Daily Archive: Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Indigenous Ministers, Dawn Hastings-Williams and Valerie Garrido-Lowe have pledged to enhance the facilities at the Amerindian hostel in Princes Street, as part of an effort aimed at addressing indigenous gender needs, following complaints.

NEW DELHI, India, CMC-Indian businessman Vijay Mallya says he has paid only $100.00 for the Barbados Tridents, a franchise in the Caribbean Premier T20 tournament.

An investigation has been launched and one person has since been arrested after a 58-year-old Albion man was fatally shot on Sunday in a home invasion.

(Trinidad Guardian) British national Adrian St John was shot dead on Sunday night after he was robbed by two armed bandits in Mt D’Or.

Attorney Nigel Hughes has tendered his resignation as chairman of the Alliance For Change (AFC), which is part of the coalition government.

Businessman Brian Tiwarie yesterday said he had been appointed as a personal advisor to Minister of State Joseph Harmon and not to the government, and while claiming that he was the subject of a political vendetta he criticised President David Granger for acting “impulsively” in rescinding the appointment.

For the first time in over 25 years, Guyanese workers can expect one May Day rally as well as more cooperation within the fractured trade union movement.

President David Granger last evening declined to respond to businessman Brian Tiwarie who accused him of acting “impulsively” in rescinding his appointment as ministerial advisor on business development.

Facing concern by coalition partner AFC over the extensive powers of Minister of State Joseph Harmon, President David Granger last evening defended his APNU colleague, saying his duties are not “burdensome” and no objections had been raised before.

Dhupaul Singh, who was on trial over the fatal chopping of Mahaica farmer Balkissoon in September, 2014, was yesterday sentenced to life imprisonment after a 12- member jury found him guilty of murder.

A man who was nabbed at the JFK Airport in the US with 19.2 kilogrammes of cocaine packed between curry powder and rice will be leaving a New York jail in August after a court accepted that he was a minor cog in the operation and sentenced him to a year and a day in jail.

Trade unionist Carvil Duncan yesterday professed his innocence to the charges of stealing almost $1 million and conspiring to steal over $28 million from the Guyana Power and Light Incorporated (GPL).

A cousin of Kevin Rankin, who is accused of murdering his two-year-old niece, told the High Court yesterday that she had earlier supplied a different version of what happened on the day of the incident to protect her cousin.

Dhanshand Balram, the exporter who was charged last year with trying to ship almost 90 pounds of cocaine in buckets of cassareep, green seasoning and Chinese sauce through the Cheddi Jagan Airport (CJIA), was yesterday found guilty and sentenced to four years in jail.

An unexpected raid in Bartica yesterday led to the detention of eight Dominican women, who are suspected to be victims of trafficking in person.

Members of the City Council yesterday elected the six committees—City Works, Social Development, Information Technology, Legal Affairs and Security, Markets and Public Health, International Relations, Investment and Development Committee and Human Resource Management—which will run some of the city’s business for the next three years.

Linden Johnson, Coach of the Guyana five-man table-tennis team strongly believes they can win the title at the 21st annual Caribbean Table Tennis Juniors/Cadets tournament and secure a spot for July’s Pan-American Championship.

Officer-in-Charge of Operations at the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) Compton Sparman, yesterday testified that given the security risks that exist within the prison system, the fire service had to wait on the directive of prison authorities to proceed on rescue efforts on the morning of March 3, when the lives of 17 inmates were lost.

Fiona Harris, the first and only female president of the Guyana Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation (GBBFF) passed away yesterday morning at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation.

Mayor Patricia Chase-Green was yesterday inaugurated at a ceremony held outside City Hall on Regent Street.

A man was yesterday sentenced to four years in jail after he was found guilty of robbing another man of a smartphone during a knife-point holdup.

MANCHESTER, England, (Reuters) – Paris St Germain must produce an outstanding performance against Manchester City today if they are going to reach the Champions League semifinals for the first time, coach Laurent Blanc said yesterday.

 Dear Editor, I read in all the dailies the Alliance for Change (AFC) political party’s announcement that it will be seeking to discuss with President Granger and the rest of Cabinet the skimming of responsibilities from the Minister of State and expand those responsibilities into three separate Offices.

By Rudi Webster During the last decade or so, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) repeatedly dismissed the findings of the Lucky, Patterson, Wilkin and CARICOM reports, and contemptuously rejected their recommendations to restructure the Board, reform its systems and processes, and improve the quality of its leadership.

Albouystown resident Michael Ridley, who fatally stabbed another man who had ambushed him owing to an ongoing dispute over a woman last year, was yesterday charged with murder and remanded to prison.

‘The Travelling Exhibition,’ showcasing nine drawings done by children who have been sexually abused, was launched yesterday at the Brickdam Police Station.

NEW DELHI, (Reuters) – At 45, Brad Hogg is almost an anachronism in the youthful world of Twenty20 cricket but the Australian chinaman bowler continues to prove he still has what it takes to be successful.

Dear Editor, Kindly permit me space in your columns to vent my frustration over the non-promotion of teachers for the year 2015 and also for the year 2016.

(The Sports Xchange) – It’s the Hassan Hour. The Miami Heat returned center Hassan Whiteside to the starting lineup for the first time since Jan.

The staff of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD), Customs, and the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Coast Guard are among key stakeholders undergoing training to improve their capacity to combat illegal fishing.

Dear Editor, The recent attempts by persons or groups to malign the name of Minister of State, Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Harmon, will fail.

The body of Tactical Services Unit (TSU) Special Constable Akeem Hyles has been recovered and a post-mortem examination done yesterday listed the cause of death as drowning.

NEW YORK, (Reuters) – A former high-ranking soccer official in the Americas pleaded guilty yesterday to charges that he participated in bribery schemes uncovered in a U.S.

Dear Editor, For now, it appears as though every time I have to write a letter to your newspaper, it is in “Hindsight”. 

BRASILIA (Reuters) – An impeachment committee of Brazil’s lower house of Congress voted 38-27 yesterday that there are grounds to impeach President Dilma Rousseff on charges of breaking budget laws to allegedly favor her re-election in 2014.

(Jamaica Gleaner) – Jamaicans are being warned to brace for a 10 to 15 per cent increase in the price of rice from Guyana following a hike in the cost to import gain.

MOHALI, India, CMC – All-rounder Dwayne Bravo produced a four-wicket haul to become the first bowler to take 300 Twenty20 career wickets as new side Gujarat Lions trounced Kings XI Punjab by five wickets in the Indian Premier League here yesterday.

Dear Editor, According to Guyana’s President, David Granger, unhappy people commit suicide.

Less than two weeks after Bibi Safaora Salim was arrested for allegedly making death threats against President David Granger on Facebook, investigations into the matter have been completed and the file has been sent for legal advice.

It is the government that decides the overall sum that will be allocated for local government authorities in the national budget and the formula in the Fiscal Transfers Act will then be used to determine how much of this sum each local government organ receives.

LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister David Cameron said yesterday he was tightening laws to end tax evasion without deterring “aspiration”, hoping to end scrutiny of his personal wealth and restore trust in his leadership.

BOGOTA (Reuters) – Colombia has doubled the reward for information leading to the capture of Usuga Clan gang leader Dario Antonio Usuga to nearly $1 million, President Juan Manuel Santos said yesterday.

Dear Editor, My initial intention was to share some observations via this letter that were made at the Upper Demerara Football Association season opening that was held in November gone.

(The Sports Xchange) – There are records and then there are monumental records.

The $500,000 sip: President David Granger and other officials sample Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) 50-year-old El Dorado rum at yesterday’s launch of the alcoholic beverage which is a special edition to commemorate Guyana’s 50th Independence Anniversary next month.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – In a departure from 70 years of secrecy, candidates for United Nations secretary-general will this week make campaign-style pitches to the General Assembly as it hopes to influence the private Security Council poll that picks the winner.

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – Guyana Amazon Warriors have appointed New Zealand batsman Martin Guptill as captain  for the upcoming Caribbean Premier League season.

KOLKATA, India, CMC – Champion off-spinner Sunil Narine is set to return to India today, and could make a highly anticipated appearance for Kolkata Knight Riders in tomorrow’s  mega clash against Mumbai Indians, in the Indian Premier League.

Dear Editor, Please allow me space in your publication to correct a mistaken statement made by me in a Letter to the Editor, published in the Stabroek News and Guyana Chronicle.

The employment contracts for Patrick Mentore and the other civilian professionals of the Strategic Management Department (SMD) will not be renewed as government intends to scrap the unit.

There’s a little-noticed development that says a lot about the rapid demise of Latin America’s leftist populist bloc: Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff’s government is falling apart, and none of the region’s major diplomatic groups is coming to its rescue.

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Some of the world’s biggest aid agencies voiced concern yesterday that they may be further exposed to risk from the murky world of offshore finance after the latest release of the Panama Papers showed the name of the Red Cross was falsely used.

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – Newly appointed Guyana Amazon Warriors captain, New Zealander Martin Guptill, says he expects the excitement from West Indies’ Twenty20 World Cup success to spill over into the upcoming Hero Caribbean Premier League season.

(Trinidad Guardian) – Five men are now in police custody after coast guard intercepted a pirogue loaded with $1.5 million worth of marijuana on Sunday.

Dear Editor, Mr. Phillips now has a companion (Barrington Braithwaite) on his scheme to claim Guyana’s land for reparations.

A Guyhoc Park resident was yesterday remanded to prison after he was charged with having an illegal gun and matching rounds of ammunition in his possession.

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s top court yesterday struck down an amnesty law approved last month by the opposition-dominated Congress, scuttling an effort by critics of President Nicolas Maduro to secure the release of jailed opposition activists.

LIMA (Reuters) – Authorities in Peru raided the local office of Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca yesterday, seizing accounting documents in an investigation into possible tax evasion and fraud, the country’s tax agency said.

Dear Editor, Minister of Tourism and Public Telecommunications, Hon. Cathy Hughes,  made a momentous announcement to the media last week, which unfortunately, has been overshadowed by other, I presume, more salacious and entertaining events, that is, the Minister has formed a National Tourism Council, which will be the umbrella organization, so to speak, that coalesces all aspects of tourism in Guyana.

The Guyana Police Force (GPF) overcame a 2-0 deficit to defeat Riddim Squad 3-2 when the Georgetown Football Association (GFA) Stag Beer League continued on Sunday.

It would have been naïve, to say the least, to expect that with the very best of intentions the APNU+AFC administration would not have – sooner or later – begun to encounter its very own political banana skins and that those would not have given rise to the need for the coalition to confront those attendant challenges.

The $500,000 bottle of 50-year-old rum unveiled by Demerara Distillers Ltd yesterday.