Daily Archive: Friday, May 14, 2021

The Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) will be mobilizing in a month’s time to drill a new well on the Essequibo River island of Wakenaam in Region 3 to provide improved water supply to some 4,752 residents.

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

NEW DELHI, (Reuters) – Prime Minister Narendra Modi sounded the alarm over the rapid spread of the coronavirus through India’s vast countryside today, as the official tally of infections crossed 24 million, and 4,000 people died for the third straight day.

LONDON,  (Reuters) – The origin of the novel coronavirus is still unclear and the theory that it was caused by a laboratory leak needs to be taken seriously until there is a rigorous data-led investigation that proves it wrong, a group of leading scientists said.

 (Reuters) – Delta Air Lines will require all new hires in the United States to be vaccinated against COVID-19, one of the first major companies to issue such a mandate.

(Barbados Nation) A new COVID-19 Directive will take effect from May 18 through June 7 and there will be an ease in restrictions for more groups.

(Trinidad Guardian) China’s ambassador to T&T Fang Qiu is urging people to follow the science as he seeks to counter misinformation being shared about the Sinopharm vaccine.

(Trinidad Express) A woman who recovered from the Covid-19 virus, died days later.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) yesterday disclosed that the Environmental Permit for the Liza Phase 1 Development Project offshore Guyana has been modified and ExxonMobil’s subsidiary, EEPGL will now be required to pay for gas flaring once it continues beyond a 14-day period.

The Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) has come out strongly against the US-funded electoral reform process to be implemented by the International Republican Institute (IRI).

A minibus driver was killed at his Kuru Kururu Sandpit, Soesdyke-Linden Highway home on Tuesday night and three suspects have been held by the police.

Former Guyana Futsal international goalkeeper Travis Bess has lambasted the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) and Guyana Futsal Association (GFA) for their non-participation in the recently concluded Concacaf Futsal Championship which was staged in Guatemala City, Guatemala.

Damon Assanah called “Devil” was yesterday afternoon unanimously convicted by a jury on one of three counts of raping a 13-year-old girl whom he was also said to have impregnated back in 2015.

Former police sergeant Shawn Sandy, was on Tuesday acquitted of the 2016 unlawful killing of his employer—dredge owner Feroze Khan—after the judge conducting his trial upheld a no-case submission.

Following the non-approval by the National Covid-19 Task Force to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifier against Puerto Rico on local shores, the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) is considering the option of hosting the match in St.

Over 180,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered and approximately 40 per cent of Region Six’s adult population has been given the first dose as the inoculation programme continues nationwide.

Suspicions that one of the COVID-19 variants from Brazil is circulating in Guyana is increasing especially considering that a busload of Brazilians who entered the country illegally were recently intercepted in Linden. 

Dear Editor, Why not have one large modern port facility on the West Demerara and save the mangroves?

The long-serving Chief of Protocol at the Office of the President, Eshwar Vevakanand Persaud, has passed at the age of 82.

The Ministry of Health yesterday confirmed that two men from Region Four who tested positive for COVID-19 have died.

Dear Editor, As someone who has exhibited work locally, regionally and internationally it has always been accompanied with a sense of pride to be representing Guyana.

Fears expressed during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic that the Caribbean, among other regions, would have to endure a protracted period of significantly reduced remittances proved unfounded as officially recorded remittance flows to low and middle income countries reached US$540 billion in 2020, reflecting a less than anticipated 1.6 per cent decline against the 2019 figure of $548 billion, according to the World Bank’s most recent Migration and Development Brief.

Guyana’s premier and longest tenured cycling event, the Independence Three-Stage Road Race rolls off tomorrow morning in Berbice.

Even as the Minister within the Ministry of Public Works, Deodat Indar has ordered BK International Incorporated to repair a damaged reef at the No 63 Beach, Corentyne, Berbice, the company claims that it has acted within the law and reports of its involvement in an illegal act are incorrect.

If the outcomes of a recent forum styled IMFBlog, convened by the International Monetary Fund to allow its staff and officials to exchange views on important issues are anything to go by the portents for a shorter term recovery from the effects of the covid-19 pandemic may well mask a gloomier scenario as the resurgence of the pandemic towards the end of last year threaten to erase prospects of an uneven recovery and add to the steep social and human costs which the malady has already inflicted in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Dear Editor, Last weekend I had a disturbing conversation with a taxi driver.

Kester Lewis, the accused in the killing of David Barclay, who succumbed after being dragged by a car on D’Urban Street, Georgetown last December, was yesterday committed to stand trial at the High Court.

You can take your pick from amongst the names by which this fruit/vegetable is known (and there are other names apart from the three mentioned above) though what is beyond doubt is that it is one of the more talked about fruit/vegetables in Guyana insofar as its health and nutritional properties are concerned.

The Guyana Sport Shooting Foundation (GSSF) commenced shooting activities with its first match for 2021 last month when they hosted the sixth annual P&P Insurance Brokers & Consultants-sponsored Pistol Match at the GDF Yarrowkabra Range.

Dear Editor, It is unfortunate and intolerable that our esteemed Ministers were insulted, but we must make our decisions with a calm mind.

Even as two Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member states – Guyana and Suriname – wait to reap the returns of their new-found oil and gas deposits, another member country, The Bahamas, continues to face a resolute environmental pushback from pressure groups that insist that the waters that have long been a major contributing factor to the country’s world-class tour-ism industry should not be despoiled by continued oil searches and perhaps, eventually, oil recovery.

Dear Editor, Yesterday I visited a government entity and was advised to go under a tent where there were three lines with an estimated 36 persons under this tent.

The attorney for former acting Chief Executive Officer of the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) Colvin Heath-London, who is accused of conspiring to defraud the state through the unsanctioned disposal of land at Peters Hall, East Bank Demerara, has requested that a Preliminary Inquiry (PI) be conducted into the charges against him.

The chance encounter between Leisa Gibson and Melba Lagadou at the Sonia Noel-staged Women in Business forum at the Pegasus Hotel in 2015 is now paying dividends for the two Guyanese businesswomen beyond anything that they might have expected when they first met each other.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) yesterday advised that fully vaccinated people do not need to wear masks outdoors and can avoid wearing them indoors in most places, updated guidance the agency said will allow life to begin to return to normal.

Dear Editor, As public healthcare Nurses and members of the Guyana Public Service Union, we have observed that there was eerie silence in the print media on the celebration of International Nurses Day, which was celebrated on May 12, 2021.

Following a traumatic encounter with a would-be mugger during a morning stroll on Wednesday, the Co-founder and Coordinator of conservation group, Seawalls and Beyond, Dwayne Hackett, is encouraging persons to be careful when at the Kingston\Kitty Seawall.

With the inaccessibility of remote areas in parts of South and Central America rendering state jurisdiction an increasingly difficult challenge, governments in gold-producing countries of those regions continue to lack the tools to rein in small-scale illegal gold mining and the environmental havoc which these activities continue to inflict on the environment.

Key agencies tasked with the protection of mangroves continue to remain silent on the recent destruction of a vast amount of the natural sea defence by TriStar Incorporated, which is currently constructing a shore base storage facility at Versailles/Malgre Tout, West Bank Demerara.

Dear Editor, Why are all the good guys dying? First Colin Ming now Vic Persaud.

GAZA/JERUSALEM, (Reuters) – Israel fired artillery and mounted more air strikes last night against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip amid constant rocket fire deep into Israel’s commercial centre.

There has been, for many years, a continual global lobby for the Brazilian government to assume a far more militant posture in the matter of the destruction by artisanal miners of the country’s portion of the 5 million plus acres of Amazon rainforest.

Mayor of Georgetown Ubraj Narine has accused the Ministry of Local Government of seeking to micromanage the Georgetown City Council after it asked that status reports, including information on finances, be submitted on a monthly basis. 

(Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden yesterday reassured U.S. motorists that fuel supplies should start returning to normal this weekend, even as more filling stations ran out of gasoline across the Southeast nearly a week after a cyber attack on the nation’s top fuel pipeline.

A lightweight title fight few would have predicted just a year ago headlines UFC 262 tomorrow night, as Brazil’s Charles Oliveira (30-8, 1 no contest) and Nashville’s Michael Chandler (22-5) square off for the vacant belt at a sold-out Toyota Center in Houston.

Dear Editor, In Guyana, this week we had the issue of Superior Concrete Inc.

Gold Prices for the three day period ending Thursday May 13, 2021

(Trinidad Express) Trinidad and Tobago has received the news that 21 people died in the past 24 hours from the Covid-19 virus.

Sixty residents of Baramita, Region One (Barima/Waini), who participated in short courses under the Women’s Innovation and Investment Network (WIIN) programme by the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security, were presented their certificates last Tuesday, according to a statement from the ministry yesterday.

Dear Editor, There has been a spike in Covid infections in Guyana that apparently is still experiencing its first phase. 

BENGALURU, (Reuters) – India today reported 343,144 new coronavirus cases over the last 24 hours, taking its overall caseload past the 24 million mark, while deaths from COVID-19 rose by 4,000.

Dear Editor, I never cease to be amazed at Guyanese.  The selective nature of our anger, disgust, and sharp steely reactions to things that are partisan. 

Five construction workers were held at gunpoint and robbed on Tuesday held while sheltering from the rain in a container at “A” Field, Sophia, Greater Georgetown.

RIO DE JANEIRO,  (Reuters) – Black Brazilians demonstrated in the country’s two largest cities yesterday to protest against racism and police violence toward their communities in a local version of the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States, with some accusing the country’s president of genocide.

(Reuters) – COVID-19 vaccine developers are making ever bolder assertions that the world will need yearly booster shots, or new vaccines to tackle concerning coronavirus variants, but some scientists question when, or whether, such shots will be needed.

As the tepid battle against COVID-19 continues, the push for achieving herd immunity through vaccination has been one enthusiastically adopted by local, regional and international governments.

(Reuters) – Australia skipper Tim Paine has thrown his support behind Steve Smith replacing him as captain of the test team when the time comes for a leadership change.

The attorney for the 22 women accusing Texas quarterback Deshaun Watson of sexual misconduct said they won’t accept a financial settlement in exchange for dropping their lawsuits.

In light of the absence of several city councillors, a scheduled Georgetown Mayor and City Council budget presentation was postponed on Tuesday.

GASCI (www.gasci.com/telephone Nº 223-6175/6) reports that session 914’s trading results showed consideration of $3,718,273 from 22,456 shares traded in 21 transactions as compared to session 913’s trading results which showed consideration of $1,683,338 from 4,550 shares traded in 3 transactions.

It would perhaps surprise younger Guyanese to know that the heritage item originating from this country that is most internationally famous is a tiny, octagonal piece of paper which the majority of them would have tossed in the rubbish had they encountered it in the course of their daily activities.

BRASILIA, (Reuters) – Pfizer Inc repeatedly offered to sell its COVID-19 vaccine to Brazil’s Health Ministry between August and November last year, but got no answer from the government, Pfizer’s chief executive for Latin America told lawmakers yesterday.

Dear Editor, While we have a surge in Covid-19 cases it seems as though petty crimes are on the rise as well!

The Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion award was unveiled by the league yesterday.

(Reuters) – British rivals Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua have agreed an Aug.

Costly blunders, avoidable embarrassments Regarding my lead caption and issue(s), I have to be extremely cautious lest I upset a few readers.

(Reuters) – A Madrid court has asked the European Court of Justice to establish if FIFA and UEFA, the world and continental soccer governing bodies, are breaching EU competition law by preventing clubs from creating a breakaway European Super League.

(CMC) – Captain Kraigg Brathwaite said Wednesday West Indies were now beginning to write a new chapter of their history after the Caribbean side climbed to sixth in the International Cricket Council Test team rankings – their highest ever ranking in almost a decade.

(Reuters) – New York Yankees great Alex Rodriguez and tech entrepreneur Marc Lore have reached an agreement to purchase the Minnesota Timberwolves from owner Glen Taylor for $1.5 billion, the Athletic reported yesterday.

(Reuters) – English fans attending the Champions League final in Porto between Manchester City and Chelsea will have to fly in on the day of the match and will need to stay in a ‘bubble’ before flying back straight after the game, the Portuguese government said yesterday.

Not many moons ago a pronouncement by a high official of government seeking to ‘sell’ Guyana’s preparedness to pay serious attention to expressions of interest by potential overseas investors would have been likely to encounter a healthy measure of skepticism.

TOKYO,  (Reuters) – Japan will declare a state of emergency in three more prefectures hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said today, in a surprise move reflecting growing concerns about the virus’s spread.

(Reuters) – Inter Milan may have clinched their first Serie A title in 11 years but Antonio Conte’s side still have something to play for this season — stopping Juventus reaching the Champions League.