BRASILIA, (Reuters) – Dilma Rousseff became Brazil’s first female president today and promised to build on an unprecedented run of economic success achieved by her popular predecessor and mentor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
KABUL, (Reuters) – Worsening security and enduring conservative Islamic customs prevented almost five million Afghan children from going to school in 2010, a government official said today.
KARACHI, (Reuters) – Pakistan one-day captain Shahid Afridi and head coach Waqar Younis have been summoned as witnesses by the International Cricket Council (ICC) anti-corruption tribunal which will consider spot-fixing allegations against three Pakistan players.
JOHANNESBURG, (Reuters) – Ten people were killed in a stampede in a bar in a South African township during a New Year’s Eve celebration, an official said today.
PESHAWAR, Pakistan, (Reuters) – Suspected U.S. drone aircraft strikes killed 15 Muslim militants in northwest Pakistan today, suggesting there will no letup this year in a campaign Washington says is hurting al Qaeda-linked groups.
ABIDJAN, (Reuters) – Ivory Coast’s Laurent Gbagbo has only days in which to leave power peacefully with immunity, the prime minister of Ivory Coast’s presidential rival Alassane Ouattara said today.
VATICAN CITY, (Reuters) – Pope Benedict said today he will host a summit of world religious leaders in the city of Assisi in October to discuss how they can promote world peace.
SYDNEY, (Reuters) – Australian cricket will emerge from the misery of failing to regain the Ashes and once more reign over world cricket, bowling great Glenn McGrath said today.
Politicians from the opposition parties have questions about how land where a new housing scheme dubbed ‘Pradoville 2’ has been allocated while government officials remain mum about it.
Renowned economist Dr Clive Thomas says that the sugar industry cannot be sustained in its present form and while it is not an option he favours, privatisation may give it the lifeline it needs.
The Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) said yesterday that it was forced to prematurely close the second crop because of low turnout of harvesters across the estates which were still grinding.
PNCR leader Robert Corbin yesterday accused the ruling party of creating a slush fund for electioneering with the recent moves to secure billions of dollars for the housing sector—a charge that PPP General Secretary Donald Ramotar has firmly rejected.
As Guyanese wake to another general election year, President Bharrat Jagdeo in his New Year message called on them to demonstrate their will by way of the polls on who they want to govern them and to do so in a mature manner.
PNCR Leader Robert Corbin has labeled 2011 “The Year of Redemption,” saying it offers Guyanese “an opportun-ity…to take relevant action” that would ensure the nation’s progress towards genuine development in a peaceful and free environment.
The Guyana Police Force yesterday offered an “unqualified apology” to actor and stand-up comedian Lyndon ‘Jumbie’ Jones for his incarceration last weekend, which they described as a case of mistaken identity.
Former Senior Director in the CARICOM Secretariat’s Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) Carl Greenidge says the recent decision against renewing his contract came as a surprise.
The death of an elderly American man at Sand Creek, Rupununi was being investigated yesterday by police but Divisional Commander David Ramnarine said that as far as he was aware, no foul play was involved.
A police officer accused of bribery was yesterday granted $50,000 bail when he appeared before acting Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.
Remedial works to the bungled ferry stelling at Good Hope on the Essequibo Coast are expected to commence as early as this month, Works Minister Robeson Benn has said.
On Thursday, the National Assembly passed amendments to the Defence Act, raising the minimum age for entry to the regular Guyana Defence Force (GDF) to eighteen.
Commissioner General of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) Khurshid Sattaur yesterday launched one of three status monitors at the John Fernandes Wharf.
Twelve-year-old Clinton Warde Jr of Paradise, West Coast Berbice is recovering from successful surgery for a brain tumour in Canada and is thankful that his wish for good health in 2011 has been granted.
As part of its plans for the 2011, the Private Sector Commission (PSC) is to meet with the leadership of the political parties to ensure polls are conducted in a peaceful manner.
– DoverAnd then there were two. Tonight the 21st edition of the Kashif and Shanghai football tournament will wrap up with what is expected to be one of the most intriguing matches of the competition.
KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Two outstanding former West Indies players have given the thumbs down to retired batting star Brian Lara’s pending return to international competition.
The T&T Cricket Board has joined the rest of the national community in mourning the death of the first President of the Republic Sir Ellis Clarke who passed away on Thursday night at the age of 93.
Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr Frank Anthony has described 2010 as “successful” while Director of Sport Neil Kumar has described it as “excellent.”
Athletics
Despite a few glitches, 2010 was a noteworthy year for athletics and measures implemented under the new Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) president Colin Boyce will ensure that athletes are afforded better opportunities to develop their talents in 2011.
ABIDJAN/GENEVA, (Reuters) – A senior United Nations official warned incumbent Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo and other senior officials yesterday they may be held criminally accountable for human rights violations.
Dear Editor,
Happy New Year to all Guyanese. This year we shall commit ourselves to burying the philosophy of all Guyanese are equal but some are more equal than others.
NEW YORK/LONDON, (Reuters) – World stocks ended 2010 at their highest levels in 28 months yesterday and oil touched a 26-month peak as expectations of a further recovery in the global economy supported investors’ appetite for risk heading into the new year.
Dear Editor,In the face of the blizzard that was experienced by the north-eastern US states, many US airlines operating out of JFK advertised that they would reschedule passengers for free.
BRASILIA, (Reuters) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas thanked Brazil yesterday for recognizing his nation’s statehood with the first embassy in the Americas and said other countries were following suit.
ABUJA, (Reuters) – At least 4 people were killed and more than a dozen injured in an explosion at a crowded market in Nigeria’s capital Abuja late yesterday, the police said.
BEIJING/NEW YORK, (Reuters) – The popular Internet telephone service Skype could be dealt a major setback in one of the world’s largest markets as the Chinese government cracks down on what it called illegal Internet telephone providers.
Dear Editor,
Every so often one comes upon a letter that is so ill-conceived and littered with misconceptions that one can only ascribe untoward designs to its author.
MOSCOW – Russia rejected yesterday criticism by the West of a ruling to keep jailed tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky in prison until late 2017, saying foreign states had no right to try to influence Russian courts.
Dear Editor,
Ms Gail Teixeira, Presidential Advisor on Governance is quoted in Kaieteur News of Thursday, December 30 as saying that the failure by the government to bring into force the Amerindian Act, 2006 four years after its passage was “a mistake, but the only such mistake by the Government in their eighteen years in office.”
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s ascension to the BRIC group of major emerging economies was more about politics than economics and reflects expectations it will be the gateway for investment in the fast-growing continent.
Seafield/No 42 Village seemed quiet, like any ordinary village in West Coast Berbice, but a recent visit established that a lot actually goes on there, especially through the Region Five Disabled Persons’ Network (DPN).
Many of us, at some time or another, generally as a new year beckons, have resolved to “keep a diary,” probably as part of some grand and comprehensive plan to organize one’s life better and achieve great things – plans, I am afraid, which very soon run aground on the dangerous
The US economy
Because of the leading role the US economy plays in the generation of global output, demand, consumption, trade (imports and exports), technology, cross-border direct investment, and financial flows, the difficulties which it is presently encountering (as highlighted in last week’s column) vividly illustrate the continued fragility of the global economic recovery and why the global economic crisis is not going away.
I have little doubt that most people on this planet have their own list of favourite scented plants – scented buy virtue of their flowers, foliage, their fruit and even roots.
Will 2011 be the year that the languishing Doha development round finally moves forwards; or will it mark the point at which the members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) quietly accept that negotiating a single global undertaking on trade liberalisation is unlikely in the foreseeable future?