Daily Archive: Tuesday, December 14, 2021

The Ministry of Health today said that as of December 14, 2021, one more person who tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has died.

PORT-AU-PRINCE,  (Reuters) – At least 50 people were killed when a fuel truck exploded in a street in Haiti’s second-largest city Cap-Haitien during the night, the city mayor said today.

PNCR Leader David Granger will not be present at this week’s party congress as he will be attending to his health, a statement from the party said today.

JOHANNESBURG, (Reuters) – Two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine appear to have given 70% protection against hospitalisation in South Africa in recent weeks, according to a major real-world study which suggests weaker efficacy against the new Omicron variant.

(Trinidad Express) The highly infectious Omicron variant is now present in Trinidad and Tobago after being detected in a Trinidadian woman who travelled from New York to Panama and then to Trinidad knowing fully well she was Covid-19 positive.

(Trinidad Guardian) PC Sean Woods passed away yesterday morning at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital after contracting COVID 19 on December 2nd.

Upper Demerara Football Association (UDFA) All-Stars humiliated Elite League outfit Victoria Kings 9-0 when the Guyana Football Federation (GFF)/Kashif and Shanghai Super-16 Championship continued yesterday at the National Track and Field Centre, Leonora.

Dear Editor, So now we know why after a year and a half the Guyana Natural Resource Fund – NRF (the money we get from oil) held in a New York Bank was not activated and the oil money was just sitting there not earning any interest.

The National Assembly yesterday passed a bill to allow police to use “less-lethal weapons,” including pepper spray and tasers, after the removal of a controversial provision to empower the force to collect DNA from persons taken into custody.

Dear Editor, The number of elder persons abandoned at the local public hospitals is horrendous, while those neglected and left to live alone and fend for themselves at home, is equally alarming. 

A special audit by the Auditor General into the procurement, storage and distribution of COVID-19 supplies has revealed that the Ministry of Public Health and the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) awarded 18 contracts, totalling almost $242 million, before receiving the approval of the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB).

Dear Editor The lack of accountability from the Government in dealing with domestic violence is more evident in the way the Government has responded to the citizens who said they did not get through to the 914 hotline.

The family of Elsa Simpson, a 76-year-old No. 1 Village, Corentyne woman who succumbed at the Infectious Disease Hospital at Liliendaal last Friday, is seeking answers from health authorities about her death and the treatment she received leading up to it.

A group of citizens has called on the Environmental Assessment Board (EAB) to declare the impact survey for ExxonMobil’s proposed Yellowtail oil well null and void and for the process to be restarted.

Dear Editor, With Guyana now leading the CARICOM Initiative for Regional Food Security, it would be helpful if the lead Agency could provide answers to the questions listed below, in its quest to encourage investment and development in Guyana, notwithstanding the failure of the Jagdeo offer in 2013, and the reluctance of Caribbean States to embrace the implementation of the CSME, and help reduce the level and costs for food imports into the Region.

Dear Editor, Having made my paltry contribution towards the restoration of good, efficient and effective governance in Guyana prior to,  and during, the elections of March 2020 – happily and incontrovertibly won by People’s Progressive Party/Civic partnership, – I have been generally staying in my little corner and keeping, as they say, a low profile.

Calvin Kemo Chase, a miner who was found guilty of raping a girl when she was 13 years old, has been sentenced to 12 years behind bars.

Tony’s Jewellery of Alexander Village, has thrown its support behind the Guyana Football Federation (GFF)/Kashif and Shanghai Organization Super-16 Championship, donating a gold ring for the event’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) worth $520,000.

Dear Editor There is an awakening, a sort of sudden consciousness that has overtaken our members and supporters.

Three more COVID-19 deaths were reported yesterday. This was revealed by the Ministry of Health in a press release which stated that the country’s total COVID-19 fatalities increased to 1,023.

The man who was wanted for the murder of Feroze Khan, of Rosignol Village, West Bank Berbice (WBB), was yesterday nabbed in the Mibicuri, Black Bush Polder backlands by lawmen.

Dear Editor, Guyanese were hoping that the PNCR internal election would have taken place on Saturday December 11.

As is customary, Fitness Express has answered the call of the Guyana Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation Inc.

TAOS, N.M.,  (Reuters) – Nearly a year after COVID-19 vaccines were first administered in the United States, the country is returning to many of the hallmarks that defined earlier pandemic life: mask mandates, mass vaccination sites, crowded hospitals and a rising death toll.

Dear Editor, Reference is made to Dr. Bertrand Ramcharran’s epistle on International Human Rights Day (Dec 10). 

The Guyana Amateur Powerlifting Federation (GAPLF) is currently awaiting the green light from the COVID-19 Task Force to stage its last statutory competition for 2021, the Senior Nationals Championships.

The Suddie Funeral Home’s Management Committee has agreed to compensate the family of Nathan Fiedtkou, whose corpse was accidentally cremated due to a mix-up.

QUITO,  (Reuters) – Ecuador’s government yesterday declared force majeure over its oil exports and production contracts after ongoing erosion in its Amazon region forced a halt to pumping on two pipelines.

ANKARA, (Reuters) – The United States and Qatar have assured Turkey that Exxon Mobil and Qatar Petroleum will stay out of Turkey’s continental shelf in the eastern Mediterranean, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said yesterday, after the companies were given an energy exploration license in disputed waters.

Dear Editor, A week’s deferral of the much hyped congress.  Not sure what difference a week will make. 

The Ministry of Culture Youth and Sports on Sunday unveiled a public changing room at the National Stadium, Providence to the tune of $6.5M with two more expected to be completed before the end of the year.

Full staffing of the Guyana Revenue Authority’s Petroleum Revenue Department (PRD) is being affected by uncompetitive remuneration packages according to the Auditor General’s report for 2020.

ABU DHABI, (Reuters) – Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan hosted Israel’s prime minister, Naftali Bennett, yesterday in the first-ever public meeting between the United Arab Emirates’ de facto ruler and an Israeli leader.

By Charwayne Walker Guyanese Joe Solomon played test cricket for the West Indies.

(Trinidad Express) Police charged a 24-year-old security officer on Saturday night for the December 3 murder of his wife, Shadie Dassrath, a 31-year-old customer sales representative.

A youth has been sentenced to serve four years in jail after he was found guilty of feloniously wounding his uncle, whose right thumb was severed in the attack.

Dear Editor. As ExxonMobil touts that it intends to invest US$30B in Guyana as FDI (Foreign Direct Investment).

ABUJA,  (Reuters) – Nigeria will destroy around one million expired COVID-19 vaccines, Faisal Shuaib, head of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), said yesterday, adding his agency was working with drug regulator NAFDAC to set a date for their destruction.

After the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) was discovered in Guyana back in March 2020, the then APNU+AFC government implemented an assistance programme for vulnerable persons but a recent audit of the scheme shows that 9,000 eligible applicants were denied the grants.

(Trinidad Guardian) The first case of the Omicron variant has been detected in T&T.

Dear Editor, The United Republican Party congratulates Mr. Vishnu Persaud on his selection as new CEO of GECOM and wish him every success in his new duties and responsibilities.

This is far from the most propitious juncture at which to set before the people of the Caribbean the   calumnies of their cricket.

Defects have developed on the road near the junction of La Bonne Intention (LBI) Estate Road and the East Coast Highway, which have been inconveniencing motorists.

GENEVA,  (Reuters) – Geneva’s chief prosecutor said yesterday he had closed a criminal investigation into allegations Spain’s former king Juan Carlos laundered “illegal commission” payments from Saudi Arabia, due to insufficient evidence.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, CMC – West Indies Women stroke-maker Hayley Matthews has been named one of two International Cricket Council Players-of-the-Month for November.

(Barbados Nation) Reco Lamar Alkins, who was shot dead on Saturday night, was said to be a person who worked hard to achieve “things” in life.

Government operations should be transparent such that citizens and the media can provide oversight and hold officials accountable. In

KARACHI, Pakistan, CMC – A listless effort condemned West Indies to a fifth defeat in their last six Twenty20 Internationals as Pakistan cantered to a 63-run victory in the opening game of the three-match series here yesterday.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida, CMC – West Indies all-rounder Rahkeem Cornwall slammed a half-century but the effort was in vain as the Bermudian pair of Delray Rawlins and Kamau Leverock shone with bat and ball to guide Florida Scorpions to a 19-run win over Samp Army and into the semi-finals of the US Open Cricket T20 tournament.

Dear Editor, We have a great opportunity before us to recapture the spirit shared during the movement towards Independence.

Kevin Durant scored a season-high 51 points as the visiting Brooklyn Nets earned a 116-104 victory Sunday, while handing the Detroit Pistons their 12th consecutive defeat.

(BBC) Formula 1’s governing body the FIA is under intense scrutiny in the wake of the controversial end to the 2021 world championship in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.