Daily Archive: Thursday, March 22, 2012

LOS ANGELES,  (Reuters) – Pop star Whitney Houston died of accidental drowning due to the effects of cocaine use and heart disease, a Los Angeles County coroner’s spokesman said today.

(Reuters) – The financier Allen Stanford today lost his bid for a new trial, 16 days after being convicted for running an estimated $7 billion Ponzi scheme.

Declaring that the days of the PPP/C using the National Assembly as a rubber stamp are over, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) today called for national support as it moves to enact laws for constitutional and electoral reforms.

(Trinidad Guardian) A multi-million-dollar facility, special buses and food cards are among the goodies the Government will be rolling out for physically challenged people.

A forester with  knowledge of forestry issues here has written to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature protesting its appointment of former President Bharrat Jagdeo as its high-level envoy for sustainable development in forest countries.

(Jamaica Gleaner) A warning from Alcoa that it will shut down the Clarendon-based Jamalco operations if the administration refuses to pay its share of the cost to operate the plant, as well as heightened concerns by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) about significant arrears owing by the state, forced the Government to table the J$11.2-billion Third Supplementary Estimates that were approved in the House of Representatives yesterday.

A pensioner was burnt to death in a fire which started in his house at Farm, East Bank Essequibo around 4:30 this morning; another house in the yard was also burnt separately.

TOULOUSE, France, (Reuters) – A 23-year-old gunman suspected of killing seven people in southwestern France in the name of al Qaeda, jumped from a window to his death in a hail of bullets after police stormed his apartment today.

A 45-year-old Canefield, East Canje businesswoman was brutally stabbed to death around 10:25 pm on Tuesday during a domestic row with her husband of 27 years and he has since gone into hiding.

Attorney Khemraj Ramjattan yesterday presented the teen boy who was tortured while he was in police custody to Attorney General Anil Nandlall, in a bid to get the government to pay out damages that were awarded by the High Court.

A 15-year-old boy of Ketting, D’ Edward, West Bank Berbice was electrocuted after he touched a welding plant that a rice farmer was using while repairing his combine at Cotton Tree.

Speaker of the National Assembly Raphael Trotman yesterday ruled to defer three motions tabled by members of the opposition to amend the Standing Orders to reconfigure key committees.

Minister of Finance Dr Ashni Singh will present his sixth National Budget as Minister on Friday March 30, 2012 even as consultative talks between the Government and Opposition appear dead and buried.

The Home Affairs Ministry last evening said that the use of the Police Central Welfare Fund to facilitate the feeding of ranks during the elections was above board but it however distanced itself from the reported directive of former Top Cop Henry Greene that help should be solicited by commanders from businessmen.

Kalibur Security employee, Terry Mohan  was  granted bail in the sum of $75,000 by Magistrate Sueann Lovell yesterday after pleading not guilty to stealing articles and cash to the value of $3,714,000, property of businessman Fip Motilall.

A truck filled with 54 sugar workers turned over yesterday morning along the Tain Access Road, Corentyne and 43 of them were taken to the Port Mourant Hospital and  some

After pleading guilty to the murder of his common-law wife and expressing deep regret for his actions, a man was sentenced to a 10-year jail term on Tuesday.

A ten-year-old girl has been hospitalised after allegedly being abducted by a man who physically assaulted her and left her in an unconscious state in a clump of bushes in Sophia last Friday.

Contractors attached to Guyana Water Inc. (GWI) while laying pipes were shocked when they stumbled on the remains of a man while they were working in the vicinity of the Wisroc Water Treat-ment Plant last weekend.

Guyana will soon be holding public consultations on corporal punishment, capital punishment and the decriminalization of gay sex in keeping with the country’s commitment at the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in 2010, according to Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon.

Former President Bharrat Jagdeo may have started to receive benefits entitled to him under the Former Presidents (Benefits and Other Facilities) Act, according to Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon.

A glitch at the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) saw last Tuesday being the date stated for the opening of bids for the supply and delivery of antiretroviral drugs to the Ministry of Health when it should have been on April 10.

Joel Ali, the H. Nauth and Sons Construction Company clerk that claimed he was kidnapped and robbed of $4M in cash on Monday, staged the robbery, according to police.

The Preliminary Inquiry (PI) into the Neesa Gopaul case continued yesterday with Simone De Nobrega and Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Hugh Jessamy being further cross-examined.

KINGSTOWN, St Vincent, CMC – West Indies head coach Ottis Gibson has labeled Tuesday’s dramatic tie with Australia in the third One-Day International as “a sickening blow” but says the team’s valiant fightback from a near hopeless position was testimony to their growing character.

The players on the national cricket team will sit out the final round of fixtures this weekend in the ongoing 2011/12 Regional four-day competition, hoping that results play out in their favour that would enable them to qualify for the semi-finals.

Wendell Joseph who was accused yesterday of unlawfully assaulting his niece, causing her actual bodily harm was granted bail in the sum of $15,000 by acting Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry.

Devon Anderson who appeared yesterday in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court on a charge of possession of cannabis for the purpose of trafficking was refused bail by acting Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry.

The 2012 Novices and Intermediate Bodybuilding competition which will be

The Guyana national football team, known as the “Golden Jaguars”, continued their preparation for their third round 2014 world qualifiers scheduled to  commence in June, with a pair of fixtures against neighbours French Guiana.

A new administrative building is in the works for the

Minister of Local Government Minister Ganga Persaud lauded operations at the Mahdia Power and Light (MPL) plant and ordered that the board be properly constituted, at a meeting on Saturday during a visit to the Region Eight community.

LONDON,  (Reuters) – Carlos Tevez marked his Manchester City return by setting up Samir Nasri’s late winner in a vital 2-1 home victory over Chelsea yesterday that kept the pressure on leaders Manchester United in the title race.

On Sunday, Guyana will join in worldwide commemoration of the UN-declared International Day of Remembrance of the victims of slavery and transatlantic trade in captive Africans.

KINGSTOWN, St Vincent,  CMC – Australia captain Shane Watson says West Indies’ fighting spirit in the ongoing five-match One-Day International series has not come as a surprise.

Dear Editor, I refer to an article published in the March 20, 2012 edition of the Stabroek News captioned ‘Consumers slam ‘stoop down’ cashier booth at GRA licence office’.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Coach of the Under-23 Trinidad and Tobago squad, Angus Eve has hailed the quality of the 20-man squad selected this week to contest the final round of CONCACAF qualifiers for the 2012 Olympics.

Dear Editor, In the early 2000s we began writing on the lack of critical financial investments for the development of the human potential of Guyanese to better harness the abundant natural resources of Guyana.

The Ministry of Agriculture is participating in a project being undertaken by Finland aimed at developing Multi-Hazard Early Warning Sys-tems (MHEWS) and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in the Caribbean to mitigate the effects of climate change.

KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, CMC – Fit-again Adrian Barath has replaced out-of-form left-hander Kieran Powell in the only change to the 13-man West Indies squad for the last two One-Day Internationals of the five-match series against Australia.

The presentation of the credentials of Ambassador Kemal Siddique as the first Plenipotentiary Representative of the Republic of Singapore to the Caribbean Community heralds a welcome development in deepening Caricom-Singapore relations, Caricom Secretary-General Irwin LaRocque said last Wednesday.

AMMAN, (Reuters) – The U.N. Security Council, including Russia and China, threw its weight yesterday behind efforts by Kofi Annan to end the bloody conflict in Syria, providing a rare moment of global unity in the face of the year-long crisis.

Dear Editor, I was in the High Court on Tue 20th March to witness the proceedings in the case where the Attorney General Anil Nandlall is trying to get the Chief Justice to reverse a parliamentary vote on the composition of the Select Committee.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Support appears to be steadily growing for Cayman Islands Football Association president Jeffrey Webb who has been tipped to take over CONCACAF when elections are held in May.

ORLANDO, Fla.,  (Reuters) – Florida politicians and civil rights leaders joined calls for the firing of a police chief in the case of a neighbourhood watch captain who killed an unarmed black teenager, as new details emerged yesterday about police handling of the investigation.

Dear Editor, The Elections Officer of the Guyana Teachers’ Union who is an employee has issued a gag order.

The National Commission on Disability (NCD) commemorated the seventh World Down Syndrome Day in order to raise awareness about the condition and promote measures that will allow persons afflicted with the condition to contribute to society.

RIO DE JANEIRO/NEW YORK,  (Reuters) – A Brazilian federal prosecutor filed criminal charges yesterday against Chevron and drill-rig operator Transocean for a November oil spill, raising the stakes in a legal saga that has added to Chevron’s woes in Latin America and could slow Brazil’s offshore oil boom.

DUBAI,  (Reuters) – Afghanistan and Namibia, unbeaten in the group stages of the qualifying tournament for this year’s World Twenty20 Cup, meet  today in a match which will secure the victors a tr i p to Sri Lanka.

Dear Editor, Right after the general elections, I visited Guyana and surveyed people on how they voted in order to determine why the PPP lost ground and why the combined opposition did so well. 

LONDON,  (Reuters) – Three new studies published on Wednesday added to growing scientific evidence suggesting that taking a daily dose of aspirin can help prevent, and possibly treat, cancer.

Saving Rockstone: An environmental project was on Sunday launched to help tackle the massive erosion affecting the shoreline at Rockstone, Region Ten.

Dear Editor, I read with utter fascination in the March 5th Edition of Demerara Waves an account of the Catholic Church’s contribution to views on the actions of the government and its Ministers in the aftermath of the debate on the two financial papers (7 & 8 under Bill#1 of 2012) laid in the House on February 16th.

SAO PAULO, (Reuters) – Brazil’s Congress postponed a key World Cup bill again yesterday, a move that is likely to frustrate officials of football’s governing body who say its passage is crucial to preparations for the 2014 World Cup.

Installment One Hundred and Thirty This edition of Ask the Consul addresses three common questions asked at the US Embassy.

The state of tennis in Guyana could be ranked among the top ten of the 22 countries within the region, according to International Tennis Federation (ITF) Development Officer of the English-speaking Caribbean, Anthony Jeremiah.

Andy Hunte is dead at two months old. He died on Tuesday night as a result of being caught in the crossfire of physical abuse being meted out by one of his parents to the other.

Dear Editor, If Leon Suseran (SN March 19, 2012) lives 70 miles away from a transmitting station in Georgetown, he would be well over a mile in depth below and out of the reach of its FM signals, because such very high frequencies are scarcely reflected by the Earth’s ionosphere, except sometimes during a solar (coronal mass ejection) flare.

BAMAKO,  (Reuters) – Mutineering soldiers attacked Mali’s presidential palace overnight yesterday as a protest over the government’s handling of a nomad-led rebellion in the north turned into an all-out coup.

Cartoon

The Hand-in-Hand Group of Companies recently donated a swing set to the Juliet Griffith Day Care Centre.

Politikles

Skills shortages show up everywhere across the country. The crisis is crippling.

(Jamaica Observer) A Jamaican couple have been charged in the murder of a 17-year-old girl whose badly-burned body was discovered in a suitcase in a warehouse outside Toronto almost 20 years ago according to a report on the website http://www.canada.com.

(Barbados Nation) A retired police inspector accused of perverting the course of justice in a drug trafficking case was released on bail yesterday.

(Trinidad Express) Labour Minister Errol McLeod’s intervention in the negotiations between Trinidad Cement Ltd (TCL) and its striking workers failed to resolve the dispute yesterday.

(Trinidad Express) Caribbean Airlines Limited (CAL) owes some TT$60 million to the Airports Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (AATT), Transport Minister Devant Maharaj has confirmed.

(Trinidad Express) Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday denied that her three nephews and her sister, Vidwatie Newton, have ever used her official car, PM 1.