Daily Archive: Tuesday, May 15, 2012

(Jamaica Gleaner) Telecommunications firm Digicel has indicated that it will be appealing against a Supreme Court ruling that was handed down this morning.

(de Ware Tijd) PARAMARIBO – Currently Suriname has a population of 534,000 people, 498,000 of whom are Surinamers and 36,000 foreigners.

Khemraj Ramjattan, parliamentarian of the Alliance For Change (AFC), says that he does not want to have a debate with Head of the Privatisation Unit and CEO of National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) Winston Brassington, but wants to interrogate and cross-examine him in a parliamentary committee on the question of improprieties.

Councillor Gwendolyn McGowan has been banned from making contact with officers within the Mayor and City Council on the instructions of Mayor Hamilton Green, but the reason for his action was not made clear.

LONDON,  (Reuters) – Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s limpet-like batting and the express pace of Kemar Roach and Fidel Edwards will make West Indies dangerous opponents for strong favourites England in the three-test series starting on Thursday.

NEW YORK, (Reuters) – Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn has filed a $1 million countersuit against the hotel maid who accused him of sexual assault, costing him his job and any chance of being elected president of France.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Despite strong opposition from the governors of two major United States cities and immigrant groups, the Obama administration says it will extend a controversial fingerprinting programme that identifies Caribbean and other illegal immigrants.

Queen’s College student Glinton Hanover has won a two-year, CDN$80,000 ($16.5M) scholarship to the Lester B Pearson College, Canada.

MUMBAI, (Reuters) – Five uncapped Indian cricketers have been provisionally suspended following allegations of corruption in the lucrative Indian Premier League, the country’s cricket board (BCCI) said today.

LONDON,  (Reuters) – Rebekah Brooks, a close confidante of Rupert Murdoch, was charged today with interfering with a police investigation into a phone hacking scandal that has rocked the tycoon’s media empire and sent shockwaves through the British political establishment.

(Trinidad Express) International energy giants BP and BG Trinidad and Tobago yesterday signed three production sharing contracts (PSCs) for oil and gas exploration as a culmination of last July’s deep water energy bid round.

(Trinidad Express) Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley has called on Government to return Caribbean Airlines Ltd (CAL) to the original business model at the time of its inception, and, among other things, to stop the airline from running a parallel service to compete with Leewards Islands Air Transport (LIAT) in and around the Caribbean.

The Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) will meet in a protocolary session today at 10:00 EDT (14:00 GMT) in the Hall of the Americas at the headquarters of the organization in Washington, DC, to receive the President of Guyana, Donald Ramotar, a press release from the OAS said.

(Trinidad Express) A 25-year-old Laventille man, who police believed to be on the run from his enemies, was gunned down at his aunt’s home in Sangre Grande on Sunday night.

(de Ware Tijd) PARAMARIBO – The price tag for every holiday is SRD 50 million, but if the authorities decide to cut back on the number of national holidays, bringing the total from 15 to five, the country would be able to save SRD half a billion a year.

(Trinidad Express) Hindu Credit Union liquidator Ramdath D Rampersad yesterday testified he was physically attacked by former HCU president Harry Harnarine in the corridor of the High Court during a break in a legal matter involving the two.

(Trinidad Express) Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar will be leaving today on official business to Belize, New York and Barbados, a release from the Office of the Prime Minister said yesterday.

Women’s rights activists will be picketing to raise awareness of the lack of safe and affordable abortion in Guyana today at 12:30pm, in front of the Ministry of Health on Brickdam Avenue.

(Trinidad Express) Caribbean Airlines could soon be flying directly into Panama.

(Trinidad Express) A total of TT$78 million in cash was withdrawn from the Hindu Credit Union (HCU) even as its members were unable to access their deposits, Queen’s Counsel Edwin Glasgow said yesterday.

A 56-year-old mother of six was yesterday morning found dead at a shop located at Waiakabra, Linden/Soesdyke Highway and the police suspect that she was raped and murdered.

Another security guard was found murdered yesterday, this time at Corentyne, Berbice, and two persons are in custody assisting the police with investigations.

The lifeless body of former Human Resources Manager of the Georgetown Public Hospital and Director at the Guyana and Trinidad Mutual Fire Insurance Company, Lionel Bert Whyte was found with stab wounds last evening.

A sixteen-year-old male was last night admitted to the Georgetown Public Hospital with a single gunshot wound to his head.

Farmers along the Mahaica and Mahaicony creeks yesterday agonized over flood losses and they argued that it had been caused by the authorities releasing water via the Maduni sluice, a charged strongly denied by Minister of Agriculture Dr Leslie Ramsammy.

A two-car smash-up on the Cotton Tree Public Road, West Coast Berbice on Sunday night has left one man dead and six others injured.

A repeat offender in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court found himself before Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton again yesterday and was remanded on two indictable charges of robbery under arms.

Kaleen Shaw was yesterday remanded to prison when he appeared before Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court on an attempted murder charge.

Four men yesterday appeared in the Georgetown Magis-trates’ Court before Magis-trate Hazel Octive-Hamilton on separate charges involving cannabis at Mahdia.

Dellon Johnson was yesterday remanded to prison when he appeared before Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court on a charge of robbery under arms allegedly committed at Potaro.

Members of the St Rose’s High School alumni yesterday donated over US$15,000 in computers, printers, television sets, backpacks and DVD players among other items to the school’s computer room.

The African Cultural and Development Association (ACDA) hopes that celebrated artist and sculptor, Phillip Moore, who died on Sunday, will receive special honours on Guyana’s Independence Anniversary.

By Iva Wharton Wolf Warriors and 4R Lioness were bitten in the finals of the third annual Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company Limited nationwide 10/10 softball cricket tournament which climaxed Saturday night at the Providence National Stadium losing to Regal and Trophy Stall Angels respectively Wolf Warriors went into Saturday night’s final as the defending champions having won the tournament last year,

The Texila American University is embarking on a new nursing programme here come September and its student population is expected to expand from 75 to 200 by the end of the year.

Speaker of the National Assembly Raphael Trotman says it was the need to have the public see the Members of Parliament working together on common issues that prompted him to suggest to the Government benches that the Opposition be involved in relief operations.

By Neil Barry The New Building Society’s (NBS) latest venue on  Avenue of the Republic penciled in a bit of history  yesterday when it hosted the launching of the company’s first partnership with the Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA).

Seven months after an accident that claimed two lives at Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara, 10-year-old survivor Sameer Samshuddin is undergoing treatment in the United States where he is said to be recovering quickly.

The US Government last Friday, through a Letter of Agreement, gave US$500,000 to the Guyana Government in support of this country’s law enforcement building and anti-money laundering under the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI).

By Iva Wharton Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company Limited Yog Mahadeo Saturday night said that the staging of this year’s nationwide softball tournament had contributed to the development of female cricket in Guyana.

Exactly four years ago, in the final strides of her winning run at Rio’s Grand Prix 2008, Marian Joan Burnett pointed to the white block letter on her red singlet.

Dear Editor, With reference to your editorial ‘The Norway funds’ (May 14), I wish to mention that on November 7, 2011, the Steering Committee of the Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund (GRIF), which is comprised of representatives of the Governments of Guyana and Norway, approved the disbursement of US$5.94M to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) for disbursement to Guyana for project related activities, plus administrative fees of US$140,000.

Three teenagers between the ages of 14 and 15 years old yesterday appeared before Magistrate Adela Nagamootoo at the New Amsterdam Magistrate’s Court yesterday charged with break and enter and  larceny and were each granted bail in the sum of $100,000.

LONDON, England,  CMC – Fitness concerns hover over the fast bowling pair of Kemar Roach and Ravi Rampaul, ahead of Thursday’s start of the first Test against England at Lord’s.

Ansa Mcal Trading Limited continued its annual tradition of donating Cheekies bundle of joy hampers from its Cheekies Cloth Soft Collection on Mother’s Day to mothers in the maternity wards of various hospitals in the Georgetown area.

Dear Editor, ‘Police abuse of law abiding citizens “a deep seated problem“ –Ramkarran‘ (SN May 14) refers. 

 (Reuters) – Philadelphia avoided repeating their Game One mistakes and held on for a 82-81 road triumph over Boston  yesterday as they outdueled the Celtics late to tie their East second round playoff series.

Dear Editor, Reference is made to Prime Minister Samuel Hinds’ letter ‘Boilers, steam turbines and alternators are still in the steam power station in Linden‘ (SN, May 11).

The Neal & Massy Group of Companies donated 65 hampers to mothers who gave birth on Mother’s Day.

AMMAN (Reuters) – Fighting in Syria killed at least 32 people yesterday, activists said, and Saudi Arabia said stubborn violence was shredding the credibility of a UN-Arab League peace plan stipulating a truce and dialogue between President Bashar al-Assad and his foes.

Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt has said he hopes to run a time of 9.4s in the 100-metre in London.

Dear Editor, Only a revolutionary thinker could have conceived the 1763 Monument and executed it. 

PARAMARIBO (de Ware Tijd) – The agricultural sector in general is declining at an alarming rate.

Dear Editor, Last week your newspaper carried stories of the Lethem flooding, and I was attracted to the photograph with the children hustling by boat to sit the CSEC examination.

The decomposing body of an elderly woman was yesterday discovered at Locaber, West Canje, Berbice some 5 days after she had gone missing.

The Guyana Squash Association (GSA) in collaboration with Digicel Guyana, will from today stage the Woodpecker National Junior Squash Championships, possibly the biggest tournament of the year for junior campaigners according to national coach Carl Ince.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A federal jury in Brooklyn yesterday found a former New York Democratic state senator, whose brief flirtation with the Republican party gridlocked the senate, guilty of embezzling money from federally funded healthcare clinics.

SOCOPO, Venezuela (Reuters) – Deep in the rural home state of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez that has for years been off limits for opposition politicians, rival candidate Henrique Capriles struggled to push through a throng of screaming supporters.

Dear Editor, My very first visit to GT&T’s 2012 10/10 finals was indeed a rewarding experience and it was a joy to witness an event well supported by all the ethnic groups of Guyana.

An unidentified male last evening succumbed after being involved in a vehicular accident at Camp and Young streets.

BANGALORE, India, CMC – Big-hitting Chris Gayle suffered a rare failure, mystery spinner Sunil Narine was at his brilliant best while all-rounders Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo came up with last-over heroics as five West Indies players went on show in the Indian Premier League here yesterday.

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – The Hague war crimes prosecutor announced new charges yesterday against a Democratic Republic of Congo general accused of conscripting child fighters and an arrest warrant for a militia leader.

(Jamaica Observer) A Jamaican who was convicted in the UK, and who said he was illegally detained before being deported, has won £1 in damages from the Home Office, the Telegraph reported yesterday.

By Emmerson Campbell “I used to ride and I also never had a bike of my own and now that I can afford it, I like to help because I have the passion for cycling.”

Dear Editor, There are two things that baffle me as a humble citizen, and that is how those who are obviously bent on defending the government, treating us as though we are imbeciles.

KINSHASA (Reuters) – Seven United Nations peacekeepers in Congo were wounded when gunmen opened fire at a protest in the East of the country yesterday, drawing condemnation from the UN Security Council.

Three armed bandits, who apparently shun notoriety, threatened the East Canje family that they robbed that if a report of the robbery appeared in the media, they would kill a family member.

Food for the Poor (Guyana) Inc presented “extra large” hampers to three geriatric homes

(Jamaica Gleaner) Facebook has introduced a new ‘pay to promote’ system, which allows users to make the posts appear higher up on their friends timelines.

As the controversy continues to rage over funds held by the state holding company, NICIL, its head Winston Brassington last night challenged AFC Chairman Khemraj Ramjattan to a television forum on the issues for which they can jointly agree on a moderator.

Dear Editor,  Now that the PPP/C government has been taken to task by the GHRA for being in denial, would  this indeed wake them up to Guyana’s urgent  realities?

BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil plans to end automatic import licensing for about 10 perishable products including apples, raisins, wheat flour, potatoes and some cheeses and wines in retaliation against rising trade barriers in Argentina, a senior Brazilian government official told Reuters yesterday.

Politikles

Everest Cricket Club coasted to a comfortable seven-wicket victory over  Gandhi Youth Organization (GYO) in the inaugural De Sinco Group of Companies-sponsored Lipton Tea Cup at Everest Cricket Club on Sunday.

We can only hope that the incident last Wednesday in which a resident of Sophia collapsed and died while shots were being fired by police in the community where she lives is deemed by the authorities to be deserving of a full and unbiased investigation.