Daily Archive: Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Rob Morrison, a news anchor for WCBS-TV, was arrested on Sunday on charges of choking his wife during a domestic dispute at their Connecticut home, the police said on Monday.

ST GEORGE’S, Grenada,  CMC – Out-of-touch West Indies batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan has been included in the UWI Vice Chancellor’s XI for their one-day tour match against Zimbabwe which bowls off here today.

(Reuters) – A federal commission today said the U.S. education system had “thoroughly stacked the odds” against impoverished students and warned that an aggressive reform agenda embraced by both Democrats and Republicans had not done enough to improve public schools.

MIRPUR, Bangladesh,  CMC – West Indies big hitter Kieron Pollard failed but his Dhaka Gladiators captured the Bangladesh Premier League here Tuesday when they beat Chittagong Kings by 43 runs in the grand final at the Shere Bangla National Stadium.

Cocaine amounting to over 300 kilos–equal to just over 661 pounds–was found hidden in a container of lumber at a Soesdyke sawmill earlier today, Crime Chief Seelall Persaud has confirmed.

In another stinging rebuke for the government, the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) has come out against the shutout of Guyanese workers from the construction of the Marriott Hotel.

The PPP is keeping its cards close to its chest about possibly calling snap elections, despite its continued concerns about the actions of the opposition parties in the National Assembly.

LOS ANGELES, (Reuters) – If there is one sure bet in this roller coaster movie awards season, it is that Daniel Day-Lewis will take home the Best Actor statuette at the Oscars on Sunday.

(Jamaica Observer) Two Senators from either side of the upper chamber are planning on a joint motion seeking the decriminalisation of the practise of obeah in Jamaica.

(Trinidad Express) A thief shot himself in the head while robbing passengers in a taxi he hijacked in Chaguanas yesterday afternoon.

BRUSSELS,  (Reuters) – Robbers dressed as police and armed with machineguns have stolen 120 parcels of diamonds worth millions of dollars from the runway of Brussels Airport in one of the biggest heists the industry has seen.

GENEVA,  (Reuters) – North Korea threatened South Korea with “final destruction” during a debate at the U.N

(Trinidad Express) President-elect Anthony Thomas Aquinas Carmona yesterday pledged to serve as President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago with “clarity, objectivity, fairness and due process”.

CARACAS,  (Reuters) – After Hugo Chavez spent two months out of the public eye for cancer surgery in Cuba, the Venezuelan government hailed his homecoming on Monday and said the president had achieved another milestone – 4 million followers on Twitter.

(Trinidad Express) Trinidad and Tobago loses more than TT$200 million in tourism revenue a year because of crime, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said yesterday.

PRETORIA,  (Reuters) – “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius put on his artificial legs and walked across his bedroom before firing four handgun rounds into the locked bathroom door, killing his cowering girlfriend in cold blood, prosecutors said today.

Dr Naresh Singh does not believe that he should hold off on taking up the appointment as the new Caricom Deputy Secretary-General, saying enough time is available to sufficiently probe allegations that he was in a conflict of interest situation at his previous job.

(Trinidad Express) A Guyanese national appeared in the Siparia Magistrates Court yesterday charged with the murder of mother of three, Stella Rampersad.

A Guyanese woman was brutally murdered on Sunday, in front of her four-year-old grandson by her husband who nearly sliced her head off, the New York Post reported yesterday.

The body of a 24-year-old Guyanese woman, who went missing since December 19 last year, was found on Saturday on Breezy Point beach in New York and her live-in boyfriend is implicated.

Under withering criticism and questioning over how China Central TV (CCTV) has been broadcasting here, Prime Minister Sam Hinds yesterday said that it had no licence to transmit but that its signal is simply being relayed by the state-owned NCN.

Surinamese lawmen arrived in Guyana around 2.30 pm yesterday, ready to work with investigators at Springlands Police Station, to begin investigations in connection with a piracy attack on Tuesday last.

PPP Executive Gail Teixeira yesterday accused the media of facilitating a racist line of attack over the workers at the Marriott construction site being exclusively non-Guyanese, while saying such projects usually assimilate local workers into their operations.

The trial of murder accused Dexter Marshall began yesterday before Justice Roxane George in the High Court, where the brother of the victim identified the accused as one of the men who shot his brother.

A Guyanese fisherman was stabbed to death in neighbouring Suriname on Sunday night under unclear circumstances.

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is in possession of the file on the case of the mentally challenged teenage girl who was raped by a minibus driver in Berbice several weeks ago, according to Crime Chief Seelall Persaud.

A 12-member jury panel has been empanelled to preside over the murder trial of Mark Thompson which is being conducted before Justice Dawn Gregory in the High Court.

A national football player succumbed in hospital on Saturday to internal injuries sustained in an accident that left him in a coma for 11 days.

Phonda Rose, the daughter of murdered security guard Patricia Rose, collapsed in court yesterday while giving evidence and had to be taken to the hospital.

A suspect in two recent armed robberies committed on persons coming from the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri has been identified and is being sought according to Crime Chief Seelall Persaud who noted that the force is paying a lot of attention to this situation as it can create fear.

On a night marred by dubious officiating, patrons on Saturday night, witnessed a Warren Gilkes master class as Plaisance became the inaugural Guinness Greatest of the Streets, East Coast champions when they defeated Church Yard United by two goals to one in a thrilling finale.

Attorney General Anil Nandlall yesterday justified his involvement in advising the President on whether to assent to Bills passed in the National Assembly and cited Article 112 of the Constitu-tion which empowers him as the state’s legal advisor.

Acting Chief Justice Ian Chang yesterday heard final arguments in the legal battle to quash Speaker Raphael Trotman’s decision preventing Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee from speaking in the National Assembly.

An eight-year-old boy drowned on Saturday around 4 pm, after he apparently fell into a reservoir close to a sand yard where he had been playing. 

Vice president of the Georgetown Football Association (GFA) Lavern Fraser-Thomas says that the sub-association is financially stable and hoping to pursue several projects this year including developing the club structure and strengthening the women’s programme.

Persons who are visually impaired are now better able to use the computer and keep abreast with technology with the introduction of software that provides step-by-step instructions for such use.

Yesterday afternoon was a significant one for the Scotia/Pepsi Schools Football Academy which is a programme of the Guyana Sports Development Foundation (GSDF), following its successful launch at the Ministry of Education Sports Complex, Carifesta Avenue.

The Guyana Police Force (GPF) band out-played Park Side Steel Orchestra and the Ministry of Culture Youth and Sport Steel Orchestra to take first place in the Large Bands category of the Republic Bank sponsored Mash Pan-o-rama Steel Band competition on Sunday.

Shamal Lewis’s first half penalty powered Bishops’ High School to a 1-0 victory over arch-rivals Queen’s College in a battle of the academics, as the Milo U20 football tournament continued at the Ministry of Education Ground Carifesta Avenue on Sunday.

Dear Editor, I refer to two letters carried recently in the Stabroek News concerning spraying with herbicides to maintain canals in the MMA area (‘The MMA canals should not be cleared by the use of herbicides’ by Bramdeow Singh (February 9) and ‘Alleged use of herbicides in MMA/ ADA canals must be clarified’ by Hamilton Green (February 12).

James Krakowsky ended with six wins and a positive spread of 712 to win the Serious Off Roaders Open scrabble competition held Sunday at the Malteenoes Sports Club.

With current gold extraction methods yielding inefficient results, the introduction of new mercury-free mining technology is expected to boost production by almost 50% while also addressing environmental concerns.

Dear Editor, It is appalling to see that the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) is attempting to justify the illegal and unlawful acts of its members who entered the Turkeyen campus of the University of Guyana (UG) on the February 12 and 13, 2013 at night, without seeking permission to do so from the relevant administrative authorities of UG and, also failing to report to campus security that they were seeking to apprehend one of their members.

Donald Mopp, the elderly man accused of fatally stabbing miner Winsel Edwards, was yesterday charged with murder.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados,  CMC – Purposeful bowling trumped half-centuries from Zaheer Mohammed and Steven Jacobs, propelling Barbados to a 93-run victory over Guyana in the Regional 4-Day Tournament here yesterday.

Bounty Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) and GCC Tigers won the men’s and women’s titles respectively at last Sunday’s Bounty Farm sponsored one-day hockey tournament organised by the Guyana Hockey Board at the Guyana National Stadium at Providence.

Former Director-General of the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM), Ambassador Henry S Gill who played a vital role in Cariforum states negotiations with the European Union for the EPA died on Thursday.

Dear Editor, In an SN article of Feb 13, Dr Nanda Gopaul, Minister of Labour after a site visit to the Marriott Hotel to assess construction progress and other issues was reported as defending the exclusive use of non-national  Chinese workers for the construction of the hotel because in his opinion the Chinese contractor, Shanghai Construction Group (CCG) was using   highly technical construction methods, skills which he claimed Guyanese did not have.

A man on drug charges yesterday accused police of trying to railroad him by inflating the amount of cannabis on him at the time of his arrest.

Dear Editor, For the last three weeks, my area (Chateau Margot), and neighbouring areas, have been experiencing horrendous DSL service on GT&T’s network. 

KINGSTON, Jamaica,  CMC-Jamaican Whycliffe Cameron has announced plans to challenge Dr.

Dear Editor, I have been following the great debate in the Guyana press on the issue of Mr Moses Nagamootoo’s principled position in the ongoing debate on the former presidents’ benefits.

Masharama! The Ministry of Tourism yesterday launched its Mash Band. In photo, male and female models display some of the costumes that will be on the road on Saturday.

A man was yesterday charged with using threatening language to his brother.

The Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) is looking forward to working diligently with the sports and tourism authorities to bring international cricket back to Guyana according to a press released issued to this publication earlier this week.

GENEVA (Reuters) – United Nations investigators said yesterday that Syrian leaders they had identified as suspected war criminals should face the International Criminal Court (ICC).’

Police are said to be investigating a fire at the Moleson Creek Police Outpost, which occurred early yesterday morning and according to Crime Chief Seelall Persaud it appears that it was electrical in origin.

Dear Editor, I believe that you carried a photo image some time ago of an open manhole at High Street just before the traffic lights on the right side of the road.

Guyana’s veteran football players will clash with their counterparts from Suriname on Sunday and Tuesday in two benefit matches for three veteran football players who have fallen on hard times.

Dear Editor, I noticed a ‘Dear Minerva’ letter in Sunday Stabroek February 17 last captioned ‘How can I end this nervousness?’

MUMBAI, India, CMC– Two West Indies players have been named in the ICC Women’s World Cup India 2013 team of the tournament announced yesterday.

The suspect in the murder of Bartica businesswoman Elisangla Da Silva Figuerado has been found in Brazilian but she is not yet in the custody of local police, Crime Chief Seelall Persaud said.

HAVANA (Reuters) – A seven-member delegation of US lawmakers arrived in Cuba yesterday in the latest effort to move forward political relations that have been at a standstill since US government contractor Alan Gross was imprisoned there in 2009.

JOHANNESBURG,(Reuters) – Ever since ‘Blade Runner’ Oscar Pistorius’s girlfriend was shot dead in his Pretoria home last week, South African papers have printed lurid details of the killing which, if true, pose major challenges to the Paralympic star’s defence team, experts say.

Dear Editor, It is incumbent upon the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) to make known its views on President Ramotar’s comments regarding the building of the Marriott Hotel.

Mayor of Georgetown Hamilton Green says that the absence of parking lots is an issue of serious concern on which the city has been ignored by the government.

(Reuters) – Upping the educational value of what young children watch on television and choosing to avoid violence-prone programming may help improve their behavior, according to a US study that looked at several hundred preschoolers.

    Fighting for the youths: This aged woman pushing her way to the Marriott construction site to join the protest held there yesterday by social and political activists against the non-employment of Guyanese (Photo by Arian Browne)

CAPE TOWN, Feb 18 (Reuters) – Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq reiterated his belief that the continued boycott of his country by international sides is hindering their chances of becoming the leading test nation.

Dear Editor, I recently read a letter penned by Dr Henry Jeffrey captioned ‘A PPP constitution not a PNC one’ in the Stabroek News and was utterly dismayed when he had the gall to put the PPP and the PNC in the same basket.

Eight-year-old St Margaret’s pupil Joshua Hubbard who was pushed down by a classmate at school, died as a result of a fractured spine, blunt trauma to the neck and haemorrhaging in the brain, a post-mortem examination (PME) revealed.

Fighting breaks out in Sudan’s Blue Nile border state CAIRO (Reuters) – Fighting broke out in a Sudanese border state between the military and rebels trying to overthrow President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, both sides said yesterday, and the government said its forces had killed scores of insurgents.

    Tiffany Castello yesterday became the newest attorney to be admitted to the local bar.

KARACHI, (Reuters) – Pakistan’s most-capped player Inzamam-ul-Haq has called on the current team to show a more positive attitude with the bat in the remaining test of their three-match series against South Africa.

Dear Editor, In writing this I recall the political culture of a time when the printing of the Dayclean, the Catholic Standard and above all the Mirror was restricted.

MUMBAI (Reuters) – Britain and India are expected to agree to set up a joint task force to fight cyber crime today, a move London hopes will help it safeguard the personal banking and mobile phone data of millions of Britons, much of which is stored on Indian servers.

JOHANNESBURG, (Reuters) – South Africa are set to pocket $450,000 after they guaranteed the number one position in the ICC Test Championship beyond the April 1 cut-off date for prize money to be awarded in 2013.

Like his immediate predecessor, the new Vice Chancellor of the University of Guyana, Professor Jacob Opadeyi, has been speaking of the desirability of a partnership between the University of Guyana and the private sector.

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez made a surprise return from Cuba yesterday, more than two months after surgery for cancer that has jeopardized his 14-year rule of the South American OPEC nation.

A well-known Waterloo Street bicycle mechanic was last evening shot in his thigh allegedly by two police officers who were in pursuit of two men said to have been involved in a robbery.

  Closed for cleaning! A section of Church Street closed to traffic yesterday to facilitate the cleaning of the canal in preparation for Mashra-mani (Photo by Arian Browne)

Dear Editor, This is in response to Mr Lincoln Lewis’s missive titled, ‘The House has to be guided by laws…’ (SN, Feb 16) in which he chastises the Speaker for failing to execute the agenda of the majority to bar Minister Clement Rohee from speaking as well as to execute the other agendas of the majority opposition.

LONDON (Reuters) – Nestle, the world’s biggest food company, has removed beef pasta meals from sale in Italy and Spain after finding traces of horse DNA.