Daily Archive: Friday, September 11, 2015

LONDON, (Reuters) – After months of speculation, Grammy Award winner Sam Smith confirmed on Tuesday he will sing the theme for the next James Bond movie, “Spectre”, the first time in 50 years that a British male solo artist has recorded the title song for a 007 film.

Scenes from the exhibition of art at Castellani House yesterday in honour of Arawak Anglican priest John Peter Bennettwho was known for his compilation of an Arawak/English dictionary.

The PPP today explained the circumstances behind the departure of three of its Region Six councillors.

MIAMI, (Reuters) – Former TV star and teen idol David Cassidy is auctioning off his Florida home on Wednesday after a bankruptcy filing, the breakup of his third marriage and several arrests for drunken driving.

NEW YORK, (Reuters) – Serena Williams’ bid for a rare calendar-year Grand Slam came to a shocking halt at the U.S.

At the end of August 2015 the Guyana Police Force said it recorded a 12% increase in serious crimes in comparison to the same period in 2014.

There are many old documents in the Bedford Building on Bourda Street which is earmarked for demolition, raising concerns about the need for authorities to examine them and decide which ones are important and worth saving for posterity.

Canadian High Commissioner to Guyana, Pierre Giroux (left) paid a courtesy call on Minister of Legal Affairs and Attorney General (AG) Basil Williams yesterday at the Attorney General Chambers.

(Trinidad Guardian) Twenty-one new Government Ministers and one Parliament Secretary were sworn into office this morning as the new Cabinet for People’s National Movement administration.

The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) today said that a Leyland DAF Truck bearing Surinamese licence plates was intercepted at # 5 Village, West Coast Berbice after four hundred boxes of smuggled chicken with an aggregate value of over $2.8M, were discovered.

(Trinidad Guardian) As the second edition of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Professional Cricket League (PCL) nears, the franchises are another year closer to their deadline of having to become sustainable or face collapse.

Local government elections are unlikely to occur until sometime early next year as the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) will need at least up to the end of this year to finalise the Official List of Electors (OLE).

A Herstelling carpenter was battered to death in his home early yesterday morning.

An early morning fire gutted a two-storey building at the corner of Regent and King streets yesterday, leaving millions in losses in its wake.

Amid growing pressure on the government to find new markets and to ensure reasonable prices to growers, scores of rice farmers from across Guyana yesterday sounded a call for promises made by APNU+AFC to them to be fulfilled.

Shawn Barrow, 23, was yesterday charged with the murder of Kellon Hinds, who was gunned down last Monday in what is believed to have been a reprisal killing.

The Minister with responsibility for Housing Keith Scott has set a deadline of February 2016 for housing developers to complete infrastructural works on their East Bank Demerara housing developments.

Deon Braithwaite, who was accused of attempting to murder another man using a pitchfork, was yesterday found guilty of the lesser count of felonious wounding and sentenced to 20 years in jail.

Log exports for the year up to July dipped slightly compared to last year with 69,624 cubic metres of logs exported for this year compared to 74,605 cubic metres for the same period last year.

A Timehri woman and her four children, who are between the ages of four months and nine years, have been reported missing.

Delroy Beresford, the driver charged with causing the death of Carol Overton-Dawson last November at the Mocha Access Road, East Bank Demerara, was yesterday sentenced to 50 months in prison after being found guilty of the crime by Magistrate Judy Latchman.

An agreement has been struck between displaced vendors and Town Clerk Royston King on the occupation of spots along Bourda Street.

Chairpersons of several Parliamentary Committees were appointed on Wednesday evening. The following list has been supplied by the Government Information Agency.

Shot Cummings Lodge Secondary School guard Michael Woolford has lost his left eye and is still scheduled to undergo surgery to remove a bullet lodged in his head.

Dr Frank Middleton Warner Williams, who was 98 at the time of his passing, was celebrated in ‘Music & Words’ at the Promenade Gardens yesterday, prior to his remains being interred.

LAS VEGAS, (Reuters) – The build-up to tomorrow’s welterweight fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Twelve Guyanese have been awarded Chevening scholarships to pursue studies in the United Kingdom.

Sparta Boss and Bent Street will contest the grand finale of the inaugural GT Beer Futsal Championship, defeating West Front Road-Gold is Money and Festival City respectively in semi-final affairs on Wednesday at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) yesterday advised that charges be laid against a Crabwood Creek, Corentyne businessman who was allegedly behind a staged robbery at his home and two others who played varying roles in the execution of the scheme.

The government is seeking legal advice on whether a list of nominees for the Ethnic Relation Commis-sion (ERC), which was finalised by the last Parliament, can be endorsed by the new Parliament in order for their appointment, Governance Minister Raphael Trotman said on Wednesday.

The People’s Progressive Party/Civic has submitted two replacement names for the posts of commissioner of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) following the resignations of Mahmood Shaw and Athmaram Mangar.

A Grove resident is now facing three counts of fraud after he attempted to cash a forged cheque that he claims a colleague gave to him.

LAS VEGAS, (Reuters) – Should Floyd Mayweather Jr end his boxing career tomorrow as planned, his legacy will be underpinned by the extraordinary numbers he has brought to the sport, says former world heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield.

Minister in the Ministry of Social Protection Simona Broomes is seeking a meeting with officials of urban business support organizations “as early as next week” to engage them in discussions arising out of her snap visits to several business houses along Regent Street, during which she unearthed “widespread and entirely unacceptable transgressions of labour laws” many of which extend into “human rights transgressions.”

Private sector entities that flout the country’s labour laws should not be eligible to tender for state contracts, Minister in the Ministry of Social Protection Simona Broomes had declared in her Tuesday August 18 budget presentation in the National Assembly.

The World Boxing Council (WBC) will launch  its Amateur and WBC Youth Professional Programmes in December in Trinidad in an effort to thwart the International Boxing Association (AIBA) apparent efforts at monopolizing the fistic sport.

From the various accounts that we have received regarding Junior Minister Simona Broomes’ walkabout on Regent Street on Tuesday, including the account given to us by the minister herself, the experience was both revealing and deeply disturbing.

After spending over a year suspended from all basketball related activities, the suspension on national forward Dwayne ‘Sugar’ Roberts has been officially lifted by the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF).

    WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama achieved perhaps the greatest foreign policy victory of his six years in office yesterday, when a Republican-backed effort to kill the Iran nuclear agreement was narrowly blocked in the U.S.

By Marilyn Collins   Commercially produced ice could be an important vehicle for the transmission of foodborne disease with its attendant debilitating effects.

(Reuters) – A comprehensive and radical set of reforms for world football’s corruption-plagued governing body FIFA were unveiled yesterday but it remains far from clear whether they will even be voted upon.

Dear Editor, GHK Lall has written an excellent letter on social cohesion.

BELFAST, (Reuters) – Northern Ireland’s power-sharing administration was on the brink of collapse yesterday after a murder linked to the IRA plunged the province towards the gravest crisis since a 1998 peace deal ended years of sectarian violence.

(Reuters) – South Africa will head to India armed with three frontline slow bowlers in their test squad after recalling leg-spinner Imran Tahir and off-break bowler Dane Piedt for the four-match series starting in November.

Dear Editor, The letter from Mr Alfred Bhulai entitled ‘What’s in a name?’

In 2012, three Eco Lodges, Surama, Rewa, and Karanambu formed a business initiative: ‘The North Rupununi Cluster’.

CARACAS, (Reuters) – Hardline Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez was jailed yesterday for nearly 14 years on charges of inciting 2014 anti-government protests that spiraled into violence killing more than 40 people.

NEW YORK, (Reuters) – U.S. authorities have charged three Colombian nationals with helping to run a global money laundering network that processed billions of dollars in drug trafficking profits through bank accounts in China and Hong Kong.

At 21 and 26 respectively, Shivram Arjun and Al Fredericks are on the verge of living their childhood dreams.

BRUSSELS, (Reuters) – U.S. sprinter Justin Gatlin believes he is steadily catching up with Olympic and world champion Usain Bolt as the two head towards a likely showdown at the Rio de Janeiro Summer Games next year.

Dear Editor, Your editorial of Thursday, September 10, captioned ‘The National Stadium debts’ stated in reference to the debt incurred by Hits and Jams “…and later a radio station licence by former president Bharrat Jagdeo in 2011 launching the now popular 98.1 Hot FM not long after.”

CARACAS, (Reuters) – From makeup to insect repellent, Venezuelans are looking to natural and homemade products in response to the chronic shortages resulting from a deepening economic crisis in the socialist-ruled country.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Trinidad and Tobago head coach Stephen Hart is bracing for a tough campaign when the Soca Warriors start their bid to reach the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) has endorsed the announcement made by Finance Minister Winston Jordan in his 2015 budget presentation that government intends to fully implement the provision contained in the Small Business Act allocating 20 per cent of state contracts to the small business sector, though Chamber President Lance Hinds says he believes there should be conditions attached to that allocation.

NEW YORK, (Reuters) – The U.S. Open women’s semi-finals scheduled for last evening have been postponed due to the threat of rain.

BRASILIA, (Reuters) – Brazil’s government scrambled yesterday to reassure investors it will impose austerity measures to put public finances in order after its credit rating was downgraded to junk status.

HAVANA, (Reuters) – The European Union and Cuba entered the most difficult phase of their bilateral talks yesterday when they started to discuss a new political agreement to replace a unilateral policy imposed by the Europeans 19 years ago.

Dear Editor, Generally, companies in the telecommunication sector are notorious for providing lip service when it comes to exceptional customer service.

KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Head coach Winfried Schafer has praised Jamaica’s tenacity after the Caribbean powerhouses rebounded to beat Nicaragua on Tuesday and advance to the crucial fourth round of the CONCACAF phase of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers.

Dear Editor, It gives me great pleasure to write congratulating the Guyana Police Force Traffic Department for what I would consider a fantastic job in controlling the heavy traffic coming from the West Bank crossing the antique Demerara Harbour Bridge heading east into Georgetown.

Colin Bollers’ current business pursuits have their origins in skills learnt from his father who, as Chief Taxidermist at the National Museum, was tasked with the responsibility of preparing, stuffing and mounting the skins of animals for display.

NEW YORK, (Reuters) – Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka shrugged off the threat of rain to storm into the U.S.

Dear Editor, I refer to the letter titled ‘These allegations against the PPP/Civic have to be disposed of before country can move forward, let’s get on with the audits’ (SN, September 9).

GASCI (www.gasci.com/telephone Nº 223-6175/6) reports that session 632’s trading results showed consideration of $901,749 from 9,804 shares traded in 7 transactions as compared to session 631’s trading results, which showed consideration of $2,667,300 from 15,210 shares traded in 11 transactions.

Dear Editor, Some time ago I was chatting with the family of Joseph B Simon (including his wife and adult children, all of whom have families of their own), and everyone was in agreement that one excellent way to provide employment and preserve their natural pristine environment at the southern end of Pakuri Lokono-Arawak Territory in Region 4 (aka St Cuthbert’s Mission), was via eco-tourism.

Having grown out a desire by an enterprising woman to increase the volume of natural products, P’ree Designs and Body Line’s natural deodorant may well have become a landmark development in the country’s manufacturing sector.

Following the defeat of the People’s Partnership (PP) government in Trinidad and Tobago on Monday night, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, the outgoing prime minister and leader of the PP’s dominant coalition member, the United National Congress (UNC), told reporters that she didn’t think that “anything went wrong, quite frankly,” in the campaign she led against the victorious Dr Keith Rowley and his People’s National Movement (PNM).

Here I go today venturing into an issue of “uncharted waters” for me.

Kitco is a Canadian company that buys and sells precious metals such as gold, copper and silver.

NEW YORK/SAN JUAN, Reuters) – Puerto Rico’s new plan to haul itself out of a huge financial hole is long on ifs and buts and short on confident predictions.

LONDON, (Reuters) – Closing the competiveness gap between the haves and the have-nots of the international game through investment and support remains a priority for World Rugby, the governing body said yesterday.

The Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry yesterday presented bursary awards to 15 top performing National Grade Six Examination candidates who are all part of their Early Savers Club.