Daily Archive: Tuesday, May 19, 2020

The Ministry of Education today announced that the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) is expected to be administered in July.

(Jamaica Star) Jamaican students will participate in the July- August sitting of the 2020 Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) exams after all.

(Jamaica Star) Norville Hall longed to join the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF).

With the COVID-19 measures taking a significant economic toll, the Ministry of Business today announced that relief grants are available to small businesses experiencing challenges.

MASERU,  (Reuters) – Lesotho’s Prime Minister Thomas Thabane bowed to pressure to resign today, three months after police named him and his current wife as suspects in the murder of his former wife in a case that has transfixed the southern African nation.

At the end of more than half of the 25 days assign-ed to the National Recount, the Guyana Elections Commission has completed the processing of 642 ballot boxes, a mere 27% of the 2,339 boxes from the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections (GRE).

The battered body of a 68-year-old security guard was found in Le Repentir Cemetery early yesterday morning and the police have since arrested a taxi driver who they believe is the prime suspect in the crime.

A motorcyclist was fatally wounded by the police during the wee hours of yesterday in Plaisance, East Coast Demerara (ECD) after he and another man attempted to evade lawmen shortly after they allegedly stole a motorcycle.

Explosive middle-order batsman, Sherfane Rutherford is bursting with energy and eager to take the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) by storm.

Jonathan Van Lange is the undisputed poster boy of junior table tennis in Guyana.

The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has claimed that there is  “deliberate sloth” in the recounting of District Four ballots and suggested that a recently promoted work station supervisor is acting in concert with the incumbent to further slow that process.

Rosella Smith, the Bartica grocer whose body was found in an abandoned mining pit at 3 Miles, Karrau Backdam, Mazaruni last Friday afternoon, was murdered, an autopsy has confirmed.

THE VALLEY, Anguilla, CMC – Former West Indies all-rounder Omari Banks has recalled his role in the Caribbean side’s record run chase 17 years ago, which propelled the Brian Lara-unit to a historic win over Australia in Antigua.

Still unable to slow the rate of transmission of the novel coronavirus disease, Guyana on Monday recorded seven new cases, which brought the total number of confirmed cases up to 124.

(Trinidad Guardian) A Williamsville couple and their five children, who were living in a shack put together by old pieces of wood, now have a warm and comfortable place to call home.

MUMBAI, (Reuters) – Roger Federer is the best tennis player of the current generation but reigning world number one Novak Djokovic remains the most difficult opponent in Rafa Nadal’s career, the Spaniard’s uncle and former coach Toni Nadal has said.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Tahirah Steele’s last memory of her mother, 43-year-old Coleen Myers, alive was of the distressed woman rushing towards her drowning frame and clinging to her hand in a bid to repel the deathly clutch of the Rio Grande in Portland.

Candidates preparing to sit this year’s CXC exams and the NGSA are still awaiting word from the Ministry of Education about when the exams will be written and what changes to expect.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad,  CMC – West Indies fast bowler Shannon Gabriel does not believe his pace will be affected by his recent ankle surgery, and hopes the Test tour of England goes ahead so he can return to action.

A South Ruimveldt Gar-dens man succumbed to his injuries on Sunday after being involved in a collision at Friendship, on the East Coast, the day before.

NYON, Switzerland, (Reuters) – UEFA has postponed an Executive Committee meeting scheduled for May 27 because of some unresolved issues regarding the venues for next year’s re-scheduled Euro 2020 tournament.

LONDON, (Reuters) – Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso is ready for a Formula One comeback, his long-time adviser and former Renault team boss Flavio Briatore has said amid increasing speculation about a return to Renault.

Facing a current shortfall of over 14,000 tonnes from its first crop target, the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) is banking on the Albion and Blairmont estates to reduce the gap.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Though remaining optimistic, 40-year-old Evelyn Cordiel said she was unexpectedly thrown into a state of despair earlier this year when her daughter, Nittia Deleon, was diagnosed with ameloblastoma, a rare and fast-growing tumour in her jaw which has left her with a swollen, misshapen face.

The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Indus-try (GCCI) yesterday said it is disappointed to learn that the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) took a decision to increase the number of workstations for the recount exercise to only 12 from the 10 that are currently in place.

MANCHESTER, England, (Reuters) – The social distancing restrictions in force for the Premier League’s return to training will be monitored by a team of inspectors to ensure clubs play by the new rules, the league’s director of football said yesterday.

A Berbice doctor involved in an accident which resulted in the death of teenager Alyia Mohabir was yesterday placed on $400,000 bail after he was finally charged. 

(Reuters) – Moderna Inc’s experimental COVID-19 vaccine, the first to be tested in the United States, produced protective antibodies in a small group of healthy volunteers, according to very early data released by the biotech company yesterday.

Dear Editor, In an article published in the May 17 Sunday Stabroek titled `COVID-19 patients fear poor conditions at Diamond Isolation Unit delaying recovery’ several half-truths and fallacies were repeated without evidence to support it.

Larry Nance Jr. wants to play basketball. If only an accurate measure of his personal risk could help guide his decision as to when it will be safe to return during the coronavirus pandemic.

A husband and wife of Auchlyne Village, Corentyne, Berbice were yesterday granted $300,000 bail each after they denied a joint charge of possession of cannabis for trafficking. 

SAN SALVADOR, (Reuters) – El Salvador’s Supreme Court said yesterday it has ordered the immediate suspension of the state of emergency declared due to the coronavirus pandemic by President Nayib Bukele, who has faced criticism of showing authoritarian tendencies and exceeding his powers.

Dear Editor, On Sunday, May 17, 2020, I was discharged after been tested positive for Covid-19 on March 29.

MELBOURNE,  (Reuters) – Old rivalries flared as Australian Football League teams returned to limited training yesterday, with Port Adelaide Power fuming at having to share accommodation in a bio-secure “hub” with cross-town rivals and arch-enemies Adelaide Crows.

NEW YORK,  (Reuters) – The U.S. Open will be held without qualifying this year, the United States Golf Association announced yesterday, with the field “filled entirely through exemptions.”

The police in Region Seven (Cuyuni/Mazaruni) have detained a licensed firearm holder, who allegedly shot and killed a 17-year-old miner early Sunday morning at Puruni Landing, Mazaruni River.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – President Donald Trump may have fired State Department Inspector General Steve Linick because he was investigating U.S.

Dear Editor, In the last Sunday Stabroek in an article headlined: `Exxon to begin reinjecting gas into well’, the head of the local Environmental Protection Agency; Mr.

Dear Editor, The letters pages continue to be filled with comments from letter writers who are outraged by the brazen attempts at fraud being carried out by the PNC and its co-conspirators in APNU, AFC and GECOM.

GENEVA,  (Reuters) – The World Health Organization said yesterday an independent review of the global coronavirus response would begin as soon as possible and it received backing and a hefty pledge of funds from China, in the spotlight as the origin of the pandemic.

CAPE TOWN, (Reuters) – Opening batsman Aiden Markram has said he would give an “arm and a leg” to captain South Africa in tests but admits doubting his own ability during a difficult 12 months in the longer format.

Following a tour of quarantine and isolation facilities in Region Ten, that region’s Health and Emergency Committee (HEC) has announced that it is set and ready to accommodate COVID-19 patients.

(Barbados Nation) There needs to be mature and relevant conversations relating to the debt obligations of middle income, small island developing states across the globe, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dear Editor, With full knowledge that Clairmont Mingo’s Region 4 declaration was based on unverified numbers and lacking credibility, the Chief Election Officer nevertheless used it to complete the tabulation of results for all 10 regions and attempted to have it declared as the final result.

As the Ministry of Public Health continues to utilise COVID-19 mobile testing sites, it has found that more persons are taking the opportunity to check their level of exposure to the virus.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump, in a surprise announcement, said yesterday he is taking hydroxychloroquine as a preventive medicine against the coronavirus despite medical warnings about the use of the malaria drug.

(Reuters) – The age-old trick of using saliva to shine a cricket ball could be a thing of the past when cricket resumes, with the International Cricket Council (ICC) yesterday recommending a change to the sport’s laws in the wake of the novel coronavirus.

(Trinidad Express) Regional telecommunications giant Digicel has filed for bankruptcy before the Bermuda courts, but it insists that its day-to-day operations will not be affected by the move.

In light of the growing concerns surrounding the prevailing presence of the COVID – 19 pandemic, the Caribbean Area Squash Association has taken the decision to cancel the 2020 editions of both the Senior and Junior Caribbean tournaments. 

The Department of Social Cohesion, Culture, Youth and Sport has launched a National Songs remix contest, according to the Department of Public Information (DPI).

Dear Editor, Help! The befuddled single parent came to ask advice on how her Nursery School daughter can learn ‘on-line’.

By Bertrand Ramcharan As South Africa was bleeding under apartheid, Alan Paton wrote his historic novel, Cry, the Beloved Country.

A moment will come at the end of June when the European Union and Britain will hold a virtual high-level meeting to decide whether enough progress has been made to meet their agreed deadline for a post-Brexit trade relationship.

With no warning whatsoever, we find ourselves confronted with what has been described as “one of the greatest threats in our lifetime to global education, a gigantic educational crisis.”

MANAUS,  (Reuters) – The novel coronavirus is spreading so fast among the indigenous people in the furthest parts of Brazil’s Amazon rainforest that doctors are now evacuating critical COVID-19 patients by plane to the only intensive care units in the vast region.