Daily Archive: Saturday, May 22, 2010

Commissions of inquiry which have been set up in this country in the past have all been independent according to Presidential Advisor on Governance, Gail Teixeira, and she also declared there would be no probe into the infamous phantom squad if no information or evidence is provided.

By Cathy Richards The National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) is to commence  emergency works in several areas across Linden following intense rainfall that caused flooding and erosion.

The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) says it is in the process of computerising the Motor Vehicle Driver’s Licence System in order to produce computer-generated licences.

One laptop computer is to be provided to every family in Guyana and the government is working out the modalities and costing for this initiative, according to Education Minister Shaik Baksh.

Caribbean Muslims’ veneration of their faith among diverse cultures is reason for hope in the Islamic community, especially since the 9/11 attacks and a world-renowned Muslim scholar sees benefit in the transfer of that hope to the United States.

– Corbin shocked Peter Ramsaroop’s lawyer yesterday expressed shock that written statements in a hidden cameras probe were released by the police to media but Police Commissioner Henry Greene says this was done to “satisfy the public”.

Presidential Advisor on Governance, Gail Teixeira said yesterday that her statements before the United Nations Human Rights Council in relation to the 15-year-old boy who was tortured were made within the context of the motion filed on his behalf in court.

Commuters using the Berbice River Bridge (BRB) say their lives are being disrupted due to the prolonged closure to vehicular traffic which is being done to facilitate maintenance of the retractor span.

Professor David Dabydeen is to be named Guyana’s Ambassador to China and according to reports government could make the announcement next week or earlier.

Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud on Wednesday commissioned a $14m drying floor at Burma, the sixth of 12 to be built to boost the rice sector.

The man who was found floating in the Demerara River on Wednesday has been identified as Terrence King, 50, of Third Street, Alexander Village, police said yesterday.

General elections will take place next week in both Trinidad and Tobago, and Suriname and the incumbent governments have invited CARICOM to monitor the polling.

The 22-year-old student of the New Amsterdam Technical Institute (NATI) who slammed into a cow with his motorcycle last Sunday succumbed to his injuries around 6 am yesterday.

-Agri Ministry At the end of the current rainy season the Ministry of Agriculture expects to have spent just over $305 million to respond to issues arising from inclement weather.

The reinstitution of the joint charge of attempting to obstruct the course of justice against Chandra Narine Sharma and two of his employees did not materialise yesterday at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court since the prosecution has not received advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) on how to proceed.

Guyana’s international track star Marian Burnett has, again, run herself into the history books by being part of the seventh known, all-time photo-finish of an international middle distance or greater race.

A woman who said that the actions of the police caused her to behave disorderly was fined $10,000 by Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson yesterday.

A man was yesterday granted $1.5M bail when he appeared before Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson to answer charges relating to forging a transport and selling the said plot of land to another.

Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee will be heading a local delegation to Washington at the end of this month to attend a security meeting between CARICOM states and representatives from the US State Department.

By Tamica Garnett General Secretary of the Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) Godfrey Munroe and Mayfield Taylor-Trim, Counsel Member of the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG)  along with Dr Karen Pilgrim are the officials who will accompany Guyana’s four member team to the inaugural World Youth Championships in Singapore later this year.

“I ask yuh fuh a small sentence to wuk into each other,” Mark Duncan requested  after pleading guilty to a charge of simple larceny when he appeared yesterday before Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson in Court One.

Floyd Christie picked up an Eminem cassette a few years ago, around the time cassettes were still ‘in’, and decided rap was the sort of outlet he needed to “feel free”.

ST JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – Hard-hitting West Indies batsman Kieron Pollard has been slapped with a fine for his run-in with South African fast bowler Dale Steyn during the second Twenty20 International here Thursday.

It’s a cloudy day. Not a very good day to go swimming.

ST JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – West Indies will seek a drastic turnaround in fortunes when they face South Africa in the opening One-Day International of the five-match series here today.

A team of amateur boxers from St Lucia is expected here for a Goodwill tour of Guyana sometime later this year.

Hi Everyone, I don’t know how much longer I can put up with this – cooking breakfast.

North Ruimveldt Multilateral School is the first school to be awarded agriculture supplies after participating in the Lions Club of Ruimveldt Agriculture Competition.

Winners of the Trophy Stall Doubles Tennis Tournament were yesterday presented with their trophies when the Guyana Lawn Tennis Association (GLTA) held the  presentation ceremony in the Cambo Room of the Georgetown Sports Club.

Dear Editor, In a recent letter (‘Heavy rains wash away the best structures all over the world’ SN, May 20), the Prime Minister claimed bias by Stabroek News in “rushing to the judgment of poor quality roads” in South Rupununi.

Dear Editor, Lincoln Lewis claimed that: “The elephant in the room no one wants to talk about but remains the source of most of our conflicts and underdevelopment, is racism” (‘It is the primary responsibility of the people to bring about the change they desire’ SN, May 17).

Just off the success of being named the Best Female Reggae/ Dancehall artiste at the recently concluded Guyana Artistic Music Awards, Timeka Marshall is now set to release her fifth video for her new release “One More Day”, a song touted as inspirational.

ST JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – Batsman Travis Dowlin and off-spinner Shane Shillingford have been omitted from a 14-man West Indies A squad for next month’s tour of England and Ireland, prompting speculation they will be part of the selection shakeup for the three-Test series against South Africa.

Dear Editor, I wholeheartedly support any measure from any source that legitimately addresses and fights the drug scourge.

The first edition of a magazine designed to address illiteracy in the Caribbean particularly among children, by merging culture with education, was officially launched at the National Library, Guyana earlier this week.

PARIS, (Reuters) – Favourite Rafael Nadal must  negotiate a tricky path in his bid for a fifth French Open title  after the draw for the claycourt grand slam starting tomorrow.  

Dear Editor, The appeal hearing in the Pink Suitcase High Court hearing continued on Wednesday May 19, 2010 at 1.30 pm before the Honourable Justices George and Ramlall.

Sunburst Camptown, currently seventh in the point’s standings with 10 points, will engage Liquid Gold when the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Win in CONCACAF with CONCACAF Super League continues today with three matches at two venues.

Five young men are promising to take Guyana’s entertainment industry to a new level and if their track record is anything to speak about the country can certainly look forward to top of the line entertainment events with just the right touch of class as a finisher.

(Jamaica Gleaner) – Embattled west Kingston strongman Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke received a fillip on Thursday as thousands of vocal residents of Tivoli Gardens and adjoining communities took to the streets supporting him.

HOUSTON/VENICE, La., (Reuters) – Anger, skepticism  and accusations of lying washed over energy giant BP Plc yesterday as it desperately pursued efforts to contain a month-old  seabed well leak billowing crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico.    U.S.

LAUDERHILL, Florida,  CMC – Marlon Samuels failed on his return to the national team but Jamaica still overpowered United States by 132 runs to win the first one-day match of the three-game series yesterday.

Dear Editor, The latest findings from the NACTA opinion tracking poll up till Thursday show a dead heat, making it difficult to call the elections although pollsters and political analysts have come out predicting a victory for one or the other party. 

The Miss Guyana Earth pageant will kick off with a National Dress Competition for the contestants next week, the first in a string of scheduled events to promote the environment conscious affair.

Dear Editor, I refer to the call by so many countries for an independent probe into the so-called phantom squad and human rights violations and torture here in Guyana as reported in your newspaper.

(Nassau Guardian) – A 64-year-old Guyanese teacher denied that he indecently assaulted a 16-year-old female student when he was arraigned in an Eleuthera magistrates’ court this week.

BAGHDAD, (Reuters) – A minivan packed with explosives  blew up at a crowded market in Iraq’s troubled northern Diyala  province yesterday, killing at least 30 people and wounding 80  others, police and officials said.  

– pink collection to honour breast cancer survivors Sonia Noel is heading back to the glitzy Fashion Week of Trinidad and Tobago (FWTT) this year, an event which ranks among the most influential on the region’s fashion calendar.

(Cricinfo) Kamran Akmal, the Pakistan wicketkeeper, has defended his shoddy performance in the Sydney Test during Pakistan’s disastrous tour of Australia, following speculation that there may have been more to his misses than just cricketing errors.

LONDON, (Reuters) – Britain’s new government clamped  down on ministers’ perks and lobbying on Friday, trying to clean  up a political system whose reputation was tarnished by scandals  over sleaze and lawmakers’ extravagant expenses.    All major parties were damaged last year when it emerged  that members of parliament had claimed on expenses for items  ranging from toilet paper to the cost of cleaning a moat.    “Our new government has a particular and historic  responsibility: to rebuild confidence in our political system,”  Prime Minister David Cameron, who heads a Conservative-Liberal  Democrat coalition formed after the May 6 election, said. 

(BVI Platinum News) – The matter against Guyanese, Dwaine Pearce could not be proceeded with yesterday because the investigating officer failed to send a prepared file to the Director of Public Prosecutions office.

New kid on the block Jory Hector is going international as he has now teamed up with Barbadian soca star Peter Ram and his Guyanese counterpart Adrian Dutchin to produce a racy piece. 

Dear Editor, The Guyana government is moving ahead towards integration with Brazil.

The launch of the Athletic Association of Guyana’s Under-23 event will now be held on Monday.

NEW YORK, (Reuters Life!) – When men get together  with their mates soccer is the main topic of conversation, not  their wives and girlfriends or even work.    Nearly 90 percent of men questioned in a global survey said  they talked about their favorite football teams and players  when they got together with friends, significant others came in  a distant second at 45 percent and work trailed behind with 34  percent.    “It might not be the news women wanted to hear but it  appears men really do only think about one thing when they get  together with their mates — and that’s football,” said Tim  Ellerton, of Heineken International which sponsored the poll.    Soccer most dominated male conversations in China and  Russia, for 94 percent and 93 percent of men, according to the  survey that spanned 15 countries and included 5,300 men.  

(Jamaica Gleaner) – Ronald Robinson, government senator and state minister in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, is the first casualty in the messy Manatt, Phelps & Phillips affair that has dogged the government of Jamaica for more than two months.

Dear Editor, I essentially agree with Freddie Kissoon’s take on the recent sexual allegations issues, that Indians who are opposed to the PPP are being targeted.

For those of us who live elsewhere, the frequency with which mature democracies make questionable, ambiguous or downright foolish choices can either  be read as an encouragement – that every country has  bouts of political myopia – or as proof that democracy teaches by trial and error and that mistakes are a necessary part of the electorate’s education.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa,  CMC – South African cricket authorities, and kit supplier Reebok have apologised for the national team’s tattered limited-overs outfit worn in Wednesday’s first Twenty20 International against West Indies.

The Miss Jamzone Beach Pageant is taking on a reality style format this year, involving the public in selecting the local representative for the pageant which has since gone international.