Daily Archive: Friday, December 2, 2016

Minster of Education,  Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine along with other government officials and guests, this evening, attended a function hosted by the British High Commissioner at his residence.

The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) today said that all taxpayers will have more take home pay under the income tax changes announced in the 2017 budget.

Quick action by a 52-year-old driver/security guard of  E.C. Veira Investment located at Houston, EBD, this afternoon resulted in an armed bandit being forced to abandon his mission of stealing the company’s wages from his vehicle and dropping his loaded pistol in the process at Peter’s Hall, EBD, about 1350h.

The 2017 budget has no good news for miners, the two key groups in the sector said today.

LONDON, (Reuters) – Nico Rosberg stunned Formula One on Friday with the shock announcement that he was retiring only days after achieving a lifetime ambition by winning his first world championship with Mercedes.

Two of the three suspects in an early morning robbery today at Meadow Bank, EBD, were apprehended minutes after the commission of the crime, with an unlicensed firearm and eight live rounds.

(Trinidad Guardian) The ruling People’s National Movement suffered an overall 8 per cent fall in support in Monday’s Local Government election compared with its position in the 2013 election, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said yesterday.

An Interim Management Committee (IMC) will now be pedaling and steering the affairs of the sport of cycling in Guyana.

North Ruimveldt, Broad Street Bullies, Up Like-7, and Albouystown-A secured their berths to the group round when the 7th edition of the Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ Georgetown Zone continued at the Demerara Park, last night.

The Private Sector Commission (PSC) yesterday called on government to reconsider proposed changes to the Value-Added Tax (VAT) regime, while warning that they would hurt the business community by driving up costs and forcing higher prices on consumers.

Two men were yesterday charged with the 2012 murder of Sideek Juman, who was found dead at the Double Day Hotel at Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo.

The training component of the GRIF-funded Micro and Small Enterprise (MSED) Project has, since its launch in 2013, cost $141,138,180 (US$643,800).

The Guyana Football Federation (GFF) has officially shortlisted 26 players for encampment ahead of their participation in the French Guiana International U15 Football Championship.

A police sergeant was yesterday charged with taking a $2M bribe to waive a charge against one of the accused in the death of Mohamed Abdool Shameer, who was killed in a boat collision and then buried in a shallow grave more than 60 miles away.

(Reuters) – Muhammad Ali’s fight gloves and a box of cigars signed by the Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro are among some of the highlights in an auction of memorabilia steeped in sporting history.

Current Deputy Mayor of Georgetown Sherod Duncan has officially expressed his intention to contest for the seat at the head of the horseshoe table.

DHAKA, Bangladesh, CMC – Trinidadian all-rounder Kevon Cooper has found himself in trouble over his action again, after being reported for a suspect bowling action during the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League.

Dear Editor, The pronouncement by the Finance Minister in his budget speech that the Income Tax Act will be revised to authorize the GRA to “garnish” funds from bank accounts held by taxpayers who have outstanding tax arrears has caused great anxiety and concern both to the business community as well as the ordinary citizen.

After denying that he shot at a man with the intent to commit murder, a former policeman was yesterday released on bail.

On November 29 and 30 Partners of the Americas in collaboration with the Caribbean Self-Reliance International hosted an Assembly of Shadehouse Producers, an awareness/planning activity for the Regional Clusters of Shadehouse Producers created out of a  four-year project designed to provide a viable farming option for communities across the country.

No fuel on board PARIS, (Reuters) – Colombian officials probing Monday’s crash that killed 71 people including most of a Brazilian soccer team face one of the rarest types of accidents and perhaps one of the hardest for families to comprehend, amid reports that the airplane had run out of fuel.

Dear Editor, I turned up at the New Amsterdam Hospital Dental Clinic, taking time off from my work to have a filling done, only to be told that there was no dental chair and I would “have to check back next month.”

ST JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – Barbadian left-hander Anthony Alleyne and Antiguan off-spinner Rahkeem Cornwall have dominated the aggregates, following the third round of the Regional Four-Day Championship.

By Valrie Grant Entrepreneur, Managing Director, GeoTechVision and Chairperson Small Business Council Building strong and sustainable business relationships across borders was the theme of the Republic Banks’ Triangular Trade Mission which took place from November 28 – 29, 2016 at the Guyana Marriott Hotel. 

There are conflicting accounts from survivors on what caused the fatal three-vehicle collision on the Mahaicony Public Road on Wednesday morning.

Dear Editor, Kindly permit me a few lines to comment on one aspect of the recently presented national budget for 2017.

CHAPECO, Brazil, (Reuters) – An outpouring of support for the Brazilian soccer team devastated by an air crash this week has nearly wiped out retailers’ inventory of their shirts, forcing an emergency meeting with producer Umbro for an extra run.

Eion Collins, who is on trial for the attempted murder of a taxi driver, yesterday told Justice James Bovell-Drakes and a jury that he felt like “Satan” had taken possession of him at the time he allegedly committed the crime.

There has been a total of 104 confirmed cases of chickenpox at the Paramakatoi Secondary School’s Dormitory in Region 8, a health team dispatched to the area has reported.

Dear Editor, A very important and critical infrastructural development was highlighted by the Minister of Finance during his budget speech.

This is the third of a seven-part series on changes to labour employment in the future, causes of this upheaval, and some possible measures to mitigate their disruptive effects.

ST JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – Legendary captain, Sir Vivian Richards, believes the recent sending home of Darren Bravo from the Tri-Nations Series is another indicator of the lack of progress in West Indies cricket.

Dear Editor, This 2017 Budget has caused me to reflect on an idea that I have toyed with all my adult life – why can’t truth and politics go together? 

Monedderlust tackle Fruta Conquerors It will be Georgetown versus Berbice, alongside a traditional East Coast of Demerara derby, when Fruta Conquerors battle Monedderlust, and Buxton United engages Victoria Kings in the GFF Stag Beer Elite League today at the Tucville ground.

Against the backdrop of questions that continue to arise about Guyana’s state of preparedness to significantly raise the quality of its response to external investment enquiries, Minister of Business Dominic Gaskin told a gathering of regional entrepreneurs that Guyana is now ready to put in motion a plan to make it easier for potential investors to do business here.

The Commercial Registry here has received three applications for the registration of the name Demerara as a Geographical Indication (GI), GINA said.

With the increasing and worrisome proliferation of prohibited and potentially dangerous food imports into Guyana and the patent limitations in the ability of the Government Analyst Food and Drugs Department (GA-FDD) to address what is believed to be a regime deliberately contrived by some importers to maximize their profits at the expense of the nation’s health, Acting Director of the GA-FDD Marlan Cole has been persistent in his insistence that the department needs to enhance its capacity.

Dear Editor, I read Laurie Greenidge’s Nov 25th letter in the Stabroek News captioned ‘Neighbour burns garbage under my bedroom window’ with outrage after learning of such bellicose residents in his community. 

President David Granger and First Lady, Sandra Granger this week joined Barbadians to celebrate that nation’s 50th An-niversary of In-dependence at three national events.

CASTRIES, St Lucia, CMC – Caribbean Premier League organisers announced Thursday that the Twenty20 showpiece had once again exceeded global viewership figures for the just concluded season, with a nearly 44 percent increase over the previous year.

Dear Editor, Since 2015 certain interventions at the national level have brought to the local environment a climate which one wit claimed (or declaimed) as ‘veteranism’.

SYDNEY, (Reuters) – Discussions over whether Australia will host England in a first day-night Ashes cricket test next year are taking place but nothing has been decided yet, Cricket Australia (CA) said on Thursday.

Modest but strategically placed, The Courtyard is home to a handful of small businesses, and may not be as popular as some of the more elaborate facilities that have sprung up around the city.

A date was yesterday set for a ruling in the trial of Pattensen businesswoman Sharlene Oxley, who is charged with human trafficking.

The quarter-finals of the Georgetown Cricket Association/ Noble House Seafoods 2nd Division (2-Day) cricket competition are scheduled for this weekend.

By John M Seeram John M. Seeram is a Financial/Audit Consultant International financial reporting standards require entities to produce a Statement of Finan-cial Position (SFP) formerly known as the balance sheet, a Statement of Comprehensive Income (SCI) and a Statement of Cash Flows (SCF).

As the country has none, PAHO/WHO has committed to training two haematologists in an effort to promote early screening and diagnosis of sickle cell and thalassaemia blood disorders, GINA said.

Dear Editor, People are looking but in vain expecting to find something that would inspire confidence and renewed hope in the 2017 APNU+AFC Budget.

The Mayor and City Council received a sum of $42 million in payments during the first two weeks of the recently concluded amnesty on interest accrued on unpaid property rates and discussions are ongoing about an extension.

The New Guyana Marketing Corporation has agreed to provide us with the above information which we will publish on a weekly basis subject to receipt.

KARUKWAT, Demo-cratic Republic of Congo,  (Reuters) – Charity Mandulu said the executions began soon after government soldiers – around 100 of them mostly from South Sudan President Salva Kiir’s Dinka ethnic group – arrived in her home town of Tore Payam.

The Georgetown Cricket Umpires and Scorers Association (GCUSA) recently held their annual general meeting (AGM) at which the office bearers for the 2016-17 period were elected.

Dear Editor, I am constrained to respond to Tony Vieira for the last time on this issue (out of necessity) so that the public is not unwittingly misled (‘Craig’s letter contained numerous areas of misinformation’ SN, Nov 30).

MONTERREY, Mexico, (Reuters) – U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s intervention to stop jobs at a plant in Indiana going to Mexico is typical of what happens in countries that Americans call “banana” republics, a senior Mexican state official said yesterday.

Major search: Over 20 police officers carried out a random search on a black Nissan Blue Bird, PTT 8606, yesterday afternoon on Carmichael Street.

Dear Editor, Allen Stanford, the man who spent tens of millions of dollars to promote the shorter version of cricket in the Caribbean, has lost his final bid to be released from prison after he was convicted and jailed for a ponzi scheme in which he fleeced hundreds of millions of dollars from investors.

Western Tigers earned their first win in the Turbo Energy Drink/Fruta Conquerors U19 Academy League, squeaking past Order and Discipline 3-1, yesterday at the Tucville Community ground.

BERLIN,  (Reuters) – One of the world’s biggest networks of hijacked computers, which is suspected of being used to attack online banking customers, has been taken down following police swoops in 10 countries, German police said yesterday.

BRASILIA, (Reuters) – Engineering firm Odebrecht SA signed a roughly 6.7 billion real ($1.94 billion) leniency deal on Thursday with prosecutors in Brazil’s biggest graft case while nearly 80 employees of the company signed plea bargains, sources said.

Stock market updates

By Valrie Grant Entrepreneur, Managing Director, GeoTechVision and Chairperson Small Business Council Building strong and sustainable business relationships across borders was the theme of the Republic Banks’ Triangular Trade Mission which took place from November 28 – 29, 2016 at the Guyana Marriott Hotel. 

One of the suspects in the gunning down of West Ruimveldt resident Paul Rodney was arrested yesterday by the police.

A man was yesterday charged with stealing a little over $4 million in equipment from a mining company at Tumatumari.

Millions of dollars in fixtures and fittings have been pillaged from the controversial 1,000-home, turnkey Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA) project and its board is under pressure to launch an investigation into what is believed to have been an inside job.

JOHANNESBURG,  (Reuters) – Nigeria’s Nobel Prize-winning author Wole Soyinka has torn up his United States green card and renounced his American residency in protest at Donald Trump’s U.S.

Gold Prices for the three-day period ending Thursday December 1, 2016

Editor’s Note: The following articles, from December 2, 1989, are being reprinted as part of Stabroek News’ ongoing observances to mark its 30th anniversary.

Every time a government functionary has spoken publicly on the matter of official policy on foreign investment in Guyana it is always the same unchanging story.

In October 2016, the Commonwealth Secretariat released its second Global Youth Development Index, mere days after the Guyana Government passed its National Youth Policy in Parliament, a policy which was said to, inter alia, “[encourage] leadership, participation and representation.”

(The Sports Xchange) – Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James earned 2016 Sportsperson of the Year honors from Sports Illustrated after leading Cleveland to its first professional sports championship in 52 years last season.

Bartica, Byderabo: What’s “Best”? Because I appreciate all the elements of the national issue that is the fate and future of this country’s sugar industry; and because I do have a connection with Sugar Union GAWU- however distant- I make bold to offer a few simple but pointed and fundamental comments on a challenge that is bound to be “nationally sensitive”.

BRASILIA, (Reuters) – Brazil’s Supreme Court indicted the president of the Senate, Renan Calheiros, yesterday for embezzlement, a ruling that is expected to fan growing tensions between the judiciary and Congress over corruption cases.

Dear Editor, I wish to draw attention to the structure of our society and the massive social injustices and abuses meted out to the masses, here referring to the working class and so-called hustlers who, either are disqualified from regular jobs for lack of appropriate educational attainment, or else are unable to accept the ridiculous low-paid wages and salaries in the formal economy, ie, government and private businesses.