Daily Archive: Wednesday, February 14, 2018

PARKLAND, Fla., (Reuters) – A 19-year-old gunman opened fire today at a Florida high school he had previously been expelled from, killing 17 people before he was arrested by police, authorities said.

The Lindo Creek Commission of Inquiry (CoI) will begin public hearings tomorrow at the Waterloo Street-based Department of Public Service.

Two more persons have been arrested and four other suspected stolen vehicles seized during police operation in Yarrowkabra, Soesdyke/Linden Highway last night.

Unions at the University of Guyana (UG) have strongly objected to the manner in which the government is composing the institution’s 26-member council.

(Trinidad Guardian) Denyse Bailey grabbed her three daughters and hid in her bedroom after a gunman opened fire on her house, killing her son-in-law and injuring another relative on Monday.

JOHANNESBURG,  (Reuters) – Heavily armed South African police raided the luxury home of the Gupta family today as part of a probe into allegations the three brothers had corrupt links to President Jacob Zuma, who has been ordered by the ruling ANC to quit as head of state.

Following a 10-hour operation which concluded at 3 am at Kuru Kururu, Soesdyke-Linden High-way, six more persons were arrested yesterday as part of the ongoing investigation of a major carjacking ring, bringing the total number of persons in custody to 13.

Two men were yesterday charged and remanded to prison over the murder of America Street money changer Shawn Nurse, who was gunned during a robbery just over a week ago.

A father of two, Police Inspector Ian Welch is dead following an accident yesterday  some distance away from the Pirara Bridge in Region 9.

ExxonMobil has gone on the offensive against those who have taken the oil giant to court in a series of Climate Change lawsuits.

The hunt for the labourer who allegedly fatally stabbed his drinking partner on Sunday night at Vergenoegen, East Bank Essequibo ended yesterday afternoon when he turned himself over to the police.

The Ministry of Education (MoE) yesterday announced that the closure of the Central High School will be put on hold while it explores other avenues to house the students comfortably.

The Mayor and City Council’s “intensified” two-year-campaign to “sustainably restore and develop” the city is what has resulted in the delay of payments to the National Insurance Scheme (NIS), the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the public service credit union, according to City Hall.

The Guyana Rice Producers Association (RPA) has called on the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) to make payments to millers and exporters, which it says are owed an estimated $2 billion for exports to Panama.

A Number 77 Village, Upper Corentyne teenager succumbed at the George-town Public Hospital on Monday evening after he was involved in a collision with a sheep sometime last Wednesday along the Number 79 Village, Corentyne Public Road.

A truck driver yesterday became the second person to be charged with causing the death of a woman last year along the Diamond, East Bank Demerara public road, where she was struck after exiting a car near the Diamond Hospital.

B Division lawmen are seeking advice on charging a junior prison officer who was caught with a quantity of cannabis and cigarettes in the New Amsterdam Prison on Monday evening.

More than 600 spots overlooking the Mashramani parade route in Georgetown are still available for vendors, but no vending or picnicking will be allowed to take place along Vlissengen Road, the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) announced yesterday.

A minibus conductor was yesterday sentenced to two years in jail for the unlawful possession of a spent shell.

A Venezuelan national was yesterday fined for entering the country illegally but her expected deportation is on hold as she faces trial for allegedly inflicting bodily harm on a Guyanese man.

The trial of former Attorney General Anil Nandlall over the alleged fraudulent conversion of law reports, valued at over $2 million, continued yesterday with the testimony of a handwriting examiner.

The lifeless body of a 53-year-old man was discovered floating in a trench at Nabaclis, East Coast Demerara, yesterday afternoon.

The Guyana Post Office Corporation (GPOC) will soon be launching a public awareness campaign on the need for every household to have a mailbox.

Regional Super50 LUCAS STREET, Barbados, CMC – Roston Chase stroked his maiden regional one-day hundred but rain had the final say as title-holders Barbados Pride formally booked their spot in the Regional Super50 semi-finals with a 17-run victory over English County Hampshire here Tuesday.

The Mayor and City Council (M&CC) will be hiring private contractors to undertake the cleanup after the Mashramani celebrations, the council revealed yesterday.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Persistent rain resulting in a wet outfield forced the abandonment of the 30th match of the Regional Super50 between Combined Campuses and Colleges Marooners and Trinidad and Tobago Red Force at Kensington Oval here Tuesday.

As the Guyana Jaguars continue their hunt for their first title in the Cricket West Indies (CWI) Regional Super50 in 13 years, they face an unsettled Leewards Hurricanes side today.

Multi-million dollar bids were opened under the Demerara Harbour Bridge yesterday for the rehabilitation of 17 pontoons with an engineer’s estimate of $262.4M. 

The Annual Bounty Farm Ltd Handicap Squash Tournament begins today at 6.00 pm at the Georgetown Club on Camp Street.

Town Clerk Royston King has officially announced the vacancy of the council seat previously held by APNU+AFC Councillor Junior Garrett paving the way for a by-election to be held.

As of yesterday morning, fishermen were able to head out to the Corentyne River, after a section of the mud which was blocking the Number 43 Village channel was flushed out via the sluice in the village.

It was an evening of upsets on Monday, as Future Stars and Back Circle were sent packing, while Sparta Boss and Gold is Money survived stern challenges in the inaugural Magnum Mash Futsal Championship.

An East Ruimveldt mason is now a remanded prisoner after being accused of possession of over two pounds of ganja.

Following the unfortunate incident at the South Dakota Circuit on Sunday, President of the Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club Rameez Mohammed has stressed that every precautionary measure was in place.

Dear Editor, In response to a letter published in your newspaper on Sunday, February 11, 2018 captioned ‘No explanation for daily water cut-off at Cotton Tree’ by Mr Harry Gill, I would like to rebut the allegations regarding the general water situation in Region 5 and water stoppages at the Cotton Water Treatment Plant over the last two years.

When the Guyana Karate Federation held their elections during their Biennial General Meeting on Sunday at the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), Thomas Lands, Amir Khouri was returned to the helm of the organization.

Public consultations on the proposed fee for residential garbage collection will be extended, Solid Waste Director of the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) Walter Narine said yesterday, after explaining that the meetings held so far have attracted a poor turnout.

Dear Editor, I have seen increasing reports in the media of Venezuelans being fined and deported for entering illegally into or overstaying in Guyana.

Demolition of the St Rose’s High School is expected to begin during the Easter holidays with displaced students being housed in other buildings within the school’s compound until such time as a new building is constructed.

21-year-old Hamzah Eastman has been in superb form since his return to cycling on the local scene and is poised to add the Linden Forbes Sampson (LFS) Burnham cycling meet title to his collection come Sunday.

Dear Editor, Anyone who follows the world news ought to know that slavery of African people is not only alive and well, but is growing steadily.

In observance of International Day for Women and Girls in Science, a scholarship programme established in honour of the late Tchaiko Kwayana, the wife of politician and human rights activist Eusi Kwayana, has awarded four scholarships to four young Buxtonians to pursue studies in science at the University of Guyana.

Dear Editor, I wish to express my sincere gratitude to Dr Madhu  Singh and the staff of the Dr Balwant Singh’s Hospital for taking care of me during my 3-day hospitalisation at the institution.

Umpire Shannon Crawford will now lead the Guyana Cricket Umpires Council (GCUC) after he was elected as the new president when the GCUC held their Biennial General Meeting on Sunday at the Mayor and City Council Union Hall, Woolford Avenue.

JERUSALEM, (Reuters) – Israeli police yesterday recommended indicting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for bribery, opening the way for what could be the biggest challenge yet to the right-wing leader’s political survival.

Three time defending champion Chase Academy and Annandale maintained their unbeaten records, when the Sixth Annual Milo Secondary School Football Championship continued on Monday.

Dear Editor, The PNC led APNU+AFC regime has begun their time in power from exactly where they left off twenty-six years ago.

AMSTERDAM,  (Reuters) – Dutch Foreign Minister Halbe Zijlstra resigned yesterday after admitting that he had lied about attending a meeting in 2006 at which he said Russian President Vladimir Putin had outlined a strategy for building a greater Russia.

Pupils preparing to write the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) have been provided with another tool to assist in their preparation with the launch of the NGSA App by the Ministry of Education in collaboration with STEM Guyana.

It was out of the need to connect with Guyanese who were interested in seeing films by Guyanese and Caribbean filmmakers that the Timehri Film Festival was born three years ago, according to Romola Lucas, one of its founders.

FLORENCE HALL, Jamaica, CMC – Left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican scythed through England Lions with a devastating seven-wicket haul, to put West Indies A in sight of an easy win in the opening four-day “Test” here Tuesday.

Dear Editor, Last year the coalition administration continued in the former PPP administration’s footsteps of imposing a basic 5.0 per cent wage increase, disregarding attempts by unions to address their members’ welfare. 

ST JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – Opener Chadwick Walton lashed his third regional one-day hundred and the second highest ever in the Super50 Cup, as Jamaica Scorpions crushed a docile Leeward Islands Hurricanes by 148 runs here Monday night.

The Andrew Holnessled Cabinet has reacted to the island’s judges, who on Monday raised serious concern about separation of powers following statements by the Prime Minister about the appointment of Bryan Sykes as acting chief justice.

The Ministry of Public Telecommunications and the Guyana Post Office Corporation (GPOC) are currently researching the introduction of a debit card-like system for pensioners to receive their monthly payments, according to Minister Cathy Hughes.

GUATEMALA CITY,  (Reuters) – Former Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom and a former finance minister who is now chairman of Oxfam International were arrested yesterday as part of a local corruption investigation, the public prosecutor’s office said.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – West Indies will take on an ICC Rest of the World XI at Lord’s in May, to raise funds for the rebuilding of stadia in Dominica and Anguilla damaged by the passage of Hurricanes Irma and Maria last year.

Dear Editor, According to local chatter, another foreign phenomenon has arrived and taken hold of the nation’s attention. 

ST JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – Selectors on Tuesday named a predictable 14-member squad for the limited overs tour of New Zealand, as they continued to prepare the unit for the defence of their Twenty20 World Cup title next November.

Dear Editor, For quite a time now I have been seeing the blatant abuse of the law by those appointed to uphold it.

CUCUTA, Colombia,  (Reuters) – Venezuelan accusations that Colombia has been eyeing military action against its crisis-hit neighbour were “ridiculous,” the head of Colombia’s military forces said yesterday, during a visit to the border area.

On 8th February 2018, the same day the Guyana International Petroleum Business Summit and Exhibition (GIPEX) began and the vice president of ExxonMobil, Lisa Waters, was playing up the need for world economic growth to help the poor, an article by Ted Nordhaus was published in the influential Foreign Affairs magazine entitled The Two-Degree Delusion: The Dangers of an Unrealistic Climate Change Target (FA: 08/02/18), in which he said something similar but suggested that social development  will be better achieved if we liberate fossil fuels and oil and gas in particular from the strictures placed upon them by the 2015 United Nations climate change conference in Paris.

LIMA,  (Reuters) – The “Lima Group” of Latin American nations plus Canada yesterday criticized the Venezuelan government’s decision to hold a presidential election on April 22 without reaching an agreement with an opposition coalition.

Today, 14th February, is Valentine’s Day, the traditional day to commemorate romance and the enigma of love.

Dear Editor, I refer to Mr E B John’s letter in yesterday’s edition of SN (Feb 13) captioned ‘National Personnel Officers Association started ‘Breakfast Sessions’, which made reference to mine of the  February 3.