Daily Archive: Friday, February 17, 2017

The government today rebuffed criticisms yesterday from the private sector about the state of the economy and charged that it has ” mounted the bandwagon of negative forces that are determined to resist legal and structural changes that are aimed at improving the investment and business environment in Guyana”.

The Private Sector Commission today expressed its complete support for the Movement Against Parking Meters and reiterated its call for the Government to utilise its powers to ensure that the parking meter contract be quashed.

The Ministry of Education is mourning the passing of Guyana’s Secretary General to UNESCO, Inge Nathoo.

(Trinidad Guardian) Brian Lara is using the sport he knows best to reach out to the young people of T&T.

A court has ordered the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) to defend their controversial deal with Smart City Solutions (SCS) for the Georgetown metered parking system or face having it declared invalid.

In its strongest criticism yet of the APNU+AFC administration, the Private Sector Commission (PSC) says that affiliates who attended a meeting on Monday expressed a lack of confidence in the government’s managing of the economy.

Steffon Campbell, Faisal Moore and Ray Yokum were last evening each sentenced to 80 years in jail after a jury convicted them for the murder of Glen Xavier, who was fatally shot during a robbery at the Cornbread Mini Mart on the night of May 9, 2012.

Five men were yesterday remanded over the murder of Danian Jagdeo, a phone card distributor, on February 8, at Adventure, Corentyne during a robbery.

Prime Minister of Dominica Roosevelt Skerrit yesterday urged that Caricom member states vigorously pursue the issues that would advance the regional integration movement, while saying it is a necessity in an increasingly hostile international environment.

The promise of a 50% reduction in the parking rates in the city did not dissuade supporters of the Movement Against Parking Meters (MAPM) from taking to the streets again for a third protest against the implementation of the parking system yesterday.

Opposition parliamentarian Anil Nandlall yesterday criticised Attorney-General Basil Williams SC for his failure to schedule a follow-up meeting with him to discuss the criteria for the selection of nominees for the Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom).

The Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) has rehabilitated over 300 fire hydrants in Georgetown.

A Lethem man, said to be mentally ill, was yesterday charged with murdering a fellow villager.

Six persons lost their home after a midday fire devastated a South Ruimveldt house yesterday.

Continuous flooding is among several issues in Tucville-North Ruimveldt that still need to be addressed almost a year after the local government elections, where Mayor s was elected as the constituency’s representative.

The official logo for the planned Petroleum Commission was revealed yesterday by the Ministry of Natural Resources and is a composite of a number of designs in a competition that was won by Essequibo Coast youth, Noel Sukhai.

The sudden change in the scope of a project to construct a concrete bridge rather than a timber one at Yeovil, West Coast Berbice, at nearly twice the value of the original contract, and the failure to have the amended project retendered, was brought into question at the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament meeting on Monday.

– Hurricanes flatter to deceive ST JOHN’S, Antigua CMC – Shai Hope broke a 25-year-old record as Barbados Pride brushed aside a jaded Leeward Islands Hurricanes by 110 runs to a set up a rematch with Jamaica Scorpions Saturday’s final of the Regional Super50.

A 20-year-old North Enmore man has been missing for three weeks and his family is fearful that he may be the victim of foul play.

By Royston Alkins   The name Scotiabank has long been associated with the development of West Indies, and more so Kiddy Cricket for nearly two decades now.

A West Ruimveldt resident was on Wednesday sentenced to three years behind bars after a city magistrate found him guilty of breaking and entering the house of another and stealing home appliances.

– West Dem/East Bank semis on tonight Defending champion Showstoppers will tackle Money Team whilst ESPN will engage Hustlers tonight in the semi-finals of the Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ West Demerara/East Bank Demerara zone, following quarterfinal wins on Wednesday.

– Regan Pollard upset on opening night The Guyana Squash Association in collaboration with its corporate sponsor Digicel  launched its 2017 season with its customary Bounty Farm Ltd Handicap Squash Tournament at the Georgetown Club Inc.

Three local lending agencies have disbursed a total of US$1.983 million in loans to 101 clients under the Medium and Small Enterprise Development (MSED) credit guarantee arrangement with the Small Business Bureau since the inception of the scheme in 2014, according to information made available to the Stabroek Business.

By Royston Alkins   Essequibo Female Cricket Team was brushed aside by a strong Berbice unit by a massive 278 runs in the first game of the Female Inter County One-day at the Everest Cricket Club Ground, yesterday.

What had appeared several months ago to be encouraging signs of movement towards technical assistance from Trinidad and Tobago in developing an oil and gas sector in Guyana, now appears to be languishing in uncertainty.

University of Guyana (UG) Trojans recorded wins over Pacesetters and Plaisance Guardians in the U23 and Open Divisions, respectively, when the Georgetown Amateur Basketball Association (GABA) ‘League of Champions’ continued on Wednesday.

Dear Editor, Reference is made to a letter published in yesterday’s (February 16) edition of the Stabroek News, under the headline ‘Patterson statements on electricity were misleading’ and penned by Mr Juan Edghill, Opposition MP.

Dear Editor, The Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) takes this opportunity to respond to a letter which appeared in the February 15 edition of Stabroek News signed by  Ms Audreyanna Thomas, Senior Communications Officer, Guyana Sugar Corporation Inc (GuySuCo).

A Dominican Republic national, charged with forging four immigration stamps and presenting her passport with them to an Immigration Officer, was yesterday remanded to prison after denying the charge.

– four players dismissed in heated final Tourney hosts Fruta Conquerors were crowned the inaugural Turbo Energy Drink U19 Academy Football League Champions, overcoming Georgetown Football Club (GFC) 1-0 on Wednesday at the Tucville ground.

By Karen Abrams, MBA “Without women’s empowerment and gender equality, societies will not be able to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and their full development potential,” Claudinah Ramosepele, South Africa’s delegate to the Sixty-sixth UN General Assembly Third Committee, 2011.

Dear Editor, We wish to draw attention to developments in the matter engaging the courts involving Region 9 Regional Executive Officer, Mr Carl Parker, who has been charged with sexual assault.

WASHINGTON/SAN FRANCISCO,  (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he will issue a new executive order to replace his controversial directive suspending travel to the United States by citizens of seven mostly Muslim countries.

By Louis Holder The future begins now is an expose of a vision of the future.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, CMC – West Indies player Marlon Samuels has been cleared by cricket’s governing body, the ICC, to resume bowling in international cricket.

If, these days, the contemporary ambitions of young Guyanese invariably extend beyond the pursuit of agriculture, the pressure of the global food shortage and the potential for growing successful businesses held out in the pursuit of food cultivation remain a decidedly attractive prospect.

– Spooner bags 4 for 11 for Tutorial By Royston Alkins Tutorial High and Charlestown Secondary thrilled their fans in a nail biting encounter at the Demerara Cricket Club ground, yesterday in the Guyana Cricket Board/ National Secondary School cricket league (GCB/NSSCL), with the boys from Tutorial coming out as eventual winners by two wickets.

SEOUL,  (Reuters) – Samsung Group chief Jay Y. Lee was arrested yesterday over his alleged role in a corruption scandal rocking the highest levels of power in South Korea, dealing a fresh blow to the world’s biggest maker of smartphones and memory chips.

Dear Editor, Government has announced the launch a group calling itself ‘The Guyana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Multi-Stakeholder Group’ (G-EITI MSG).

Dear Editor, One can see patrols riding in pairs along the roadways wearing bulletproof vests and I think, guns.

LONDON, (Reuters) – The head of Britain’s Supreme Court has accused politicians of not doing enough to protect the independence of the judicial system when judges came in for harsh criticism from pro-Brexit newspapers last year.

Two months after a visit here by officials of the Russian company RUSAL in an effort to detoxify the relationship between the majority RUSAL-owned Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc (BCGI) and the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union (GB&GWU) which has bargaining rights for some of the workers there, the protracted soured industrial relations climate persists.

1st Stage of  Burnham Memorial race  on Sunday   The nation’s cyclists are in for a busy weekend as two events are scheduled to pedal off tomorrow and Sunday.

KARACHI, Pakistan, (Reuters) – A suicide bomber attacked a crowded Sufi shrine in southern Pakistan yesterday, killing at least 72 people and wounding dozens more in the deadliest of a wave of bombings across the South Asian nation this week.

Dear Editor, Your online news article, ‘Ifa Kamau Cush fired by SCSI,’ (February16), can be characterized as the rise and fall of the used, confused, accused and ultimately refused.

(Trinidad Express) Car wash owner Naresh Bhawanie and employee Sterling Joseph have been identified as the two men gunned down at a Chaguanas car wash yesterday.

Veron Mosengo– Omba, the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) Director of Member Associations & Development for Africa and the Caribbean, met with Minister within the Ministry of Education- Department of Sports Nicolette Henry yesterday, as part of his two day tour of Guyana.

Brooke Glasford is a thoughtful, engaging 25-year-old who is announcing her presence in the local fashion industry following a six-year sojourn in Canada.

Stock market updates

MIAMI, (Reuters) – CONCACAF will discuss a possible joint bid for the 2026 World Cup and the governing body’s president said on Thursday a planned wall along the U.S.-Mexico

(Barbados Nation) If the Minister of Finance wants to fire Central Bank Governor Dr DeLisle Worrell, his hands are tied until today.

MANILA, (Reuters) – A staunch critic of Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte yesterday revived allegations of millions of dollars of hidden assets that he said the president had yet to answer, an assertion Duterte’s camp dismissed as a publicity stunt.

Dear Editor, I would just like to add this observation as a follow-up to my letter on parking meters published on February 16.

Dear Editor, The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) is vigilant as regards the method of the appointment of judges and the independence of the judiciary in the region.

Following the conclusion of the group stage in the Petra Organization/ Limacol Football Championship, the respective finishers were presented with their financial incentives yesterday at a simple presentation ceremony at the Brandsville Hotel, Campbellville.

(Trinidad Express) A missionary pundit from India has taken legal action against the Immigration Department of Trinidad and Tobago challenging the decision to deport him.

GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) – Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales rejected rumors of a possible coup d’etat on Thursday, shortly after his brother and elder son were sentenced to house arrest while being investigated for fraud.

Recently, the issue of VAT being charged on education services became a hot button topic concerning which the parents of school age children made a public outcry.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The first gripe came three minutes into President Donald Trump’s first solo news conference yesterday, when he accused reporters of ignoring a poll showing him with a 55 percent approval rating – a figure at odds with most other surveys.

Gold Prices for the three-day period ending Thursday February 16, 2017Kitco is a Canadian company that buys and sells precious metals such as gold, copper and silver.

Sanata Expands By MARGARET KENDALL SANATA Textiles celebrated its Eighth Anniversary of operations on February the 15, with the commissioning of its new Cotton/Polyester Line and Emergency power generating Unit.

General Elections? Another Jubilee already? Well, yes. You-all think I’m being way too premature?

Dear Editor, The dark political days of the nineteen fifties/sixties saw our former, colonial masters resort to a divide-and-rule strategy, pitting Guyana’s two major ethnic groups against each other after the Burnham-Jagan split.

(Trinidad Guardian) State witness Samuel Rampersad was supposed to attend court on Wed-nesday, but hours before this appearance three armed men stormed his home and shot him dead in front of his family.

It is now just over three years since then president Donald Ramotar launched the Small Enterprise Development and Building Alternative Livelihoods for Vulnerable Groups (MSED) project in October 2013, which is intended to support the goals of the Government of Guyana in the areas of poverty alleviation.

Businessman and former Men’s Physique competitor, Coel Marks has thrown his hat in the ring to contest the presidency of the Guyana Amateur Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation (GABBFF).

Dominica’s Opposition Leader Lennox Linton yesterday called for Caricom to intervene and set up a regulatory commission for the island’s contentious Citizenship By Investment (CBI) programme, while warning that it currently poses a risk of exposing both his country and the region to transnational crimes.