Daily Archive: Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Robert Simels, the former attorney for Roger Khan, opted to take the stand in the US court where he is on trial, testifying yesterday that the confessed Guyanese drug trafficker received government assistance “to have the intercept equipment and guns to fight the Buxton gang known as the Taliban”.

-revenue down by 8.6% The sugar corporation registered a loss of $4.1B for last year – the highest in the past decade – in what GuySuCo said was a challenging year during which rainfall was the highest in 53 years.

-Venezuela to be approached CARICOM countries are concerned about a proposal from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to amend the PetroCaribe arrangement so that beneficiaries pay all, or at least 80%, of the cash upfront and then receive direct loans from Caracas, which would be limited to specific projects approved by the Chavez administration.

A 64-year-old woman, who was standing at the side of the road, died early yesterday morning after two vehicles collided along the Annandale, East Coast Demerara (ECD) Public Road and slammed into her.

University of Guyana (UG) students were sent dashing from the institution’s 24-hour library last night after two bags of books mysteriously burst into flames on the second floor.

US-based journalist and public relations practitioner Wesley Kirton and other Guyanese Americans have written to US Attorney General Eric Holder outlining concerns about “several aspects of the link between the US and Guyana, regarding the drug trafficking activities and subsequent investigations of confessed Guyana drug lord, Shaheed Roger Khan.”

Opposition to hold joint press conference Opposition Leader Robert Corbin says that his party will continue their protests against the PPP/C administration until it gets the desired results even as he continues to write to various agencies and governments seeking their help in having an international probe into the alleged links between the government and drug trafficker Roger Khan.

– Local athletes should have no fear of WADA’s whereabouts clause since they do not use performance enhancing drugs says top sporting officials Guyana has signed on to the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) and as such this country’s athletes face the likelihood of being tested by the organization in and out of competitions.

The plight of Haiti has continued for too long and the region will regret not intervening, Red Thread International Coordinator, Andaiye, has said.

BROOKLYN, New York, CMC – Guyana’s former world boxing champion “Vicious” Vivian Harris is linking up with Oscar de la Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions as he tries to rebuild his flagging career.

A Republic Park man discovered a “fragmentation grenade” attached to the undercarriage of his vehicle yesterday morning, police said.

– court hears Nicole Anderson who allegedly had a firearm and ammunition in his possession at the Cuyuni River Backdam without licence was yesterday remanded to prison when he appeared before Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.

Thousands were on hand to witness a grand day of horse racing when the Port Mourant Turf club (PMTC) successfully staged its grand one-day Emancipation Horse Race meet last Sunday at Corentyne, Berbice.

Wendell Meusa won his fourth chess title of the year in as many tournaments when he produced yet another sterling performance to capture the Emancipation Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) Topco Juice Chess Tourney, which was held over the weekend at Kei-Shar’s Sports Club.

Two Venezuelan Nationals were on Friday ordered to pay a fine of $30,000 or spend 12 months in prison after pleading guilty to the charge of illegal disembarkation when they appeared before Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.

A man who drove his vehicle while using his cell phone was yesterday ordered to pay a fine of $7,500 or spend three weeks in prison when he appeared before Magistrate Priya Beharry at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.

Finewood Marketing Inc.  is the first team through to the semi-finals while the other quarter-final matches will be played off this weekend in the Guyana Softball and Windball  Cricket Association (GS&WCA) sponsored 15-15 tapeball tournament.

SEOUL, (Reuters) – North Korea said yesterday it  had pardoned two jailed American journalists after former U.S. 

– Action packed quarter finals set for tonight The Guyana Defence Force (GDF) is the only city side in this year’s Linden Invitational Football tournament.

-$30M set aside for burnt out ministry In the absence of the opposition parties who boycotted yesterday’s sitting, the National Assembly passed the Supplementary Appropriation Bill (No.

LIMA, (Reuters) – Colombia’s president tried to rally  support yesterday for putting more U.S.

Pepsi RHT and Port Mourant ‘A’ advance to quarter-finalsPepsi Rose Hall Town and Port Mourant A both won their latest Zone C (Lower and Central Corentyne) preliminary matches to earn a spot in the quarterfinal of the Spready’s Bakery U-19 Cricket Competition in Berbice.

TEHRAN, (Reuters) – Two prominent defeated Iranian  presidential candidates said they would maintain their campaign  against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election, which has  sparked Iran’s worst unrest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

-granted $300,000 bail Farood Mohamed, the man who allegedly caused the death of three persons as a result of dangerous driving, was yesterday placed on bail in the sum of $300,000 when he appeared before Magi-strate Priya Beharry at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.

Dear Editor, For Guyanese at home and abroad, the trial in New York has raised all kinds of questions that simply cannot or will not disappear because the Government of Guyana angrily says they should.

– Jamaica put one hand on title after crushing Guyana KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Three-day champions Jamaica produced another clinical performance to hand Guyana a heavy defeat yesterday and move to within one match of winning the TCL Group West Indies One-Day Trophy Under-19 title.

President Bharrat Jagdeo who is also CARICOM Chairman reiterated on Sunday in Jamaica  that investments in agriculture must reflect its priority to the region as the Caribbean seeks to ensure the security of its food supply.

ALGIERS, (Reuters) – About 100 Algerians and Chinese  migrant workers fought with knives and bludgeons in the capital  Algiers, witnesses said yesterday, in an unprecedented flare-up  of local anger at Chinese immigration.

Dear Editor, I refer to Mr Winston Murray’s letter published on August 1, 2009, captioned: ‘This was an obvious and serious violation of the Standing Orders.’

Number 30 Village, West Coast Berbice was plunged into mourning yesterday afternoon when 9-year-old Keiana Fraser went missing after going for a swim.

(Jamaica Gleaner) A United States-registered twin-engine aircraft believed to be on a drug mission to Jamaica crashed on Monday morning on a private road owned by Windalco Bauxite Company in Schwallenburgh district, near the St Ann-St Catherine border, killing its two occupants.

ABUJA, (Reuters) – Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua  said yesterday he had ordered an investigation into the killing  of the leader of an Islamic sect behind a five-day uprising  which killed close to 800 people.

KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Barbados beat Leeward Islands by seven wickets on Tuesday to push the TCL Group West Indies One-Day Trophy Under-19 tournament down to the wire.

Dear Editor, I was most dismayed to observe on my way into Linden on Wednesday, July 29, that all of the signs on the verge of the roadway that usually greet persons entering this township were being cut down and loaded onto a truck.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – Malaria may have jumped to  humans from chimpanzees much as AIDS did, U.S.

SYDNEY, (Reuters) – Three men have been charged with  terrorism offences, Australia’s Victoria state police said yesterday, following raids the previous day which police said  related to a plot to carry out suicide attacks on an army base.

Latest action in the 2009 UDFA/Stag B-League saw Peacemakers whipping Coomacka United 3-nil while Vasco earned a win via the walkover route against Flamingo at the Bayrock ground on Saturday.

Two critical after La Grange accident A motorcyclist and his pillion rider are in critical condition at the West Demerara Regional Hospital (WDRH) after colliding with a minibus along the La Grange Public Road, West Bank Demerara last evening.

Dear Editor, Ever since the Roger Khan saga started playing out in a Brooklyn, New York court two years ago, Mr Enrico Woolford of Capitol News has been providing Guyanese at home and abroad with a valuable service by way of news updates, and not once during his reportage out of New York have I ever read where the President or his government was outraged at Mr Woolford’s straightforward reporting of an event that has been covered by other reporters for other New York media houses.

KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Trinidad and Tobago beat the Windward Islands by six wickets in their fourth-round round TCL Group West Indies One-Day Trophy Under-19 match at Sabina Park yesterday.

CARACAS, (Reuters) – Venezuela’s President Hugo  Chavez said yesterday that the country’s two largest coffee  roasters would be nationalized.

Development  Watch By Tarron Khemraj Introduction My columns have elicited quite a campaign of letters to the press promoting spin, misinformation and distractions. 

Our last editorial on this theme focused on the need to come to terms with the fact that the pressures for finding new ways of decision-making both in Europe and for Caricom have been the result of both domestic (that is within Caricom) and external pressures.

-but opposition absent With only government MPs – who lamented the opposition’s absence – in attendance, the National Assembly yesterday approved a motion on the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) which “welcomes the commitment to public consultations including the parliamentary parties to the finalization of the strategy”.

NEW YORK,  (Reuters) – Pop stars Beyonce and Lady Gaga  yesterday each earned nine nominations for next month’s MTV  Video Music Awards, more than any other artist, while Britney  Spears continued her musical comeback with seven nods.

Dear Editor, The Government of Guyana (GOG) continues to deny the purchase or importation of the spy equipment. It

Police trying to control protestors outside of the Public Buildings yesterday as government MPs arrived for the sitting of the National Assembly.