Daily Archive: Sunday, December 1, 2013

NEW YORK,  (Reuters) – A suburban New York train derailed today, killing four people and injuring 63, including 11 critically, when all seven cars of a Metro-North train ran off the tracks on a sharp curve, officials said.

Guyanese, Professor Bishnodat Persaud and Dr Shirley Sookrie Hanoman-Jhagroo have been conferred with national awards by Barbados on the occasion of that country’s 47th anniversary of independence on November 30.

My pet – Hanging with a pet snake along Co-op Crescent in Linden.

Gleaming – Inside the new New Thriving establishment on Camp and Lamaha Sts.

Taking a photo of a new pet along Co-Op Crescent Road in Linden

Tranquil water – Boat ride along the Demerara River near Linden

Hey Birdie – Schoolchildren fascinated with these birds along Co-op Crescent in Linden last week.

Police say that investigations are being conducted into the circumstances surrounding the death of miner Terrence France of Oronoque, Port Kaituma, NWD, whose body was found with several suspected chop wounds at about 0600h today in a mining pit at 8 Miles Backdam, Port Kaituma.

The police say that investigations are being conducted into a fatal accident that occurred at about 0530h today on the main road at Foulis, East Coast Demerara and which resulted in the death of motorist Trevon Jamal Wilson, 22 years.

LOS ANGELES, (Reuters) – Actor Paul Walker, best known for his roles in the “Fast and the Furious” action movies, died on Saturday in a car crash in Southern California, his publicist said.

(Barbados Nation) Job layoffs in the public sector that could exceed 3 000 are imminent, foreshadowing a bleak Christmas for many Barbadian households.

(Trinidad Express) MINISTER of Trade Vasant Bharath has admitted that the conduct of immigration officers and delays at Piarco International Airport could become a deterrent to foreign investors.

A 17-year-old yesterday fatally stabbed his mother and teenage brother at their Moblissa, Soesdyke-Linden Highway home in the wee hours of yesterday morning and has since gone on the run.

A major Indian company, the D Y Patil Group is said to have begun the process of cultivating 65,000 hectares of land in the Canje Basin but there has been no information on the agreement with the government aside from a passing reference to a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).

Miner Deryck Kanhai, who went berserk last month and shot four people dead before he too was killed, had been granted gun licences by late Police Commissioner Henry Greene even though he was advised against it.

Ranks of the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) yesterday morning intercepted 12 kilogrammes of cocaine which was stuffed into locally grown boulanger before it could be placed on a flight to Toronto, Canada, at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, sources close to the case have confirmed.

Member of Parliament for the main opposition party APNU Joseph Harmon said that he is unconvinced that the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment has a handle on the royalties that BOSAI Minerals is supposed to pay to Guyana for its bauxite extraction, which he estimates to be in the order of US$54 million.

Several persons were injured, some seriously when two minibuses collided on the Ruby public road, East Bank Essequibo (EBE) yesterday afternoon.

Story and photos by Keneisha Fraser “I came to live here in 1975 when I married.

Fifty years after the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) came into existence it is a far cry from the vibrant force that once represented workers and played a pivotal role in decision-making in the country.

A police officer stationed at Mahdia and accused of harassing sex workers in the Region Eight area has been reportedly captured on video assaulting one of them and the Guyana Women Miners Organisation (GWMO) plans to take up the issue with the senior officers of the police force.

New GPC/Limacol announced yesterday that it was withdrawing plans to establish a “world-class” stadium at Bourda following misrepresentations made in the press.

Could sprint ace Jason Yaw win a global Track and Field medal for Guyana?

The WBC World Cup has been pushed back again as a sign of respect to President Jose Sulaiman as he recovers from his very recent heart surgery at the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, California.

Brain Leitch, the teen who was wanted in connection with the murder of South Road hotelier Joseph Alexander Jagdeo is now is police custody after he was turned in by his mother yesterday.

(Cricinfo) Captains have plenty to think about before a Test series begins – media commitments, which XI to select and the decision at the toss among them – even before they get to their own performances.

The last of three new computer laboratories was yesterday handed over to the Guyana Police Force by US-based Zara Reality Holdings, equipping local law enforcement personnel with the technology needed for today’s digital world.

Georgetown is already a disaster. An explosion of disease is all that remains to condemn the city as unsafe for human habitation.

I find it hard to accept that old age has come upon me.

The Red-shouldered macaw, at 30 cm (12 in) long and 165 gm (5.8 oz) in weight, is the smallest of all the macaws.

One of the edification spinoffs from being in the entertainment business is the number of lessons one learns that prove very useful in other businesses or circumstances.

(Reuters) – Italian racer Doriano Romboni died yesterday after being struck by another rider’s bike at an event in memory of late compatriot Marco Simoncelli, who was killed in a similar fashion two years ago.

ST JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) is providing incentives to early bird ticket holders for the upcoming One-Day International (ODI) home series against England.

SYDNEY, Australia CMC – Trinidad and Tobago’s Invitational Under-16 cricketers defeated their Australian counterparts by 58 runs to clinch the Don Bradman Foundation 50-over Final here on Friday.

Introduction As indicated last week that column was prompted by the seemingly orchestrated public statements by private organizations, steps being taken by the US Treasury against tax evasion in the region as well as diplomatic and other pressures brought to bear on the parliamentary “opposition.”

Deeds Registrar Azeema Baksh has struck off 119 entities from the Register of Companies for failing to comply with the Companies Act and these include the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), the Guyana Oil Company Ltd, Guyana National Shipping Corporation and Guyana Stores Ltd.

CASTRIES, St Lucia CMC – St Lucia cricket selectors have named a squad of 15 players who will represent the island when the Windward Islands cricket series start in Grenada next week.

Impasse The impasse over the amendments to the 2009 Anti-money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism Act is a perplexing one. 

On November 13 the Xinhua News Agency, the official press agency of China, carried a report that indicated an important and seemingly strategic change in US policy towards the Caribbean and Latin America.

The Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) has requested the depositions from the preliminary inquiry into the murder charge against cricketer Caryle Barton, who was recently freed, but after more than a week they have yet to be handed over.

KIEV (Reuters) – Ukraine’s political opposition said yesterday it would call a general strike to force the resignation of President Viktor Yanukovich’s government after police used batons and stun grenades to break up pro-Europe protests.

Dear Editor, The weather is complicated. That is well known. It is also everybody’s business, as former Chief Hydro-meteorological Officer Dilip Jaigopaul often enunciated.

Among the hundreds of analyses prompted by Jonathan Trott’s troubled exit from the Ashes series, interesting angles were advanced by two Mikes, Atherton and Selvey, both former England players now perceptive observers of the game in print and on TV and radio.

Alas, it was over for Viswanathan  Anand and one billion and more chess fans from India.

A suspect in a robbery who was under police guard at the Georgetown Public Hospital yesterday managed to escape despite being shot at several times.

(Reuters) – The red-hot Miami Heat showed no signs of sluggishness from their massive US Thanksgiving dinner at LeBron James’s house, grinding out a 90-83 win over the Toronto Raptors for their ninth consecutive victory on Friday.

Continued from last week   Puppy septicaemia (blood poisoning) Last week, I mentioned that as a sequel to a navel infection, a septicaemia could develop. 

Dear Editor, A recent editorial in one of the printed dailies highlights a major reality.

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON  (Reuters) – Two of the biggest U.S. airlines, American and Delta, have notified Chinese authorities of flight plans when travelling through an air defence zone Beijing has declared over the East China Sea, in line with US government advice.

To end this series of comments on Guyana’s Third National Drama Festival held in November, 2013, we consider the way the festival closed with four new plays produced by students of the National School of Theatre Arts and Drama. 

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – The United States has offered to destroy Syrian chemicals on a US ship, the global chemical weapons watchdog said yesterday, and is looking for a suitable Mediterranean port where processing can be carried out.

Winners of the Fly-Jamaica Caribbean Motor Racing Championship (CMRC) promotion Tameshwar Ramcharan and Emma Vieira have been awarded their prizes.

Dear Editor, I refer to the statement made by President Ramotar to the effect that the Georgetown City Council is run by APNU; he blamed them for the floods on Wednesday November 27.

Dear Editor, I am told that the attendance at the second annual dinner of the Transparency Institute, Guyana held at the Pegasus Hotel on Friday evening, November 22, 2013, was an encouraging improvement over the first year’s engagement.

Night-time vista of Camp Street from an upper storey of the building recently acquired by the New Thriving at the corner of Lamaha and Camp Streets (Photo by Arian Browne)

HAIFA, Israel (Reuters) – Hundreds of Bedouin Arabs and their supporters clashed with Israeli forces yesterday in protests against a government plan to force 40,000 Bedouins living in the southern Negev region to leave their villages.

Many of  us know this rice dish as Spanish rice but the Mexicans and Mexican food enthusiasts would probably shrug and wonder if it is called Spanish rice because Mexicans speak Spanish.

GLASGOW, Scotland (Reuters) – Eight people were killed and 14 others seriously injured when a police helicopter crashed into the roof of a packed Glasgow pub, trapping many inside in choking dust and debris, Scottish police said yesterday, Witnesses said the helicopter dropped from the sky like a stone onto the busy Clutha Pub in Scotland’s biggest city on Friday night while more than 100 people were crammed inside, listening to a live music concert.

(Reuters) – Gay rights activists yesterday asked International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach to launch an independent investigation into the implications of Russian law during next year’s Sochi Games, they said.

Dear Editor, When a small group of persons was called into the Ministry of Culture two years ago to produce a ‘national’ anthology of poetry under the Caribbean Press, my one caveat for offering my own work was that a call for entries be made via national advertisement, followed by developmental workshops, editorial guidance and then publication.

Zingiber officinale commonly called Culinary ginger comes from the Zingiberaceae family and originates from South-east Asia. 

One might be forgiven for thinking that we have a government which is incapable of making simple deductions, or learning from experience, or alighting on an obvious solution to an old, old problem. 

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has improved her odds of re-election since last month, while her potential rivals have lost ground, according to a Datafolha opinion poll published by Folha de S.Paulo

Sugarcane ride along Mandela Avenue (Photo by Arian Browne)