Guyana passes strict law against sex offenders
It seems like the Caribbean is toughening up on crime as a whole. Last week Jamaica’s prime minister introduced tougher penalties for gun crimes. Now, Guyana lawmakers just passed legislation that requires people convicted of certain sexual offenses (such as molestation, rape, sexual exploitation and prostitution) to face being supervised by the police for the rest of their lives, even after they have completed their sentences, reports the BBC. Also under the new law, those convicted of armed robbery, domestic violence and hijacking, would be supervised by police for a mandatory three years after serving their sentence. Members of the opposition in the nation’s Parliament supported the law in general but were also concerned that it allowed for the prime minister to add or remove offenses without consulting the governing body first.

Rebels Attack Two Nigerian oil pipelines
A Nigerian rebel group took responsibility for damaging two oil pipelines in southern Nigeria, reports CNN. About the attack, the group Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), said “detonation engineers backed by heavily armed fighters” caused damage to the pipelines early Monday morning. The rebels believe that the pipelines, located in two different cities, are the property of Shell Petroleum Development Company. And Shell has confirmed damage to at least one of its pipelines in the country. “We are working to ascertain the extent of the damage and have shut in some production to limit the amount of crude that will spill into the environment,” Caroline Wittgen, a Shell spokeswoman said. Nigeria is one of the United States’ major oil suppliers, and the rebel attacks on oil pipelines in the nation have led to the rise in crude oil prices. The recent attacks have cut the region’s oil production by 10 percent. “Anytime a pipeline is affected, anytime any production gets shut down, you see oil prices jump up one or two dollars a barrel just because there is no slack in the system,” Jim LeCamp, senior vice president with RBC Wealth Management ( a company that works with wealthy clients internationally) told CNN. Since 2006, MEND has made it a point to attack big foreign oil companies – by bombing pipelines or kidnapping foreign oil employees for ransom – because they believe the oil wealth should be shared with the mostly poor citizens of the Niger Delta region. More than 70 percent of natives in the oil-rich area get paid less that a dollar each day.

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TAGS: attack, Guyana, offenders, oil, pipeline, rebels, sex

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