise the issue, we will put pressure to the government, but as an opposition, we are obligated to deal one, through the parliamentary system, through the government system… we also have the right when we engage them to raise any issue which we have been doing but we must not fool ourselves we are not a party to the PSA.” To this end, Norton said that unfortunately it does not seem that President Irfaan Ali and Jagdeo want to hold Exxon accountable.
At another of his press conferences, Jagdeo had said that while the Ministry of Natural Resources is privy to what is being depreciated and amortized by Exxon, he will not share any details in that regard. Instead, he directed Kaieteur News to write their questions to Exxon. “Yes, the Ministry would know what is depreciated and stuff like that but I’m not gonna go through any financials here because I think Kaieteur has even a more rudimentary understanding of the financials than I do and two, that it can’t be done at a press conference. If you want to have that why don’t you submit in writing to Exxon, ask them, we have noted this- the following things,” Jagdeo said.
Moreover, the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) is still to release the reports of two audits on billions of US Dollars in expenses racked up By ExxonMobil from 1999 to 2020. So far two audits have been conducted to review ExxonMobil’s multibillion expenses for the lucrative Stabroek Block. The first was done by a British Firm IHS-Markit and was a review of some US$1.6 billion in costs incurred by Exxon during the period 1999 to 2017. The second was done by a local consortium, VHE, supported by an overseas company for some US$7.3 billion in expenses racked up by the Oil Company from 2018 to 2020. (Kaieteur News)…[+]

QUITO – At least 14 civil servants in Ecuador, including judges and police officers, were arrested in a nationwide operation against corruption within the legal system, the country’s Attorney General’s Office said.
Police arrested and raided homes in eight provinces as part of Operation Plague, which targeted civil servants suspected of systematically allowing criminals to elude justice in exchange for “money or favors.”
“Those allegedly involved … benefited highly dangerous people, granting them freedom through legal tricks and abuse of the law,” the office said in a post on social media site X, formerly Twitter.
Judges implicated let criminals already in prison “obtain their freedom illegitimately though it appeared legal,” said the office. The operation aims “to eradicate this plague that operates in the justice system, which has been systematized as a vicious circle and which accounts, once again, for the deep emergence of corruption in state institutions,” it added. (Xinhua)…[+]

BEIJING – China once again urges the Philippines to respect the facts, and return to the right track of properly managing and resolving disputes through dialogue and consultation as soon as possible, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said.
In response to a query concerning an open letter by Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a daily news briefing that the Philippines keeps accusing China of “intimidating smaller countries” without mentioning at all the Philippine occupation of and encroachment on China’s territory in Nansha Qundao. That is a real propaganda “trap,” said Wang.
“On the issue of Ren’ai Jiao, it’s not the size, but the behavior of a country that determines who is right and who is wrong,” Wang said.
He pointed out that right after the Philippines deliberately grounded its warship on Ren’ai Jiao in 1999, which seriously violated China’s sovereignty, China made demarches to the Philippines, and the Philippines promised to tow away the warship several times. A senior official of the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs made it clear that the Philippines had no intention of building any facility on Ren’ai Jiao and it doesn’t want to and will not be the first country to violate the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC).
“But 25 years on, not only hasn’t the Philippines fulfilled its promise to tow away the warship, it has even attempted to send construction materials for large-scale repair and reinforcement of the warship in order to build permanent structures on Ren’ai Jiao,” Wang said.
Pointing out that the Philippines has gone back on its words, and stirred up trouble to provoke China, he said the behavior of the Philippines not only breaches the understandings between the two sides on handling the Ren’ai Jiao issue, but also violates the DOC, especially its Article 5 on refraining from action of inhabiting the presently uninhabited islands, reefs, shoals, cays and other features. “The Philippines is clearly responsible for the current tensions in the South China Sea,” Wang added.
Wang stressed that China and Asean countries have long been committed to properly managing and resolving disputes through dialogue and consultation between the states directly involved, and have worked together to jointly maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea, which has kept it generally stable.
However, for some time, the Philippines has been pulling non-regional actors into South China Sea affairs to back Philippine provocations and the violation of China’s sovereignty, he said, adding that the Philippines has been pursing selfish gains at the expense of the consensus reached by countries in the region.
“This is the main reason why the situation in the South China Sea has escalated and become more complicated,” he said.
“We once again urge the Philippines to respect the facts, observe the relevant understandings between the two sides and DOC provisions, follow the consensus reached between China and Asean countries, and return to the right track of properly managing and resolving disputes through dialogue and consultation as soon as possible,” said Wang. (Xinhua)…[+]

ISRAEL – Israel war cabinet member Benny Gantz has called for elections in September as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government faces pressure at home and abroad over the war in Gaza.
“We must agree on a date for elections in September, towards a year to the war if you will,” Gantz said in a televised briefing. “Setting such a date will allow us to continue the military effort while signalling to the citizens of Israel that we will soon renew their trust in us.”
Thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets in recent days demanding new elections. Many have criticised Netanyahu and expressed anger at his government’s handling of the 134 Israelis still held captive in Gaza six months into the war.
Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, has repeatedly ruled out early elections, which opinion polls suggest he would lose, saying that to go to the polls in the middle of a war would only reward the Palestinian group Hamas.
His Likud party on Wednesday said Gantz must “stop engaging in petty politics” during the war. “Elections now will bring about paralysis, division, harm to the fighting in Rafah and a fatal blow to the chances of a hostage deal,” Likud said.
Gantz, a former army general, joined Netanyahu’s government in the early days of the war as a gesture of political unity during the crisis. Polls suggest his party would come top in any election, and he would be favourite to take over as prime minister.
Netanyahu has pledged to bring the captives home, as well as destroy Hamas, although it is unclear how Israel would be able to do so.
Netanyahu’s government has faced widespread criticism over the security failure of the October 7 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel in which 1,139 people were killed and about 250 Israelis and foreigners kidnapped, according to Israeli authorities. Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 32,975 people, mostly women and children, according to Palestinian authorities.
A truce between Israel and Hamas in November led to the release of more than 100 captives in exchange for the release of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
Revived talks on a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas appear to be making little progress, with the two sides showing few signs that they are ready to compromise on their demands.
Israeli objections to the return of displaced residents to their homes in Gaza is a key issue holding up the negotiations, Qatari officials said. Meanwhile, Hamas said it will not budge on its conditions to release captives it holds in the besieged and bombarded territory.
“After six months, it seems like the government understands that Bibi Netanyahu is an obstacle,” demonstrator Einav Moses, whose father-in-law Gadi Moses is being held captive, told The Associated Press news agency during protests. “Like he doesn’t really want to bring them back, that they have failed in this mission.”
Netanyahu, in a nationally televised speech before he was due to undergo hernia surgery, said he understood the families’ pain.
He said calling new elections would paralyse Israel for six to eight months.
Netanyahu also repeated his promise for a military ground offensive in Rafah, the southern Gaza city where more than half of the territory’s population of 2.3 million now shelters after fleeing the fighting elsewhere.
“There is no victory without going into Rafah,” he said, adding that US pressure would not deter him. The next vote for parliament is set for October 27, 2026, per Israel’s Central Elections Committee. (Al Jazeera)…[+]