Daily Archive: Friday, March 11, 2016

NORTH SOUND, Antigua, CMC – Leeward Islands Hurricanes, opting to bat first against Guyana Jaguars, reached 237 for three at the close on the opening day of their ninth round game in the Regional four-day championship at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground here today.

Having languished for decades, work is moving apace on restoring the elegant Kitty Market.

As part of efforts to help Guyana address its troubling suicide rate, the United States Embassy  hosted a suicide prevention workshop yesterday facilitated by two experts from the Florida Army National Guard, a release from the US Embassy said today.

Staff of the Kwakwani Hospital, Berbice River today apprised Minister of Public Health, Dr.

The Ministries of Social Cohesion and Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, today, inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Institute of Applied Science and Technology (IAST) for the provision of research and development, sustainable business development and analytical services, a release from the Ministry of the Presidency said.

Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs Minister, Sydney Allicock met with students of the Bina Hill Institute in Region Nine on Thursday and urged them to use their training to help advance the region’s development, GINA said.

President David Granger, last evening, called on the residents of Rose Hall Town, East Berbice-Corentyne and its environs, to go out in their numbers on March 18 and exercise their democratic right to determine who manages their communities, at the Local Government Elections (LGE), a release from the Ministry of the Presidency said.

At about 2100h. last night, the police say that mini-bus driver Takraj Boodram , 33 years, of Belvedere South Squatting Area, Corentyne, Berbice, was about to enter his premises when three men approached him and one of them, who was armed with a firearm, discharged a round that hit him to his left side shoulder.

The Ministry of Public Infrastructure (MPI) yesterday advertised for $138M worth of works on Carifesta Avenue including lighting.

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) team here this month for routine consultations with the government has called for urgent action to plug deficiencies in the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism legislation.

(Trinidad Guardian) Cash-strapped steel manufacturer ArcelorMittal has been fined by the Industrial Court for the procedure it used in laying off over 500 of its employees in December last year.

(Reuters) – Despite off-field rows and a steep decline at test level, West Indies have remained competitive in the shortest format of the game and will enter the World Twenty20 with genuine hopes of going all the way.

NAIROBI, (Reuters) – Kenya is losing a third of its state budget – the equivalent of about $6 billion – to corruption every year, the country’s new anti-graft chief told Reuters, saying his agency was badly short of staff and modern equipment to tackle the problem.

-throwing of tear gas recalled Although unable to identify who started the deadly fire that killed 17 at the Camp Street prison, two inmates yesterday testified that it was the alleged assault on fellow inmates by officers that led to the unrest that preceded the blaze.

In what will arguably be the biggest showdown of the Georgetown contests, Friday’s election for constituency 14 will pit social activist Mark Benschop against APNU+AFC’s Sherod Duncan, businessman, Saiku Andrews of Team Legacy and three others.

The third accused in the gunning down of Regent Multiplex mall owner Ganesh Ramlall was yesterday brought before a city court and charged with the murder.

A Sparendaam youth was found dead with three stab wounds along the East Coast Railway Embankment on Wednesday night.

A 25-year-old man was yesterday sentenced to three years in jail after a jury found him guilty of wounding another man, whom he had shot.

The opposition yesterday reiterated its objections to ministers being allowed to sit on key parliamentary oversight committees, saying that it would not bode well for transparency and accountability as they could face potential conflicts of interest.

Minister within the Ministry of Communities, Valerie Sharpe-Patterson visited Perseverance, East Bank Demerara on Wednesday where she discovered vandalism of the turn-key homes which have already been allocated, GINA said yesterday.

The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) yesterday retracted statements made by Head of Project Coordination Fitzroy Corlette on Wednesday that there was to be a restriction and not a ban on used tyre imports.

The second retrial of Calvin Bailey, who is accused of murdering his 18-month old son, commenced yesterday morning before Justice Priya Sewnarine-Beharry and a 12-member jury at the High Court, in Georgetown.

Sadeeka Leona Odie, who was caught attempting to transport cocaine in achar onto a flight to the United States, was sentenced to four years imprisonment on Wednesday.

The Board of the Guyana National Broadcasting Authority (GNBA) met with television broadcasters on March 3rd and discussed ratings for shows, “lewd” music videos and the question of licence fees.

While the troolie palm roof of the Umana Yana is completed, Wai Wai workers from Rupununi, Region Nine, yesterday bemoaned the delay in the payout of their wages.

Following a protest by residents from some East Bank Berbice communities, a high level Guyana Water Inc.

A barber was yesterday sentenced to almost five years in jail and fined over $36 million after being found guilty of drug trafficking.

Magistrate Zamilla Ally-Seepaul has deemed the statements given by four of the accused in the robbery of Justice Nicola Pierre and her family to be admissible at their trial.

The Guyana Jaguars arrived in Antigua yesterday ahead of today’s 9th round of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB)/Professional Cricket League (PCL) Regional 4-day tournament, to find themselves subjected to shoddy treatment.

North Georgetown (District 11) is set to run off a track meet for junior athletes at the Police Sports Club ground, Eve Leary on March 20.

The APNU+AFC Cabinet should be making a public comment on the findings of the Commission of Inquiry into the death of Dr Walter Rodney as soon as next week.

Minister within the Ministry of Natural Resources, Simona Broomes on Monday joined 15 other mines ministers in Toronto, Canada for the inaugural global summit on the sustainable development of communities.

“A guide to the rights of women” booklet was launched by the Social Protection Ministry on Monday at Parliament Building, GINA said.

A Guyhoc man, who was charged with allegedly robbing two persons of more than $100,000 in cash and valuables, was yesterday granted bail by a city magistrate.

Youth Basketball Guyana (YBG) officially launched the 11th edition of their National Schools Basket-ball Festival (NSBF) Regional Conference Champion-ships yesterday at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

Eureka Medical Laboratories Inc. (EML) has celebrated 21 years of service to the Guyanese public by achieving International Standards Organisation (ISO) accreditation from the Jamaica National Agency for Accreditation (JANAAC).

A man who was a victim of a hit-and-run accident on Saturday remains a patient at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) in an unconscious state and the driver is yet to be apprehended.

In a matchup marred by the issuing of several red cards, Slingerz FC defeated a nine-member Alpha United 2-1 when the League Finale section of the GFF Stag Beer Elite League continued on Wednesday.

It will be Pouderoyen versus Uitvlugt in the final of the West Demerara Football Association (WDFA) sanctioned Den Amstel Mashramani Cup following semi-final wins on Wednesday at the Dem Amstel ground.

The issue of money to maintain Guyana’s eco-park, Iwokrama, was raised by Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo during separate meetings with non-resident envoys from Australia and Germany, GINA said yesterday.

GASCI (www.gasci.com/telephone Nº 223-6175/6) reports that session 658’s trading results showed consideration of $46,942,154 from 2,087,376 shares traded in 25 transactions as compared to session 657’s trading results, which showed consideration of $15,557,368 from 35,332 shares traded in 18 transactions.

Dear Editor, “If you do not vote, other people who vote will choose your community representatives, and you will have no voice in the decision-making process.

(Reuters) – Two big New York law firms that represented the now-imprisoned financier Allen Stanford persuaded a federal appeals court yesterday to throw out a lawsuit claiming that they helped conceal his $7.2 billion Ponzi scheme.

BOGOTA, (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – United Nations rights experts and more than 200 campaign groups called on the government of Honduras yesterday to protect a key witness in the killing of activist Berta Caceres that has sparked widespread international condemnation.

DHAKA, (Reuters) – A spelling mistake in an online bank transfer instruction helped prevent a nearly $1 billion heist last month involving the Bangladesh central bank and the New York Fed, banking officials said.

Dear Editor, Good sense must prevail in handling the burial of those who perished by fire during the recent Camp Street prison events.

Dear Editor, In the late ʼ90s with the cooperation of the prison management, I conducted a self-sponsored Art course that resulted in two inmates proceeding to institutions of higher learning and another branching off to perfect his unique skills in model building; yet another is now an ardent producer of craft products.

Ring road: Works in ‘E’ Field, Sophia have been completed as the Sophia Ring Road Project, which aims to link ‘A’ through ‘E’ fields, continues to progress, a release from the Ministry of Public Infrastruc-ture said yesterday.

(Trinidad Guardian) Former chairman of the Integrity Commission (IC) Ken Gordon on Wednesday criticised Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley for having no confidence in the IC, insisting his statement will undermine the institution’s effectiveness.

Dear Editor, Please permit the Guyana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (GSPCA) to comment on a particularly reprehensible letter appearing in the Kaieteur News (‘Serious accusation against the animal clinic, GSPCA,’ March 1).

(Reuters) – Bangladesh bowling duo Arafat Sunny and Taskin Ahmed have been reported for suspect bowling actions during their team’s opening World Twenty20 match against the Netherlands on Wednesday, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said.

SAO PAULO, (Reuters) – State prosecutors in Brazil are seeking the arrest of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on charges of money laundering and identity fraud for concealing ownership of a beachfront apartment, his foundation said yesterday.

Dear Editor, I am in the process of relocating back to Guyana after living abroad for 45 years.

(The Sports Xchange) – Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson combined for three three-pointers in the final 58 seconds of the first half to help the Golden State Warriors pull away from the Utah Jazz en route to a 115-94 victory on Wednesday.

MELBOURNE, (Reuters) – In-form Australia batsman Usman Khawaja expects to be squeezed out of the top order in favour of former captain Aaron Finch when they kick off their World Twenty20 campaign against New Zealand next week.

Good Hope fire: The charred remains of the Good Hope, East Coast Demerara house that went up in flames early yesterday morning.

KOLKATA, India, CMC – West Indies’ batting failed miserably as they slumped to a 45-run defeat to hosts India, in their opening official warm-up match of the Twenty20 World Cup at Eden Gardens here yesterday.

Dear Editor, Globalisation has crept into Indigenous peoples’ traditional communities with a philosophy of wealth and class division that has ruptured the barter system and collective approach of our people.

Dear Editor, Definitely I can’t say for other places but observing a few local government campaigns in Region 10, one gets the unmistakable impression that local government elections have become a platform of entertainment for some young contenders, who obviously are having a swell time and are delighting in cheap shots at opponents.

(Reuters) – Triple World Cup soccer winner Pele is putting some 2,000 items up for auction, including his three World Cup medals and a one of a kind Jules Rimet trophy that could fetch up to one million dollars, auctioneers said yesterday.

(Reuters) – Indian liquor baron Vijay Mallya, who left the country as he faced pressure from banks to repay more than $1 billion owed by his collapsed airline, refuted charges he was an absconder and said he respected the law of the land.

Against the backdrop of Venezuela’s worsening political and economic crisis, the country’s opposition coalition, the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD is the Spanish acronym), declared on Wednesday that it would pursue all constitutional mechanisms, accompanied by mass peaceful street demonstrations starting in Caracas this weekend, to force President Nicolás Maduro and the chavista United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) out of power.

Greetings! As I hereby present one of my very brief – and rather escapist – pieces today.

Esther Harris