Daily Archive: Thursday, June 25, 2015

Reigning Miss World-Guyana, Rafieya Husain arrived in Guyana today, June 25th, 2015 for the Annual Miss World-Guyana Coronation and the symbolic crowning of the 2015 Miss World-Guyana representative, a release from the local organization said.

Community Policing Groups (CPGs) from various areas of Regions Five and Six have been urged by Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan to seek to initiate self-financing options aimed at addressing stability, and security within their respective communities.

GEORGETOWN – The U.S Embassy, Georgetown is pleased to announce the restoration of Visa Processing Systems which allow the printing of visas for applicants whose nonimmigrant visa (temporary visit – holiday/tourist/student) applications were approved on interview dates – June 08 to June 23, 2015.

The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) today said it has noted with dismay the big noise being made by the Granger administration, fuelled by sections of the media about “missing state-owned vehicles amounting to over twenty-eight (28)”.

New York-based Guyanese Ed Ahmad yesterday testified in a Brooklyn Federal Court against NY state senator John Sampson and stated how he loaned money in return for political favours.

The government has launched an investigation into what has been described as “a pattern of serious abuse” where vehicles not affiliated with any government ministry or agency have been accessing fuel from the Guyana Oil Company (GuyOil), and Minister of State Joseph Harmon says private citizens caught in the act would be made to pay for the fuel.

Minister of State Joseph Harmon yesterday announced that the government is moving to shake up the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB), which he said would have seen PetroCaribe funds being diverted, now forcing the government to find US$15 million to pay farmers for the next shipment of rice.

Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan has assured government that steps are being taken to address the spike in crime, and this includes increasing the number of police officers on patrol.

(CPL T20) The St. Lucia Zouks delivered a near-perfect performance against CPL debutants the St.

An unidentified suspected bandit was killed on Tuesday night during a shootout outside Butcher’s Pools Bar in Campbellville.

Guyana’s hopes of qualifying for the 2016 Olympics in Brazil ran into a stumbling block as they lost to Cuba 2-0 in their opening group match of the CFU 2016 Olympic Qualifiers yesterday at the Antigua Recreation Ground in St John’s.

The National Aquatic Centre, the open roads and the National Park will be buzzing this weekend when the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) and its affiliates stage a team and individual triathlon and the Olympic Day Run/Walk/Jog.

All of the state-owned vehicles at the centre of a police probe involving the former public service minister were returned by the end of last week, Minister of State Joseph Harmon said yesterday before disclosing that 28 other vehicles had been transferred to private hands in a single day and this was just a fraction of those that cannot be accounted for.

Guyana Men’s Basketball team tactician Darcel Harris says poor on-court professionalism was the major contributing factor to his side’s dismal showing at the recently concluded Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) Championship in the British Virgin Islands.

The current government has no confidence in the Head of the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), Winston Brassington says Minister of State Joseph Harmon.

Former Auditor General Anand Goolsarran has defended the restricted tendering of audits by the government for state entities arguing that time is of the essence and these are essentially stocktaking exercises.

From Donald Duff in Barbados Pakistan cricket icon and former test captain Zaheer Abbas was, as widely expected, yesterday afternoon confirmed in the post of president of the International Cricket Council (ICC), following a meeting of the ICC Board here in Barbados.

Guyana will be looking to have a “very strong statement” of support from Caricom on Venezuela’s recent claim on Guyana’s maritime territory, Minister of State Joseph Harmon has said.

The much contested Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) (Amendment) Bill will return as Bill No.

Under-14 number two seed Kalysia Fraser trumped senior player Kizzy Richmond 6/3, 6/2 on the fifth day of competition yesterday in the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) Open Tennis Tournament held at its Recreational Facility in Bel Air.

A five-goal Derick Taylor blitz alongside a hat-trick and a double from Shemron Arrindell and Tozi Aaron respectively, powered Berbice High School (BHS) to a 11-0 win over Canje Secondary when the 5th edition of the Digicel Secondary Schools Football Championship continued yesterday.

The government will be proceeding with its plan to extend advertisements for the posts of Chancellor and Chief Justice to the Caribbean, Minister of State, Joseph Harmon said yesterday.

LONDON, (Reuters) – Swiss authorities are examining development grants made by FIFA around the world as part of their investigation into the sport’s global governing body and its award of World Cup hosting rights for Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022, a source familiar with the probe said.

An unidentified torso that was found on the Kitty Seawall yesterday is now at the Lyken’s Funeral Parlour.

Several areas of cooperation were discussed as Brazilian Ambassador Lineu Pupo de Paula yesterday paid a courtesy call on First Vice President and Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo, at his temporary office, at the Ministry of Presidency, Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, Georgetown.

The Association do Shotokan Karate of Guyana (ASK-G) is geared and ready for the International Karate Daigaku (IKD) World Cup in Canada next month.

Dear Editor, Reference is made to a letter captioned, ‘Can the Minister state definitively that the Amerindian Act has been complied with for the holding of village council elections?’

LONDON, (Reuters) – The owner of the Miami Dolphins football team is joining forces with Qatar to buy a controlling stake in Formula One in a deal that could be worth up to $8 billion and inject new leadership into a sport facing falling TV audiences and ticket sales.

Republic Bank (Guyana) Limited has begun preliminary work which will see the bank serving the East Coast community at Triumph.

Dear Editor, I wish to commend Minister of Infrastructure, Mr David Patterson, for focusing on improving the construction contract award process, including the quality of work delivered by contractors.

RIO DE JANEIRO, (Reuters) – When shots rang out last month in the first gun battle in seven years between Rio de Janeiro police and drug traffickers in Santa Marta, its reputation as a peaceful slum with stunning views and a popular samba night was shattered.

Dear Editor, I was pleased to read that the Guyana Epilepsy Foundation will attempt to change public attitudes towards epilepsy by expanding awareness.  

A fisherman, who was being held for questioning into the murder of a Unity, Mahaica woman, yesterday appeared in a city court where he was slapped with a charge of robbery with violence committed on another woman and was remanded to prison.

LA SERENA, Chile, (Reuters) – Facing a Colombia side who like to attack will force Argentina to play their best soccer in the Copa America quarter-finals, left back Marcos Rojo said.

President David Granger has given a commitment to work closely with the Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development, with the aim of restructuring the agenda, following a meeting with the Agency’s Head, Dane Gobin.

Dear Editor, Now that parliament is back in session, and there is the promise of high decorum, my expectations are also high.

EUGENE, Oregon, (Reuters) – Tyson Gay never realised how harmful stress could be until the American sprinter returned from a doping ban last year.

A man is missing and feared drowned after the boat he was in with his wife and a small child, capsized when it was hit by another boat in the Pomeroon River yesterday.

Dear Editor, I wish to commend GT&T management and crew for restoring landline services to the Bachelor’s Adventure/Melanie/Imax areas of the ECD.

BRUSSELS, (Reuters) – Negotiations to avert a Greek debt default stumbled yesterday and euro zone finance ministers accused Athens of refusing to compromise despite a deadline next week that could put it on a path out of the euro zone.

Dear Editor, The letter from Rev Gideon Cecil and also the letter from Dr Kenrick Hunte in yesterday’s SN point indirectly to the need for a Freedom of Information Act (FOA) with teeth.

Bandits broke into an Anna Regina, Essequibo Coast store sometime between Tuesday night and yesterday morning and carted off some $1 million in electronic items and accessories.

AMSTERDAM, (Reuters) – Dutch police will temporarily block the route of the Tour de France cycling race on July 5 to draw attention to their pay dispute with the Dutch government, unions representing them said yesterday.

The Working People’s Alliance (WPA) is hosting a symposium on ‘The political and economic challenges ahead for Guyana’ today at 4.30 pm at the National Library to mark the 35th anniversary of the assassination of renowned scholar, political activist and founder member Dr Walter Rodney.

Dear Editor, I am a pensioner and find it very inconvenient and fatiguing to visit the Public Hospital in Georgetown in order to get tests done and then go back to collect results another day.

CURITIBA, Brazil, (Reuters) – Brazilian police said yesterday they intercepted a note from the jailed chief executive of Odebrecht SA to his lawyers asking to “destroy email,” after he became the highest-profile executive arrested in Brazil’s largest ever corruption investigation.

DHAKA, (Reuters) – Brisk half-centuries from India’s Shikhar Dhawan and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni helped set up a 77-run victory against Bangladesh in the third and final one-day international and stave off a 3-0 whitewash.

As the Muslim world observes the month of Ramadan, the management of the Shaheed Orphanages is seeking financial assistance from members of the public to complete projects aimed at improving the quality of life for its residents.

LONDON, (Reuters) – American coach Alberto Salazar has provided a lengthy and detailed denial of allegations of doping made by the BBC, which he previously said had adversely affected his Olympic medallists Mo Farah and Galen Rupp.

SARAJEVO, (Reuters) – Bosnia’s war crimes court issued a landmark ruling on Wednesday granting the first ever compensation to a wartime rape victim and sentencing two former Bosnian Serb soldiers who raped her early in the 1992-95 war to 10 years each in jail.

Dear Editor, The leaders of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) need to stop behaving like spoilt children, and identify their 32 elected members and go to Parliament.

LONDON, (Reuters) – Former Wimbledon champion Rafa Nadal could be heading for a clash with one of his Big Four rivals as early as the fourth round after the Spaniard was seeded 10th for the grasscourt championships yesterday.

NEW DELHI, (Reuters) – Pressure is growing on India’s foreign minister and a top member of the ruling party over help they gave to a disgraced cricket tycoon, as the first major scandal to touch Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government begins to threaten his reform agenda.

Dear Editor, According to Dr Clive Thomas the sugar industry is sitting on an economic time bomb − how true is this?

Cartoons

Dear Editor,   The General Manager, National Insurance Scheme (NIS) seldom entertains applications for late paid and unpaid contributions to qualify for benefits as though they had been paid on the due date.

LONDON, (Reuters) – Whether he is a “plastic Brit” or a legitimate new member of “Team GB”, teenage sprinter Zharnel Hughes is the latest face of one of the most contentious issues in world sport — nationality switches.

Traditionally, street parking in Georgetown has been the rule rather than the exception.

Politikles

Head of State David Granger (right) and Alexandre Meira da Rosa, Vice President of Country Department, for the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) exchanging a handshake before a brief meeting at the Ministry of the Presidency yesterday.

Head of State David Granger, and Alexandre Meira da Rosa, Vice President of Country Department, for the Inter American Development Bank (IDB) (on President’s left), members of the IDB team and Government Ministers; Finance, Winston Jordan, Public Infrastructure, Dominic Gaskin and, Public Infrastructure, David Patterson following the meetin.

(Reuters) – Residents of Panama topped an annual ranking of well-being released on Wednesday, while Afghanistan ranked last and the United States took a tumble.