Daily Archive: Friday, January 1, 2021

In a review of the year that was, Attorney General Anil Nandlall SC today severely criticised GECOM over its part in the five-month crisis before the declaration of a final result.

The Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) says it has commenced legal action against three individuals who it said had separately committed offences capable of resulting in racial or ethnic violence or hatred among the Guyanese people.

She made headlines in June 2020 for being the oldest person in Guyana to survive COVID-19, and now seven months later Zorie De Mattos is celebrating another milestone – she is 106 today.

(Jamaica Observer) The Barbados health ministry yesterday issued a public apology to Sandals Barbados, saying that three people detained by the police for alleged breaches of COVID-19 protocols had no connection with the resort chain.

NEW DELHI,  (Reuters) – India’s drug regulator today approved a coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University for emergency use, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

(Trinidad Express) A gunman who decided to show off his weapon on social media on Wednesday, on Thursday had to give it to the police who saw the video and paid him a visit.

The natural gas-to-shore facility which the Irfaan Ali-led PPP/C government hopes to deliver by 2023 as a spinoff from oil extraction will land at Wales, West Bank Demerara, government yesterday announced.

President Irfaan Ali yesterday afternoon announced a one-off cash grant of $25,000 to workers in  the entire Public Sector, including those who are currently employed at GuySuCo and the Finance Ministry has begun processing the payment..

As it laid out its record of compliance, El Dorado Trading yesterday announced that its projected declaration of gold for this year would be at last 250,000 ounces.

Cuban national Joel Rodriguez was yesterday charged and remanded to prison for the murders of his girlfriend Tara Krishnaran and her 11-year-old daughter, who were found at the Princes Street, Lodge home they all shared.

A Guyanese youth was fatally stabbed in Suriname on Tuesday evening after trying to intervene during a clash between two groups of Guyanese men.

The annual promotion of ranks within the Guyana Police Force (GPF) was put on hold yesterday after Acting Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire granted an order blocking the ascent of several senior members within the force to the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police.

A salesman was yesterday granted bail in the sum of $300,000 after he was charged with manslaughter over the death of David Barclay, who succumbed after being dragged by a car on D’Urban Street, Georgetown, last Sunday.

A Guyanese man convicted of  insurance killings in the US thirteen years ago died on December 27 from COVID-19 complications.

The Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, on Wednesday announced that the deadline for the school uniform and supplies voucher programme has been extended until January.

Minister of Amerindian Affairs Pauline Sukhai on Wednesday officially removed Marbel Thomas from her position as Toshao of Campbelltown, in Region Eight, saying that the investigation into the Village Council revealed that she breached several sections of the 2006 Amerindian Act (AA).

The Linden All Stars and the GT All Stars will clash in the ‘Bounce Back’ final this evening at the National Stadium.

President Irfaan Ali has labelled 2021 the year of recovery and declared that the Guyanese economy is already improving despite the continued impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

ROSEAU, Dominica,  CMC – All-rounder Kavem Hodge has admitted his call-up to the West Indies Test squad for next month’s tour of Bangladesh came as a surprise.

Among the findings of the team appointed to investigate the alleged financial misconduct at the Demerara Harbour Bridge Asphalt’s Plant, is management’s continuous granting of credit to Courtney Benn Contracting Services Limited (CBCSL) despite the decision of the directors to discontinue selling asphalt on credit to this client until all monies owed are collected.

Still to emerge from a testing tunnel of tough times, including sustained underfunding and more recently, a drastic decline in business growth arising out of the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, the country’s small and micro businesses are likely to have to dig even deeper in the period ahead in 2021, based on the early signals sent during a recent interview with Chief Executive Officer of the Small Business Bureau (SBB) Dr.

The nationwide 10:30pm to 4am curfew as part of emergency measures to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus has been extended to the end of January 2021 when the measures will then be reviewed.

The Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB) Asphalt plant loaned millions worth of bitumen to two companies that still have outstanding balances despite promising to return it more than a year ago.

It appears that the ‘rash’ of so-called pyramid schemes proffering unsustainable ‘business models’ where a handful of ‘first in’ participants feed off those who enter lower down the chain and which appears to have been taking root in Guyana have attracted the attention of other countries in the region, triggering reports in sections of the regional media.

With little to no testing being done in Region 7, vice-chairwoman Kamal Persaud says that officials are expecting an increase in COVID-19 cases once vigorous testing recommences.

The likely extent of the recovery in the Caribbean and Latin American economies next year will be insufficient for the region to reach the economic activity levels seen in 2019, prior to the coronavirus pandemic, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) says in its ‘preliminary overview’ of economies of the region’ for 2020.

Dear Editor, On the morning of December 29, 2020, I tuned in to the Voice of Guyana to listen to the 7 am Guyana time news broadcast.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – President Donald Trump in a New Year’s Eve message reflected on his accomplishments in office, calling them “historic victories,” while his successor, President-elect Joe Biden, struck an upbeat tone in looking ahead to 2021.

A fire of unknown origin, yesterday destroyed a wooden and concrete, two-story house at Tain Village, Corentyne, Berbice, which housed five persons.

(Barbados Nation) Effective yesterday to January 14, Barbados will be under curfew from midnight until 5 a.m.

Local interest in ginger may not be exactly marginal though the extent of its cultivation and use locally pales into insignificance when compared with other countries in Latin America, Asia and Africa, not least, China and India, the world’s two leading ginger exporters, and Nigeria, reportedly Africa’s biggest consumer.

Dear Editor, Over the last five months, the Ministry of Agriculture and its agencies were able to execute a number of developmental initiatives all across the country.

Dear Editor, It was horrifying to recently read a Demerara Waves  headline declaring that an “11 year-old girl was sexually active”.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – The hacking group behind the SolarWinds compromise was able to break into Microsoft Corp and access some of its source code, Microsoft said yesterday, something experts said sent a worrying signal about the spies’ ambition.

The management of the state-run Guyana Oil Company (GUYOIL) and the Clerical and Commercial Workers’ Union (CCWU) have agreed to meet with a Labour Ministry mediator to resolve the dispute over a hike in wages and salaries for workers.

ZURICH, (Reuters) – The World Health Organization yesterday listed Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, in a move seeking to speed access in the developing world.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Ministry of Trade and Industry, late in December, issued an invitation to the country’s small and medium-sized enterprises to begin to submit applications for funding under government’s Grant Fund Facility which is available to qualifying businesses to help build capacity and increase business competitiveness, a recent report in a section of the Port-of-Spain media says.

(Jamaica Gleaner) It was during her last prayer Sun-day morning that Andrea Lowe Garwood, a 56-year-old credit card officer was shot dead at the Agape Christian Fellowship in Falmouth, Trelawny.

Dear Editor, It is agreed that 2020 was “The year the earth stood still”  (SN Dec 31), but we are making a turn for the better as we close it.

SYDNEY,  (Reuters) – Australia welcomed 2021 with subdued celebrations as fresh coronavirus restrictions and border closures at its two most populous states forced families to ditch New Year plans.

Thirteen new COVID-19 cases were recorded yesterday after 239 more persons were tested for the virus and for the month of December there were 13 deaths. 

CASTRIES, St. Lucia,  (Reuters) – Residents of the eastern Caribbean island chain of St.

If few astute analysts of United States foreign policy are likely to bet that the passing into history of the Trump administration will take with it the pressures that sit like a hangman’s trap door beneath the Maduro administration in Venezuela they would do well to think again.

NEW DELHI, (Reuters) – Ben Foakes believes he deserved a long run after his spectacular debut in Sri Lanka but has accepted his role as Jos Buttler’s understudy as England’s test wicket-keeper.

A Kiltairn man was yesterday remanded to prison after he was charged with attempted murder of a man whom he allegedly stabbed in the eye on Christmas Day.

NEW YORK,  (Reuters) – The year 2020 was a wild one for Wall Street, bookended by the end of the longest bull market in history with the battering of equities by the COVID-19 shutdowns, and a bungee-cord rebound on hopes for economic recovery that resulted in the shortest bear market on record.

BRASILIA/RIO DE JANEIRO, (Reuters) – Brazil’s Fiocruz biomedical center will request authorization for emergency use of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca PLC and Oxford University by next Wednesday, its president, Nísia Trindade, said  yesterday.

                                               Kitco Market Data Gold Prices for the three day period ending Thursday December 31, 2020

Dear Editor, The year 2020 was a year of struggles, testing, trauma, loss, anxiety, fears etc.

(Field Level Media) Otto Porter Jr. had 28 points and 12 rebounds while Zach LaVine added 22 points as the visiting Chicago Bulls defeated the Washington Wizards 133-130 yesterday  to earn a sweep of the teams’ back-to-back series.

(Field Level Media) Brandon Ingram scored 20 points to lift the New Orleans Pelicans to a 113-80 road win over the Oklahoma City Thunder yesterday.

(Field Level Media) Domantas Sabonis led six Indiana scorers in double-figures with 25 points and the Pacers closed 2020 with a 119-99 rout of the Cleveland Cavaliers yesterday at Indianapolis.

Serious prognostications, fun predictions The DNA – Deoxyribonucleic Acid is the genetic identification unique to organisms.

(Field Level Media) James Harden shook off a sluggish shooting start and took control late, leading the host Houston Rockets to a 122-119 victory over the Sacramento Kings yesterday.

Whatever predictions and projections we might have as a nation for the year that begins today, these cannot fail to take account of the formidable imponderables with which we are confronted.

TORONTO,  (Reuters) – Ontario’s Finance Minister Rod Phillips resigned yesterday after public outrage over a Caribbean vacation he took earlier this month in violation of his own government’s coronavirus travel warnings.

Cases of COVID-19 reinfection have not been rigidly documented in Guyana as is done in a number of other countries says Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony.

(Field Level Media) San Antonio Spurs assistant coach Becky Hammon made history on Wednesday, becoming the first woman to take charge of an NBA team when she took over after head coach Gregg Popovich was ejected.

NEW DELHI, (Reuters) – New Zealand captain Kane Williamson enters the New Year as the top-ranked test batsman after leapfrogging Australia’s Steve Smith and India skipper Virat Kohli in the latest official rankings issued yesterday.

GASCI (www.gasci.com/telephone Nº 223-6175/6) reports that session 895’s trading results showed consideration of $300,790,924 from 3,662,850 shares traded in 17 transactions as compared to session 894’s trading results which showed consideration of $10,785,489 from 109,563 shares traded in 28 transactions.

BRASILIA,  (Reuters) – Brazil reported 56,773 additional confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours, and 1,074 deaths from COVID-19, the health ministry said yesterday.

Dear Editor,  So the forensic report on the Demerara Harbour Bridge Asphalt Plant has been submitted and has come up with a big fat nothing, only that the wild allegations  are “possible”. 

The One Laptop Per Family project has been revived after having been condemned to oblivion by the previous government. 

Today is the first day of the year. The idealistic amongst us usually see this shift in calendar dates as being a precursor for grand changes in their lives and that of others.

(Field Level Media) Fred VanVleet scored 10 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter and the Toronto Raptors won for the first time this season, beating the New York Knicks 100-83 last night at Tampa, Fla.