Daily Archive: Friday, July 31, 2009

-company official testifies in US court The Co-director of UK firm Smith Myers yesterday testified in a New York court that the cellular intercept equipment used by drug kingpin Roger Khan had been sold to the Government of Guyana (GoG), a contention that officials here have repeatedly denied.

-Selwyn Vaughn tells US court Roger Khan’s gang had plotted to kidnap the wife of a high-ranking US Embassy official in Guyana in retaliation for the drug kingpin’s arrest and handing over to the US.

US-based Guyanese Aubrey Boyce has won New York’s second-largest lottery jackpot, the US$133 million Mega Millions Lottery and received a cheque of US$55 million, his lump sum less taxes on Tuesday.

De Santos concerned at apparent breach of committee procedure Amid strong opposition objections to its second reading, the government yesterday passed a Bill that sets a new system for local government elections that includes first-past-the-post voting for the first time in decades.

-gov’t slams ‘diversionary’ tactics Backed by a noisy protest on Brickdam, new allegations in a US court of links between the government and drug trafficker Roger Khan sparked an exodus of the opposition from Parliament after PNCR Leader Robert Corbin was unable to raise the matter for urgent debate and government MPs later condemned the walkout as an attempt to create a diversion.

BASSETERRRE, St Kitts, CMC – With Bangladesh already having won the series courtesy of victories in the first two matches, West Indies can only hope to salvage what little pride remains in the final One-Day International of the three-match series here today.

Already embroiled in a bitter dispute with the West Indies Cricket Board, the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) is now exchanging words with the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) over retainer contracts for 33 players ahead of the Champions League Twenty20 series in India October 8 to 23.

By Tiadi BlairGuyana will be represented by a 10-member team to the International Lawn Tennis federation (ITF) Junior Coca Cola tournament in St Lucia.

Basseterre, St Kitts: West Indies Head Coach, John Dyson, has lauded the Bangladesh team for outplaying his depleted West Indies side in both the Digicel Test and Digicel One Day International series.

Former chief magistrate Juliet Holder-Allen, who was being sought by police in connection with the July 17 Ministry of Health fire investigation, was arrested early yesterday morning at her home and released late last evening on station bail.

Flamingo and Uprising bulldoze way into final Flamingo and Uprising Football Clubs will battle for top honours after flatten their opponents to enter the final of the Ministry of Culture Youth and Sports/Georgetown Football Association (GFA) Guinness Futsal Competition on Wednesday at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

The Working People’s Alliance (WPA) said on Wednesday that if the government was really serious about getting to the truth of the Health Ministry fire it would have moved to ensure a comprehensive forensic audit of the scene.

By Tiadi Blair The Guyana Harpy Eagle Martial Arts Academy will host its third annual Open Martial Arts Tournament exhibiting the art at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall tomorrow.

–slams strategy to ‘shift attention’ from ministry fire President Bharrat Jagdeo says his human rights record is secure should anyone take a look at it, as he lashed out at sections of the media for what he described as a clever strategy to shift attention from the Ministry of Health fire to “the so-called human rights issue”.

-contractors want extension The Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) says civil works on the construction of two $600M water treatment plants at Central Ruimveldt and Sophia are almost complete and complementary works for the facilities are also on schedule.

MUMBAI, India,  CMC – Substantive regional Twenty20 champions Trinidad & Tobago have been drawn in Group-A of the Twenty20 Champions League with Indian Premier League champions Deccan Chargers in the preliminary round of the competition to be staged in India in October.

Guyana’s Fabian Binns, Niall Roberts and Noelle Smith yesterday clocked good times at the world swimming championships yesterday.

Supplying residents of Lethem and neighbouring villages with potable water from the remnants of the hydro dam in the Kanuku Mountains is not feasible at this time, Minister of Housing and Water Irfaan Ali said in a written response in the National Assembly yesterday.

Buoyed by its new international standards accolade the National Milling Company (NAMILCO) is seeking to further enhance its reputation as a local manufacturer by focussing both on the qualitative enhancement of its products to address consumer health considerations as well as on the increase of its growing regional market share.

Aggressive promotions, `value for money’ driving marketing – Alvis Sustained and aggressive promotions and a “value for money policy” have helped Courts (Guyana) Inc.

KINGSTON, Jamaica,  CMC – Nelson Bolan snared four wickets for 30 runs to help Leewards complete a 25-run victory over Guyana in their opening round match of the TCL Group West Indies Under-19 One-day Trophy competition yesterday.

Terrence DaSilva, the man who allegedly killed another as a result of driving in a dangerous manner while under the influence of alcohol, was on Wednesday remanded to prison when he appeared before Acting Chief Magis-trate Melissa Robertson at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.

KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Jamaica launched their bid for a clean sweep of the series when they outplayed Trinidad & Tobago by four wickets in their opening match of the TCL Group, West Indies One-Day Trophy Under-19 tournament yesterday.

Georgetown is once again experiencing one of those periods during which we appear to be  overwhelmed by a profusion of garbage just about everywhere and the fact that this has been hardly cause for public comment says a lot about just  how ‘comfortable’ we all appear to have become in our condition of squalor This has been a recurring theme of editorials in this newspaper but even at the risk of being repetitive we believe that the state of the capital has become nothing short of a scandal and that until there is a genuine and sustained effort to remedy the problem the issue  cannot be allowed to disappear from public view.

Wilderness Explorers recently received the Honourable Mention Prize for its contribution to the local tourism industry in this year’s Pioneers of Prosperity Programme and customer service has been seen as one of the keys.

Dear Editor, As I read the breaking news of the recent week, a couple of questions are swirling in my head.

Under Attack Sometime soon the members of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) will commence talks in earnest with Canada on the establishment of a Free Trade Agreement to govern trade and economic relations between the two sides. 

Two fishing crews were attacked and robbed of two outboard engines and fuel tanks at the Albion foreshore, Corentyne on Wednesday by three gunmen who escaped in one of the fishing boats.

Dear Editor, A few days ago, Clive Lloyd and Michael Holding expressed a few of their feelings and views about the attitude, behaviour and performance of some of the West Indies players and their representative body, the West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA).

KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Barbados used a telling new-ball burst from captain Jason Holder to set up an uncomplicated seven-wicket win over the Windward Islands in their opening TCL Group West Indies One-Day Trophy Under-19 match yesterday.

HAVANA, (Reuters) – Cuba’s National Assembly will  set up a powerful new agency tomorrow tasked with fighting  corruption, which President Raul Castro has called a “deadly  cancer” plaguing the communist-ruled island’s economy.

Dear Editor, The Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) has issued a partial response to the first of my ten columns in Stabroek News on carbon in the forests of Guyana (‘LCDS has been presented at numerous international meetings and is under serious consideration’ SN, July 29). 

Sixty karatekas were successful at a grading examination conducted by Sensei Christopher Chaves which was held on July 25 at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall under the Japan Karate Association/World Federation Guyana (JKA/WFG).

Initiatives by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to shore up its unwholesome reputation with developing countries appear to have restored some measure of belief in the much-maligned  Bretton Woods lending institution among some developing countries including Caricom members.

The Youth Business Trust (YBT) of Guyana through the NEX Links Project is training 35 local and Caricom entrepreneurs in business lab methodology, utilizing the expertise of two Israeli entities.

Dear Editor, Recently  a letter was published in SN (‘Lara should not be criticized,’ July 27) giving a lot of statistics on Brian Lara, and I would like to take this opportunity to totally endorse everything the writer commented on, while adding a few of my own obervations.

The Guyana Badminton Association will attend the XVIII Pan American Junior Championships to be held in Puerto Rico from August 17 to 23 says president of the Guyana Badminton Association Gokarn Ramdhani.

CARACAS, (Reuters) – Venezuela and China formed a  joint venture yesterday worth $7.5 billion to build a railway  that will link farm and oil regions in the South American  country, a senior official said.

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria, (Reuters) – The leader of a  radical Islamic sect in northern Nigeria has been killed in  police detention hours after being captured by the security  forces, a police spokesman said yesterday.

– Hails event as the best ever in 12 years The Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club (RHTYSC) has hailed their 12th annual cricket academy as one of the best ever as the curtains came down on the two-week event with an award ceremony.

The Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) today celebrates the 30th anniversary of its establishment against the backdrop of myriad challenges associated with the administration of an industry which, over the years,  has assumed growing significance in the Guyana economy.

Dear Editor, I am a People Progressive Party/Civic Councillor in the Mayor and Town Council of Linden.

(This is the third in a 10-part series intended to look at some of the issues surrounding Guyana’s bid for funds from the World Bank-administered Forest Carbon Partnership Fund (FCPF) and from Norway, and for the President’s Low Carbon Development Strategy.)

-successor entity still a mystery By Cathy Richards Stakeholders in Linden are concerned that there are still no clear indications about the make-up of the successor programme in-tended to manage the soon-to-be-defunct LEAP.

BIRMINGHAM, England, (Reuters) – Australia made a  confident start in the third Ashes test against England as Shane  Watson’s unbeaten fifty lifted them to 126 for one on a  rain-disrupted first day yesterday.

(Antigua Sun) – A Guyanese man who faces deportation after pleading guilty to remaining in Antigua after the expiration of a permit has asked the court for time to sell his two cars and house.

TEHRAN, (Reuters) – Baton-wielding Iranian police  fired tear gas yesterday and arrested protesters mourning the  young woman killed in post-election violence who has become a  symbol for the opposition to Tehran’s hardline leaders.

Dear Editor, The Corentyne Comprehensive, Rose Hall and National High Schools Alumni Association has recently held a very successful 50th Anniversary reunion. 

HAVANA (Reuters) – Russia and Cuba have signed contracts that “set the bases” for Russian oil company Zarubezhneft to search for oil in Cuba’s part of the Gulf of Mexico, Cuba’s state-run press said on Wednesday.

A Guyanese businessman with a social conscience is setting an example that has won him plaudits in his own community while contributing significantly to easing one of the capital’s most enduring problems, that of garbage collection and disposal.

-Working-class Emancipation Frankly Speaking…                 By A.A. Fenty So how or when can poverty look or seem pretty?

HARARE, (Reuters) – Zimbabwean authorities yesterday issued an operating licence to a local newspaper group forced to close down by the state five years ago, a move which  suggests the new unity government intends to open up the media.

Chattergoon stars with bat and ball Former Guyana Under-15 captain Harrinarine Chattergoon blasted a magnificent 126 and picked up three wickets for just nine runs as he led Albion Community Center to victory over Port Mourant ‘B’ when play in the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) organized 2009 Spready’s Bakery Under-19, 50-over cricket competition continued in the ancient county.

Dear Editor, The appearance of Troy Small on our TV screens came not too long after that of the late David Leander called ‘Biscuit.’

Turks police continue search Police in the Turks and Caicos Islands say they are keeping up search and recovery efforts for missing Haitians whose boat sank earlier this week.

Dr Bertrand Ramcharan, Ph.D. (LSE), Barrister-at-Law, is a former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Chancellor of the University of Guyana, Commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists, and Professor at the Geneva Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies.

Dear Editor, Dr Rupert Roopnaraine says that “ Mr Troy Small’s misfortune is that he came under suspicion of having committed the crime of arson not in the dark night of dictatorship but in the bright noon of democracy” in the last paragraph of his letter in the Sunday Stabroek of July 26, captioned ‘Arson then and now.’

The historic Berbice Cricket Board/Scotia Bank Cricket Academy opened on Monday at the Port Mourant Cricket ground with president of the Board Keith Foster telling the 45 young cricketers that discipline and dedication were  the keys to success.

LOS ANGELES, (Reuters) – Michael Jackson’s mother  will get custody of the late pop star’s three children after  reaching an agreement with his ex-wife Debbie Rowe, avoiding a  custody battle only days before a court hearing on the matter.

GASCI (www.gasci.com/telephone Nº 223-6175/6) reports that session 314’s trading results showed consideration of $1,078,715 from 29,107 shares traded in 14 transactions as compared to session 313 which showed consideration of $2,044,306 from 64,543 shares traded in 8 transactions. 

In Archibald Leonard Luker’s lyrics to our national anthem, we proclaimed ourselves at the birth of our new nation, proudly and perhaps still in a state of relative innocence, “one land of six peoples, united and free.”