Daily Archive: Wednesday, June 24, 2015

President David Granger has given a commitment to work closely with the Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development, with the aim of restructuring the agenda, following a meeting with the Agency’s Head, Dane Gobin.

The Guyana Government has pledged its full support to the Commonwealth Magistrates and Judges’ Association as they gear up to host a regional conference.

(Reuters) – Bobbi Kristina Brown, the only child of late singer Whitney Houston, has been moved to hospice care, five months after being found unresponsive in a bathtub, her family said in a statement on Wednesday.

Minister of State Joseph Harmon said this morning that all the vehicles at the centre of a transfer of registration scandal have been returned to the Public Service Ministry.

At about 2320h. last night, the police say that a group of persons, including a policeman and a member of the Guyana Defence Force, were at the Butcher Pool Hall at Middleton Street, Georgetown, when two men approached and discharged rounds in their direction.

(Trinidad Express) Prime Minister Kamla Persad- Bissessar said last night corruption accused Jack Warner is releasing tapes because she refused to be blackmailed in exchange for his reinstatement to the Cabinet.

The PPP/C was yesterday given clearance by acting Chief Justice Ian Chang to file an election petition to contest the results of May’s general and regional elections which it claimed had been rigged in favour of the APNU+AFC coalition.

Former Public Service Minister Dr. Jennifer Westford who is embroiled in a scheme to transfer several state-owned vehicles into the names of private individuals including herself, has been contacted by police, Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum confirmed yesterday adding that a statement has since been taken from her.

A Meten-Meer-Zorg, West Coast Demerara man was yesterday sentenced to 15 years in prison after he admitted that he stabbed and killed his reputed wife in August 2011.

Kevin O’Neil walked out of the High Court a free man yesterday after he was acquitted of the 2007 murder of Colleen Forrester, whose body was found stuffed in a septic tank at a William Street, Campbellville property where she was the caretaker.

The police believe that they have captured a suspect in the murder of an elderly woman who was found bound and gagged in her Mahaica home last month and will be depending on DNA evidence to link him to that crime scene.

The body of the third victim in the Canal No 2, West Bank Demerara accident was found yesterday morning floating in the trench near the koker at Stanleytown.

The security firm tasked with guarding the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) warehouse from which $6M in foreign liquor was stolen last month has accepted liability and will pay for the alcohol, GRA head Khurshid Sattaur has said.

The staff at the University of Guyana at a meeting yesterday at the Turkeyen Campus voted overwhelmingly to support a No Confidence Petition in the Vice Chancellor, Professor Jacob Opadeyi, a release from the UGSSA and the UGWU said last night.

The Celina’s Atlantic Resort is expanding again and construction work has commenced but the authorities are unaware.

(CPLT20) Chris Gayle scored 9 off 13 balls and failed to ignite the Tallawahs innings before their middle-order gradually subsided to the growing pressure to fall short on a thrilling evening.

From Donald Duff in Barbados The International Cricket Council (ICC) will later this week make a decision on the governance of cricket in the United States of America based on a report of a task force it set up earlier this year.

Minister of Health, Dr George Norton observed several shortcomings at the Port Mourant Hospital during his visit to Region Six to assess its functional capacity.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, CMC- Visa problems have ravaged the Trinidad and Tobago national Under 23 team ahead of the start of their campaign in the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) First Round Qualifiers in Puerto Rico today.

A mechanic yesterday had a possession of ammunition case against him dismissed after witnesses failed to turn up again.

An Albouystown man was admitted to the hospital yesterday after he had been shot several times to his arm and stomach in Tucville.

(Reuters) – Peter Moores, sacked twice as coach of the England cricket team, believes his reputation as being obsessed with data analysis is all wrong and based on a misquote.

By Donald Duff in Barbados   Barring any last minute hiccups, former Pakistan batting great Zaheer Abbas is tipped to be installed as the new president of the International Cricket Council (ICC) when the body stages its annual conference at the Hilton Hotel here in Barbados.

Collene Hicks, the Director of Nursing Services (Matron) at the Georgetown Public Hospital who was dismissed last Monday by CEO Michael Khan is still on the job.

MANCHESTER, England, (Reuters) – Joe Root’s purposeful half-century lifted England to a 56-run victory over New Zealand in a one-off Twenty20 international yesterday to end to a riveting contest between the teams in all forms of the game.

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has advised that no charges be filed against the driver who hit nine-year-old Holly Ann Archer over four months ago leaving her severely brain damaged and confined to a bed.

Lodge resident Kevin Washington was yesterday sentenced to 48 months in prison after he admitted to robbing a woman of a gold cricket band.

LONDON, (Reuters) – They came, they saw and they did not conquer but New Zealand put everything out there on a magnificent five-week tour of England in which they earned many plaudits for the way they played the game.

A fisherman from Corriverton appeared at the Whim Magistrate’s court on Monday, charged with two counts of robbery under arms carried out at sea and was remanded to prison.

Dear Editor, I have applied several times on behalf of poor residents in my community and also for members of my church for birth, death and marriage certificates, but the wait is very long.

ASUNCION, (Reuters) – South American soccer’s governing body CONMEBOL has enough prize money to get through the Copa America but might struggle to meet its commitments for future tournaments, the head of Paraguay’s APF said yesterday.

Ranks from the major crime investigation unit operating out of CID Headquarters, Eve Leary yesterday unearthed two illegal guns and a quantity of cannabis at Siberia, Upper Demerara River and this intelligence-based operation also led to the arrest of four persons including two women.

Three-time defending champs Christianburg/Wismar Secondary began their title defence in a superb manner, trouncing New Silver City Secondary 4-0 in their semi-final affair when the 5th edition of the Digicel Secondary Schools Football Championship continued yesterday.

Dear Editor,   Recently, I read your article on the transfer of government owned vehicles by public servants who had insider information and access to mechanisms that would have allowed the unauthorized transfer of national assets owned by the people of Guyana to private persons.

Dear Editor, Some are saying that people who chose politics over public service are being weeded out from the government service.

With the senior side hoping to qualify for the next round in the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers via a protest following a disastrous campaign, history will be against the Golden Jaguars u-23 squad when they open their CFU 2016 Olympic Qualifiers today against hosts Antigua and Barbuda.

A motorcyclist died on Monday on the Herstelling Public Road, East Bank Demerara after he crashed into a cement mixer.

SANTIAGO, (Reuters) – The most successful team in the history of the Copa America take on the most impressive side from the first round when Uruguay face Chile in the first quarter-final today.

Dear Editor,   Stabroek News last Tuesday carried a very interesting and factual editorial under the rubric ‘Broken Foreign Service.’

Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson says the Sussex Street sluice has a number of defective boards because of poor maintenance.

LONDON, (Reuters) – Former England all-rounder Chris Lewis, recently released from prison, said yesterday that he hoped his mistakes and experiences could prevent cricketers from falling into similar traps.

Dear Editor,   Essequibo rice farmers on Friday, June 19, continued to picket in front of PPP branch office and the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) branch office at Anna Regina, on the Essequibo Coast, for long overdue paddy payments by millers, poor drainage, clogged up sea defence sluices and the loss of young rice.

The new APNU+AFC government is reviewing the controversial hinterland Community Support Offi-cers (CSO) programme amid concerns that it is not providing youth with skills that they need.

CURITIBA, Brazil, (Reuters) – Brazil’s biggest corruption investigation could spread to its largest electric utility, Eletrobras, and more than a dozen foreign companies, a lead prosecutor said yesterday, in a sign of further turbulence for the country’s business and political establishment.

COLUMBIA, S.C., (Reuters) – An initiative to remove the Confederate flag from the South Carolina State House grounds picked up steam on Tuesday, a week after the massacre of nine black church members, and criticism over the emblem long associated with slavery spread to other U.S.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC- USA wicketkeeper Steven Taylor and Canada offspinner Nikhil Dutta will play in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) following successful tryouts with Barbados Tridents and St Kitts & Nevis Patriots.

Dear Editor,   Congratulations to Stephen Mansell, Senior Superintendent of Police and Commander ‘D’ Division for his bold community-oriented policing and problem-solving (COPPS) approach towards the reduction of crime and the fear of crime in his division.

The clean-up campaign turned corporate as oil explorer CGX Inc on Monday chipped in with plans to clear two nearby trenches in hopes of alleviating the flooding that bedevils that part of the city.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC- The West Indies Retired Players Foundation (WIRPF) says Sunday’s charity golf event, at Sandy Lane Country Club in Barbados has been a ‘huge success’.

NEW YORK, (Reuters) – A former top official of the Dominican Republic’s main counter-drug agency was sentenced yesterday to four years in a U.S.

Dear Editor,   President Granger’s comments to Stabroek News that parts of the Cummingsburg Accord collide with the constitution and, accordingly, cannot be enacted and represent a confrontation with the democratic sanctity of this country.It

On June 20, a batch of 70 students received the accolade “Master of Business Administration” (MBA) from Nations University under a programme facilitated in collaboration with the Australian Institute of Business.

Dear Editor,   There is a blatant and arrogant customer unfriendliness practised by businesses in Guyana, whereby the servants behave as though they are doing the paying customers a favour when serving them.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The U.S. State Department said yesterday it has begun to fix a technical problem that had disrupted U.S.

Not taking any chances….GT&T has erected posts around its telephone cabinet at the junction of the Railway Embankment and the University of Guyana Road after it was demolished by an errant driver last month. 

Jamal Shabazz has been hailed as the saviour of Guyana’s football for two successful stints at the national team’s helm, but after the latest debacle to befall the Golden Jaguars , he is left with egg on his face and a badly tarnished image.

In observation of World Environment Day 2015, the Lions Clubs of Georgetown collectively embarked on a clean-up of the seawall as opposed to their traditional “tree planting exercises, and school agricultural promotions.”

LOS ANGELES, (Reuters) – Boxing Hall of Famer and former Olympic champion Oscar De La Hoya is considering a return to the ring at the age of 42 after overcoming substance abuse, the fighter told ESPN.com

BOGOTA, (Reuters) – The United States announced charges against 17 members of Colombia’s biggest criminal gang, Clan Usuga, yesterday for alleged involvement in drug trafficking and other crimes after a joint investigation with Colombian authorities.

Dear Editor, If Andy Roberts is right, since fast bowling is so critical to success in the game, West Indians may simply have to get out of international cricket.

As the Minister of Public Health Dr. George Norton completes his fact-finding walkabout, sooner or later he will have to put to us some holistic organisational solutions to the problems in the health sector as he envisages them.

Politikles

Dear Editor,   Here are the words the recently appointed Health Minister was reported as saying when commenting on the Ophthalmology Centre restarting operations.

At first sight, an editorial on this topic may seem somewhat far flung, and not of great relevance to ourselves and other countries in Caricom.

SAN FRANCISCO DE YARE, Venezuela, (Reuters) – Five years after Chinese home appliance maker Haier agreed to build a $912 million factory in Venezuela, its washing machines and refrigerators are almost the only ones available in the country’s department stores.

DENVER, (Reuters) – A video of an unfazed, fluffy house cat staring down a large mountain lion as the predator paws at a Colorado kitchen window has gone viral, receiving nearly 1 million views on YouTube in just a couple of days.

COPENHAGEN, (Reuters) – Former Tour de France winner Bjarne Riis failed to act after learning that riders on the professional cycling team he managed were using performance-enhancing drugs, a damning report from Danish sporting authorities said.