Daily Archive: Tuesday, December 7, 2010

PORT-AU-PRINCE, (Reuters) – Haiti’s presidential  elections will go to a second-round run-off between former  First Lady Mirlande Manigat and government technocrat Jude  Celestin, protege of outgoing President Rene Preval, electoral  authorities said today.

Congratulations to Christopher R Harmon of the GDF who graduated from the GTI class of 2010 with a Technician Diploma in Mechanical Engineering.

Contender for the PNCR presidential nomination, Dr Faith Harding is on the campaign trail in the US and has announced an event for December 18 in Washington during which she plans to discuss key issues in Guyana.

LONDON, (Reuters) – Overseas students in Britain  wanting to stay on and look for work after their courses end  will no longer be able to do so under government plans to curb  immigration laid out today.

(Jamaica Observer) A French rock band’s decision to name itself Jamaica and to title its recently released debut album No Problem has infuriated the island’s intellectual property administrator which says it is powerless to stop the French men.

(BBC) Three nationals of Caribbean states are among six people pardoned by outgoing Governor of New York, David Paterson.

Guyanese sculptor Donald Locke died at home in Atlanta, Georgia yesterday.  

Over the weekend, a team of doctors and support staff completed 28 surgeries at the Lethem Hospital, the Government Information Agency said yesterday.

(BBC) Officials in Haiti say more than 2,000 people are now known to have died in the cholera epidemic sweeping through the country.

ADELAIDE, (Reuters) – Australia have the ability to   fight their way back into the Ashes series after their worst   defeat to England in nearly a quarter of a century — but they   need to start showing it, captain Ricky Ponting said today.

LONDON, (Reuters) – WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange  handed himself in to British police today after Sweden  issued a warrant for his arrest over allegations of sex crimes,  London’s Metropolitan Police said.

President Bharrat Jagdeo last night announced that the government has launched a US$35M contract with a Chinese firm to build internet networks across Guyana as part of its e-governance thrust.

Former Finance Minister Carl Greenidge has been nominated to be the PNCR’s presidential candidate by supporters of the late Winston Murray.

E-Networks last evening launched its WiMax 4G network with the company’s founder and managing director Vishok Persaud declaring that it would change the future of communications in Guyana and the way Guyanese access the internet.

Justice William Ramlal yesterday again raised concerns about the poor quality of police investigation evident in some of the cases before him, after he upheld a no-case submission, owing to weak evidence led by the prosecution in the Paul Bagot murder trial.

GuySuCo has blamed a dismal production year for its inability to offer sugar workers any increase this year, and yesterday it made a final proposal of two weeks pay, which the union said it “has accepted for now”.

The four teens who were detained in Plaisance last Friday over two cases of Guinness they reportedly stole have been released on station bail and one, a 14-year-old, was assaulted by an inmate while in custody.

The 21-year-old minibus conductress and her father, a minibus driver, who said they were assaulted by policemen last Thursday, have been charged with assault.

Chelsea Edghill ended  with a whopping eight of the titles when the junior division of the Vitamalt National Table Tennis Championships concluded on Sunday night at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

Several University of Guyana (UG) students who opted for two new courses this semester are pleading for some intervention into what they call the loans crisis on the campus, one week before final examinations.

FORT-DE-FRANCE, Martinique, CMC – Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz kept their nerve in a nerve-wracking penalty shoot-out to beat Guadeloupe 5-4 on penalties and retain the coveted Digicel Caribbean Cup here Sunday night.

Post-mortem examinations on the bodies of the teenagers who were found hanging in an Uitvlugt, West Coast Demerara house last Friday revealed that they died as a result of asphyxiation due to hanging.

A newly-formed committee which is to seek better conditions for athletes from hinterland communities, as well as other aspects of youth development, held its second meeting on Saturday and several issues concerning the treatment of indigenous athletes at the recent National Schools Championships were discussed.

The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport’s Inter-Block Football Tournament for Grove and Timehri ended last week and organisers of the sub-associations are calling on the business community for support.

The opening of the new landfill site at Haags Bosch may be pushed back as the current heavy rainfall has been bringing earth work to a halt.

ADELAIDE, (Reuters) – England won the second Ashes test by an innings and 71 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the   five-match series after dismissing Australia’s last six   batsmen for 66 runs in the first session of the final day last night.

Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) and unions yesterday settled all outstanding issues related to workers’ compensation packages, the company’s public relations firm said.

The PNCR last week called on the government to institute and implement measures to significantly improve the pay and conditions of service of the police force so that it could attract the calibre and number of recruits it requires.

Government in collaboration with Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF) recently handed over some 15 desktop computers to the Regional Administration of Region Two, in its effort to boost Information Technology (IT), throughout the country.

Banks DIH Limited inducted 30 employees who had served the company for 20 years into its 20-Year Club at the club’s annual lunch held recently.

A man accused of wounding his reputed wife with a knife was yesterday remanded to prison when he appeared before acting Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.

PARIS, (Reuters) – FIFA is not considering reforms of  the voting system for choosing World Cup hosts despite the  controversy which surrounded the decision on the 2018 and 2022  tournaments, general secretary Jerome Valcke said yesterday.

ADELAIDE, (Reuters) – England fast bowler Stuart   Broad was “devastated” after being ruled out yesterday of the   rest of the Ashes series against Australia with a torn   abdominal muscle.

A young couple of Bath New Housing Scheme, West Coast Berbice has established a multi-million dollar supermarket at Bush Lot Village and has promised to provide “quality products at affordable prices.”

William Light, the man who reportedly went berserk and hacked two persons to death last October and also allegedly attempted to murder two others, yesterday made another appearance at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court and his lawyer requested a medical evaluation of his client.

Police in Berbice are trying to ascertain the identity of a man said to be in his 50s, whose decomposing body was discovered floating in the Canje River around 9 am yesterday.

DURBAN, (Reuters) – International Olympic Committee  (IOC) president Jacques Rogge hopes the new U.S.

DHAKA, (Reuters) – Left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak and  paceman Shafiul Islam grabbed four wickets each yesterday to  give Bangladesh a 65-run win over Zimbabwe in the third one-day  international and a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.

A resident of Uitvlugt yesterday turned himself into police in the company of a lawyer for questioning into allegations that he is linked to last week’s multi-million-dollar cocaine bust.

A miner was shot by a lone gunman during unclear circumstances at Aranka Backdam last Friday and is currently a patient of the Georgetown Hospital.

Dear Editor, I am utterly shocked by the report in the Stabroek News on December 3, that Evan Persaud, UG lecturer,  admitted to using profanity and sexual innuendo in the classroom, and justified his stance by saying, “This is how people will talk to them out there… this is the nature of this business.”

MANCHESTER, England,  (Reuters) – Manchester United are  running out of optimism that midfielder Owen Hargreaves will  ever fulfil the potential he showed before two years of injury  misery.

Two miners were reportedly tied up before being robbed at gunpoint at Turtle Creek Backdam, Issano last Saturday.

Dear Editor, In the Nostalgia article ‘Saga of the Bureau of Statistics building’ by Godfrey Chin (Sun Stabroek, December 5) it was stated, “Peter Halder, former Guyana diplomat, my counsel in this matter, adds that ‘major additions were made to the airport terminal at Timehri in 1965 and 1968, which was named Timehri International in May1969.’”

LONDON, (Reuters) – Red Bull’s Mark Webber raced the  last four grands prix of the Formula One season with a broken   shoulder after falling off a mountain bike in Australia in  October, his partner said yesterday.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, CMC – Despite their disappointing rain-hit drawn Test series, West Indies have jumped one place to seventh in the latest ICC Test Championship rankings.

Preparations for Essequibo’s annual masquerade competition are in full swing and the event is scheduled for December 18 on the tarmac of the Xenon Hotel at Charity, Essequibo Coast starting at 11:00 hrs.

Dear Editor, If the Minister of Health has not yet replied to my question in the letter sent to him by Stabroek News he now has the testimony of  Ms Basmattie Ramsawak and Mr Vijay Singh who have  been public spirited enough to say what they know about the country’s main hospital.

Dear Editor, I applaud Mr Bisram for upholding the values he and his colleagues suffered for during the Burnham era.

JOHANNESBURG, (Reuters) – The soccer World Cup helped  to rebrand South Africa but brought in far less money than  anticipated, officials said yesterday.

WASHINGTON/BEIJING (Reuters) – China must do more to rein in North Korea’s belligerence, the United States and its chief Asian allies said yesterday after Beijing warned tensions could “spin out of control.”

GENEVA (Reuters) – Talks between Iran and six major powers — the first in over a year — will resume on Tuesday after each power raised the issue of Tehran’s disputed nuclear programme in a first round yesterday, a Western official said.

NEW YORK, (Reuters) – The National Basketball  Association said it agreed to buy the New Orleans Hornets from  majority owner George Shinn after a deal to sell the team to  minority owner Gary Chouest fell through.

Dear Editor, I wish to make one final follow-up point on the MT Lowe issue in response to ‘Further observations on MT Lowe and the demonstrations relating to the Corentyne teachers’ (SN, Dec 4).

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) – A frontrunner in Haiti’s presidential election race warned outgoing President Rene Preval’s government and electoral authorities yesterday to expect protests if Preval’s candidate emerged among the top two vote winners in results expected today.

(Reuters) – World rankings yesterday (U.S. unless  stated, last week’s positions in brackets): Average points 1. 

Dear Editor, With respect to the letter written by Mr Vishnu Bisram in the SN of December 2, ‘MT Lowe  remembered differently by some,’ I write in support of Mr Bisram’s letter which is the naked truth.

The Blairmont Police Station would now be more effective in its crime-fighting efforts after the Station Management Committee (SMC) recently presented a new Jailing 110 cc motorcycle to the officers.

The secret files of the Security Intelligence Agency (SIA) have been destroyed by two Israeli men, Justice Minister Herbert Volney has disclosed.

LONDON (Reuters) – Taking low doses of aspirin can reduce the risk of many kinds of cancer, scientists said today, and the evidence is strong enough to suggest people over 40 should take it daily as protection.

HAMBANTOTA, Sri Lanka, CMC – With their rain-ravaged Test series behind them, West Indies arrived here in this small southern city yesterday afternoon to begin preparations for their five-match One-Day Inter-national series which bowls off on Thursday.

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan security forces have started housing families displaced by floods in tourist hotel rooms following an order by President Hugo Chavez to make use of vacant accommodation, local media said yesterday.

Dear Editor, Recently, Eddi Rodney, elder brother of the famous Walter and Donald Rodney, penned a piece that appeared in the Mirror under the title, ‘The emergence of the meta critique of the PPP.’

The Guyana Power & Light (GPL) yesterday said that electricity was restored to Bartica on Sunday evening, hours after the township was plunged into darkness as a result of the failure of a breaker in the company’s engine room at Bartica.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The FBI has issued a “cyber crime alert” for a new Barbie doll that comes equipped with a tiny hidden video camera in her chest, saying the toy could be misused to make child porn.

When three security guards can be beaten, tortured then paid off for their pains on the understanding that they will not proceed with an official complaint against the people responsible for their ordeal, and when, moreover, the police can remain indifferent to such a travesty, we really need no further evidence of the quality of the society in which we live.