Daily Archive: Friday, August 31, 2012

Caracas,  (Reuters) – Brazil said on Friday it is pressing Venezuela to determine whether Brazilian gold miners crossed the border and massacred a village of about 80 indigenous people from a helicopter.

(de Ware Tijd) PARAMARIBO – If Haiti, which has been hit by hurricane Isaac, does not get aid soon, food shortages may loom in the region’s poorest country.

(de Ware Tijd) APOERA – Yesterday, lumber company Greenheart Group opened its new sawmill along the Corantijn River near Apoera.

The Office of the President tonight said that the International members of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the Linden unrest will be arriving in Guyana on Wednesday, September 5, 2012.

Police say that at about 1300h today, businessman Godfrey Best, 47 years, of Canal No.

Six staff members of the One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) project have been sent home to facilitate a probe by police into the theft of around 150 laptops, the Government Information Agency reported today.

(Jamaica Observer) KINGSTON, Jamaica — Jamaica and the United States are seeking to strengthen military relationship as part of the National Guard State Partnership Programme.

(Jamaica Gleaner) The Office of the Contractor General (OCG) has announced that it will be reviewing the contracts for the Jamaica 50th Independence anniversary celebrations.

AHMEDABAD, India,  (Reuters) – A former Indian state minister was sentenced to 28 years in jail today for murder during one of the country’s worst religious riots, when up to 2,500 people, most of them Muslim, were hunted down and hacked, beaten or burnt to death in 2002.

MANILA,  (Reuters) – An earthquake of 7.6 magnitude struck off the Philippines today damaging roads and bridges and sending people fleeing to higher ground in fear of a tsunami, a politician and authorities said.

PARIS,  (Reuters) – The disgraced power couple of Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Anne Sinclair will be played by two of France’s best-known actors, Gerard Depardieu and Isabelle Adjani, in an upcoming movie about sex, politics and love on the rocks.

Region 10 Chairman Sharma Solomon has written Prime Minister Sam Hinds asking him to take the required action to have “inaccuracies” in Ambassador Bayney Karran’s presentation on the Linden unrest to the Organisation of American States corrected.

NEW YORK  (Reuters) – An early-morning shooting at a Pathmark supermarket in New Jersey has left at least three people dead, including the suspected gunman, local media said today.

(Barbados Nation) One of the West Indies’ most heralded fast bowlers has urged this region’s up and coming cricketers to remain disciplined and focused.

(Barbados Nation) The Ministry of Finance has ordered all ministries and Government departments to make a 3.3 per cent reduction in their allocations, excluding those which are statutory in nature, such as salaries.

(Barbados Nation) A six-month operation by the Drug Squad and Customs Department led to the discovery yesterday at the Bridgetown Port of 38 pounds of marijuana valued at B$156 000 in the trunks of two racing cars, which arrived from Jamaica to participate in this weekend’s Digicel/Williams Seaboard Marine International Race Meet.

(Barbados Nation) The head honcho of the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) is concerned about the lack of discipline in the game at the local level.

(Trinidad Express) In the space of five hours between Wednesday night and early yesterday morning, four more murders were recorded.

NEW ORLEANS, (Reuters) – The remnants of Hurricane Isaac continue to cause headaches today, bringing heavy rainfall and the threat of flash flooding to the lower Mississippi Valley as Gulf Coast residents get ready to start their cleanup efforts.

(Trinidad Express) Are we civilised? This question was asked last night by President George Maxwell Richards in his Independence Day address which was delivered on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of Independence of Trinidad and Tobago at the National Multicultural Extravaganza and Re-Enactment of the 1962 Independence at Woodford Square, Port of Spain.

LONDON,  (Reuters) – Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich won a court battle today against former partner Boris Berezovsky, who sued him for $6 billion over claims he was intimidated into selling assets they acquired in the post-Soviet carve-up of Russia’s vast natural resources.

(Trinidad Express) This country’s youngest gold medal Olympian Keshorn Walcott will be receiving another gold medal today.

The Timehri North Develop-mental Council (TNDC), a group representing the 2,364 residents who have been asked to remove from their homes near the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), has said that there are no plans to move as it awaits word from government on their resettlement.

Chief Cooperatives Develop-ment Officer, Kareem Abdul Jabar has ordered an external audit into the operations of the Guyana Defence Force’s Credit Union following reports of breaches of credit union rules for the acquisition of vehicles.

Paul Anthony Lo Hing, who is accused of strangling his wife to death at Sophia on Sunday, was yesterday charged with her murder.

Brazilian fugitive Euclid Da Silva, who was captured by local police on Wednesday, is being questioned by the authorities in relation to several offences which led to him returning to these shores after escaping a Boa Vista prison in July.

As police continue to follow leads in the brutal slaying of taxi driver Sean De Freitas Sookdeo, his relatives are insisting that he was not involved in any wrongdoing and neither did he take money from anyone for the importation of vehicles.

A 52-year-old woman accused of embezzling $2.4M from her place of employment was yesterday admitted to bail in the sum of $350,000 when she appeared before Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.

APNU’s shadow minister for public infrastructure, Joseph Harmon has queried the basis on which $750 million was transferred from the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission to the Public Works Ministry but Commissioner of the regulatory body, Karen Livan says that this is provided for in its functions.

A man on Monday appeared before Magistrate Khrisndat Persaud at the Whim court charged over the murder of a No.79 Village joiner.

Fedders-Lloyd Corporation has asked the Health Ministry to review the award of the contract for the construction of the India-funded specialty hospital and asked that it be selected as the contractor as it has “expertise and experience” to fulfill the project to the satisfaction of all.

Fifteen-year-old CARIFTA under-17 finalist, Tevin Garraway, leads the list of under-17 prospects for the short sprints at this weekend’s South American Youth Championship trials at the Police Sports Club Ground, Eve Leary.

The City Council said on Wednesday that it will be continuing its current clean-up exercise in collaboration with the business community until all wards in Georgetown are cleared so that the regular cleaning regime can be resumed.

NEW YORK, (Reuters) – A Roman Catholic priest in New York expressed sympathy this week for some clergy who sexually abuse children, as well as for convicted child rapist Jerry Sandusky, saying that it is often the “youngster” who is the seducer.

NEW ORLEANS,  (Reuters) – Torrential rain dumped by Hurricane Isaac threatened to burst a dam in Mississippi yesterday, triggering the mass evacuation of local residents, while large areas of the region were still flooded and without power but getting ready to mop up.

A former Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) officer was yesterday reprimanded but spared a jail sentence or a fine after he admitted to assaulting an immigration officer at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri, after he refused to let his bags be checked by the officer-on-duty.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – World food prices jumped 10 percent in July as drought parched crop lands in the United States and Eastern Europe, the World Bank said in a statement urging governments to shore up programs that protect their most vulnerable populations.

Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon says Guyana will soon ink an Open Skies Agreement with the United States that would allow more international passenger and cargo flights from that country, increasing trade and economic growth.

ZURICH, Switzerland, CMC – Not even rain and chilly temperatures could prevent sprint icon Usain Bolt and fellow Jamaican Yohan Blake from sweeping the sprints in record times at the prestigious Weltklasse Zürich Diamond League here yesterday.

President of the Guyana Cycling Federation (GCF) Cheryl Thompson is urging a group of ‘Teach Them Young’ cyclists to return to school and remain  focused on the possibility of riding at the next Olympics in neighbouring Brazil.

TAMPA, Fla., (Reuters) – Republican Mitt Romney urged voters yesterday to help him rebuild the U.S.

A young woman accused of stealing $4M from her grandparents’ house was yesterday placed on $150,000 bail when she appeared before Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.

NEW YORK, (Reuters) – Hard-serving Andy Roddick, the last American male to win a grand slam tournament, will retire after the U.S.

NEW YORK, (Reuters) – Disappointed but content, Kim Clijsters signed off her singles career with a second-round defeat at the U.S.

DUBAI,  (Reuters) – The U.N. chief and Egypt’s president delivered stinging speeches at a summit of developing nations in Iran yesterday, damaging the host country’s quest for global prestige and support for its nuclear programme and its policy on Syria.

Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon on Wednesday night apologised to Region 10 Chairman Sharma Solomon for incorrectly stating earlier in the day that the region was still to name its three nominees to the committee which will review the economic situation in Linden.

Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Dr. Inderjit Ramdass says he is surprised by comments that Opposition parliamentarian Joe Harmon made in reaction to a letter sent by the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment which sought to justify why a new impact study was not necessary for the airport’s expansion.

UNITED NATIONS, (Reuters) – A U.N. Security Council meeting on Syria’s aid crisis achieved nothing new yesterday except to highlight global paralysis on the 17-month conflict as western powers warned that military action to secure civilian safe zones was still an option.

The Guyana Netball Association (GNA) is to craft a development plan soon and then the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) would be willing to offer some form of support.

The Guyana Rugby Football Union schools programme has not yet succeeded in bringing  new females to the sport, according to President of the GRFU, Colonel (ret’d) John Lewis.

While the coming on stream of the Amaila Falls hydro project will inevitably change the scope and mode of Wartsila operations in Guyana, it is not likely that its operations will be gradually phased out since fossil fuel generation will have to make up for the shortfall of the hydro during downtime for maintenance.

JOHANNESBURG, (Reuters) – South African prosecutors yesterday charged 270 striking miners with murder of 34 co-workers seen being shot dead in a hail of police bullets captured in videos broadcast around the world.

(Reuters) – South Africa’s rise to the top of the test rankings was reflected in the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Test Team of the Year yesterday with four Proteas making it to the Michael Clarke-led side.

Workers attached to the Blairmont sugar estate are to return to work today after an agreement was reached between the Guyana Sugar Corporation and their union representative over payments.

Dear Editor, Most citizens must be excited at the much promoted prospects of a boom in the country’s economy, energised largely by overseas investors deriving from different economic cultures and industrial relations environments.

Dear Editor, The Guyana Mangrove Restoration Project (GMRP) wishes to respond to the letter titled ‘Guyana should not be experimenting with geotextile structures for coastal protection as their effectiveness had not been recognized’ in the Stabroek News dated Sunday, August 26.

NEW YORK, (Reuters) – World number one Roger Federer put on another evening exhibition at Flushing Meadows yesterday as he brushed aside Germany’s Bjorn Phau 6-2 6-3 6-2 to reach the third round of the U.S

President of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), Komal Chand has lamented the sugar industry’s poor  production performance over the past few years and GuySuCo’s  financial predicament but he insists that a “co-operative effort could contribute to the industry’s return to sustainability in light of the favourable world sugar price.”

MONACO, (Reuters) – Andres Iniesta of Barcelona beat off a strong challenge from club mate Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid to be named yesterday as UEFA’s Best Player in Europe last season.

Dear Editor, On Friday, August 24, about 7.30 pm, I watched a call-in programme aired on RCA 8 called ‘Let’s Talk Essequibo’ hosted by Mr Romel Roopnarine. 

HAVANA, (Reuters) – Communist-run Cuba’s five-year plan to cut more than a million state jobs, create a strong “non-state sector” and improve wages has made only limited progress, according to a government report released this week.

(Barbados Nation) An operation yesterday by the Drug Squad at the Bridgetown Port has netted four packages of cannabis.

Dear Editor, I am not sure what criteria were used for Stabroek News to bestow the crown of Guyana‘s most “renowned” coach on the Guyana Police Force coach, Mr Lyndon Wilson.

(Reuters) – Attacking the Indian spinners is the best possible way to survive against them, according to New Zealand captain Ross Taylor.

De Hoop, Mahaica truck driver Deonarine Jairam, 21, has been charged with causing the death of a man by dangerous driving along the Bath Village Public Road on Saturday night.

(Jamaica Gleaner) A 14-year-old girl before the courts on a murder charge gave birth yesterday, raising concerns in her community about whether she was being properly monitored by the state.

LONDON, (Reuters) – Single amputee Jerome Singleton studied physics so he could learn how to master the use of his prosthetic leg, having been born without a fibula.

Dear Editor, The political elite running the PPP and PNC do not make decisions in the interest of their constituencies, party and the nation.

A man who died after being hit on the road early Wednesday morning in the vicinity of the East La Penitence market is still unidentified.

(Trinidad Express) The son of deceased chutney singer Sundar Popo was yesterday sent to prison.

On Monday of this week, during one of the Georgetown City Council’s usual inconsistent sporadic, “law-and-order exercises”, the “single-parent” pavement vendors – all female to “a man” – let go their normal protest-anthems.

KINGSTON, Jamaica,  CMC – Troubled Birmingham City striker Marlon King has been left out of a 24-man squad for Jamaica’s CONCACAF World Cup qualifying tie against United States starting next week.

The Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV and AIDS (PANCAP) will hold three key governance meetings from September 4-6 in Haiti.

Dear Editor, We watched with disgust the spectacle of corruption scandal after corruption scandal over the last decade, and when we thought it would have gone away with new leadership in government, oh what a surprise:  Corruption is here to stay.

Starr Computers has launched the Samsung Galaxy Beam smartphone on the local market, with the aim of providing Guyanese with high quality, efficient and cost-effective technology tools.

Last week, there was a lot of sadness surrounding two Americans, both called Armstrong.