Daily Archive: Friday, February 25, 2011

Telecommunications company Digicel captured a number of top prizes in the just concluded Mashramani float parade competition.

NEW DELHI,  (Reuters) – West Indies all-rounder Dwayne  Bravo has been ruled out of the World Cup with a knee injury,  the team spokesman said today.

TRIPOLI, (Reuters) – Muammar Gaddafi vowed to “crush  any enemy” today, addressing a crowd of supporters in  Tripoli as Libya’s popular uprising closed in around him.

Cuts to the work force of the headquarters of the CARICOM Secretariat are not imminent, according to Caricom Acting Secretary General Lolita Applewhaite.

The body of the man which was recovered from the Demerara River on Wednesday in the vicinity of the GNIC Wharf, Georgetown has been identified as Desmond Chung,  48 years, a seaman of Section ‘C’, Block ‘Y’, Grove, EBD.

The police are investigating an incident that occurred at about 5 pm yesterday at Barama Road, Buck Hall, Essequibo Coast and which resulted in the death of Chaitram Sooknarine, 43 years of Anna Regina, Essequibo Coast.

CARACAS, (Reuters) – Venezuela’s usually loquacious  leader Hugo Chavez has been uncharacteristically quiet on the  unfolding revolt in Libya against his close friend and ally  Muammar Gaddafi.

NEW DELHI, (Reuters) – Bad habits die hard and if  Thursday’s World Cup match against South Africa is any  indication, West Indies clearly have not overcome their penchant  to self-destruct at the most inopportune time and stage.

DHAKA,  (Reuters) – A spectacular diving catch by  Tamim Iqbal and a four-wicket blast by paceman Shafiul Islam  spurred Bangladesh to a pulsating 27-run win over Ireland in  their World Cup Group B match today.

DHAKA,  (Reuters) – A spectacular diving catch by  Tamim Iqbal and a four-wicket blast by paceman Shafiul Islam  spurred Bangladesh to a pulsating 27-run win over Ireland in  their World Cup Group B match today.

Three men accused of robbing the Region Ten Regional Democratic Council (RDC) of $5M today appeared before acting Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.

(BBC) The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has restated the UN’s desire for “the immediate and complete elimination of the colonial system”.

(BBC) A senior official of the Communist Party of China left Beijing this morning for meetings in Suriname, Guyana, Barbados and Dominica.

BANGALORE,  (Reuters) – Virender Sehwag, India’s  in-form batsman, suffered an injury scare in a practice session  today when he was struck on the left side of his ribs in the  nets two days ahead of a World Cup showdown with England.

BANGALORE, (Reuters) – Bangalore’s police  commissioner today defended the baton attacks on cricket  fans angry that they could not buy World Cup tickets, explaining  his action was part of life in India.

NAGPUR, India,  (Reuters) – Ruthless Australia  compounded the miseries of rivals New Zealand by notching up a  seven-wicket victory in their World Cup match today.

(BBC) Three-quarters of the world’s coral reefs are at risk due to overfishing, pollution, climate change and other factors, says a major new assessment.

Facing more questions about the dismissal of junior-level employee Marcelle Joseph, the Office of the President (OP) last evening denied that her sacking had anything to do with “her role in the leaking of information on the one laptop per family project.”

Veteran journalist Sharief Khan worked his way up from humble beginnings to leave a legacy of hard work and well trained-journalists.

Some CARICOM employees may soon find themselves out of jobs as the Community looks to adopt belt tightening measures with the proposal of a reduced budget.

Some of the PNCR presidential candidate nominees have expressed satisfaction with the arrangements in place for tomorrow’s Special Congress, where delegates will cast ballots to decide who will be the party’s presidential candidate to contest the general elections constitutionally due later this year.

A hit and run accident on the La Belle Alliance Public Road, Essequibo Coast, on Wednesday night left a teenaged boy dead and two other persons injured.

Two men and a woman accused by the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) of trafficking in four kilograms, 432 grams of cocaine were remanded to prison after appearing before acting Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry.

An American citizen was yesterday sentenced to four years imprisonment after admitting to trafficking in 4.442 kilograms of cocaine.

Minister of Finance Dr Ashni Singh announced yesterday that government had recently reduced the excise tax on diesel from 20 percent to 15 percent as a result of the upward movement in the world market price for oil and in particular as a result of increases observed in the price at which diesel is being obtained from  external suppliers.

An aeronautical search and rescue (SAR) plan, which is being promulgated to unify response efforts by the authorities to aircraft incidents, is nearing fruition.

The government is to sign a Letter of Agreement for a security pact with the US aimed at building local capacity to combat the narco-trade and root out dirty money in the economy, Cabinet Secretary Dr.

A 23-year-old man of Zambia, Black Bush Polder lost his life when the tractor he was driving toppled in a rice field and pinned him around 1 pm on Tuesday.

A carpenter was yesterday accused of making a false accident claim in a bid to defraud the Hand-in-Hand Insurance Company Limited.

The Guyana Prison Service and the police force yesterday remained silent on the teenaged murder accused that escaped from the Camp Street Prison and was still on the run up to press time last evening.

The bloated body of a fisherman of Cromarty, Corentyne was discovered floating in a pond around 9:25 am on Wednesday, two days after he was reported missing.

A robbery victim was yesterday made to pay $10,000 court costs after he decided not to proceed with the case against his alleged attacker.

Twenty-two students from Region 10 will be honoured today at the eighth annual Pam Porter Scholarship Award Ceremony, at McKenzie, Linden.

A bottle with what is suspected to be a flammable liquid and a piece of rusty steel pipe was yesterday morning found outside the transmission room at National Communications Network (NCN), Homestretch Avenue.

“A Plate – A Guyana Cook-Up,” a pocket book by writer Allan Fenty is to be launched today at the Umana Yana.

Digicel recorded 11.5M subscribers by the last quarter of  2010 and its financial results indicate strong revenue growth.

Vanessa Francis continues to look over her shoulders as police search for her former partner who stabbed her more than a week ago but she is determined to see him behind bars.

The Junior Chamber International Guyana (JCI Guyana) installed eight new board members recently with Nasoya Chapman being the 44th president.

MUMBAI, (Reuters) – Warring cricket officials, the  shortage of public tickets for India’s high-profile matches and  violent clashes between fans and baton-wielding police took the  spotlight away from the players at the World Cup yesterday.  

Barbadian captain Ryan Hinds is hoping that good weather prevails for the next four days since his team is looking to gain maximum points over the Guyanese in their fourth round clash at the Guyana National Stadium from today.

Neil Gordon put on a terrific all-round performance which earned him the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the finals award in the United Insurance Ltd Mashramani Inter-School Basketball Competition which wrapped up at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

NEW DELHI, India, CMC – West Indies were floored by a combination of Imran Tahir’s clever leg-spin, and A.B.

The Western Union-branded Hikers Hockey Club Junior Programme will host its first annual indoor junior tournament at the National Gymnasium, Mandela Avenue this weekend as part of its fund-raising drive.

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, CMC – Leeward Islands are looking to overturn poor form and recent history against Jamaica to breathe life into their season in the fourth round of matches in the WICB Regional first-class championship, starting today at Warner Park.

National record holder Aliann Pompey says that it’s not too late for the necessary bodies to make it up to her for the lacklustre appreciation that has been shown so far despite her accomplishments.

Guyanese and other Caribbean private sector firms are eligible to access a special US$1 billion fund mobilized through contributions by international funding agencies under the auspices of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) to ensure regional participation in the rebuilding exercise currently underway in Haiti following last year’s devastating earthquake.

Local information technology (IT) equipment and service provider Starr Computers has inked an agreement with the US firm American Power Conversion (APC) for direct distributorship of APC products in Guyana.

In a recent interview with this newspaper, President of the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) Clinton Williams expressed the view that some of the sub-sectors in the local private sector were not being sufficiently aggressive in seeking markets for their goods and services beyond the shores of Guyana.

KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, CMC – Windward Islands are looking to end Trinidad & Tobago’s dominance over them in the last five years in their fourth round match of the WICB Regional first-class championship, starting today at the Arnos Vale Multi-Purpose Complex.

Dear Editor, Why is it that minimum wages in this country are so low?

The Business Cartoon

Dear Editor, I wish to extend condolences to the relatives and friends of the late Sharief Khan who died peacefully at his Goedverwagting residence on Tuesday, February 22, 2011.

(Part 1)   Services At 63 percent, the service sector is responsible for the biggest share of income of the Guyana economy. 

CAVE HILL, Barbados, CMC – Combined Campuses & Colleges have found themselves in an unlikely place in the WICB Regional first-class championship, and want to keep it that way, after they face England Lions in the top-of-the-table clash in the fourth round of matches, starting today at the Three Ws Oval.

BENGHAZI, Libya, (Reuters) – Forces loyal to Muammar  Gaddafi hit back at rebels holding towns near the Libyan capital  yesterday but there was no sign they had broken the momentum  of opposition gains that have been closing in around Tripoli.

Dear Editor, I hope that the President, his office or his erudite press liaison officer can help this nation by offering clear and lucid answers to the following: First, according to GINA, the President two weeks ago stated that by now, the specifications and therefore advertisement for tenders for the instruments for the one laptop per family (OLPF) project should be ready.

By Clinton Urling I recently had an unpleasant experience with a real estate agent who has his name and contact information on almost every property up for sale in Guyana.

Dear Editor,Instead of shared governance, which is notoriously difficult to accomplish in ethnically fractured societies such as Guyana, minority governments are easier to achieve as they are achieved by selective voting.

By signing on to the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) Global Trade Finance Programme (GTFP), the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) is now better placed to offer more trade finance options to small and medium-sized businesses operating in key sectors in Guyana.

NEW YORK,  (Reuters) – China’s Huawei Technologies Co  has challenged the United States to launch a formal  investigation into its business, in an attempt by one of the  world’s largest telecommunications equipment makers to clear  its name from allegations that have blocked U.S.

Dear Editor, This year’s costume and float parade for Mashramani, a celebration of Guyana’s 41st Republic Day welcomed a new contingent: Volunteers.

(Trinidad Express) Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has directed that Defence Force Reserves be called out to assist in maintaining law and order in the country.

VIENNA, (Reuters) – Western intelligence agencies  suspect Syria may have been building a secret nuclear-related  site near Damascus, a German daily said, and a U.S.

Concerns over meeting local consumption forced Guyana to significantly reduce its rice exports to some of its traditional markets last year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture’s Commodity Market Update (CMU) for the fourth quarter of 2010.

Dear Editor, The indefatigable Chetram Singh, whose tenure as the President of the Guyana Cricket Board spanned almost two decades of selfless and dedicated service, deserves no less credit as an administrator than the celebrated cricketer who is adored on the completion of a century.

(Jamaica Observer) With 23 confirmed deaths and 194 suspected cases of ackee poisoning in less than three months, government chemists are now conducting intensive testing on the fruit to determine the reason for the unusually high number of fatalities linked to it.

Just a few months shy of its third birthday, the Guyana Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, (GBCHA) has come to symbolize the acknowledgement of the country’s private sector that corporate board rooms and business houses cannot shut out HIV/AIDS.

CHRISTCHURCH, (Reuters) – Rescuers toiled for a  fourth day among the ruins of New Zealand’s quake-ravaged city  of Christchurch yesterday, as hopes of finding more survivors 

The Ministry of Culture has attempted to make good on its pledge to “widen the menu of activities” that it was sponsoring or endorsing as part of its official Republic Anniversary programme this year.

Stock market updates

BOGOTA, (Reuters) – Colombian criminal bands linked  to former paramilitary groups drove a 40 percent rise in  massacres in 2010, slaughtering human rights activists, public  officials and civilians, the United Nations said yesterday. 

Fidel Castro in Cuba, Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, Evo Morales in Bolivia and Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua have all enjoyed close ties with Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, seemingly bound together by a common revolutionary fervour and their distrust of the United States of America.

Dear Editor, With general and regional elections due this year there is a heightened misguided focus in the letter columns and elsewhere to influence the voter by making the case that 1) the opposition presidential candidate should be Indian to beat the PPP, or 2) the country’s problem is the result of ethnic voting and prosperity can only come when there is ‘cross-racial voting.’

LONDON, (Reuters) – WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange,  who rocked the U.S.

Politikles