Daily Archive: Wednesday, December 13, 2017

MUMBAI, (Reuters) – Opener Rohit Sharma smashed his third one-day international double century to set up India’s comprehensive 141-run win against Sri Lanka in the second match of the series at Mohali today.

President David Granger this morning said that he is responsible for the US$18M ExxonMobil signing bonus being put into an escrow account at the Bank of Guyana, a decision he believes was necessary at the time so that Guyana could be prepared for a National Security Emergency.

(Trinidad Guardian) Ramraj Samaroo yesterday appeared in the Couva Magistrates Court charged with the murder of his younger brother.

Auditor General Deodat Sharma has started investigating the failure by government to transfer the US$18 million signing bonus paid by ExxonMobil last year to the Consolidated Fund, in keeping with the Constitution.

Suspended PPP/C Member of Parliament (MP) Bishop Juan Edghill was yesterday arrested after an attempt to enter the compound of the Public Buildings, where the resumption of the consideration of the national budget estimates saw a brief opposition walkout over House Speaker Dr Barton Scotland’s decision to allow the approval without scrutiny of allocations slated to be examined at the previous day’s disrupted session.

A Lethem contractor, wanted by police in connection with the discovery of an illegal aircraft and airstrip near Santa Fe, in Region Nine in August, has surrendered to the police after months on the run and his lawyer said he acted out of fear for his life.

The five persons who were arrested shortly after the discovery of the body of Ranella Benfield in a cemetery at Triumph, East Coast Demerara on Monday morning, remain in custody.

The latest report from the City Council’s Parking Meter Renegotiation Committee recommends that parking fees be set at an upper limit of $25 per 15 minute interval and $100 per hour, inclusive of VAT.

Attorney Eusi Anderson was yesterday fined $100,000 for lying to Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall.

Residents of Kopinang, Region Eight, may be in for a gloomy Christmas following the decision by Air Services Limited (ASL) to suspend flights to the area, due to the state of the Kopinang Airstrip.  It is alleged, that as a result of this announcement, food and gas prices in the community have increased, leaving residents to face the possibility of a “blue Christmas.”

Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan has confirmed that the Guyana Forensic Science Laboratory will benefit from the investment of close to US$1 million for upgrades that will enable it to conduct DNA testing.

Bids for the construction of a roundabout at Kitty, Georgetown were opened yesterday under the Ministry of Public Infrastructure.

A salesman was robbed of $1 million in cash on Saturday night, when he was attacked by two bandits while about to hand over the day’s sales to his employer outside Demerara Park, East Bank Demerara.

The application by Magistrate Judy Latchman for a stay of Justice Brassington Reynolds’ ruling compelling her to commit accused Regan ‘Grey Boy’ Rodrigues to stand trial for the murder of political activist Courtney Crum-Ewing will be heard on January 25.

DHAKA, Bangladesh, CMC – Superstar Chris Gayle crunched a world record 18 sixes and passed 11 000 runs in Twenty20s, as he struck his second hundred in three innings to fire Rangpur Riders to a convincing 57-run win over Dhaka Dynamites and to the capture of the 2017 Bangladesh Premier League title.

A Port Kaituma truck driver was yesterday charged with converting raw gold that he had been entrusted to deliver to another man.

HAMILTON, New Zealand, CMC – West Indies suffered a 2-0 clean sweep here yesterday after New Zealand needed just two sessions to wreck the remainder of the Caribbean side’s innings and inflict a punishing 240-run defeat in the second Test at Seddon Park.

An Arakaka resident was on Monday granted $100,000 bail after he denied the possession of a quantity of cannabis that was found in a speaker box.

Two-time defending champions Sparta Boss secured a dream final with arch-rival Gold is Money in the Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ Georgetown zone, edging Leopold Street 1-0 on penalty kicks yesterday in their rescheduled semi-final fixture.

Residents of Hand en Veldt, Mahaica, Region 5, have been promised access to potable water by Christmas this year, after 10 years of being without such.

Camptown Football Club was yesterday presented with their prize monies and the championship trophy for winning the inaugural Turbo Energy Drink Knockout Football Championship at a simple presentation ceremony held at the Guyana Beverage Incorporated Headquarters, Diamond.

While the amount earmarked for subventions to Local Government Authorities (LGAs) has increased to more than a billion dollars in the proposed 2018 national budget, the various LGAs are not getting more money.

Ravens edged Half Mile Bulls, while Kobras bit Pacesetters, when the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) ‘Road to Mecca’ Club Championship continued on Sunday.

A reduction of bail was yesterday granted to Yuniyka Bovell, the Canadian woman who was charged in October with the possession of 3.5 pounds of heroin.

The never-occupied $728 million Kato Secondary School, in Region Eight, which had to be rehabilitated after an audit found that it was unsafe for children, has been given the “green light” to be opened next month.

Dear Editor, The Justice Institute Guyana strongly endorses the views expressed in Monday’s editorial ‘ExxonMobil signing bonus’ and joins Transparency International Guyana, Chris Ram, Anand Goolsarran and members of the public in condemning the secret payment of US$18M from ExxonMobil to the government.

HUDDERSFIELD, England,  (Reuters) –  Third-placed Chelsea put in a determined performance as they returned to winning ways with a comfortable 3-1 win at Huddersfield Town in the Premier League yesterday.

Region One (Barima-Waini) will receive its second radio station with the introduction of Radio Moruca in 2018, according to APNU+AFC parliamentarian Richard Allen.

(The Sports Xchange) – Lavar Ball is taking two of his sons to play overseas in Lithuania.

Dear Editor, On Action Line the evening before last a resident of West Demerara called to complain about the uneven and unfair rate structure being applied by taxi drivers.

MELBOURNE, (Reuters) – England’s hopes of clawing their way back into an Ashes series fast slipping from their grip will be put to the ultimate test at the WACA where the tourists have won only once in nearly 50 years.

City Magistrate Judy Latchman has given the prosecution more time to present its last witness in the trial of Samuel Adams, who is charged with wounding a BK International Supervisor last December.

Dear Editor, There is sharp burning anger of a destructive kind raging in this society. 

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., (Reuters) – Democrat Doug Jones won a bitter fight for a U.S.

Calling the proposed 2018 national budget “visionless,” PPP/C parliamentarian Clement Rohee last Thursday accused government of continuously feeding “empty promises” to the nation.

Dear Editor, The GAWU was indeed surprised, to say the least, having read Mr Gobin Harbhajan’s letter entitled ‘Government should rescind sugar workers’ termination letters’ which appeared in the December 7 edition of Stabroek News.

(The Sports Xchange) – Chris Paul and James Harden came alive late, and the Houston Rockets erased a 13-point, third-quarter deficit and extended their winning streak to 10 games with a 130-123 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday.

Dear Editor, The issue of the consideration of the 2018 Budget Estimates and the way the Parliament is managed is one for the elected parliamentarians, the selected Speaker and the other appointed officers of the Guyana Parliament to act upon as instructed by the Constitution of Guyana.

SYDNEY, (Reuters) – Alastair Cook has “no idea” when he will be retiring and is completely focused on beating Australia in his 150th test this week to keep the Ashes series alive, the former England captain said yesterday.

The prosecution on Monday closed its case against Tiffini Collison, the woman who is accused of trying to mail four hammocks soaked in cocaine.

PARIS,  (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron delivered a bleak assessment on the global fight against climate change to dozens of world leaders and company executives yesterday, telling them: “We are losing the battle”.

(Reuters) – Ottawa plans early next year to create an independent office to oversee Canadian mining, oil and gas companies’ activities abroad, a government spokesman said on Tuesday, a move that environmental and human rights groups have long demanded.

Sewkumar Singh, the minibus driver charged with causing the death of the 66-year-old cyclist with whom he collided along the Herstelling Public Road in September, on Monday blamed the deceased for the accident.

Dear Editor, The 2018 Budget is one of the biggest ever and was prepared early by the APNU+AFC government of President David Granger.

Caribbean leaders yesterday announced the launch of a new public-private coalition to create the world’s first “climate-smart zone”, according to a release from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).

(Reuters) – Crystal Palace scored two late goals to earn a precious 2-1 win over Watford that moved Roy Hodgson’s side out of the Premier League relegation zone yesterday.

PARIS,  (Reuters) – The World Bank will no longer finance upstream oil and gas projects after 2019, apart from certain gas projects in the poorest countries in exceptional circumstances, it said on Tuesday, drawing praise from environmental groups.

(Trinidad Guardian) Special Reserve police officer Richard Babwah was killed on Monday evening during an attempted robbery at a Chinese restaurant in Arouca.

HAMILTON, New Zealand, CMC – West Indies have been slapped with slow over-rate fine for the second straight Test.

Dear Editor, I have pleasure in expressing my gratitude to the government and the Region Three authority for reconstructing the Bagotville Bridge, which presented problems to traffic a few months ago through its partial collapse.

One must have to be a dolt to believe that the treatment at present being meted out to the sugar workers is because the country cannot afford to keep them at work.

Dear Editor, It is amazing to see the unnecessarily long and obviously expensive vacancy advertisements appearing in the local media, as if the length of the ad will result in better recruitment!

To mark the anniversary of Martin Carter’s passing on December 13, 1997, Gemma Robinson looks at Carter’s Poems of Succession, published 40 years ago this year.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Ground is to be broken today at Paradise Park, Westmoreland, for what is being described as the largest solar-powered plant in the Caribbean.

CHICAGO/LONDON,  (Reuters) – When French drugmaker Sanofi published the results of clinical trials of children given its dengue vaccine two years ago, the overall findings were that it protected against the world’s biggest and fastest growing mosquito-borne disease.

HAMILTON, New Zealand, CMC – A broken arm has put the luckless Sunil Ambris out of the one-day series against New Zealand starting next week.

Last year, on Thursday, December 8, a forty-three year-old fisherman left his residence to go “in search of a boat, hoping to catch a sail,” and make some money for the approaching holiday season.