Daily Archive: Friday, February 26, 2021

DUBLIN, (Reuters) – Ireland today added 13 mainly Central and South American countries to its 14-day mandatory quarantine list, which requires arrivals from countries designated as “high risk” to quarantine in designated hotels.

ST JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – Selectors today handed a shock recall to fast bowler Fidel Edwards at age 39 and after nearly 10 years out of international cricket, in a 14-man squad for the three-match Twenty20 International series against Sri Lanka starting here next Wednesday.

Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony says Guyana will soon receive 80,000 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine from the Government of India.

Fifteen-year-old Aditya Mohabir recently had kidney transplant surgery at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler approved an operation to capture or kill murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, according to a U.S.

Leader of the Opposition, Joseph Harmon and a team today met with the Police Commissioner Nigel Hoppie on a range of matters. 

The U.S. Embassy and the U.S State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics & Law Enforcement, through the Justice Education Society (JES), has donated a number of items valued at GY$798,000 to the Guyana Police Force and the Judiciary.

ABIDJAN,  (Reuters) – Ivory Coast received a shipment of COVID-19 doses from the COVAX vaccine-sharing facility today, becoming the second country to benefit from a programme meant to ensure fairer distribution amid a global scramble.

PORT-AU-PRINCE,  (Reuters) – One of Haiti’s most powerful gang leaders, Arnel Joseph, escaped from a prison in the outskirts of the capital Port-au-Prince during a riot on Thursday that left seven prisoners and a police officer dead, authorities told local media.

KANO, Nigeria, (Reuters) – Unidentified gunmen kidnapped 317 schoolgirls from the town of Jangebe in northwest Nigeria today, police said, the second such kidnapping in little over a week.

(Trinidad Guardian) Scores of Venezuelan nationals were stranded at the Piarco International Airport last night after a repatriation flight that was due to arrive in T&T from Venezuela was blocked from coming.

CARICOM is “deeply concerned” and dissatisfied with the way that the Community has been squeezed out of access to COVID-19 vaccines.

A woman was yesterday sentenced to four years in jail and fined $798,750 after admitting to swallowing 73 cocaine pellets as well as hiding cocaine wrapped in condoms in her vagina.

Identical twin sisters Amesha Thuesday Grant and Amela Latahsa Thuesday see a divine hand in their giving birth on the same day.

Stating that allegations of fraud have to be specifically pleaded and proven, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) yesterday overturned a decision of the Guyana Court of Appeal which had found that a woman who bought land from another was involved in fraud.

Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Nigel Dharamlall yesterday assured the National Assembly that he is planning for Local Government Elections (LGE) to be held later this year.

The Ministry of Health yesterday reported that two more persons who had tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) have died.

With a jury unable to arrive at verdicts in the matter against them for the murder of Ruby fisherman Shereffudeen Nazamudeen, former Region Three AFC councillor Mandy Sukhdeo, her father, Surendra Sukhdeo, a Good Hope/ Hydronie Neighbourhood Democratic Council APNU councillor and their neighbour Rean Ghani will all now have to face retrials.

Collin Venture, who was charged with the rape of a 13-year-old girl, was committed to stand trial on Wednesday.

Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony yesterday announced that the ministry is advising against taking the COVID-19 vaccine and filarial pills on the same day.

Caribbean states are set to benefit from a US$3.5 billion regional recovery programme that will also include significant technological advancement for future development.

The public service took centre stage during the budget debate on Wednesday, when Minister of the Public Service Sonia Parag and her predecessor, opposition Member of Parliament (MP) Tabitha Sarabo-Halley made their contributions.

Another local company has added its name to the list of ISO-certified companies in Guyana.

Following the reported rape of a 10-year-old North West District girl, a member of her family has been taken into custody by police.

The scale of the entrepreneurial pursuits of the farmers and agro-processors who comprise members of the Mocha Arcadia Multipurpose Cooperative Society (MAMPA), makes a persuasive case for the establishment of a multi-purpose market facility to support the food cultivation and agro-processing pursuits of the community, Head of the School of Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation, University of Guyana, Professor Pat Francis has told the Stabroek Business.

A child died in the wee hours of yesterday morning. According to a police report, the Essequibo coast child was discovered to be dead at about midnight by her sister who went to check on her.

Dear Editor, There is great concern that, over the next 25 years, Guyana will become infected with the oil ‘Dutch Disease’ in its economic, financial, social and political sectors.

With the emerging oil & gas industry opening up Guyana to a range of investment opportunities, NSB Omega Guyana Inc (NGI) is one of several emerging enterprises that continue to swell the ranks of the private sector.

Dear Editor, Heckling across the floor in Parliamentary debate is long established practice in democratic National Assemblies.

Bids from 27 companies were yesterday opened at the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) for the construction of the Four Lane Highway from Eccles on the East Bank Demerara to Mandela Avenue.

Dear Editor, After observing the second day’s budget debate, it is unfortunate that I have to write this letter in an attempt to share my thoughts on some of the disturbing comments I heard from Tabitha Sarabo-Halley MP during her presentation.

The Guyana Prison Service (GPS) has received 437 complaints of mistreatment of prisoners in the various facilities across the country since August 20th, 2020.

Mitford Ward’s excursion into private enterprise had its roots in the realisation that the country’s high cost of living renders the returns from salaried employment altogether inadequate to meet one’s needs.

Dear Editor, I believe the Central Bank of Guyana is failing to regulate our banking system to properly serve all the people of our country.

A trial yesterday commenced in the High Court in Berbice after Munilall Sarjoo, pleaded not guilty to the murder of Levan Chanderpaul whose body was found buried in the Number 68 Village, Corentyne backdam in 2016.

The Stabroek Business has already commented on the fact that the local Ministry of Agriculture is yet to make public such plans as it might have for participation in the United Nations-designated International Year of Fruits and Vegetables (IYFV) this year.

The police are investigating an armed robbery committed on Wednesday in Kaneville, East Bank Demerara, on a construction worker and his companion, while they were walking home from a party.

The Caribbean may not, after all, find itself excluded from the mix when key international organisations and heavy hitters in the global business community begin to seriously zero in on post-COVID recovery targeting developing countries, according to a Caribbean Business Report disclosure made earlier this week.

Dear Editor, It was a case of now you don’t see it, for several hours, then suddenly you do, right aback the seat you occupied.

Dear Editor, The parliamentary debate now focuses on the budget and related matters.

The decomposed body of a Wakenaam woman was discovered in her home yesterday after her granddaughter had reported her disappearance to the police.

With the economically crucial tourism industries of most member countries of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) impacted to varying degrees by the coronavirus pandemic, the group is collectively engaged in fashioning a joint tourism policy that seeks to restore the fortunes of a sector without which the region could be confronted with a severe and protracted socio-economic crisis.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen yesterday threw her support behind a new allocation of the IMF’s own currency, or Special Drawing Rights, but said broad parameters were needed to boost transparency on how the reserves are used and traded.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden yesterday directed U.S. military airstrikes in eastern Syria against facilities belonging to what the Pentagon said were Iran-backed militia, in a calibrated response to rocket attacks against U.S.

Dear Editor, The recent rise in prices in the carbon trading market is a great sign of the potential opportunity for Guyana to further leverage its carbon capture capabilities.

ST JOHN’S, Antigua,  CMC – West Indies batting star Shimron Hetmyer sparkled with his seventh List A hundred while starring in a record fifth wicket stand, as Guyana Jaguars clobbered Windward Islands Volcanoes by 95 runs to secure their berth in tomorrow’s final of the Regional Super50 Cup.

The police yesterday reported that a farmer who allegedly committed suicide was discovered with a semi-automatic pistol in his hand.

Shamed, perhaps, by last month’s feral blast by World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus over the unequal allocation of COVID-19 vaccinations among rich and poor countries, the leaders of the Group of Seven global economic powerhouses have undertaken to move to immunise the world’s neediest people against the rampaging COVID-19 pandemic by contributing both finances and vaccine doses to a United Nations-backed vaccine distribution effort aimed at redressing what is now accepted as an unacceptable imbalance in the global distribution of the vaccines.

By Clinton Urling During a recent consultative forum to discuss the draft of government’s Local Content Policy document, it came as no surprise that the issue of financing for the small business sector which, incidentally, comprises the bulk of the country’s private sector, surfaced as a topic for discussion.

ABUJA,  (Reuters) – Nigeria is losing 200,000 barrels of crude oil a day because of theft and vandalism, the head of the state oil company said, underscoring how insecurity is causing vast financial losses for the West African country.

A murder suspect was yesterday arrested after the police conducted a raid at a Matthews Ridge home and found him hiding under a bed.

Dear Editor, With reference to your news reports and commentaries on the behaviour of MPs last Monday (SN Feb 23, 24), the unruly conduct and vulgarity displayed by members of the National Assembly was much talked about by Guyanese in person.

ST JOHN’S, Antigua — Cricket West Indies (CWI) yesterday confirmed its third new multi-year broadcast rights agreement with SuperSport securing the rights to West Indies Cricket until the end of 2024 in sub-Saharan Africa.

VALLETTA,  (Reuters) – Two men suspected of supplying the bomb that killed Maltese anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia faced formal charges in a late-night court appearance under heavy security by armed police.

Dear Editor, I sincerely hope that you permit me a few lines in your column so I can bring to light an oppression that is affecting an entire neighbourhood in Deobirana Street, Prashad Nagar.

A portion of this year’s budgetary allocation to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation will see the expansion of Guyana’s diplomatic presence in Middle Eastern countries such as Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and possibly in Ghana, West Africa, subject Minister Hugh Todd yesterday said.

                                             Kitco Market Data Gold Prices for the three day period ending Thursday February 25, 2021

(Barbados Nation) Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley announced yesterday that as of Wednesday  night over 25 000 people had received a coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb 25 (Reuters) – One year after the first confirmed case of the coronavirus in Brazil, Latin America’s biggest country has passed 250,000 COVID-19 deaths, with the virus still spreading freely as a national vaccination drive struggles to gain momentum.

It has been more than a week since four prisoners escaped from the Mazaruni Prison and up to yesterday there was no sighting of the quartet.

Dear Editor, I write this letter disclosing my difference, disagreement, disappointment and dissatisfaction with our country’s ERC, with much reluctance.

RIO DE JANEIRO,  (Reuters) – Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said yesterday that the country’s state-controlled companies should fulfill a social function and any different understanding by their chief executives was unacceptable.

GASCI (www.gasci.com/telephone Nº 223-6175/6) reports that session 903’s trading results showed consideration of $17,771,820 from 175,766 shares traded in 30 transactions as compared to session 902’s trading results which showed consideration of $26,152,703 from 283,622 shares traded in 39 transactions.

(Reuters) – India wrapped up an extraordinary 10-wicket victory against England inside two days as both sides’ spinners caused mayhem on a treacherous wicket in the day-night third test in Ahmedabad yesterday.

There being no clear indication up to this time as to just when there will be a measure of respite from the COVID-19 pandemic, the restraints that continue to harness the business sector grow increasingly worrisome.

WELLINGTON,  (Reuters) – Martin Guptill fell short of a third Twenty20 international century but his strong return to form helped New Zealand to a four-run win over Australia in the second match in Dunedin yesterday.

Dear Editor, Permit me, please, the space to announce the courtesy of extending my public service to our beloved and revered Members of Parliament, every one of them, with a free and unlimited offer of lessons in the refined use of the English language to suit every occasion. 

A horse cart operator was yesterday fatally stabbed by a neighbour over a pack of cigarettes. 

CANBERRA, (Reuters) – Australia’s parliament passed a law yesterday to make Alphabet Inc’s Google and Facebook Inc pay media companies for content on their platforms in reforms that countries such as Britain and Canada are looking to replicate.

(Field Level Media) Rookie Immanuel Quickley scored 25 points and Alec Burks added 24 off the bench, propelling the host New York Knicks to a 140-121 victory over the Sacramento Kings yesterday.

(Field Level Media) Kyrie Irving totaled 27 points and nine assists as the host Brooklyn Nets recovered from a slow start and extended their season-high winning streak to eight games with a 129-92 victory over the Orlando Magic Thursday night.

“One People”? Desist! Over the twenty-eight years of the life of this working-man’s column it has been easy for me to be consistent with both my general and specific views regarding the Black/African man’s presence and contribution to mankind’s existence.

It was the turn of Mr Kwame McCoy, who is Minister of Public Affairs within the Prime Minister’s Office to make his contribution to the budget debate on Monday.

CARACAS, (Reuters) – Venezuela’s pretrial cell blocks in 2020 were overcrowded at a level amounting to triple their capacity, a rights group warned yesterday, criticizing unsanitary conditions in the facilities due to underfunding in the crisis-stricken country.