Daily Archive: Friday, December 21, 2018

The Trades Union Congress tonight said that the vote on the no-confidence motion which will see new elections being called should not further divide the nation.

A high-stakes gambit by the PPP/C paid off tonight when APNU+AFC MP Charrandas Persaud voted for the opposition motion of no-confidence meaning that fresh general elections will have to be held in three months.

Chief Executive Officer of the Small Business Bureau, Dr Lowell Porter, on Tuesday confirmed that the way had been cleared for the full and effective implementation of the provision in the Small Business Act of 2004 for the allocation of 20% of government contracts to local small businesses.

In her 30-minute contribution to the no confidence motion debate today, Opposition  Chief Whip Gail Teixeira invoked the results of the November 12 Local Government  Elections (LGE).

Minister of State Joseph Harmon, who today opened the debate for government on the opposition’s motion of no-confidence  in the government, used most of his 25 minutes to remind all about the work government has done to develop the controversial D’Urban Park and how the former PPP/C government neglected the residents of Georgetown.

Leader of the Opposition Bharrat Jagdeo began the debate on today’s  no confidence motion with loads of bravado. 

Hundreds of supporters of the APNU+AFC Government bore the brunt of the afternoon sun today as they gathered in front of Parliament Building to show their support as the Government took on the Opposition to debate the recently laid no-confidence motion. 

The Working People’s Alliance (WPA), a member of the governing coalition, today criticised statements by PNCR General Secretary Volda Lawrence among which were that only PNCR people would be getting jobs.

(Jamaica Observer) Popular dancehall entertainer, Tommy Lee Sparta, was yesterday freed of lottery scamming related charges in the Home Circuit Court in downtown Kingston.

SYDNEY,  (Reuters) – Former Australia captain Steve Smith said today he had not been involved in planning to tamper with the ball during the Cape Town test against South Africa but took responsibility as a leader for failing to put a stop to it.

(Trinidad Express) A ransom of $2 million has been demanded for the safe return of 32-year-old Sheldon Sukhdeo, police have confirmed.

The Local Government Commission (LGC) has accepted the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into operations at City Hall and will be forwarding the report to the Guyana Police Force to facilitate investigations into possible criminal wrong-doing by Town Clerk Royston King.

An Agricola man is now dead and his friend was injured after another man opened fire on them yesterday for laughing at him.

A Berbice man was yesterday found guilty of raping a 13-year-old girl in 2014 and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Two men, who were last month found guilty of murdering a Williamsburg mandir watchman in January 2013, were yesterday sentenced to life imprisonment for the crime. 

Melroy Simpson was yesterday afternoon sentenced to 15 years behind bars by Justice James Bovell-Drakes, for the killing of his reputed wife Carmelita Jones whom he burnt in 2012 after an argument over milk.

“We are bringing out the PPP top guns, the best of our leadership,” PPP/C’s Chief Whip Gail Teixeira said of the five opposition speakers slated to speak on the no-confidence motion against the APNU+AFC administration today.

The Guyana Court of Appeal yesterday ordered a retrial—setting aside the conviction and 57-year sentence imposed upon Quaison Jones for the alleged murder of Marlon Greene—holding that trial judge Navindra Singh, failed to sufficiently put Jones’ defence of self defence to the jury.

DHAKA, Bangladesh,  CMC – Rovman Powell’s maiden Twenty20 International half-century went in vain as West Indies caved under the pressure of a difficult run chase, to go down by 36 runs in the second T20I here yesterday.

In the wake of reports that Russia wants to deploy military aircraft at a Venezuelan airbase in the Caribbean Sea, Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge says Guyana is concerned.

The Guyana Football Federation [GFF], has short-listed a 16-member squad to represent Guyana at the upcoming ExxonMobil International Futsal Festival, scheduled from December 27th-31st.

The Ministry of Public Security, together with the Guyana Police Force, have again announced that the 2 am curfew will once again be relaxed for the Christmas holidays.

The administration of the capital’s garbage disposal services would appear to be slipping deeper into a dysfunctional state with differences between City Hall and its two biggest garbage disposal service providers seemingly escalating following a meeting between the two sides on Wednesday.

Marcelle Allen’s permanent smile lights up the small, even somewhat cramped stall, the first as you enter the door of the Big Apple  on Robb Street, immediately west of the editorial offices of the Stabroek News.

Northern Rangers, the newly crowned Turbo Knockout Football Champion, was officially presented with their prizes yesterday during a presentation ceremony at the Ministry of Education ground, Carifesta Avenue.

The Ministry of Natural Resources says it is “cautiously optimistic” that there is a favourable resolution in sight for the US government and Rusal, dulling the threat to jobs within the local workforce.

Dear Editor, The Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) has a long way to go.

An auto-body worker and his friend are now nursing gunshot wounds at the Georgetown Public Hospital after they were trailed from a bank and robbed by an armed bandit yesterday.

The decision by some of the country’s commercial banks not to work with the state-run Small Business Bureau (SBB) in pursuit of its Micro and Small Enterprise Development (MSED) programme continues to be a disappointment to the institution but one over which it has no control, Chief Executive Officer Dr Lowell Porter has said.

Timehri Panthers kept their hopes alive of securing the East Bank Football Association [EBFA]/Ralph Green U11 League championship, dismantling Diamond Upsetters 4-0 yesterday at the Diamond Community Centre ground.

The education system added 418 newly trained teachers to its ranks when the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) held its 84th graduation exercise yesterday at the National Cultural Centre.

Dear Editor, I would be grateful if you can permit me a small space in your newspaper to highlight an issue that I find extremely worrying.

(Reuters) – The U.S. Olympic community prioritized “medals and money” over the safety of its athletes, creating a culture that contributed to widespread instances of sexual abuse, according to a congressional report released yesterday.

WASHINGTON/LONDON,  (Reuters) – The United States and three allies chastised China for economic espionage yesterday, ratcheting up tensions as U.S.

Dear Editor, I wish to note the uneasiness the People’s Progressive Party’s (PPP) no-confidence motion is causing the APNU+AFC coalition government.

MELBOURNE, (Reuters) – Disgraced former Australia captain Steve Smith has tied up with the local arm of Britain’s Vodafone Group in an advertising campaign that leverages the nation’s ball-tampering shame for marketing purposes.

A post-mortem examination yesterday revealed that the Stanleytown man who was recently found murdered, died due to a stab wound to his heart.

For all the challenges that continue to be associated with finding adequate local markets for the volumes of fruit and vegetables produced by local farmers, the New Guyana Marketing Corporation (GMC) continues to undertake periodic initiatives to bring buyers and sellers from the coastal regions together.

Dear Editor, Once again as Mr Jagdeo proceeds to engage Parliament to debate the no-confidence motion against the APNU+AFC government, he should take up the challenge to debate his record.

LONDON,  (Reuters) – Banned former Pakistan batsman Nasir Jamshed has been charged with bribery offences as part of an investigation into spot-fixing in cricket, Britain’s National Crime Agency said yesterday.

A 21-year-old technician was yesterday remanded to prison, after being accused of robbing and stabbing a police officer during an incident at an Alberttown nightclub last Saturday.

SAN SALVADOR,  (Reuters) – When El Salvador’s legislative assembly confirmed little-known Douglas Melendez as attorney general in 2016, many here thought it was business as usual in a country where high-level corruption has long gone unpunished.

Five years and counting… More than five years after alarm bells were first sounded over the size of the region’s annual food import bill, the yearly cost of bringing in food to the Caribbean – mostly from North America – remains anchored at US$4 billion.

Dear Editor, Today, Government Ministers would have a golden opportunity to convince the nation that the hardships they now endure, will one day miraculously transform into the “Good Life” they have been promised every year since May of 2015.

WELLINGTON,  (Reuters) – More bowler-friendly conditions will likely greet New Zealand and Sri Lanka at Hagley Oval in Christchurch for the second test, home captain has Kane Williamson said.

With a siting of the National Assembly scheduled for today, the Guyana Police Force has made a number of adjustments to the flow of traffic, to reduce congestion within the city.

WASHINGTON, Dec 20 (Reuters) – U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis abruptly said he was quitting yesterday after falling out with President Donald Trump over his foreign policies, including surprise decisions to yank troops from Syria and start planning a drawdown in Afghanistan.

SANTIAGO, (Reuters) – Chilean President Sebastian Pinera asked the country’s police chief to resign yesterday following a growing controversy over the circumstances surrounding the fatal shooting of an indigenous man in southern Chile.

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

Dear Editor, I read that the opposition PPP has announced publicly that its own sweepstakes for the party’s presidential nomination is now open. 

(Barbados Nation) Two years and six months after he was expected to be sentenced, Terry Cassius Seale was sentenced to 18 years in jail for manslaughter on Wednesday.

MELBOURNE, (Reuters) – As Australia prepares to play a first test at Melbourne since a docile pitch was given a “poor” rating a year ago, two of the side’s pacemen are expecting a journey into the unknown against India but are hopeful it can produce a competitive match.

Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo is confident that the motion of no-confidence which was brought against the government by the Parliamentary Opposition will be defeated today in the National Assembly.

MOSCOW,  (Reuters) – The U.S. decision to lift sanctions on Russia’s Rusal, the world’s top aluminium producer outside China, is widely seen as a Christmas present for the company, global consumers of its metal, and the Russian stock market.

Gold Prices for the three-day period ending Thursday December 20, 2018 Kitco is a Canadian company that buys and sells precious metals such as gold, copper and silver.

While the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) is upbeat about the prospects of Guyana landing a “formidable” oil and gas industry, it wants to see movement in the direction of complementary investments in the various other critical sectors that have a bearing on the overall development of the country.

The WPA has announced the unexpected passing of its activist, Reekahraj Jaikaran Poonai, popularly known as Kajo, of 56 Village on the Corentyne.

The Guyana Post Office Corporation (GPOC), is continuing its mailbox sensitisation campaign, by gifting 100 mailboxes to patrons, and inviting local mailbox craftsmen to have their products displayed at the company’s offices.

(Trinidad Guardian) Some 127 pas­sen­gers ar­rived on Sun­wing Air­lines’ first-ever di­rect flight from Cana­da to To­ba­go yes­ter­day.

Seeking to address the many social ills plaguing the community of Baramita, Region One, local football coach, Gordon Braithwaite, has begun working with the youths there to find “healthier ways of channeling their anger, frustration and boredom.”

(Reuters) – Scrapping official live scoring data at the lowest level of professional tennis and taking a harder line on “tanking” are among the recommendations made by an International Review Panel in a report published on Wednesday.

LONDON,  (Reuters) – Britain sent troops to its second-biggest airport after an unprecedented attempt to cripple Christmas travel with large drones forced all flights to be cancelled yesterday.

Dear Editor, I wish to address a small concern expressed by letter writer R Trim (SN 19/12/18), who, despite the caption, seems hell-bent on maligning my ability and skill in the journalistic field.

The announcement one year ago by the Commissioner of the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GLSC), Mr Trevor Benn, of the preparation of a National Land Policy was a welcome one.

If only because of its enormous potential for job creation and  providing small businesses with a shot in the arm and giving rise to the creation of new ones, it has to be said that it took an inordinately long time to bring the 20% allocation of some state contracts to small businesses into effect.

-Power and suffering at Christmas-Time Could it be my age? Or  my self-imposed generational non-acceptance of lawlessness and disorder in the name of `Chrissmuss’, that makes me frequently crotchety during this month?

GASCI (www.gasci.com/telephone Nº 223-6175/6) reports that session 804’s trading results showed consideration of $27,558,850 from 249,762 shares traded in 19 transactions as compared to session 803’s trading results which showed consideration of $14,135,665 from 98,398 shares traded in 23 transactions.

Introduction “You couldn’t do the math”, said Ambassador Perry Holloway in his interview with reporters published in Stabroek News last Tuesday December 9, 2018 as he exhorted us Guyanese to educate ourselves about the fortune coming our way from ExxonMobil’s oil.