Daily Archive: Friday, April 1, 2011

The police are investigating an armed robbery that occurred at about 0915h today on America Street, Georgetown, on Ronald Narine, 40 years of ‘D’ Field Sophia during which $3 million was snatched by two men armed with handguns.

(Jamaica Observer) Prime Minister Bruce Golding today denied that he was responsible for tipping off Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke about an extradition request for the former Tivoli Gardens strongman.

Only 2% of 24,329 samples taken in 2010 showed significant adulteration – a sign of smuggled fuel – the Guyana Energy Agency said today.

Four armed bandits early this morning invaded the Sophia home of an elderly couple.

MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan, (Reuters) – At least  eight foreign U.N. workers were killed, two of them beheaded, today in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif after a  demonstration against the burning of Korans by a U.S.

(Barbados Nation) International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, has agreed to invest up to US$100 million (BDS$200 million) in Barbadian-based Sagicor Financial Corporation (SFC) to bolster market confidence in the insurance industry and to expand insurance services in the Caribbean.

(Barbados Nation) Police have reported that investigations into allegations by a Jamaican drug accused that she was sexually assaulted and raped by two police officers are at a delicate stage.

(Barbados Nation) Chevron Corporation, owner of Texaco, has completed the sale of its fuels marketing and aviation businesses in Barbados, as well as the Eastern Caribbean countries of Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Dominica, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Guyana, St Kitts and Trinidad & Tobago.

MUMBAI, (Reuters) – Cricket fever has gripped  the sub-continent on the eve of the World Cup final between  India and Sri Lanka on Saturday.

MUMBAI, (Reuters) – Sri Lanka all-rounder Angelo  Mathews has been ruled out of Saturday’s World Cup final against  India after injuring his right thigh muscle in the semi-final  against New Zealand.

KARACHI,  (Reuters) – Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi  was looking forward to resting his aching limbs after returning  home from the World Cup to a heroes’ welcome today.

Norway will deposit another US$40 million into the Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund (GRIF) immediately as research shows that Guyana’s deforestation rate is lower than previously thought, Norway’s Minister of the Environment and International Development, Erik Solheim announced last evening.

Vernon Paddy, the 47-year-old Guyanese man who had pleaded guilty to a vicious attack on his wife with a 14-inch hammer in May of last year, was sentenced to eight years in prison by Justice Indra Hariprashad-Charles in a British Virgin Island (BVI) court.

– praised for quick action Six heavily armed gunmen yesterday stormed Guyana Stockfeeds office at Farm, East Bank Demerara escaping with over $10 million following a five-minute rampage, but quick police work saw the arrests of eight men and a woman, suspected to have played a part in the robbery.

PNCR Leader Robert Corbin says that his taking a “backseat” in his party’s election campaign is not an option, since it is committed to seeing the end of the PPP/C administration.

Commissioner of the Guyana Geology and Mines Com-mission (GGMC) William Woolford has retired effective yesterday and Manager of the entity’s Environmental Division Karen Livan is now the acting commissioner.

The Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) has come out in support of domestic abuse victim, Vanessa Francis saying that police prosecutors and magistrates are neglecting the provisions in the Domestic Violence Act.

President Bharrat Jagdeo has named Local Government Minister, Kellawan Lall as this country’s new Ambassador to Brazil and he has selected PPP/C MP Norman Whittaker to head Lall’s ministry.

Pensioners George and Elfreida Benjamin depend on the public healthcare system for all their medical needs, but the man is now devastated because his wife is hospitalised after using expired medication.

Following recent articles questioning the propriety of Huawei’s US$50,000 “thank you gift” to the government, Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon yesterday accused this newspaper of displaying “reckless hostility” to the One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) project.

Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon yesterday said that the cocaine found in a container of logs shipped from here “displayed weakness across the board that need to be attended to.”

Entities implementing projects funded through the Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund (GRIF) will be required to return the money “promptly” if it is determined that it is being used in a manner that is inconsistent with the grant agreement.

Government has encountered some difficulties with transmission for the Educational Channel in the border regions, but Phase One has been rolled out and all systems are in place for the television service to be officially launched today.

Outgoing second Vice-President of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Franklyn Wilson firmly believes that long-standing President Colin Klass can be upstaged if all sub-associations became more proactive, starting with properly constituted clubs, and shared the same vision for the game’s development.

The North Georgetown Primary School yesterday officially opened a computer laboratory, reading and research centre and a tuck shop as part of school’s improvement plan.

ST AUGUSTINE, Trinidad, CMC – An absorbing contest can be expected, when Trinidad & Tobago face three-time defending champions Jamaica in their semi-final of the WICB Regional first-class championship, starting today at the University of the West Indies Sports & Physical Education Centre.

Canadian mining company Guyana Goldfields last week announced its intention to start up its $165 billion underground gold mine, the largest ever in the history of Guyana, this year.

For its last financial year, which ended on 31st December, 2010, the Guyana Bank of Trade and Industry (GBTI) achieved an after-tax profit of $1.2 billion, exceeding earnings for the previous year by $213 million or (22%).

We had an outstanding year – Yesu Persaud The 2010 Annual Report of the Institute of Private Enterprise Development (IPED) reflects a 13.8% increase in the value of loans disbursed to its clients last year over the previous year, underscoring the entity’s long-established role as the country’s leading small business lending agency.

Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Captain Eon Murray was elected to head the Linden Amateur Basketball Association (LABA) when the basketball sub-association finally held their Annual General Meeting (AGM) and elections Wednesday at the Mackenzie Sports Club (MSC) pavilion.

Cabinet has approved a contract for the rehabilitation of the medical block at the West Demerara Regional Hospital.

Sections of the Linden/Mahdia trail have been in a slushy state for several days, prompting calls for an urgent upgrade of the road.

While we have no wish to question the sincerity of the recent statement by the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce (GCCI) on the issue of compliance, or more accurately, widespread lack of compliance with fire regulations by large sections of the urban commercial community, it has to be said that the various private sector bodies have been paying little more than lip service to an issue that has been with us at least for several decades and one which, periodically, manifests itself in disasters that leave ugly scars on the urban commercial landscape and devastate what in some cases are decidedly under-insured business houses.

At a simple ceremony yesterday ScotiaBank and Pepsi, sponsors of the Guyana Sports Development Foun-dation’s (GSDF) Schools Football Academy handed over equipment to the eight participating schools.

Dear Editor, I have looked at the documents for bidding for the Hope Canal, in particular the 3-Door Head Regulator and am surprised that the Soil Investigation Report is not part of the documents but only available at the pre-tender meeting for viewing.

Thank you iped

Linden businesses have been encouraged to take a proactive stand in the fight against crime or risk losses, including lives.

The quarterfinal round of the annual Mayor’s Cup Invitational Knockout tournament concluded on Wednesday night with a double header at the Georgetown Football Club Ground and now the semifinal stage has been set.

Dear Editor, I noted that President Jagdeo, the chairman of the MSSC, is one of the MSSC members who did not sign the MSSC letter (‘LCDS group upset at call to delay Norway funds’  SN news item, March 31).

Trophy Stall XI have kept their title defence hopes alive, entering the super sixteen stage of the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T) Softball Cricket Competition set for the Uitvlugt Community Centre Ground and the Everest Cricket Ground on April 2 and 3.

Dear Editor, Guyana’s dubious distinction of finishing in the cellar of Senior Regional Competition for the third consecutive year has passed without the usual press conferences and press releases for which the Guyana Board and most of its executives have become famous or infamous over the past two years or so.

Sale The Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company, generally referred to as GT&T, was formed in 1991 after the Government of Guyana under the late President Desmond Hoyte sold an 80 per cent share of the state-owned entity Guyana Telecommunications Corporation (GTC) to Atlantic Tele-Network, or ATN. 

President Bharrat Jagdeo told the Matthews Ridge community that a bus will be provided to take children to school.

Even as police in the E and F Division are battling to solve a number of murders since the start of the year, yet another miner has been killed, this time at Pamela Backdam, Mahdia.

By Karen Abrams Guyana’s 2002 census results reported overall unemployment at 11.7% in 2002. The

Over 10 research papers from Guyanese health professionals, including an examination of the effects of the recent flood on respiratory illnesses, are to be presented at the annual Caribbean Health Research Council (CHRC), which is to be held here this month.

Following the conclusion of the inaugural Kevin Lawrence Memorial Basketball Tournament which was won by Dyna’s Ravens, the team began a charitable move to give back to the basketball fraternity in some schools.

Dear Editor, Every country on planet Earth has its poor and destitute; Guyana is no exception.

Anil Persaud, 40, who admitted to stealing a quantity of building materials from a businessman, was yesterday sentenced to three months imprisonment by acting Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry.

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Balancing India’s commercial power with the interests of other cricket-playing nations is one of the main challenges facing the game over the next few years, according to former ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed.

Prolonged controversy over Guyana’s rice exports to Jamaica appears to have arrived at a positive juncture, at least for the time being with the announcement earlier this week that local rice exports to Jamaica will increase to 55,000 tonnes this year.

Dear Editor, I am totally confused when I hear minibus operators shouting that ‘Government don’t have control ova we, is we bus.’

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Rebels cheered the defection of a Libyan minister as a sign that Muammar Gaddafi’s rule was crumbling, but US officials warned he was far from beaten and made clear they feared entanglement in another painful war.

Dear Editor, Guyana is a democracy, in spite of overwhelming racial voting, says Sultan Mohamed (‘All over the world in democratic societies people vote race’ SN, March 30).

a“Poor management and unnecessary political interference, continue to plague Guyana’s struggling sugar industry,” according to Chairman of the Institute of Private Sector Development (IPED) Dr Yesu Persaud.

TOKYO (Reuters) – Yoko Hashiguchi and her toddler fled Tokyo after a deadly earthquake and tsunami devastated northeast Japan and triggered a nuclear disaster at a power plant 240 km (150 miles) away.

Two men accused of stealing a Blackberry cell phone were on Monday placed on bail in the sum of $25,000 each by Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton.

BERLIN (Reuters) – A number of new events are likely to win a spot in the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics when the International Olympic Committee’s powerful executive board meets in London next week.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is suffering so-called “third term-itis,” with only 40 percent of voters approving of his job as good or excellent, a poll found yesterday, down nearly 30 per cent from 2008.

CAVE HILL, Barbados, CMC – Combined Campuses & Colleges will be looking to create more history, when they face Windward Islands in the semi-finals of the WICB Regional first-class championship, starting today at the Three Ws Oval.

Hand-in-Hand

Dear Editor, In reference to calls by a few for the Norway government to withhold disbursement of funds for LCDS to Guyana, and counter calls from LCDS backers to continue disbursement of the money, I am confident visiting Minister Solheim will make the right decision as per the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the two nations. 

A former RA Soda Factory saleswoman was yesterday accused of stealing $4,000 from a company truck.

The organizers of Guyana’s third annual Wedding Expo held at the Roraima Duke Lodge from March 25 – 27 are hailing the event as a “significant success” and “a national showpiece that has now become part of the country’s event calendar.”

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Gil Clancy, a Hall of Fame trainer and manager who worked with many top fighters including Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier and George Foreman, died on Thursday at age 88.

This offering, which threatens to be my most brief in months, attempts to provoke thought about two central issues in the news as they relate to the “character” of government and governance here these days.

Dear Editor, Where is al Qaeda? Only in the mind of Gaddafi who is trying to blame the uprisings in Libya on Islamic fundamentalism, when the facts are that the people of the Middle East are rebelling for democracy and demanding a new era of information and information technology which is available in true democratic countries, especially the United States.

The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday upheld a four year sentence for tax evasion and lying to White House Officials handed down to former New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik.

ABIDJAN (Reuters) – Fighters loyal to Alassane Ouattara attacked the residence of incumbent Laurent Gbagbo in Abidjan the early hours of today and have seized control of Ivory Coast’s state television, a Ouattara spokesman said.

Politikles

On this day in history, in 1953, at Sabina Park, Jamaica, Clyde Walcott completed a century against India to become the third of the three Ws, along with Frank Worrell and Everton Weekes, to hit a hundred each in the same innings.

A Guyanese-born building services engineer who has re-migrated after residing in the United Kingdom for 35 years is calling for the creation and implementation of “appropriate codes and standards” in local air conditioning and refrigeration technology to keep pace with the “new, more modern building phase” unfolding in Guyana.