Daily Archive: Tuesday, April 16, 2013

BOSTON,  (Reuters) – Authorities suspect whoever perpetrated the Boston Marathon attacks carried heavy bombs made from pressure cookers in nylon bags or backpacks to launch the worst bombings on U.S.

A Guyana-born Canadian citizen yesterday collapsed while at the check-in counter for a Caribbean Airlines Flight to Toronto and was pronounced dead by doctors at a nearby Guyana Defence Force medical centre.

Speaker of the National Assembly Raphael Trotman this afternoon ruled that the National Assembly has the power to amend the budgetary allocations stating that the House cannot be bound by a preliminary ruling of the High Court that stated the contrary.

A Berbice bus driver and a woman were this afternoon shot and wounded during an armed robbery near the High Court.

CARACAS,  (Reuters) – Violent clashes at opposition protests over Venezuela’s disputed presidential election have killed seven people, officials said today, as both sides mobilized supporters nationwide for new demonstrations.

LONDON,  (Reuters) – Even the most fierce gold bulls must be feeling sheepish after bullion tumbled helter-skelter to two-year lows in a couple of days, putting a question mark over how much space the metal should take in portfolios.

BOSTON,  (Reuters) – President Barack Obama called the Boston Marathon bombings an “act of terror” today and investigators said no additional explosive devices have been found other than two that detonated near the finish line, a development that could complicate the case.

(Trinidad Guardian) Former CL Financial chairman Lawrence Duprey and his wife, Sylvia Baldini, have sold three multi-million dollar hotels in Miami to prevent foreclosure by a Florida bank which they owed TT$30 million in mortgage payments. The

(Trinidad Express) Bankruptcy is not an option for debt-riddled State-owned Caribbean Airlines Ltd (CAL), Finance Minister Larry Howai said yesterday.

DUBAI, (Reuters) – A major earthquake struck Iran near the border with Pakistan today and an Iranian official said hundreds of people were feared to have been killed.

(Trinidad Express) National Security Minister Jack Warner yesterday described himself as “incorruptible”.

BOSTON,  (Reuters) – Two bombs packed with ball bearings tore through crowds near the finish of the Boston Marathon, killing three people and triggering a massive hunt for those behind an attack the White House said would be treated as “an act of terror”.

A Guyanese-born man and his son were yesterday morning murdered, allegedly by the child’s mother, who then also took her own life, in an East Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York apartment.

With talks between the Ramotar administration and the opposition failing to yield a budget compromise, Speaker of the National Assembly Raphael Trotman is to rule today on whether the National Assembly can reduce the government’s proposed spending estimates.

The mother accused of killing her eight-month-old son at Mazaruni, Region Seven, was yesterday charged with murder.

AFC Leader and MP Khemraj Ramjattan yesterday expressed surprise at government’s refusal to accept the opposition’s right to amend the budget in the light of promises by Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh during the last budget debates to defend those very rights, but Singh said those remarks were made in an “unprecedented atmosphere”.

Both of the men who perished in the plane crash on Saturday have been positively identified by family and colleagues.

The mother of 16-year-old, Dennis Anthony Barker, who was crushed when a mining pit caved in at Pamela in Mahdia told this publication that her son had no prior mining experience.

Former president Bharrat Jagdeo’s assertion that there is veiled “resurgence” of anti-Indian sentiments was made in his capacity as a private citizen, PPP Executive Clement Rohee said yesterday.

They did not win the top prize, but members of the Zeeburg Secondary School team did not leave the Sagicor Visionaries’ Challenge regional finals in Barbados empty-handed.

Minister of Education Priya Manickchand on a visit to Starter’s Nursery School, Georgetown to check on the new process of the ongoing registration of students being done, stated that the ministry is discouraging parents from “school shopping,” that is, choosing the best school based on previous results, since every school is supposed to be a good school that provides good results.

The People’s Progressive Party in a press statement condemned what it called the latest assault on the 2013 budget by the joint opposition alliance of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance for Change (AFC).

An elderly man is now dead after he was stabbed to his chest on High Street yesterday afternoon.

Two persons are now critical after an accident at Meten-Meer-Zorg, West Coast Demerara, during the wee hours of yesterday morning.

President Donald Ramotar yesterday sought to assure foreign nationals living and working in Guyana that his administration is trying to minimise delays in the processing of immigration applications and work permits and also to ensure their safety.

A robbery suspect and his girlfriend are currently assisting lawmen with investigations pertaining to a robbery on the Corentyne.

The three persons who were held in connection with the fatal beating of Plum Park resident John McPherson in the Cuyuni/Mazaruni were released from custody yesterday, while an eyewitness recounted the brutal assault and said the perpetrators threatened to kill anyone who tried to go after them.

Newly elected president of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF), Christopher Matthias and his executives will have the full backing of the national men’s football team as long as strategic plans are in place to take the sport forward.

Newly sworn in Iranian Ambassador to Guyana Hojattolah Soltani invited a delegation of local stakeholders in the agricultural and industrial sectors to explore opportunities in his country, after being sworn in last week.

A post-mortem examination of the body of 90-year-old Millicent Prince-Cummings yesterday revealed that she sustained blunt trauma to the head and was also sexually assaulted, Crime Chief Seelall Persaud said.

Former national football coach, Jamaal Shabazz on Sunday urged newly elected president of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF), Christopher Matthias, to hold consultation with players, the executives, the sub associations and all the stake holders but to be a strong and decisive leader.

Defending champions GT&T Berbice trounced rivals Essequibo by 180 runs while Demerara gained first innings points against the President’s XI in their drawn encounter of the first round of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB)/Limacol Cup Inter-County U15 tournament yesterday. 

Scotiabank and Habitat for Humanity have raised $216,000 one month after partnering on an initiative to build a home for a widowed mother of two.

Top seed Anthony Downes edged second seed Jeremy Miller 5-7 6-0 10-8 to win the men’s singles title when the Guyana Lawn Tennis Association Assuria Invitational concluded at the National Racquet Center, Woolford Avenue on Sunday.

Bryden and Fernandes launched another promotion for customers who buy Breeze laundry detergent last Wednesday at the Bounty Supermarket, Water Street.

Cherokee Park through doubles from Jamal Samuels in the fourth and 12th  minutes and Aubrey Fredrick in the third and 15th minutes crushed Blueberry Hill 4-1  when the Guinness Greatest of the Streets Linden Edition continued on Saturday at the Wisroc/Amelia’s Ward Bus Park with six fixtures.

Senior staff at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) recently completed a quality improvement training course held in collaboration with the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) and Health Qual International.

Taxi service owner and former president of the George-town Dominoes Federation Orin Joseph was shot and killed late Sunday night, a stone’s throw away from his home during an apparent armed robbery.

Albion Community Centre Cricket Club defeated Gizmos & Gadgets sponsored Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club (RHTYSC) by six wickets in the final of the inaugural Carib Beer T20 competition on Sunday at the Albion Community Center Ground.’

Kashif and Shanghai’s 2012 football champs, Buxton United yesterday morning received gym equipment to aid in the players development from Guyana’s largest manufacturer of quality hardware items and heavy construction materials, Gafsons Industries Limited at their Hutson quarter’s.

Adjodha Persaud, 64, was yesterday sentenced to a 60-year prison term after he was found guilty of the murder of his nephew.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad,  CMC-Trinidad and Tobago national cricketers are to receive mental help to boost their preparation for the regional four-day semi-final round following a series of disastrous performances against champions Jamaica and Barbados.

CHENNAI, India,  CMC-Dwayne Bravo’s Chennai Super Kings were stunned by the unfancied Pune Warriors as matches in the Indian premier League (IPL) continued at the MA Chidambaram Stadium yesterday.

Dear Editor, A cartoon in Saturday’s SN (April 13) depicting a rattling vehicle and persons and items flying all over the place is an apt description of the GT-Lethem road at present, especially for two stretches of the road from Linden to Mabura and from Pirara to Lethem; ironically, stretches nearest to the developed communities.

A serving member of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) was yesterday fined $10,000 and ordered to do one year of community service after he admitted to having six grammes of cannabis at a concert at the National Park early Sunday morning.

Three men, allegedly caught with over four kilos of cannabis in a police sting operation, were yesterday remanded to prison after being charged with narcotics trafficking.

Following Saturday’s President’s versus Vice President’s 15s rugby match, 47 players have been shortlisted to be involved in skills and fitness training programmes commencing today at the National Park’s rugby field.

Dear Editor, Pasturing issues for cattle farmers are often an underlying cause of conflict, and should therefore be central to planning.

Dear Editor, I’m not afraid of storms, for I’m learning to sail my ship -Aeschylus.

A mason was yesterday remanded to prison after being charged with breaking into a man’s home and stealing a quantity of electronics.

Alpha United on Sunday defeated Rosignol United 2-0 at the Blairmont Community Centre ground in a match of the Guyana Football Federation’s Super League competition.

Dear Editor, I am astonished by the proposals advanced by the opposition parties to cut the allocations in Budget 2013 that were intended to avoid increases in electricity charges to the 164,000 customers of GPL, and other allocations which were to contribute to the financing and, hence, the realization of the proposed Amaila Falls Hydro-power development.

President Donald Ramotar extended felicitations to Venezuela President-elect Nicolas Maduro and expressed hope that the two countries can continue to deepen bilateral relations.

The Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Gym was declared the top gym and Republican’s Septon Barton was awarded the best boxer trophy when the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) brought the curtains down on its National Novices Championships on Sunday.

Dear Editor, I reply to T Pemberton’s query as seen in the letters section of Stabroek News of Friday, April 5,  (‘Stamps conundrum’).

Guyana’s newest insurance company, Assuria, has once again flexed its corporate muscle in support of a discipline locally.

BOSTON (Reuters) – Two bombs ripped through the crowd at the finish line of the Boston Marathon yesterday, killing three people, maiming others and injuring more than 100 in what a White House official said would be treated as an “act of terror.”

The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) says preparations are moving apace for the hosting of its 30th Congress in August where it plans to elect a new Central Committee.

Some business leaders feel that the recently announced change in the ceiling for property tax and its accompanying change in date of valuation could spell disaster for those whose property could now be assessed at 2011 values rather than those of 1991.

Dear Editor, I read recently where we were informed that another clean-up campaign has been organized in Guyana, the most recent one being the work by students at the University of Guyana.

DUBLIN (Reuters) – World leaders must act urgently to break the diplomatic deadlock around Syria if they want to prevent the crisis from reaching a dangerous tipping point, the heads of the United Nations aid agencies said yesterday in a rare political appeal.

Former national champion Ransford Goodluck has taken a slim lead in the “X” Class while fullbore captain Mahendra Persaud won the prestigious Valladares Trophy after the first day of competition in the National Rifle Shooting championships which opened Sunday at the Timehri Rifle ranges.

Dear Editor, There are two or three ways to ‘read’ former President Jagdeo’s statement about “the resurgence of anti-Indian racism.”

Attorney-at-Law Jerome Khan was re-elected unopposed as president of the Lusignan Golf Club following its Annual General Meeting Saturday at the LGC, East Coast Demerara.

Heavy morning showers rendered Sunday’s second day’s play of the  Georgetown Cricket Association two-day final between Police Sports Club (PSC) and the Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) into a one hour fight for survival resulting in PSC claiming the 2012-2013 Noble House Seafood’s second division title at the Georgetown Cricket Club ground, Bourda.

Dear Editor, Estimates of the Public Sector – 2013 Appendix Q (Page 542) Ministry of Home Affairs Programme 3 – Guyana Prison Service Other Technical and Craft Skilled Includes the following: – Chief Prison Officer – Principal Prison Officer – Prison Trade Instructor – Principal Prison 1 – Prison Officer A Principal Prison Officer alleged on a Capitol News report that a named official of the Public Service Commission advised that her post did not fall within the Public Service and that therefore the complaint could not be addressed.

Clinton Urling of German’s Restaurant was re-elected as President when the council of the Georgetown Chambers of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) voted in a new executive management committee for 2013-2014, in elections held last Friday at the Chamber’s Waterloo Street, Cummingsburg location in Georgetown.

Current events on the Korean Peninsula compel reflection on the American political scientist John J Mearsheimer’s 1990 essay ‘Why We Will Soon Miss The Cold War,’ the key contention of which was that “we may wake up one day lamenting the loss of the order that the Cold War gave to the anarchy of international relations.”

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea made new threats of military action yesterday as the reclusive nation celebrated the anniversary of its founder’s birth, stoking tension on the peninsula with a new “ultimatum” to South Korea in the stand-off over its nuclear programme.

CARACAS (Reuters) – Hundreds of protesters clashed with police in the Venezuelan capital yesterday after opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles called for demonstrations to demand a recount of votes from Sunday’s election to replace the late Hugo Chavez.

  Former APNU parliamentarian Richard Allen (right) is embraced by APNU Leader David Granger yesterday when he visited Parliament during yesterday’s sitting of the National Assembly.