Here.

As the Guyanese mining industry adopts stricter environmental standards, miners worry about the higher associated costs.  Along with the stricter standards, the new rules will be “tightly enforced.”

 Prime Minister Samuel Hinds stated, “restoration must be recognized as a cost of production.”  The need to lessen the environment impact of mining without hindering mining’s economic contribution is vital.

 (via stabroeknews.com)

Suriname is on the list.

(via time.com)

#4 

Among the hundreds of new life forms and animal species discovered this year, scientists have been able to identify 24 new species in a remote part of Suriname’s rainforest.  Among these species include 12 dung beetles, an ant species, six species of fish and five new frogs, including one with fluorescent purple markings.

Remarkable!

(via timesonline.co.uk)

Moore and his British bodyguards were bundled into police vehicles and driven northwards into Sadr City, the Shi’ite stronghold of Moqtada al-Sadr.

The five hostages are believed to be held at two or more locations to thwart any rescue attempt by the SAS.

For five months there has apparently been no attempt by the kidnappers to publicise their demand that the British persuade US forces to release Qais al-Khazaali, a leading Shi’ite militiaman whom the Iranians have chosen to head a splinter group of al-Sadr’s Mahdi army.

…

Last week the kidnappers released a video showing one of the hostages, named only as Jason, and warning that a hostage would be killed if British troops did not leave Iraq in 10 days. This is seen as an attempt to take credit for the imminent handover of southern Iraq and the withdrawal of 500 troops.

Peter Moore, a friend to many Guyanese and RPCVs, was kidnapped in Iraq earlier this week. Peter worked with Guyana Geology and Mines Commission from about GUY 11 to GUY 14. For more information, check out ABC News. Please keep Peter in your thoughts and prayers.

The other big item was that a terrorist cell out of Guyana was broken up in Brooklyn with plans to attack JFK airport. Check out more on Google News.

UPDATE: This is only a rumour but I heard this from someone close to him.

[T]he last i heard was that the mehdi army claiming to have him for negotions…but they still havent stated what they wanted or shown any proof they indeed have em alive…

(via cbs2chicago.com)

A Peace Corps volunteer from Illinois was killed in Suriname when she accidentally set off a gun rigged as an animal trap, police said.

The woman, identified as 25-year-old Blythe Ann O’Sullivan, was shot in the leg Thursday and apparently bled to death before she could get medical treatment, police spokesman John Jones said Saturday.

O’Sullivan, a native of Bloomingdale, Ill., joined the Peace Corps in August 2006, the corps said in a statement on its Web site. She worked on a water project and with women’s organizations to fund and develop a village community center, the corps said.

“Blythe’s death is a tremendous loss for her loved ones, family, the Peace Corps, and the people of Suriname,” Peace Corps director Ron Tschetter said in the agency’s statement.

Jones said the victim was volunteering in the woods of a rural northern village inhabited by Maroons, descendants of runaway African slaves.

Obama says he will double the size of the Peace Corps from 7,800 volunteers to 16,000 by its 50th anniversary in 2012. “We will create new opportunities for all of us to serve,” Obama said on Wednesday. He has also proposed:

• Expand AmeriCorps from its current 75,000 positions to 250,000, with new units to deal with education, clean energy, health care and homeland security.
• Expand service programs involving retired people and anyone over 55.
• Set goals for middle school and high school students to give 50 hours a year of public service, and for college students to serve 100 hours a year.

(via wdsu.com)

A month after suspending five employees and paying a $470,000 fine for underreporting the number of trees cut, Barama is closing down one of their plywood processing plants.

Barama has exhausted a portion of their logging concession and cannot begin again until their stocks are replenished. 150 employees will be affected by the plant closure.

(via chron.com)

Rene Nunez’s Turbo-cooker “has won an environmental prize from the UN, funding from the Fondo Iniciativa para las Americas El Salvador (FIAES) and has received a US patent for his invention.”  This recognition will allow Nunez to proceed with manufacturing the cooker and aid much of the world’s poorest in cooking in less toxic conditions. 

 According to Nunez, the Turbo-cooker burns efficiently “reducing the amount of fuel which is needed by over 95%.  That is 95% less deforestation, less greenhouse gases and less toxins in the living space of women and children around the world.”