Daily Archive: Friday, October 18, 2013

Minister of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh met recently with several key international financial institutions in Washington DC to discuss ways in which these institutions can better serve the needs of Guyana and its regional neighbours, a release from GINA said.

The Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA), today celebrated its 3rd anniversary, and the authority was urged to work collaboratively to ensure that its mandate is maintained, a release from the Ministry of Agriculture said.

At about 1330h. today police say that mini-bus driver Veerapen Jebode, 58 years, of Good Faith, Mahaicony, ECD, returned home and found that his home had been broken and entered.

At about 1305h today, police say that armed police ranks were on a motor vehicle patrol in Craig Street, Campbellville, Georgetown, when Morris Porter, 50 years, of Laluni Street, Queenstown, who is a friend of one of the police ranks, went up to the vehicle and engaged in a conversation with the rank.

Three people were killed this morning when the Mahdia-bound bus they were in collided head on with a truck at Coverden, East Bank Demerara in the vicinity of Kaylee’s Gas Station.

(Jamaica Gleaner) The St Kitts-Nevis government says it will adopt new measures aimed at improving the treatment of CARICOM nationals living in the twin island Federation.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Jamaican entertainer Andrew Davis, better known as ‘Flippa Modella’, has been arrested by New Jersey State Police on allegations that he led an international drug trafficking and money laundering ring.

Leader of the Opposition Brigadier David Granger today called on President Donald Ramotar to convene a border and national security committee in the wake of last week’s seizure by Caracas of a ship in Guyana’s waters.

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.,  (Reuters) – Jackie Chan wasn’t in the mood for proclamations.

SAO PAULO,  (Reuters) – A fire today destroyed up to 300,000 tonnes of sugar and much of the Santos Port warehouses owned by Copersucar, the world’s largest trader of the sweetener, the port authority of Santos said.

(Trinidad Guardian) When taxi driver Sunil “Bobby” Mathura told his family he was on his last trip, little did they know his life was going to end that night. Mathura,

With an anti-money laundering bill still sandwiched in Parliament between the government and the opposition, the private sector today warned of growing and dire consequences for the business community.

Amid a week-old row over the seizure by Venezuela of an oil exploration vessel in Guyana’s waters, technical teams from Georgetown and Caracas are to meet in four months to address maritime delimitation.

Canadian gold mining company Guyana Goldfields has begun purchasing equipment for its Aurora gold mine and expects to award construction contracts for several key facilities within the next 30 days.

(Reuters) – Pakistan handed South Africa their first test defeat in almost two years and ended their 15-test unbeaten run after romping to a seven-wicket victory with more than a day to spare in Abu Dhabi yesterday.

The Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana is outraged that employers continue to flout the law by refusing to pay their workers the new national minimum wage and plans to forward such reports to the Labour Ministry.

By Emmerson Campbell in Paramaribo, Suriname Guyana’s contingent of officials and athletes were greeted with live music and handshakes upon arrival here yesterday in Paramaribo, Suriname for the second leg of the Inter Guiana Games (IGG) after a tiring 12-hour overland journey.

Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Irfaan Ali is urging businesses and other stakeholders to petition the US Department of Transportation to allow Fly Jamaica to operate direct flights between Guyana and New York.

Amateur boxers, Imran Khan and Dennis Thomas both suffered defeats in their opening bouts at the ongoing World Amateur Boxing Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan yesterday.

The United Minibus Union and the University of Guyana (UG) yesterday made a verbal agreement for bus operators who transport staff and students to and from the Turkeyen Campus to be uniformed but not all operators are on board The agreement is part of the union’s effort to regularise public transportation countrywide.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC-The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has denied reports that Ottis Gibson, West Indies’ head coach, is in contention to take over at the Glamorgan cricket club, according to ESPN Cricinfo.

The Ministry of Natural Resources will soon lay charges against Prospect-ing Licence (PL) and mineral property holders for violations and infringements of their agreements because of illegal subleasing unearthed during an enforcement exercise.

Dear Editor, Ralph Ramkarran’s piece ‘The PNC, APNU and national unity’ (SN, October 13) jogged my memory to recall Dr Cheddi Jagan’s speech during the budget debate in 1989.

Alpha ‘The Hammer’ United crushed Riddim Squad 4-1 in the feature semi-final encounter of the Georgetown Football Association (GFA) Players Cup on Wednesday at the Georgetown Football Club (GFC) ground, Bourda.

Three officers of the Linden Utility Services Cooperative Society Limited (LUSCSL) have been stripped of their positions but the way forward remains undecided after a special members meeting called last Sunday failed to get off the ground because of the lack of a quorum.

The Ministry of Education is introducing the study of the Portuguese language to the curriculum for Grade 7 students in five high schools and says it is pushing for it to be an examinable subject at the CXC level.

Santos FC edged Camptown FC 4-3 on penalty kicks in their semi-final match-up when action in the Georgetown Football Association (GFA) Players Cup continued at the Georgetown Football Club (GFC) ground, Bourda on Wednesday.

Dear Editor, In Sunday Stabroek of October 13, there is a feature on Lichfield written by Miss Shabna Ullah.

Dear Editor, We at Pro Guyana note recent criticisms of Mr Anand Goolsarran, and find them to be part of a disheartening pattern.

KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC- Double Olympic sprint champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce has signed a new four-year contract with leading Jamaican food manufacturing firm Grace Kennedy.

Michael ‘Shark Oil’ Gobin, a known character was on Monday refused bail when he appeared before Magistrate Rondell Weaver at the Blairmont Court charged with robbery under arms.

The head of one of country’s leading commercial banks on Monday mounted a spirited defence of the banking sector against sustained charges from the small business sector that its borrowing conditionalities are invariably onerous and frequently unattainable.

In the week that Natural Resources and the Environment Minister Robert Persaud signed the Minamata Convention on Mercury in Japan this newspaper monitored two mercury-related stories in sections of the international media that had to do with the use and effects of the toxic metal.

Both the state and defence yesterday made their final arguments to the jury in the trial of Ramesh Muniram, who is accused of murdering his wife.

The opening round of the Guyana Chess Federation Sasha Cells 2013 Junior Chess Championships begins on Saturday at the Olympic House in Kingston.

Dear Editor, I refer to the most recent letter written by Ms Priya Manickchand under the heading ‘Geetanjali Singh was not Goolsarran’s personal assistant’ (SN, October 17).

In 2006, the Government of Guyana and the Private Sector jointly conceived and developed what was to become one of the more important policy papers to come out of any other collaborative effort between these two entities.

Dear Editor, In her recent, lengthy letter published in Stabroek News, Kaieteur News and the Guyana Chronicle, Minister of Education Priya Manickchand weighed in on the conflict of interest issue involving Audit Director Geetanjali Singh and her husband, Minister of Finance Ashni Singh.

Fire Chief Marlon Gentle yesterday said that the cause of the Parfait Harmonie fire that destroyed a two-bedroom home and a smaller apartment on Wednesday evening was the explosion of a kerosene stove.

Slingerz FC defeated Uitvlugt FC 2-0 when action in the West Demerara Football Association (WDFA) Stag Beer Senior League continued at the Den Amstel Community ground on Wednesday.

Stabroek Market vendor Stacy Mansfield, annoyed at a competing vendor for luring one of his customers away, stabbed him in the neck with a pair of scissors, police say.

‘Eat what you grow, grow what you eat.’ This was the slogan in the mind of Dr Ian Thompson, lecturer in Food Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Mona, when in 2011 he made a composite cassava wheat bread as a substitute for regular wheat bread.

The Guyana Floodlights Softball Cricket Association yesterday launched its third annual Guyana Softball Cup International Tournament with a winner’s purse of $800,000 and other prizes up for grabs.

Dear Editor, I have been living in Carmichael Street for the past 25 years.

Dear Editor, It is unusual for private individuals, including businesspersons to hold a common view on a matter that involves a police unit in their vicinity, and relate with horror their conclusion that a certain police action harked back to another era not too long ago.

Two Colombian nationals, accused of forging Guyana Business Visas, were yesterday each placed on $100,000 bail after a local businessman testified in their favour.

Lack of attention to customer concerns in a range of key and critical public and private sector service entities across Guyana has saddled the country with a “poor” reputation for customer service, local International Develop-ment Consultant Joycelyn Williams told a seminar hosted by the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) on Tuesday.

A battery dealer was yesterday placed on $50,000 bail after he denied unlawfully wounding another man.

(Reuters) – Top-ranked South Africa admitted they were outplayed by Pakistan as their unbeaten run of 15 test matches over almost two years came to an end in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.

While Caribbean Community (Caricom) governments are showing signs of a greater sense of earnestness in their pursuit of enhanced levels of food security, the realisation of that goal continues to be threatened by huge expenditures on high volumes of imported foods.

Dear Editor, Our history did not happen in a vacuum. Neither is our history clothed in the simplistic good/bad binary.

Dear Editor, I would like to add my pen in response to two letters Minister Priya Manickchand has written in relation to the interpretation by the opposition AFC and APNU and the Chairman of Transparency Guyana,  Mr Anand Goolsarran, that the wife of the Minister of Finance is in a conflict of interest situation because of the position she holds at the Auditor-General’s Office.

GASCI (www.gasci.com/telephone Nº 223-6175/6) reports that session 533’s trading results showed consideration of $2,066,876 from 102,109 shares traded in 6 transactions as compared to session 532 which showed consideration of $2,189,173 from 10,163 shares traded in 9 transactions. 

At the Fort Wellington Court yesterday, a woman was ordered to post bail in the sum of $60,000 when she was granted her pre-trial freedom on a felonious wounding charge.

CARACAS,  (Reuters) – Prosecutors in Venezuela are investigating members of its national motorsports teams for possible currency violations, officials said yesterday, and the sports minister said tens of millions of dollars were claimed by people forging her signature.

The 53rd National Schools Cycling, Swimming and Track and Field Championship was officially launched yesterday at the Ministry of Education office on Brickdam.

(Barbados Nation) The Barbados Labour Party (BLP) is offended, as all Barbadians are, at the vicious and nasty personal attacks by Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler on anyone who calls him on his competence, says BLP parliamentarian Dr Maria Agard.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The debt and budget crisis that gripped Washington was the story of a Republican Party at war with itself.

After 20 years in the business of fashioning craft Kenneth Nelson – Ras Judah to the brothers and sisters of the faith – is unsure of the condition of the industry.

Business Cartoons

Dear Editor, The National Community Policing Executive (NCPE) wishes to express its sincere gratitude to the Government of Guyana which, through the Ministry of Home Affairs recently provided the requisite tools and equipment valued at over $17M to fortify the operational capabilities in the various community policing group divisions.

The jury may still be out on the health and nutritional issues that attend the proliferation of international food franchises in developing countries, but those considerations are doing little to deter Guyanese investors.

In the same interview during which she told us she believed Caribbean governments were displaying evidence of a greater sense of urgency as far as the food security of the region is concerned, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Resident Representative Dr Lystra Fletcher-Paul conceded that the pace of change was, perhaps, not matching the urgency of the situation.

The Caribbean Community is calling on the Dominican Republic to adopt measures to protect the human rights of those made vulnerable following a September 23 ruling of its constitutional court on nationality which modifies retroactively legislation which bestowed citizenship on persons born in that territory from 1929-2010.

Reigning Guyana and Caribbean individual champion sniper, Lennox Braithwaite continued his winning streak when he won last weekend’s Guyana National Rifle Association (GNRA) second Recorded Shoot at the Timehri Rifle ranges.

Frankly Speaking, it is no longer surprising to me that certain issues of national significance keep repeating themselves as the years roll by.

In echoing St Lucia Prime Minister Kenny Anthony’s call for a “big conversation” on the regional integration movement “to chart a new paradigm for growth, review the role and performance of our regional institutions to determine how they can help in these times and better assist us to restore growth to our economies,” Caricom Secretary-General Irwin LaRocque, in his October 3 lecture at St Augustine, also declared that the “big conversation” had already begun.

Politikles

LUSAKA,  (Reuters) – Zambia threatened to shut Shoprite stores yesterday, a move that could tarnish its image as an investor-friendly frontier market, after the South African retailer fired 3,000 workers who went on strike.

(Trinidad Express) A Caribbean Airlines Ltd (CAL) manager has received an additional two weeks suspension, as an investigation continues into a multi-million dollar alleged racket involving the use of fraudulent credit cards which has already cost CAL more than TT$12 million in losses.