Daily Archive: Thursday, July 21, 2016

NORTH SOUND, Antigua, CMC – Captain Virat Kohli produced a sublime exhibition of batting to carve out his 12th Test hundred and first against West Indies, as India dominated the opening day of the first Test here yesterday.

The inquiry into corruption allegations against the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU), which were made by self-confessed drug dealer Barry Dataram, found that they had no merit but was helpful in identifying areas within the drug fighting structure which needed attention, President David Granger disclosed today.

The Guyana Police Force is investigating the murder of Euscaue Williams, 70 years, a pensioner, of Crane Housing Scheme, WCD, which occurred about 1030h.

(Reuters) – Singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, known for both Bollywood hits and Qawwali, Sufi devotional music that dates back more than 700 years, is taking the two genres to Britain in August for three concerts.

LAUSANNE, Switzerland/MOSCOW,  (Reuters) – Sport’s highest tribunal today rejected Russia’s appeal against a doping ban for its entire athletics team from the Rio Olympics starting in 15 days’ time, drawing swift and angry condemnation from Moscow.

Guyana should remove the death penalty from its terrorism legislation and all other parts of the law books, former UN Commissioner on Human Rights Navi Pillay said yesterday, arguing that its retention goes against international humanitarian law.

Lawyers for the Shipping Association of Guyana (SAG) yesterday filed a motion in court to challenge the city’s move to charge $25,000 per container parked in Georgetown and for the traversing of vehicles carrying containers.

Puran Brothers Disposal Inc yesterday defended its credentials and rubbished claims of bias in the award of a $221M contract for management of the Haags Bosch landfill which has since seen  a Cevons Waste Disposal-led consortium filing a historic protest.

Finance Minister Winston Jordan has upped the ante for differentiated wage increases for public servants as opposed to the customary across-the-board hike.

Government will implement a land classification system to revise and update rental values for land, Minister of State Joseph Harmon has said.

The health service in Berbice is only administering yellow fever vaccines to pregnant women, newborn babies and persons who plan on travelling to Suriname, Trinidad, South America and South Africa, within seven to ten days.

National footballer Rensford Coleridge remains in hospital in a critical condition after he was stabbed several times about his body, allegedly by his neighbour, on Tuesday evening.

On July 16 and 17, Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan and Minister within the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples Affairs Valerie Garrido-Lowe visited the villages of Pai Pang, Tiger Pond and Karasabai in Region 9.

Two men are currently in custody in relation to the death of James Stuart, whose body was found on Sunday morning at La Grange, West Bank Demerara with a wound to his head.

The number of Guyanese over 40 years of age has increased from 2002 to 2012 and now comprise 29.1 percent of the population or 217,498 persons, according to the last census done in 2012.

Participants at  the recently concluded European Union (EU)and Cariforum capacity building public procurement training seminar say that government ministries need to be more involved in such forums to enable bidders to better understand the procurement process  within those entities.

The National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) is inviting bids for the rehabilitation of the electric pump at Trafalgar, West Coast Berbice.

Republic Bank (Guyana) Limited is once again sponsoring the 2016 edition of the Right Start Pan Minors Music Literacy Programme.

Six new Heads of Missions are undergoing a one-week orientation at the Foreign Service Institute, after which they will be deployed to their various posts overseas and were challenged by Foreign Minister Carl Greenidge to be strategic thinkers.

For the year so far, there has been a 50 per cent reduction in fatal accidents in Berbice and Traffic Chief of ‘B’ Division Boodnarine Persaud has linked this to the high number of persons charged and prosecuted for traffic violations.

ST JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – West Indies take an inexperienced squad into the opening Test against India starting here today, hoping that the young side can make a significant impact and shape the ailing side’s fortunes for the future.

Christopher Cornelius, Raphael Leung, Andrew Hicks and Jornell Yearwood have been selected by the Guyana Cycling Federation (GCF) to represent Guyana at the Caribbean Junior Cycling Championships in St Lucia July 30-31.

Improved and new services will be rolled out in the coming months, with the liberalisation of the telecommunications sector on the horizon, now that the Telecommunication (Amendment) Bill 2016 has been passed in parliament, Chief Executive Officer of GTT Justin Nedd has said.

The Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) will stage the annual ‘Andrew ‘Sixhead’ Lewis National Novices championships this weekend at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

The suspect in the fatal beating of mechanic Yugeshwar Shiwcharan is yet to be recaptured, one week after he escaped from the La Grange Police station lockups.

At approximately 10:35 yesterday morning, a burnt feeder panel at the Old Sophia substation caused a shutdown of  the entire GPL Demerara-Berbice Interconnected System (DBIS) with the exception of the West Demerara feeders.

Guyana’s Priyanna Ramdhani yesterday won her first round singles and doubles matches at the Pan American junior badminton champions in Peru.

Dear Editor,   As a Commissioner of Gecom I received a copy of a letter of protestation: ‘Recent actions by Gecom on access to its database’ which was sent to Gecom by the General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party.

-Bush Lot Secondary oust home team Mahdia in shootout Region #5 champs Bush Lot Secondary sealed a quarterfinal berth in the Digicel Schools football championships yesterday after edging Region #8 winners Mahdia Secondary 4-3 on penalty kicks at the Campbelltown Community ground.

Last Friday, Dawn Stewart, the unopposed nominee of the Guyana Equality Forum (GEF) was elected as the civil society representative to the monitoring mechanism for programmes funded here by the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Dear Editor, There is an injustice which seems to be playing out in the name of responding to trafficking in persons in Guyana.

Dear Editor,   Guyana has some sick people in privileged positions.

Yesterday morning Kim Højlund Christensen was accredited as non-resident Ambassador of Denmark to Guyana.

Spearheaded by Caribbean U13 champion Shomari Wiltshire, Guyana boys team edged Jamaica 3-2 in their Pool A match of the Caribbean junior squash championships in the Cayman Islands.

Dear Editor, This coming March (2017) marks the centennial of the official abolition of Indian indentureship or girmitya labour, an era spanning  the years 1834 to 1917 [1838-1917 in the case of Guyana].

Rayad Emrit has been named Captain of the Guyana Amazon Warriors for the remainder of the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) campaign.

Dear Editor, The Caribbean Voice notes the response by Mr Nowrang Persaud to our letter on alcoholism published in the Stabroek News and the Kaieteur News newspapers recently.

NORTH SOUND, Antigua, CMC–  Vice captain of the West Indies Test team Kraigg Brathwaite says once batsmen apply themselves and bowlers keep a steady line, the regional side will be a force to be reckoned with when they  battle India in a four-match series starting today.

Dear Editor, Some reactions, both objective and unduly personal, appear to have missed the essence of my letter clarifying that rum does not equate alcoholism.

BRASILIA, (Reuters) – Brazil’s sports minister said yesterday the Olympic host country was not underestimating the threat of terrorism and was taking all necessary measures ahead of next month’s games in Rio de Janeiro.

Dear Editor, I read with interest a report in the media in which it was stated that Guyana has been upgraded to upper middle class ranking by the World Bank.

MOSCOW, (Reuters) – The head of Russia’s Olympic Committee, Alexander Zhukov, said yesterday Russia had no intention of boycotting the Rio Games to protest against the way a doping scandal was being handled, saying politics had no place in sport.

Dear Editor, I attended the funeral of the late Inez Ophelia Peters, Nursery school teacher, on Friday July 1, 2016.

ST JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – Stylish stroke-maker Marlon Samuels and West Indies women’s captain, Stafanie Taylor, walked away with the top honours at Tuesday night’s fourth West Indies Cricket Board/West Indies Players’ Association Awards Ceremony here.

Dear Editor, I am very sorry to hear of the death of Rev Randolph George.

ST JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – Legendary West Indies captain Sir Vivian Richards says he is hoping the pitch at the stadium named in his honour provides healthy bounce, in the opening Test against India starting here today.

CLEVELAND, (Reuters) – U.S. Senator Ted Cruz refused to endorse Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump at the party’s convention yesterday, sparking an eruption of angry jeers from Trump supporters and shattering the facade of party unity that has been carefully built up in Cleveland this week.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Russian mining company UC Rusal formally signed a deal on Tuesday for the US$300-million sale of its 1.6-million-tonne Alpart alumina refinery in Jamaica to China’s Jinquan Iron and Steel Company (JISCO).

(Jamaica Gleaner) It was a subdued mood that characterised the tiny room at the Terra Nova All Suite Hotel in Kingston where private-sector interests on Tuesday hosted Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Keith Rowley, who is in Jamaica to address trade and immigration concerns that have been placed on the front burner by business leaders.

Dear Editor, David White, New Zealand’s cricket chief said recently, “We`ve got a good relationship with our players’ association ‒ we`re on the same page.

ISTANBUL,  (Reuters) – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan declared a state of emergency yesterday as he widened a crackdown against thousands of members of the security forces, judiciary, civil service and academia after a failed military coup.

COLWYN BAY, Wales, CMC – Leeward Islands left-hander Chesney Hughes stroked his 10th first class hundred on Tuesday but it was not enough to save Derbyshire as they crashed to a four-wicket defeat to Glamorgan in the County Championship here yesterday.

Radio Mabaruma 95.1 FM, an affiliate of the National Communications Network (NCN) is currently down and off air, GINA said yesterday.

The Guyana Oil Company in collaboration with Tradewind Tankers yesterday officially handed over a newly constructed music room to the Covent Garden Primary School which is located in the school’s compound, Covent Garden, EBD.

(Barbados Nation) Government failed on Tuesday to secure support from the opposition Barbados Labour Party (BLP) for a change to the Constitution to correct “an oversight”.

Last week, three minor girls aged ten, seven and five years old were seen on the seawall in a Berbice village at an hour in the morning which suggested that they would have slept there the night before.

Politikles

Vigil held for Linden trio killed in 2012: Scores turned out at the Wismar-Mackenzie Bridge on Monday for a candlelight vigil to commemorate the lives of the three Lindeners—Shemroy Boyea, Ron Somerset and Alan Lewis—who were shot dead on July 18, 2012 during the Linden protest.

WASHINGTON/KUALA LUMPUR,  (Reuters) – U.S. prosecutors are trying to seize more than $1 billion in assets they said were tied to money stolen from the Malaysian state fund, overseen by the prime minister, and used to finance “The Wolf of Wall Street” film and to buy property and works of art.

Cartoon

Dear Editor, A simple, quiet, humble man died the other day. 

FINHAUT-EMOSSON, Switzerland, (Reuters) – Britain’s Chris Froome took another big step towards a third Tour de France title when he dropped his main rivals in the finale of the 17th stage, a 184-km mountain trek won by Russian Ilnur Zakarin yesterday.