Daily Archive: Sunday, September 20, 2015

HAVANA, (Reuters) – Pope Francis met Cuba’s revolutionary leader Fidel Castro on Sunday hours after warning Cubans to beware the dangers of ideology and the lure of selfishness as their country enters a new era of closer ties with the United States.

OSLO, (Reuters) – The number of carbon pricing schemes worldwide has almost doubled since 2012 but most taxes or markets have prices too low to prevent damaging global warming, the World Bank said on Sunday.

By Tony Cozier   It has become increasingly evident that the Caribbean’s two new, high-profile franchise tournaments, the West Indies Cricket Board’s first-class Professional Cricket League (PCL) and the privately financed and organised T20 Caribbean Premier League (CPL), cannot comfortably coexist.

Reuters) – The United States and China have been engaged in urgent negotiations in recent weeks on a cybersecurity deal and may announce an agreement when President Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Washington on a state visit on Thursday, the New York Times said on Saturday.

Turning waste to energy is one of the areas being explored as plans begin to pilot a model green economy at Bartica in Region Seven.

Story and photos by Mariah Lall and Arian Browne   Nestled on white, sandy hills and surrounded by contrasting flowing black water, the village of Santa Mission is the perfect example of how beautiful Guyana is.

Chief Executive Officer of Professional Guard Service (PGS) Dougal Kirkpatrick died yesterday morning at the St Joseph Mercy Hospital less than a day after he was admitted based on the advice of his doctor.

Frederick Samuels, the man who fatally stabbed a policeman and then took his own life last Friday, was known to be mentally unstable and a drug addict, family members said last evening.

As frustrations continue to rise in the rice industry over money owed to rice farmers, Minister of Finance Winston Jordan has reiterated that millers have been paid for rice shipped to Venezuela.

As a mother and wife it became excruciating for Naomi (not her real name) to watch her husband turn to alcohol for solace while neglecting the people he loved.

Under the theme ‘Foster-ing National Pride, Advancing Economic Progress,’ the 11th edition of the Berbice Exposition and Trade Fair commenced on Friday last amidst much pomp and ceremony.

School children, nurses, teachers and pensioners will travel free for one month starting tomorrow on the water taxis plying the Berbice River, Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo said.

Introduction In last week’s column, I began my response to a question that I have been asked repeatedly in recent times: that is, whether I believe the Sustainable Development Goals, (SDGs), which are slated to be adopted at the United Nations Summit later this month as an integral element of its Post-2015 Development Agenda, offer a sound and adequate planning framework for Caricom and Guyana’s long-term development over its projected life, 2015-30?

At 93, Ismay Simpson is an exceptionally strong woman who still works every day as she has been doing all her life.

Complicated In a process complicated by the prorogation of parliament and the holding of elections after the mandatory budget approval period had passed, the Granger administration had to put together a budget for 2015.

Safety in the oil and gas industry was highlighted as a major issue when private sector representatives from Guyana and Trinidad discussed economic opportunities and threats to expediting the oil and gas industry on Friday.

Almost a year since the body of murdered businessman Mohamed Khan was found, his family remains disappointed with the police’s apparent sloth in bringing his killers to justice, even as Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum insists that the investigation is still very much alive.

In recent years, in an effort to diversify its economic base, Guyana has been putting increasing emphasis on improving and expanding its tourism industry, a push to which the private sector has responded and from which some results are already apparent – sport fishing in the Rupununi; various bird-watching tours around the country; foreign yachts in the Essequibo, etc.

Four persons were injured when two cars collided near Camp Ayanganna, in Georgetown, on Friday evening.

An elderly man believed to be suffering from Alzheimer’s disease left home on September 11 and has not been seen since; his relatives are appealing for the public’s help in locating him.

The good newspaper editor is almost by definition schizophrenic. He wants to produce a journal which is well-balanced, tries to report both the good and the bad of what is happening, editorialises judiciously, even-handedly dispenses blame and praise, and reflects the cultural best as well as the lower depths of the nation which it serves.

The clash of the giants failed to live up to its billing as Alpha United and Slingerz FC scrapped to a nil-all stalemate on the opening night of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Stag Beer Elite League on Friday.

The Caribbean has just eighteen congressional working days from Sunday September 20 to try to have the US Congress or the District of Colombia address an act naming seventeen Caribbean nations as ‘tax havens’.

After a seven-year absence which could see sanctions being imposed, Guyana will be in attendance at this year’s Inter-American Conference of Ministers of Labour to be held in Washington from September 29th to October 1st, according to Minister of State Joseph Harmon.

      Kanaima / Tiger (for Richard and David)   In the darkest middle of the rubber walk where the interweave of overhanging branches was thick above the road, the four schoolboys walking home (loitering in the roadside bush, collecting shiny rubber seeds in their wooden pods) suddenly stopped – movement, talk, breath, all stopped: for there in the road, yards ahead, stood a black tiger.

Since the public invitation by Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo to the PPP for talks leading to a government of national unity, varying opinions have been expressed by several commentators on the issue, including Henry Jeffrey (SN September 16), Tacuma Ogunseye (KN, September 19) and Anil Nandlall (SN, September 19).

Like a good corporate citizen, Fitness Express is once again supporting Kerwin Clarke.

In memory of the late West Demerara Football Association (WDFA) and Uitvlugt FC President Sydroy Nedd, the Mayor’s Cup Organizing Committee will stage a seven-a-side Inter-Ward tournament today.

Continued Canine sense of smell   Last week, as we commenced the new topic of nose ailments, and having dealt with general considerations relative to the canine nose, it was promised that this week we would spend some time on the canine sense of smell.

The Guyana Physical Therapy Association (GPTA) in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health and the Department of Sport Region #6 on Friday held a Sports Medicine Seminar at the Regional Democratic Office, New Amsterdam.

HAVANA (Reuters) – Pope Francis told former Cold War foes Cuba and the United States yesterday to set an example for the world by deepening the recent rapprochement that he helped broker.

Ham and eggs are an age-old combination as are bacon and eggs.

Digicel on Friday announced the official signing of Guyanese and West Indies cricket players Devendra Bishoo and Christopher Barnwell as the company’s new ambassadors.

(Barbados Nation) – Joseph Niles the patriarch of gospel music in Barbados, according to reports, died last night after ailing for a number of years.

ANSE-a-PITRE, Haiti (Reuters) – Every morning, Gustavo Adolfo wakes up in a migrant shelter in Haiti, treks across a field of burnt brush where men make charcoal, and crosses a river into the Dominican Republic, a country he left in fear three months ago.

BELI MANASTIR/HARMICA, Croatia (Reuters) – Hungary and Croatia traded threats yesterday as thousands of exhausted migrants poured over their borders, deepening the disarray in Europe over how to handle the tide of humanity.

MELBOURNE, (Reuters) – Beer and cricket go hand in hand for many Australians and the captain of the national team, Steven Smith, sees little problem with the logo of a local brew being prominently featured on his test shirt.

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) – At least 55 militants were killed when Turkish warplanes hit Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) camps in northern Iraq overnight, security sources said yesterday, as Ankara shows no sign of easing up strikes on insurgents ahead of a November 1 election.

Members of the Caribbean Youth Environment Network conducting a coastal cleanup yesterday at the Georgetown seawall.

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s opposition staged small protests in the country’s main cities yesterday to decry the near 14-year jail sentence handed to politician Leopoldo Lopez and galvanize support for the December parliamentary elections they are forecast to win.

Dear Editor, According to reports in the Stabroek News the junior Minister of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs Valerie Garrido-Lowe has acknowledged receiving complaints from many villages of irregularities in the recently held elections.

SINGAPORE, (Reuters) – Sebastian Vettel broke Mercedes’ qualifying stranglehold to secure a first pole position of the season for Ferrari at the Formula One Singapore Grand Prix yesterday.

Dear Editor, I am for national unity/social cohesion at any place and any time but not anyhow.

LONDON, (Reuters) – When it comes to shocks in international rugby it is a relative term, with New Zealand losing to finalists France in two memorable World Cup games and Wales upset by Fiji in a shoot-out for a quarter-final slot in 2007 among the most notable.

KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Marquino Mindley snatched three wickets and struck a half-century while left-arm seamer Sheldon Cottrell picked up a four-wicket haul, as the second trial match in preparation for the upcoming first class season finished in a draw here Friday.

Dear Editor, I write to you about a fellow Guyanese whose contributions to education need to be communicated effectively to Guyanese educators, students and those who love knowledge and have an interest in mathematics in particular.

At the lively awards ceremony to mark the 30th death anniversary of former president Forbes Burnham at the Carifesta Sports Club on the evening of Friday before last, there was a palpable sense of excitement among the karate kids who assembled to uplift their medals and trophies.

When three wheels aren’t enough: Photographer Keno George snapped this shot of a tow in operation along North Road  yesterday.

I have written so much on trees in the city and it all seems to have fallen on deaf ears.

The Culture Department of the Ministry of Education has nothing to be proud about, and neither, it must be added, has the Mayor and City Council.