Daily Archive: Friday, September 19, 2014

(Trinidad Guardian) Two schools in Port-of-Spain have been shut down because of several confirmed cases of the chikungunya virus.

The Government of Guyana in partnership with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has trained 21 nurses and six paediatric care assistants through its Paediatric Nursing Programme to ensure a better child health care system at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation.

Following recent actions by the Minibus Associations, to charge higher fares and threaten strike action, the Ministry of Public Works implemented big buses to transport persons from certain congested areas free of cost.

Thirty – Four members of the Guyana Defence Force, including civilian employees are currently undergoing HIV Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) training which is being facilitated by the National AIDS Programme Secretariat (NAPS), a release from the GDF said today.

Ruby Wilkenson, the oldest senior citizen at the Palms, the Government-run home for the elderly will be celebrating her birthday on Monday, September 22, 2014, a release from the Ministry of Human Services said today.

This week the US Embassy completed a training programme for Guyanese port security workers and sea cadets on the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code (ISPS Code).

Guyana has completed its 4th Annual Assessment of Deforestation and Forest Degradation under the Monitoring Reporting and Verification System and it shows that the loss of forests last year was less than in 2012.

Michael Gordon, 43 years, of 21 Peter’s Hall, East Bank Demerara, was charged today with causing death by dangerous driving committed on Raymond Khan, 65 years, of Cornelia Ida, WCD and Jean Williams, 63 years, of 21 Peter’s Hall, EBD, which occurred at Mabura Road, on September 14, 2014.

(Trinidad Express) Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley will be a key subject in a commission of enquiry ordered by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday to investigate the Las Alturas housing project in Morvant.

EDINBURGH, ((Reuters) – Scotland spurned independence in a historic referendum that threatened to rip the United Kingdom apart, sow financial turmoil and diminish Britain’s remaining global clout.

Opposition leader David Granger yesterday announced plans for public protests to press demands for the holding of long delayed local government polls, following President Donald Ramotar’s failure to act on a request to set a date for them.

AFC leader Khemraj Ramjattan yesterday suggested that the PPP has been attempting to pay off at least three opposition parliamentarians as much as $30 million each, ahead of a possible vote on a no-confidence motion against the government—a claim that both the Donald Ramotar administration and the ruling party strongly refuted yesterday.

The AFC’s selection of its presidential and prime ministerial candidates for future elections would be based on merit and not race, according to party leader Khemraj Ramjattan, who yesterday revealed that the ethnic rotation formula used for the past two general elections has been abandoned.

A 21-year-old Onderneeming Sand Pit man was yesterday remanded to prison by Magistrate Sunil Scarce when he appeared at the Suddie Magistrate’s Court.                            

Following the publication of an online article accusing Electronics City of selling fake Samsung phones, the local store is refuting the claims of the writer and will soon take legal action over it.

Neal and Massy Group of Companies donated finances and stationery to 23 charitable organisations under its Social Impact Programme during a recently held ceremony at its staff facility.

Cabinet is set to deliberate soon on expressions of interest by six companies to build a waste recycling plant here.

Colossal centuries from Demerara skipper Vishaul Singh and Rajendra Chandrika steered their side to a formidable 320 for 3 on day one of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Inter-county 4-day tournament played at the Bourda Cricket Ground yesterday.

In pursuit of Essequibo’s total of 232 all-out, the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Development team were 60-1 at the end of the first day’s play in the first round of the GCB Inter-county 4-day tournament yesterday at the Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) ground.

After years of working with outdated computers, students of the University of Guyana (UG) are finally privy to an upgrade thanks to a three-year $60 million agreement between the institution and GT&T.

Entrusted with a beverage cart, vendor Sherwin Benjamin allegedly ended up using it for his own gain, a city court heard yesterday.

Alpha United in preparation for their remaining CONCACAF Champions League fixture, humbled the Georgetown All-Stars by a 5-2 score line in their final local practice fixture on Wednesday at the GFC ground, Bourda.

Vindra Seeram was yesterday committed to stand trial in the High Court for the murder of his wife Shelly Persaud, who was found with her head submerged in a bucket of water.

Chief Labour Officer Charles Ogle says Hotel Tower owner Salim Azeez has pledged his commitment to paying former workers owed wages, although he has given no timeframe of when this would be done.

INCHEON, South Korea (Reuters) – Asia’s top Olympic official is unsure why Saudi Arabia excluded women from their team for the Asian Games and says he thought the Islamic kingdom had “broken the ice” when they picked female competitors for the London Olympics.

A 38-year-old woman and her 18-year-old daughter were yesterday sentenced to prison after they were found guilty of the possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking.

INCHEON, South Korea (Reuters) – Doha and Dubai are capable of hosting the Middle East’s first Olympic Games and the region would simply have to trust itself to deliver a great event in the face of doubt and criticism, the president of the Olympic Council of Asia has told Reuters.

Twelve-year-old Jamal Waterman yesterday recounted the accidental poisoning of his family and a neighbour when they unknowingly ingested cocaine-laced SSS multi-vitamin tonic, of which he is the only survivor.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The National Football League is showing signs of getting off the sidelines in the brouhaha over domestic violence and taking up a new playbook.

Dear Editor, I thank the Stabroek News for following up on its earlier article ‘AG says Laws of Guyana omissions being corrected’ (SN, September 16).

Nicola Leacock, the sister of a 20-year-old miner who was murdered along a trail in Blackwater Backdam, Region Eight, says she will not rest until she finds justice for her brother and sees his assailant(s) behind bars.

Dear Editor, Your Development Watch columnist Tarron Khemraj correctly queried the Natural Resources Minister’s assertion that high energy cost is the key constraint in value-added manufacturing.

LONDON (Reuters) – After 260 years of exclusion, women will be allowed to join the Royal and Ancient golf club after an overwhelming members’ vote opened the doors to the famous St Andrews clubhouse and paved the way for them to play a role in the governance of the game.

A post-mortem examination conducted on the remains of murdered North West woman, Samantha Ashby has confirmed that she was raped.

NEW YORK/PARIS (Reuters) – The United Nations Security Council yesterday declared the Ebola outbreak in West Africa a “threat to international peace and security” as the death toll hit 2,630 and France became the latest Western nation to step up its support.

Dear Editor, What steps does the Ministry of Education plan to take in order to harness the wild blooming of private schools across the country?

OSLO (Reuters) – A UN summit on climate change next week will test rich nations’ willingness to fill a near-empty fund to help the poor, but pledges are likely to be far short of developing nations’ hopes for $15 billion in 2014.

Months after he was busted with 33 cocaine-filled pellets in his stomach, popular Linden bodybuilder Colin ‘Mr Clean’ Chesney was on Wednesday sentenced to time served in a Brooklyn Federal Court, according to the New York Daily News.

Dear Editor, Everyone knows that the people of Region 10 boast a reputation for resoluteness, for standing in resistance and not being steamrolled, and as fighters in protests and struggles.

Dear Editor, Seriously, I feel the pain of most here and I understand the position which most of them are taking.

CricInfo – The loss of Mitchell Johnson to a rib injury had left Kings XI Punjab’s bowling looking a little suspect ahead of their Champions T20 opener, but it proved a bit of a blessing in disguise for them, with his replacement playing a crucial hand in a five-wicket win over Hobart Hurricanes.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States imposed sanctions on two military officers on opposite sides of the ethnic violence in South Sudan yesterday in a demonstration of US frustration that fighting has continued despite two ceasefires.

The Auditor General’s Office is remaining silent on whether it is investigating abuses of the duty free concessions to remigrants for vehicles imported into the country, in the light of the recent seizure of two vehicles belonging to family friends of Kaieteur News publisher Glen Lall.

CARACAS (Reuters) – A Venezuelan cartoonist said she was fired from her newspaper for a caricature that used the late socialist leader Hugo Chavez’s signature to satirize the state of healthcare.

Hockey Club Hikers are all set for their fourth annual three-day junior indoor tourney today, at the National Gymnasium on Mandela Avenue.

By Kenesha Fraser Forty-seven-year-old Deon Gherow of Onderneeming Sand Pit, who was allegedly beaten by the police, is now fearful for his life, since, according to him, he was told by the men who beat him: “If I allow this to go far I will have to be walking and watching back.”

Dear Editor, It seems that APNU and the AFC did not prepare a pre-nuptial agreement prior to their marriage of convenience.

(Trinidad Express) – A six-year-old boy was allegedly sodomised by a teenager at a day care centre in Central Trinidad on Tuesday.

TAMPA (Reuters) – A 51-year-old Florida man shot dead his daughter and six grandchildren in his home before killing himself yesterday, authorities said.

Best graduating student of the National School of Theatre Arts and Drama Esther Hamer receiving the Professor Vibert Cambridge Award from Professor Vibert Cambridge last evening at National Culture Centre, during the inaugural convocation ceremony of the newly established Institute of Creative Arts.

The 12th annual Flying Stars Cycle Club/Victor Macedo Memorial Road Race will pedal off this Sunday outside the late Macedo’s Peter Rose and Lance Gibbs streets, Queenstown home from 07:30 hrs.

By Amana Fontanella-Khan Amana Fontanella-Khan is an opinion editor at Reuters and occasional columnist.

Forest Products Develop-ment and Marketing Coun-cil Guyana launched its first forestry related magazine at its incentive investment seminar held earlier this month at the Guyana Forestry Commission’s office in Kingstown.

Dear Editor, Much is being made over the publication of a WHO report which said it was estimated that Guyana recorded the highest suicide rate in the world in 2012.

American teens, Muslim global presenceSome weeks I do tire over the choice of topics or issues.

LONDON (Reuters) – When Efe Cakarel picked London as a new base for his video streaming company, he was counting on its location, capital markets and infrastructure, but also on the city’s reputation as a hub for talented people from Europe and beyond.

Dear Editor, Last August Monday, (August 4, 2014) Guyanese from across the Guyaspora gathered at the Wood-bridge Fair Grounds in the Toronto area, to participate in the annual Last Lap Lime, organized by Toronto alumni associations of our leading city schools of Queen’s College, the Bishop’s High, St Stanislaus College, St Rose’s High and the St.

There is a tendency among people, all over the world, to defer to doctors and other healthcare practitioners.

Track and Field athletes will show their mettle at the annual Senior National Championships on Sunday with international exposure at stake.

Politikles

On Tuesday, Moray House Trust hosted two top local photographers—Fidal Bassier and Nikhil Ramkarran.

By now, readers will know whether voters in Scotland have taken the low road to political confusion and economic uncertainty that comes with the independence some were seeking, or the high road to preserving the benefits of three centuries of the deepest possible integration and continuing to play a part in a strong union.

(Barbados Nation) The 90 Nigerian students coming to study in Barbados will be given the specific Ebola virus disease (EVD) test before leaving, to allay Barbadian fears about any possibility of their bringing the deadly disease here.