Daily Archive: Friday, May 24, 2019

PARIS,  (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro will not be able to reverse the democratic transition that is taking place in his country, but the military will also need to support that change, Brazil’s foreign minister said today.

LONDON, (Reuters) – Fighting back tears, Theresa May said today she would quit, setting up a contest that will install a new British prime minister who could pursue a cleaner break with the European Union.

(Reuters) – Chris Gayle’s recent form promises batting fireworks from the swashbuckling opener in his fifth and final World Cup and offers plenty of hope to a West Indies team finally showing signs of a resurgence.

(Jamaica Observer) Rewards keep on coming for Ackaisha Green, the mother of two who stumbled upon a stash of cash inside an ATM in downtown Kingston last month and handed it over to the police, despite the fact that she was in dire need of money.

The National Assembly yesterday approved a $7.9 billion supplementary appropriation which included $3.5 billion in funding for the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), $2 billion in funding for the Ministry of Public Infrastructure and $1.5 billion for the Ministry of Communities as well as several hundreds of millions in funding for the Ministries of Finance, Social Cohesion, Social Protection and National Security.

A ballistics test conducted on two firearms discovered following a shootout between the police and three bandits on Sunday in Black Bush Polder, have confirmed that they were used recently in the robbery carried out on an Albion Chinese supermarket.

An 18-year-old Cummings Lodge, East Coast Demerara girl died after she was struck by a car, after allegedly jumping from her husband’s vehicle on Wednesday night.

Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday express-ed dissatisfaction with the explanation given by Public Infrastructure Minister, David Patterson about the US$9000 reimbursement into his private account for a 2017 China trip and questioned why the money was not handed directly to the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD).

(ICC) The ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019 is officially up and running and all ten skippers are anticipating ‘the most competitive tournament in history’.

ST JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – High-level Cricket West Indies officials will hold talks with stakeholders in Guyana over the next few days, aimed at starting to address the governance crisis afflicting the Guyana Cricket Board.

Denying that it is deliberately stalling the licensing process for sport betting service, Superbet, the Gaming Authority on Wednesday said that  the money laundering conviction against  one of the company’s principals has resulted in the need for an AML/CFT audit.

The Rising Stars Independence 5K event runs off on Monday and Kenyan athlete, Godfrey Mbihia, threw down the gauntlet to local racers yesterday.

Minutes after an arrest warrant was issued for Superintendent Gary McAlister, who on the last occasion gave conflicting testimony regarding the Preliminary Inquiry (PI) into the attempted murder charge against Maryann Daby, the warrant was recalled, as the officer showed up and explained the reason for his absence.

A rape charge against a technician was on Tuesday withdrawn based on the advice of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), as the complainant wished to offer no evidence.

The argument that it might have taken more years than we had hoped does not gainsay the fact that a considerable amount of light has begun to find its way into the room as far as the development of Guyana’s agro-processing industry is concerned.

SOUTHAMPTON, England, CMC – Rookie Nicholas Pooran hopes fulfilling his dream of playing in a World Cup coincides with a successful campaign for West Indies.

An application for operations in Guyana sent in by rebranded airline, Eastern Airlines LLC, formerly called Dynamic Airways, has been rejected by Cabinet, Director General of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), Egbert Field said.

Matthews Ridge has every reason to be particularly proud of Nandia Spencer, the Senior Mistress of the community’s primary school, who, by sheer force of will and against the kinds of odds that probably would not surface in coastal communities, recently organised and launched a two-day robotics seminar that targeted adult club leaders and hundreds of children from the community.

PARIS/DOHA (Reuters) – The Qatari president of French soccer club Paris Saint-Germain, Nasser al-Khelaifi, is under formal investigation in France for alleged corruption related to Doha’s bid to host the athletics world championship, his lawyers said yesterday.

Raise the issue of transforming agriculture in Region Ten into a viable and profitable pursuit and you are likely to trigger a surfeit of differing opinions from the relative handful of Linden’s farmers on just why a community that sits either on or relatively close to huge expanses of arable land has been unable to realise anything even close to self-sufficiency in farm products more than a quarter of a century after the decline of bauxite removed from it the sobriquet of ‘the mining town’.

Last Friday, a modest ceremony to bring to a close a short cake-making course at the Carnegie School of Home Economics (CSHE) – one of the many ‘give-back’ initiatives by Guyanese who have in one way or another, experienced the institution – afforded us the opportunity to have a brief, but while it lasted, leisurely conversation with Myrna Lee, the principal of the institution.

LONDON, CMC – Captain Jason Holder says the new World Cup format means teams will have to work harder to win the competition but says West Indies have fully embraced the changes and believes their chances are as good as any other side.

A University of Guyana (UG) graduate, Lisa Dublin, along with Dr Dawn Fox, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry, have earned themselves the distinction of being the winners of the inaugural 2018-2019 Guyana Innovation Prize.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – England’s relationship with the Cricket World Cup has been one of frustration, disappointment and even embarrassment but they host this year’s tournament as the top-ranked 50-over team and favourites to lift the trophy for the first time.

Once reviled and criminalised in many countries both in the metropolis and here in the Caribbean, marijuana continues to consolidate its relatively recent rise as both a recreational option and a medicinal plant, compelling a surfeit of new regulations in various countries that lends it an unprecedented respectability.

The Hope, East Coast Demerara Wind Farm project is one step closer to being realised, after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) received an application for environmental authorisation for the project.

Detective Corporal Alexie Annys yesterday told a court that he saw when Kerry Cromwell shot Elvin Lorrimer.

Dear Editor, The Stabroek News Editorial of Tuesday May 21 has certainly stirred conversation.

NEW DELHI/AYODHYA, (Reuters) – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi scored a dramatic election victory yesterday, putting his Hindu nationalist party on course to increase its majority on a mandate of business-friendly policies and a tough stand on national security.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – After India beat Sri Lanka in the final of the 2011 World Cup in Mumbai, Virat Kohli hoisted Sachin Tendulkar on his shoulders for a victory lap, declaring the batting maestro deserved it after carrying the burden of the nation for over two decades.

A 37-year-old Wismar, Linden man, identified by family members as Leonard Orlando Moriah, on Tuesday afternoon succumbed to injuries he suffered after being beaten.

PARIS (Reuters) – Roger Federer was handed a comfortable-looking start in the French Open draw yesterday as the 20-times Grand Slam champion makes his return to the tournament after a three-year hiatus.

At 37 and a father of four, Seon London or ‘Passion’, as he is commonly known, has had no option but to take life and its responsibilities seriously.

LONDON,  (Reuters) – Prime Minister Theresa May was clinging to power yesterday after her final Brexit gambit backfired, overshadowing a European election that has shown a United Kingdom still riven over its divorce from the EU.

Dear Editor, It must now be excruciatingly clear that the Government-nominated members of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and the Chairman, harbour no qualms about exposing their political partisanship and are decidedly determined to execute political directions, even if it results in unconstitutional and irrational actions.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said yesterday she wished President Donald Trump’s family or staff would conduct an “intervention” with him for the good of the United States after he threw what she called a temper tantrum at a meeting with Democratic congressional leaders a day earlier.

The Civil Defence Commission (CDC) on Wednesday received four containers’ worth of oil spill resources, which will be used for training of personnel in key agencies, to equip them for any possible adverse effects in the oil sector.

Dear Editor, I am heartened that my letters recently published in the media on the matter of the failure of very senior public persons to report their assets to the Integrity Commission, have resulted in widespread public exposure of the issue.

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.

LONDON, CMC – India captain Virat Kohli has described Barbadian fast-bowling sensation Jofra Archer as “world class” and says he could be England’s “x-factor” in the ICC World Cup starting next week.

(Editor’s note: Stabroek News has agreed to carry occasional columns from the Guyana Gold Board on matters of public interest.

A city magistrate is expected to make a ruling in the matter against Trinidad and Tobago national, Sawak Maraj, who was charged last year with faking his own kidnapping and conspiring with others to secure a ransom.

Dear Editor, The Government of Guyana, represented by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Karen Cummings, must be congratulated for not only doing the right thing, but also doing the bright thing, by voting in the affirmative at the United Nations General Assembly, regarding the call for Britain to relinquish control over the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean.

BRASILIA,  (Reuters) – Brazil’s lower house of Congress has rebuffed President Jair Bolsonaro’s move to put decisions on indigenous land claims in the hands of the Ministry of Agriculture.

(Trinidad Guardian) Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley says that Trinidad and To­ba­go can­not be the so­lu­tion for mil­lions of Venezue­lans who are flee­ing the coun­try and that there will come a time when the vol­ume of Venezue­lans com­ing here will be­come a bur­den.

(Reuters) – Former cycling champion Lance Armstrong has said he “wouldn’t change a thing” about the doping that led to him being stripped of his record seven Tour de France titles, according to details of an interview that will air next week on NBCSN.

Gold Prices for the three day period ending Thursday May 23, 2019Kitco is a Canadian company that buys and sells precious metals such as gold, copper and silver.

CARACAS,  (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro yesterday accused the United States of seeking to destroy a food aid program that the government of the crisis-stricken OPEC nation says feeds some 6 million families.

Dear Editor, I read with interest your article in yesterday’s SN  `Guyana among 116 countries at UN calling for Britain to give up control over Chagos Islands’ in relation to the recent UN vote calling on the UK to cede sovereignty of these islands, which have been British for over two hundred years, to Mauritius; which is actually some 1,150 nautical miles away from Diego Garcia.

Minister within the Ministry of the Presidency (MoTP) with responsibility for Youth Affairs, Simona Broomes, visited the Valmiki Vidyalaya High School yesterday in observance of the school’s Youth Week 2019.

(Reuters) – Liverpool’s Naby Keita is recovering faster than expected from a thigh injury and will be given every chance to prove his fitness ahead of next week’s Champions League final against Tottenham Hotspur, manager Juergen Klopp said.

(Jamaica Gleaner) All but one of the nearly three dozen private security firms contracted by government ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) are flouting the law either by short-changing their guards or not making maternity payments to females, an investigation by the labour ministry has found.

Dear Editor, How could you, Mr. President?  Say it ain’t so, Excellency…. 

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department unveiled 17 new criminal charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange yesterday, saying he unlawfully published the names of classified sources and conspired with and assisted ex-Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning in obtaining access to classified information.

More than 150 current and former athletes signed a letter sent to the World Anti-Doping Agency, asking the organisation to remove marijuana from its list of prohibited substances.

(Trinidad Guardian) Just less than one month after he was allegedly involved in a shooting in Malick, Nicholas ‘Chico’ Jobe, 35, was gunned down yesterday morning in San Juan along with another man.

In an effort to demonstrate Government’s commitment to ensure a better life for public servants, President David Granger yesterday convened a meeting with executive members of the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) to discuss the establishment of a High-Level Committee on the Public Service.

Dear Editor, It is with great consternation I write to relate to you a very sad precedent that has developed in the Hague/Blankenburg Water Users’ Association.

(Reuters) – Chile’s 12,000 square kilometer (4,633 square mile) Southern Patagonia Ice Field split in two and is likely to continue to fracture amid climate change, according to a team of Chilean scientists who were in the region in March.

GASCI (www.gasci.com/telephone Nº 223-6175/6) reports that session 826’s trading results showed consideration of $14,977,438 from 178,572 shares traded in 15 transactions as compared to session 825’s trading results which showed consideration of $145,000,955 from 941,245 shares traded in 12 transactions.

The news that the construction sector remains closed – at least for the time being – to small businesses through the mechanism of the 20% ‘set aside’ provided for under the 2004 Small Business Act is, at the very least, disappointing, this newspaper’s appreciation of the importance of adherence to procedures, which is what it seems is blocking the access up until now, notwithstanding.

-Front-page murders – all the pages If you were an adult (18-25 years) when Guyana gained its constitutional and governmental “independence” from Britain in May of 1966, you would be now in your seventies.

(Barbados Nation) Barbados has agreed to a long-term business partnership in the region of 25 to 30 years to completely renovate and refurbish Grantley Adams International Airport (GAIA), to make it the best small airport in the Western Hemisphere.

The Draft National Climate Change Policy and Action Plan, which currently consists of 19 policy objectives addressing adaptation, mitigation, resilience-building and risk reduction, is out and open for review.

Milwaukee forward Giannis Antetokounmpo and Houston guard James Harden were unanimous selections to the 2018-19 All-NBA first team, released yesterday.

On Wednesday Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Shalimar Ali-Hack, Stephen Fraser, Carole James-Boston, Robert Ramcharran and Rajendra Nath Poonai were presented with their instruments of appointment as Senior Counsel by President David Granger.