Daily Archive: Sunday, March 8, 2020

Chief Justice Roxane George this afternoon ruled that the court has jurisdiction in a case brought by  a supporter of the PPP seeking full verification of the vote for Region Four at Monday’s General and Regional elections.

The Guyana Elections Commission today said that as the Constitutional agency responsible for the conduct of General and Regional Elections in Guyana it is cognizant of the series of events which unfolded since the close of the Polls on Elections Day, 2nd March, 2020.

(Jamaica Observer) Her face and form have graced the covers and pages of international fashion glossies and publications.

The European Union (EU) observer mission to Guyana’s elections today said that the electoral process has taken a “serious turn” following the declaration of results for Region Four last night by Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield.

(Jamaica Observer) A St Ann mother is seeking justice for her 14-year-old son who alleges that he was sodomised by a pastor in the Seventh-day Adventist Church when he was just 13 years old.

(Jamaica Gleaner) A man who allegedly shot and injured a bus operator in Darliston, Westmoreland, on Thursday night, during an attempted robbery, was mobbed, beaten and then chopped to death by angry residents who cornered him.

(Jamaica Gleaner) After managing to complete a National Youth Service programme, Beverley Walters was placed on job experience in her community for three months.

(Trinidad Guaridan) Beetham Gar­dens com­mu­ni­ty ac­tivist An­der­son Wil­son has been sen­tenced to sev­en days in prison for curs­ing Laven­tille West MP Fitzger­ald Hinds in 2018. 

A 23-year-old has been charged with the murder of Charan Singh, the son of a retired superintendent of police.

MELBOURNE,  (Reuters) – Australia’s pugnacious wicketkeeper-batswoman Alyssa Healy has another claim for bragging rights in her famous cricketing family after starring in her team’s fifth Women’s Twenty20 World Cup triumph on Sunday.

(Trinidad Express)  Assistant Commission­er of Police Irwin Hack­shaw has been flagged by three finan­cial institutions for close to $2 million in suspicious activity.

Despite an injunction in place preventing it from making a declaration of the total vote count from last Monday’s elections, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) yesterday continued to move ahead to finalise the results, with  Chief Election Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield requesting that a meeting be called so that he may submit his final report.

Acting Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire will today rule on whether the High Court has jurisdiction to hear an application from the PPP/C, which is seeking to have the tabulation of votes in Region Four from last Monday’s general elections done according to the law prior to the declaration of a final result.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Karen Cummings told foreign observers of Monday’s general and regional elections at a meeting last Thursday that she had been instructed to take away their accreditation if necessary but she objected, it has emerged.

The Guyana Police Force yesterday said Sewdat Hansraj, the youth who was fatally shot during last Friday evening’s protest at Cotton Tree, West Coast Berbice, had been attacking its ranks with a cutlass alongside other protestors—an assertion that was rejected by his family and residents of the village, who called for an investigation to be done.

Three Leeward Islands batsmen scored half centuries on the penultimate day to establish a first innings lead of 94 over Guyana Jaguars at the close of play at the Providence National Stadium ground yesterday.

The United States State Department yesterday warned that any government sworn in on the basis of the flawed tabulation of results from last Monday’s polls “would not be legitimate,” as international calls grew for the disputed Region Four results to be verified before the swearing-in of a president.

Defending champions Berbice cruised to their first win of the Guyana Cricket Board/Superbet 50-over senior female Inter-County tournament, defeating Essequibo by 10 wickets while Demerara handed the Select U19 side a massive defeat. 

National sportsmen Leon Johnson and Shemar Britton have used their social media platforms to call for unity among Guyanese as the country faces ethnic tensions stemming from the recent General and Regional Elections. 

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) yesterday called on Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) officials and the political leadership to work together to ensure that the tabulation of the results from Monday’s polling is done according to the law in order for a peaceful and legal completion of the process.

Chairman of the Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA) competition committee Shaun Massiah says the issues surrounding Guyana’s ongoing General and Regional elections fiasco have influenced the stalling of cricket in the capital city. 

Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan yesterday defended the actions of the police during Friday’s protests across the country, while noting that the use of “minimum force” was necessary given the circumstances.

ST JOHN’s, Antigua, CMC – Barbadian umpire Gregory Brathwaite has been named among the match officials for today’s final of the Women’s T20 World Cup in Australia. 

A 24-year-old miner was beaten and fatally shot on Wednesday night at Mahdia, in Region Eight, and the police are on the hunt for his killer.

A suspect has confessed to murdering Rose Hall grocer Lomenzo Johnny and has implicated four other persons, three of whom have already been arrested, while police are on the hunt for the other. 

Section 84 of the Representation of the People Act is quite clear.

MELBOURNE,  (Reuters) – Australia captain Meg Lanning says the defending champions’ rocky road to the Twenty20 World Cup final against India has them ready for the “biggest game” of women’s cricket in Melbourne today.

A bank robbery redirected Dianne Henry’s career path from the banking sector to teaching and 22 years later she is grateful to her mother for taking the bull by the horns in ensuring that she re-entered the classroom.

In the tangled and often confusing world of popular music both in the Caribbean and abroad, one is often asked in interviews about the “key to success” in that field. 

Dear Editor, A defining trait of us, the Guyanese people, is our ability to overlook our own complicity in creating and maintaining a racially divided society.

Several businesses were looted, while travellers were attacked on Friday night as unrest in West Berbice amidst continuing protests over results from last Monday’s elections. 

“It’s kinda crazy, right?” asks Nicolas Hicks, 20, who is better known as a music producer, Illusion X.

I regret I cannot supply a column this week. It is late Friday after election day on Monday.

MELBOURNE, (Reuters) – India will have energy to burn when they take on Australia in the Women’s Twenty20 World Cup decider, after their semi-final against England was washed out by rain, captain Harmanpreet Kaur said yesterday.

Dear Editor, In our current political turmoil, I wonder if we even have time to think of March 8, International Women’s Day.

The suspect in the murder of gold miner Roland Kanhai, who was believed to have been fatally beaten in a robbery last week, has been arrested and police say he has since confessed to the crime.

TAROUBA, Trinidad, CMC – Jason Mohammed’s 11th first class hundred put Barbados Pride’s five-game winning streak under threat as Trinidad and Tobago Red Force took command of their seventh round encounter here yesterday.

Two of the country’s best production companies, The Theatre Company and Gems Theatre Productions provided one of the crucial components of the Republic Jubilee celebrations, the cultural factor, and in this case, theatre.

ASUNCION, (Reuters) – Former Brazilian international Ronaldinho Gaucho was ordered to remain in jail in Paraguay yesterday after a judge ruled him a flight risk.

Dear Editor, Is Mr GHK Lall a prophet? GHK predicted the violence of the 2020 election in his 2013 book: Sitting on a Racial Volcano (Guyana Uncensored).

The Bar Council of the Guyana Bar Association (GBA) yesterday voiced its “deep concern” at the prospect of any swearing in of a president on the basis of the purported declared results for Region Four and joined international observer missions in calling for the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to comply with the legal requirements to ensure transparency and credibility of the polling.

On arriving at Sparta, the small Essequibo Coast village sandwiched by Danielstown and Windsor Castle, I noticed two signs—one with the name Sparta and another, several yards ahead, which read “Fear Not.”

(Reuters) – Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James has said he will not take to the court if the NBA bars fans from attending games to limit the spread of the coronavirus.

It’s, perhaps, a lucky sleight of hand that the majority of films now playing in local cinemas offer great opportunities of counterprogramming for the more serious national and regional issues that we’re facing.

Dear Editor, The truth can be a bitter pill, but perhaps this is the moment when we the people will finally be inspired to face the tragic truth of our reality – both African and Indian alike.

The Amerindian Peoples Association (APA) has condemned all acts of violence and racist behaviour at the current time, including attacks directed against Indigenous Peoples in wake of the release of some results from Monday’s general and regional elections.

(Trinidad Newsday) Two years after consensual homosexual sex acts were decriminalised by the High Court, gay rights activist Jason Jones wants to determine how heterosexuals feel about the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI+) community.

LONDON (Reuters) – The global release of the new James Bond film “No Time to Die” has been postponed by seven months amid the coronavirus disruption that has closed movie theaters in China and caused widespread headaches for other Hollywood productions.

(Reuters) – Australian Marnus Labuschagne’s first one-day international century proved to be in vain as South Africa breezed to a six-wicket victory in Potchefstroom yesterday and a clean sweep of the three-match series.

Dear Editor, People are dying, people are being wounded, children are being traumatised, property is being destroyed, the nation is gripped in fear.

SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) – Four people have died in the collapse of a hotel in the Chinese city of Quanzhou, the Ministry of Emergency Management said on Sunday, after state media said the place was being used to quarantine individuals under observation for the coronavirus.

KABUL, (Reuters) – Abdullah Abdullah, the bitter rival of Afghanistan’s president-elect Ashraf Ghani, has issued invitations to a parallel swearing-in ceremony due next week, his spokesman said yesterday.

(Trinidad Guardian) Min­is­ter of State in the Of­fice of the Prime Min­is­ter Ayan­na Web­ster-Roy says govern­ment is rolling out pro­grammes and ini­tia­tives to help women, chil­dren, and men too.

Youth Challenge Guyana (YCG), which fielded a local electoral observer group for last Monday’s elections, has added its voice to those calling for calm as the country awaits an official declaration of the winner of the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections from the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).

(Reuters) – Two more people succumbed to the novel coronavirus in Washington state, officials said yesterday, bringing the nationwide toll to 19, while the number of confirmed cases in New York rose to 89 and a cruise ship with infected passengers remained stranded outside San Francisco.

Dear Editor, We the undersigned call on the Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission, the CEO, Assistant CEO, Returning Officers and Deputy Returning Officers to fulfill their legal and statutory obligations to ensure that a transparent and credible process for counting, recounting, and verifying the votes of all who cast ballots for their choice of political parties on March 2, 2020 is honoured and adhered to as set out in the relevant sections of the Representation of the People Act.

People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) presidential candidate Irfaan Ali yesterday once again appealed to his party’s supporters for calm, while saying that opposition has activated legal recourses to ensure that the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) adheres to the law in the tabulation of votes for Region Four at last Monday’s elections.

Drinking more water can actually make you build muscle and burn fat and increase your overall health.

Introduction On February 2 of this year, I concluded my year-long series of columns, which had commenced on January 27, 2019, on the topic: Guyana’s Petroleum Road Map.

LeBron James had 37 points, eight rebounds and eight assists and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the visiting Milwaukee Bucks 113-103 on Friday in a matchup of clubs with the NBA’s best records.

PALM BEACH, Fla. (Reuters) – President Donald Trump praised the United States’ relationship with Brazil under Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro yesterday, but declined to say whether he would impose steel and aluminum tariffs on the South American country.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Today’s artificial limbs can look very natural and now an innovative process makes prosthetic hands move more naturally as well.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Pop superstar Taylor Swift topped the list of the world’s best-selling music artists in 2019, thanks to the success of her album “Lover,” beating popular acts including Korean pop sensation BTS, recording industry group IFPI said last Monday.

My lying ex is my boss’s husband Dear Minerva, For about six months in 2018, I was involved in a passionate fling with an older man.

Dear Editor, The recent organised protest activities by the opposition PPP/C and its supporters, with its lawful and unlawful methods, have not received condemnation by the array of organisations and individuals, both at home and aboard, who in the past had done so when Africans engaged in similar protest actions.

Four rounds of the Under-16 Development Chess Tournament have been completed at the National Stadium, Providence and three players have acquired the maximum four points.

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian state police on Sunday charged two Sydney women involved in a violent brawl over toilet rolls as major grocers in the country restrict supplies to one pack per person amid panic buying by residents.

Last Update: 617.66                                Movement: 1.56% Current Update: 627.31                           YTD Movement 3.52% The Lucas Stock Index (LSI) rose 1.56% during the first period of trading in March 2020.

NEW DELHI, (Reuters) – India opener Shafali Verma dancing down the track to hit back over the bowler’s head may look ridiculously effortless but it is the result of practising the shot at least 50 times a day, says the coach who nurtured the batting sensation.

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – A patient diagnosed with coronavirus died in Argentina yesterday, the Health Ministry said in a statement, marking the first death related to the virus in Latin America.

Following days of tension and uncertainty over the results of Monday’s general and regional elections, there was some return to normalcy for a number businesses in the city and its outskirts yesterday, although several remained closed.

LONDON (Reuters) – Victorian Britain took Florence Nightingale into its heart as the “Lady with the Lamp” who tended wounded soldiers, but a new exhibition shows her as a tough pioneer whose principles on hygiene underpin nursing today as the world battles coronavirus.

BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Dogs have a type of infrared sensor in the tip of their nose which enables them to detect minute changes in temperature such as when other animals are nearby, according to new research.

The conclusion that certain members of Gecom were involved in manipulating the Region Four results cannot be avoided.

Dear Editor, I thank you for publishing my letter last Friday and I do appreciate the feedback I received from many citizens and friends from here and abroad, who, like all of us, only wish the best for our beloved country Guyana, as we navigate through some perilous waters to arrive at a safe harbor.