Daily Archive: Friday, January 29, 2010

Barticians plan to shut down the community on Monday in protest at a government proposal for six-months notice before mining can commence but Minister of Transport, Robeson Benn says that this is “misguided” and restated that the administration will do nothing to impair the industry.

Photos by Jules Gibson The Ministry of Home Affairs on Wednesday published the addresses of several buildings in Georgetown that were inspected and found to be fire hazards.

Police on Wednesday evening granted station bail to the senior Customs Anti- Narcotics Unit (CANU) officer who was held in connection with the 50lb cocaine bust at the JFK airport earlier this month.

The  Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) says  it is “indeed  disappointing”  that   recent  calls have been made in the media by private sector groups for the liquidation of CLICO (Guyana) and the early end of the court proceedings It was referring to calls made by the Guyana Manufacturing  and Services Association  (GMSA), backed by the heads of the Private Sector Commission (PSC) and the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce  and Industry (GCCI).

Citing concerns expressed about a defect in vehicle acceleration, Japanese auto maker Toyota has announced the recall of millions of vehicles in the United States and other parts of the world but it does not affect the Caribbean, according to local distributor, BAL.

Four persons are now in police custody assisting with investigations into the suspected murder of taxi driver Bomeshwar Sukhdeo who disappeared last Tuesday and one has since confessed to carjacking and being an accessory to murder.

The body of a 21-year-old man was discovered on the Meten-Meer-Zorg, West Coast Demerara foreshore yesterday morning and it is believed that he drowned.

-as cash, other donations pour in to national relief committee Charity-minded persons and companies continue to contribute to local Haiti relief efforts even as the Guyana National Committee for Haiti Relief shipped off four containers for the earthquake-ravaged island on Tuesday.

Six suspects who were held in connection with the murder of Nalini “Nalo” Bhoge, 43, of Line Path, Skeldon around 10 am on Monday have been released from police custody.

A taxi driver charged with receiving stolen property and his sales clerk friend who was charged with simple larceny were placed on a bond to keep the peace for two years and pay court costs after the Virtual Complainant in the matter declined to proceed with the matter.

Two suspects have been taken into custody in connection with a robbery around 7:20 pm on Wednesday at Yakusari North, Black Bush Polder in which businessman, Sarjoodin “Jango” Jewdhan was shot.

-Director James Bovell passionate over development of well-rounded students By Kizan Brumell Director of the Business School James Bovell yesterday called for a closer relationship with the Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) and the National Sports Commission (NSC) whilst stressing the importance of sports and education to student development.

CARICOM Secretary General Edwin Carrington on Wednesday challenged the youth of the Community to look not merely  for the benefits that may be coming to them  but also to use their “energy, creativity and skill” to help in building the Community that they want.

– `New Year’s Beatings’ day of reckoning is here After talking the talk for days tonight it will be time to walk the walk as Holland’s Entertainment Promotions (HEP) presents ‘New Year’s Beatings’, a four fight professional card which promises to set the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall ablaze.

Government is in full support of the new initiative by the International Development Agencies (IDAs) to engage various domestic partners and stakeholders Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh says.

A 42-year-old man was put on a bond to keep the peace for two years and he was also fined a total of $25,000 after he used abusive as well as threatening language to his wife and his sister.

The Guyana Lawn Tennis Association’s (GLTA) national junior team will learn how to be mentally tough from one of this country’s most accomplished players Dr.

Former West Indies and Guyana off-spinner Roger Harper was elected the new president of the Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA) on Wednesday evening at the GCA’s annual general meeting at the Georgetown Cricket Club main pavilion.

Keith Burrowes, Chairman of the 2009 Commission of Enquiry into the operations of the Mayor and City Council has told Stabroek Business that he is currently working with the Council on exercises to correct irregularities in the current regime of rate payments which he believes could significantly increase the municipality’s revenue base.

Nigel’s Supermarket on Friday presented 39 winning shoppers with vouchers valued over $1 million from its Groceries Galore promotion.

The Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) has applied for the current dispute with GuySuCo over the payment of the Annual Production Incentive (API) for 2009 to go to arbitration.

Although the days are long gone when considerations of gender served to restrict access by women to a number of professions, you would think it unlikely that a major international hotel and entertainment chain would recruit a woman to design a chain of casinos stretching from Eastern Europe to the Caribbean.

The Stag first division 2009-2010 league which is organized by the East Bank Football Association (EBFA) resumed last Sunday with two games at the Grove Playfield.

International donor agencies exist to provide developing countries with various forms of mostly project-based human and technical support aimed at taking or supporting initiatives which, in one way or another, contributes to the enhancement of national life in the receiving countries.

BENGUELA, Angola, (Reuters) – Egypt crushed eight-man  Algeria 4-0 in a foul-ridden African Nations Cup semi-final yesterday to reach Sunday’s final against Ghana. 

Dear Editor, I want to bring to the attention of those concerned a matter which has caused me grave concern and emotional stress.

A 37-year-old farmer was remanded to jail on the indictable charge of carnal knowledge of a girl under the age of 15 when he appeared before Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson yesterday.

LONDON, (Reuters) – The Afghan government yesterday  invited the Taliban to a peace council as its Western allies  worked out plans to try to end the war in Afghanistan.  

A building contractor who was charged with obtaining by false pretence was granted time yesterday to pay back in full $250,000 that he took from one Rudolph Baldeo with the intent to defraud.

Dear Editor, In the North West, Region 1, Guyoil was the only supplier of fuel and their operation was located at Morawhanna.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, (Reuters) – Since Haiti’s earthquake  struck, the clientele at the Muncheez pizza joint has been  transformed — the affluent professionals are gone, replaced by  lines of people being quietly kept alive with free meals from  the restaurant chain’s owners. 

CAVE HILL, Barbados, CMC – Combined Campuses & Colleges and Guyana will look to rebound from heavy defeats when they face-off in the fourth round of the WICB regional first-class championship starting today at Three Ws Oval.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, (Reuters) – Angry crowds mobbed  three food distribution sites in Haiti’s capital yesterday,  the latest handouts to turn chaotic as aid groups struggle to  help the throngs left desperate and hungry by the catastrophic  earthquake.  

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Barbados and Windward Islands will use the latest day/night experimental match with a pink ball to try and make headway in their fourth round match of the WICB regional first-class championship starting today at Kensington Oval.

A 34-year-old Linden man who is accused of the possession of cannabis will be spending the next few weeks behind bars after he was refused bail by Magistrate Ann McLennan when he appeared before her at the Christianburg Magistrate’s Court.

Dear Editor, I thank Mr Mohammed Akeel for letting the public know “the facts” of the labour dispute in the bauxite industry (‘It is the bauxite union which walked away from an agreement’ SN, January 28). 

By Jacquelyn Hamer High levels of unemployment in the formal economy and the necessity among low-income earners to pursue means through which to subsidize their incomes render it increasingly necessarily for Guyanese to pursue self-employment options.

Dexter Daniels, 40,  of Lot 98 Kara Kara Scheme, Mackenzie, Linden appeared before Magistrate Ann McLennan on Wednesday at the Christianburg Magistrate’s Court on a charge of break and enter and larceny while still on a one-year bond.

BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is recovering after a brief hospitalization for high blood pressure        but cancelled his trip to the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, authorities said yesterday.

Both Scotiabank Guyana and the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) have confirmed that the local telephone service provider is moving to remedy the problems that have plagued the bank’s telephone system at its Carmichael street head office for a protracted period.

TAMPA, Fla., (Reuters) – President Barack Obama  vowed yesterday he would not rest until U.S.

-Murray gives Britain hope of end to long wait for grand slam champion MELBOURNE,  (Reuters) – Andy Murray charged into the  Australian Open final yesterday, giving fresh hope to Britain that the country’s long wait for another men’s grand slam champion may be nearing an end.  

Dear Editor, Mr Akeel gave a chronological account of events in the SN with respect to the current dispute between RUSAL and GB&GWU that clearly requires a response from the union (‘It is the bauxite union which walked away from an agreement’ SN, January 28).

An Annai man, for whom an arrest warrant was issued for assaulting a policeman, was on Wednesday shot in the leg after he attempted to escape from a policeman who arrested him in connection with a recent break-and-enter incident.

May forum on sustainable tourism holds particular significance for GuyanaBuoyed by the recent pronouncement by the World Tourism Organization (WTO) that international tourism could be on track for a rebound following “an exceptionally challenging 2009”  Caribbean officials have finally broken their silence on the industry and are ‘talking  up’ the regional  tourism product. 

PARIS, (Reuters) – Former French Prime Minister  Dominique de Villepin was cleared yesterday of plotting to  smear his old rival Nicolas Sarkozy, dealing a stinging blow to  the president who never made a secret of their enmity.  

Dear Editor, “Is it wrong to expect and look forward to massive improvements to the living standards in Guyana?

BOGOTA (Reuters) – A Venezuelan military helicopter flew across the border into Colombia and close to an army base on Wednesday, Colombia said, raising tensions in a months-long diplomatic dispute that has choked off bi-lateral trade.

SAN ANTONIO, Texas, (Reuters) – Tim Duncan posted 21  points and a career-high 27 rebounds to propel the struggling  San Antonio Spurs to a 105-90 win over the Atlanta Hawks on  Wednesday.  

As the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) continues its increasingly relentless crackdown on tax evasion through the holding of bank accounts in foreign countries Grenada and Belize could be in imminent danger of attracting tough sanctions from North America and Europe.

Caricom youth summit Young people from across Caricom are gathering in Suriname for a two-day summit on youth development opening today.

Ewart Forester was on Wednesday placed on $70,000 bail when he appeared on a dangerous driving charge before Magistrate Ann McLennan at the Christianburg Magistrate’s Court.

Dear Editor, To say that because something has never worked before in a given set of circumstances, it can never work, is the definition and quintessence of defeatism.

HOLT, England, (Reuters Life!) – A seven-year-old  British boy is being hailed as an art genius after selling 16  paintings for 18,000 pounds ($29,280) in just 14 minutes.  

MUMBAI, India, (Reuters) – Injuries to top batsmen  Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh have forced top-ranked India to name a depleted 15-man squad for the opening test against visiting South Africans in Nagpur from Feb.

(Nassau Guardian) – Police are reporting the discovery of large quantities of illegal drugs during three separate operations on Wednesday.

An alleged cow thief was placed on $50,000 bail when he appeared before Magistrate Ann McLennan at the Christianburg Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.

Dear Editor, Enough writers have reminded us of the diplomatic, foreign relations and ideological consequences of President Jagdeo’s trip to the Middle East.

FOURSQUARE, Barbados, CMC – Leeward Islands and Trinidad & Tobago, two teams that promised much prior to the season, will look to get things back on track in their fourth round match of the WICB regional first-class championship, starting today at Foursquare Oval.

GASCI (www.gasci.com/telephone Nº 223-6175/6) reports that session 340’s trading results showed consideration of $1,349,966 from 47,237 shares traded in 11 transactions as compared to session 339 which showed consideration of $2,593,895 from 82,310 shares traded in 12 transactions. 

CARACAS, (Reuters) – Venezuelan police used tear gas  to disperse students protesting chronic electricity shortages  as leftist President Hugo Chavez faced growing complaints over  deteriorating public services. 

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Former West Indies chairman of selectors Joey Carew believes the West Indies Under-19s trio of Jason Holder, Shane Dowrich and Yannic Cariah should be furnished with retainer contracts.

BOSTON, (Reuters) – Reclusive U.S. author J.D.  Salinger, who wrote the American literary classic “The Catcher  in the Rye,” has died in New Hampshire aged 91, his agent said  yesterday.  

Frankly Speaking…By A.A. Fenty *In the year I was born… Come bear with my brief waffle on a subject which might well-find me out of my depth on this anniversary day.

HAVANA (Reuters) – A US contractor accused by Cuba of distributing illegal communications equipment remains under investigation, and his alleged actions would be considered a “serious crime” anywhere in the world, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said yesterday.

Contemplating her next move: On Tuesday, Stabroek Market vendor Merlin Matthews had most of her produce splashed with paint, when a police vehicle drove over a pail of paint that was at the side of the road.

Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s landslide victory over Basdeo Panday for the leadership of Trinidad and Tobago’s main opposition party, the United National Congress (UNC), has sent journalists, observers and citizens into a frenzy of superlatives and hype that is typically Trinidadian.

Dear Editor,  In a letter to the Stabroek News, dated January 24, under the title, ‘Disappointed in President Jagdeo’s criticism of US while in Iran,’ Mr  Leon J Suseran criticized  President Bharrat Jagdeo’s foreign policy and specifically his alleged  criticism of the US handling of the Haitian aid effort while on a state visit to Iran. 

A 19-year-old man of 1409 Amelia’s Ward, Linden was sentenced to three months imprisonment after he admitted carrying offensive weapons.

Dear Editor, The letter in SN by Dr Joey Jagan dated January 27 titled ‘Letters and columns are off the mark’ comes from a man whose father was the legendary ‘Bapu’ to many in the Indian-Guyanese community and a working class giant for all Guyanese.