Daily Archive: Wednesday, January 4, 2012

SYDNEY, (Reuters) – Australia captain Michael Clarke  reached 300 runs just after lunch on the third day of the second  test against India today, the 25th triple century in test  cricket.

SYDNEY, (Reuters) – India batsman Virat Kohli was  fined half of his match fee on Thursday for responding to  barracking from the crowd by gesturing at them with his middle  finger on day two of the second test against Australia.

(Jamaica Observer) Mobile phone customers are likely to be hurt by the approved merger of telecoms providers Digicel and Claro, says the Fair Trading Commission (FTC).

(Jamaica Gleaner) This morning’s motor vehicle accident along the Old Harbour Road in St.

The Office of the President this afternoon defended Minister of Housing Irfaan Ali over a report in the Kaieteur News which stated that he was building a “mansion” at Leonora, West Demerara believed to be worth $300M.

A Guyanese private detective in Queens, New York who raped his ex-girlfriend, also a Guyanese, and then framed her for a series of fictional crimes was sentenced to the maximum of 32 years in prison today, the New York Times reported.

On Old Year’s Night some of the church-going citizens of Georgetown were reportedly heard praying urgently that on the stroke of midnight a brisk breeze would descend on the capital and that all of the garbage in the city would be caught up, like a rapture and swept away… and they were praying too that Mayor Green and his Councillors would not be spared by the rapture; that they too would become caught up and retired quietly to their respective homes.

BRUSSELS/TEHRAN, (Reuters) – European  governments have agreed in principle to ban imports of Iranian  oil, EU diplomats said today, dealing a potentially heavy  blow to Tehran that crowns new Western economic sanctions  imposing real pain just months before an Iranian election.

(Trinidad Express) A man who two years ago survived being shot five times, was killed by a bullet to the head near his home in San Fernando on Monday night.

(Jamaica Observer) A woman was chopped and burnt to death in Clarendon yesterday.

(Jamaica Observer) NEW YORK, USA — A permanent memorial to honour Jamaican nationals who died in the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 will be erected at the British Garden at Hanover Square, in lower Manhattan.

(Jamaica Gleaner) The talismanic Christopher Gayle, who earlier this year led Jamaica to the regional Super50 title, will miss the Caribbean Twenty20 due to the fact that he was denied a release by his club, the Sydney Thunder, in the Australia KFC Twenty20 Big Bash League, which is slated to end on January 28.

LONDON, (Reuters) – Two white men were jailed today for murdering a black teenager in London 1993, a  landmark case which exposed the “institutional racism” of the  capital’s police in an official inquiry into the initial botched  investigation.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Hyacinth Ford-Dryden, the woman suspected in the trafficking of several Jamaican children to the United States, appeared in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

A Queens, New York man, said to be Guyanese, confessed yesterday to a New Year’s Day firebombing spree — claiming a personal vendetta drove him to throwing the Molotov cocktails, police said, according to today’s New York Daily News.

(de Ware Tijd) PARAMARIBO – Suriname’s exports to Cuba might get another dimension in the times ahead.

DES MOINES, Iowa, (Reuters) – Republican  presidential candidate Mitt Romney squeaked out a victory in  Iowa’s first-in-the-nation nominating contest yesterday as  little-known rival Rick Santorum rode lingering conservative  unease to a surprise second-place finish.

SYDNEY, (Reuters) – Michael Clarke hit a brilliant  unbeaten 251 and Ricky Ponting his first hundred in two years as  Australia took control of the second test against India today, finishing the second day on an imposing 482 for four.

The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) will soon occupy the multi-storeyed CLICO building on Camp Street as the asset that was sold to the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) is put to economic use as part of the effort at recovering its investment in the failed financial company.

A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) has written the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commis-sion (GECOM) Dr.

Four persons were arrested by police after gunmen raided the Hollywood Bollywood Night Club on Lamaha Street, Newtown, Kitty on Monday night and an M15 rifle was also recovered.

The Antigua police yesterday named former Antigua Prime Minister Lester Bird and Guyanese-born diplomat Sir Ron Sanders among persons of interest in a probe into a fraud case and made a special appeal for Sanders to make himself available to the police on the island.

A Guyanese man living in Queens yesterday confessed to a series of firebombings in New York on New Year’s Day, including hurling a Molotov cocktail at an Islamic cultural centre in part because he wasn’t allowed to use its bathrooms, New York police said.

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) will have to pay regional players in the vicinity of $12 million after losing the latest round of arbitration to the West Indies Players Association (WIPA).

The Health Ministry is investigating the death of a 32-year old woman on Christmas night, two weeks after giving birth to a baby boy at the Suddie Hospital.

Despite a promise by the former education minister, the $293.5M state-of-the-art Leonora Secondary School is yet to be completed and construction works

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, cMC – Kieron Pollard will miss the quadrangular Twenty20 tournament in Barbados this week.

“When I was told that I was being nominated to the FIFA Panel as a FIFA Referee for the 2012 season, I was elated, excited and overwhelmed with joy.”

A New York fourth-grader, son of a Guyanese woman, fatally choked on meatballs in a Bronx school cafeteria last December as staff looked on and did nothing to save him, his family and a witness told the New York Post.

Hits and Jams Entertainment, which is being targeted by a boycott organized by a section of the opposition, yesterday refused to discuss the impact on its New Year’s Eve “Night of Elegance” gala.

The Guyana Floodlight Softball Cricket Association (GFSCA) said last year was a good year for the body.

Police have released the man held in connection with the New Year’s Day murder of De Willem, West Coast Demerara pensioner Bebe Jahooral Banu, who was discovered in the bottom flat of her home.

Heeralall Bridgelall and Riaz Imam produced outstanding performances to help Shieldstown defeat Number Three by 212 runs when the New Building Society second division limited overs competition continued recently in Berbice.

A 21-year-old Victoria man was yesterday remanded when he appeared before acting Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court to answer the charge of armed robbery.

BIRMINGHAM, England,  CMC – Kim Collins said he was looking forward to a showdown with former World 100 metres record holder Asafa Powell at an indoor meet next month.

NEW YORK CITY,  CMC – American Ted Howard will act in the post of general secretary of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Football.

Stabroek News columnist Stella Ramsaroop has launched Stella’s Sisterhood of Support and Service (S4) Foundation to create a network of women who are committed to helping other women.

The $427.5M Leonora Technical and Vocational Institute, commissioned by former Minister of Education Shaik Baksh last November, delayed its planned opening yesterday as it is still awaiting a power supply.

Dear Editor, The current tripartite dialogue among the three political parties that won parliamentary seats is essentially in the interest of the three political parties.

DOHA,  (Reuters) – Roger Federer staked his claim as one of the favourites for the Australian Open title later this month by romping into the second round of the Qatar Open, while rival Rafa Nadal survived a scare in windswept Doha on Tuesday.

Political activists Frederick Kissoon and Mark Benschop are proposing that attorney Nigel Hughes be considered for Speaker, while saying that the opposition APNU and AFC need to move beyond the current nominees that have brought them to an impasse.

Dear Editor, There is something a little surreal about a letter from Samuel H Johnson in your edition of Dec 31 (‘Citizens should be allowed to keep their caps on in air-conditioned offices’).

(Reuters) – No last-second buzzer-beater could save Oklahoma City this time as the Thunder lost a rematch with the Dallas Mavericks 100-87 on Monday to become the last NBA team to record a loss this season.

LAGO AGRIO (Reuters) – An Ecuadorean  appeals court yesterday upheld a ruling that Chevron Corp   should pay $18 billion in damages to plaintiffs who  accused the U.S.

CGX Energy announces that it has made some additions and changes to its management team in order to better facilitate operations.

Dear Editor, Guyanese and other observers who are cautiously optimistic about Mr Ramotar’s presidency should disabuse themselves of the notion that there are substantive differences between Mr Ramotar and Mr Jagdeo. 

SYDNEY, (Reuters) – James Pattinson took four wickets as Australia bundled India out for 191 on the opening day of the second test yesterday, before coming through a top order crisis of their own to finish a frenetic day on 116 for three.

Courtesy call

BEIRUT – The commander of Syria’s armed rebels threatened yesterday to step up attacks on President Bashar al-Assad’s  forces, saying he was frustrated with Arab League monitors’ lack  of progress in ending a government crackdown on protests.

TEHRAN, (Reuters) – Iran threatened yesterday  to take action if the U.S.

Dear Editor, I was reluctant to further enter this public debate on the Speaker of the National Assembly. 

Search efforts continued yesterday for three missing Guyanese sailors and the cargo vessel MV Oliver L.

Sri Lanka’s national cricket board was elected uncontested  yesterday amid allegations that political pressure had forced the favourites to withdraw from the first election in seven years.

NIAMEY, (Reuters) – Arsonists set fire to part  of Niger’s Justice Ministry day, destroying files used in  anti-corruption investigations including probes into a number of  judges, the government said.

Social activists Norris Witter, Freddie Kissoon and Mar Benschop

Dear Editor, With Portia Simpson-Miller the elected Prime Minister of Jamaica, Michele Bachman in the race for the chance to be the Republican Presidential Candidate, Kamla Persad-Bissessar the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Hillary Clinton the Secretary of State for the USA, Tarja Halonen the President of Finland, Angela Merkel  the Federal Chancellor of  Germany, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf the President  of Liberia, Cristina E Fernández de Kirchner the President of Argentina, Dame Louise Lake-Tack the Governor General of  Antigua and Barbuda, Dilma Vana Linhares Rousseff the President of Brazil  and Julia Gillard the Prime Minister of Australia  (just to name a few) there’s no denying that the role of women has changed and women are climbing the ladder of political and corporate leadership.

After receiving less than their monthly $18,000 salary in December, schools’ sweeper-cleaners are still awaiting a pay-hike promised to them by former president Bharrat Jagdeo.

CAPE TOWN,  (Reuters) – Jacques Kallis and Alviro Petersen hit centuries to drive South Africa into a commanding position on the first day of the third test against Sri Lanka at Newlands yesterday.

(Trinidad Guardian) With just three days into the new year the homicide toll continues unabated with the country recording two murders in two days.

This mother and her little ones

We enter a new year with a new President though it has to be said that that is where the newness stops.

(Trinidad Express) Trinidad and Tobago’s latest unemployment figures show a 0.5 per cent drop in the number of people looking for jobs.

Dear Editor, Undoubtedly there is tremendous anger against corruption. The public outrage has come out on the streets to give vent to their frustration.

A labourer, who was allegedly found with marijuana at the Takutu Bridge on Christmas Day, was yesterday remanded after being charged with narcotics trafficking.

SYDNEY, (Reuters) – The Commonwealth, Australia  and New Zealand called on Fiji’s military ruler, Commodore Frank  Bainimarama, to hold credible elections and restore democracy  after he announced an end to emergency laws imposed since 2009.

“The literature suggests that among the non-school factors of school achievement like socioeconomic background, parent’s educational attainment, family structure, ethnicity and parental involvement, it is the latter which is the most strongly connected to attainment.”

Striking a pose

Dear Editor, The Justices of Peace and Commissioners of Oaths Association of Guyana would like at this time to wish the President of this green land, his ministers and all the members of parliament  a prosperous and productive 2012.

CAPE TOWN,  (Reuters) – Bowling coach Champaka Ramanayake conceded Sri Lanka had misread the pitch when they asked South Africa to bat first in the third and final test  yesterday and then compounded the mistake by bowling badly.

(Barbados Nation) The economic recession is taking a toll on local bands, several of which did not perform at any of the massive shows on Old Year’s Night.

CGX Energy Inc today announced that the Ocean Saratoga semi-submersible drilling rig which will search for oil in Guyana’s waters departed the Gulf of Mexico on January 1st,and is now under tow to the Guyana-Suriname Basin to drill the Company’s Eagle-1 well.

Miserable Old Year’s Night

LONDON, (Reuters) – A British court yesterday  convicted two men of the 1993 murder of black teenager Stephen  Lawrence, a landmark case that exposed racism in the London  police and led to a change in the law allowing suspects to be  tried twice for the same crime.

Jamaica’s elections seemed to have stunned most observers, including the majority of those polling in the country.