Daily Archive: Wednesday, July 9, 2014

RIO DE JANEIRO, (Reuters) – Argentina reached their first World Cup final in 24 years today, beating the Netherlands 4-2 on penalties after the first scoreless semi in the tournament’s history, with old foes Germany awaiting them in Sunday’s showpiece.

Prime Minister Samuel Hinds (right) proposing a toast to Venezuelan Ambassador to Guyana, Reina Arratia Diaz on the country’s 203 Independence Anniversary celebrated on July 5th.

NEW ORLEANS, (Reuters) – Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was sentenced today to 10 years in federal prison for corruption during the critical years of rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city in 2005.

NEW YORK, (Reuters) – Actor George Clooney criticized Britain’s Daily Mail on Wednesday for publishing what he called a “completely fabricated” story, saying his future mother-in-law opposes his upcoming marriage to human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin.

Stabroek News columnist Dr Henry Jeffrey says that it appears to him that when former US Ambassador Brent Hardt made a controversial address to the Blue CAPS group he exceeded normative diplomatic behaviour.

At about 2000h. last night, police say that Dellon Frank, 29 years, of Diamond Housing Scheme, EBD, was involved in an argument with a group of men at Diamond during which he was shot to his left side.

(Trinidad Express) With today marking 67 days since the murder of Senior Counsel Dana Seetahal, her relatives are questioning why no one has been arrested and charged with her death.

After extensive discussions yesterday, APNU and the AFC have agreed that a decision on pursuing a no-confidence vote against the Donald Ramotar administration will await how the government proceeds with the contentious financial paper seeking approval for $4.55B in expenditure.

More than a month after 19-year-old Junior Thornton’s hands were allegedly set alight in the Sparendaam Police Station, two cops yesterday appeared in court to answer separate charges.

Charges were yesterday read against 19 persons arrested after last Friday’s protest by Essequibo rice farmers along the Land of Plenty Public Road, including farmer and AFC regional councillor Naith Ram, who is accused of assaulting a policeman.

Belinda Williams and Gordon Plass were yesterday remanded to prison after they were accused of being responsible for a quantity of cocaine found in ceramic ornaments destined for export.

Dynamic Airways has announced the suspension of its flights to New York from next week until August 8 as it seeks to iron out administrative issues and secure a gate slot at the John F Kennedy International Airport in New York.

Sun and Sand Hotels, a part of the Sun and Sand Group of Companies will be hosting a turning of the sod ceremony today at Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara at the proposed site for a new hotel venture.

Former Minister of Agriculture, Navin Chandarpal is seriously ill and is being treated in a United States hospital.

(This is the eighth in a series on local government) By Mario Joseph In the community that blazed the trail for the village movement when former slaves pooled their capital to buy it, Victoria and others like it in the Haslington/Grove Neighbour-hood Democratic Council (NDC) face a different type of bondage today – the deep involvement of the Local Government Ministry in vital decisions.

BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil, (Reuters) – Germany inflicted the most shocking result in World Cup history when they crushed hosts Brazil 7-1 in a semi-final that brought grief to millions of home fans and caused utter astonishment around the world yesterday.

Plaisance residents yesterday protested the replacement of the community’s Overseer with someone who they say is insufficiently experienced, but Local Government Minister Norman Whittaker maintained that the new holder of the post possesses superior academic qualifications and diverse, relevant work experience.

RIO DE JANEIRO, (Reuters) – Ray Whelan, the chief executive of a hospitality firm arrested in connection with an investigation into VIP ticket scalping at the World Cup, was released yesterday after spending the night in custody.

SAO PAULO, (Reuters) – Brazil have been blamed for not being attacking enough since the World Cup started but it was their once admired defence that will carry the can for yesterday’s incredible 7-1 loss to Germany.

Ex-convict Orin Lewis Boodie, arrested on Friday last at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri for allegedly attempting to smuggle cocaine out of the country in milk and ghee tins, has been remanded to prison after denying the charge.

Security guard Mark Singh, 39, has been jailed again, pleading guilty yesterday to threatening to chop his wife and beating his 14-year-old son with a broom.

Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) Vice President and Georgetown Amateur Basketball Association (GABA) President Michael Singh has officially tendered his resignation from all facets of Basketball locally.

A 53-year-old man was early yesterday morning shot twice in the abdomen in what is believed to be an attempted robbery.

Bygeval Secondary defeated Buxton Secondary by a 2-1 margin when the Digicel National Secondary Schools u-18 football tourney continued on Monday at the Victoria Community ground.

Guyana lost their opening encounter of the Regional Under-17 Limited overs tournament by three wickets to the Windward Islands yesterday at the Bon Accord Ground in Tobago.

JC Chandisingh Secondary defeated defending national champions Marian Academy 29-26 in their U-19 match-up when the Youth Basketball Guyana (YBG) 9th National Schools Basketball Festival (NSBF) continued at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall yesterday.

The state yesterday closed its case against Paul Lo Hing, who is accused of strangling his girlfriend to death in their Sophia apartment.

Defending Georgetown champions St. George’s Secondary defeated Queen’s College 3-1 when the Digicel National Secondary Schools U-18 football tourney continued yesterday at the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) ground.

Plantain chip vendor Sherwin Simon yesterday testified that murder accused Troy Collymore was the man who fatally stabbed his brother with an ice pick.

LOUIS D’ or, Tobago, CMC- Defending champions Trinidad and Tobago lost to Barbados by two wickets in their opening match of the West Indies Under 17 cricket tournament here yesterday.

Some $70.9M of the $100M that has been allocated by the government for the Le Repentir Cemetery refurbishing will soon be disbursed as tenders for the project were yesterday opened.

Toni Kroos (L) of Germany celebrates scoring his team’s third goal with his teammate Miroslav Klose during the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil Semi Final match between Brazil and Germany yesterday.

A Canada-based mother and son were yesterday busted with cocaine at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri as they were preparing to leave the country.

(Trinidad Express) As she got ready to fly off to Brazil on Monday with her grandson, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar pledged over US$1.3 million (TT$8.2 million) to the former Soca Warriors.

Paddy earnings for the year are in excess of $23.5 billion with over $19 billion already paid to farmers, Deputy General Manager of the Guyana Rice Development Board Ricky (GRDB) Ricky Ramraj has said.

The two men arrested in connection with the discovery of AK 47 magazines and dozens of spent shells on Sunday remain in police custody.

SAO PAULO, (Reuters) – Argentina face a tough task to get past a Netherlands team who do almost everything perfectly and given space can be lethal, midfielder Javier Mascherano said on the eve of their World Cup semi-final clash.

Two young men were remanded to prison yesterday after being charged with robbing an elderly man of his bicycle and cash in Albouystown.

Dear Editor, I witnessed one of the most horrific incidents while standing on the eastern side of the La Grange Public Road yesterday evening at about 6.10 pm.

(Reuters) – Alastair Cook says the England captaincy is not to blame for his poor run of form with the bat and he will lead from the front when the five-match test series against India begins at Nottingham today.

(Reuters) – The 2014 World Cup has produced several goals of outstanding quality.

Dear Editor, Over the last week I deliberately restrained myself from commenting on or seeking additional information on the Ms Vanessa Kissoon and General Secretary Oscar Clarke debacle, since I took comfort from the reassuring comments of my friend Mr Christopher Jones’s missive to me in the Stabroek News of February 15, 2014 captioned ‘The PNCR has several forums where arms of the party can vent dissatisfaction.’

Approximately three weeks after being injured in an accident and then robbed by passers-by pretending to help, hospitalised newspaper vendor Lorna Johnson is finally starting to show signs of improvement.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The United States plans to give priority to child migrants over adults in deportation hearings as part of a broader initiative to deal with a surge of unaccompanied minors crossing the border illegally, a Justice Department official told Reuters.

MANAGUA, (Reuters) – A Nicaraguan committee approved a proposed route on Monday for a $40 billion shipping channel across the Central American country that would compete with the Panama Canal.

Dear Editor, The alcohol industry has great power in the way it uses sport to market a product that is destructive to many persons.

SAO PAULO, (Reuters) – Here are four key battles in the World Cup semi-final between Netherlands and Argentina at the Corinthians arena today.

The administration of the Fort Wellington Hospital is refuting claims that an octogenarian patient was beaten by nurses on Wednesday June 25, and said she had fallen off the bed.

 Dear Editor, The recent outburst by the acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Priya Manickchand directed at the outgoing US ambassador at the 238th independence anniversary celebration of the United States is vulgarity of the highest order and totally unacceptable.

A 20-year-old mother of one is currently recuperating in the Intensive Care Unit of the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC), after what her relatives believe was a botched caesarean section.

(Reuters) – On the four-year anniversary of a nationally televised special called “The Decision” where LeBron James announced he would sign with the Miami Heat, the NBA world was in a holding pattern for the free agent’s next decision.

CHICAGO/ATLANTA, (Reuters) – Stray vials of the deadly smallpox virus from the 1950s have been discovered at a federal lab near Washington, U.S.

Ranks of the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU) are continuing their investigations into Monday’s drug seizures during an operation in the Golden Grove/Diamond, East Bank Demerara area.

DHAKA, (Reuters) – A U.N. tribunal has awarded Bangladesh nearly four-fifths of an area sprawling over 25,000 sq km (9,700 sq miles) in the Bay of Bengal, ending a dispute over a sea border with India that has ruffled ties between the neighbours for more than three decades.

BEIJING, (Reuters) – President Xi Jinping’s crackdown on corruption has sown so much fear that many Chinese officials are doing anything to stay out of trouble – from dithering over approving big-ticket projects to seeking early retirement.

Dear Editor, Freddie Kissoon says that, in his estimation, in a small closely watched country such as ours, it would have been impossible for the plot and execution that ended Dr Rodney’s life to have taken place without the knowledge of the paramount leader/president of the time, Forbes Burnham.

KARACHI, (Reuters) – Pakistan officials have asked the International Cricket Council (ICC) for advice following former captain Salim Malik’s plea to have his 2000 life ban for match-fixing removed.

LILLE, France,  (Reuters) – Marcel Kittel won his third stage on this year’s Tour de France by prevailing in a bunch sprint yesterday after defending champion Chris Froome suffered a fall.

SAO PAULO, (Reuters) – Brazilian newspapers and websites were unanimous yesterday that the national team’s 7-1 hammering by Germany in the World Cup semi-final was the greatest shame in the country’s illustrious footballing history.

Dear Editor, I have publicly expressed the opinion that Priya Manickchand’s delivery was not written for her.

KABUL, (Reuters) – The United States warned yesterday that it would withdraw financial and security support from Afghanistan if anyone tried to take power illegally, as supporters of presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah rallied in Kabul for a parallel government.

On Monday at about 6.10 pm on the eastern side of the La Grange Public Road, a Red Nissan double cab pickup PEE 1977 was racing down the road coming behind a white Toyota Corolla AE 81 from the southern direction.

The aim of sound diplomacy … is the maintenance of amicable relations between sovereign states.

A recent opinion poll in the United States by a reputable polling group showed thirty-five per cent of the respondents defining President Barack Obama as being the “worst president since the end of World War Two in 1945.”

Self-help: The Sixth Street Community Development Association has begun to clean up Sixth Street, Alberttown.

GENEVA, (Reuters) – Fifty new cases of Ebola and 25 deaths have been reported in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea since July 3, as the deadly virus spreads in families, the World Health Organization (WHO) said yesterday.

Politikles

Dear Editor, Government is there for a purpose. Therefore, when a government no longer serves its purpose, it is time for the citizens to make changes that will benefit them.

PRETORIA, (Reuters) – Oscar Pistorius’ defence team wrapped up its case in the murder trial of the Olympic and Paralympic athlete yesterday and the court adjourned for a month to allow the legal teams to prepare and submit their closing arguments.

OSLO, (Reuters) – Swathes of the Amazon may have been grassland until a natural shift to a wetter climate about 2,000 years ago let the rainforests form, according to a study that challenges common belief that the world’s biggest tropical forest is far older.

One of the new floodlights at the Albion Sports Complex commissioned on Monday.

President Donald Ramotar facing the first ball to be played under flood lights at the Albion Sports Ground on Monday.

Former West Indian Cricket Captain Clive Lloyd (third from left), President Donald Ramotar (fourth from left) and Minister of Youth, Sport and Culture Dr.

The Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) is in receipt of another Electrocardiogram (ECG) machine, from United States-based, Operation Dream Catcher Foundation.