Daily Archive: Thursday, February 18, 2010

Police in Berbice were yesterday investigating the discoveries of two dead bodies – a male and a female – at two different locations in the Ancient County.

Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Clarissa Riehl briefly suspended the budget debate session late last night after a ruckus broke out over a comment the President reportedly made about the Norwegian forest deal and its impact on mining.

Barry Dataram has once again been taken into police custody after a provisional warrant was issued for his arrest for the purpose of extraditing him to the US.

– post mortem reveals Police are now treating the death of HIV counsellor/tester Seeraj Persaud as a murder/robbery after a post-mortem examination (PME) yesterday revealed that he died as a result of manual strangulation.

– 30 parties, groups may contest The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is “well on track” in its preparations for upcoming local government elections, which could see up to 30 parties and groups contesting, Chairman Dr Steve Surujbally said yesterday.

– to be sentenced in May The 52-year-old Guyanese woman who was indicted late last year by authorities in Texas on charges of conspiracy and alien smuggling in connection with the attempt to illegally move four Indian nationals into the United States, pleaded guilty on Tuesday and faces a possible three-year sentence.

Slamming the government for not doing enough to improve the lives of Guyanese,     PNCR Parliamentarian Basil Williams then joined with the rest of his party in walking out of the House as Minister of Health, Dr Leslie Ramsammy rose to speak.

Following his successful angioplasty at the Caribbean Heart Institute (CHI) CN Sharma was expected to be released from hospital yesterday after doctors cleared him for a discharge.

After appearing in court last month charged with defrauding four persons of their money in a visa scam, Simone King also known as Diane De Nobrega was yesterday charged with eight counts of fraudulent conversion in a motorcar scam.

– court hears A 26-year-old farmer was remanded to jail by Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson after pleading not guilty to breaking into the dwelling house of Sean Day.

Former national junior football coach Dennis `Chow’ Hunte was selected to be the representative of Special Olympics Guyana (SOG) at a football coaches workshop in Puerto Rico from February 21–23.

MELBOURNE, Australia, CMC – West Indies middle-order batsman Narsingh Deonarine is anxious to see his side snap their losing streak against Australia when the fifth and final One Day International (ODI) is played later this week.

The Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) has teamed up with the National Communications Network (NCN) to stage the inaugural  BCB/NCN inter-zone U15 tournament in the Ancient County.

The realisation of a 10-year dream of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) is just around the corner as its president Colin Klass disclosed yesterday that phase one of the FIFA Goal Project is expected to be completed within a three-to-five-month span.

Government MPs Dharamkumar Seeraj and Parmanand Persaud have slammed criticisms from the opposition parties regarding the absence of consultations for Budget 2010.

Batsman Vishal `Cheesy’ Singh and all-rounder Christopher Barnwell were left out of the Guyana team that departed Tuesday morning for Trinidad and Tobago for their sixth round of the West Indies Cricket Board’s regional four day competition.

– GABF boss sits one-on-one with Stabroek Sport The story of David and Goliath is unquestionably one of the more popular chronicles in the Holy Bible and now newly-elected president of the Guyana Amateur Basketball Fed-eration David Patterson will reenact the event having the herculean task of reviving the game of basketball in Guyana.

Action in the East Bank Football Association (EBFA) continued this past Sunday with a double header at the Grove Playfield that produced the four teams playing to low scoring drawn matches.

The Alliance for Change (AFC) has registered its disappointment and frustration with the High Court ruling which threw out its election petition, but the party said it intends to respect the rule of law and the judgment.

Bodybuilder Fiona Harris was elected president of the Guyana Amateur Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation (GABBFF) when that body held its annual general meeting recently.

-Toucan Mash junior squash tournament Juniors Patrick Fraser and Alec Melville played entertaining squash on the opening night of the Toucan Industries Inc, Mashramani Junior tournament Tuesday night at the Georgetown Club’s courts.

Dear Editor, I write in response to several attacks on Guyana’s diplomacy and particularly to outrageous claims about the frequency and cost of the President’s travel.

PNCR parliamentarian Amna Ally has called on the authorities to implement measures to improve the education system, making a renewed call for the authorities to release the annual subventions for the Critchlow Labour College.

Dear Editor, A letter published in your paper on Tuesday February 16, 2010 entitled ‘Accompanying calypso, soca bands need stronger bass,’ pointed out that within contemporary Guyanese calypso compositions there seems to be the absence of a prominent bass line that ought to lay the foundation for the musical piece.

The annual Mashramani darts tournament will get cracking tomorrow at the Grand Coastal Inn, La Resouvenir, East Coast Demerara.

Four persons, including a woman who is the number one defendant, were on Tuesday placed on $200,000 bail each by Acting         Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson for allegedly breaking and entering Ram’s Pharmacy and stealing over $6M in pharmaceuticals.

Dear Editor, After standing in a long, slow-moving line for more than one-and-a-half hours at Scotia Bank (Carmichael Street) with their air conditioning unit broken, making the place piping hot, the teller then informed me that my national ID card was not enough and that I needed an additional form of identification to complete my transaction.

WHISTLER, British Columbia, (Reuters) – Tiger Woods,  the superstar golfer who took an indefinite break from the game in December after admitting marital infidelity, will make a  public statement tomorrow about his playing future.

A Wismar Housing Scheme man was yesterday sentenced to three years imprisonment and fined $10,000 for possession of marijuana at the Mackenzie Sports Club ground for the purpose of trafficking.

Dear Editor, I am all for standards generally, but they must be relevant and able to achieve the desired objectives.

MELBOURNE, Australia,  CMC – West Indies batting all-rounder Kieron Pollard says the touring side will be very determined to beat Australia in the fifth and last One Day International (ODI) tomorrow (tonight Caribbean time).

Police at Linden are on the hunt for a Lower Kara Kara Mackenzie, Linden man who was sentenced to six months imprisonment after a simple larceny case against him was tried in his absence.

OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma, (Reuters) – Kevin Durant  extended his impressive scoring streak with another 25-point  haul as the Oklahoma City Thunder won for the seventh time in a  row, a 99-86 triumph over the revamped Dallas Mavericks on  Tuesday.

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) – Eight American missionaries left a Haitian jail yesterday after a judge signed an order freeing them, but two of their colleagues were detained for further questioning on charges of kidnapping children.

The Children’s Mashramani Competition and regional events are in full swing with events planned for Friday and Saturday concluding with the national Costume Band and Float Parade on Tuesday.

Dear Editor, I must congratulate the Maritime Department which inspects passenger boats.

SYDNEY, Australia, CMC – Australia’s selectors yesterday named uncapped all-rounder Daniel Christian as the only newcomer in a 14-man squad to face West Indies in a pair of Twenty20 Internationals on Sunday and Tuesday.

A man who allegedly pretended to be a customs officer and obtained money on the pretext that he could clear a car from the wharf was ordered in absentia at the Christianburg Magistrate’s Court to repay the sum of $350,000 or serve two years in prison.

Dear Editor, I have been waiting, but cannot wait any longer for someone to say how is it that Miss Fernandes and Mr Sarwan were named Sportswoman and Sportsman-of-the-Year.

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran’s supreme leader accused the United States yesterday of war-mongering and of turning the Gulf into an “arms depot,” hitting back at US accusations that the Islamic state was moving toward a military dictatorship.

– court told A 28-year-old man was yesterday charged with unlawfully wounding his father-in-law who had intervened in a disagreement he was having with his wife.

Dear Editor, Dr Steve Surujbally’s missive entitled ‘Avatar creates a two-edged sword of cultural imperialism’ which appeared in SN on February 11, refers.

CARACAS (Reuters) – Critics of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez worry that the main remaining TV station opposed to the socialist leader will water down criticism of the government now that its news director has quit.

(BBC) Mahmudullah claimed his maiden Test century yesterday as Bangladesh made a spirited fightback in the one-off Test against New Zealand in Hamilton.

DENVER, Colorado, (Reuters) – Denver Nuggets coach  George Karl has been diagnosed with throat cancer, the team  announced on Tuesday.

Dear Editor, The year 2010 has come upon us in the same manner as every other community across our country, but what distinguishes us is the difference in the luggage of yesterday which we have brought over to 2010.

Georgetown’s St Margaret’s Primary students performing ‘A Light to the World’ at the National Cultural Centre yesterday in the Children’s Mashramani Competition .

Immigrant Visas II Installment Ninety-Eight This edition of Ask the Consul continues from Installment 97 to answer additional questions that are frequently received by the U.S.

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) – French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced a financial and aid package of nearly half a billion dollars yesterday to assist quake-hit Haiti, as he became France’s first head of state to visit the former French Caribbean colony.

Sahquila Hollingsworth of Tutorial High School placed first in the individual 14-17 years age group at the dance finals of the Children’s Mashramani Competition at the National Cultural Centre yesterday.

A 33-year-old porknocker was placed on a bond to keep the peace for two years after his wife, who he was charged with assaulting told the court that she did not want to prolong the matter.

History This Week (Part V)By Winston McGowan Six of the 33 West Indians who have scored only a single century in Test cricket are Guyanese.

KOLKATA, India, (Reuters) – Top-ranked India will bank heavily on their spinners on the last day after rain and Hashim Amla frustrated their bid for a series-levelling victory in the second Test against South Africa yesterday.

Dear Editor, I take this opportunity to congratulate the President of Guyana and the Minister of Home Affairs for their wisdom and foresight in setting up the Central Intelligence Agency which is vital in the interest of national security.

Last Saturday, the Ministry of Health issued a press release in which it revealed that for the first four weeks this year over 11,000 cases of diarrhoeal disease had been reported, representing a slight increase in the numbers reported for the corresponding period in 2009.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – The Pakistani military and a senior US diplomat confirmed yesterday that the Afghan Taliban’s top military commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, had been captured.