Daily Archive: Monday, November 9, 2020

WILMINGTON, Del./WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – President-elect Joe Biden hailed Pfizer Inc’s progress toward a COVID-19 vaccine today but urged Americans to wear masks because it may not be widely available for many months, as President Donald Trump’s administration tried to claim credit.

The Ministry of Health today said that one more person who tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has died.

A man was fatally shot today after he entered the home of Timehri North businessman, Baldeo Rampersaud.

 (Reuters) – Delhi Capitals returned as a vastly improved side to reach their first Indian Premier League (IPL) final but will need an extraordinary effort to upset Mumbai Indians tomorrow after three unsuccessful attempts to beat the champions this season.

 (Reuters) – Pfizer Inc said today its experimental COVID-19 vaccine was more than 90% effective, a major victory in the fight against a pandemic that has killed more than a million people, battered the world’s economy and upended daily life.

(Trinidad Guardian) A family of four, including two children aged 1 and 2, have been living on the streets for almost three months after the landlord put them out because of apparent tardiness by the government to pay a rental assistance grant promised to them.

(Trinidad Guardian) Political leader of the United National Congress (UNC), Kamla Persad-Bissessar has apologised to United Kingdom politician Sir Kier Starmer, after her congratulatory message to President-elect of the United States, Joe Biden, reflected the exact wording of several of Starmer’s tweets.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Kymani Steele is still in shock as he remembers disembarking the Toyota Fielder death car around 15 minutes before a fiery collision along the Queen’s Highway in St Ann killed four members of a family on Sunday morning.

(Jamaica Observer) Five people are now in custody as the police investigate the murder of their colleague, Constable Kirkland Plummer, and the fatal shooting of one of his alleged attackers in the deep rural community of Harwood, in northern Clarendon, on Saturday night.

(Jamaica Observer) LISA Hanna, the St Ann South Eastern Member of Parliament who on Saturday lost in her bid to lead the People’s National Party (PNP), says she is ready to work with victor Mark Golding to rebuild the fractious Opposition party.

(Trinidad Express) Two men chopped each other following an argument near the home of a woman known to both of them.

BEIJING/MOSCOW,  (Reuters) – China and Russia held off congratulating U.S. President-elect Joe Biden today, with Bejing saying it would follow usual custom in its response and the Kremlin noting incumbent Donald Trump’s vow to pursue legal challenges.

Shortly after 8:30 last night, fire destroyed the 136 Regent Street Singh’s Store and a tent in the lot next door which formerly housed the Sachi building  which was ravaged by fire in February of this year.

The container which was suspected to have had 11.5 tonnes of cocaine amid scrap metal was scanned at a city port of exit but it appears that the images were altered or deleted, sources close to the investigation say.

Persons who invested with Accelerated Capital Firm Inc (ACFI) seeking big returns are now at risk of losing their money as the companies which piloted the trading of the funds have since terminated their contracts with the firm.

The Plaisance/Industry NDC issued a cease order on November 5th over a controversial construction at Area J, Industry, East Coast Demerara which residents had complained about.

Marcus Stoinis, Shikhar Dhawan and Kagiso Rabada played pivotal roles as Delhi Capitals (DC) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by 17 runs in Qualifier 2 of the Dream11 Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 in Abu Dhabi yesterday to set up a final showdown against Mumbai Indians.

The audit of ExxonMobil’s US$460 million pre-contract costs has been completed and the report was handed to the Department of Energy to be forwarded to the company for its response, Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) Commissioner-General Godfrey Statia yesterday said.

Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat was Saturday sworn in as the honorary patron of the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) and has pledged his support to move cricket in Berbice to new heights.

The Civil Defence Commission (CDC) yesterday  shared cleaning supplies to residents of Great Troolie Island, Essequibo Islands-West Demerara  after it was hit by spring tide flooding recently.

A mother got the shock of her life when she found her missing son on Wednesday in the morgue of the Georgetown Public Hospital.

The Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) under the strategic stewardship of Hilbert Foster, has forged another sterling bond by positioning Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat as a Patron of the board on Saturday. 

Head coach of the Guyana Jaguars Franchise, Esuan Crandon, said yesterday that he was happy to be outdoors training at the La Bonne Intention facility after a few months.

With strict safety guidelines, Guyana’s largest gym facility, Fitness 53 is scheduled to reopen its doors this morning after almost eight months of closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Two busloads of Haitian nationals are currently in custody after a covert operation intercepted them on the Mabura-to-Lethem Trail on  Saturday and law enforcers are investigating a possible smuggling ring, police sources yesterday said.

Archery Guyana Inc., recently held its first virtual Annual General Meeting (AGM) in late October via an online platform and among other things, has laid out a hectic agenda for the remainder of the truncated 2020. 

With his local club career winding down, former Northern Rangers talisman Anthony ‘Kang’ Sancho, has turned his talents to the coaching realm, as he embarks on the journey of creating his own football academy.

Joanne Jardim, tourism pioneer and the developer of the Shanklands Resort on the Essequibo River has passed away, according to former Minister of Tourism, Cathy Hughes.

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand, CMC – Jason Holder was not considered for selection to the West Indies Twenty20 squad for the three-match series here later this month because of the tight tour logistics, head coach Phil Simmons confirmed.

The Ministry of Health’s (MoH) dashboard yesterday recorded 30 new cases after 338 persons were tested.

SYDNEY, Australia, CMC – Barbados and West Indies all-rounder, Hayley Matthews, produced a strong all-round performance but it was not enough to prevent Hobart Hurricanes from their third defeat in four games in the Women’s Big Bash League here Saturday.

Dear Editor, November rains are here already with widespread flooding again, same old, same old! 

Pakistan 137 for 2 (Haider Ali 66*, Babar Azam 51) beat Zimbabwe 134 for 7 (Burl 32*, Qadir 3-23, Rauf 3-31) by eight wickets (Cricinfo) Pakistan yesterday wrapped up the T20I series, thrashing Zimbabwe by eight wickets in the second of three games.

MEXICO CITY,  (Reuters) – The Mexican president’s hesitation over congratulating Joe Biden on his U.S.

Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Captain Texine Daw  was admitted to the bar before Justice Brassington Reynolds on Thursday.

Dear Editor, I refer to the letter of Mr Tacuma Ogunseye (SN 11-5-20) in which he says that, “the major hindrance to unity and progress (putting aside foreign influence and dictates) is the unwillingness of race groups to accept that there is need for adjustments in historical advantages they achieved in the colonial arrangement of the economy and the state.

President Irfaan Ali yesterday paid homage to the men and women who died in service to the Commonwealth during World Wars I and II.

HAVANA, (Reuters) – Tropical storm Eta pounded central Cuba with torrential rain yesterday, bursting the banks of rivers and causing flash flooding in some towns before exiting via the island’s northern coast and churning on track to the Florida keys.

Dear Editor, In your editorial yesterday I noticed the following: We quoted one of the consultants as saying, “It is important that the contractor ha[s] the will to want to keep the materials.”

PARIS, (Reuters) – Russian Daniil Medvedev outclassed German Alexander Zverev 5-7 6-4 6-1 in the Paris final yesterday to claim his third Masters title.

The 290 students set to return to President’s College for classes from today will be housed in the school’s dormitories under strict guidelines to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

(Trinidad Express) The “vast majority” of stranded nationals have been cleared by the Ministry of National Security to return home, giving way for a new category of returning nationals to enter the country.

WILMINGTON, Del./WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – Joe Biden and his advisers yesterday were working on plans to tackle the crises facing a divided America, first and foremost the raging coronavirus pandemic, a day after the Democrat won enough states to clinch the U.S.

Dear Editor, Recent correspondents Ravi Dev and Vincent Alexander were referred to in a letter published in the  November  5th  Stabroek News written by Tacuma Ogunseye in a letter titled `The major hindrance to unity is unwillingness of race groups to accept need for adjustment in historical advantages they achieved.’

It is time for better angels to prevail. Tonight, the whole world is watching America.

SAO PAULO,  (Reuters) – A federal court in the northern Brazilian state of Amapá yesterday gave authorities three days to restore power after a days-long, state-wide blackout due to a transformer fire.

Labour and Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Officers are to be trained in foreign languages to ensure proper communication with all segments of the workforce. 

An editorial in the April 5, 2018 edition of Stabroek News had expressed the hope that if all went according to plan the Integrity Commission would hold public officials to standards consistent with the assurances they had given in their oaths to serve the Guyanese public.

President Irfaan Ali on Saturday congratulated US President-elect Joe Biden on his victory at the November 3rd general elections.

Dear Editor, There are myriad issues which have been revealed as sub-optimal in this 2020 CXC Exam Crisis: the 2020 CSEC and CAPE Results, the core output of CXC, which have disadvantaged hundreds of our nation’s children, and thousands regionally; deficiencies in CXC’s grading methodology and SBA moderation process; the use of questions previously in the public arena which represented the bulk of Paper 1; an over-ambitious revised exam structure which required thousands more SBAs to be moderated, which probably overwhelmed the technological and human resource capabilities of the ‘regional educational eco-system’ already challenged by the pandemic; the role of the likely  algorithm used to assign (some) grades.