Daily Archive: Sunday, May 31, 2020

GECOM’s 12 workstations today recounted a record 100 ballot boxes from the March 2nd general elections, according to Commissioner, Sase Gunraj.

Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Justice Ret’d Claudette Singh wrote Police Commissioner Leslie James on May 22nd asking for information on the allegations made by APNU+AFC that people who were not in country on March 2nd were ticked off on polling stations lists as having voted.

VATICAN CITY, (Reuters) – Pope Francis said today that people are more important than the economy, as countries decide how quickly to reopen their countries from coronavirus lockdowns.

CARACAS, (Reuters) – Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro yesterday announced a price hike for gasoline after two decades of frozen values at the pump, as part of a system to fill vehicles and motorcycles with subsidized fuel up to monthly quotas and pay internationally indexed prices over those levels.

By Shaquawn Gill With the results of the March 2 polls still in limbo after almost three months, some first-time voters are starting to lose faith in the process that they were once excited to participate in.

Despite the ongoing recount by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) determining that it won Region Seven at the March 2 polls, the incumbent APNU+AFC coalition has refused to sign the certification as it claims that the voting district is one in which “massive voter fraud” was perpetrated.

Despite evidence to the contrary, the incumbent APNU+AFC is maintaining its claim that votes cast by members of the Disciplined Services were rejected after polling day staff failed to correctly stamp their ballots.

John Allan Daymon, the 78-year-old Palms Geriatric Home resident who became Guyana’s twelfth latest novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) casualty yesterday, had told his family months before that he wanted to return home.

With nine active cases of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Santa Rosa, in Region One, the community’s health care system is struggling to meet the needs of the patients despite it being the largest and most developed indigenous community.

A West Coast Berbice man is now in police custody for the alleged murder of his brother after a booze-fuelled squabble over a plot of land owned by their father ended yesterday in a fatal stabbing. 

Cricket West Indies (CWI) Friday gave its approval for the West Indies cricket team  to tour England this summer for a three test series and head coach, Phil Simmons says that he believes the fans are rooting for the series to be played.

Francina Lanferman-Duncan is a teacher by profession and anyone who shares just five minutes talking with her about her job will also know she’s a teacher by heart.

With the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) ushering in a new dawn with the utilization of more homegrown players for their senior men’s national team setup, several foreign born players are showing a reluctance to make themselves available for possible selection.

Flaring offshore at ExxonMobil’s Liza-1 well has been  reduced significantly from some 80 million cubic feet (cf) of natural gas per day to nearly 2 million cf but glitches in the reinjection process have continued and it rose to about 14 million cf per day as COVID-19 restrictions delayed staff from rectifying the issue, Head of the Environmental Protection Agency Dr Vincent Adams says.

When Sally Persaud learnt she had cervical cancer she immediately remembered her daughter Stephanie, who had died from ovarian cancer several years before and she believed that would have been her fate as well.

(Jamaica Observer) HUNDREDS of Jamaican educators in North Carolina, USA, on the J-1 Teacher Exchange Programme are in limbo over their ability to remain in the USA and work legally, due to delays they are experiencing in obtaining a no-objection statement from the Jamaica Government.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National COVID-19 Task Force Joseph Harmon has announced that while an extension of the current emergency measures in place to stem the spread of the virus is being considered, a complete lockdown of the country is not.

Twenty-three-year-old all-rounder, Ramaal Lewis, is keen on making the 2020 edition of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) his breakout season.

The Public Health Ministry yesterday confirmed two new positive COVID-19 cases, bringing  the country’s total to 152.

“I am kind of scared and everybody like me, you know they scared.

Dear Editor, By 4th March, 2020, APNU intimated that they had won the election.

The Muslim Youth Organization (MYO) which participates in Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA) organized cricket competitions has once again made a sterling donation to the vulnerable during the current COVID – 19 pandemic.

After months, if not years of training, the current lockdown situation has probably got you worried and thinking that you are going to lose all your hard-earned fitness gains.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister, Dr Keith Rowley said he was “cautiously optimistic” the entire six-week Caribbean Premier League could be staged here later this year but cautioned that the tournament would have to align with the country’s existing COVID-19 protocols, especially since it would involve “serious logistical arrangements”.

When it began its Plant Project last month, the Miss Earth Guyana organisation planned to distribute 100 kits in regions Four and Five in order to get persons to save money by starting their own kitchen gardens.

Dear Editor, As matters now stand, ninety days after the March 2020 elections, the wish of the Granger-led APNU+AFC is that Claudette Singh will deliver to it a victory denied by the electorate.

The body of a 38-year-old sailor was recovered yesterday morning after he reportedly fell overboard in an accident at the wharf at St Mary’s Quarry, which is operated by Toolsie Persaud Limited on the left bank of the Essequibo River.

The Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GTT) has said it has donated sanitising agents to several non-governmental organisations (NGOs) across Guyana during the current month as part of its “Pinktober” initiative.

(Jamaica Observer) MEDICINAL herb practitioner Carlton Bennett is calling on his fellow Jamaicans to embrace herbal medicine as a preventative and curative measure for COVID-19 and every other kind of disease.

Some researchers have called quarantine and lockdown due to COVID-19 possibly one of the biggest “psychological experiments” on earth.

Dear Editor, We have written on COVID-19 related matters to share information with your readers on issues of concern with this global pandemic.

ST JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – Cricket West Indies have slashed staff and player incomes in half, in an attempt to remain viable amidst mounting financial troubles due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has announced that public hearings on whether it has the jurisdiction to adjudicate Guyana’s border controversy with Venezuela is to begin on June 30, at the Peace Palace in The Hague.

Dear Editor, The Giftland Mall has viewed the recent statement by the Mayor of Georgetown with alarm and considers his comments disingenuous, it is important to note that within the last three months that both the Giftland Mall and its Chairman have moved from “Entrepreneurs Extraordinaire” and the largest single private sector social development project in Guyana, providing significant economic development and employing thousands gainfully, with a strong social conscience, champion of the poor and community ties, to “a delinquent puppet of the opposition, a greedy and corrupt entity and a  bankrupt and tax delinquent company”.

MINNEAPOLIS,  (Reuters) – The full Minnesota National Guard was activated for the first time since World War Two after four nights of civil unrest that has spread to other U.S.

In the ten-minute sequence before the title appears, “The Lovebirds” seems to be a different kind of movie than it is.

(Trinidad Express) Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley announced yesterday afternoon that Phase 3 of easing of the Covid-19 restrictions will see the reopening of all retail businesses from tomorrow.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – West Indies assistant coach, Roddy Estwick, has praised the level of commitment to fitness exhibited by players during the lockdown period triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak.

Following repeated encounters with the police, two persons were last week charged with breaching the national curfew implemented by the Public Health Ministry to avoid the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

(Barbados Nation) For the first time since the outbreak of COVID-19 in Barbados, there were no new cases confirmed within a one-week period.

Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual Timehri Film Festival (TFF) will be hosted virtually this year, beginning from June 4th.

Chairman of the Over-50s Cricket World Cup Steering Committee, Stirling Hamman has informed over 50 international teams that the next vintage event will be held until 2022.

Dear Editor, This is the legacy of Justice Claudette Singh SC CCH, the most consequential judge in the history of Guyana’s elections both at the judiciary and the administrative level of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM). 

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., (Reuters) – SpaceX, the private rocket company of billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, launched two Americans toward orbit from Florida yesterday in a mission that marks the first spaceflight of NASA astronauts from U.S.

The independence anniversary in Guyana last Tuesday crept by without flourish or fanfare – quiet, but under a pall of disquiet, imposed by the still threatening coronavirus in collusion with a pervading political siege.

An East Canje woman was arrested on Friday after police raided her brother’s Upper Berbice River home, where she handed over an unlicensed pistol.

Over the last seven Sundays, we have discussed various aspects of chess for beginners.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and NFL Players Association president J.C. Tretter each issued statements yesterday in response to the killing of George Floyd and the protests that have followed across the country.

Cynicism in relation to elections in Guyana did not begin with the debate as to whether the majority of 65 is 33 or 34 in relation to the no confidence motion passed against the APNU+AFC Government by the National Assembly on December 21, 2018.

(Trinidad Guardian) Trinidad and Tobago has one new case of COVID-19.

While noting that a recent review by the World Health Organization (WHO) found that smoking is associated with increased severity of disease and death in hospitalised COVID-19 patients, the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) has urged regional states to work together to prevent and lessen the use of all forms of tobacco products and scale-up efforts to implement their commitments under the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. 

Dear Editor, At the end of this writing, I would have fewer friends left, and the prospect of less well-wishers. 

LONDON,  (Reuters) – Chinese President Xi Jinping is so nervous about the position of the Communist Party that he is risking a new Cold War and imperilling Hong Kong’s position as Asia’s pre-eminent financial hub, the last British governor of the territory told Reuters.

Dear Editor,  The COVID-19 pandemic continues to present significant challenges for vulnerable communities, including  women, girls, youth, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and other queer (LGBTQ+) persons, persons  with disabilities, persons living with HIV, migrants, the elderly and those in extreme poverty. 

HONG KONG,  (Reuters) – A Chinese-made coronavirus vaccine could be ready for market as early as the end of this year, China’s State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) said in a social media post.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Ninety-six Jamaicans who were stranded overseas for months due to border restrictions to stem the spread of COVID-19, have finally returned home and have expressed elation to The Gleaner. 

Introduction In today’s column I begin my consideration, in some detail, of the problematic that I had posed several weeks ago concerning the likely impacts on Guyana’s infant oil and gas sector of the unfolding 2020 global general crisis.

One of my long-time friends, with whom I communicate by email fairly regularly, made a comment to me recently that I should remember to remain grateful for what has come to my life through music, and while I think I have done that to some degree, it can certainly bear repeating.

BRASILIA,  (Reuters) – Brazil registered a record 33,274 new cases of the novel coronavirus yesterday, its health ministry said, raising the total to 498,440 in a country with one of the world’s worst outbreaks.

 Liberal democracies depend, in the words of one reviewer, on a ‘collective trust in facts.’ 

“The Voters’ Finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on: nor all your Plotters’ Wit Shall lure it back to cancel the Result Nor all thy fraud and stall wash out a word of it.”

LONDON,  (Reuters) – After a near three-month shutdown, elite competitive sport in England can resume from tomorrow behind closed doors provided strict conditions are met, the government said yesterday.

By John Seeram The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) Global has declared the month of May to be International Internal Audit Awareness Month.