Daily Archive: Friday, October 28, 2011

(Trinidad Express) The United States Department of Transportation (DOT) yesterday fined State carrier Caribbean Airlines Ltd (CAL) US$60,000 for limiting reimbursements for lost, damaged and delayed baggage to less than consumers were entitled under an international treaty.

(Trinidad Express) A sleep-deprived Project Runway winner Anya Ayoung-Chee said yesterday she was relieved to “finally share her amazing secret with the planet”.

Former PPP executive and now AFC candidate Moses Nagamootoo is taking his new party’s campaign to the streets of Berbice.

LIMA, (Reuters) – A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck  off the coast of southern Peru today, shaking buildings in  Lima and injuring 16 people near the city of Ica.

NEW YORK,  (Reuters) – A Guyanese man who admitted to participating in the early stages of a plot to blow up John F.

ISTANBUL, (Reuters) – A weary Caroline Wozniacki was  sent packing from the WTA Championships after losing 6-4 6-2 to  powerful Czech Petra Kvitova in her final round-robin match yesterday.    The day after the Dane secured the year-end world number one  ranking, she looked mentally and physically drained as Wimbledon  champion Kvitova marched into the semi-finals with a match to  spare in the Red Group.  

(Reuters) – The National Basketball Association (NBA) said today it had canceled  another two weeks of its regular season with no end in sight to a bitter labor dispute that has  locked out players for nearly four months.

Police today said that the body of Ronaldo Henry, 13 years of Regent Road, Bourda, was found at about 1400h.

The Ministry of Education today said that Guyana has secured 16 of the 28 awards that will be given out to top performers in the region at the recent Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC).

Police say that at about 1010h today fisherman Parmanand Bacchus, 45 years of Non Pariel, ECD, was at the Strathspey Seawall, ECD, when he was confronted by two men, one of whom shot him to his head after which they escaped.

PERTH, Australia,  (Reuters) – Leaders of the  Commonwealth group of mostly former British colonies today  took tentative steps to tighten up on human rights abuses by  members, but have still to address tougher measures some warn  the group must take to remain relevant.

If you had to give an award for the busiest Minister in the PPP/C administration it would be hard to look past Robert Persaud.

(Trinidad Express) Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard has instructed that six police officers be charged with crimes linked to the arrest and beating of three men who were also repeatedly shocked with Taser guns at the Chaguanas Police station last year.

(Trinidad Express) Trinidad and Tobago’s Anya Ayoung-Chee has won Project Runway.

(Trinidad Express) Six police officers involved in the shooting deaths of three people in Moruga three months ago have been arrested by their colleagues in connection with the incident.

(De Ware Tijd) PARIS – By 2015 at the latest, the State wants to dispose of twelve state-owned companies.

(De Ware Tijd) PARIS – The Tapajai Hydro-project which Staatsolie wants to carry out together with the government will cost some US$240 million.

(Barbados Nation) A new multimillion-dollar general hospital will be constructed to replace the 47-year-old Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH).

(Barbados Nation) Break-ins have reached “worrying” proportions, with a burglary committed every four and a half hours, according to Commissioner of Police Darwin Dottin.

ERCIS, Turkey, (Reuters) – Rescue workers pulled a  13-year-old boy alive out of the rubble of an apartment block today, five days after a powerful earthquake that killed at  least 570 people in eastern Turkey.

Seven political parties yesterday handed over their lists of candidates to contest the November 28 elections.

Newly-minted AFC member, Moses Nagamootoo yesterday charged that the PPP leaders have betrayed their supporters and he accused a “cabal” of rigging the party’s elections and “manufacturing” the presidential candidate, Donald Ramotar.

Digicel’s network has been encountering problems since Wednesday midday and technicians are working around the clock to rectify the situation.

Outgoing President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday said Moses Nagamootoo “jumped ship” after losing his bid to lead the PPP/C to the polls and he told supporters that the former ruling party member did not deserve their respect.

The PPP/C’s list of candidates for the general and regional elections includes party stalwart Hari Narayen Ramkarran.

A 20-year-old woman died last evening hours after she was struck down by a speeding motor car on the Annandale Public Road, on the East Coast of Demerara.

Outspoken Bartician miner, Frederick McWilfred is onboard for the PPP. His name was on the party’s list of candidates for upcoming national elections submitted yesterday to the Guyana Elections Commission.

Two boys aged 12 and 13 drowned after they ventured into the Demerara River for a swim on Wednesday.

An elderly East Street, South Cummings-burg resident is waiting on the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) to bring him relief from overflowing sewage at his home, but promises by the utility company have not been honoured.

Anthropologist and consultant Hubert Wong is backing the Alliance For Change (AFC) at the upcoming polls, saying that it offers the opportunity to dismantle “the antiquated political status quo of the PPP/PNC,” which he believes has brought the country to the brink of becoming a failed state.

Jamaica held their nerve and grabbed victory after number eleven, Odean Browne smashed the penultimate delivery of the innings for four runs in a dramatic one-wicket semi-final triumph over Sagicor High Performance Centre (HPC) at the Providence Stadium last evening.

ST. JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – Dwayne Bravo will have a chance to make a case for a place in upcoming tour and fortify his claims to be a possible West Indies captain when he leads the A-Team against Bangladesh-A in a home series next month.

The final witness who was expected to testify in the Cyon Collier murder trial failed to appear yesterday and Defence Counsel Lyndon Amsterdam made a no-case submission, but this was overruled by Justice Winston Patterson.

Simeon ‘Candy Man’ Hardy who holds the record of registering the fastest knockout in South America  is finding it difficult to attract opponents  into the ring with him.

Acting Chief Justice Ian Chang has issued an order in favour of CN Sharma, asking the Advisory Committee on Broadcasting (ACB) to show cause why its ruling and recommendation to suspend CNS Channel Six’s broadcast licence should not be quashed.

Victory Valley Royals and Amelia’s Ward Jets comfortably defeated their opponents to set up the much anticipated semi-final clash between the two teams tomorrow at the Mackenzie Hard Court in Linden for the 2011 Brusche Basketball Classic.

The relatives of 15-year-old Rashana Alexander, who was reported missing before a $50,000 ransom demand was made for her safe return, believe she might have ventured into the interior to be with a man described as her “friend.”

By Tantaliser “Preach it Moses!” The calls came out of the ranks of those assembled as the man deemed the “rod” who will “part the PPP in half” exhorted change from atop the AFC’s platform.

Guyana once again dominated the Athletics Championships at the just concluded Inter-Guiana Games (IGG), scoring a total of 357 points to win the category.

Canadian citizen Errol George Laird who was accused of having 1.548kg of cocaine in his possession for the purpose of trafficking at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri, changed his plea to guilty yesterday after he reappeared before acting Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.

(Reuters) – U.S. regulators are formally  investigating whether Avon broke bribery and disclosure laws,  in a further blow to the cosmetics company which is again  reassessing its strategy after quarterly profit fell far short  of expectations.

President of the Guyana Cycling Federation (GCF) Cheryl Thompson has been issued a strong letter of reprimand along with three months suspension by the federation’s Disciplinary Committee for displaying disregard and disrespect for the federation.

A 21-year-old employee of National Hardware (Guyana) Ltd appeared before acting Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry on Tuesday to answer a  charge of simple larceny after he was accused of stealing a door lock from his employer.

Dear Editor, 2011 appears to be a climactic year for party givers, as well as partygoers (also known as party crossovers).

BRUSSELS, (Reuters) – Euro zone leaders struck a  last-minute deal yesterday to contain the currency bloc’s  two-year-old debt crisis but are now under pressure to finalise  the details of their plan to slash Greece’s debt burden and  strengthen their rescue fund.

Junior 400 metres sprinter Stephan James once again performed excellently for Guyana by gaining a sprint double at the recently-concluded Inter-Guiana Games (IGG) in Suriname.

Twenty–five-year-old Hubert Hunte, the motorcyclist who collided with a minibus close to the Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB) on Wednesday evening, succumbed to his injuries yesterday morning at the Georgetown Public Hospital.

A conductress, who is accused of assaulting the driver of a minibus she was travelling in, pleaded not guilty to the charge when she yesterday appeared before acting Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry.

Dear Editor, I refer to the SN letter written by Mr George Jervis, P.S.

The Guyana Draughts Association has scheduled its annual national draughts competition for tomorrow and Sunday at the Mildred Mansfield Youth Club (Dorcas Club), D’Urban Street, Werk-en-Rust.

Statistics published in the recently released third quarter Caricom Consumer Sentiment Survey indicate that while consumer sentiment across the region recorded a significant improvement between July and September this year, public confidence in government handling of the respective economies of the region remains relatively low.

ASSISI, Italy, (Reuters) – Pope Benedict, leading a  global inter-religious meeting,  acknowledged yesterday “with  great shame” that Christianity had used force in its long  history as he joined other religious leaders in condemning  violence and terrorism in God’s name.

Local agro-processors have secured an additional medium through which to market their products following the recent launch of the New Guyana Marketing Corporation’s Market and Enterprise Information System (MEIS).

NEW YORK,  (Reuters) – U.S. prosecutors charged 11  people yesterday in connection with an alleged $1 billion  fraud involving hundreds of railroad workers filing false  disability claims.

The residents of Stevedore Housing Scheme are once again enjoying fresh air, after Cevon’s Waste Management fixed a broken compactor, which was parked in the storage facility nearby, loaded with stale garbage since Sunday.

Dear Editor, Politicians and diapers should be changed frequently and all for the same reason. 

LAS VEGAS, (Reuters) – Boxing champion Floyd  Mayweather Jr. was acquitted on Wednesday of charges he  threatened to send armed friends to harm two security guards at  a gated community in suburban Las Vegas. 

Dear Editor, The ruling party started bottom-house meetings long before the other parties vying to rule Guyana could start their own meetings.

DURBAN, (Reuters) – South Africa and Australia reckon  today’s decisive one-day game could have a bearing on next  month’s test series and both are giving their injured players  every chance to prove their fitness for the Durban clash.       The pair are locked on one win apiece in the three-match  series with two tests to come at Cape Town and the Wanderers.   

Alvin Leitch was yesterday placed on $50,000 bail after he pleaded not guilty to a charge that he unlawfully assaulted his common-law wife and threatened to kill her.

DUBAI, (Reuters) – Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, fearing for  his life if captured in Libya, has tried to arrange for an  aircraft to fly him out of his desert refuge and into the  custody of The Hague war crimes court, a senior Libyan official  said yesterday.

Dear Editor, The ruling party started bottom-house meetings long before the other parties vying to rule Guyana could start their own meetings.

The Guyana Telephone & Telegraph Company (GT&T) has again raised the issue of the damage being done to its telecommunications infrastructure through acts of vandalism that target mostly its insulated copper cable.

SOFIA, (Reuters) – Olympic champion Galabin Boevski  was arrested at Sao Paulo’s international airport after trying  to board a plane bound for Spain with nine kg of cocaine,  Bulgaria’s foreign ministry said on Thursday.   

We are a bit concerned about the acrimonious pre-election

An accountant with the local European Union office is now a patient at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH), after he was struck down by two motorcyclists racing along the Rupert Craig Highway.

Dear Editor, We are shocked that PPP/C government officials (namely, Ms Teixeira and Dr Prem Misir) are raising the spectres of one of the most horrific human tragedies (Rwanda) as a possible scenario that may befall Guyana.

AMMAN, (Reuters) – Cracks in Syria’s military are  widening along sectarian lines, say analysts, fuelling an armed  mutiny that may pose an even greater threat to President Bashar  al-Assad than the street protests which have rocked the country  for months.

Dear Editor, Kaieteur News of October 25, reported President Bharrat Jagdeo as saying at the Lusignan rally that he threw me, Rajendra Bisessar, out of the party.

LONDON, (Reuters) – Carlos Tevez should not have been  fined four weeks’ wages by Manchester City as he did not refuse  to play in last month’s Champions League match at Bayern Munich,  England’s Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) said yesterday.   

Unique The United Nations (UN) will launch the International Year of Cooperatives (IYC) on October 31, 2011 and there is no publicly available evidence that Guyana is ready to join that effort with its own initiative. 

The Ministry of Culture presented food stuff and other items valued over $80,000 to Uncle Eddie’s geriatric home on Monday and pledged its continued support to the institution.

LONDON,  (Reuters) – Several new companies are betting  on the little-known pongamia pinnata tree as a biodiesel  feedstock that does not hurt food production, but a decade or  more of research and development is still needed to determine  its value as a commercial crop.

Routine maintenance and build out work to the country’s domestic telecommunications infrastructure has been set back by about five months as a result of pressures being placed on the human and technical resources of GT&T by the need to attend to emergency repairs resulting from cuts in both its copper and fibre optic cable infrastructure.

Dear Editor, The mission of the church and its leaders is not to set up and embrace political institutions and culture.

DOHA,  (Reuters) – Qatar-based news network Al Jazeera  will launch a sports news channel across the Middle East next  month, it said in a statement yesterday.   

The Guyana Post Office Corporation (GPOC) said the post office at Mabaruma is now one of the most outstanding buildings in the community

The Mediation Institute of Guyana is hosting its first conference today.

BRASILIA,  (Reuters) – Brazilian President Dilma  Rousseff appointed a member of the Communist Party as the  country’s new sports minister yesterday, a day after the  previous minister quit in a corruption scandal.

PERTH, Australia, (Reuters) – Common-wealth foreign  ministers meeting yesterday were split over how tough to get  on human rights abuses in member countries, an issue which one  official said their leaders were unlikely to resolve at a summit  later in the week.

For almost seventeen years Nigel and Kathy Hughes have kept the Sidewalk going, not just kept it going, but carved out a niche for the establishment in the competitive and continually changing tastes in the urban entertainment.

Dear Editor, It is time this nation takes stock of the behaviour of the President that they elected.

The PPP/C List

DUBAI, (Reuters) – A watchful first test century for  Azhar Ali took Pakistan to 281 for four at the close on the  second day of the second test yesterday and sent them past Sri  Lanka’s first innings total of 239.   

The APNU list

(Jamaica Gleaner) Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Ken Baugh, said Jamaica will not suffer, as a result of its absence from the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting taking place in Perth, Australia.

Dear Editor, Gaddafi is dead. Some are happy, some are not.

A Surinamese man who entered Guyana illegally by sea was yesterday fined $30,000 after he appeared before acting

The Hotel Tower is rising again – under new management and with a focus on change.

HOLLYWOOD, California, (Reuters) – Occasionally  criticised for being too much of a gentleman in the ring, Manny  Pacquiao is more motivated than ever for his WBO welterweight  title defence next month against Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez.  

BUENOS AIRES, (Reuters) – Alfredo Astiz, Argentina’s  infamous “Blond Angel of Death,” and 11 other death squad  members from the 1970s were jailed for life on Wednesday in one  of the country’s biggest human rights cases.

BRASILIA, (Reuters) – A British investigative  journalist who has accused FIFA of massive corruption has told  Brazil’s Senate that the country should freeze corrupt officials  from soccer’s governing body out of preparations for the 2014  World Cup.    Andrew Jennings, who has been investigating FIFA for a  decade, said the involvement of its top brass in the next World  Cup after allegations they had taken millions of dollars in  bribes would be a stain on the soccer celebration.   

The ISKON Namai Pandit Study Centre

GASCI (www.gasci.com/telephone Nº 223-6175/6) reports that session 431’s trading results showed consideration of $682,375 from 52,150 shares traded in 5 transactions as compared to session 430 which showed consideration of $3,612,250 from 128,843 shares traded in 8 transactions. 

What happen to you boy?

(Trinidad Guardian) T&T’s exports of liquefied natural gas to Japan are on the increase with one analysis pointing out that Japan’s second-largest power utility, Kansai Electric, imported almost four times as much LNG from Trinidad and Tobago this year than last, as of August.

The AFC list:

Recall that it was just last Friday I wondered, in print, who would join the growing list of “defectors” or “cross-overs” before Nomination Day?

MONTEVIDEO, (Reuters) – Uruguay’s Congress passed  legislation  yesterday that allows fresh investigations into  human rights abuses committed by the military during a  1973-1985 dictatorship despite a controversial amnesty law.

We have no physical space where citizens can meet to discuss and debate the issues of the day, preferably in an atmosphere of mutual respect and civility, to help build a national consensus.

Dear Editor, A 23-year-old colleague of mine is of the opinion that anyone who wins the elections will do the same thing that the PPP has done, which is to look after its own people.

LONDON, (Reuters) – Taking two aspirin a day for two  years reduces the long-term risk of bowel cancer in people with  a family history of the disease by around 60 percent, according  to a British study published yesterday.