Daily Archive: Thursday, February 28, 2013

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is “battling for his life”, according to Vice-President Nicolas Maduro.

VATICAN CITY,  (Reuters) – With Pope Benedict XVI now officially in retirement, Catholic cardinals from around the world begin on Friday the complex, cryptic and uncertain process of picking the next leader of the world’s largest church.

PORT-AU-PRINCE,  (Reuters) – Former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier appeared in court today for the first time to face charges he was responsible for corruption and serious human rights violations during his 15-year rule.

(Trinidad Guardian) Government is embarking on two major maritime projects as a cost of US$3 billion. This

The Linden Commission of Inquiry (COI) this morning handed over their report to President Donald Ramotar during a simple ceremony at the Office of the President.

Following the ongoing investigation of illegal mining in Marudi Mountain, Region 9, the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) has been directed by the Ministry of Natural Resources to review the Mining Licence held by Romanex Guyana Exploration Ltd.

ROME,  (Reuters) – The United States will send non-lethal aid directly to Syrian rebels for the first time, Secretary of State John Kerry said today, disappointing opponents of President Bashar al-Assad who are clamouring for Western weapons.

(CBS) Fearing for her safety, Rihanna has filed for and been granted a restraining order from an obsessed fan.

(Reuters) – Former Temptations singer Richard Street has died aged 70, his widow Cindy Street told CNN.

(Jamaica Gleaner) With a crippling backlog of approximately 400,000 cases in the courts islandwide, a parliamentary oversight committee was in no mood yesterday for excuses as it sought answers from the justice ministry about plans to dramatically reduce the startling number.

(Reuters) – LeBron James and Dwyane Wade combined for 79 points as the Miami Heat prevailed 141-129 in a double overtime marathon against the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Dr Michelle-Anne Richards-Dawson, senior medical officer at the Bustamante Hospital for Children (BHC), could not contain her joy yesterday at the groundbreaking ceremony for the well-needed cardiac unit on the grounds of the hospital.

(Trinidad Express) Though lacking a GPS system, the 767 aircraft used by Caribbean Airlines to fly to London/Gatwick are suitable because they fulfilled the requirement of having a flight route which ensures the aircraft is no more than 120 minutes away from a suitable airport, Finance Minister Larry Howai stated.

Strapped for cash and facing a demand from its partners for US$15M, CGX is entering into a private placement to raise CDN$35-40M which could see its fellow Canadian oil explorer Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp gaining as much as 70% of the shares  in the company.

One person has been positively identified as being part of the Mashramani Day attack that left Kumar Mohabir dead and his brother seriously wounded and the search is on for others, according to Crime Chief Seelall Persaud.

In an address to Antiguans last evening in the wake of the shooting to death of a Guyanese woman on Tuesday, Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer announced a series of measures to tackle crime.

Guyana Power and Light company (GPL) workers represented by NAACIE yesterday took to the streets to press for higher wages even as the company said high fuel prices were ruining its bottom line and pointed to a $5B loss last year.

The confession of murder accused Lloyd Rampersaud was admitted as evidence in his trial by Justice Navindra Singh yesterday.

Speaker of the National Assembly, Raphael Trotman yesterday refuted the claim by main opposition APNU that he had first released his ruling on efforts to gag Minister Clement Rohee to the media before parliamentarians.

Police have arrested a suspect in the murder of McDoom miner Gavin McNeil and the search is on for a second person, according to Crime Chief Seelall Persaud.

Lack of funding combined with logistical hurdles have proven to be the biggest setbacks in getting members of the Indigenous Peoples Commission (IPC) to Amerindians in the hinterlands to discuss issues affecting them.

Gavin Barckoy was on Tuesday sentenced to 58 months’ imprisonment by Magistrate Judy Latchman after he was found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving.

Ashley deGroot completed a resounding win against her older brother Raphael deGroot on night two of the Guyana Squash Association’s (GSA) Bounty Farm Mash Handicap tournament last night at the Georgetown Club’s Squash Facility.

Region Four Chairman Clement Corlette says Speaker of the National Assembly Raphael Trotman should be made to recall his ruling lifting the gag-order on Home Minister Clement Rohee and have Parliament amend the standing orders to give effect to its intentions on the matters at hand.

President of the Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) Godfrey Munroe and his administration have made their intentions clear once again about following through with the GTTA’s decision to decentralize the sport in Guyana.

The driver of the car that reportedly fatally struck drummer David Burnett on Monday evening on the Beterverwagting Public Road was yesterday charged with causing death by dangerous driving and was released on bail.

Garbage collection in the town of Rose Hall and neighbouring communities in Berbice has been handed over to private contractors.

Coach of the Georgetown compilation of senior players for this weekend’s contest against Linden Robert Cadogan is confident that the capital city players will be victorious on Saturday night at the Cliff Anderson Sport Hall.

The Guysuco Training Centre/Port Mourant (GTC/PM) volleyball club recently returned from Suriname beaten not broken in failing to win the Yellowbirds Volleyball Club’s 50th anniversary volleyball tournament in Paramaribo.

Even though he has the most severe handicap of the tournament, 18-year old squash campaigner Jason Ray Khalil is looking to the defy the odds and win 2013 Bounty Farm Mash Handicap tournament.

Teachers of the Wisburg Secondary School in Region Ten are afraid to enter their classrooms after one of them walked into a trap set by students that left her with a fractured skull.

In keeping up with its five-year youth development programme which started in 2010 the Guyana Rugby Football Union (GRFU) has once again collaborated with a corporate

Agriculture Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy has said a US-based company is in talks to take over Mahaicony Rice Mills Limited (MRM) and is expected to settle all its outstanding debts to rice farmers and government.

KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, CMC-Assad Fudadin dug out a half century but Guyana faltered against a persistent Windward Island bowling attack on the first day of their regional four day match  yesterday.

National men and women’s champions Sudesh Fitzgerald and Hemwattie Amyan were beaten in the finals of the men and women’s singles of the Guyana darts Assoiciation Mashramani Darts Classic at the Clerical and Commercial Workers Union Club (CCWU) last Sunday.

A 20-year-old man who allegedly broke and entered Household Plus Store and stole $6.5 million in items was yesterday remanded to prison when he appeared before Magistrate Leron Daly at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.

A man has been arrested in connection with last Saturday’s invasion of a mining camp at Arakaka, North West District during which a Brazilian national was shot and injured.

Dear Editor, A friend encouraged me to read Mr Ralph Ramkarran’s article from last Sunday’s edition of SN, which was titled, ‘Repairing Guyana’s broken system of government.’ 

The Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) has extended congratulations to Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shemaine Campbelle on their recent successful achievements against Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka respectively.

Four Colombian women, who entered Guyana illegally, were yesterday fined $30,000 or six months’ imprisonment each and ordered deported.

Dear Editor, Much of Berbice experienced DSL ‘blackout’ from Monday afternoon into Tuesday evening.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC-Captain Kirk Edwards is on the verge of scoring his second century as Barbados leads Combined Campuses and Colleges by 61 runs on the first day of their regional four day match yesterday.

The National Sports Commission (NSC) will be sponsoring a Mashramani dominoes competition for persons with disabilities in Region 2 on the Essequibo Coast.

Dear Editor, As a former Member of Parliament, I have been paying keen interest to the National Assembly’s no-confidence motion on Mr Clement Rohee as Minister of Home Affairs, and the subsequent gagging in this capacity after the PPP administration refused to respect the House’s no-confidence vote.

A man who allegedly shot his brother in the chest was yesterday released on $150,000 bail when he appeared at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.

The much-anticipated Ming’s Product and Services golf tournament will be played on Saturday at the Lusignan Golf Course.

Seventy-four-year-old Sydney Kingston has regained consciousness after an accident on Tuesday while another pedestrian, Kurtis George, 30, remains unconscious in the Georgetown Public Hospital.

Dear Editor, I have been doing loan repayments with NBS for a number of years and I hadn’t any cause to complain of the service by the staff members.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – Decorated Vietnam veteran Chuck Hagel was sworn in as U.S.

Several departments of the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security (MLHSSS) at Water and Cornhill Streets, will be relocated to the unoccupied Lamaha Street building, which formerly housed the Guyana Revenue Authority’s (GRA’s) Secretariat, a release from the Government Information Agency (GINA) said yesterday.

Dear Editor, I am reading with disgust about the crime situation in Guyana and how the police are incapable of finding a solution to this problem.

ROME – An Italian political crisis that has rattled the euro zone deepened on Wednesday when two party leaders ruled out the most likely options to form a government and avoid a new election.

The Ministry of Amerindian Affairs recently heard concerns about access to water from some communities in the North Pakaraimas in Region Eight.

Dear Editor, When Mr Eusi Kwayana fires, his aim is not to disarm but to ensure specific objectives are achieved.

Digicel, Banks DIH and Ansa McAl won top honours from a group of 30 bands competing in Saturday’s Mashramani float parade.

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, CMC- Debutant Stephen Katwaroo was leading a rescue mission for Trinidad and Tobago against Leeward Islands at the close of play on the first day of their regional four day match at Warner Park  yesterday.

VATICAN CITY,  (Reuters) – Pope Benedict slips quietly from the world stage today after a private last goodbye to his cardinals and a short flight to a country palace to enter the final phase of his life “hidden from the world”.

News reports in the State media show that senior Government officials persist in branding independent thinkers in this country as agents of the “opposition”.

Dear Editor, According to Alliance for Change (AFC) Member of Parliament Mrs Valerie Lowe, an invasion of acoushi ants is destroying farming areas in Moruka.

(Jamaica Gleaner) The President of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has responded to concerns that the court is susceptible to political interference because of the small space in which it operates.

BRASILIA, (Reuters) – President Dilma Rousseff said yesterday that Brazil must cut its high business costs to become more competitive and vowed to keep inflation in check as the world’s sixth-largest economy shifts into higher gear this year.

(Reuters) – Ian Bell stroked an unbeaten century as England amassed an impressive 357 for seven at the end of the first day of their match against a New Zealand XI in Queenstown  yesterday.

Magistrate Judy Latchman remanded a 44-year-old woman accused of stealing items valued $115,000 from another when she on Tuesday appeared in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.

   Republic Anniversary quiz: As part of the recent Republic Anniversary observance, the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport arranged school debates, essay-writing and child art competitions among other events.

Lot One of the East Coast Four Lane Highway Extension is being completed by Dipcon Engineering Services at a cost of approximately $463Million after the initial $468Million contract given to Falcon Transpor-tation and Construction Company was terminated last year.

Dear Editor, The antics of this government and its apologists who have been engaged in defending the perverse agreement to grant the contractor carte blanche approval to import wholesale the entire manpower requirement for the construction of the Marriott Hotel, would have been sublime comedy were it not for the serious matter of the denial of scores Guyanese tradesmen the opportunity of earning a livelihood in their native land.

More than a week since nearly 800 pounds of cocaine was found concealed in hollowed-out timber logs that were being prepared for shipment to Holland by Guyana Timber Products (GTP) Inc there seems to be no clear indication as to who was behind the elaborate scheme.

Installment One Hundred Forty-Three: New non-immigrant visa appointment and fee process.

Will the current ban of the top ten calypsos in this year’s Republic Anniversary celebration competition succeed in putting the final nail in the coffin of this genre of music, for which the death knell had begun to sound some years ago?

LONDON,  (Reuters) – The MCC World Cricket committee has backed the inclusion of Twenty20 cricket in the Olympics but acknowledges it will take a great deal of effort for that to happen, the organisation’s advisory body said today.

Hits and Jams Entertainment is launching 94.1 Boom FM on March 9 and is inviting the public to tune in for a chance to win a car and cash prizes.

Dear Editor, Permit me the grace of your indulgence to express a view on this vexed issue of C’de Rohee’s participation in the National Assembly or as it may be more appropriately described as the House of unlawful assembly, the actions therein having come full circle after the recent walk-out of Speaker Trotman under whose baleful influence the current imbroglio was charted.

MEXICO CITY,  (Reuters) – Mexico arrested the powerful head of the main teachers’ union on fraud and embezzlement charges on Tuesday, striking out at a high-profile opponent of the new government’s reform efforts and seeking to assert President Enrique Pena Nieto’s authority.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Denis O’Brien’s Digicel Limited will use the US$1 billion it plans to raise via private placement to buy up its 12 per cent bonds and finance other projects.