Daily Archive: Friday, October 9, 2020

The Ministry of Education and the Guyana Teachers’ Union have agreed to meet monthly on a variety of issues to ensure a “healthy relationship”.

The Ministry of Health today said that as of October 08th, 2020, four more persons who tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) have died.

 GECOM Chair, Justice of Appeal (ret’d) Claudette Singh today issued a statement rapping GECOM Commissioner Desmond Trotman for statements he has made.

Deputy Chief Election Officer, Roxanne Myers was this morning granted $300,000 bail after facing criminal charges at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.

OSLO/GENEVA, (Reuters) – The United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) won the Nobel Peace Prize today for its efforts to combat hunger around the world and improve conditions for peace in areas affected by conflict.

BISHKEK, (Reuters) – Kyrgyz President Sooronbai Jeenbekov declared a state of emergency in the capital Bishkek today and ordered troops to deploy, as supporters of rival political groups took to the streets after days of unrest following an overturned election.

(Jamaica Star) Neatly tucked away in a valley in Georgia, St Thomas, are two beautiful pools of water referred to as the Copper Hole.

(Jamaica Gleaner) The alleged mastermind of the Uchence Wilson Gang exhaled heavily on Thursday as Chief Justice Bryan Sykes found him and several cronies guilty on several major charges.

Police have been advised to charge Deputy Chief Election Officer (DCEO) Roxanne Myers with two counts of misconduct in public office and she is scheduled to appear in court today.

Imprisoned for the past 12 years awaiting trial for murder, Sherwin Nero is now free after Justice Navindra Singh sentenced him to time-served, stating that the time he had been incarcerated was a full sentence for manslaughter to which he pleaded.

Recently reinstated head of the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU) James Singh had been removed by the former government due to the findings of a presidential inquiry, which concluded that he exercised egregiously flawed judgment and breached multiple laws when he released a vessel laden with suspected liquefied cocaine during a 2017 operation.

The Berbice-based Nand Persaud & Company, the country’s leading private sector rice exporter is optimistic about the future of the country’s rice industry, notwithstanding the fact that the sector still needs to work towards the further consolidation of the gains that it has secured in order to further enhance its global competitiveness.

Against the backdrop of what is now a global crisis in the availability of desktop and laptop computers to meet the continually skyrocketing demand by the education sector, Chief Executive Officer of Starr Computers, one of the country’s leading distributors of communication equipment, has told the Stabroek Business that the company has joined forces with the California-headquartered technology company Intel Corporation to produce its “affordable” Starr essential PC System for low-income families in Guyana.

Pleading guilty to the charge of manslaughter, Paul James who back in 2015 had identified Hardat Kissoon to another person who would later shoot and kill him in a robbery after leaving a bank, was yesterday afternoon sentenced to 10 years behind bars with time spent awaiting trial to be deducted.

The tremendous creativity, energy and willpower that have been invested in the creation of micro and small businesses in various sectors by many ordinary Guyanese determined not just to fight their way out of poverty, but also to make a mark as worthwhile businessmen and women, have not, over the years benefitted from a level of support from either government or the lending sector – or the private sector as a whole – that can be considered commensurate with either their effort or with their potential to enhance the viability of the country’s economy.

Although Guyana’s international airports are scheduled to reopen on Monday, airline operators are still to indicate to the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) their preparedness to resume commercial operations but a senior official expects them to return in weeks.

Six men including two Barbadians were taken into custody on Wednesday night following the discovery of a large quantity of marijuana on a Barbadian cargo vessel at a city wharf.

With less than three months remaining in 2020 and the unlikely resumption of sports owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, President of the Georgetown Football Association (GFA) Otis James, stated that the association will stage an important executive meeting today to discuss the scheduled plans for 2021.

Three more witnesses yesterday testified at the trial of former army Chief of Staff Gary Best, who is accused of causing the death of cyclist Jude Bentley through dangerous driving.

As a combination of a sectoral performance crisis coupled with unrelenting US economic pressure continually reduces Venezuela’s once powerhouse oil & gas sector to the status of an unreliable economic asset, pressure to find options is reportedly compelling the country, increasingly, to look to gold as an economic life raft.

With Guyana’s path to the 2021 Gold Cup confirmed, former Golden Jaguars midfield dynamo Vurlon Mills, opined that Guatemala is not an ideal matchup in the first round of the continental qualifiers and is wary of the threat posed by the impending foe.

As jury trials continued yesterday for a third day at the High Court in Georgetown after a hiatus since March over the coronavirus, Allan Sim was arraigned for the murder of Georgetown Public Hospital ambulance dispatcher Melissa Skeete.

Gold Prices for the three day period ending Thursday October 08, 2020

PARIS,  (Reuters) – Polish teenager Iga Swiatek became the youngest player to reach the French Open women’s final in 19 years, continuing her bulldozing run at Roland Garros with a 6-2 6-1 dismantling of Argentine qualifier Nadia Podoroska yesterday.

Guyana has recorded 37 new COVID-19 cases. This was revealed in the Ministry of Health’s COVID-19 dashboard yesterday which showed that 37 new cases were recorded which increased the total number of cases in the country to 3,329.

Dear Editor, We the nurses of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation wish to respond to a letter in the Stabroek News edition of October 7th, 2020 penned by Dr.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – West Indies are not expected to face the psychological challenge of a complete bio-secure bubble on their tour of New Zealand starting next month, because of the efficient manner in which public health authorities in the south Pacific nation have managed the COVID-19 pandemic.

Latin American and Caribbean countries are being urged by the International Labour Organization (ILO) to adopt “immediate strategies” in an effort to respond to what it says is likely to be a toll of jobs losses in the region higher than that previously estimated.

Dear Editor, Regardless of which political party is in power, the obnoxious and detestable 2% contract between the Government of Guyana and ExxonMobil’s subsidiary and their partners is deemed to be unnegotiable by the government.

While several businesses in the regional entertainment sector continue to offer limited and intermittent services that help to keep business afloat during the rampage of the coronavirus pandemic, for the country’s cinema industry it is a question of whether it can get anywhere close to the end of the present long, dark tunnel, far less see light at the other end.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates,  CMC – Nicholas Pooran’s maiden Indian Premier League half-century proved futile as Kings XI suffered a batting meltdown to crash to a heavy 69-run defeat to Sunrisers Hyderabad here yesterday.

(Reuters) – Thirteen men, seven of them associated with an anti-government militia group called the Wolverine Watchmen, have been arrested on charges of conspiring to kidnap the Michigan governor, attack the state legislature and threaten law enforcement, prosecutors said on Thursday.

APNU+AFC coalition Member of Parliament Annette Ferguson has called for the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) administration to act with compassion in its treatment of the squatters at Success, whom she says should be regularised.

Dear Editor, It was a pleasure to see that the CEO of GuySuCo is financially sound and appreciates doing things correctly to turn around the industry.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – President Donald Trump said yesterday he may return to the campaign trail with a rally tomorrow after the White House physician said he had completed his course of therapy for the novel coronavirus and could resume public events.

Chief Executive Officer Nand Persaud and Company Ltd, Mahendra Persaud, told the Stabroek Business in an interview earlier this week that Guyana could well find itself in a position where its export capabilities become seriously compromised on account of what he says is an image of the country that has been fashioned out of the belief that it is a high risk insofar as the ‘export’ of illegal drugs is concerned.

PARIS,  (Reuters) – American fourth seed Sofia Kenin marched into her second Grand Slam final of the year with a commanding 6-4 7-5 victory against Czech Petra Kvitova at the French Open yesterday.

Dear Editor, The question of constitutional reform has once again surfaced and whether it will make the front-burner and be pursued earnestly and honestly is of course another matter.

The Office of the President yesterday announced the appointment of eight new Permanent Secretaries (PS’s) who will assume administrative control of Ministries such as Health, Labour and Home Affairs.

(Reuters) – Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton expressed concern yesterday after a member of his Mercedes team tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of the Eifel Grand Prix in Germany.

SANTIAGO, (Reuters) – The Chilean government is keeping close tabs on a large fleet of Chinese fishing vessels that has stirred up controversy further north along the Pacific coast of South America, Foreign Minister Andres Allamand said yesterday.

LONDON,  (Reuters) – World oil demand will plateau in the late 2030s and could by then have begun to decline, OPEC said yesterday, in a major shift for the producer group that reflects the lasting impact of the coronavirus crisis on the economy and consumer habits.

Dear Editor, Mr Vincent Alexander claims (`Our democracy is dysfunctional’ SN 10-8-20) that in my riposte to a letter of his, I ignored the gravamen of his argument: to wit that “our democracy is dysfunctional”.

Stock Market Updates

(Reuters) – The Los Angeles Lakers will switch to their “Black Mamba” jerseys in honour of the late Kobe Bryant when they seek a record-tying 17th NBA championship today.

HAVANA, (Reuters) – Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero said late yesterday that most of the Caribbean island nation would open to international tourism starting next week as it moved towards a “new normality” after containing its coronavirus outbreak.

Five weeks after he was shot during a scuffle with robbers, businessman Lennox Robinson remains a patient in the Inten-sive Care Unit (ICU) of the Georgetown Public Hospital.

Dear Editor, Those many old and current GuySuCo factory engineers who know better, would very much welcome the advent, announced in Stabroek News, of Indian counterparts to address the substantive defects of the Skeldon factory.

 Diversity Visas  Q: What is the Diversity Visa (DV)  program?  A: If you are a native of a country that has historically low rates of immigration to the United States, you may be eligible to apply for a diversity immigrant visa. 

– Other people’s views Today and this weekend should conclude some 10 weeks since the “new” PPP government assumed office.

From the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was recognized that our healthcare workers would be at the forefront of trying to manage it.

(Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Justice sued Yale University yesterday, accusing the Ivy League school of illegally discriminating against Asian and white applicants in undergraduate admissions.

At least a glimmer of sanity flickered uncertainly in the darkness of our health crisis on Wednesday, when it was announced that a strike by the nurses of the Georgetown Public Hospital was to be put ‘on hold’. 

CAPE TOWN,  (Reuters) – The brother of former South Africa international Vernon Philander was shot dead outside in a Cape Town suburb on Wednesday, police have confirmed.

Stating that his client had been on remand for 8 and 1/2 years awaiting trial on a charge of murder which should not have been instituted in the first place, attorney Maxwell Mc Kay yesterday afternoon succeeded in requesting a sentence of time-served instead.

Quick action by top officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs led to the transfer of a corrupt police traffic rank out of the Department.

(Trinidad Express) Twelve-year-old Jayden Persad, the boy who wrote the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) examination two days after his family was attacked in a home invasion has passed for his first choice, Naparima College.