Daily Archive: Tuesday, July 21, 2015

(CPL) An outstanding fifty from Lendl Simmons which transcended some difficult batting conditions took the Guyana Amazon Warriors to a 7 wicket victory over the Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel. 

At about 0845h. today, police say that Ronaldo Ram, 20 years, of Canal No 1.

(Trinidad Express) Police yesterday executed an early morning surprise swoop on insurrectionist Yasin Abu Bakr and detained him as well as ten other people for questioning in connection with the murder of senior counsel Dana Seetahal.

Following their arrest after a shootout with police at Craig last week, charges were yesterday read to suspects in the murder of businessman Ganesh Ramlall and the violent robbery of Justice Nicola Pierre and her husband.

Over a dozen persons were injured after a minibus collided with a pick-up truck and landed both vehicles in a trench along Mandela Avenue, just outside of President David Granger’s home.

The University of Guyana’s Turkeyen Campus will be partially closed for the next two days as efforts are made to address the damage caused by last week’s storm and as well as health and safety issues created by the resulting floodwaters on the campus.

Efforts are still being made to contact “another individual” in the Courtney Crum-Ewing murder investigation, Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum said yesterday.

A jury yesterday found Leonard Singh not guilty of two counts of raping a 14-year-old girl.

Just days after Albouystown residents were experienced some relief from flooding, the community was waterlogged again up to late yesterday after a heavy downpour and owing to problems with the Sussex Street koker.

A minibus driver was yesterday remanded to prison after being charged with causing the death of a 60-year-old man, who was struck down last Friday evening.

Given the amount of pension received by former presidents monthly, benefits are not really necessary, according to Attorney General Basil Williams who said yesterday that the passage of legislation to cap these benefits was an attempt to correct the mischief done.

Attorney General Basil Williams said the government is still looking at appealing the recent ruling of acting Chief Justice Ian Chang that a president can run for a third term.

Dozens of musclemen have competed for the coveted Mr. Guyana title over the years.

Requests for the appointment of a special prosecutor in the magistrate’s courts where there is no cost to the state should be automatically granted by the DPP’s Chambers, according to attorney at law, Gino Persaud.

A man is now facing a charge that he committed a $17 million burglary after a gun allegedly found in his possession was linked to the stolen booty.

This evening, one of the oldest rivalries in Regional cricket will again be the center of attraction when the Guyana Amazon Warriors square off against the Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel in the final preliminary match of the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) T20 tournament at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence.

Ganganan Dhanraj, the 58-year old man, who was struck down, allegedly by a drunk driver, last Friday died at the Georgetown Public Hospital yesterday.

Akeila Wiltshire and Shomari Wiltshire were crowned the U19 and U13 individual champs respectively when the 33rd Junior Caribbean Area Squash Association (CASA) championship continued in Barbados yesterday.

Dear Editor,   The major 2015 rainy season commenced with varying degrees of recurring flooding of Georgetown and much of the low-lying coastland at every heavy downpour during the past several weeks.

Retired Major General Norman McLean, President of the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA), yesterday implored government to work alongside the private sector on harbour expansion and maintenance to improve economic prosperity.

Minister of Legal Affairs Basil Williams will be presenting proposals to Cabinet to alleviate the financial burden placed on Guyanese law students by the recent hike in fees at the Hugh Wooding Law School.

Dear Editor,   It is very encouraging to see the use of solar power for President’s College back-up lights and security.  

Coaches of the two athletic clubs in Linden, Upper Demerara School Track Club and Christianburg/Wismar Secondary School (CWSS) are expected to unite for the sixth edition of the Boyce and Jefford Track and Field Classic in that town next month.

Minister of Governance Raphael Trotman is expected to present a draft code of conduct for government ministers and other public office holders at today’s Cabinet meeting even as the ministers have been operating under a temporary code drafted by President David Granger.

Dear Editor,   The residents of some Amerindian communities in Region 2 are crying out for just and competent leadership.

The government is seeking to decentralize primary health care as moves are afoot to have 24-hour health service on the East Coast, according to Minister within the Ministry of Public Health, Dr Karen Cummings.

Guyanese track and field athletes will push for the podium starting today at the ongoing Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada.

Dear Editor,   On Saturday, July18, I attended the CPL match between the Amazon Warriors and the Tridents at the Providence Stadium, and I was quite shocked to see that the rum culture was being promoted amongst spectators on a grand scale.

Guyana’s national U19 cricket team, the defending Regional champions, left yesterday morning for Jamaica where they will look to retain the title in the 2015 West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) competition which bowls off tomorrow.

A call has been made for effective institutional support to meet the needs of vulnerable groups, particularly women, children and the elderly in times of natural or human disasters.

Dear Editor,   It is inspiring to read about philanthropists who tirelessly work for the others believing in Jesus’ words, “Love your God and love your neighbour as your love yourself.”

Accused Joseph Kaladin, who is on trial for killing his brother, yesterday testified that it was his brother who attacked him with a broken rum bottle and he in turn only tried to disarm him.

Dear Editor,   Could some government agency, say Gina (Government Information Agency) compile a comprehensive and detailed list of what the new ministries do, where are they domiciled, new or old, telephone numbers, what each minister and junior minister is responsible for exactly.

A group calling itself the Stakeholders of Guyana’s cricket is up in arms over what it considers the apparent secrecy with respect to the staging of the West Indies Cricket Board’s Town Hall meeting here.

Dear Editor,   In a recent letter in the media the suggestion was made that our Minister of Education should consider following the recommendation of American educationists who are advocating the replacement of STEM (Science, Technology, Engine-ering and Mathematics) with STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) ie, adding the Arts to the acronym.

Minister of Finance Winston Jordan has asked some 20 senior personnel of the Guyana Revenue Authority, who combined have accumulated over 600 days of annual leave, to proceed on leave so that they can “recharge their batteries.”

ST ANDREWS, Scotland, (Reuters) – American Zach Johnson claimed the second major victory of his career when he beat Australian Marc Leishman and Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa in a four-hole playoff at the British Open yesterday.

Dear Editor,   I am not easily impressed, but I am this time.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Cuban flag was raised over Havana’s embassy in Washington yesterday for the first time in 54 years as the United States and Cuba formally restored relations, opening a new chapter of engagement between the former Cold War foes.

Dear Editor,   There has been some concern over the involvement of developed countries in the domestic affairs of developing countries and I wish to address this point by asking the following question.

UNITED NATIONS/DUBAI (Reuters) – The UN Security Council yesterday backed Iran’s nuclear agreement with world powers but the Islamic Republic’s Revolutionary Guards attacked the resolution, underlining powerful opposition to the deal.

(Reuters) – Dale Steyn will join a select group of bowlers to claim 400 wickets with the South African paceman requiring four scalps in the two-test series against Bangladesh to reach the milestone.

VALPARAISO, Chile (Reuters) – President Michelle Bachelet’s push to relax strict abortion laws in socially conservative Chile has created a rift inside her ruling coalition and key elements of the reform are likely to be scratched.

Guyana has written to the Secretary General of the United Nations indicating that after 25 years of the Good Officer process in the Venezuela border controversy this government is looking for other mechanisms which will bring relief.

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Three executives of Brazil’s Camargo Correa group were convicted yesterday of money laundering, corruption and other charges, the first construction-industry executives to be sentenced in a giant price fixing and bribery scandal involving state-run oil company Petrobras.

LONDON, (Reuters) – South African batsmen Ashwell Prince and Alviro Petersen piled on a record 501 runs for the third wicket in Lancashire’s county championship match against Glamorgan yesterday.

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan ramped up its criticism of China’s land reclamation and offshore platforms in disputed seas today in a hastily revised annual defence report.

Dear Editor,   Sometimes we tend to forget the people who struggled to make our country a better place to live.

By Jeffrey D Sachs   NEW YORK – The accord struck in Vienna to rein in Iran’s nuclear activities has warmongers fulminating.

LIMA/SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Peruvian prosecutors plan to visit Brazil this month to gather evidence of bribery on a transcontinental highway project, Peru’s attorney general said in an interview, adding to regional fallout from the biggest corruption scandal in Brazil’s history.

ZURICH, (Reuters) – FIFA President Sepp Blatter yesterday announced a reform taskforce to try to leave the troubled body in better shape when he finally stands down after a new leader of world football is elected in February.

With Education Minister Dr Rupert Roopnaraine seemingly seeking to incrementally strengthen the foundation of an education system that remains deficient in various critical respects, this may be an opportune time to raise ‒ not for the first time ‒ the matter of the need for the Ministry of Education to effectively embrace parents as genuine stakeholders in the education process rather than have them remain on the periphery as many of them have been for a number of years, in a condition of indifference and sometimes even hostility to what transpires in the places where their children receive their education.

Dear Editor, This is in reference to former Prime Minister Sam Hinds’ response titled ‘Almost all solar home systems projects were subject to a process of open international bidding’ (SN, Jul 20) to my missive promoting local and regional solar energy development.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – US President Barack Obama yesterday offered strong support for Nigeria’s new president, Muhammadu Buhari, saying he had a “clear agenda” for defeating the militant Islamist group Boko Haram and was working to root out corruption.