Daily Archive: Sunday, June 3, 2012

(Trinidad Express) The thousands gathered at the Centre of Excellence in Macoya on Saturday fully expected to be blown away by Bollywood playback singer Sonu Nigam, but in the end it was Nigam who was moved by the love he received from his adoring fans.

(Trinidad Express) Five more illegal firearms have been seized, including a powerful AK-47 assault rifle and four handguns.

(Trinidad Express) Employees at Atlantic’s Point Fortin LNG facility were yesterday evacuated after a gas leak was discovered at one of its tanks.

(Reuters) – A 6.6 magnitude struck off the Pacific coast of Panama today, the U.S.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados,  CMC – A superb spell from medium-pacer Jonathan Carter overshadowed a brilliant innings of 94 by Rohit Sharma as India A grabbed a narrow first innings lead over West Indies A at Kensington Oval today.

Relatives of Achama Madramootoo of Maida Village, Corentyne who was raped and murdered on September 14, 2003 say their grief is “fresh” again after learning that the accused in the case walked free last Wednesday in the Appeal Court.

LONDON,  (Reuters) – Queen Elizabeth joined a spectacular armada of 1,000 vessels today for the most dazzling display of British pageantry seen on London’s River Thames for 350 years, watched by cheering crowds celebrating her 60th year on the throne.

LAGOS, (Reuters) – A passenger plane carrying almost 150 people crashed into a densely populated part of Lagos today, in what looked like a major disaster in Nigeria’s commercial hub.

(Jamaica Observer) Traumatised and now fearful for his life, a trembling Shane Schue said he listened as police officers shot his brother, 25-year-old Kavorn Schue, repeatedly inside his Jarrett Lane, Mountain View Avenue home, then concocted a story they would later tell their superiors and the public.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Less than 24 hours after Minister of Youth and Culture Lisa Hanna called for tougher penalties for adults who sexually abuse children, the blood-curdling story has emerged of a mother who held her teenage daughter hostage, so that she could be repeatedly raped by an adult male.

(Barbados Nation) Judicial Manager Deloitte Consulting has settled on a multimillion-dollar solution to the CLICO International Life (CIL) debacle; one that covers all 30 000 investors and policyholders in the failed insurance company.

(Trinidad Express) Days after Jason Khadoo returned to what his family described as an abusive relationship, he was stabbed in the chest at his home by a relative.

Jamaica is now requiring that travellers from Guyana have the Yellow Fever vaccination.

YALWA, Nigeria, (Reuters) – A suicide bomber drove a car full of explosives into a church in northern Nigeria today, killing at least 12 people, witnesses said.

(Trinidad Express) Sledgehammers are being used by bandits to break through concrete walls to gain access to business places in the downtown city centre, the Downtown Owners and Merchants Association (DOMA) has said.

TORONTO, (Reuters) – One man was killed and six other people were wounded by gunfire, two critically, in a shooting at Toronto’s main downtown mall yesterday, a rare occurrence of major gun violence in Canada’s largest city.

As the preparations for the upcoming PNCR Congress pick up steam, there are coflicting views on who should be the leader and whether the leader of the party should also be the presidential candidate.

Story and photos by Alva Solomon The sprawling community of St Ignatius in Region 9 is peaceful and quiet and residents there thrive on their ‘self-help’ customs to develop their environs.

The partly nude body of a woman was yesterday afternoon discovered in a decomposing state in her Vergenoegen, East Bank Essequibo home and it is believed that she was raped and murdered about a week ago when villagers last saw her.

Residents of Enmore on Thursday asked that the Ministry of Local Government reintroduce the Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC), with councillors from each political party, in light of the ineffectiveness of the Interim-Management Committee (IMC) that was installed.

A 12-year-old girl who was raped by her stepfather gave birth to a healthy baby via Caesarean Section at the Georgetown Hospital last week and is said to be resting comfortably.

The death of 13-year-old Kester De Agrella, who was found with a rope around his neck in a washroom at the Charity Secondary School dormitory last September, remains a mystery.

Although Chinese firm Haier Electrical Appliances Ltd is still looking for land to set up an assembly plant here, it has started expanding its range of products available to the local market.

By Emmerson Campbell Guyana’s 20-nil thrashing of Trinidad and Tobago’s Calypso Warriors yesterday at the Providence National Stadium in the Southern Zone of the NACRA Regional Qualifiers for the 2015 Rugby World Cup has enabled the local ruggers to book their place in the finals.

By Emmerson Campbell After finishing a disappointing eighth overall in the three-stage cycling road race event last month, seasoned cyclist Robin Persaud returned to form yesterday powering away with the featured 35-lap event of the 11-race cycling meet which was sponsored by Powerade.

(Cricinfo) Sometimes a person’s absence is more notable than their attendance.

A woman is now hospitalised after she escaped a fire at Buck Hill, Wismar, Linden

By Emmerson Campbell Simeon ‘Candy Man’ Hardy’s ambition of a continuous ‘chin checking’ career was dented on Friday night at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall as a game Howard ‘Battersea Bomber’ Eastman surprised his younger opponent

The mother of a 16-year-old Sophia girl is begging her to return home after she went missing last Thursday.

The Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) has strongly denied claims that it was in any way responsible for the deaths of two newborn babies whose mothers died during delivery last month and linked the infants’ short life spans to poor health at birth.

Prime Minister Sam Hinds is re-tabling a motion to have the National Assembly ensure that Members of Parliament submit annual declarations, in keeping with the requirements of the Integrity Act.

Housing Minister Irfaan Ali has warned that a group of fraudsters have been forging property transports by posing as ministry officials and their victims so far include an overseas-based Guyanese, who was bilked of $1M.

Introduction I intended to start today a two-part column on the recent disclosures on Hand-in-Hand Trust Corporation Inc.

Residents from Eccles through Providence on Friday sounded their concerns about the operations of the Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC), saying that resources could be saved if it acted more efficiently in addressing issues instead of waiting for them to deteriorate.

You can try to describe Kaieteur Falls to someone who hasn’t seen it; you can try, but you will fail.

Agony and debt In last week’s column I sought to direct readers’ attention to the debt stress that is engaging our economy and the distress this portends.

(Cricinfo) It is a measure of England’s pace-bowling resources that speculation surrounding the naming of their squad for the third Test against West Indies centres on the possibility of both senior quicks being rested.

Region Seven Chairman Gordon Bradford’s support of the newly-installed Interim Management Committee (IMC) for Bartica has raised eyebrows in light of APNU’s opposition to it.

BOSTON (Reuters) – The Boston Celtics ramped up on defence to re-energise their playoff ambitions with a 101-91 victory over the Miami Heat on Friday, their first win in the NBA Eastern Conference finals series.

In a report on page 3 of our edition yesterday captioned ‘Optimistic CGX moves on to Eagle Deep well,’ CGX CEO Keith Sully was reported as saying that the target at the company’s 25 per cent owned concession being drilled at the Jaguar I well will be a major discovery.

By John Richards Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment Robert Persaud recently urged residents of Mahdia to take a stand against the trafficking of young girls, even as he expressed disgust at the situation.

Every day 42-year-old Padmawattie Faikall with her five-year-old son in tow heads to the Anna Regina car park where they stand in the rain or the blazing sun begging for most of the day before returning home to count the day’s ‘earnings’.

DENVER (Reuters) – Throughout his presidency, Barack Obama hasn’t exactly been a friend to marijuana users.

DUBLIN, Ohio (Reuters) – American journeyman Spencer Levin stole the limelight from four-times champion Tiger Woods at the Memorial tournament yesterday, twice chipping in to grab a one-shot lead in the wind-buffeted third round.

Certain words are beloved of bureaucrats: words like monitor, check, regulate, review, classify, and control.

CAIRO (Reuters) – Hosni Mubarak, toppled by an uprising last year after 30 years ruling Egypt, was sentenced to life imprisonment yesterday for his role in killing protesters after a trial that sets a precedent for holding Middle East autocrats to account.

EPSOM, England (Reuters) – Camelot, the 8-13 favourite ridden by Joseph O’Brien for his father Aidan, galloped to a dazzling five-length triumph in the Epsom Derby yesterday.

TRIPOLI, Lebanon (Reuters) – Clashes erupted between heavily-armed supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Lebanon’s port of Tripoli yesterday, killing nine people and prompting Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati to rush there to try to stop the violence.

In the brief time since an enforced change to his previously suspect action transformed him from average off-spinner into the rarity of mesmerising variety, Sunil Narine has become the most exciting new name in the game.

Members of the Dorado Speed Swim club are very excited that records were broken at the swimming competition which ended last Sunday at the National Aquatic Centre.

Investigations into an aircraft incident in which a light Cessna C150 aircraft crash landed in a rice field on the Essequibo River island of Wakenaam last November found that the plane had run out of fuel.

ACCRA (Reuters) – A cargo jet slammed into a minibus at Ghana’s Accra airport yesterday after overshooting the runway on landing, killing at least 10 people, according to a Reuters witness and an aviation official.

LONDON (Reuters) – An obsession with sex and divorce is running rampant through British society, the Bishop of London said yesterday, urging Britons to use Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations as a chance to reflect and change their ways.

(Reuters) – Florida, a key US electoral battleground where the 2000 presidential election was decided by a few hundred ballots, will decide in the coming days whether to heed a US Justice Department warning to stop its campaign to purge ineligible voters, a state spokesman said yesterday.

PARIS (Reuters) – Rafael Nadal continued his untroubled progress towards a seventh French Open title with a 6-1 6-3 6-4 defeat of Argentine qualifier Eduardo Schwank yesterday to reach the last 16.

(Trinidad Express) Confessed bigamist Dexter Alexander on Friday called for help for other men who may find themselves married to more than one woman at the same time.

KUNDUZ, Afghanistan  (Reuters) – A NATO rescue team dropped by helicopter in the remote mountains of northern Afghanistan early yesterday freed four aid workers, including two foreigners, who had been seized by the Taliban last month, the alliance said.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – “Desperate Housewives” actress Kathryn Joosten, who won two Emmy awards for her supporting role as a nosy neighbour on the recently ended hit show, died of lung cancer on Saturday, her spokeswoman said.

BELFAST (Reuters) – The flame for the London Olympics arrived in Northern Ireland yesterday in a celebration that would have seemed impossible a generation earlier amid a bloody war between Catholic Irish nationalists and pro-British Protestants.

(Trinidad Express) Two men were on Friday freed by an Arima magistrate of murdering a 24-year-old Guyanese national two years ago.

In March 1980 David Renwick, the Trinidadian journalist, and I wrote an extended feature for the Caribbean Chronicle about the future outlook for the Caribbean as an oil producing region.

Dear  Editor, I wish to bring to the public’s attention that June 4, 2012 will mark six years since young Joann Lynch from Bartica, a mother of one, had her face disfigured by a jealous ex-lover of her then partner who threw acid in her face while she was at home.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – A radical plan to slash public employee pension benefits gets voted on by the residents of Silicon Valley’s San Jose on Tuesday – a decision that could set an important precedent for many other cities, not only in California but across the nation.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Aircraft maintenance in Jamaica has been dealt a severe blow as Caribbean Airlines Limited (CAL) carried out another round of redundancies, sending home 90 Jamaican employees.

TROMSO, Norway (Reuters) – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sailed yesterday through a sliver of the Arctic Ocean, where the world’s big powers are vying for vast oil, gas and mineral deposits becoming available as polar ice recedes.

US county judge in Tallahassee, Florida, Judith Hawkins, had many firsts when she became a judge in 1996 as she was the first African-American in the Second Judicial Circuit elected in a contested election, the first African-American county judge and the first African-American female county judge.

If presumptive Republican candidate Mitt Romney’s first major speech to a Hispanic audience in this campaign was an indication of his strategy to win over Latino voters, he is in big trouble.

LONDON (Reuters) – The World Anti-Doping Agency WADA has issued a revised draft code inserting a proposed Olympic ban for serious doping offenders from January 2015.

Dear Editor, Kaieteur News has separated itself from the part of Guyana which is seeking to deal with domestic violence by furthering the objective of the man who was abusing a woman in public.

In a Reuters report carried in this newspaper yesterday, it was said that the eight nations which make up Alba had praised President Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria.

(Barbados Nation) Already the region’s biggest insurance provider, Sagicor Financial Corporation now has its sights set on taking over the portfolios of not only British American Insurance Company (BAICO) but the controversial CLICO International Life as well.

The Brazil nut tree is a typically Amazonian tree that prefers non-flooded forest.

Report on AGM The Transparency Institute of Guyana Inc (TIGI) has a new executive as a result of its first Annual General Meeting on 27 April, 2012 which saw the election of a new Board of Directors.

LONDON/PARIS (Reuters) – Iran is poised to offer the Syrian authorities a short-term food lifeline with vital grains purchases as Western sanctions and mounting violence deter trade houses from doing deals with Damascus, international traders say.

Guyana is not one of the countries which will suffer from the cut-back of funding to fight HIV and AIDS, TB and malaria by Global Fund, as it has already received an invitation to apply for money under Phase 2 of the fund’s Rolling Continuation Channel (RCC), Director of the National Aids Programme Secretariat (NAPS) Dr Shanti Singh said.

Dear Editor, During his Indian Arrival Day speech in Highbury, Berbice (SN, May 6), President Ramotar said the PPP administration made mistakes during its tenure and is likely to make more mistakes ahead. 

EUGENE, Oregon (Reuters) – A strong wind cost China’s Liu Xiang a share of the 110 metres high hurdles world record at the Prefontaine Classic Diamond League meeting yesterday.

PPP Executive member Ralph Ramkarran says the abolition of jury trials should be strongly considered as too many convictions are being overturned on appeal owing to several factors, including inadequate summing up by judges.