Guyana's security forces are searching for gunmen who opened fire on one of the country's major police stations.

	Police clearing debris during 2008 disturbances

The unknown gunmen also tried to burn down two government buildings including the country's High Court early Wednesday morning.

One civilian was killed and two policemen were injured during the attacks.

The policemen were wounded when the Brickdam police station was fired on.

No one was hurt in another incident in which a small police outpost came under attack.

One civilian died from suffocation after he was duct-taped by the gunmen when they seized a vehicle that they used to move around to the various locations that they attacked.

Guyana Detectives charged

Two police detectives linked to offences related to burning the genitals of a teenager appeared in court on Wednesday in a case that has attracted widespread condemnation from the religious community, civil society, and two government parliamentarians in Guyana.

However the officers' appearance in court was on other matters and not the controversial alleged torture incident that has traumatised Guyanese society.

The detectives who were refused bail, faced several charges including unlawful and malicious wounding with intent to maim, disfigure or cause grievous bodily harm to two men who were suspected of being involved in the murder of a former government official two weeks ago.

Vote now just weeks away

Vincentians are three weeks away from a decisive vote that will determine whether they move to a new constitution or keep the old one the country has been operating under since 1979.

	Vincentians will vote for or against change on 25 November

The governing Unity Labour Party has been conducting a "Vote Yes" campaign, while the opposition New Democratic Party has been countering with a "Vote No" initiative.

The referendum is scheduled to take place on 25 November.

The chairman of the Constitutional Review Steering Committee, lawyer Parnel Campbell, is recommending that Vincentians opt for the proposed constitutional reforms, even though there are a few aspects of it he doesn't support totally.

While the majority vote needed in a referendum is 66.7%, the new constitution recommends 60%.

But Mr Campbell would like to see this dropped even further to 51%.

He would also have liked to see absolute privilege for MPs in parliament changed to qualified privilege.

Manning Panday talks

One handshake and a meeting later, Trinidad and Tobago's prime minister and the opposition leader have announced their willingness to work towards agreeing on constitutional reform and cooperating on anti-crime legislation.

Both Prime Minister Patrick Manning and Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday have been throwing verbal bombshells at each other for a while now.

The talks have taken many in the country by surprise, prompting queries about what triggered this sudden urge to work towards a common purpose.

BBC Caribbean's Tony Fraser has been explaining that the governing Peoples National Movement needs the cooperation of the opposition United National Congress in the country's parliament, to pass anti-crime legislation that requires a two-thirds majority in the House.

Novelist awarded

A Haitian-born Canadian writer is one of two novelists awarded France's Medicis literary prize celebrating original writing.

Dany Laferriere won the award for "The Enigma of Return", a fictionalised account of the 56 year old author's soul-wrenching return to his native Haiti to attend his father's funeral.

Mr Laferriere has explored the themes of identity and exile in some twenty novels over the past 25 years.

He was born in Port au Prince but now lives in Montreal and Miami.

His first work "Comment faire l'amour avec un negre sans se fatiguer - How to make love to a negro without getting tired" in 1985 was a hit.

It was translated in several languages and turned into a movie in 1989.