Daily Archive: Friday, November 23, 2018

Minister of Finance Winston Jordan has issued regulations under the Income Tax Act for the retroactive pay increases for public servants and public officers from January 1, 2018 to December 31st 2018 to be made tax free.

Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo today said that the Opposition’s motion of no-confidence in the government has no reasonable prospect of success but will nevertheless be debated sometime in December.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Senior Superintendent of Police Anthony Castelle, who had been on trial over the past two years for shooting a pregnant woman during a high-speed police chase in 2016, collapsed and had to be hospitalised after he was found guilty in the St James Parish Circuit Court today.

Magistrate Fabayo Azore today ruled that a prima facie case has been made out against former Attorney-General Anil Nandlall on the charge that he fraudulently converted over $2 million in law reports As a result, Nandlall has been called upon to lead a defence to the charge.

The Ministry of Public Infrastructure (MPI) today announced that that the eastern lane from Rupert Craig Highway to the Railway Embankment on Sheriff Street will be closed from Saturday, 24 November, 2018 for Sub grade works.

KARACHI, Pakistan  (Reuters) – Three suicide attackers stormed the Chinese consulate in the Pakistani city of Karachi amid a series of gunshots and an explosion on Friday, but were killed before they could get into the building in a car packed with explosives, police said.

(Reuters) – West Indies paceman Shannon Gabriel will miss the second test against Bangladesh due to a code of conduct breach in the opening match in Chittagong, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said today.

(Jamaica Observer) In May this year when six-month-old Javier Wilson was shot in the head by callous gunmen, his parents were distraught by the experience.

(Trinidad Guardian) It’ll be more of a Silent Night this Christ­mas: “scratch” bombs have at last been banned and de­clared il­le­gal.

(Jamaica Observer) Three policemen who reportedly took a man into custody after he was freed by the court and demanded and accepted US$200 and $58,000 for his release are scheduled to return to the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court on December 4.

The results for the November 12th local government elections are set to be gazetted today, even as an investigation has concluded that the procedures for the approval of proxies were breached during the voting process in Mabaruma.

A city magistrate yesterday remanded a miner to prison after he was charged with murdering his common-law wife, whose body was discovered buried in a shallow grave near a mining camp on Sunday.

The city’s two largest garbage disposal contractors have once again announced that they would be withdrawing their services due to City Hall’s inability to pay for the work they have done over the last six months.

A farmer was yesterday remanded to prison after he denied having in his possession almost five pounds of cocaine.

There is a shortage of medication to treat patients with Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB), Public Health Ministry spokesman Terrence Esseboom confirmed yesterday.

At least two of the three ties in the First-Past-the-Post (FPTP) component of the recently held local government elections have been resolved.

Legal proceedings instituted against 18 rice farmers who had refused to accept the tripling of the rental fee for land they occupy were yesterday withdrawn by the Hope Coconut Estate Limited during a hearing before the Rice Assessment Committee at the Cove and John Magistrate’s Court.

Dellon Gordon, who was sentenced to 83 years in jail for killing his wife, who died after being set on fire, has appealed his conviction.

Popular bars around Georgetown last night closed unusually early and some turned off their music as ranks from the Guyana Police Force (GPF) carried out noise pollution testing after completing a one-day training programme.

Two men were yesterday sentenced to three years in jail after they pleaded guilty to having two firearms and live rounds in their possession.

A second suspect is in custody for the murder of the man killed on Saturday night at Leopold Street, in Georgetown.

An unemployed man was found dead in his home village of Goed Bananen Land, East Canje Berbice yesterday morning. 

A father and son were yesterday remanded to prison on a charge of drug trafficking after police said they found just over 10 pounds of ganja at their home.

The governments of Guyana and Aruba yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will see direct flights from Georgetown to Aruba soon, according to the Department of Public Information (DPI).

A Port Kaituma youth was yesterday granted his release on $10,000 bail after denying a charge of robbery with violence.

In a replay of the 2016 women’s World T20 finals, West Indies were not as lucky as they suffered a 71-run defeat after a batting collapse against Australia in the first semifinals of the tourney held last night at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Antigua.

Inaugural tournament winners, England marched into tomorrow’s final of the Women’s World T20  after brushing aside India by eight wickets in the second semifinal at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Antigua yesterday.

The Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) and the Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana (THAG) yesterday signed a Memorandum of Under-standing which formalises their partnership in the sector.

BRUSSELS/LONDON,  (Reuters) – Britain and the European Union have agreed a draft text setting out a close post-Brexit relationship, though wrangling with Spain over control of Gibraltar must still be settled before EU leaders meet on Sunday in order to rubber-stamp the pact.

Dear Editor, Here I am after this week’s statutory meeting of the Guyana Elections Commission giving you my usual update.

ISTANBUL,  (Reuters) – A Turkish newspaper reported on Thursday CIA director Gina Haspel signaled to Turkish officials last month that the agency had a recording of a call in which Saudi Arabia’s crown prince gave instructions to “silence” Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Dear Editor, I refer to the article titled, ‘Baramita considers rum ban’ which was published in the Stabroek News on November 21.

Canadian High Commissioner to Guyana, Lilian Chatterjee, is pleased with the level of training and quality of the students at the Bina Hill Institute, Annai, Region Nine.

CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh, CMC – Mominul Haque struck his eighth Test hundred to equal the most for Bangladesh but West Indies hit back strongly in the final session, to grab a share of the honours on the opening day of the first Test here yesterday.

Four of Guyana’s table tennis heavyweights will wing out today for a one-month high-level training camp at the Hebei Zhengding table tennis training centre in China.   The quartet of Natalie Cummings, Joel Alleyne, Nigel Bryan and Elsihaba Johnson will depart Guyana for the table tennis-crazy country.   The camp comes on the heels of Guyana’s excellent showing at the 2018 edition of the Senior Caribbean Table Tennis Championships in Jamaica a few months ago and will be used to fortify the team’s preparations for the 2019 edition of the championship which will serve as the Pan American Qualifier, one of the critical qualification events for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.  

Dear Editor, The village leaders of Baramita have a daunting task as they contemplate a ban on rum drinking in the village.

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat is set to launch, internationally, the recently released report on the state of biodiversity management in the Caribbean. 

MADRID/HAVANA,  (Reuters) – Spanish premier Pedro Sanchez agreed with Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel to deepen bilateral political ties on Thursday, at the start of the first official visit by a Spanish leader to the Communist-run country in three decades.

Undefeated Annandale Secondary continued their perfect record in the GuyOil/Tradewind Tankers U18 Secondary School Football Championship, dismantling Dolphin 5-0 yesterday at the Ministry of Education ground, Carifesta Avenue.  Colin Hendricks opened the scoring with a 10th minute strike.

CAPE TOWN, (Reuters) – Equatorial Guinea has ordered energy companies to stop doing business with oil and gas service firm Subsea 7 because the firm failed to comply with laws aimed at creating more local jobs, the oil minister said yesterday.

Dear Editor, Yesterday I read a very worrying letter from a patient who has the deadly multi-drug resistant TB infection.

The Ministry of Education yesterday launched the national sensitisation workshop on Caribbean Early Childhood Development.

(Field Level Media) Oklahoma City Thunder guard Hamidou Diallo was diagnosed with a sprained left ankle and will be re-evaluated in seven to 10 days, the team announced Thursday.

BRASILIA,  (Reuters) – The first of thousands of Cuban doctors began to return home yesterday after criticism by Brazil’s far-right President-elect Jair Bolsonaro prompted Cuba’s government to sever a cooperation agreement, leaving millions of Brazilians without medical care.

(Trinidad Guardian) Un­less sec­ondary crime pre­ven­tion is im­ple­ment­ed quick­ly, T&T could be sad­dled with more than 100,000 new crim­i­nals in the next five years.

Dear Editor, Recently I saw in the newspapers GRA lamenting that the majority of self-employed taxpayers are not filing income tax returns.

A  man who was apprehended by a public-spirited citizen after allegedly robbing a woman of her cellphone, appeared in a city court on Wednesday and was granted $50,000 bail.

Gold Prices for the three day period ending Thursday November 22, 2018

Dear Editor, While the Commission of Inquiry into events at City Hall has uncovered several deficiencies and irregularities with regards to Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), the statutory meeting of the Georgetown City Hall held on Monday 19th last proved to be no less exciting.

Minister within Ministry of Public Health, Dr. Karen Cummings yesterday urged the graduating students of Hope Secondary School to equip themselves with a skill that will allow them to benefit from the country’s upcoming oil and gas industry.

SYDNEY, (Reuters) – Australia have named two uncapped players in an inexperienced squad to take on India next month in their first home series since Steve Smith and David Warner were banned for a year following the ball-tampering scandal.

WELLINGTON,  (Reuters) – Low-lying Vanuatu is considering suing fossil fuel companies and industrialised countries that use them for their role in creating catastrophic climate change, the foreign minister of the Pacific island nation said on Thursday.

-Land, spaces and places – for Afro-Guyanese [So how are you all – my country men and women – coping with the relative bombardment daily?

GENEVA, (Reuters) – The U.N. agency for HIV and AIDS has placed its country director for Nigeria on administrative leave following allegations of sexual harassment, a spokeswoman said on Thursday.

Eagles and University of Guyana [UG] Trojans, secured easy wins in the Georgetown Amateur Basketball Association [GABA] ‘League Championship’, on Wednesday at the Burnham Court, Middle and Carmichael streets.

Introduction Figures contained in the 2017 financial statements of Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited indicate that the three-party set up of Esso, Hess and CNOOC Nexen will spend well over five hundred billion dollars ($500,000,000,000) up to December 2019.

GUATEMALA CITY,  (Reuters) – A Guatemalan court sentenced a former soldier to 5,160 years in prison yesterday for the massacre of 171 people in what is considered one of the worst atrocities in that country’s 36-year civil war.

Dear Editor, We are told that it’s not the Ministry of Finance that’s responsible for late/non-payment of salaries to public servants.

GASCI (www.gasci.com/telephone Nº 223-6175/6) reports that session 800’s trading results showed consideration of $49,095,166 from 661,171 shares traded in 16 transactions as compared to session 799’s trading results which showed consideration of $81,667,314 from 330,248 shares traded in 9 transactions.

With the coming on-stream of the Anti-Money Laundering & Countering the Financing of Terrorism  (AML/CFT) Act, day to day banking has become an increasingly complex and time consuming affair for regular customers in Guyana.