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Guyana Post Saturday January 30, 2021

Keeping you updated on current events...

ONLINE DAILY NEWSPAPER

Wednesday, March 3, 2021

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OPPOS ITION LEADER SAYS BUDGE T 2021 NEEDS GREAT SCRUT INY Roysdale Forde exposes Government’s discriminatory land deals in Parliament

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ELDERLY WOMAN DENIES BEING RAPE VICTIM

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HEALTH MINISTRY SACKS LINDEN HOSPITAL CEO

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Guyana Post Wednesday March 3, 2021

Police recapture Lusignan prison escapee

The Guyana Police Force after five months have recaptured a prison escapee who was convicted of robbery under arms and who escaped from the Lusignan Prison.

Escapee, 23-year-old James Moore was found as the Police searched a house in the Sophia area.

Reports are that ranks of Sophia area went on a cordon and search operation, when Moore

was found hiding the area.

He was later arrested and is expected to be charged for escaping lawful custody.

It was back in September 2020, when

Moore just around 4:30 pm was discovered missing from his place of labour in the kitchen.

He was at the time serving a three-year jail sentence for robbery under arms

ELDERLY WOMAN DENIES BEING RAPE VICTIM As the investigation continues into the alleged raping of a 97-year-old, woman, the victim has now denied ever being penetrated.

According to information reaching this news agency, the elderly during questioning denied ever being violated by penetration.

As such, all suspects were released and were ordered to report on a regular basis until

investigations are completed.

However, as the case remains open, the files in the matter are still said to be with the Director of Public Prosecution. DNA samples were said to be taken.

The force is still awaiting those results while it is following some new lead.

It was back on February 23 that a Caretaker visited the elderly woman’s home

in the morning to prepare her for a walk.

According to the Caretaker, as she ventured into the yard of the woman and was close to the door, she witnessed the doors were tampered with.

The Caretaker immediately called out for the Elderly Woman and it was then she claimed that “the boys came in and beat her up and pushed their hand down her throat and

choke her ”.

Already traumatized and shaken by the actions of the boys, the Caretaker later saw bloodstains on the Elderly Women’s clothing and on her bedsheet.

The Caretaker immediately contacted the police, as the woman was taken to the hospital where she was examined and the results according to the force show that she was violated sexually.

TODDLER SUCCUMBS AFTER RUN OVER

BY FATHER’S CAR

An 18-month girl, who was run over by her father as he reversed has succumbed to the injuries sustained.

Dead is Adena Ramkissoon of Vryheid’s Lust, East Coast Demerara.

According to reports the toddler after being struck down Sunday, survived up until yesterday morning when she passed away in the intensive care unit at

the Georgetown Public Hospital.

On the day of the incident, the toddler’s father, Danny Ramkissoon, a taxi driver, was about to leave his home. He was reversing when he felt that he had run over something with his Toyota Raum Ramkissoon stopped, exited his car, made checks, and found his daughter lying motionless.

The father subsequently called out for her mother as they both rushed their daughter to the Emergency Unit at the GPHC. This is said to be the second incident of this nature where a child has died in a similar fashion in the past three days.

MINISTRY DISTURBED

BY BRUTALITY METED OUT TO WOMEN, GIRLS

Suspected rapist arrested

Police have arrested an alleged Serial Rapist, who reportedly beat, raped, and sodomized a Venezuelan woman after she refused to have sex with him without a condom.

The accused Thurston info@guyanapostonline.com

Semple, a taxi driver of Tucville, Georgetown, was arrested hours after the woman’s story was published online.

Reports are that it was just Wednesday when Semple allegedly picked up a Venezuelan woman at a street corner to have sex with him in exchange for some cash.

The two later went to a location where the exchange was going to be made. However, while at the location, the victim recalled that upon entering the room she saw two knives and got nervous but felt a little safe knowing how nice at first the man was to her.

That fear quickly returned. The woman recalled that during sex the condom broke and she said that action cannot continue without the use of a condom.

He agreed but later took off the condom and went outside in rage. He reportedly returned with a knife and it was then things got ugly.

The victim recalled that she threw on the bed and raped repeatedly, sodomized, and hit continuously when she tried to leave.

She said that she insisted on him to stop but he refused even as she begged him to stop.

Some moments later the woman recounted that she felt like life was going away from her body. However, she found the will fight, took her clothing, smashed a glass window, and tried to escape with the little energy she had.

Simple reportedly rushed behind her with his knife and attacked her in the view of the neighbours.

The woman said that she later saw a police patrol, and recalled the event. With the help of the police, she reported that just before she passed out she saw the man being released.

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The Ministry of Human Services and Social Security is alarmed and deeply disturbed by the increasing violence and brutality meted out to women and girls.

Two most recent cases – the rape and brutal beating of a 98-year-old woman and the alleged forcible sexual assault of a 10-year-old child– highlight the horrific nature of this persistent, monstrous scourge of abuse that tears at the very fabric of the nation.

“We would like to see the perpetrators be dealt with condignly and face the full force of the law,”

the Ministry stated.

The Ministry continues to encourage the culture of reporting and urges persons to utilize the 914 hotline for early interventions.

Meanwhile, in its continuous efforts to safeguard the vulnerable, the Ministry in collaboration with the National Commission of the Elderly and the Childcare Protection Agency (CPA) will be rolling out new programmes, as well as, strengthen existing programmes to tackle these serious issues

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Guyana Post Wednesday March 3, 2021

Roysdale Forde exposes Government’s discriminatory land deals in Parliament

Shadow Minister of Legal Affairs, Senior Counsel, Roysdale Forde of the APNU-AFC Opposition has questioned the PPP/C motive for not focusing on constitution reform but instead, unleashed an attack on supposed supporters of the last Government.

Forde in making his budget debate presentation said that the budget appears to of no substance when it comes to constitutional reform.

He said that it has chosen the path of attacking some investment under the APNU-AFC Government.

“I would not have known last year when I spoke of the People Progressive Party/Civic‘s decision to dissolve the State Assets Recovery Agency and to replace it with a watch poodle, that

poodle would have been the Honourable Attorney General.

“The Attorney General has launched a vicious attack on supporters of the APNU+AFC seeking to recover lands. Despite this, they speak of ‘’oneness’’.

This is hypocrisy,” Forde said.

“The budget presented by the PPP/C bears no substance that will look to fix the constitutional problems we face.

Correcting the problems will put us on par with the present reality.

“Instead of that the Government has chosen to take credit for works of the APNU-AFC. “Despite the grand talk of an active and rigorous Parliamentary agenda, there has been no progress and no signs of any activity or rigour.”

Under the Criminal

Justice Sector Reform Programme, Guidelines, Rules, and Procedures for the implementation of a Restorative Justice Program had already been developed. Further, a Restorative Justice Bill of 2019 had already been laid in this Assembly.

There is not a single piece of legislation which has been identified in the Budget Speech which would advance or improve the Justice Sector, Forde contended.

All the Bills brought to this House, except for the unconstitutional Fiscal Management and Accountability Amendment Act were Bills drafted and conceived under the A Partnership For National Unity + Alliance For Change, he added.

“The Budget and the Attorney General once

again fail to appreciate that there is a need for the establishment of a governance structure that recognizes the reality of our ethnic composition; the devolution of power to the Regions and a review and strengthening of the checks and balances in the Constitutional framework.”

Mr. Forde said that even if the Government wants to go after lands in the interest of fairness it must do so with a balance. As such, Mr. Forde suggested that Government be fair in the Investigation of land purchased by National Hardware under the Jagdeo Government.

Forde, who give details on the sale said that “On January 12, 2010, NICIL entered into an Amendment to an Agreement of Sale and Purchase with National Hardware signed on December 28, 2009, to sell the Property measuring 103.88 acres for the consideration of $598,659,398.

The price per acre sold to National Hardware ($5.8M) was substantially less than what National Hardware had bid for a similar property (approx..

40 acres) in January 2009 in the same Liliendaal/ Pattensen area and where the highest bid received in January 2009 was $16.24M per acre.

That price had appeared inadequate by NICIL at that time. Also, NICIL had received an offer of approximately $15.1M per acre for the said land when the property was advertised for Expressions of Interest in mid-2008.

On March 12, 2010, a Vesting Order # 4 of 2010 was signed by the Minister of Finance vesting the ownership from the Government of Guyana via Guyana Lands and Survey Commission to NICIL. On March 20, 2010, Vesting order # 4 of 2010 signed on March 12, 2010, by the Minister of Finance was published in the Official Gazette – Legal Supplement – B dated 20th March 2010 On March 16, 2010, NICIL wrote Edward Boyer informing him that the 103 acres of land was vested to National Hardware as per the agreement of sale and requested the payment of the outstanding balance of $540,659,398.

On June 1, 2010, NICIL wrote Mr. Edward Boyer, Managing Director of National Hardware requesting the outstanding balance of $540,659,398 due since March 16, 2010 and that interest was accruing until paid.

Between October 29, 2010, and Dec 1, 2010, the balance was paid.

May 9, 2011, the transport for the property was issued to National Hardware.

In 2012, National Hardware sold Edward B. Beharry & Company Limited 16.615 acres of land for $495,085,500.

“Imagine 16.615 acres of land being sold for $495,085,500; the 16.615 acres forming part of same 100 acres which was sold for $$598,659,398 to National Hardware.”

“While officials of and appointed by the A Partnership For National Unity + Alliance For Change are being unfairly harassed, the country awaits the investigation of this matter and the institution of legal proceedings.”

Forde maintained that if the Government wants to play fair we must examine such transactions.

Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, has over the past few months ordered some investigation and have filed some lawsuit against several companies, who in the eyes of the Irfaan Ali government were seemingly gifted land.

These companies include the BK International Company over its Water Front property and the Cevons Waste Management Mandela Avenue property.

Health Ministry sacks Linden Hospital CEO

As Nurses in the Linden Hospital Complex Protest their disapproval of the Chief Executive Officer, Rudolph Small’s appointment over his “Sweet Man” comment, yesterday, the Ministry of Health, through the Permanent Secretary ordered that the CEO vacate his post.

Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, Malcolm Watkins, in a letter noted that with info@guyanapostonline.com

immediate effect Small must be removed from his post.

It was also noted that Small should also hand over any property that belongs to the Hospital.

The letter did not however make mention of him being posted to another position.

Last week, Small in a comment to a news agency, while describing the alleged conduct of some of the nurses, said,

“We have some nurses who are accustomed to reporting for duty at night.

They sign in, then they get away and go and sleep with their sweet man.”

That statement however was not taken lightly as nurses and the Guyana Public Service Union took it to social media and hosted a press conference that described the comment as one that is distasteful and unacceptable.

Coupled with a rejection of his statements, the nurses took it to his office demanding for his resignation.

And on Monday, nurses were seen with placards calling for his removal noting that they cannot continue to be headed by someone so disrespectful.

They maintained that it remains a perspective that can damage their reputation at work and at Chief Executive Officer, Rudolph Small home.

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Guyana Post Wednesday March 3, 2021

CDB approves largest disbursement since 2019

In 2020, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) approved US$536.6 million in loans and grants for its Borrowing Member Countries (BMCs) to finance improvements in economic infrastructure, social resilience, policybased initiatives, and COVID-19 mitigation.

This total marked a 77% increase over the

US$303 million approved in 2019.

Loan financing accounted for US$380 million, up from US$253.7 million in 2019, while grant funding was US$156.6 million, more than double the US$49.3 million approved the previous year.

The Bank’s disbursements also rose in 2020 totaling

US$357.4 million, a 17% increase on the US$304.9 million achieved the prior year. Loans climbed to US$283.2 million from US$231.5 million, while grants inched up to US$74.2 million from US$73.4 million.

In Part 3 of CDB’s Regional Report: 2020 Review and 2021 Outlook, issued today President, Dr. Wm Warren

Smith said: “Despite the logistic and other setbacks caused by the pandemic in 2020, CDB approved funding for projects aimed at boosting the Region’s export competitiveness and better preparing the economies for the postCOVID recovery.”

The bulk of the financing approved in 2020 was for large-scale economic infrastructure projects including US$190 million for the upgrading of 121 kilometres of roadway from Linden to Mabura Hill in Guyana. This is the largest project CDB has approved for financing.

There was also US$60 million to upgrade 125 kilometres of the Philip S. W. Goldson Highway and the Remate Bypass Road, a vital trade corridor between Belize, Guatemala, and Mexico; and US$55 million to rehabilitate and improve 40 kilometres of the Millennium Highway and

West Coast Road in Saint Lucia.

Other approvals in 2020 included US$13.7 million for nine school improvement projects which will benefit more than 6,000 students across St Vincent and the Grenadines; US$8.6 million for a 5 MW utility battery-energy-storage and 1 MW grid-connected solar photovoltaic system project in St. Vincent and the Grenadines; and US$7.5 million in grant financing for the Community-Based Agriculture and Rural Development Project II, which will improve food and nutrition security in Haiti.

CDB also advanced work on several projects in 2020 including the Dennery North Water Supply Redevelopment Project in Saint Lucia, which has improved the water supply system for approximately 2,900

households.

Implementation of the Long Island and Crooked Island Water Supply Improvement Project in the Bahamas also progressed to the benefit of 540 households.

During the year, CDB launched the CND$20 million CanadaCARICOM Climate Adaptation Fund in partnership with the Government of Canada.

The objective is to strengthen disaster risk management capacity in nine BMCs Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Suriname.

Also, the construction and upgrade of 59 classrooms in basic schools was completed through the CDB’s Basic Needs Trust Fund, which will benefit close to 1,100 students across the region.

REPORTING ON SEX ABUSE VICTIMS Bachelor’s Adventure man appears in

court on murder charge

Dead: Keith Andrew Willis

The Guyana Press Association wishes to remind editors, journalists, and members of the Guyana Police Force of their obligation and responsibility to protect victims of assault, children, child victims, and victims of trafficking.

The latest infraction was published in an edition of Kaieteur News while another infraction was committed recently by an online entity called Guyana Daily News.

The GPA has noted the publication of images, info@guyanapostonline.com

names, and geographical locations which can all identify victims of these crimes. We have also noticed names of victims of trafficking victims being circulated.

The media has a responsibility to ensure that victims of these crimes are protected at all times. The publication of images and names is harmful and leads to further trauma as well as affects ongoing investigations or court matters that can bring justice to these victims.

We also call on the

Guyana Police Force to ensure that the names of victims in certain matters are not published in its releases as that is the first step to ensuring that victims are protected.

GPA also wants to use this opportunity to remind the media and the police that they follow all guidelines when disseminating and reporting information on suicides, we have to ensure that we do not include information on methods, etc which can do more harm to other persons.

Close two months after a young Bachelor’s Adventure youth was stabbed to death after visiting the mother of his child in the Paradise Housing Scheme, East Coast Demerara (ECD), a man was today charged and remanded to prison.

The accused, 21-yearold Tafari Softleigh appeared before Magistrate Fabayo Azore at the Vigilance Magistrate’s Court and was not required to enter a plea to the charge.

According to the charge Softleigh between December 13 and December 14, 2020 at Bachelor’s

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Murder Accused: Tafari softleigh

Adventure Access Road, murdered Keith Andrew Willis,called “Ghandi”.

With the case not ready for trial at the moment, Softleigh was remanded to prison until April 22.

Willis lived with his mother and other siblings.

About 16:30 hours, he left home to attend a football competition which was held aback of Bachelor’s Adventure, ECD. That match concluded at 20:30 hours.

At the conclusion of the game, Willis went to visit the mother of his daughter in 22nd Street Paradise Housing Scheme, ECD. He then left about 23:00hrs to head home.

On Monday, at about 05:30 hours, a resident of the area, who was heading to work, observed Willis lying on the roadway and he summoned the police.

When police arrived at the scene, Willis was seen lying motionless on the eastern side of Bachelor’s Adventure Access Road, ECD clad in black threequarters pants and white top. He was in a pool of blood.

Police examined the body and found a single stab wound to the upper left side neck. The body was escorted to the Georgetown Public Hospital where Willis was pronounced dead.

Guyana Post Wednesday March 3, 2021

Opposition Leader says Budget 2021 needs great scrutiny

With the 2021 National Budget before the National Assembly, Leader of the Opposition, Joseph Harmon has maintained that the budget should be subjected to great scrutiny of each line item since the Budget does not

give a cohesive plan for economic development.

Speaking to the Budget, in the National Assembly, Mr. Harmon described the Budget as one that is visionless and begs the question as to why are we spending all the monies

allocated.

Mr. Harmon says that they should be questioned on all front, since the budget remains disconnected from the ordinary man, and seeks to wreak havoc on the lives of the small man and

to benefit the higher class.

“This is budget is disconnected from the ordinary man…It has resurrected failed policies and programmes and instead of the budget that would bring economic empowerment for all

Guyana, we have a budget that ignores a large section of the population and other handouts to a few…

“It’s a budget designed to keep people poor rather than a budget with economic programmes and empowerment…

Young people have been ignored and cast aside, while the Minister of Sports brags about the largest budget ever.

We still need to see what’s inside there… where is your youth policy to know where this money will be spent,” Harmon said.

Although there is the need to question each section of the budget, Mr. Harmon said importantly there is the need to question monies inserted into Health to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

There is no clear direction to deal with the pandemic, he said.

“The budget for 2020 contained a sum for communicable diseases control for a three-month period.

The Government spent $7 Billion.

In 2021 for a 12-month period, the sum of $8 billion was voted for drugs and medical supply and there was a heavy increase for COVID-19 activation.”

This Opposition Leader said that as such this proposed vote must be subjected to scrutiny since the government’s plan and funding seem quite out of sync.”

Mr. Harmon added that with the budget as it is, he cannot support it and calls for a wider consultation plan on the way forward.

The debate ended on Monday. The Government and the Opposition are set to look at each allocation in the coming week.

DPP withdraws charge against murder accused

Following a recommendation from the Director of Public Prosecution, Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan has discharged the murder charge against the number one suspect, leaving another one other to face the court for the murder of the 60-yearold Contractor, Peter Gonsalves.

Gonsalves was gunned

down during a robbery in Garnett Street, Newtown.

In court Monday morning, when the matter was called Police Prosecutor informed the court that the Number One accused 28-yearold Kacey Heyliger of 42 Shell Road, Kitty will have his charge withdrawn against him for the murder of Peter Gonsalves.

With the charge

withdrawn against Heyliger, 25-year-old Daniel Parris, the second suspect, of ‘D’ Field South Sophia, Georgetown, is now left to answer the charge of murder.

It was alleged that both men murdered Gonsalves of Pere Street, Kitty, Georgetown on December 7, 2020, about 21:45 hrs on Garnett Street, Newtown, Georgetown.

Reports are that on the day in question, Gonsalves and another man were on a motorcycle, when they were attacked by two men on a motorcycle also.

The two men reportedly confronted Gonsalves while being armed with a gun. The men later had an exchange that led to the Gonsalves being shot several times before the men later relieved him of Dead: Peter Gonsalves his motorcycle.

Gonsalves was left to bleed to death on the scene while his friend was left unharmed Police through their investigation arrested Heyliger, who was first charged and remanded.

They then turned their attention to Parris, who reportedly confessed to the murder and was later charged.

Daniel Parris

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Kacey Heyliger Tucville, Georgetown, Guyana, Tel: 592-623-9971

Regional News

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Legendary reggae singer Bunny Wailer died in the Medical Associates Hospital in Kingston this morning. He was 73.

“Yes. He died about 8:00 this morning. I’m still right here with him,” his manager Maxine Stowe told OBSERVER ONLINE a short while

Guyana Post Wednesday March 3, 2021

Bunny Wailer is dead

ago.

Bunny Wailer had been in and out of hospital since his second stroke in July 2020.

Hailing from Trench Town, Bunny Wailer’s given name is Neville Livingston. He is a founding member of The Wailers, which included Bob Marley and Peter

Tosh.

Marley died of cancer in May 11, 1981, while Tosh was killed at his St Andrew home on September 11, 1987.

Bunny Wailer’s albums include Blackheart Man, released in 1976, and Rock ‘n’ Groove which came out five years later.

His hit songs include Cool Runnings, Ballroom Floor, Crucial, and Bald Head Jesus.

In 2017, the Jamaican Government awarded Bunny Wailer an Order of Merit, the country’s fourth highest honour.

The Government again recognised his contribution to Jamaican music in February 2019 with a Reggae Gold Award.

Bunny Wailer, one of the founders of the seminal reggae group the Wailers, in performance in 2016.Credit...

Mediapunch/Shutterstock

Scores of packages with more than 300 pounds of cocaine were found in containers at the Kingston Freeport Terminal Limited (KFTL)

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Scores of packages with more than 300 pounds of cocaine were found in containers at the Kingston Freeport Terminal Limited (KFTL) on Monday afternoon.

According to reports,

the drug was found in two of six transhipment containers that arrived on the island from Guyana en route to Haiti and China.

While searching the containers, Narcotics Police accompanied by

members of the Jamaica Customs Contraband Enforcement Team reportedly found a total of 122 packages (110 in one and 12 in another), each with a compressed white substance resembling cocaine.

The total weight of the drugs is approximately 139.4 kilograms (307 pounds) and the estimated street value is US$6.59 million.

No one has been arrested in connection with the seizure.

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Tucville, Georgetown, Guyana, Tel: 592-623-9971

Guyana Post Wednesday March 3, 2021

International News

ALEXEI NAVALNY: US IMPOSES SANCTIONS ON RUSSIANS

The US has imposed sanctions on senior Russian officials over the poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

The measures, which target Russia’s top spy and six others, are being co-ordinated with similar moves by the European Union.

US officials said intelligence had concluded that the Moscow government was behind the near-fatal nerve agent attack on Navalny last year.

He is the most highprofile critic of President Vladimir Putin.

Moscow denies

involvement in his poisoning and disputes the conclusion, by Western weapons experts, that Navalny was poisoned with a Novichok agent during a flight in Siberia.

The term Novichok “newcomer” in Russian - applies to a group of nerve agents developed in

a lab by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. They paralyse muscles and can lead to death by asphyxiation.

What measures has the US taken?

Sanctions are being imposed on seven senior Russian officials and 14 entities involved in

chemical and biological production, administration officials said.

“Russia’s attempt to kill Mr Navalny follows an alarming pattern of chemical weapons use by Russia,” one official said.

Novichok was used in a 2018 attack in the English city of Salisbury against a Russian exiled doubleagent and his daughter.

Under the sanctions, the assets of the officials in the US are frozen.

Those targeted include Alexander Bortnikov, who heads the FSB, Russia’s main intelligence agency, as well as deputy Defence Ministers Alexei Krivoruchko and Pavel Popov.

The sanctions are the first imposed on Russia by the administration of President Joe Biden. He has taken a tougher stance than his predecessor Donald Trump towards President Putin.

After phoning his

Russian counterpart last month, Mr Biden said he had made it clear the days of the US “rolling over in the face of Russia’s aggressive actions, interfering with our elections, cyber-attacks, poisoning citizens are over”.

What about the European Union?

In a co-ordinated move, the EU announced on Tuesday that it had targeted four Russian government officials.

They are Alexandr Kalashnikov, the head of the Russian prison system, Alexandr Bastrykin, chairman of the Investigative Committee, Chief Prosecutor Igor Krasnov, and Viktor Zolotov, who heads of the National Guard.

The sanctions include travel bans and asset freezes.

The BBC’s Kevin Connolly in Brussels says they are a compromise between the Baltic states,

New satellite images reveal North Korea took recent steps to conceal nuclear weapons site

Washington (CNN) New satellite imagery obtained by CNN reveals North Korea has recently taken steps to conceal a facility US intelligence agencies believe is being used to store nuclear weapons, a move that could add to the growing sense of urgency from critics who argue the Biden administration needs to articulate a clear strategy on how it will

deal with Kim Jong Un going forward.

The image, captured

by Maxar on February 11 and analyzed by experts at the Middlebury Institute, shows North Korea built new structures at its Yongdoktong site over the course of 2020 -- an effort researchers say is likely intended to obscure a pair of underground tunnel entrances that lead to the facility where nuclear

weapons are stored.

“Images released by Maxar show the pair of tunnel entrances as late as December 2019 and a new building-like structure visible by February 2021,” according to Jeffrey Lewis, a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, which specializes in opensource intelligence.

Yongdoktong has been previously identified

by US intelligence as a suspected North Korean nuclear weapons storage facility and is still believed to be used for that purpose, a US intelligence official told CNN. The satellite images obtained by CNN reaffirm what has been widely known among US national security officials and experts for years: North Korea continues to actively develop nuclear weapons at sites around the country while taking further steps toward hiding the stockpile it has already accumulated.

Recent construction at the site will certainly catch the attention of US intelligence agencies as they carefully monitor sites suspected to be part of Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program, according to two former intelligence officials and

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congressional lawmakers.

Lawmakers and key US allies are eagerly awaiting details about President Joe Biden’s North Korea policy, which they expect will be announced publicly in the coming weeks when the administration has completed a policy review, according to multiple sources familiar with the internal discussions.

The clear evidence North Korea’s nuclear program is continuing adds to the urgency of the situation, with critics arguing that a policy review that goes on for too long risks developments occurring that will further complicate achieving the administration’s goal of denuclearization.

“No matter how comical the effort, North Korea continues to upgrade its nuclear

weapons facilities and makes efforts to conceal them,” Lewis said, referring to the fact that US intelligence agencies have been watching the site for years.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Pentagon, citing intelligence matters, declined to comment. The State Department did not respond to CNN’s request for comment on the new imagery.

Biden mulls options as North Korea employs ‘deception and denial’ Beyond stressing a commitment to work alongside regional allies, the Biden administration has said little about its plans for engaging with North Korea during its first weeks in office, with top officials only offering vague statements .

Tucville, Georgetown, Guyana, Tel: 592-623-9971

Guyana Post Wednesday March 3, 2021

International News

Nigeria school abduction: Hundreds of girls released by gunmen

Girls among the nearly 300 who were kidnapped from a school in northwestern Nigeria have been describing their ordeal following their release.

“Most of us got injured,” one of the schoolgirls told the BBC, adding that gunmen threatened to shoot them.

The girls were abducted by unidentified assailants from their boarding school in Jangebe, Zamfara state, on Friday and taken to a forest, police said.

The state’s governor said on Tuesday that the 279 girls had been freed.

Such kidnappings are carried out for ransom and are common in the north of the country.

On Tuesday, dozens of the girls were seen gathered at a government building in Zamfara after they were taken there in a fleet of mini-buses.

Speaking to the BBC, one of the schoolgirls said that some of those kidnapped had found

it difficult to continue walking when instructed to do so by the gunmen because of their injuries.

“They said they [would] shoot anybody who did not continue to walk,” she said. “We walked across a river and they hid us and let us sleep under shrubs in a forest.”

Another of the girls, aged 15, said that some of her classmates found it difficult “walking in the stones and thorns” and had to be carried.

“They started hitting us with guns so that we [would] move,” she told Reuters news agency, adding: “While they were beating them with guns, some of them were crying and moving at the same time.”

Some of the fathers who had arrived to see their daughters for the first time since their abduction told reporters they were “very happy” at the news of their release.

The group’s release was secured through negotiations between government officials and the abductors, authorities in Zamfara state told the BBC. Local authorities said that an earlier figure provided by police of 317 for the number of girls kidnapped was not accurate.

One official told Reuters that the discrepancy was because of the fact that some girls had fled shortly after being abducted.

Nigeria’s President

Muhammadu Buhari said he felt “overwhelming joy” at the news of the girls’ release. “[I am] pleased that their ordeal has come to a happy end without any incident,” he said.

The governor of Zamfara state, Bello Matawalle, tweeted that it “gladdens my heart to announce the release of the abducted students”.

“This follows the scaling of several hurdles laid against our efforts,” he added. “I enjoin all well-meaning Nigerians to rejoice with us as our daughters are now safe.”

Mr Matawalle has denied paying for the girls to be released, but last week President Buhari admitted state governments had paid kidnappers “with money and vehicles” in the past and urged them to review the policy.

Analysis: Nigeria’s ransom controversy

By Ishaq Khalid, BBC News, Abuja

It is believed that schools have started to be targeted as such abductions attract a lot of attention - putting more pressure on the authorities to negotiate with the armed criminal group responsible.

The authorities rarely admit to paying ransoms - but some observers say it is unlikely that the gunmen would release their victims without some sort of exchange, either of money or the release of their members who are in jail.

Besides, kidnapping for ransom is a widespread criminal enterprise across the country - people are seized by gunmen on almost a daily basis with both the rich and the poor falling victims.

Security personnel have been held too. People often speak of how they have managed to secure someone’s release by raising funds from friends and relatives - or even selling their assets.

Trump is facing probes from 5 independently elected investigators

( C N N ) F i v e independently elected investigators have turned their attention to former President Donald Trump, a sign his legal woes are mounting as he no longer enjoys the protections once afforded to him by the Oval Office.

Trump is now facing inquiries run by elected officials from Georgia to New York to Washington with only their constituents to answer to.

Most are Democrats, but one key investigation was launched by a Georgia Republican who has faced

heavy criticism from Trump since the election.

And the former President’s actions on his way out of office, including his attempts to overturn the 2020 election results and to stir up his supporters with baseless claims of fraud until they stormed the US Capitol on a harrowing January day, have only added to his legal problems.

“It’s never happened in our history but every single one of these prosecutors and attorneys general has more than sufficient predication to

investigate what they’re investigating,” said Daniel R. Alonso, who was a top deputy to Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance from 2010 to 2014.

There are signs the probes are picking up. In New York, investigators recently got their hands on Trump’s tax returns and have bolstered their team with a prosecutor who specializes in complex financial cases.

In Georgia, another prosecutor plans to begin requesting subpoenas from a grand jury as early as this week.

“The world has changed for Donald Trump, legally, now that he’s no longer president,” said Elie Honig, a former federal and state prosecutor and a CNN legal analyst.

“Donald Trump tried to

delay civil suits against him, he tried to delay subpoenas against him while he was president.

All of that is gone now, so now we’re seeing multiple investigators -- federal and state -- digging in and taking a hard look at Donald Trump.”

All eyes on the Empire State In Manhattan, all eyes are on Vance, who has been investigating Trump’s finances for two years and is not expected to run for reelection.

The Democrat has 10 months left in his term -- setting the clock, some said, for him to wrap up his investigation.

“It’s likely that the case, if it is charged, would be charged before Vance leaves office,” said Anne Milgram, a former

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attorney general for New Jersey and former federal prosecutor.

“That’s because that’s 10 months away -- which is a long time in a criminal investigation -- and because the DA’s office had previously noted that there were statutes of limitations timing issues,” she said.

Prosecutors have already interviewed witnesses, subpoenaed documents from lenders, an insurance broker and others, and last month recruited a former federal prosecutor with a background in complex financial investigations to bolster their team.

Last week investigators also received a trove of records, including tax returns, financial statements, and

communications between the Trump Organization and Mazars, Trump’s long-time accountant, after the Supreme Court denied Trump’s latest bid to block Vance from accessing those records.

“I think the goal will be to move quickly and, if they believe a crime has been committed, they will move to present the case to the grand jury within months, not years,” Milgram said.

Vance, the son of a former US secretary of state and Washington insider, spent the better part of his legal career as a white-collar criminal defense lawyer. He ran for district attorney and was sworn into office in 2010 after a more than 30-year run by his predecessor Robert Morgenthau.

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