Daily Archive: Sunday, February 10, 2013

(Reuters) – Despite a blizzard in the US Northeast, “Identity Thief,” a newly released comedy starring Melissa McCarthy, collected $36.6 million in weekend ticket sales in the United States and Canada, making it the top-performing film.

LOS ANGELES,  (Reuters) – “We Are Young” by indie-pop trio FUN.

LOS ANGELES,  (Reuters) – R&B singer Chris Brown showed up smiling at the Grammy Awards show today, saying he was just a little banged up after crashing his car into a wall on the eve of the annual music industry awards.

(Jamaica Gleaner) KINGSTON, Jamaica – Reggae icon Jimmy Cliff has won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album for the album Rebirth.

NORTH SOUND, Antigua, , CMC – Steven Jacobs stroked only his second first class half-century to lead Guyana to first innings points over Leeward Islands on the second day of their Regional Four-Day Championship clash here today.

GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba,  (Reuters) – A simulated wave of Caribbean migrants sailed to the Guantanamo naval base this week for a training drill designed to prepare U.S.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – A top U.S. Republican lawmaker said today he would support granting citizenship to children who are in the country illegally in a sign that conservatives who oppose immigration amnesty will be playing defense as Congress takes on immigration reform in the coming months.

ALLAHABAD, India,  (Reuters) – At least 18 people were killed in a stampede in the Indian city of Allahabad today as Hindus returned from a river dip at the world’s largest religious festival.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass./NEW YORK,  (Reuters) – The U.S. Northeast started digging itself out today after a blizzard dumped up to 40 inches (1 meter) of snow with hurricane force winds, killing at least nine people and leaving hundreds of thousands without power.

LONDON,  (Reuters) – As Britons choke on discovering they may have eaten horse that was imported as beef, and ministers blame an “international criminal conspiracy”, this new scandal has exposed the sometimes murky labyrinth by which food reaches Europe’s dinner tables.

A dispute has erupted over the recent sale of a Lamaha Gardens property–used for decades by the community as a recreational area and a playground–which has been dubbed “illegal” and there are calls for an immediate investigation of the transaction.

In its first year of existence the Guyana Women Miners Association (GWMA) rescued five women from the interior who were being exploited and with the assistance of members even assisted in sending one of the women’s sons overseas for a basketball tournament.

(Jamaica Observer) KINGSTON, Jamaica – Reports are that an earth tremor shook sections of western Jamaica early this morning.

(Jamaica Observer) A senior security official who worked in the US Embassy in Kingston is expected to be charged soon for his alleged role in helping the manager of a popular Jamaican entertainer obtain a US visa to leave the island in the face of legal troubles, according to highly placed law enforcement sources.

(Barbados Nation) Calling the court system “dysfunctional”, a Queen’s Counsel has expressed concern about the high number of cases awaiting judicial decisions.

MELBOURNE,  (Reuters) – Adam Voges scored his maiden one-day international century as a depleted Australia secured a 5-0 series whitewash by beating West Indies by 17 runs in the final match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground today.

(Trinidad Express) SuperBlue and Machel Montano are the joint International Power Soca Monarchs, having trounced all opponents at the final of the competition that began at 9.30 p.m.

Several death row inmates have recently had their sentences commuted to life in prison, while a few new convicts have joined those remaining on death row, raising questions on the issue of the death penalty once again and whether it should be abolished.

After you pass the canefields of Wales and Patentia along the Demerara River you come to the quiet village of Vive-la-Force, which takes its name from a colonial plantation.

Without stating the specifics, Chief Executive Office of National Industrial and Commercial Invest-ments Limited (NICIL) Winston Brassington said the Privatisation Board was satisfied that Queens Atlantic Investment Inc (QAII) has lived up to its obligations with regard to the Sanata site.

Minister of Finance Dr Ashni Singh is calling on the opposition parties to desist from running to the media and speaking negatively about the budget talks as this would be injurious to the process; he insisted that the consultations are not PR exercises.

Now that the dust has settled and emotions have subsided, it might be a good time to dispassionately consider the meaning of the court’s decision in the Isseneru case which attracted some attention recently.

Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) Paul Bhim has said that the sugar corporation is aware that the head of the Torani Canal is progressively becoming shallower because the banks of the canal are eroding and sliding into the water, but that the “situation does not pose any immediate threat to the area.”

Part 2   Introduction This week I continue the discussion of the burden of Guyana’s public indebtedness since the official introduction of its rebased 2006 price series GDP estimates.

NORTH SOUND, Antigua, CMC – Tonito Willett’s half-century propped up the Leeward Islands but Guyana were making a strong reply at close of play on  the opening day of the first round of matches in the Regional Four-Day Championship here yesterday.

In recent weeks, probably propelled by fading hopes for “a new day” with our new Parliament, we have seen some stirring letters to the press citing Guyana’s diverse difficulties and calling for the citizenry to become more socially active.

GROS ISLET, ST LUCIA – The Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) surrendered, rather gave away, a great opportunity to build a sizeable first innings lead against the Windward Islands yesterday at the Beausejour Cricket Ground on Day One of their opening Regional Four  Day match.

Attorney-General Anil Nandlall says that the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill, passed unanimously in the National Assembly more than a month ago, will be assented to shortly.

Quacy Price and Delroy Dean Friday night combined to power Beterverwagting to a crushing victory over Buxton B as the Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets Tournament’ East Coast leg commenced at the Buxton Community Centre ground.

APNU Parliamentarian Desmond Trotman has moved to the courts asking whether the US$25 million received by government from the sale of its GT&T shares qualifies to be paid into the Consolidated Fund rather than being in the coffers of National Industrial and Commercial Investments Ltd (NICIL).

It isn’t an exercise that makes much sense to try and rank poets in a sort of hierarchy of greatness.

IT is a question that still has to be adequately answered five years after Kieron Pollard entered international cricket in the 2007 World Cup, aged 19, a massive unit with a justifiable reputation as an awesome hitter.

BOSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – A record-breaking blizzard packing hurricane-force winds hammered the northeastern United States yesterday, cutting power to 700,000 homes and businesses, shutting down travel and leaving at least five people dead.

Introduction The quotation taken from a judgment of US Supreme Court Judge Wiley Blount Rutledge is as true today as when it was handed down in a case nearly seventy years ago.

CUTTACK, India, CMC- West Indies Women’s captain Merissa Aguilleira says her team can ill-afford to make mistakes facing an uphill task through the supers six phase of the ICC Women’s World Cup .

House Republicans don’t seem to get it. After getting pummelled by Hispanic voters in the 2012 election, they now want to create an underclass of 11 million people — mostly Latinos — by denying undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship.

A 61-year-old man is now dead after a minibus reversed and struck him down at First Creek, Kuru Kururu, Soesdyke Linden Highway, around 16:30 hrs on Friday.

There are strong signs that the numbers of visitors from the US and Canada are once again on the increase, and the world’s most advanced developing economies, in-cluding China and Brazil, are returning to previous high levels of growth.

Fruta Conquerors conquered Houston Stars by three goals to nil Friday night to advance to the next round of the sixth NAMILCO One Love football tournament at the Tucville Playfield.

This discourse on the power and social responsibility of theatre-goers by Desryn Jones-Collins was written in response to the ‘Arts on Sunday’  feature ‘A Season of Theatre’ published in Sunday Stabroek on January 13, 2013. 

Events occurring over the past week dictate that I continue to dwell on this topic which appeared in last week’s column (not for the first time). 

Action in the East Coast zone of the Banks DIH Limited Guinness Greatest of the Streets football tournament will continue today with eight matches at the Haslington Market Square.

The Milo U20 Schools football tournament will continue today at the Ministry of Education Ground, Carifesta Avenue with three fixtures beginning at noon.

The Giant River Otter, ‘Water Dog’ or ‘River Wolf’ (Pteronura brasiliensis) is the most endangered mammal in the neo tropics as they were once hunted for their fur.

Bougainvillea commonly called the ‘Paper flower’ originated in Brazil and the tropical region of South America.

MIAMI,  (Reuters) – LeBron James equalled a franchise record with his fourth straight 30-point game as the Miami Heat routed the Los Angeles Clippers 111-89 on Friday.

Roraima Bikers Cycle Club’s Alonso Greaves yesterday outsprinted Raynauth Jeffrey to win the feature event of the 22nd R&R International nine race programme in the National Park organized by national cycling coach Hassan Mohammed.

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s education minister resigned yesterday after being stripped of her doctorate for plagiarism, embarrassing Chancellor Angela Merkel and depriving her of a close ally in the run-up to a September election.

Dear Editor, May I take opportunity early in this new year to toast the health of your most worthy Stabroek News as our country’s leading information medium and to express my appreciation of its editorial mind that facilitates such varied and provocative spectrum of public comment in your letter pages.

Rayan Watson scored a double in the 56th and 70th minutes as Chase Academy defeated St.

Hit for six! Children enjoying a little game of cricket on a sandy field near Trench Road and Saffon Street.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India hanged a Kashmiri man yesterday for an attack on the country’s parliament in 2001, sparking clashes in Kashmir between protesters and police who wielded batons and fired teargas.

Dear Editor, In an SN article of Feb 9, Winston Brassington CEO of Atlantic Hotels Inc and NICIL, Government of Guyana (GoG) subsidiaries acknowledged that the Chinese contractor, Shanghai Construction Group (SCG)  for the Marriott Hotel was entitled under the terms and conditions of its contract to employ Chinese labour at the expense of Guyanese.

Felix Austin Training College on Friday defeated Immigration II in the final of the Headquarters 10/10 softball tournament organized by Linden Matthews at the Police Sports Club ground, Eve Leary.

Dear Editor, The official launch of CCTV by the administration on Friday (February 8, 2013) continues to raise more questions.

Mount Trashmore! Climb at your own risk. This tourist attraction can be found at Trench Road and Saffon Street.

WELLINGTON, (Reuters) – Luke Wright shone with bat and ball while captain Stuart Broad took four wickets as England eased to a 40-run victory over New Zealand in their first Twenty20 international in Auckland yesterday.

In a letter to this newspaper on February 1, Mr Enrico Woolford of EMW Communications/Capitol News criticized the National Frequency Management Unit (NFMU) for failing to divulge who is operating on which frequency in Guyana.

MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s prime minister published his tax returns yesterday in a bid to quell reports he and other conservative politicians received secret cash payments but the opposition said many questions remain unanswered.