Daily Archive: Thursday, December 29, 2011

KINGSTON, (Reuters) – Jamaica’s ruling party conceded  defeat in national elections last night, as preliminary  official results showed the party of opposition leader and  former Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller scoring a landslide  victory.

(Reuters) – Former FIFA vice-president Jack  Warner said he was sold the World Cup television rights for  Trinidad and Tobago for as little as $1 in return for supporting  FIFA president Sepp Blatter in soccer elections.

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has scheduled a directors meeting in St.

Things haven’t gotten off to such a good start between the two opposition parties of whom much is expected in the New Parliament.

Despite mounting the PPP/C platform for the recent general elections, Collin Croal, the former Permanent Secretary (PS) within the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs, has been appointed the new PS within the Ministry of Local Government.

LONDON, (Reuters) – The BBC has ignited its  second sexism spat in the space of a month by choosing a panda  as one of its 12 female faces of the year.

(Trinidad Guardian) It’s official. The Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange is the fifth best-performing stock market in the world for 2011, according to a report yesterday in the Business Insider publication, which stated that most equity investors around the world were “licking their wounds from a tough 2011.”

(Jamaica Observer) Andrew Holness, at nightfall today, could find himself the first leader born post-Independence and the youngest elected prime minister at 39 years old, if the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) finds favour with the Jamaican electorate.

(de Ware Tijd) PARAMARIBO – The umbrella organization of Chinese in Suriname, Suriname Chinese United Association (SCUA), is shocked by reports about human trafficking of Chinese in Suriname.

(Trinidad Express) Multiple charges of murder and that of causing grievous bodily harm were yesterday read to the man accused of setting a Laventille apartment on fire which resulted in the deaths of four people, including a ten-month-old baby and two-year-old child.

(de Ware Tijd) PARAMARIBO – In a presidential resolution, President Desi Bouterse has granted a pardon to Romano Meriba, who had been sentenced to 15 years in prison for manslaughter.

(Trinidad Express) Police are probing an incident in which two sons of Local Government Minister Chandresh Sharma were beaten during an incident while attending a poolside party at the Hilton Trinidad, St Ann’s on Tuesday.

MELBOURNE, (Reuters) – Australia’s makeshift pace  attack performed above and beyond expectations today,  tearing through India’s formidable batting unit to propel the  hosts to an emphatic 122-run victory in the first test.

Although the AFC is continuing to lobby for Moses Nagamootoo to be Speaker when the new Parliament is convened, party leader Raphael Trotman yesterday insisted that it will not try to seek support from the PPP/C.

Saying that the final sugar production figure for the year is bad news, Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) President Komal Chand is calling for expertise to be brought into the sugar corporation to save the industry.

An Enmore businessman yesterday lost in excess of $3 million to an armed bandit who confronted his employee and snatched the bag outside the Princess Hotel, Providence.

Although some City Council workers did not get salaries for December, the staff members of the Treasurer’s Department were paid in full and were also granted incentives—a disclosure that yesterday prompted calls for an investigation and the suspension of City Treasurer Andrew Meredith.

Electrical appliances belonging to home owners were damaged during a power surge at the Reliance Settlement, East Canje on Boxing Day.

Burglars broke and entered two Charlotte Street businesses yesterday morning and stole articles and cash estimated to be over $1.5M in total.

Still in the festive season, Georgetown will come alive on Saturday night as persons usher in 2012 at various New Year’s Eve events planned by promoters seeking to capitalize on the last big event of 2011.

Crime Chief Seelall Persaud yesterday said that he is still awaiting a directive from acting Police Commissioner Leroy Brummell on the sexual abuse probe against Top Cop Henry Greene.

Crime Chief Seelall Persaud yesterday revealed that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has advised that no charges be instituted against the man who was allegedly caught holding a ballot box at the Camptown Community Centre on elections day.

A fishing crew from the No 66 Fisheries, Corentyne was attacked and robbed of over $2M in fish, an engine and other items around 9 pm on Christmas Day and left stranded at Nickerie, Suriname.

Agriculture Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy has issued a stern warning to Mahaicony Rice Limited (MRL), saying that he will not tolerate the company failing to pay rice farmers promptly.

A young East Coast Demerara woman doused herself in kerosene yesterday then set herself afire after an argument with her boyfriend.

Lawyers representing the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) yesterday filed a motion in the High Court seeking to squash the decision by Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, Dr.

Secretary of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Anand Sanasie said yesterday that the GCB was awaiting a  response from the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) with respect to what steps to take next regarding the running of  cricket in Guyana.

Magistrate Hazel Octave-Hamilton remanded five persons who appeared in the Georgetown Magistrates’ court charged with assault and making use of threatening language to each other.

DHAKA, Bangladesh, CMC – All-rounders Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo are the two West Indians whose names have been identified with the start of the Bangladesh Premier League Twenty20 next year.

Magistrate Hazel Octave Hamilton placed an occupant of the Night Shelter on a six-month bond to keep the peace after he threatened to kill a female orderly at the facility.

Behind the scenes, he pulls the strings from a distance that helped make the Golden Jaguars strike “El Dorado”  in the CONCACAF World Cup football qualifying competition.

Although the Hope Canal project is just over 10 per cent complete, new Agriculture Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy says he is optimistic that the project will be finished by its 2013 deadline, even as he promised to address the concerns of residents and farmers located in the vicinity of the worksite.

By Emmerson Campbell ALBA Games bronze medalist and gold medalist at the Ronald Wilson Memorial boxing tournament, Imran ‘Magic’ Khan will look to end this year on a high note when he takes the ring tomorrow night to headline the amateur segment of a Pro Am boxing card in the Twin-Island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.

Outgoing Chairman of the Caricom Conference of Heads of Government (HoGs) Dr Denzil Douglas said the people of the region should be proud of the community’s leadership on tackling Non Communicable Diseases and to ensure the community’s livelihood.

(Reuters) – With egos badly bruised after losing their first two games of the regular season, the Los Angeles Lakers enjoyed a rare day off on Wednesday having avoided their first 0-3 start since 1978.

Teddies Diapers presented hampers to 20 newborn Christmas babies as it continued a decade-long tradition on Christmas Day at hospitals in Georgetown and Berbice.

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, CMC – ICC Associate nation The Netherlands have suffered a double blow ahead of the Caribbean Twenty20 Championship next month.

The Commonwealth Observer Group in its final report on the monitoring of elections in Guyana on November 28, 2011 said that State-owned media gave the PPP/C Government coverage over Opposition parties on a scale of at least 8:1, not including a large amount of Government news of direct benefit to the ruling party.

SEOUL, (Reuters) – The world watched anxiously  yesterday as North Korea staged a huge funeral in the  capital, Pyongyang, for former leader Kim Jong-il, searching for  signs of what to expect from the isolated nation that may be  close to attaining nuclear weapons capacity.

ST. JOHN’S, Antigua – Stuart Williams will take over the job of head coach of the Leeward Islands for the Caribbean Twenty20 Championship.

Legal practitioners in Berbice, concerned at inordinate delays, in the passing of land titles at the Land Registry, are calling for an enquiry into its operations.

MEXICO CITY, (Reuters) – A federal court in Mexico  has annulled a local election defeat for President Felipe  Calderon’s conservatives partly because of advertising worn by a  Mexican boxer in a match in the United States.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UN-ECLAC) says growth in private sector credit is expected to be moderate as a result of the new parliamentary dispensation which it said may lead to uncertainty about government’s policy agenda.

Berbice Under-17 player Derick Narine-Lalsa Jr. turned in a fine all-rounded performance for one-time champion D’Edward in their hip victory over Rosignol United when the 2011 New Building Society Division limited overs cricket competition continued recently.

(Reuters) – Allen Stanford, accused of running a $7.2  billion Ponzi scheme, yesterday lost his bid for a  three-month delay in his criminal fraud trial, clearing the way  for jury selection to begin on Jan.

The family devastated by a fire on Christmas Eve day that claimed the lives of two people next door on Public Road Kitty is beginning to pick up the pieces even as investigations continue to determine its cause.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – International umpire Marion Johnson-Hurley said lack of opportunity leading to frustration has taken its toll and she could soon step down from the position.

A suspect has been arrested for the murder of miner Oscar De Roche, who was shot and killed during an argument at Enachu, Cuyuni, North West District last Friday.

MELBOURNE, (Reuters) – India struck back with four late wickets while Australia’s Mike Hussey posted a defiant half-century to leave the first test delicately poised at the close of the third day yesterday.

(Reuters) – Arab monitors head to three more  Syrian cities today to check if government forces are  complying with a peace plan after a delegation to Homs, centre  of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, was mobbed by  a protesters demanding  protection.

Every institution offering “Post-Secondary” or “Tertiary Education” should at all times be registered with the National Accreditation Council, according to a Ministry of Education notice.

Dear Editor, I listened with some disquiet, the announcement by the Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon, that there is a proposal to have established at a location outside of the city, a specialist hospital to be staffed by Nationals from India.

YANGON, (Reuters) – At least 17 people died and  80 were injured in an unexplained explosion in an eastern suburb  of Myanmar’s biggest city, Yangon, at about 2:00 a.m

MELBOURNE, (Reuters) – Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting gave little indication he would be riding off into the sunset after the India series following his second successive half-century on the third day of the first test yesterday.

CARACAS, (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Hugo  Chavez speculated yesterday that the United States might have  developed a way to give Latin American leaders cancer, after  Argentina’s Cristina Fernandez joined the list of presidents  diagnosed with the disease.

Police are trying to find a known suspect wanted in connection with the murder of elderly Mahaica farmer Ramlogan Singh, called ‘Tun Tun,’ who was found dead in his home last Sunday.

(Jamaica Gleaner) A Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) supporter has been shot dead while three others are now hospitalised, one critically, after they were attacked at a political meeting in Westmoreland around 9 p.m.

MIAMI,  (Reuters) – Rookie Norris Cole shone for the Miami Heat as they beat Boston 115-107 on Tuesday to maintain their impressive start to the National Basketball Association (NBA) season and hand the Celtics their second consecutive loss.

Dear Editor, I could not help but think that even if one were to disagree with the substance of Assistant Commissioner Steve Merai’s recent pronouncements, I am not so sure that there was widespread rejection of the spirit of independent thought which his comments projected.

A cattle farmer of Alness, Corentyne who was mysteriously shot in his backyard around 2 on Christmas morning was discharged from the New Amsterdam Hospital yesterday.

Dear Editor, I am informed that sports journalists do not always write on the conduct and outcomes of the particular sport of their interest.

NEW DELHI,  (Reuters) – Ishant Sharma has not been much of a handful for Australia’s batsmen but the superstitious Indian paceman will at least become a real mouthful after tweaking his name in a bid to change his bowling fortunes.

Leader Portia Simpson-Miller (second from right) poses with a team from Merundoi’s Presidential Forum 2011.

(Jamaica Observer) Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) on Tuesday declared that it had not received any funding from any gay rights organisation locally or overseas, and dismissed such claims as propaganda generated by the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).

ATHENS,  (Reuters) – The abbot of one of  Greece’s richest and most powerful monasteries was sent to  prison yesterday while awaiting trial for fraud in a  high-profile land swap deal. 

Unfortunately, applicants for visas sometimes receive fraudulent or inaccurate information from unscrupulous persons regarding the United States visa process and how to complete the necessary requirements for the application. 

MASON CITY, Iowa, (Reuters) – U.S. Republican  presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said yesterday his  failure to meet the requirements to take part in Virginia’s  presidential nominating contest resulted from fraud by a worker  hired by his campaign.

Dear Editor, In an article in SN dated December 24th 2011 and captioned `PPP/C accuses the opposition of insincerity in speaker negotiations’, the PPP/C   is reported to have said that there are precedents within the Commonwealth that dictate that the speaker comes from the ruling party.

(Barbados Nation) It is Barbados’ tight exchange control regulations which would have put the brakes on any major outflow of funds from CL Financial subsidiaries here – CLICO International Life and British American Insurance Company.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Heavyweight amateur champion Anderson Emmanuel was granted bail and spent Christmas with his family.

Georgetown has lost its appeal. Time was when it was a well laid out city, boasting concrete drains and canals, tree-lined streets, a demarcated downtown area and charming markets that could lure visitors.

Minister of Human Services and Social Security

Dear Editor,   The Minister of Sport must concern himself with the future of cricket in Guyana – not with the impact changes will have on the sport today.

Politikles

(Trinidad Express) With eight persons being murdered in separate incidents over the long Christmas weekend, Commissioner of Police Dwayne Gibbs on Tuesday expressed concern over the incidents but assured the police will continue to do all in their power to deal with such incidents.

LOS ANGELES,  (Reuters) – Cheetah the Chimp, co-star  of the 1930s “Tarzan” films with Johnny Weissmuller and one of  the world’s oldest chimpanzees, has died in Florida.

Cartoon

Time marches on with such rapid haste. As we usher in 2012 in a couple of days, the global village settles into its stride to tackle the enormous challenges facing the 21st century human family.

LONDON, CMC – Bermudian striker Nahki Wells was on target in English Division 2 club Bradford City’s biggest win of the season, a 3-0 Boxing Day victory against fellow strugglers Crewe Alexandra.