Daily Archive: Friday, July 14, 2017

Police are presently investigating an accident on the Linden/Soesdyke Highway which has so far claimed the lives of three unidentified persons.

The opposition PPP today condemned a statement by President David Granger absolving Minister of Public Security.

Today,  Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman (centre) and a team of technical officers of the Petroleum Department of the Ministry of Natural Resources met with  Jeffrey Miller (second from left), President and CEO of Halliburton, and his team at the Ministry’s head office, Upper Brickdam.

The Minister of Public Security by virtue of ministerial powers vested in him by the Constitution and based on advice from senior prison officials, who testified to the prisoners’ character and good behaviour, released a total of 57 prisoners over the past week, a statement from the ministry said today.

Five men, including two police ranks, were today charged over the attempted robbery of the Republic Bank branch at Water Street that ended in a fatal shootout between the armed robbers, guards and the police last Tuesday morning.

GENEVA, (Reuters) – The United Nations called on Venezuela’s government to let people take part in an unofficial referendum on the constitution on Sunday and to make sure security forces do not use excessive force against protesters.

Scenes from the 241st independence anniversary celebration put on by the US Embassy at the Marriott Hotel yesterday.

(Reuters) – Leading West Indies cricketers such as Chris Gayle and Sunil Narine could soon return to the national one-day international side as a long-running pay saga appears to be finally showing signs of reaching a conclusion.

(Trinidad Guardian) In the coming months, the public will see a number of new initiatives being rolled at the country’s prisons.

After what appeared to be an elaborate plot to break out of the Camp Street prison on Sunday,  at least four of the men now on the run escaped through the front gate of the facility after overpowering guards.

US Ambassador to Guyana, Perry Holloway says the consulate section of the embassy here processed 72,000 non-immigrant visas last year and 7,000 immigrant visas.

(IAAF website) National 400m champion, Daniel Williams has qualified for today’s 400m final at the IAAF World U18 Championships in Nairobi, Kenya.

Resistance by inmates to help offered by warders and firefighters during the Camp Street prison riot and fire on Sunday has been seen as a major factor in the destruction of the state’s main penitentiary.

ST JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – Exiled left-hander Darren Bravo is set to play for West Indies again “with immediate effect” after he and Cricket West Indies president Dave Cameron exchanged apologies to end a nine-month impasse.

The Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) yesterday amended the charge against former Attorney-General Anil Nandlall, who is charged with fraudulently converting law reports, valued at over $2 million, which were allegedly the property of the Ministry of Legal Affairs.

A growing number of international athletic stars are lining up to participate in the second annual Aliann Pompey Invitational (API) carded for tomorrow at the National Track and Field Centre at Leonora, West Coast Demerara.

Prison authorities have confirmed that the number of escapees from Sunday’s Camp Street Prison breakout is six, according to Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan, who yesterday also clarified that a total of 91 inmates—not 300 as earlier reported—have been released Ramjattan made the disclosures while also announcing plans to today relocate over 500 inmates who continue to be held in a pasture outside of the Lusignan Prison to another walled open area nearby.

The Noble House Goals Galore Indoor Hockey Championships saw more high-scoring performances on Wednesday evening at the National Gymnasium as the Bounty GCC men and Pizza Hut GCC ladies both made their first appearances with convincing wins, while the Pepsi Hikers continued along their dominant road to the top of their table.

Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan yesterday said that plans are on stream to expand the Mazaruni Prison, in keeping with one of the recommendations coming out of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into last year’s Camp Street prison fire, which left 17 inmates dead.

Western Tigers and Guyana Police Force (GPF) recorded thumping wins over Black Pearl and Beacons, respectively, when the Corona Beer Invitational Football Championship continued on Wednesday.

Another action-packed night of football is anticipated when the Colours Boutique/Guinness Greatest of the Street National Football playoffs continue tonight with six more matches at the Pouderoyen Tarmac, West Demerara.

A Diamond Housing Scheme pensioner has lost vision in one of his eyes following a home invasion last week, when he and his wife were beaten by bandits, who robbed them of cash, jewellery and other valuables.

The Guyana Cricket Board’s National Under-19 squad is set to participate in three practice matches as they prepare to seek their fourth consecutive CWI Regional One day 50 overs title.

Brazilian pastor Haleno Luiz, who was before the court for causing the death of a motorcyclist in March, had the charge against him withdrawn yesterday after a compensation deal with the family of the deceased.

The body of a Bushlot pensioner, who wandered away from her daughter’s home in the wee hours of the morning, was yesterday found in a canal at Montrose, East Coast Demerara.

The Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) has officially selected their squad for the impending U17 Central America & Caribbean Basketball Championships (CentroBasket), scheduled for Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, from July 26th-30th.

Former Region #1 winner Santa Rosa Secondary, dismantled Kamwatta by a 7-0 scoreline, when the 7th Annual Digicel Schools Football Championship continued yesterday at the Kamaka Community ground.

Three women, who were former employees of the Medicare Pharmacy, were yesterday accused of defrauding the business of over $2 million.

National and West Indies under-16 player Sachin Singh has taken the opportunity to thank his sponsors for the support that they have shown to him over the years.

Four bids were opened yesterday at the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) for the rehabilitation of the Bagotville Bridge, West Bank Demerara, under the Ministry of Public Infrastructure.

Dear Editor, Beatrice Rangel, a former Chief of Staff to former Venezuelan President Carlos Andrés Pérez has said that a desperate President Nicolás Maduro may well order military intervention into Guyana as a means of trying to divert attention from his internal troubles, but not a single platoon of the armed forces of Venezuela will obey that order.

At the Leonora Court yesterday, Magistrate Rushelle Liverpool adjourned the matter involving four men charged with trafficking in 84.9 kilos of cocaine at Zeelugt, East Bank Essequibo, to September 13 and 14.

The Hamilton Green soccer tournament which was due to begin this evening at the Mackenzie Sports Club Ground in Linden has been postponed due to the inclement weather.

Dear Editor, The letter, most of which is reproduced below, was delivered to Permanent Secretary, Mr Emil McGarrell, at the Ministry of Communities on June 12.

LONDON, (Reuters) – Venus Williams became the oldest woman in 23 years to reach a Wimbledon final as she defied her age and a despondent home crowd to inflict a crushing defeat on British hope Johanna Konta on Thursday.

Dear Editor, President David Granger, in remarks noted in the press on the most recent Camp Street prison riot and destruction by fire, has described the event as “an accident waiting to happen”.

Dear Editor, The recent destruction of the Camp Street Prison, presumably by riotous inmates, makes it imperative that Guyana’s political directorate, in collaboration with the civilian authorities, move, as a matter of urgency, to reexamine the existing approach to crime and punishment.

Although an East Ruimveldt apartment was destroyed in a fire yesterday afternoon, the Guyana Fire Service came in for praise for its speedy response, which was credited for saving the neighbouring houses.

PEYRAGUDES, France, (Reuters) – Frenchman Romain Bardet timed his final effort perfectly to win the 12th stage of the Tour de France on Thursday, setting up a thrilling second half of the three-week race as defending champion Chris Froome showed a rare sign of weakness.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – The U.S. State Department will require all nations to provide extensive data to help it vet visa applicants and determine whether a traveler poses a terrorist threat, according to a cable obtained by Reuters.

LONDON, (Reuters) – Joe Root said England will be unchanged for the second test against South Africa beginning today at Trent Bridge, where he expects his seam bowlers make a greater contribution than in the series opener last week.

Residents of Charity, Essequibo Coast, yesterday met with officials of the Guyana Power and Light Incorporated (GPL) on the power outages continuing to plague the community and they were told that efforts underway to rectify the situation would yield results by this weekend.

Dear Editor, At about 10.15pm on the night of Wednesday 12th July, 2017 I was proceeding northwards on the Craig Public road in my car. 

PARIS,  (Reuters) – President Donald Trump held the door open to a reversal of his decision to pull the United States out of the Paris climate accord yesterday, but did not say what he would need in return to persuade him to do so.

The role of citizens in ensuring transparency and accountability in the extractive industry was highlighted on Wednesday when members of the Multi-Stakeholder Group for the Guyana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GYEITI) met with residents of Bartica.

Dear Editor, As is well known, the Good Lord has spared us from the earthquakes and hurricanes suffered by neighbouring countries, only leaving us to mismanage the land of many waters.

NEW DELHI, (Reuters) – New India cricket coach Ravi Shastri plans to adopt a more hands-off approach to the role than his predecessor Anil Kumble, with the 55-year-old saying he has no intention of trying to act as a tutor to the players.

ST JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – Cricket West Indies and Nicholas Pooran have settled their differences, paving the way for the promising left-hander to return to West Indies colours.

A North West District farmer was yesterday granted his release on bail after denying a charge that he had an unlicensed shotgun.

BRASILIA,  (Reuters) – A Brazilian congressional committee yesterday voted against sending a corruption charge against President Michel Temer to the Supreme Court for the leader to be put on trial.

Dear Editor,  I had the privilege of attending the 56th Apprentice Graduation exercise of the GuySuCo Training Centre, Port Mourant, held on Wednesday, July 12, 2017.

SHENYANG, China,  (Reuters) – Chinese Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, a prominent dissident since the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests, died on Thursday after being denied permission to leave the country for treatment for late-stage liver cancer.

NEW DELHI/LAUSANNE, Switzerland,  (Reuters) – Philip Morris International Inc is waging a secret campaign to subvert the World Health Organization’s anti-smoking treaty, which was designed to save lives by curbing tobacco use, a Reuters investigation published today reveals.

Dear Editor, This is where criminologists come in handy. A couple of weeks ago the nation was pondering the anomaly of one educated young man, with a reasonably good job, taking up arms to rob a bank.

CARACAS, (Reuters) – A rogue Venezuelan police pilot wanted for lobbing grenades and shooting at government buildings appeared briefly at an opposition vigil on Thursday night in a surreal twist to the crisis-worn country’s political drama.

GASCI Summary of Financials Session 729 July 10, 2017

LONDON, (Reuters) – Magdalena Rybarikova, who was crushed by Garbine Muguruza in the Wimbledon semi-finals on Thursday, said she was tired and nervous going into the match and had no idea how to respond to her opponent’s superb shot-making.

The trial of Basil Morgan, for the 2009 murder of Woodette Roberts, commenced on Tuesday before Justice James Bovell-Drakes and a 12-member jury at the High Court, in Georgetown.

GASCI (www.gasci.com/telephone Nº 223-6175/6) reports that session 716’s trading results showed

HOUSTON/HAVANA,  (Reuters) – Venezuela’s crude and fuel deliveries to Cuba have slid almost 13 percent in the first half this year, according to documents from state-run oil company PDVSA viewed by Reuters, threatening to worsen gasoline and power shortages in the communist-run island.

Dear Editor, Lincoln Lewis’s letter ‘The deformities do not lie in the structure but in the refusal of persons to comply with the structure’ (SN, July 3) is Lewis’s trademark tireless tirade.

NEW YORK,  (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – U.S. authorities sent home some 100 Haitian immigrants discovered on a rickety boat this week, the most found at sea in more than a year and a sign of more people likely to flee the impoverished island, advocates said yesterday.

SILVERSTONE, England, (Reuters) – Lewis Hamilton defended his decision to snub a major Formula One promotional event in London and said the British Grand Prix and his title challenge came first.

Introduction Today we turn our attention to how the country, and more particularly the PPP/C Government and the APNU+AFC Coalition Government have managed the country’s potential and discovered petroleum resource.

LIMA,  (Reuters) – United Nations human rights experts yesterday called on Peru to suspend negotiations on a new contract for a large oilfield in the Amazon until past pollution was cleaned up and the rights of indigenous groups respected.

-Time to give up? To lose hope? Co-incidentally, the sentiments expressed through today’s lead caption were first published in this column, in similar style, nine years ago.

On a mundane Sunday afternoon on July 9 last, a remarkable thing occurred: the deeply ingrained inertia and reactionary mindset that characterises the current administration was suddenly and dramatically exposed.

Market Prices as at July 14 2017

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

LONDON, (Reuters) – Formula One has assured British fans it wants to keep the country’s grand prix on the calendar despite Silverstone announcing the end of the current contract in 2019.

LONDON,  (Reuters) – The malaria parasite owes its devastating success to a finely tuned genome that can survive attacks and evade human immune defence because it retains only the bare essential genes it needs to thrive, scientists have found.

Dear Editor, The Berbice Cricket Board notes with disgust a press release emanating from the Guyana Cricket Board published in the Kaieteur News of Sunday July 2 on page 65, in which it seeks to inform the general public that “Mr.