Page 18
Kaieteur News
Monday July 21, 2014
EBD four-lane expansion...
Traffic to shift to new road by August month-end
(From page 19)
WANTED Live out domestic babysitter and live in babysitter –Call: 225-0188, 225-6070 (Monday to Saturday ) (8:15am-4:15pm) Two security guards, good pay - Call:225-8645 Over edge and straight stitch operator to work at Garment Factory – Call: 222-2541 Monday – Friday Salesgirl/boys and porters apply in person, to Avinash Water Street 8:30 to 4:30 Female worker needed, 3 CXC subjects or sound secondary school education - Call: 612-1595 One live-in maid; must know to cook & clean properly – Call: 681-6044 One part time or full time gardener/handyman- to work in Bel-Air Gardens – Tel: 225-6070 Live in waitress to work in a bar – Call: 603-6301 Ladies to do cleaning from the West Coast Demerara $10,000 – Call: 662-9341. Industry Area E.C.D, part time cleaner – MondayFriday, 6:30pm -7:30pm, Saturdays 8am-4pm- Tel:2262829 Monday-Friday between 9am&4pm Office clerk senior/junior CXC: English, Mathematics & computer knowledge an assetCall: 225-0188/225-6070 Looking for two or three bedroom apartment anywhere in Georgetown – Call: 698-5103 Gasoline Mechanic needed on E.C.D - $75,000 to $100,000 depending on experienced – Call: 623-0318 One live in maid must know to cook – Tel: 669-6030 One Experienced female private tutor. Call between 8:00am -5pm- Tel: 676-2812 Canter drivers must be from West Coast Demerara - $28,000 weekly – Call: 684-8231 Skilled carpenters to work in Coverden E.B.D – Call: 6231615 EDUCATION: I.A.S Second Street Alberttown, summer classes – 4-17yrs ($5,000 for six weeks), CXC classes for adults, $1200 per subject – Tel: 223-7906; 690-5008 I.A.E is registering students for its secondary school, Forms1-5; CXC classes for adults – Repeaters and beginners – Call: 223-0604; 683-5742
FOR RENT PLANNING AN EVENT? BIRTHDAY PARTY, GRADUATION,WEDDINGS, ANNIVERSARY, ETC. CALL DIAMOND TENTS: 216-1043; 677-6620 GTTOOLRENTALS: FREE DELIVERY, CONCRETE, STEEL TILE CUTTER, SAWS, PLANES RANSOM PUMPS & MUCH MORE – TEL: 675-0767; 627-5098 One shop to rent at 45 Meriman Mall – Call:642-6381 Executive houses & apartments, Queenstown US$1,800, Bel-Air Springs US$2,500, Shamrock Gardens - US$1,800- Tel: 223-8479/ 647-3768. www.spaceseek.gy Houses & apartments: One bedroom @ Kitty - $40,000, Bel-Air Park - US$2,500-Tel: 223-8479/ 647-3768. www.spaceseek.gy One nails table @ a Prime Location – Tel: 602-5469
An unpaved section of the new road at Little Diamond. By August month-end, traffic traversing the western carriageway of the East Bank Demerara Public Road between Prospect and Demerara Distillers Limited will use the eastern carriageway, which is almost completed. This is according to Komal Singh, Managing Director of GAICO Construction and General Service Inc, yesterday. Singh’s company has done extensive work on the US$5.8M project—working on Lot Two of the East Bank Demerara Public Road four-lane widening project. The contractor, who began physical works at the ending of 2011 and encountered delays, would most likely meet the November 2014 deadline.
GAICO Construction and General Service Inc. was tasked with converting a portion of canefield into roadway. It is estimated that the entire 1.55km roadway would be fully paved within two weeks. The contractor was hoping to pave the roadway this weekend but was stymied by inclement weather. The contractor is currently constructing bridges and installing street lights on the new road. According to Singh, concrete drainage works and widening of the western side of the road have been completed. To enhance the western carriageway the contractor would have to mill, level and pave the roadway.
Concrete drains and road widening works done by the contractor in Prospect.
Houses & Apartments: Durban Backlands US$4,000, Ogle- US$1,200— Tel: 223-8479/ 647-3768. www.spaceseek.gy One bedroom apartment for working couple or single person with no children price$25,000 – Call:657-8335
EDUCATION: Now Enrolling for a Diploma in computers (9 courses) Special discount for 2014 CXC students @ MicroGraphics, Vreed-EnHoop –Tel: 264-3057
Overseas-based Guyanese author distributes children’s books Christina Griffith autographs one of her books.
An overseas based Guyanese who is pursuing her doctorate at the North Central University, US, has authored two children’s books which she distributed to students of Enterprise Primary School, D’urban Backlands. The children books titled “Jubilee and Ashanti Find Insects” and “Why Jubilee and Ashanti go to the Doctor,” were shared out recently upon her visit to the school which she once attended. According to Christina Griffith, who is the last of six children, both books were written with Guyanese children in mind to promote intelligence in vocabulary. “The books are educational and informative to both children and adults…I am very much dedicated to ensuring that Guyanese children
bring out their intelligence by the way they speak.” She explained that her motivation in writing the books started when her daughter, Jubilee, was five. “She was playing in the yard at the time with a friend named Ashanti, which later led to the titles of the books.” Ms Griffith grew up in Plaisance, East Coast Demerara. She attended Enterprise Preparatory in her elementary years, and later moved on to Richard Ishmael Secondary, then Christ Church Secondary. At 16, she started teaching at a Plaisance school, and later pursued studies at the Cyril Potter College of Education. She later obtained her Bachelor’s Degree in Economics at the University of Guyana then her Master’s Degree at Walden University in U.S.A.
Monday July 21, 2014
FOR SALE LARGE QUANTITIES OF HIGH PURITY MERCURY (QUICK SILVER) 99.99995% PURITY$19,000 PER POUND CALL: 592-227-4754. Spares for washing machine, microwaves, fridges, stoves, timers, gearbox, pumps, etc call: 225-9032, 647-2943 Games for PS2, PS3, XBOX360, WII, consoles also available – Call: 6722566, 265-3231 PVC Ceiling Panels (USA Standards), all-purpose joint compound, T h o m p s o n ’s c o n c r e t e water proofer – Tel: 6148564; 639-3675; 680-0862 New American made Wener, aluminum ladder: 17 feet$28,000; 24 feet- $38,000, 32 feet- $55,000 – Tel: 609-7257, 602-5794 View Sonic Projectors & computer monitor - Sizes: 17inches – 27inches (new) – Contact: 623-4919; 646-7768 Need body parts and accessories for Tacoma, Tundra, & Titan? – Contact: Eddie’s Auto Parts : 227-2835; 227-5381 Dell/HP computers with 17", 19"& 20", LCDs from $55,000, laptops from $55,000. Contact Future Tech: 2312206 Used pedicure chair, hair dryer and salon chair – Tel: 668-9583, 698-5272 Unregistered Toyota Sienta, 7 seater car – Call: 694-2700; 681-5777 52ft fishing boat (cruiser) – Call: 642-8200; 671-1533; 6455592, 602-1679 One male Rottweiler pup, parents are imported pedigree dogs –Call: 264-2870 or 6659140 after 6pm Blow out sales on Steel Rods 5/8 -$1400 each – Tel:690-0230 Metal Scaffolding with planks – Contact: 332-5426; 6030000; 628-8008 Houses located @ Nandy Park - $45M, Diamond- $31M & La Parfaite Harmonie $20M. Tel: 223-8479/ 6473768. www.spaceseek.gy Clean garden earth, also Bobcat & Excavator rentals – Tel: 626-7127 One stall @ Stabroek Market, “Two storey concrete house @ La Grade Public Road – Tel:679-1151. One stall @ Stabroek BazarTel:699-6437 6" complete dredge – Tel:655-2860 or 604-1075
Kaieteur News
FOR SALE Tools, Snapon air compressor, Dewalt & Jack Hammer, Stanley air, computer electrical, Michael Kors bags (original) – Contact: 646-2133; 220-6722 House located @ Republic Gardens - $45M, Atlantic Gardens - $80M, Enterprise $75M. Tel: 223-8479/ 6473768. www.spaceseek.gy House located @ Foulis $75M, Oceanic Ville - $75MTel: 223-8479/ 647-3768. www.spaceseek.gy Canadian rebuilt Perkins Duetz engine, Lincoln generator welder, Model M with winch, 320 Excavator – Call: 691-2921 1 Miller Bobcat Welding Generator 225 AMP, 1 Lincoln Generator Welder with Onan Engine, 250 AMP, (immaculate condition) Contact: 216-1378 150CC Dirt Bike, need minor repairs going at - $85,000- Tel: 668-7562 1-14" Missile (water dredge) at Upper Mazaruni River – Tel: 698-0674 Dachshund Puppies for sale - $10,000 each- Tel:216-0521; 694-3567 Baby Chicks available weekly, contact Mr. D. Lallbeharry, Craig Public Road, EBDTel:626-9589
CAR RENTAL Dolly’s Car Rental - Call: 2257126/ 226-3693 dollys autorental@yahoo.com/ www.dolly sautorental.com Progressive Auto Rental: Cars & SUV for rental- $4,000 & up per day- Call: 643-5122, 2193900 ,Email:pro_ autorental @yahoo.com
LEARN TO DRIVE Soman Son & Outar Driving School at Maraj Building- Tel: 644-5166; 622-2872; 615-0964; 689-5997 Shalom Enterprise Driving School @ 2 Croal Street, Fee $16,000- Tel:227-3869/ 6447052. “Like” us on Facebook.
VACANCY 24 Hour East Coast Guyoil needs night pump attendants, salesgirl, office assistant & handyman- Call: 670-8893/684-2838 Accountants & Checkers at RA Soda Factory, also #7 Bakery for rental – Contact: 330-2399; 330-2772 Counter girls, cleaners, cooks: Apply with application to Hot & Spicy, Lot 112 Third & Albert Sts Alberttown, Georgetown. Front Desk attendant, Hotel attendant & Bell Person – Contact Hick’s Ville Hotel – Tel: 227-7714 Drivers/salesman and porters. Contact Vegetarian Gardens – 227-7714 Exist for 2 barbers and two hairdressers, must have their own clients- Contact: 6278277 or 669-6110 Plant Shop: Needs young, healthy & hardworking experienced salesperson. Must have secondary Education, between 20-30yrs – Tel:646-2108 Experienced cleaners & bartenders – Call: 225-8572, between 7am to 9am
MASSAGE The Gents Spa: Beautiful qualified masseuses, new attendants from Cuba & Trinidad, drinks available – Tel: 657- 5979
TO LET Campbellville - $90,000, Kingstown – US$700, Lamaha Gardens – US$1000, AA Eccles – US$1200 Contact Diana:227-2256 or 626-9382 One bedroom apartment in Charlestown - $30,000 monthly (water & light inclusive) –Call: 223-3958 or 660-9463 Two bedroom apartment in Sophia, corner after the Police Station - $35,000 –Tel: 613-1847 Diamond Executive $140,000, $65,000, Cummings Lodge $60,000, 3 bedrooms house at Kingston ($90,000), bond space at Ogle – Tel: 231-2200; 683-5107 ACCOMMODATION Tourist Villa: Furnished Rooms & apartments- 1, 2 &3 bedroom apartments at affordable rates – Lot 95 Fifth Avenue, Subryanville – Tel: 227-2199; 227-2189; 227-2186
Page 19
LEARN TO DANCE Learn Latin/Oldies Dancing in 1 Day! @ National Park Tarmac, August 3rd, 1:305:30, $2,000 per person – Call: 612-6475; 629-8842
SALON Make Up Courses, Artist Trained & Certified in Trinidad. Call: 660-5257, 647-1773 Summer Special: Earn a certificate in cosmetology, wig designs or nails alone, limited spaces - Call Abby: 619-7603, 666-5241
VEHICLE FOR SALE 2006 Blue Nissan Titan. Fully Loaded GSS Series. Contact: 604-6108. One Toyota Land Cruiser Prado, PMM Series Call: 225-0188, 223-7500, MonFri 8:15-4:15pm, Sat – 8:151:15PM AT192, 212, Allion, unregistered Premio, Hilux Surf, BNN, RZ & Pit-bull, 7 seater super custom. Cash / terms - Call: 680-3154
PROPERTY FOR SALE Two storey concrete house on a corner lot, land 4079.6 Sq.ft @ Christiani Street, North Ruimveldt, G/Town$40M Neg. Contact: 600-0831 House & land at Lot 1523 Tuschen Housing Scheme, Block 8, East Bank Essequibo – Call: 268-2759; 660-4043 House & land @ Soesdyke Junction – 2 good houses with 16 house lots. 2.9 acres, good location for Store, Supermarket and Restaurant. Call 261-6664/690-4358/6295414/676-6369- $70M River-side land with house @ Coverden. Road to River 2 acres. Good location- Price $75M- Call 261-6664/6904358/629-5414/676-6369 Property for sale, Double lot at Ruimzeight, W.C.D – Call: 629-1532; 664-7326 Mocha (2 concrete building) - $15M, Durban Street $34M, AA Eccles - $55M – Contact Diana: 227-2256 or 626-9382 1-Three bedroom flat house at Golden Grove Section C Block Y- East Bank Demerara – Phone:616-1690 1 – 2storey wooden & Concrete house with 5 bedrooms upper flat & lower flat 4 apartments located@ Shell Road, kitty - $34M – Tel:642-7898
EDUCATION: Transitional foundation summer classes July 21st – Aug 21st: Forms 1 &2 Maths, English/Lit, Spanish, Music, Home EC, Social EtiquetteCall: 227-7850 Mr. Lee Writing CXC January/June 2015 Mathematics, English. Additional Mathematics, Business Subjects Students, workers, Form 3, 4&5 – Call: 231-2076 Mr. Lee Kids summer computer classes, ages 4-16 - $6,500 @ Micrographics, Vreed-EnHoop: 264-3057, Parika Location: 626-4833
SERVICES PLANNING AN EVENT? BIRTHDAY PARTY, GRADUATION,WEDDINGS, ANNIVERSARY,ETC.–CALL DIAMOND TENTS: 2161043; 677-6620 Permanent & Visitors Vi s a Applications, Professional Immigration Consultant Room D5 Maraj Building Call Sabita: 2256496, 662-6045 Repairs, sales & spares, air conditioning, microwaves, washer, fridges & stoves. Ultra Cool, call: 225-9032,647-2943 Repairs to Fridge, Freezer, AC, Washers, Stoves: Call 683-1312, 627-3206 (Nick) For low cost: Repairs to fridge, freezer, A/C unit, microwaves, TV & washing machine - Call: 629-4946 or 225-4822 Nurse with overseas experienced available for 24hours, home care nursing for all ages- Contact Shelly @ 603-0600/ 231-8019 COOL TECH: Repairs, Services & Installation of all types of homes appliances: Air Condition & Refrigeration units – Tel: 233-2008; 675-4959 We repair fridge, freezer, AC, washer, dryer Call Omar: 2310655,683-8734
LAND FOR SALE Twelve House Lots in one block along Corriverton Public Road- Call: 626-6245 Agricultural Land plots @ Yarrokabra, Linden Highway -10 acres each. $1.5M per acre- Call 261-6664/690-4358/ 629-5414/676-6369 Duke Street – 130 x 21 - $80M, Oceanic Ville – 55 x 95 - $35M -Tel: 223-8479/ 647-3768. TOURS El Dorado Bus Service presents weekly summer trips to Suriname, special packages for groups/children – Tel: 624-0622; 614-5639
We buy & sell vehicles for cash. Also parts available & 30 seater buses; extra Cab pickups; 2006 Tacoma- Call: 680-3154 1 Ford F150, Colour: Silver, Mint Condition, price - $3.5 M- Call: 610-0808 First Class Auto: 2006 Premio, 2006 Allion, 2004 Spacio, IST, Axela, Fielder, Rush – Call: 609-8188; 638-3045 One Toyota Spacio (Year 2002) – Contact Suraj: 692-1135 NZE Toyota, excellent condition – Price: $1.5M negotiable – Contact: 609-9306 Sale of 3 used 215 CAT Excavators with plenty spares; asking price $6M. Call 261-6664/690-4358/6295414/676-6369 New Toyota Noah, 2 Televisions, reverse camera, rims, low mileage – Tel: 6292619, 663-2700. Owner leaving country, best offer accepted. Honda CRV, PJJ Series, good condition, price negotiable – Tel: 231-5080; 641-4704 2006 Toyota Tacoma, GNN 5726, excellent condition, first owner- price negotiable – Tel: 686-7273 Toyota AT212, AT192, AT170, L-Touring Wagon, AE110 Corolla, Raum, IST, FunCargo, Yamaha R1 1000cc – Tel: 644-5096; 6971453 One Toyota RAV4, 2002 Model, engine capacity 2000cc, in excellent condition, Price negotiable Tel: 611-1385 Smart Choice Auto Sales: unregistered old & new model Spacio, 212, Voxy, BlueBird – Call: 652-3820/665-4529 One Toyota Marino: Never worked hire, AC in excellent condition - $750,000 – Contact: 619-1047 Premio – PPP Series - $2.2M and unregistered - $2.450M, negotiable, Spacio PRR $1.8M – Tel:697-0294; 6049591 EDUCATION: Professional Kiddies Cricket Clinic, summer program for ages 8-14yrs, register now, starting July 28th – Tel:6717577 (Continued on page 18)
Monday July 21, 2014
Kaieteur News
Page 23
U.S. presses case against Russia on downed jet as horror deepens (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry laid out what he called overwhelming evidence of Russian complicity in the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 as international horror deepened over the fate of the victims’ remains. Kerry demanded that Moscow take responsibility for actions of pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine whom Washington suspects of downing the jet with a missile, and expressed disgust at their “grotesque” mishandling of the bodies. Television images of the rebel-held crash sites, where the remains of victims had lain decomposing in fields among their personal belongings, have turned initial shock and sorrow after Thursday’s disaster into anger. Emotions ran high in the Netherlands, the home country of about two thirds of the 298 people who died in the Boeing 777. The Dutch foreign minister has said the nation is “furious” to hear bodies were being “dragged around”, while relatives and church leaders demanded they be rapidly returned home. However, the departure of dozens of corpses loaded into refrigerated railway wagons was delayed yesterday as Ukrainian officials and rebels traded blame over why the train had not yet left the war zone, and where or when international investigators would be able to check it. In Washington, Kerry criticised Russian President Vladimir Putin and threatened “additional steps” against Moscow. “Drunken separatists have been piling bodies into trucks and removing them from the site,” he said on NBC television yesterday. “What’s happening is really grotesque and it is contrary to everything President Putin and Russia said they would do.” Moscow denies any involvement in the disaster and has blamed the Ukrainian military. While stopping short of direct blame on Moscow, Kerry put forward the most detailed U.S. accusations so far that Russia provided the insurgents with the sophisticated anti-aircraft systems used to down the aircraft. British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond echoed the criticism, urging Moscow to ensure international investigators had access to the crash sites. “Russia risks becoming a pariah state if it does not behave properly,” he told Sky television. After lying for two days in the summer heat, the
Members of the Ukrainian Emergencies Ministry work at a crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, near the village of Hrabove, Donetsk region yesterday. Credit: Reuters/Maxim Zmeyev bodies had been removed from much of the crash site by yesterday, leaving only bloodstained military stretchers along the side of the road. Emergency workers, who have to navigate reporting both to the authorities in Kiev and the rebels who control the crash site and other areas in the Donetsk region, will now need to pick through the debris spread across the Ukrainian steppe. As Ukraine accused the rebels of hiding evidence relating to the loss of the airliner, a separatist leader said items thought to be the stricken jet’s “black boxes” were now in rebel hands. Kerry said the United States had seen supplies moving into Ukraine from Russia in the last month, including a 150-vehicle convoy of armoured personnel carriers, tanks and rocket launchers given to the separatists. It had also intercepted conversations about the transfer to separatists of the Russian radar-guided SA-11 missile system which it blames for the Boeing 777’s destruction. “It’s pretty clear that this is a system that was transferred from Russia,” Kerry said in an interview on
CNN. “There’s enormous amount of evidence, even more evidence that I just documented, that points to the involvement of Russia in providing these systems, training the people on them,” he said on CBS. The disaster has sharply deepened the Ukrainian crisis in which the separatists in the Russian-speaking east have been fighting government forces since protesters in Kiev forced out a proMoscow president and Russia annexed Crimea in March. The United States has already imposed sanctions on individuals and businesses close to Putin but Kerry indicated that President Barack Obama might go further. “The president is prepared to take additional steps,” he told Fox News, although he ruled out sending in U.S. troops. European Union ministers should be ready to announce a fresh round of sanctions at a meeting of the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council this week, said a statement from British Prime Minister David Cameron’s office, issued after telephone calls with French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor
Angela Merkel. “They ... agreed that the EU must reconsider its approach to Russia and that foreign ministers should be ready to impose further sanctions on Russia when they meet tomorrow,” it said. The leaders also agreed to press Putin to ensure investigators had free access
to the crash site. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said all efforts were focusing on getting the train loaded with bodies to territory controlled by the Ukrainian authorities. The European security organisation, the OSCE, was negotiating with the separatists, he said, adding that a team of victim identification specialists was likely to enter the crash site today. While Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko issued a renewed appeal for backing from the international community, some European nations, with an eye to their trade links with Russia, have been less enthusiastic about confronting Moscow. Kerry challenged the Europeans to be more assertive. “It would help enormously if some countries in Europe that have been a little reluctant to move would now recognise this wakeup call and join the United States and President Obama in taking the lead, and also stepping up,” he said. A spokesman for Ukraine’s Security Council,
Andriy Lysenko, accused the rebels of a cover-up. “The terrorists are doing everything to hide the evidence of the involvement of Russian missiles in the shooting down of that airliner,” he told a news conference in Kiev. He said the rebels had taken debris and bodies from the crash site in trucks, tampering with a scene that investigators need to be secure to have a chance of determining what and who caused the plane to plunge into the steppe. A separatist leader said items thought to be the “black box” voice and data recorders from the airliner had been found. “They are under our control,” Aleksander Borodai, prime minister of the self-styled Donetsk People’s Republic, told a news conference. OSCE observers visited part of the crash site for a third day yesterday. Just before their arrival, emergency workers found parts of three more bodies and put them in black body bags on the side of a road.
Page 24
Kaieteur News
Monday July 21, 2014
More than 70 killed in Israeli shelling, clashes in Gaza
A Palestinian man carries children in the Shejaia neighbourhood, which was heavily shelled by Israel during fighting, in Gaza City yesterday. Credit: REUTERS/Finbarr O’Reilly (Reuters) - Hamas’s armed wing said yesterday it had captured an Israeli soldier, as fighting in Gaza led to the bloodiest losses in a nearly two-week military offensive, with some 100 Palestinians and 13 Israeli soldiers killed. The Israeli military said it was checking on the reported capture, which was announced in a Hamas television broadcast. Israeli television stations ignored the report in their extended evening programming about the offensive. “Qassam Brigades captured a Zionist soldier,” said Abu Ubaida, the masked spokesman of the Izz el-Deen
al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, who identified the soldier as Shaul Aron and recited what he said was Aron’s identity tag number. He provided no other evidence the soldier was in the custody of the Islamist militants. Ubaida said the capture happened during the same battle in which 13 Israeli soldiers died earlier, near Shejaia, the embattled neighborhood east of the city of Gaza where most of the Palestinian casualties occurred yesterday. The one-day death toll was the highest for the Israeli military’s since a 2006 war
against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon. It also represented the most Palestinians killed since fighting began on July 8. Aron would be the first Israeli soldier held captive in Gaza since 2011, when Israel released about 1,000 Palestinian prisoners to free Gilad Shalit, a soldier who was held for more than five years after his 2006 capture in a cross-border raid. Cries of celebration and fireworks were heard around Gaza shortly after the Hamas broadcast yesterday. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of carrying out a massacre in Shejaia and
Nigeria’s free-wheeling media fears crackdown over Boko Haram battle ABUJA/LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria’s press is traditionally free to write almost anything about anyone - whether it’s true or not. But reporters fear a government sensitive to criticism is now cracking down, especially on coverage of the battle against Boko Haram. After 15 years of democracy, journalists believe the state is trying to tame the vibrant, prolific media during its faltering campaign to stamp out the militant Islamist group. One Friday last month the army seized newspaper printruns, halted distribution vans across the country and ransacked offices of newspaper distributors and agents, detaining staff for several hours, the Nigerian Press Organisation said. For Femi Adesina, now editor-in-chief of Nigeria’s top tabloid, The Sun, this
awoke bad memories of life under military rule, when reporters were routinely hauled in for questioning over their news stories. “You virtually had your heart in your mouth. You wrote the story and you didn’t know whether you should sleep at home or sleep somewhere else,” recalled Adesina, who is also president of the Nigerian Guild of Editors. “If we are not careful as a country, we could slide back to those dark days.” While reporters accuse the security forces from time to time of intimidation, conditions for journalists remain a long way from the era of military dictatorship. Newspapers are able to publish vitriolic criticism of President Goodluck Jonathan that is largely tolerated. Spokesmen for the presidency and police and a spokeswoman for the state security service did not
respond to Reuters requests for comment. However, the military said it made the searches last month after receiving intelligence on the movement of “materials with grave security implications” throug h newspaper distribution channels. One security source told Reuters there was a genuine concern that militants were using the vans to transport explosives. Nevertheless, the press organization says the military is using national security as an excuse for a crackdown on critical media coverage before elections next year. Adding to journalists’ anger, Nigeria’s broadcast regulator has ruled that stations must give at least 48 hours’ notice in writing before airing a live political program - a near impossibility given the impromptu nature of such coverage.
declared three days of mourning. Israel’s army said it had been targeting militants from Gaza’s dominant Hamas group, whom it alleged had fired rockets from Shejaia and built tunnels and command centres there. The army said it had warned locals two days earlier to leave. Army sources said seven of the 13 Israeli soldiers were in an armoured personnel carrier hit by anti-tank fire. Others were killed setting up positions inside houses they had taken over, the sources added. Residents fled yesterday’s fighting along streets strewn with bodies and rubble, many of them taking shelter in Gaza’s Shifa hospital. Eighteen Israeli soldiers and two Israeli civilians have been killed since the launch of the offensive, which expanded on Thursday into a ground push, following mounting cross-border rocket attacks by militants. Palestinian fighters kept up their rocket fire on Israel yesterday. Sirens sounded in southern Israeli towns and in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area. There were no reports
of casualties from those salvos. In a telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - their second in three days - U.S. President Barack Obama “raised serious concern about the growing number of casualties” on both sides of the conflict, the White House said. Netanyahu, addressing a news conference in Tel Aviv after the military released news of the soldiers’ deaths, pledged to press on with the campaign with the goals of “restoring quiet” while “significantly” damaging Hamas and other militant groups’ infrastructure in Gaza. “We are undeterred. We shall continue the operation as long as is required,” Netanyahu said. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Cairo today to meet with Egyptian officials about the crisis, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement, adding that the United States was deeply concerned about the risk of further escalation and was pushing for a ceasefire. Earlier yesterday, Kerry said he supported Israel’s
efforts to destroy tunnels it says Gaza militants use for infiltration attempts and to hide weaponry. “We support Israel’s right to defend itself against rockets that are continuing to come in,” Kerry told Fox News. Thousands streamed out of Shejaia, some by foot and others piling into the backs of trucks and sitting on the hoods of cars filled with families trying to get away. Several people rode out of the neighbourhood in the shovel of a bulldozer. Video given to Reuters by a local showed at least a dozen corpses, including three children, lying in streets, though the footage could not be verified independently. As the tank shells began to land, Shejaia residents called radio stations pleading for evacuation. An air strike on the Shejaia home of Khalil al-Hayya, a senior Hamas official, killed his son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren, hospital officials said. Hamas’s armed wing said it used landmines and roadside bombs against advancing Israeli tanks and armoured personnel carriers.
Britain to detail pensions overhaul with tax, annuity reforms (Reuters) - Britain will today publish new rules for the pensions industry giving retirees greater access to their savings and free financial advice, fleshing out reforms announced earlier this year that shook the share value of British insurers. Finance minister George Osborne caught Britain’s pensions industry by surprise in March when he scrapped a rule forcing people to buy an annuity, a financial product which converts a retiree’s pension pot into a guaranteed retirement income. Osborne is keen to give people more freedom to tap into the cash they set aside during their working life by scrapping tax penalties imposed on those who want to withdraw their savings in a lump sum. He wants that change to drive innovation in the 12 billion pound per year British annuity market. To accompany the reforms, he also wants to make free independent financial advice available. Today, the government will confirm its intention to go ahead with such plans, seen as the biggest reform of pensions in a generation, and will add details to its
George Osborne proposals following a consultation with industry, employers and consumer groups. “It’s right to support hard working people that have taken the long-term decision to save for their future and I’m pleased that the responses we had to our proposals on making pensions more flexible have been overwhelmingly positive,” Osborne said. The finance ministry estimated the changes could affect 18 million people. The consultation response will include outlines for new annuity products which tailor for early lumpsum withdrawals and regular payments that vary over the
lifetime of the product to meet the demand of retirement expenses such as care costs. Annuities will also be allowed to provide a guaranteed payout, even if the recipient dies, for much longer than the current 10year limit. The reform plans have raised questions over how insurers will be affected by a dip in demand for annuities if there is no longer a requirement for retirees to buy them. When Osborne first announced the shake-up earlier this year, it hit the share value of firms like Legal and General, Aviva and Standard Life who run annuities businesses. Those shares have since recovered slightly, but remain below their preannouncement levels. The price of long-term British government bonds, which are used by annuity providers to manage risk, also fell. A summary of the consultation response released by the Treasury in advance said the financial advice service would be provided independently and funded by a levy on regulated financial services firms.
Monday July 21, 2014
Kaieteur News
Page 25
Iran eliminates sensitive stockpile under interim nuclear deal – IAEA (Reuters) - Iran has moved to eliminate its most sensitive stockpile of enriched uranium gas under an interim nuclear deal reached with six world powers last year, according to a monthly update by the U.N. nuclear watchdog obtained by Reuters yesterday. The report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) showed that Iran had met the terms of the six-month agreement, under which it limited its atomic activities in exchange for some easing of sanctions that are crippling its economy. The preliminary accord had been due to expire yesterday but will be extended with some adjustments, after Iran and the six powers failed during negotiations in Vi e n n a t o m e e t a s e l f imposed July 20 deadline for a long-term deal to end the decade-old nuclear standoff and agreed to continue talking. The four-month extension underlines the difficulties negotiators face in settling the dispute permanently even if Iran has met its commitments under the initial agreement, as yesterday’s IAEA report suggests. The six powers - the United States, France, China, Russia, Germany and Britain - want Iran to significantly reduce its uranium enrichment programme to make sure it cannot produce nuclear bombs. Iran says it is peaceful and wants sanctions on the oil-dependent economy to be lifted as soon as possible. After years of rising tension between Iran and the West and fears of a new Middle East war, last year’s election of a pragmatist, Hassan Rouhani, as Iran’s president led to a thaw in ties that resulted in the current nuclear negotiations. Under the accord reached in Geneva on Nov. 24,
designed to buy time for talks on a comprehensive solution, Iran halted the most controversial aspect of its nuclear programme enrichment of uranium gas to a fissile concentration of 20 percent. It also undertook to dilute or convert to oxide its remaining stockpile of the material - nearly 210 kg - during the half-year period, which Sunday’s IAEA report showed it had now completed. That stockpile was closely watched by the West as the level of enrichment represented a relatively short technical step away from that required for nuclear weapons. Iran says it is only refining uranium to fuel nuclear power plants or research reactors, not to develop a nuclear weapons capability as the West suspects. The IAEA update also showed that Iran had started up a long-delayed facility to convert some of its lowergrade enriched uranium gas into oxide and had fed about 1,500 kg of the material into the conversion process, as agreed in November. Western experts say it would take more time to make a bomb from uranium oxide than from gas, lowering any risk of a quick breakout for a nuclear weapon. As the IAEA confirmed in a series of monthly updates since the agreement took effect on Jan. 20 that Iran lived up to its part of the deal, the Islamic Republic has gradually gained access to some of its frozen cash held abroad. After yesterday’s IAEA report, it looked set to receive a last instalment of $550 million out of a total of $4.2 billion over the half-year period. During the extra fourmonth period it will receive an additional $2.8 billion for continuing to comply with the interim deal and for undertaking some new
Mortar fire south of Baghdad kills nine, police, hospital sources say BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Nine people were killed in a mainly Shi’ite town south of Baghdad late yesterday by mortar fire that hit near a Shi’ite religious site, police and hospital sources said. The sources in the town of Mahmoudiya said eight mortar rounds landed near a “husseiniya,” a religious site devoted to Hussein, a martyr in Shi’ite tradition. The source of the shelling was not immediately clear. Two roadside bombs also exploded in the Abu Ghraib area west of Baghdad, killing five Shi’ite volunteer fighters, police and hospital sources said. The mortar attack comes a day after the deadliest day of attacks in the capital since a Sunni insurgency overran large parts of Iraq’s north last month. At least 27 people were killed in a wave of bombings in mostly Shi’ite Muslim areas of Baghdad. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility yesterday for the bombings.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton (L) and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif attend a news conference in Vienna. Credit: Reuters/Leonhard Foeger measures, including turning 20 percent uranium oxide into nuclear fuel. U.S. officials say Iran still
has more than $100 billion (58.52 billion pounds) in foreign assets which it has problems accessing due to
financial sanctions imposed in recent years over its nuclear programme. A U.S. official said on
Saturday that last year ’s agreement had been “a success in halting the progress of the Iranian programme and rolling it back in exchange for a relatively modest relief that has been provided over the six months”. But it remains unclear whether the extension of the talks until late November will yield a final settlement on wider curbs to Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for a gradual end to sanctions, experts and diplomats say. “There continue to be important gaps ... between the parties,” said the senior U.S. official, speaking on Saturday after the extension was agreed with Iran.
Exclusive - U.N. Security Council to vote Monday on Ukraine resolution (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council is due to vote today on a resolution that would condemn the downing of a Malaysian passenger plane in Ukraine and demands that those responsible be held accountable and that armed groups don’t compromise the crash site integrity. While Russia engaged in negotiations with the 15member council on the resolution - drafted by Australia which lost 28 citizens - it was unclear if it would support the final version, said diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity. In an apparent bid to compromise with Moscow, the wording of the condemnation was change to characterize the incident as the “downing” of the Malaysia Airlines flight - with 298 people on board - instead of “shooting down,” according to the final draft obtained by Reuters. Ukraine and its Western allies accuse Moscow of fuelling a pro-Russian uprising that threatens to break up the former Soviet republic of 46 million people. Russia denies orchestrating the unrest and says Ukraine’s attempts to end it by military force are making the situation worse. Moscow denies any involvement in shooting down the airliner and has blamed the Ukrainian military. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry put forward yesterday the most detailed accusations so far that Russia provided insurgents with the sophisticated anti-aircraft systems used to down the aircraft. Russian President Vladimir Putin urged the pro-
Moscow rebels in eastern Ukraine to cooperate and insisted that an international investigation must not leap to conclusions. The draft U.N. resolution “demands that those responsible for this incident be held to account and that all states cooperate fully with efforts to establish accountability” and “calls on all states and actors in the region to cooperate fully in relation to the international investigation of the incident.” Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans are due to be at the United Nations for the vote on the resolution, said diplomats. The Netherlands lost 189 citizens on the flight to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam. The draft resolution “expresses grave concern at
reports of insufficient and limited access to the crash site.” It “demands that the armed groups in control of the crash site and the surrounding area refrain from any actions that may compromise the integrity of the crash site ... and immediately provide safe, secure, full and unrestricted access to the site and surrounding area for the appropriate investigating authorities.” International monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe visited part of the crash site for a third day yesterday. They said on Saturday that gunmen had stopped them approaching some of the wreckage. The draft resolution also “insists that the bodies of the victims are treated in a
dignified, respectful and professional manner and calls upon all parties concerned to ensure that this happens with immediate effect.” Television images of the rebel-held crash sites, where the remains of victims had lain decomposing in fields among their personal belongings, have turned initial shock and sorrow after Thursday’s disaster into anger. The bodies had been removed from much of the crash site by yesterday. The Security Council issued a statement on Friday calling for a “full, thorough and independent international investigation,” access to the site and appropriate accountability. Britain drafted the text and hoped the council could issue it on Thursday but Russia requested more time.
Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin listens during a U.N. Security Council meeting regarding the situation in Ukraine and the recent downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 at the United Nations headquarters in New York.