Daily Archive: Friday, December 23, 2016

City Hall today said that of its five hydro flow pumps, three are operable and two are under repair.

Minister of State, Joseph Harmon today said that while Georgetown and other parts of the country are currently experiencing flooding due to excessive rainfall coupled with the spring tide, the Government is taking every step to ensure that there is minimum loss or damage to property, a release from the Ministry of the Presidency said.

Heavy rain today has flooded parts of the city and the East Coast.

(Trinidad Guardian) Acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams says a mobile app launched yesterday as a “dream come true” for the police service.

Workers of the decades-old Wales Sugar Estate, West Bank Demerara and their families cried early Sunday morning when they heard the sounding of the horn that signalled the closing of the estate.

Two Berbice constables were yesterday remanded to prison at the Whim Magis-trate’s Court, after Magistrate Charlyn Artiga denied them bail.

The police have arrested a man suspected to have driven the two bandits who stormed the Diamond Fire Station yesterday and held five firemen at gunpoint before escaping with over $100,000 and a phone.

The People’s Progressive Party  (PPP) has once again accused government of refusing to establish the Local Government Commission (LGC).

With virtually 80% of the Guyana Revenue Authority ‘s (GRA) VAT resources being spent verifying refunds,  the movement from zero-rated to exempt items will allow more focus on enforcement and compliance according to Commissioner General Godfrey Statia.

President David Granger yesterday said that he has asked Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo to provide the curricula vitae for the six persons he has nominated for Chairman of the Guyana Elections Com-mission (GECOM), according to a release from the Ministry of the Presidency.

Minister of State Joseph Harmon has assumed responsibility for the National Parks Commission while the Guyana Forestry Com-mission (GFC) remains under the purview of the Ministry of Natural Resources.

In her second such decision, Chief Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards earlier this month ruled that the Government Analyst-Food and Drug Department (GA-FDD) acted lawfully when it refused entry of a container of ‘sweetened condensed milk’ into the country.

Minister of Business Dominic Gaskin yesterday declared that he has full confidence in the Small Business Council whose performance over the year 2016 has been satisfactory though key targets remain elusive.

Days after being named Top Performer in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and receiving an award, Corporal Prem Narine was honoured as the overall Best Cop for 2016 by the Guyana Police Force, at its Annual Awards Ceremony on Wednesday.

During the examination of the 2017 budget estimates at Parliament on Tuesday, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge was asked whether Ambassador-designate  to Kuwait, Dr.

A brand new building to house the Regional Democratic Office, new roads and vehicles are among the capital expenditures for Region 10.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, CMC – Carlos Brathwaite was voted winner of the ICC Twenty20 Performance-of-the-Year for 2016 for his magical innings that won West Indies the T20 World Cup in India earlier this year.

Trevor Anthony Amsterdam, the man accused of killing murder suspect, Jermaine Simon in November of last year, was on Wednesday committed to stand trial at the High Court.

MUMBAI, (Reuters) – India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was named the International Cricket Council (ICC) Cricketer of the Year on Thursday for taking 48 wickets and scoring 336 runs in eight tests during the voting period.

MELBOURNE, Australia,  CMC – A tidy all-round performance from Dwayne Bravo and steady bowling from fellow West Indies Twenty20 star Sunil Narine contributed to a 49-run victory for the Melbourne Renegades over defending champions Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash League on Thursday.

Sugar workers along with officials of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) yesterday picketed the Ministry of the Presidency over wages and salaries.

A scrap metal dealer was yesterday sentenced to three years in jail after a city magistrate found him guilty of a break and enter charge.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – New Trinidad & Tobago Soca Warriors head coach Tom Saintfiet has named three uncapped players in a 23-member squad for a pair of international friendly matches against Nicaragua.

A Paradise resident was yesterday remanded to prison by a city magistrate after he denied committing an armed robbery in the interior.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – West Indies legend Sir Garfield Sobers was among a select group of former players honoured by the Barbados Cricket Association at a special ceremony on Wednesday here.

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, CMC – St. Kitts & Nevis Patriots made their second bombshell announcement on Thursday, disclosing that they have appointed Phil Simmons to be head coach for the next season of the Caribbean Premier League.

MUMBAI, (Reuters) – England are still licking their wounds after a humiliating series defeat in India but some positives can be found amid the carnage of a disastrous tour, particularly with the emergence of a pair of batting prospects for the side’s fragile top order.

President of the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA), Steve Ninvalle has accomplished his mission following the three-day International Boxing Association (AIBA) Congress in Switzerland which concluded Wednesday.

Christmas lift: It took the strength of two to fetch the goodies concealed in this bag, along Regent Street yesterday.

PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa,(Reuters) – South Africa coach Russell Domingo says his side will have to show patience on what is expected to be a slow wicket at St George’s Park for the first test against Sri Lanka starting on Boxing Day.

LONDON, (Reuters) – Formula One’s post-season shake-up took another spin on Tuesday with Williams announcing the departure of technical head Pat Symonds while Valtteri Bottas moved closer to Mercedes and Felipe Massa’s retirement looked to be coming to an end.

Hot on the heels of last Monday’s launch of the Pollo Tropical (Guyana) restaurant on Monday inside the multi-storey complex immediately east of the Republic Bank branch at Robb and Camp streets, CAMEX Ltd, the country’s leading accumulator of culinary franchises will today open another branch of the Miami-based entity inside the Giftland Mall.

RIO DE JANEIRO,  (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Companies that want to buy Brazilian timber without contributing to illegal deforestation have a new tool to help them ensure stolen wood does not appear in their supply chains – a digital platform tracing the origins of wood, environmentalists said.

Dear Editor, The City Council wishes to advise all property owners that the amnesty offered on interest on rates will expire on December 31, 2016.

Christmas came early for the Kennard’s Memorial Turf Club (KMTC). Yesterday, telecommunications giant, Digicel continued their sponsorship agreement for the traditional Boxing Day meet scheduled to be staged at the Bush Lot, Corentyne track.

The Logos Hope held its official opening ceremony yesterday, with Minister within the Ministry of Education Nicolette Henry in attendance.

CHAPELGATE, England, CMC – Little-known English league side Scholes have announced the signing of veteran Windward Islands Volcanoes left-handed opener Devon Smith as their overseas professional for the coming season.

LONDON,  (Reuters) – A vaccine developed by Merck is the first shown to be highly effective in preventing human infection with Ebola, according to final results from a clinical trial.

Dear Editor, Christmas and New Year are a few days away and it will be open season for the thousands of sadists in our midst to embark on their mad campaign to terrorise animals, particularly dogs, and to generally make the lives of the elderly and babies a literal hell.

As the increasingly intense public and political discourse on the future of the country’s sugar industry persists, Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) Chief Executive Officer Errol Hanoman has pointedly declared that providing the sector with annual multi-billion-dollar handouts is both unwise and unsustainable.

By Matthew Mohan After the recent Yahoo hack went public, it left many people bewildered as to whether their account information was safe or compromised.

(Reuters) – U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s son Eric Trump is suspending the operations of his charitable foundation over concerns that donors could be seen as buying access to the Trump family, The Washington Post reported yesterday.

CAPE TOWN,  (Reuters) – African Footballer of the Year Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is in the running to win the award for a second successive season after being named on Thursday among the three finalists for the 2016 title.

Dear Editor, Guyana Water Inc reminds customers every month to pay the water bills.

The Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana (CIOG) has contributed to the  medical expenses of  Maytham King who is suffering from kidney failure.

Hopes among scrap metal dealers that their Christmas wish for the resumption of scrap exports were dashed late last week when a letter from the Ministry of Business to Secretary of the Metal Dealers Association Michael Benjamin dated December 16 reiterated government’s intention to put mechanisms in place to allow for the restart of the trade but pointedly refused to provide a timeframe.

West Demerara giants Pouderoyen FC and Uitvlugt Warriors secured quarterfinal berths following hard-fought wins over Mahaica Determinators and Northern Rangers, respectively, when the Stag Nations Cup continued on Wednesday.

Distraction: The parents of these young ones placed their flat screen TV on the pavement on Regent Street to keep them occupied while they vended.

Dear Editor, I noticed a recent claim from the incumbent Leader of the Parliamentary Opposition that the extensive consultations with and within the Guyanese society on the matter of the chairmanship of Gecom  included meetings with representative leaders from the three major religions in Guyana ‒ Christianity, Hinduism and Islam.

New entrepreneurial opportunities arising out of moves towards gradual economic liberalization in Cuba are resulting in closer business ties between Georgetown and Havana as the number of Cubans who travel to Guyana daily to purchase stock for their fledgling businesses back home increases, Chief Executive Officer of Roraima Airways Captain Gerry Gouveia has told Stabroek Business.

Dear Editor With the public announcement in the local media that ExxonMobil is gearing up for oil production from Guyana’s first oil well by mid-2020, and that the company has announced that it has awarded contracts to United States-based, SBM Offshore for a floating production storage and offloading vessel, we trust the Guyana economy and all Guyanese would directly benefit from this.

Three time defending champion Winners Connection downed Botofago while Eagles clawed past Kwakwani Strikers on Wednesday to secure group wins in the 4th Annual Upper Demerara Football Association (UDFA)/GT Beer Championship.

Window shopping: This mother along with her three children spent the afternoon window shopping along Regent Street, high in spirits and decked out in their Santa hats.

PALM BEACH, Fla./WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) -President-elect Donald Trump called for an expansion of the United States’ nuclear capabilities yesterday, in a tweet that alarmed nonproliferation experts who said that a boost to the U.S.

UNITED NATIONS/ WASHINGTON,  (Reu-ters) – The United States intended to allow the U.N.

Dear Editor, Kwanzaa is an African cultural holiday. Celebrated from December 26 through January 1, its origins are in the first harvest celebrations of Africa from which it takes its name.

(The Sports Xchange) Thunder 121, Pelicans 110 Russell Westbrook scored a team-high 42 points, including 11 consecutive in the final five minutes, and reserve guard Alex Abrines scored 18 points to lift the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 121-110 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday night at the Smoothie King Center.

Stock market updates

(Prepared by the Guyana Marketing Corporation and published by Stabroek Business as a public service)

Dear Editor, I wish to bring to the attention of APNU+AFC members and supporters an important political point made by Mr Bharrat Jagdeo in his opening address to the PPP/C  Congress at Cotton Field Secondary School on the Essequibo Coast.

(Trinidad Guardian) Government allocations for Carnival 2017 have suffered yet another cut.

Due to a waterlogged Tucville Community ground because of the constant rainfall, the Turbo Energy Drink sponsored Fruta Conquerors U19 Academy Football League will be postponed until January of 2017.

Accelerated moves towards a thaw in relations between Havana and Washington (though we must wait and see how the relationship unfolds under the Donald Trump administration) have triggered consequential developments here in the Caribbean where a number of Caricom countries are beginning to take a closer look at the economic opportunities that might be on offer in a liberalized Cuban economy.

Page One Comment THE U.S. military invasion of Panama is unjustifiable.

Gold Prices for the three-day period ending Thursday December 22, 2016

Dear Editor, I spent over a month on a travelogue and on an academic tour (studying ethnic conflict) in the Far East and Sri Lanka returning just in time to experience the holiday season in New York, Trinidad and Guyana.

LIMA, (Reuters) – Peru President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski yesterday denied any involvement in $20 million in bribes that Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht SA said it paid to an unnamed official to win a public works contract in 2005, when he was prime minister.

President David Granger yesterday morning attended the 14th death anniversary commemoration service for  former Executive President of Guyana and Leader of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), Desmond Hoyte, which was held at the Seven Ponds, Botanical Gardens, a release from the Ministry of the Presidency said.

-SARU, SARA, SOCU: 2015-2017 Hey and hello all. I hope to be relatively light-hearted dealing with three (3) serious issues as many (most?)

Guyana has long been a cash-based society, stubbornly resistant to the many advances in the international financial system over the years, and not in the forefront of the countries in the Caribbean in the implementation of ATM machines, debit cards, credit cards, and online payments.

Expendables, Silver Sands, Young Guns and Santa Rosa were amongst the wins in the Men’s Division when the 7th Annual Atkinson Brothe5-a-side Football Tournament continued Wednesday at the Kumaka Recreational ground.