Daily Archive: Friday, May 17, 2013

(Trinidad Express) Finance Minister Larry Howai has fired the Caribbean Airlines (CAL) board.

After four years of incarceration awaiting trial, Abickie Ferguson was this afternoon found not guilty of the murder of her stepfather Glendon Scipio who was stabbed to death on April 22, 2009.

Vinod Balgobin,  believed to be responsible for the stabbing to death of his former wife 30 year old Maryann Sunita Nauth, today appeared in the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court charged with murder.

BAQUBA, Iraq,  (Reuters) – Two bombs exploded outside a Sunni Muslim mosque in the Iraqi city of Baquba as worshippers left Friday prayers, killing at least 43 people in one of the deadliest attacks in a month-long surge in sectarian violence.

(Trinidad Guardian) The world recession and not mismanagement was responsible for the collapse of the CL Financial empire, former CL Financial chairman Lawrence Duprey says. In

(Trinidad Guardian) The wings of Caribbean Airlines’ board have been “clipped” and a new board is on the horizon, expected to be announced shortly, government officials said yesterday. The

LAGOS,  (Reuters) – Nigerian forces used jets and attack helicopters to bombard Islamist militant camps in the northeast on Friday, killing a number of insurgents, the defence headquarters spokesman said.

(Reuters) – Candice Glover, a soul singer from rural South Carolina, was named “American Idol” on Thursday, becoming the first female singer to win the television singing competition since 2007.

The St Ignatius Bridge in Region 9 gave way under the weight of a truck which was transporting an excavator on Wednesday evening and residents say the mishap could have been avoided if warnings were heeded.

A Partnership for National Unity will not sacrifice scrutiny of government’s proposed amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Amendment Bill (AML/CFT) to meet a declared deadline.

Dr Ramesh Sugrim, 60, of Williamsburg, Corentyne appeared at the Fort Welling-ton Court on Wednesday charged with failing to stop after an accident and failing to render assistance.

Two months after recommendations were made for those killed and injured when police opened fire at Linden last July to be awarded various sums of money, government is still to make the payouts but says it is preparing to do so.

The police arrested three men who were in possession of an invalid bank cheque in the sum of $5.8 million at about 15:00 hrs yesterday at Broad Street, Charlestown.

“The tyranny of the text” has in many ways crippled Indian history in the Caribbean, Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of the West Indies at St Augustine Dr Kusha Haraksingh has said.

The murder trial of Carl Bennett began yesterday with a relative of the deceased, Marvin ‘Jess’ Boston testifying before Justice Navindra Singh in the High Court that she saw the accused stabbing Boston.

The Private Sector Commission yesterday said that it was gravely concerned at the prospect that Guyana could be blacklisted internationally over failure to comply with a May 27 deadline for legislative amendments intended to fight money laundering.

Magistrate Judy Latchman sentenced a 27-year-old man to 56 months in jail after he was found guilty of armed robbery when he appeared at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court yesterday.

Cycling fans eager to see the improvement of the four Team Coco’s riders who returned from Colombia on Tuesday after a month-long high altitude training stint will only have to wait one more day.

A neighbour of Abickie Ferguson testified yesterday that the accused had initiated the quarrel with her stepfather by pulling the plug from the television after he had put it on to watch.

The World Volleyball Federation (FIVB) has allocated a Grassroots Beach Volleyball coaching course slated to spike off in Guyana starting from the June 24th to June 29th 2013.

The Ministry of Education has established two hotlines to provide a direct line of communication between the ministry and the public.

Jamaica shot their way to the West Indies Fullbore short range title by defeating arch-rivals Guyana on Thursday at the Paragon range in Barbados.

Four days after the fact, the Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL) yesterday expressed regret for spilt oil on the Rupert Craig Highway, which caused two separate accidents, even as Roshan Khan, the proprietor of RK’s Security Service, lashed out at the company’s seeming reluctance to address the matter.

DERBYSHIRE, England, CMC– West Indies middle order batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul has taken his place among batting greats by playing his 300th first-class match.

The Ministry of Education has installed a dish in Moraikobai that allows residents to access the Guyana Learning Channel to boost education delivery.

Minister of Works Robeson Benn yesterday confirmed that an oscillating light will be placed at the top of the Marriott Hotel to compensate for the blocking of the Georgetown Lighthouse by the still- to-be completed edifice.

NEW DELHI, (Reuters) – Former India test bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth and two other players have been arrested by Delhi police on suspicion of spot-fixing in the Indian Premier League, sports officials said yesterday.

Brigadier (rtd) David Granger, Leader of the Opposition this week met with Wendy Sneff, the US State Department, Southern Caribbean desk officer and Michael Fraser, Political and Economic Chief at the US Embassy in Georgetown.

The inaugural Guinness Greatest of the Streets National Championships was officially launched yesterday during a media briefing at the Thirst Park Conference Room, Banks DIH Limited.

Ramdat Sookraj has the wizened appearance of a man who has been a fixture on Guyana’s commercial landscape for more years than he cares to remember.

Dear Editor, As yet another batch of junior employees is fired or forced to resign from the GEA as a result of failing the lie detector test, one can’t help but observe that it is now the second time that a large percentage of the staff has been removed from the job.

The Government of Guyana says it remains appreciative of late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’ PetroCaribe regional energy agreement which “has made a significant impact on the country’s development” and now encompasses a fertilizer pact.

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad,  CMC– A longstanding dispute over millions of dollars owed to 13 members of Trinidad and Tobago’s 2006 world cup squad has ended, the country’s Football Federation (TTFF) has reported.

Dear Editor, In a release by the European Union expressing grave concern with respect to recent overtopping of the sea defence along the Rupert Craig Highway (RCH) in the vicinity of Conversation Tree and reported in SN on April 9, it appears that Minister of Public Works (MPW), Mr Robeson Benn, has suddenly decided to do something tangible to contain and prevent the flooding of residential areas south of RCH and elsewhere due to overtopping.

Guyana is part of an Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) financed regional system which compiles crime and violence information from 18 other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region.

MUMBAI, India,  CMC- Rajasthan Royals captain Rahul Dravid has blasted Mumbai Indians all-rounder Kieron Pollard for the way he celebrated to send off Royals batsman Shane Watson in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match on Wednesday.

Dear Editor, Christopher Ram’s commentary on GPL (SN, April 27) was quite an eye-opener.  

MIAMI, (Reuters) – The Miami Heat reached their third straight Eastern Conference final after a 94-91 win over Chicago on Wednesday secured a 4-1 series victory for the defending NBA champions.

Outstanding loans from local commercial banks to the private sector stood at $82.3 billion at the end of last year, an increase in lending of $17.8 billion from the $64.5 billion outstanding at the end of the previous year, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Institute for Private Enterprise Development (IPED) Yesu Persaud disclosed in the institute’s 2012 annual report.

Police yesterday said that during a search on a house at Canefield,

Participants who completed the Assessment and Preser-vation of Analog Audio media programme were on Wednes-day evening presented with certificates from Ohio University.

Dear Editor, It was recently brought to my attention through family and friends from Port Kaituma, Region One, that they are faced with deplorable health risks. 

Swirling Around The economy of Guyana exhibited significant vibrancy last year in many ways. 

WELLINGTON, (Reuters) – Hunched over desks staring at computer screens paid for in part by New Zealand cricket captain Brendon McCullum, employees at a small Wellington company are hard at work laying the foundations for what they hope will be the next social media revolution.

(Reuters) – The Memphis Grizzlies stunned Oklahoma City 88-84 on Wednesday to eliminate the Thunder from the NBA playoffs and reach their first Western Conference final.

Truck brings down bridge

A curriculum for a local mining school which will, among other things, help train miners in the use of alternatives to mercury in the gold recovery process is expected to be created within one year, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Country Manager Dr Patrick Williams told Stabroek Business in a telephone interview on Tuesday.

Dear Editor, According to your Wednesday, May 15, edition, 21 of 34 Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) employees recently failed a lie detector test and are to be dismissed, save for one who resigned.

Four days before Guyanese speedsters depart for the first leg of the Caribbean Motor Racing Championships (CMRC) in Jamaica, speed demon; Kevin Jeffrey is in the mindset of a winner.

Animatix Studios, a division of the Information Technology solutions company BrainStreet Group and the first commercial animation production facility in Guyana, held a product demonstration exercise for special invitees at the company’s Albert street headquarters on May 13.

Dear Editor, I wish to clarify a sentence in my letter which you published (‘It is time the Natural Resources Sectoral Committee of Parliament asked serious questions of the Ministry of Natural Resources, the GFC and Bai Shan Lin,’ Stabroek News, May 11). 

Dear Editor, Father’s Day is rapidly approaching and I cannot help but think of the untimely death of my beloved father, Vickramaditya Vidyasagar Puran.

GRANBURY, Texas, (Reuters) – Six people were dead and seven missing after a powerful tornado ripped through a north Texas neighborhood that included housing for the poor, in the deadliest severe storm outbreak in the United States this year.

The Guyana Rugby Football Union (GRFU) yesterday released the names of the final 22-man squad of ruggers that will battle against the Bajans tomorrow in the NACRA senior men’s 15s Caribbean Championship game at the Providence National Stadium.

SAN JOSE,  (Reuters) – Costa Rica’s communications chief resigned on Wednesday amid a scandal engulfing President Laura Chinchilla, saying he failed to properly screen a man who arranged for her to use a private jet and is under suspicion of using a false identity.

In the wake of reports that Chinese company Bai Shan Lin has ignored successive cease-work orders issued by the Guyana Geology & Mines Commission (GGMC) and continued to remove laterite and sand from locations at Moblissa and Bamia, Chairman of the Private Sector Commission (PSC) Ron Webster has told Stabroek Business that it is important that both local and overseas businesses be required to abide by the same investment rules.

In the wake of the pullout of Delta Airlines from Guyana earlier this month, Stabroek Business has learnt that the government may shortly be dispatching a high-level delegation to the United States in an effort to secure a suitably prestigious replacement for Delta.

Monar Educational Institute, 62-2, defeated Thomas Moore Primary, 52-4, by 10 runs as the MCYS, NSC and AL Sport & Tour Promotions 16th Annual End of School Year Primary Schools Windball Cricket Championships continued at the National Park, Georgetown.

Dear Editor, We know for sure, that there are ‘Holy Cows’ or ‘Untouchables’ in our society apart from those who some claim are in government.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – The percentage of global investment that goes to developing countries should triple in the next two decades as emerging economies catch up to richer nations and become more integrated into financial markets, the World Bank predicted in a report yesterday.

BRASILIA,  (Reuters) – Brazil has taken a big step towards joining Argentina and Uruguay as the first Latin American countries to legalize gay marriage, even though the Brazilian Congress has dragged its feet on the issue.

BRASILIA,  (Reuters) – Legislation that President Dilma Rousseff says is vital to her efforts to modernize Brazil’s clogged and costly ports cleared the lower chamber of Congress after a marathon debate and was expected to win Senate approval later yesterday.

Dear Editor, I thoroughly enjoyed Dave Martin’s excellent column, ‘The Black Watch time’ (SN, May 12), particularly the anecdotal history present therein, although I find myself in a qualified disagreement with his conclusion, “I don’t think we’re in that time now.”

GASCI (www.gasci.com/telephone Nº 223-6175/6) reports that session 511’s trading results showed consideration of $3,381,050 from 89,770 shares traded in 13 transactions as compared to session 510 which showed consideration of $3,894,900 from 98,790 shares traded in 14 transactions. 

MANCHESTER, England,  (Reuters) – England’s best known footballer David Beckham announced his retirement yesterday after a career laden with trophies and glamour that had a worldwide impact that went way beyond soccer.

Overboard

MEXICO CITY,  (Reuters) – A Mexican general took over all police and military operations in a chaotic western state yesterday in a test run of President Enrique Pena Nieto’s new security strategy to tame raging drug violence.

I was most definitely, committed to my more light-hearted, escapist mode in planning today’s brief offering.

Dear Editor, The following lines came to me as part of an email message on May 12, 2013.

When this newspaper spoke with Chairman of the Private Sector Commission (PSC) Ronald Webster seeking an official private sector comment on the alleged recent transgressions of Chinese investor Bai Shan Lin, he told us he was not ideally positioned to pronounce on the issue, as he did not have any pertinent information at his disposal.

Business Cartoons

A Guatemalan judge has sentenced General Efraín Ríos Montt to 80 years in jail for genocide and crimes against humanity during his de facto presidency between 1982 and 1983, with specific reference to the slaughter by his troops of some 2,000 members of the indigenous Ixil people in the mountainous region of El Quiché.

LONDON, (Reuters) – The New Zealand pace attack bowled with great discipline as England crawled to 160 for four on a tense and absorbing opening day of the first test at Lord’s yesterday.

Hope Nester is what one might call a veteran vendor. For more than 25 years, she has been offering various types of goods and services – clothing, food, beverages, shoes, perfumes and, more recently, cellular phone ‘top-up’ services to customers.

Politikles

Yes, for hire

(Reuters) – Fifteen men of Palestinian origin have been arrested on charges of running a multi-million-dollar cigarette smuggling ring in New York, and New York authorities who announced the arrests on Thursday said several of the suspects have ties to Hamas and other Islamist militant groups.