KARTALKAYA, Turkey,  (Reuters) – A fire at a ski resort hotel in Turkey’s Bolu mountains killed 66 people today and forced panicked guests to jump out of windows in the middle of the night. Some 51 people were also injured, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said at the Kartalkaya ski resort in northwest Turkey. The fire began around 3:30 a.m. (0030 GMT) on the restaurant floor of the 12-storey Grand Kartal Hotel, authorities said. Several fire engines and ambulances surrounded the charred, wood-fronted building, with white bed sheets tied together and dangling from one upper-floor window where people tried to flee. Baris Salgur, a hotel guest, told broadcaster NTV that people jumped from windows to escape, including two women on the top floor who urged those on the ground to ready pillows. “When the fire got close they jumped right away,” he said. Another guest told Ekol TV that he and his family...

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – President Donald Trump said today he will declare a national energy emergency aimed at boosting U.S. oil and gas production, and lowering costs for U.S. consumers. The emergency declaration is just one of many actions Trump was expected to take on Monday and in the coming days to bolster the U.S. oil, gas and power industries and put a brake on former President Joe Biden’s efforts to accelerate the electric vehicle industry. “America will be a manufacturing nation once again, and we have something that no other manufacturing nation will ever have, the largest amount of oil and gas of any country on Earth, and we are going to use it,” Trump said in his inauguration address in the U.S. Capitol. “We will drill, baby, drill.” Biden came into the White House vowing to wean the U.S. off fossil fuels, but U.S. oil and gas production hit record levels under his watch as drillers chased high prices in the wake...

Using mercury to extract gold is currently the cheapest method available to small miners here, Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat said, and banning it would put most of this country’s small miners out of business. However, he said, the government is seeking ways to incentivize movement to more environmentally friendly extraction methods, and already there has been significant reduction from large and medium scale miners and notable progress in implementing the 2013 Minamata Convention on Mercury. “The challenge is with the smaller miners. If we should say to a miner, use this system … They would have to invest $5 million…, whatever it costs to set up that system. … Basically we are putting them out of operation. And you know it is difficult for the small miners to invest in a system that costs $5 million or $10 million even though it may increase  their recovery rate,” Bharrat...

Guyana’s public and publicly guaranteed (PPG) debt skyrocketed last year from US$2.239b in 2023 to US$5.993b, an increase of 167%. This was disclosed in Minister of Finance’s Dr Ashni Singh’s budget presentation on Friday and reflects the aggressive borrowing the government has embarked upon.       He said that over the last four and half years, the Government extended its “track record of responsible management of Guyana’s public debt. Notwithstanding our transformative development agenda, debt has remained sustainable.”   He said that the Government remains resolutely committed to the objective of mobilising development financing within prudent cost and risk parameters and said that the PPG debt amounted to US$5,993.8 million at the end of 2024, mainly on account of net inflows from external and domestic creditors.   “Importantly, over the last 4 years, the ratio of total PPG debt-to-GDP plummeted by more than 20 percentage points, from 47.4 percent...

De politie in Suriname heeft zaterdagavond een arrestant aangehouden, die in september vorig jaar uit het cellenhuis van politiebureau Centrum wist te ontvluchten. Het gaat om de 42-jarige Oswald C. die op vrijdag 27 september 2024, tussen 00.00 uur en 06.00 uur ontsnapte. C. zat in arrest vanwege zijn betrokkenheid bij diefstal met geweld. Hij wist samen met twee andere mannen tralies van hun cel door te zagen. De ontsnapte arrestant is zaterdagavond na goed speurwerk door leden van het Regio Bijstand Team Paramaribo (RBTP)aangehouden. RPT

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(Trinidad Guardian) CIBC has become the latest bank to decrease the foreign exchange usage limit on its debit card holders in T&T.   In a notice to customers, the bank said from February 10, 2025, CIBC said it would be implementing revised foreign exchange usage limits as a result of ongoing foreign currency supply constraints in the local market.   The new monthly forex usage limits will be categorised by debit card product and will reduce from US$1,000 a month to US$ 500 for personal account Visa debit cards.   In October last year Scotiabank announced that from December 1, customers with personal credit cards, with the exception of the Aero Mastercard Black, will have a reduced maximum limit of US$2,000.   According to the Central Bank, a total of US$6.2 billion worth of foreign exchange was sold to the public by authorised dealers in 2023, marking a 4.9 per cent...

Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh today announced that the income tax threshold will move to $130,000 per month from the current $100,000. Delivering his 2025 budget presentation in Parliament he also announced a one-off $100,000 cash grant to each child born to a Guyanese mother. Old age pension will be moved to $41,000 per month. The Because We Care cash grant is to move from $40,000 per child to $50,000 per child. The personal income tax rate will also be cut from 28% to 25%, Singh said. RPT

BOGOTA,  (Reuters) – Colombian President Gustavo Petro suspended peace talks with the leftist National Liberation Army (ELN), today, after accusing the group of committing a war crime in the Catatumbo region. “The dialogue process with this group is suspended, the ELN has no will for peace”, Petro said on X. On Thursday, ELN fighters killed at least five demobilized members of the former FARC rebels who were part of a 2016 peace agreement. The group also launched attacks against members of Estado Mayor Central (EMC), a FARC dissident faction engaged in separate peace talks with the government. The violence led to civilian displacement and condemnation from the United Nations. Peace talks between the ELN and the government, which restarted in 2022, have been marred by setbacks. In September, the government suspended negotiations a day after an ELN explosives attack killed two soldiers and wounded 29 near the Venezuelan border. Talks also stalled when the government opened separate...

Een ernstig verkeersongeval tussen een motorfiets en een auto heeft donderdag geleid tot zware verwondingen bij een 67-jarige motorrijder. Het incident vond plaats op de Martin Luther Kingweg in Suriname (Highway), ter hoogte van de Tout Lui Fautweg. De man werd liggend op zijn zij aangetroffen door hulpdiensten en klaagde over pijn in zijn hele lichaam. Bij onderzoek bleek hij diverse verwondingen te hebben waaronder een barstwond op het hoofd en ongecontroleerd bloeden bij zijn kruis. De toestand van de man was dusdanig ernstig dat hij met spoed vervoerd naar de Spoedeisende Hulp (SEH) voor verdere behandeling. Hoe het ongeluk precies heeft kunnen gebeuren is niet bekend. De Surinaamse politie doet verder onderzoek naar de toedracht van het ongeval. RPT