Daily Archive: Friday, June 12, 2020

The following is a statement by persons who are lobbying for the return of Guyanese stranded abroad because of COVID-19.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – The Republican-led U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee voted to require the Department of Defense to rename military bases named after Confederate generals, setting up a clash with President Donald Trump, who opposes that change and promised a veto.

(Jamaica Gleaner) A police constable and a corporal have been killed in a shootout with gunmen in Horizon Park, Spanish Town, St Catherine this morning.

NEW DELHI, (Reuters) – The Indian Premier League (IPL) could be played behind closed doors as last resort, if that is the only way to save this year’s Twenty20 tournament from falling victim to the coronavirus epidemic, a senior cricket board official said.

(Jamaica Gleaner) Jamaica’s first track and field star, Isis Clarke-Reid, died at her Port St Lucie, Florida, home on Monday, June 8, after a brief illness.

BRASILIA,  (Reuters) – Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest rose for a 13th consecutive month in May, government data showed on Friday, despite President Jair Bolsonaro’s deployment of the military to fight soaring environmental destruction in the region Destruction in Brazil’s portion of the Amazon increased 12% in May, compared with the same month a year ago, according to preliminary satellite data from space research agency INPE.

Zijin Mining Group Co., Ltd and Guyana Goldfields Inc (GGI) today announced that they have entered into a binding arrangement agreement  pursuant to which Zijin will acquire all of the outstanding common shares of Guyana Goldfields for cash consideration of C$1.85 for each Guyana Common Share, valuing Guyana Goldfields at approximately C$323 million.

(Jamaica Observer) A St Catherine pastor has been charged with three counts of rape and obtaining money by false pretence, as a result of investigations into his actions, which allegedly span several years, the police said yesterday.

The APNU+AFC coalition has expressed surprise at incoming Chair of CARICOM, St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister, Ralph Gonsalves after he declared on Wednesday that the Community is expecting the winner of Guyana’s elections to be declared in accordance with the results of the National Recount.

Guyana has received US$35 million for the second of the five lifts of one million barrels of oil that it is entitled to this year, a figure that is about US$20 million less than what it received for its first cargo due to a drop world market prices.

(Jamaica Observer) Jamaica’s British-born gymnast Danusia Francis has hit out against the United Kingdom Government for the unfair and biased manner in which they have lifted restrictions for athletes who have been in lockdown for the past few months due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) has reported a 13% hike in rice exports between January and May this year when compared to the same period last year.

The Civil Defence Commission (CDC)  is inviting supermarkets and shops to submit Expressions of Interest to supply items under the COVID-19 Pandemic Assistance Vouchers programme.

Following a meeting with Police Commissioner Leslie James, People’s Progressive Party (PPP) executive Anil Nandlall has submitted racist statements and threats made by various persons on Facebook for an investigation and action.

Another two cases of the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) were recorded yesterday bringing the total number of positive cases to 158.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados,  CMC – Cricket West Indies’ chief selector Roger Harper believes not having to contend with England fans in next month’s Test series could work to the advantage of the Caribbean men.

MANCHESTER, England, CMC – England’s most successful Test bowler said his team will discuss how to show solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement during the upcoming series against the West Indies, as protests spread across the globe following last month’s killing of a black man in police custody in the United States.

A 2017 prison escapee has been captured in Suriname. Paul Goriah, one of thirteen prisoners to escape from the Lusignan prison in July 2017, was last Thursday captured by Surinamese police along with two other Guyanese men as they were suspected of attempted robbery.

Recently-elected President of the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) Shyam Nokta has told the Stabroek Business that the Association intends to move quickly to engage with “a political administration that reflects the will of the people” with a view to lending continuity to previous discourses with government on issues affecting various sub-sectors in the manufacturing sector in Guyana.

Two days after filing an appeal before the Full Court challenging what she called errors in a judgment granting former murder accused Marcus Bisram his freedom, Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Shalimar Ali-Hack yesterday withdrew the case from that court.

(Jamaica Gleaner) George Williams was a mentally ill 20-year-old when he was arrested by the police in 1970 and charged for allegedly killing another man.

Following the successful staging of the I-Bet Supreme FIFA 20 ‘League of Champions’ eSports Tournament, the aforesaid entity alongside its Jamaican parent company Supreme Ventures Limited, has opted to host a Guyana versus Jamaica International Online Football Championship.

Saying that sufficient evidence was not available at the time a contempt suit was initiated against Region Four Returning Officer (RO) Clairmont Mingo, attorney Anil Nandlall yesterday got approval to discontinue the proceedings but not before Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire reprimanded him for wasting the court’s time.

Raising awareness of the importance of food safety as a routinised aspect of our food consumption culture will, in the period ahead, become increasingly critical to the general well-being of Guyana and will, “more and more” become a yardstick with which to measure our development, Government Analyst-Food & Drugs Department (GA-FDD) Director, Dr Marlan Cole has told the Stabroek Business.

Dear Editor, Given the serious health risks posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the level of importance placed on the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA), the Ministry of Education (MoE) should have taken the proposals of the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) more seriously.

Young athletes of varying sporting disciplines have been attempting to keep themselves fit amid the COVID-19 pandemic but have highlighted the difficulty in doing so since most sporting facilities have been closed until further notice.

As the region moves to create a collective response to some of the setbacks that have arisen out of the advent of COVID-19 and its impact on the economies of the respective countries, there are indications that some of the key entities for the planning and execution of collective responses, including the Caribbean Commu-nity (CARICOM) are beginning to take practical initiatives to design ways of tackling their collective challenges head on.

Dear Editor, The COVID-19 pandemic may accomplish the unintended consequence of revolutionizing the Guyana education system and shattering decades of entrenched educational inequalities resulting in a persistent poverty of design in our “chalk and talk” education system.

LONDON, England,  CMC – England Pacer James Anderson has expressed gratitude to West Indies for taking the “scary decision” to go ahead with the three-match Test tour amid the COVID-19 pandemic that has so far claimed more than 41,000 lives here.

The `Shivo Auto Body Workshop’ at 107 Lusignan was completely razed just after 8 am yesterday by a fire of unknown origin.

(Reuters) – Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James is starting a group with other black celebrities to work to prevent the suppression of the African-American vote, a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

Nurses attached to the Lethem Regional Hospital are asking for health authorities to intervene as they say they are constantly being verbally abused by the spouse of a medical official.

Dear Editor, Opinions vented after Guyana’s March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections by columnists Dr.

With the frenetic global search for a cure for COVID-19 having reached a fever pitch, recent seizures of fake drugs in various countries have included considerable quantities of drugs that are being touted as protection against the virus.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said he worries President Donald Trump will try to “steal” the November election but he is confident soldiers would escort Trump from the White House if he loses and does not recognize the result.

(Trinidad Express) A live round of 9mm ammunition and a hand-written death threat were sent to the home of Justice Frank Seepersad.

Dear Editor, The very stark Stabroek News Editor-in-Chief’s notes to letters in the past few weeks has disappointed me.

The sight of Iranian gasoline tankers arriving off the coast of Venezuela to deliver desperately needed supplies of gasoline to the crisis-hit country would have been ‘a sight for sore eyes’ for Venezuelan motorists who had had to ‘live through’ a relatively short but traumatic gasoline shortage.

(Jamaica Observer) ZAVIA Mayne, the minister of state in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, is seeking to allay fears surrounding Jamaican farm workers heading to the United States as part of the overseas employment programme in the middle of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The Government Analyst-Food and Drug Department (GA-FDD) yesterday advised the public against the importation, distribution, sale and use of a “deceptive, misleading and foreign labelled brand of sweetened condensed milk”  traded as “Nouveau !

A seasoned Guyanese businessman who spoke to the Stabroek Business on condition that he be described only as a “frequent flier” has said that the recently announced phased re-opening of the Cheddi Jagan and Eugene F Correia International Airports announced by the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) has to be approached with “extreme caution” since “the nature of international air travel allows for things to go wrong once they are overlooked; and believe me, it is easy for things that we have little or no control over to be overlooked,” the businessman added.

NEW DELHI,  (Reuters) – India have postponed their limited-overs tour of Sri Lanka scheduled later this month over COVID-19 fears, cricket boards of both the countries said yesterday.

Dear Editor, Guyana has a major problem of racial divisiveness. The “Mother of All Elections” may have been perceived and contested as a battle for racial dominance over a country flowing with potential.

While affirming a decision of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) to raise tariffs on “other hydraulic cement” imported into Barbados, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) on Wednesday declared that both CARICOM and Barbados failed in their respective duties to conduct prior consultation with the affected importer—Rock Hard Cement Limited.

LONDON, (Reuters) – The economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic could plunge an extra 395 million people into extreme poverty and swell the total number of those living on less than $1.90 a day worldwide to more than 1 billion, researchers said in a report yesterday.

SAO PAULO/RIO DE JANEIRO, (Reuters) – Brazilian shoppers lined up for hours and crowded into malls as they reopened yesterday in the country’s two largest cities, epicenter of a still surging coronavirus epidemic in the South American nation.

Local cherry juice manufacturer Fitzroy Fletcher wants to see the West Indian cherry, known globally as Acerola, featuring far more prominently in the food consumption profile of Guyanese given the fact that it remains one of nature’s richest sources of Vitamin C, possessing twenty times that of the orange.

MELBOURNE,  (Reuters) – Fast bowler Kane Richardson voiced concern yesterday about Cricket Australia’s cost-cutting plans, saying there is little fat to cut around the team’s support staff.

Dear Editor, An arranged marriage is different from a forced marriage.

A planned Black Lives Matter march, which was scheduled to be held in Georgetown yesterday, was postponed after it failed to receive approval from the Guyana Police Force.

MELBOURNE, (Reuters) – Rio Tinto Chief Executive Jean-Sebastien Jacques on Friday apologised for distress caused by Rio’s destruction last month of two ancient and sacred Aboriginal caves in Western Australia, pledging full cooperation with an Australian government inquiry.

(Reuters) – As the PGA Tour returns to competition this week in Fort Worth, Texas amid the COVID-19 outbreak, golfers used to feeding off the energy of raucous galleries will have an empty feeling as they adjust to competing on a course closed to spectators.

Dear Editor, This year we celebrate our 50th Republic in such a desolate ambiance.

Kitco Market Data Gold Prices for the three day period ending Thursday June 11,2020

*Prices only represent the average Wholesale Farmgate and Retail Prices at the above mentioned markets and are NOT prices set by the Guyana MArketing Corporation or Ministry of Agriculture.

(Trinidad Guardian) The Queen of the Warao Nation, Donna Bermudez-Bovell, is calling on Mayor Joel Martinez to convene an urgent meeting to discuss the removal of Christopher Columbus from his place of public reverence in Port of Spain, following his public pronouncement to engage the matter on Wednesday.

NEW DELHI, (Reuters) – New Zealand captain Sophie Devine has recommended using a smaller ball to make women’s cricket more attractive, while India’s Jemimah Rodrigues believes a shorter pitch is another innovation worth exploring.

There can be no mistaking the reality that the Trump administration in the United States is ‘going for the jugular’ against the administration of President Nicholas Maduro in Venezuela.

Dear Editor, Within hours of the announcement of the close of tabulation of votes cast in the March 2 general elections, there arose among us a Seer, who had been a law-giver, attorney-general Mr Nandlall.

NEW YORK, (Reuters) – New York should keep statues honouring Christopher Columbus even though the brutalization of the West Indies inhabitants he encountered on his voyages to the New World is inexcusable, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Thursday.

The PNC and our judiciary Regulars – and my editor – will realise that today’s offering will be most brief.

Tomorrow will mark forty years since the assassination of Dr Walter Rodney in a car parked outside the Georgetown prison.

(Barbados Nation) Barbadians were “good” over the last two weeks – for the most part – and the Government of Barbados is rewarding this with the easing of even more of the restrictions which were put in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Although the police have recently moved to enforce the COVID-19 restrictions on the operations of non-essential businesses, a number of city stores are continuing to operate but with a number of adjustments.

COVID-19 is intensifying much of our social, economic and environmental issues that have for a long time been swept under the carpet.