Daily Archive: Saturday, March 21, 2020

(Jamaica Star) Entertainers are among several Jamaicans said to be scrambling to get back to Jamaica before the ports close at a minute to midnight Saturday. 

(Jamaica Gleaner) All Jamaican airports and seaports will be closed to incoming passenger traffic effective today, at 11:59 p.m.,

(Trinidad Guardian) Minister of National Security Stuart Young says Trinidad and Tobago will close its international borders completely from midnight Sunday (March 22) to prevent the spread of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19).

Restaurateurs in Queens, New York lost their liquor license for serving patrons in violation of Gov.

(Reuters) – Grammy-winning country singer Kenny Rogers died late on Friday night at the age of 81, his family said on Saturday.

DUBAI, (Reuters) – Iran’s death toll from the coronavirus outbreak rose by more than 100 to 1,556 today and the total number of people infected now exceeds 20,000, a health ministry official said.

(Trinidad Express) Neighbours had to break down the front door of an apartment in Maloney Gardens yesterday morning to save the life of a four-year-old boy.

(Trinidad Guardian) As he recalled his grandfather’s tales of coffins lining the churches in Mason Hall during the 1918 Spanish Influenza, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley yesterday said Government will use a heavy hand if it needs to intervene in large gatherings.

One day after political parties called for the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to facilitate the security of the ballots cast on March 2, 2020 by ensuring all were stored at a central location, the secretariat has relocated the containers with the ballot boxes from the Arthur Chung Convention Centre to its High and Cowan streets office.

The Bank of Guyana (BoG) has urged banks to consider the reduction of interest rates on loans and a deferral of repayments as part of measures to cushion the expected financial effects from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on both individuals and businesses.

A US$5 million loan which Guyana has requested from the World Bank to tackle the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is currently being processed and this country is optimistic that it will get the needed monies.

Guyana has been paid US$55 million for its first cargo of crude oil sold in February and the country will receive royalties from production by ExxonMobil in its Liza-1 field on the offshore Stabroek Block next month.

In congratulating Organization of American States (OAS) Secretary General Luis Almagro on his re-election yesterday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has cited Guyana’s electoral process as one of the challenges now facing the grouping.

Citing the absence of an ongoing electoral process, the decline in the security environment, and the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the US-based Carter Center’s election observation mission has departed Guyana.

The European Union (EU) has withdrawn its Election Observation Mission (EOM).

Representatives of the opposition PPP/C and three of the new parties that contested the March 2 general and regional elections were yesterday successful in their bid to be added as litigants in the lawsuit filed by APNU+AFC candidate Ulita Grace Moore, who has moved to halt a recount of ballots cast at the polls.

Carl Hooper belongs to a generation that considered Test cricket the ultimate format of the game.

Voicing their alarm at the current “governance crisis” in Guyana due to the ongoing post-elections controversy, the Roman Catholic bishops of the Caribbean yesterday appealed for the early completion of the process to verify the result of the March 2 general and regional elections.

Chairman of Selectors, Rayon Griffith, believes underpermance by the top order batsmen and fast bowlers, coupled with a less than impressive fielding effort, contributed to Guyana Jaguars surrendering this year’s West Indies Championship title.

As he urged calm and patience, President David Granger on Friday once again lamented that the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) intervention for a total recount of votes cast at Guyana’s March 2 general and regional elections was “stymied” by a court action. 

Cornelia Ida Cricket Club captain, Akshaya Persaud, says he relishes his team’s success after they won the West Demerara Cricket Association tournament sponsored by Beacon Café.

The Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) has announced that all seaports in Guyana will be closed until further notice.

Chairman of the Giftland Group of Companies, Roy Beepat has alleged that he was told on Thursday by a police rank that any of Giftland Mall’s security cameras focusing on the Arthur Chung Convention Centre at Liliendaal was “illegal.”

Blooding new talent’. It is a cute soundbite to chime whenever teams disappoint and emotions flare but it’s a move, if not properly planned and scaled out, that can cause the disintegration of past building blocks. 

With the Covid-19 pandemic halting cricket nationwide, physiotherapist attached to the Guyana Jaguars franchise, Neil Barry Jr.,

The start of low cost airline JetBlue’s service here has been stalled by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) global crisis, and the airline’s nonstop service to New York will instead be launched in October.

Dear Editor, I am prompted to respond to the endeavour to rig the general elections results by the letters of two eminent Guyanese: Joe Singh and Rudy Insanally.

Dear Editor,  For democracy to stand GECOM cannot lose the battle for truth.

The Ministry of Public Health on Friday received Personal Protective Equipment along with other items from the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) for workers in the public health sector in the bid to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

As the world continues to grapple with the global pandemic caused by the coronavirus outbreak, SPACE Gym is the latest sports entity to make a conscious move to protect its members and encourage all to follow best practices.

The NEW Guyana Pharmaceutical Corporation (GPC) is set to ramp up its manufacture of Chloroquine anti-malarial tablets, while noting that the drug has been cited as an effective treatment for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK  (Reuters) – New York state, Illinois and Connecticut yesterday followed California in directing tens of millions of people to stay at home in the most sweeping U.S.

Dear Editor, It would be interesting to know the labour laws prevailing in Guyana as it pertains to suspending employment.

With gyms closing countrywide coupled with social distancing because of the pandemic COVID-19, this year’s Intermediate Bodybuilding Championships has been postponed indefinitely. 

A once-aspiring nurse, Christine Deobarran found her niche in makeup artistry three years ago and knew it was meant to be.

Devon Harris, who was wanted by police in connection with the death of gold miner Akeem Caesar, was yesterday arraigned in a city court on a manslaughter charge.

Dear Editor, Please allow me space in your newspaper to discuss SARS-coronavirus-2 and COVID communication.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – Two Republican senators defended themselves yesterday against heavy criticism, including calls that they resign, for selling substantial amounts of stocks before the coronavirus-induced market meltdown and after closed-door briefings on the outbreak.

As the globe grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic, the Athletic Association of Guyana (AAG) has suspended all activities until April 30.

A 23-year-old vendor was yesterday sentenced to nine months in jail after he pleaded guilty to a charge of break and enter and larceny.

Dear Editor, With regards to your editorial (March 20) with reference to the language used by the USA Secretary of State (Foreign Minister) Mike Pompeo, I wish to underline the meaning of serious consequences.

JOHANNESBURG/MILAN,  (Reuters) – Exxon Mobil is likely to delay the greenlighting of its $30 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Mozambique as the coronavirus disrupts early works and a depressed gas market makes investors wary, six sources told Reuters.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – President of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Randy Harris says while the decision by FIFA to take over the administration of football in Trinidad and Tobago is unfortunate, an appeal against the move is likely to be unsuccessful.

(Jamaica Gleaner) In a grim assessment of the aviation industry’s tailspin, Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett said yesterday that traditional tourism as “we know it” is coming to a screeching halt.

With many of us working remotely (from home) in this age of Covid-19, we find some of our eating routine disrupted, altered, changed in some way.

Dear Editor, As we move around Guyana we see the political banners, of all colours in tatters, blowing in the wind like broken promises.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Mar 20, CMC – The local professional league Thursday gave its support to FIFA taking over responsibility for running the sport in the twin-island republic from the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA).

A prisoner on Friday set fire to the catwalk of the solitary division of the Georgetown Prison on Camp Street.

Social distancing, washing your hands, staying two metres apart from people, and working from home if you can, are all pieces of advice you have probably been hearing for the past week at a more intense rate.

(Jamaica Observer) Tullow Oil Plc has fully written off its oil exploration licence for the Walton-Morant Basin offshore Jamaica, on which it has taken a US$36-million hit.

(Reuters) – Curacao state-owned oil refinery Refineria di Korsou (RdK) yesterday seized an oil storage terminal on the Dutch Caribbean island of Bonaire over a payment dispute with Venezuela’s state-run PDVSA oil firm, a RdK official said.

LONDON, England, Mar 20, CMC – The West Indies upcoming tour of England will begin later, if at all, following the England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) announcement of a seven-week delay to the start to the professional season because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

A Bartica man was yesterday charged with threatening to kill his mother over the playing of loud music in their home.

Dear Editor,  While millions are facing health and other impacts around the world, the economic impacts could spell disaster for countries in the global south.

Our collective jeopardy, by a pandemic or anything else, offers us the chance to reimagine the world; to consider how we might change the present and avert similar threats and mistakes in the future.

“I’m overjoyed! Winning the Junior Calypso Monarch was one thing but placing third at the senior level was a whole other deal.

Thoughts about the end of the world have troubled my mind over the last couple of weeks.

(Reuters) – Panama’s Copa Airlines yesterday said it will suspend all operations from March 22 until April 21, making it the first Latin American carrier to take such a drastic measure in order to weather the coronavirus crisis.