Monday May 13, 2013
Kaieteur News
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Letters... Where your views make the news... Letters... Where your views make the news
TOO MANY SCHOOL Excellent customer service DROP-OUTS AT ZEELUGT at these supermarkets DEAR EDITOR, In most businesses it is the employees who determine the efficiency of the enterprise and thus its success.If employees fail to make a customer feel special, the customers will go elsewhere, perhaps to never return. Many stores in Georgetown have employees that leave a lot to be desired, sometimes when two or three are gaffing I feel uncomfortable asking them for assistance. However, there are some exceptions and I would like to share my
recent experiences at Nigel’s and Bounty Supermarket; the quality of the service I receive at these two supermarkets is beyond words. While recently shopping at Nigels supermarket, I approached the cashier, Winette Hamilton. Winette knows her customers and their likes and dislikes. In my case she remembers that I don’t like plastic and bring my own shopping bag. Once I observed how she interacted with a young child giving his young mother a tough time;Winette put the child on
This teenaged accused needs help DEAR EDITOR, In an earlier letter I lamented on how we seemed to have lost a concern for our fellow human beings. Over the past weeks we have seen examples of this detachment particularly against our sisters and those without connections in high places. Today I read of the case of Abickie Ferguson whom it is alleged to have caused the death of her stepfather on April 22, 2009. At this point let us not go into the merits of this case, save to state that for the news article, we may very well be on the side of this young woman. But I ask what sort of society do we have?. Here is a 17 year old schoolgirl held in jail for four years - The best years of her life, awaiting the pleasure of our justice system. They say justice delayed is justice denied. Could not the Honourable Attorney General & Minister of Justice or some other functionary see that this and similar cases be dealt with swiftly. Where are our religious and social leaders? What has four years behind bars done to this young person?. Come on churches, come on our young female lawyers, and our intellectual and young graduates and professionals, this is a sister who needed your voice and attention. In parliament we have a Minister of Human Services, a Minister of Youth, a Bishop, and a Minister of Religion. Where is the concern and compassion for Ms. Ferguson. Has anyone tried to ascertain the environment of that home in Plaisance. God Please Graciously Help us! Hamilton Green, J.P.
a stool by the cash register and he stopped crying and cheered up immediately. Once when I was short a few dollars on a cash purchase, she went into her pockets to pay the difference. When I saw her boss, Nigel Johnson, I didn’t hesitate to compliment him on Winette’s winning customer service style.While shopping at Bounty Supermarket I have been equally impressed with the courtesy and helpfulness of their sales staff, in particular Mr. Rupert Dean and Donna Rodrigues. It is employees like Winette Hamilton, Rupert Dean and Donna Rodrigues that help make these two businesses the success they are. I would like to close by asking the managers of all retail outlets to encourage shoppers to bring their own reusable shopping bags. One way of doing this is to have the cashiers ask the customer if they want a bag and if they say yes they are charged for it (say $5). The earnings could go into an environmental fund to finance Georgetown cleanup activities.This will help to reduce pollution in Georgetown and perhaps save the life of sea turtles that may consume plastic bags in the water mistaking them for food. Syeada Manbodh
DEAR EDITOR, School drop-outs have been increasing at an alarming rate throughout Guyana and if someone or organisation mentions it, this Government would come up with some concocted story claiming otherwise. In Zeelugt, a lot of children are abstaining from school occasionally and gradually they have stopped completely with the blessings from some parents who are mostly poor. These children’s ages start from around seven years and most of them, being boys, are being solicited to do odd jobs around the area for money because of their parents’ financial positions and the money they earn assisted their family greatly. Some of them have formed small groups and they could be seen walking all around smoking cigarettes and in some cases troubling people and getting into mischief. Editor, what is alarming is that they are being encouraged to drink alcohol and use illicit drugs by rogue elements within the area and
in order for them to fund their new habit, they eventually turn to crime. In some cases, after a crime is committed, their names are called and they are beaten by the victims, although the victims cannot identify them. At the Lenora Police Station, Zeelugt village is the most popular name. Of late, some of the allegations are against teenagers and they are for break and enter, gambling, fighting, etc., and in some cases juveniles have been arrested, taken to court and granted bail. One recent case involves a twelve –yearold boy spending nearly one month at East La Penitence lock-up because twenty thousand dollars could not be raised for his bail. Immediately after the second budget cut, the propaganda machines started to fill the airwaves saying that Guyanese will face hardship and lots of people will be out of jobs. Apparently it is okay for them to give their families and friends jobs so that they could get checks written in their names or misusing the funds, awarding contracts to
who they want, but it’s not ok when the opposition is forcing them to tighten on the funds that could make life for us better instead of them wasting it. Many parents cannot afford to send their children to school. It is costing a first grader approximately one thousand dollars to print out one sch o o l a s s i g n m e n t from a internet cafe, almost every week one has to be done. How many parents can afford this, especially when some of them have more than one child? Some of the parents don’t have a steady job, because this government prefers to give our jobs to foreigners. The police are well aware of this development in Zeelugt and no one can tell me they are not concerned and they must inform those in the relevant Ministries. The schools have records, they should be informing the Ministry when a child stops going to the school. Why are they not visiting the homes to see how they could help or get help? Sahadeo Bates
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Kaieteur News
Monday May 13, 2013
Letters... Where your views make the news... Letters... Where your views make the news
Promise to rebuild East Bank Berbice road not kept DEAR EDITOR, It was reported in the Independent private media on May 5th, 2013 at the Albion Sport Complex that “President rallies supporters against opposition.” Well that rallying is most welcomed; only if it was backed with substance rather than subterfuge, deceit, propaganda, distortions and untruths? Last year President Ramotar promised the residents of East Bank Berbice that the road will be built by the time he returns in May 2013 to celebrate the Indian Arrival Day. One year later not even a pebble has been laid. But as Dem Boys seh, “Donald ain’t no fool. He avoid dem people [from East Bank Berbice] and go to Albion instead.” Now he is talking all this froth but the people want the substance. His statement that an AFC/APNU government
would ban peas, potato and dhal; mostly East Indian dishes is nothing but hogwash. Do the people think that with a political leadership in Guyana like a President Moses Nagamootoo and a Senior Vice President and Prime Minister like Nigel Hughes, we will have “food shortages” again in Guyana? Never! What nonsense is coming out this man’s mouth? Hughes who is down in the Rupununi savannah fighting for the rights of our Amerindian brothers and sisters will not support any type of food shortages? Nagamootoo is the champion in Parliament fighting for the people especially the poor and the working class against the unconscionable and uncaring PPP Ministers and he will bring food shortages to the people? If horses can fly; then it is time to listen to
President Ramotar. Why is the President so cowardly to only flounce on stage like a “bundarie” with empty sound bites and not getting down to the real business of calling the elections? If he is so certain of the East Indians support then he should not hesitate and call the elections immediately? But he knows that the East Indians are not going to support his corrupt regime and despite what he and the PPP cabal think, East Indians are not stupid or docile people who will willingly listen to anyone especially one who has done very little for them in the sugar and rice industries. Actually the President is one of the principle architects who “bruk-up” the sugar industry and who wasted US $200 million of the taxpayers’ money on that white elephant
sugar factory at Skeldon. Ask the sugar workers and the rice farmers who is fighting for them day in and day out and the names Nagamootoo and Hughes will jump out of their mouths every time. Ramotar and the PPP cabal have abandoned the sugar workers and the rice farmers, in fact, they have abandoned the East Indians in Guyana for their wealthy buddies. The Jagdeo/Ramotar cabal believes that no matter how badly they treat the East Indians, they would still vote for the PPP. That is why the PPP continues to use the race card to drive fear in the East Indian population that their black brothers and sisters are their enemies and therefore not to be trusted. We are telling the East Indians that the Jagdeo/Ramotar cabal is their biggest enemy and not their black brothers and
sisters who continue to struggle just like them to feed their families. What has President Romatar and his team of Ministers done for the East Indians of Guyana other than to have political, social and mental control over them. The PPP leaders are the new “massa” in Guyana; the only difference is that they do not ride horses but turn up in very expensive PRADOs to greet their supporters whom they describe as peasants. In the minds of most East Indians, this is what is resonating: · Naked discrimination against the Berbicians with the high toll charges on the Berbice Bridge, all to make a few of their business buddies so much richer on the backs of the people, especially Berbicians. The PPP is so callous to the plight of the ordinary people in Berbice and those who use the bridge that Minister Robeson Benn said in February 2013 that his Government has “no plans to reduce the tolls on the Berbice Bridge.” In blunt terms, he is telling Berbicians to shut up and pay the toll or don’t use the bridge. Isn’t this taking the East Indians for granted? · What happen to the East Bank Berbice road Mr. President? What happen to the Industrial Site at Hampshire on the Corentyne and the associated jobs? What happen to all the long hours of blackout after PPP cabal spent over $40 billion of the taxpayers’ money on GPL? Why is the water supply brown in color like “ground coffee” in a country that spends over $15 billion on the water supply system? This is the same PPP that criticized Burnham for the blackouts and the poor water system twenty two years ago. We want Mr. Ramotar to tell the people why there are still power blackouts today? The Whim Playfield has been dug up for years as an act of vindictiveness against the people of that village because they supported the AFC? These are some of the questions on the people’s mind Mr. President, not all the rubbish from you and your cabal. · Did the AFC do the right thing in Parliament to cut $31 billion from the budget; absolutely yes! The workers are aware that is $31 billion less for the PPP cabal to enrich themselves and their relatives and then the same heartless PPP will ask the same East Indians whom they have abandoned to join with the other peoples of Guyana to work harder to pay it back.
· Let us make it clear, the AFC did not follow APNU on the Budget cuts. This is pure propaganda from President Ramotar as he continues to misrepresent and distort the facts. The AFC led from the front from day one of the budget debate. If the President is to check the Parliamentary records, it was the AFC that submitted the first amendment to the 2013 Budget and stuck with its principle of supporting his regime if proper explanations were provided; if not – CHOP! CHOP! This 2013 Budget has allowed the AFC to blossom as the Political Party best ready to lead Guyana in 2015 under the leadership of Nagamootoo and Hughes; the dream team which has become the PPP worst nightmare! The PPP is definitely not scared of APNU and David Granger who remains a toothless Jaguar. · Will a Nagamootoo and Hughes join with David Granger and APNU; as President Ramotar will want the East Indians to believe? Let us pick some sense from the President’s nonsense! How can that be possible when the passive Granger is still stuck in the PNC balloon just like Ramotar with their racist politics? It is the PNC/ APNU and the corrupt Stalinist PPP that mobilize Guyanese based on race. The AFC does not mobilize on race; it mobilizes on issues and ideas. Unlike the corrupt PPP cabal and the jaded PNC/ APNU, the AFC will respect and serve every Guyanese fairly regardless of their race or political affiliations. So the General Secretary of the PPP is clearly being mischievous and rascal in trying to link the AFC to a political party that uses race as a tool of mobilization. Because of its racist politics, the PPP is more inclined to join with the PNC/ APNU. In the final note, we dare the President to spend the monies cut from the Budget since this case will be taken all the way to the Caribbean Court of Justice. And when the Court rule that the PPP cabal illegally spent funds that were not approved by Parliament, we expect charges to be laid on those PPP operatives who illegally spent the funds. So to all our East Indians brothers and sisters, please educate this President of your rich history and its connection with your life of struggle; your culture, your “satsang” and your “nrtya”. East Indians are not docile, stupid people that the PPP would want us to believe! Dr. Asquith Rose and Harish S. Singh
Monday May 13, 2013
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Monday May 13, 2013
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ARE THERE UNTOUCHABLES IN GUYANA? Regardless of the nature of the business a man may be involved in, if that person is murdered, it is the responsibility of the police to diligently pursue investigations to determine and bring to justice that man’s killers. Even if that person is involved in illegal activities, the police still have an obligation to track down his or her killers. The fact that he may be on the wrong side of the law does not mean that his death should not be thoroughly investigated. There have been many cases in Guyana where persons suspected or speculated to be in illegal activities, including trafficking in narcotics, were killed. These cases have gone cold. It seems as if they will never be defrosted. There have been many drive-by shootings in recent years in Guyana. The circumstances of the case point to a hit. This may be followed later by another hit or what appears to be a counter hit. When all the hits have subsided it seems as if no one is ever brought to
justice. Not so long ago, a man said to be an associate of someone who was believed to be involved in the narcotrade was gunned down at a club in Georgetown. Not long after this, the man’s driver was gunned down while reversing his car out of a yard. Then later another associate of the first man killed was slaughtered in his home. To date, no one has been charged with any of these murders. There have been several other cases like these. A few years ago, a man was riddled with bullets while in Diamond. He was suspected to have been involved in underhand business. There have been many others. It is worthwhile investigating how many of the murders of persons suspected to have been involved in certain underhand activities were ever solved. The Guyana Police Force has a point to prove. It should prove this point. It should indicate how many of the cases, in which persons who were suspected to have been
involved in illegal drugs were killed, have been solved. It should try to disabuse whatever reservations the public may have that somehow it has a poor record when it comes to solving these types of crimes. There are serious implications involved. It is obvious that there are assassins out there. And it seems as if there is a strong chance of these assassins not being caught. This can only encourage and embolden these hired killers and this is dangerous for the security of citizens because it means that if you have a little squabble with someone that person may be able to hire someone to bump you off and may very well get away with that crime. The danger for Guyanese society is that while the vast majority of its citizens are law abiding, they too can become victims. The police therefore have to give greater assurance to citizens that those who carry out these assassinations will be caught and brought to justice and that the best prosecution will be deployed
Charges recommended for four in Berbice vigilante killing While justice seems distant for the relatives of Nigel Roy Lowe who was the victim of a vigilante beating, relatives of Alfred Munroe are a little more confident that justice will be served in their case. The 55-year-old Munroe was beaten to death by a group of persons who accused him of breaking into a boutique at Rose Hall Berbice. The incident occurred on Thursday last, less than 24 hours after a similar incident had occurred in ‘B’ Field, Sophia. Munroe’s relatives said that they have been reliably informed by ranks investigating their matter that the Director of Public Prosecution has recommended charges for at least four persons. A post mortem which was done on Munroe’s body last Friday revealed that he died as a result of shock and hemorrhage, a direct result of the beating he received. This publication was told that investigators have evidence that would support charges against those in custody. While Munroe’s relatives are at ease that justice would be served, it clearly would not bring him back from the grave. With more information about the incident now coming to light, it seems as if the brutal attack was just a senseless and cruel act. The dead man’s sister
Marrieta Munroe said that they have since been informed that police ranks did not find evidence supporting the claims of those in custody that there was a break in at the Boutique. Initial reports are that Munroe and a female were beaten by relatives of a Boutique owner who claimed that they had broken into his business. Fortunately the female only suffered minor injuries. Ms. Munroe said her brother moved to Rose Hall several years ago after a separation from the mother of his three children. Evidently, the woman said, the separation took a tool on her brother who subsequently left his job as a Cane Harvester with GuySuCo. She said that soon after the separation, her brother struck up a relationship with another woman whom the family never appreciated and it was at this point that he turned to drugs. “All of us came up in a good family and after we found out that Alfred started smoking, we tried everything to get him to stop but nothing
never worked.” The woman insisted that her brother had his own means of supporting his lifestyle. She said he would pick fruits to sell in order to buy his drugs. “He would go and pick coconuts, mangoes, whichever fruit in season, he would pick and sell and the only thing he would get in trouble for is picking fruits from people trees, he won’t go into house and steal. That’s not him!” she declared. Ms. Munroe said she last saw her brother a week prior to his death but she always did her best to try to keep up with his whereabouts. Like Nigel Lowe’s relatives, the Munroes are questioning why persons are taking justice into their own hands. Following these incidents, the Ministry of Home Affairs and A Partnership For National Unity condemned the acts. Both the Ministry and APNU called on citizens to desist from such practices and allow the law to take its course.
to ensure that they are put behind bars for life. Increasingly ever day, the impression is being cultivated, whether rightly or wrongly, whether by fact or by fiction, that there are sections of the underworld who somehow have insulated themselves from being caught for the crimes they have committed. And this is not good at all. Each month you read stories about persons caught trafficking narcotics through the airport. And in almost every case, the persons caught are brought to the courts and
tried. There has hardly been a case, if ever at all, of the person who supplied the drugs being charged. Is there no system of plea-bargaining at work whereby the person apprehended can provide evidence in return for a plea deal. Each month also you read about persons apprehended with illegal guns. More often than not they are sentenced to prison. But there was only one case of note in which the person who supplied the gun in the first place was ever charged. Why? Is it that all the investigators are concerned
about is charging the person found with the gun? Are they not also interested in who supplied the gun? It is therefore hoped that with this new strategic planning team in place that one of its first actions would be not only to develop statistics about crime patterns in general but specifically about just how many cases involving hits were solved. This will be a good start.
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Monday May 13, 2013
Sparendaam plane crash…
Sithe Global Committed to ensure insurance covers rebuilding of property Sithe Global is conducting its own investigations into issues relating to insurance of the illfated American registered aircraft that crashed into a Sparendaam, East Coast Demerara house, flattening the structure one month ago. This is according to Brian Kubeck, Senior VicePresident and Project Manager of the Amaila Hydropower Project. Sithe Global was contracted by the Government to see the implementation of the Amaila Hydropower Project. “Amaila Falls Hydro contracted with ATLIS Geomatics, Inc. for surveying services and our contract explicitly required that ATLIS have valid third party insurance, as well as its subcontractors (i.e., including the owner of the plane that crashed). We are investigating this matter directly with ATLIS and hope to be able to provide additional information soon,” Kubeck said.
The two-man crew aboard the twin-engine Piper Aztec, with registration N27-FT was on a technical survey mission for the Amaila Falls Hydropower project. Just after taking off from Ogle International Airport the plane crashed into Florence Tyndall’s house- flattening the structure and scorching a section of her neighbour Michelle Belle’s house. Tyndall escaped unharmed but the aircraft’s owner and pilot Pierre Angiel and his passenger Canadian Scientist Nick Dmitriev perished. The 69-year-old woman is now living with her son and is hopeful that the aircraft’s insurance will cover the cost of rebuilding her house. Meanwhile, Belle, her six children and one grandchild are still occupying their abode. According to Kubeck, “Amaila Falls Hydro believes that insurance should cover the rebuilding and rehabilitation of the houses
and we are committed to ensuring that this happens. We are greatly saddened by the loss of lives and property associated with the accident and we are doing our best to ensure that the affected homeowners can rebuild.” However, the insurance company has been silent since the incident and this has raised eyebrows in the local aviation industry. In fact, 10 days after the crash, Paula Mc Adam, Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA)’s Director of Aviation Safety Regulation, had said that GCAA was unable to ascertain the name of the insurance company. Normally whenever there are incidents of this type, insurance companies “are usually quick on the scene”. According to GCAA in a press release Thursday last, “Approval was given to Digital World Mapping to operate the specific aircraft to conduct a LiDar Survey for the Amaila Hydropower
File photo: President Donald Ramotar, Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh and Chief Executive Officer, National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), Winston Brassington meeting with Chief Executive Officer, Sithe Global, Bruce Wrobel, and Senior Vice-Presidents, Development, James McGowan and Brian Kubeck in January 2012 Project. In that approval the operator was advised that the aircraft must be insured against third party risk. Detailed examination, based on information provided by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) of the USA has revealed that the insurance coverage for the aircraft did not include coverage for operations in South America. As a consequence the liability
issues resulting from the aircraft crash are viewed as devolving to the charterer of the aircraft.” However, the regulatory agency did not definitively say whether the aircraft operator acted on the advice and insured the aircraft against third party risk. And, according to a source, GCAA’s Air Transport Management Department did not verify if
the aircraft- owned and piloted by Pierre Angiel of Angiel EnviroSafe, Inc. – was insured and had requested assistance from the Federal Aviation Administration to help in locating the insurance company. Mc Adam in a follow-up interview had said that GCAA is trying to arrange a meeting with Sithe Global for this week in relation to liabilities relating to the crash.
Another unsolved murder…
Six years after he was executed, police yet to find Arjune Narine’s killer “Sloppy” was the word used by Prem Narine, to best describe Guyana Police Force’s investigations into the execution of his only son six years ago. Arjune Narine was 21 years old when he was pulled out of the driver’s seat of his bullet riddled car (PGG 8089) which was parked at the junction of Durey Lane and Middleton Streets during an “unofficial” police road block. The incident which also saw three other persons being injured, occurred shortly after 22:00 hours on May 11, 2008. Those injured were Jean Singh, an employee of NCN Radio (at the time), her son Mark Semple and a man named Larry Singh. From all indications, the police manning the roadblock were not targeted; they took evasive action by plunging into a nearby canal when the shooting started. Amidst much speculation,
The late Arjune Narine there are two theories about the young man’s death. Narine, an employee with an airline service, may have been at the wrong place at the wrong time or his death was a case of mistaken identity. To date, it is still unclear as to even why the police officers, clad in civilian attire, chose to put up a road block at that time and at that
particular section of the city. And moreso, persons are still questioning their move to take evasive measures instead of answering to the injured persons’ desperate call for help. During a recent interview with Kaieteur News, the senior Narine said that to date, six years later, the police have not yet visited him for any information on his son. But despite this, he is leaving no stone unturned as it relates to getting justice, or at least a proper investigation carried out into the death of his son. “I met with Donald Ramotar when he was the PPP’s General Secretary and he was sympathetic because he knew my son well. Ramotar put me on to Clement Rohee (Home Affairs Minister). Despite everything, all that I did, and everybody that I spoke to, all I’ve been hearing is that investigations are (Continued on page 22)
Monday May 13, 2013
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Former treason accused breaks silence on incarceration ...says masterminds own competing private school The Munroes before their release in 2012
Achiever’s Academy
It’s been just over a year now since Major Bruce Munroe and his wife, Carol Ann Munroe, have been released from prison after a charge of treason against them was dismissed. The couple is free now, but both husband and wife are fearful that the very circumstance that may have led to their incarceration is still very much alive and continues to plague their lives. Mrs. Munroe, on Friday, told Kaieteur News that they can no longer hold their tongues on the issue as attacks on the couple’s business have become more rampant. She said that it appears that those responsible for their imprisonment will stop at nothing until they are out of business.
Mrs. Munroe told Kaieteur News that she and her husband were targeted as a result of the school the family owns and operates at Lot 7-9 Plantation, Soesdyke Highway; Achievers’ Academy. She told Kaieteur News that there had been numerous attacks on the school before and after their incarceration. One occurred as recent as last weekend when persons attempted to set the building on fire. She said another (named) school whose owners are wealthy, with strong political affiliations, have been trying for years to destroy the institution. She explained that Achievers’ Academy brings fierce competition to this other school, but what may have taken the cake was when the Academy topped the East
Bank, the very first time the school wrote CXC in 2009. This caused the other school to lose even more business. Munroe continued that though owning a school seems unrelated from being charged with treason, all the characters involved in the conspiracy are very much inter-twined. Munroe explained that on returning to Guyana in the early 2000s she worked with this named school from 2003 to 2004. She however decided to open her own school; but started off in 2005 with small lesson classes which were held in rented buildings like ‘Le Charlet’, which is owned by former army Reserve Office Leonard Wharton. Wharton was jointly charged with Munroe and her husband.
The problem, she said, started in 2010 when Achievers’ Academy was formerly opened at its current location in September of that year. On November 12, 2010 the school was broken into and vandalized. Three young men, two of whom attended the named private school and one of whom attended Achievers Academy, had not only destroyed school records and documents but drenched the school in urine. “It was obvious that this was no ordinary break in. All ministry documents, journals, registers, schemes and curriculum guides were taken from the school. The children’s files and records were thrown outside into the swamp, students SBA’s and flash drives with information for the following years exams were all destroyed,” she continued. Three days after the break-in, Munroe said the three young men were caught and one of them took the police to his home at Hill Foot, Soesdyke where one of the 13 stolen typewriters was retrieved. This led to a case being built against the youngsters but almost two weeks later, the allegations of
treason suddenly surfaced. While attending the treason trial, Munroe said that she was also attending the break and enter matter which is to date ongoing at the Providence Magistrate’s Court. Subsequent to their release in 2012, Munroe said she learnt that the school had been broken into 22 times. “They stole everything they got their hands on, windows, stationery; everything that was needed for the school to function.” Works began to repair the school and to replace what had been taken. During that, the break-ins continued, Carol Munroe said. The culprits again took the small things that were essential for the school’s functioning. The police were called in on several occasions and they finally told Munroe that she needed to improve her security with the implementation of safety features such as grills and to fortify the school doors and such. All that was done, Munroe said, but the breakins continued. She said that she and her husband even resulted to making routine
checks at various hours of the night and into the morning.”But it is obvious that those responsible for last week’s incident had been keeping tabs on their movements. The school was broken into just a couple hours after checks were made. A hole was punched into the concrete wall with a huge piece of wood, but the space was only big enough for a child. Finger prints and foot prints were visible when investigations commenced and again, basic stationery and school texts were stolen. “Who breaks in to steal text books?” she asked. In her office a small fire was lit, “But thank God it did not catch. The heaped up paper burnt out but nothing else caught,” Munroe continued. In another location, she said a mosquito coil was left lit in a closed drawer. It subsequently went out without causing damage. The school has no electricity Munroe said because there is no electrical facility in the area and to get electricity to the school would mean buying a transformer with funds that the school has not yet been able to accumulate. The only family living in close proximity of the school has also been trying to frustrate the functioning of the school with their actions. She said too that one of the boys currently before the courts is also related to those who live near the school. “So they all meet up at the house. They give us a hard time with the loud vulgar music, which on one occasion gave reason for the police to be called in. (to be continued)
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Retired Superintendent Tahal decries overcrowded prisons By Leon Suseran Former Senior Superintendent of Prisons, Mr. Poshanand Tahal recently expressed concerns about the current state of the prison system, especially as it relates to overcrowding and the need for the female prisoners at New Amsterdam to be re-located to a separate facility. During an interview with Kaieteur News, Tahal who spent over 34 years in the Guyana Prison Service (GPS), acting as Director of Prisons at some point or another, and who served for quite a number of years at the New Amsterdam Prisons, related some of his burning concerns. “The overcrowding—the New Amsterdam Prison is very small and to hold 100 prisoners in a very cramped position is not easy. I understand they got some plan to build at Lusignan. I don’t know how that would facilitate movement. The government did suggest somewhere at Leonora for a female prison. I don’t know the land but it was mooted then. I don’t know if they have that in thoughts anymore. Georgetown is terrible, terribly overcrowded,” he said.Tahal stated that when he left the system, the remand population at New Amsterdam was roughly 48 per cent of the total male population and about 50 per cent of the total female population. This amount he said varies from time to time. The females need space
Poshanand Tahal to operate and space to get involved of activities “and so the Officer-in-Charge can only dream of activities to get them involved in.” “To do gardening or training, they have to come outside or even play games— it’s not always the best opportunities for them.” Tahal noted that the large garden space that was used in the past to do large- scale farming at the New Amsterdam Prisons was taken away to build the new New Amsterdam Hospital and the only plot of land that remains today is the one that is owned and leased by the Presbyterian Church in the area. The plan then was to look for a piece of land along the East Bank of Berbice to do farming and a proposal was prepared, “but nothing was done about that. The land aback of the Berbice High School (BHS), the church has taken it back.” “Every industry that prisons become involved in,
you have to have somebody at the helm who has a drive to see the thing continuously remain successful, and I think sometimes, you know, a lot of young cadets come in and some of them get the impression—‘Oh I didn’t come as an Agriculturist—I come as an administrative officer and chicken rearing is not my business’—I get that kind of impression and they need to be much more wide in their dreams,” the former Deputy Prison Director stated. And the main essence of prison hasn’t been removed from the law—that is separation and segregation. According to Tahal, it is difficult for any prison officer to practice separation and segregation (separate the remands from the convicted; the hardcore form the softcore) in Guyana. He related that what currently obtains in the system is not good enough; whereby the only separation is females from males in New Amsterdam, “and that’s not good.” He believes the powers that be need to understand “that not every prisoner can be trained and retrained.” “They got the hard core who will never change. For instance, they got a prisoner whose name is Jack, who has served over 40 prison sentences, who tell you plainly ‘Boss man, I ain’t got no other home—I go on the road and I coming back….just keep me bed, don’t give it away’. What will we do with him?” Tahal questioned. The retired prison officer also believes that government should be utilizing prison labour. He said that they should have prisoners work for incentives by doing work and performing jobs in the communities in which they serve jail time, “given the right security”. “Let them earn for the food and the things the government giving them—it’s plenty money we spending on them—let them give back to the society, they can do that.”
Monday May 13, 2013
Is the Guyana Police Force doing enough for its ranks? By Dale Andrews Throughout my career as a reporter, I have covered a number of police killings. There was that period, between 2002-2004, when almost every week, a cop was murdered in Guyana. These cops were killed in direct confrontations with criminals while the majority who were just marked for death, were ambushed and slaughtered. Some of these policemen I knew very well and their deaths have left an unnerving impression on my life. I can hardly recall anyone, except for the mentally challenged Solomon Blackman, who had killed two policemen, and one ‘Jungle Commando’ for killing Constable Eloy Aldridge way back in 2001, ever being placed before the courts for the murder of a policeman. It is easy for the police to call the name of a suspect whenever a cop is gunned down, and then the case is closed with the subsequent elimination of this suspect. When this happens, the public is fed with the false impression that justice was served. But as a journalist, I keep asking the questions- who killed Inspector Leyland October? Is it really the late infamous ‘Inspector Gadget’ whose name was linked to that murder? Who really killed Deputy Superintendent Leon Fraser? Who killed Detective Sergeant Harry Kooseram? Who killed Rawle Thomas? Who wiped out detective Adrian London? Who gunned down Outar Kissoon and Ramphal Pardat in Rose Hall? The list goes on, and there is very little comfort to these men’s families not knowing the real truth about their deaths. Of course speculations were bandied about freely, and there were times when these speculations sounded like the gospel truth. It brings me to the death of Corporal Romain Cleto, who was gunned down on
April 27 last in full view of the public at the busy Regent Street and Avenue of the Republic intersection. So far no one has been brought to justice, even though the head of the Force’s operations, had boasted that all stops would have been pulled out to bring Cleto’s killer to justice. If this had happened in any other country, what do you think the response would have been? The entire police force would have been hunting down the killers like vultures. “If you allow these killers to feel that they can get away with killing our lawmen, they will continue to do so. We must act and act swiftly,” said a Senior Police Officer. At present, the police have no one in custody for the killing of Corporal Cleto, having released one man who they said was a prime suspect. They are still looking for the alleged shooter and the car that was used in the act. The big question is: Are the police doing enough to capture Cleto’s killer? There is a school of thought which suggests that the conflicting reports being given by Cleto’s colleagues who were with him when he was killed are not helping investigators. And then there is the fact that Cleto and his colleagues made the cardinal mistake of attempting to confront the killer(s) alone, without alerting the several other patrols via the police radio network. “The whole thing was bungled from the inception. The response was also bungled. These ranks made no contact with their colleagues on patrols or the Operations Room. If they had alerted other patrols when they first picked up the car, they would have had some support. But instead they made the chances of the getaway greater after the shooting,” said a reliable police source, who was a part of the initial investigation. But whatever the case,
Corporal Romain Cleto junior ranks of the Guyana Police Force are beginning to express concerns that enough is not being done to apprehend his killers. When all is said and done, one measly million dollars is handed out to the families of these brave men. Then their deaths are glossed over with an annual service, where glowing tributes are delivered. “Not even the smallest lotto don’t start with a million dollars,” a Constable, who does patrol duties in the city, told me. And given the initial reaction of Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee to Cleto’s death, the conclusion that nothing much is being done for the sacrifices that these men made to Guyana seems justifiable. “Rohee had said that he would kick ass, and he is proving it,” one frustrated police rank said. “While he and the senior officers sitting in their homes with security, we have to go out there and face the music,” he added. Very few would doubt my commitment to the men and women in the Guyana Police Force. At one time I had contemplated becoming a policeman; maybe God knows why I did not. And it is very painful for me to see the lives of policemen being treated with scant regard.
Monday May 13, 2013
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Taking care of our elderly Should we worry? Lately I have experienced a great number of persons inquiring about their elderly parent or family member, who had left home and not returned, to determine if they had joined the ranks of the unknown, who died recently. Let’s try to put this in perspective. According to reports from the National Institute of Health, about four million people have Alzheimer’s disease in the United States, I know that one will say we are not in the USA, however, studies are done to gather information and is usually applied globally. According to the National Institute of Health, about three percent of people between the ages of 65 and 74 have Alzheimer’s. This incidence dramatically increases with advancing age h t t p : / / life.familyeducation.com/ aging-parents/caretaking/ 49077.html; nearly half of the population over 85 years has the disease. Most people live an average of eight to 10 years from the onset of symptoms. Yes, it is something to be on guard for, especially as your parents enter their mid80s, but it certainly isn’t something that every older person has to fear lurking around the corner. Dementia is actually an
umbrella term (literally meaning “without mind”) that refers to the progressive loss of thinking, judgment, ability to focus, and ability to learn. More than half of the dementia cases are caused by Alzheimer’s, a disease named after German physician Alois Alzheimer, who discovered it back in 1906. No one is exactly sure what causes Alzheimer’s, but genetic factors are definitely in the mix. The second leading cause of dementia is multi-infarct dementia caused by the death of brain cells due to ministrokes that block blood supply. These small, successive strokes often go unnoticed as they chip away at the brain. People with high blood pressure and diabetes are at considerable risk for this type of dementia. THE WARNING SIGNS Just remember everybody gets distracted. Everybody forgets a name, and everybody has misplaced his or her keys at one time or another. And some of us have even forgotten where we parked the car. So if all this is normal, how do you know when forgetfulness slides into the world of dementia? The Alzheimer’s Association has developed a list of the top 10 warning signs of Alzheimer’s. If your elder
parent or family member experiences several of these symptoms, it’s time to get him or her to a doctor. One way you can be very helpful when you’ve scheduled your parent for a checkup for dementia is to make a copy of this list and write up the behaviors exhibited by your parent under each symptom. The behaviors that you note should not be typical lifelong behaviors of your elder. (My kids, for instance, certainly wouldn’t list losing car keys or forgetting their date of birth as a sign for me!) The Top 10 Warning Signs of Alzheimer’s Disease (from the Alzheimer’s Association) 1. Memory loss affecting job skills. Frequently forgets assignments, colleague’s names; appears confused for no reason. 2. Difficulty performing familiar tasks. Easily distracted; forgets what he or she was doing or why. Might prepare a meal and then forget to serve it, or that he or she even made it. 3. Problems with language. Forgets simple words or substitutes inappropriate words; doesn’t make sense. 4. Disorientation to time and place. May become lost on
his or her own street; doesn’t know where he or she is, how he or she got there, or how to get back home. 5. Poor or decreased judgment. Usually exhibited through wearing inappropriate clothing, or poor grooming. Forgets to wear a coat when it’s cold; wears a bathrobe to the store. 6. Problems with abstract thinking. Exhibits trouble with numbers; can no longer make simple calculations. 7. Misplaces things. Not
Six years after he was executed, police... (From page 10) ongoing. The only thing positive that I have ever heard, was that the police officers would have been disciplined, but I have no idea what happened to that.” The deceased Arjune Narine, who was living alone while his parents were in Canada, was reportedly on his way home after picking up his dinner, when the gunmen opened fire. Eyewitnesses have said that the gunmen appeared to have been following the dead Airline Agent, before the guns went off. However, some others believe that the
University of Guyana Computer Science student was just at the wrong place, at the wrong time. His father attested to this, stating that his son had no enemies, and had been living a decent life. “He used to feed the orphanage every year. He was a good boy, a good son. I’m proud of him,” the man said. Narine burst into tears as he explained that his family had not been the same ever since his son was murdered. He explained that despite the years that have passed, his wife would cry at every mention of her son’s name. Recalling the night when
his son was killed, Narine said he was at his home in Canada when he received a call from his brother, asking that he return home immediately, as young Narine had met with an accident and was critical. “Before I could say anything else, he hung up. Me wife did already getting frantic, but I keep thinking that is just an accident and he was probably hospitalized.” However, Mr. and Mrs. Narine got the shock of their lives when they arrived in Guyana to find their relatives crying uncontrollably. Narine explained that
when he saw his relatives crying, his mind went blank and tears started pouring down his face, with his body suddenly going cold and numb. The Narine family is just one of the many Guyanese families struggling to get justice years after their loved ones have been slain. While a few may have given up, there are still those like the Narines who remain determined to continue to press for proper investigations to be carried out and have persons held accountable for their crimes. Narine lamented that Guyana is in for bad times when prospective young people are being murdered cold-bloodedly. Another such killing is the still unsolved Sheema Mangar case. Mangar, a Demerara Bank Limited employee, was the victim of a fatal hit and run robbery on the evening of September 11, 2010. Narine, like many others, is pleading with the Ministry of Home Affairs, and by extension, the Government of Guyana, to ensure that there is justice for the lives of Guyana’s future generation.
only loses things, but puts things in inappropriate places, such as putting a purse in the freezer or a wristwatch in a sugar bowl. Has no idea how the items got there. 8. Mood and behavior changes. Exhibits more rapid mood swings for no apparent reason. 9. Changes in personality. Dramatic change in personality; for example, someone who was easygoing now appears extremely uptight. Becoming suspicious and fearful are commonly reported. 10. Loss of initiative. Becomes extremely disinterested and uninvolved in areas that he or she used to enjoy. The most important thing is not to deny that your loved one may need special attention or medical intervention rather than say they are old, they have lived their life, they are big and it’s ok. There are any things that can be done to ensure the elder remain safe, and denial is not one. “Oh, crazy me; I’d lose my own head if it weren’t attached!” “Of course I remember that—I was just joking.” “Yes, I feel great, thanks.” Anyone who has a family member or friend diagnosed or experiencing with earlystage dementia or Alzheimer’s has heard these phrases, and many similar ones. One of the trickiest aspects of early-stage cognition impairment isn’t necessarily the disease itself—it’s the denial. Denial is, first and foremost, a coping mechanism—rooted deep in the human psyche. It taps into our most primal survival instincts, attempting to reassure our own feelings of normalcy and belonging in the communitywide collective
we call life. Many people who live with early-stage dementia can still drive their cars or ride their bicycles, have logical conversations, recite multiple phone numbers and addresses, and function rather well in daily life. To them, things seem pretty much OK, so they find it hard to see what all the fuss is about and why the families may be concerned. They naturally wonder why others are harping on them, as if they aren’t capable of remembering a simple task! They misunderstand their family’s reactions, they doubt their own diagnoses and they reject their assistance. (It’s not surprising that, during the earliest phases of a diagnosis, many older adults may insist on a change of physician at least once, despite all test results.) I have the personal experience with my dear and loving mother who is now 91 years of age. However, there comes a time when the cognitive cracks begin to show—to them. They realize they’ve somehow forgotten a crucial responsibility, overnight. They realize that they’ve eaten breakfast twice today, failing to register the first time. Tomorrow, they might realize they can recall minute details from 1983, but can’t seem to remember the current route to their market that they visited every week since childhood. Then, a close family member suddenly reacts very strangely to something they’ve said, leaving them with the eerie, foreboding feeling that something is obviously amiss, but they’re not sure what it is. It is time that we understand that they are not just “old and own way” but rather experiencing a difficult change of life. (Dawn Stewart)
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What do you have to do to get mutton at a good price? If you’re a sheepskate you go to a sheep sale. Unless you’re in China where mutton can be rat, mink or fox. Following closely on the heels of the horses for courses scandal in Europe where horse-meat was found to be the main ingredient in “beef” burgers and other frozen dinners, the Chinese have arrested 900 people for selling fake or tainted meat. There were 400 cases reported and about 20,000 tonnes of fake meat involved. Many experts see the whole thing as a historical progression from the Ming to the Mink Dynasty but point out that those responsible were outfoxed and caught like rats in a trap. Actually, most of the crime in China and other places inhabited by the Chinese is committed by “tongs”, not the implement
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for picking up things, but gangs. It seems the gang responsible for the rat-meat is associated with the first Chairman of the Communist Party of China and named after him “Mousy Tong”. In fact, were it not for the change of name of the Chinese capital, all the rats that were up for sale could have been caught by a super rat-catching cat who would closely observe them from a hiding place and then pounce- what one would call a Peking Tom. One wonders whether there is a Chinese translation of the Pied Piper of Hamelin and what the Chinese would make of it. “Why drown rat?” they would probably ask. “There are better ways to skillet.” The hard fact is that the average rat weighs about ten ounces. A tonne is about 2,200 lbs. There were 20,000 tonnes of mostly rat meat sold or 44million pounds. The
Pied Piper would have got corns on his lips trying to drown that many rats. If Hamlet Prince of Denmark is ever staged in China at the point where the Prince whips out his rapier shouting “A rat, a rat” and stabs through the curtain, he would have to fight off the “tong” men coming for the carcass. An Indian website, blog called “Health and Medicines” is high in praise of eating rats, “Rat meat is rich in protein and tastier than chicken.” An Indian official in Bihar state, Vijay Prakash, has said that rat meat is not only a delicacy but a proteinenriched food, widely popular in Thailand and France. He boasted, “Rats have almost no bones and are quite rich in nutrition. People at large don’t know this cuisine fact but gradually they are catching up. People now prefer to eat rat meat instead of chicken or goat as
it comes cheaper and is more tasty and healthy.” The Indians are not alone. The queen visited Belize in 1985 and was served a local delicacy, a large fruiteating rodent known to Belizeans as the “gibnut”. Seeing that “rodent” and “rat” are synonymous, one of the British tabloids ran the headline, “Queen Eats Rat.” Maybe they should have called it ratatouille. One of my Trini friends said that the practice of rodent repasts goes back to the Bible. “How you think Noah fed all those lions, tigers and other carnivores? That was the reason he was on Mount Ararat.” I live in Antigua and despite a rapidly increasing rat population I am sure we will never get to the stage of eating them mostly because of our abhorrence for the creatures but also because of their size and ferocity. These are not “mickey-mouse” rats we have here but huge animals that eat barbed wire for breakfast and fight the pit bulls for their food. Put it this way- climate change has caused the weather pattern to change. What little agriculture there was in the country has been further reduced because the weather is now characterized by periods of drought interspersed with short, sharp, heavy showers. The field rats and even the birds have nothing to eat in the fields. The birds come early in the
Monday May 13, 2013
day knocking on our windows begging my wife for food. She puts out syrup for some, bananas for others and bread for the crows. On the hot days they use our birdbath. Possibly because of jealousy and maybe the lack of home training the rats don’t bother to knock. They eat through the wire-mesh screens and head for the kitchen, trying to set up permanent residence behind the fridge or under the stove where it is warm. Several of them slipped into the engine compartment of my car, possibly trying to hot-wire it and drive off to the pet-food store. Some of the rats are huge because they thrive on dog food. In Antigua an increasing number of people see dogs as the solution to problems of petty larceny and housebreaking. They have huge dogs – Dobermen and Doberwomen, not doberboys or girls. Rottweilers abound and last, but not leash, Pit Bulls. These dogs require, if not demand through menacing utterances and threats, manufactured dog food. The household leftovers are not good enough for them and go down the drain. This is a doublewhammy. First the rats eat the leftover dog food that is specially formulated for large
animals so the protein content is considerable. It is like steroids for the rats which then leave the Happy Trails behind. They get on the Gravy Train. They develop a Pedigree. They nyam down the Iams. They eat their bellyfull on Beneful. They really reach the Pinnacle of growth. In the meantime the leftover food goes down the drain and the rats in that order. All this food helps the rats reproduce at an alarming rate. An average female rat can give birth about seven times per year, to a litter of about eight pups each time. Since it only takes a female rat about four months to reach sexual maturity, many of those new rats soon start producing their own broods. Under normal circumstances about ninetyfive percent of rats do not survive because of predators, poison and other measures. However, given that we ourselves are making them fitter and stronger so they can scare the heck out of the cat and fight the dog for food, guess who is winning the rat race? *Tony Deyal was last seen saying that a female rat goes into heat for about six hours at a stretch and may mate up to 500 times during that period. We would really be in trouble if it is with the same male.
Monday May 13, 2013
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Monday May 13, 2013 ARIES (March 21 - April 19): You might find that good energy is a bit hard to come by, today -- everyone seems to be grumpy or holding a grudge that they just won't let go of. Your first urge might be to try and cheer them up, but you should resist it. ******************* TAURUS (April 20 - May 20): Do you think that if you spend your energy trying to make other people happy that you'll end up making yourself happy? That kind of logic won't work today -- if you want to be happy, you've got to make yourself happy. ****************** GEMINI (May 21 - June 20): It's going to take a lot of patience to deal with a friend who is going to be spoiling your fun, today. They're in a cheap mood, not willing to cough up the money that an upcoming social event requires. ******************** CANCER (June 21 - July 22): Old things can be new and exciting for you, right now. And old flame could pop back up on the scene and shake up your world. An old photo might stir up some strange new feelings. ********************* LEO (July 23 - Aug. 22): You're feeling very sensitive to the problems of other people -- your empathy is high, and your thoughts could be distracted by worry. ******************* VIRGO (Aug. 23 - Sept. 22): It's time for you to take your turn organizing a new social outing. It doesn't have to be major, and it doesn't have to involve a lot of different people. Maybe it's just a brief afternoon outing with someone you haven't seen in a while. ********************* LIBRA (Sept. 23 - Oct. 22): Looks like that worry
you had was just a false alarm -- so today you will finally get the green light! So rest easy and breath a deep sigh of relief -- you made it! You won't be hearing any more from that unsavory person (at least not for a while). ********************* SCORPIO (Oct. 23 Nov. 21): Your expectations are growing too lofty right now -- you are aiming so high that you are bound to be disappointed when reality hits. You need to scale back your ambitions and believe that everything is happening the way it needs to happen, in the best time frame. ******************** SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22 Dec. 21): You are in a very open-minded phase, where you could do something that isn't necessarily good for you --temptations will be strong, today. So the best way to avoid spending too much, eating too much or doing something else you will regret later on is to keep busy! .********************* CAPRICORN (Dec. 22 Jan. 19): Feeling confused about a decision you have to make? If you need more clarity in your thinking, you simply need to make time for it. ******************** AQUARIUS (Jan. 20 Feb. 18): There have been more and more misunderstandings going on in your social circle lately, and this needs to come to a halt -- it is causing too much stress and useless discourse. ********************* PISCE S ( F e b . 1 9 March 20): Even though you love them all dearly, your friends are just not in synch with you right now -- they've got their own agendas and projects and they might not have time for you.
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Monday May 13, 2013
Italy PM Letta seeks to calm cabinet tensions at Tuscan retreat SARTEANO, Italy (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta took his ministers to a conference center in a former abbey in Tuscany for a retreat yesterday to thrash out differences that have already threatened the stability of his fragile coalition. The two-day bonding session near the town of Sarteano was billed by Letta’s office as a chance to discuss some of the thorniest policy issues facing the coalition between the main traditional rivals on the left and right of Italian politics. As well discussing major reforms to the dysfunctional electoral and parliamentary system, the cabinet must also find a way to reconcile differences over billions of euros worth of tax cuts promised by the center-right but resisted by the left. The encounter will also give Letta an opportunity to try to calm the mounting tensions that have appeared in his new government, formed last month after weeks of wrangling in the wake of February’s deadlocked election. Only two weeks after the
government was formed, senior members of Letta’s center-left Democratic Party (PD) took aim at their partners in Silvio Berlusconi’s People of Freedom party (PDL) following a fierce attack on magistrates by the 76-yearold media tycoon at a rally on Saturday. “It’s quite clear that this demonstration complicates the relationship and not just between the PD and PDL but between all the parties,” PD deputy Economy Minister Stefano Fassina told the daily La Stampa. It was noted that Interior Minister Angelino Alfano, the PDL p a r t y s e c r e t a r y, attended the demonstration against magistrates who rejected a n a ppeal by Berlusconi against a four year tax fraud sentence last week. However the remarks were brushed off by PDL politicians including Agriculture Minister Nunzia de Girolamo, who said the rally was no different from a meeting of PD leaders on Saturday to choose a new party secretary. “They hold assemblies in rooms inside, we’re out in the
squares, with the people,” she told reporters as she arrived at the meeting. The fractious atmosphere has increased the problems facing Letta and raised doubts over the durability of his government, despite assurances from Berlusconi that he does not intend to withdraw support. Behind the barbs, the coalition faces wide differences over tax policy which must be resolved to win extra budget leeway from the tight constraints imposed on Italy by the European Union’s excessive deficit procedure. Letta has pledged to focus on cutting youth unemployment of nearly 40 percent and restore growth to the sinking economy but he has little room for new spending given the huge burden of public debt, now around 130 percent of Italy’s economic output. EU authorities are due to decide this month whether to take Italy out of the excessive deficit procedure but approval could be endangered by the PDL’s insistence on scrapping an unpopular housing tax that
Enrico Letta brings in 4 billion euros a year. Letta’s PD says it is more
important to cancel a 1 percentage point increase in sales tax due to take effect in July and the government has agreed only to suspend payments of the housing tax due in June. So far, however, there has been no agreement on how to pay for the cuts as well as urgently needed measures to fund special unemployment benefit programmes without pushing the budget deficit past EU limits. In a bid to calm the tension, Letta’s spokesman said on Sunday the coalition partners had agreed that ministers would henceforth not take part in electoral
rallies or television talk shows not connected with their portfolios. However Berlusconi’s legal woes are likely to continue to overshadow the government, with a hearing in his trial on charges of paying for sex with a minor set for Monday. Opinion polls continue to show the center-right holds a lead, with a survey by the ISPO institute in the Corriere della Sera showing Berlusconi’s alliance on 35.6 percent ahead of the combined center-left on 29.6 percent and the antiestablishment 5-Star Movement on 24.1 percent.
Turkey says world must act against Syria after bombings
Reuters/Reuters - Relatives of Huseyin Guduk, 30, who was killed in yesterday’s car bombings, mourn in the town of Reyhanli of Hatay province near the Turkish-Syrian border May 12, 2013. REUTERS/Umit Bekta REYHANLI, Turkey (Reuters) - Turkey accused a group with links to Syrian intelligence of carrying out car bombings that killed 46 people in a Turkish border town, and said yesterday it was time for the world to act against the government of President Bashar al-Assad. The two car bombs, which ripped through crowded shopping streets in Reyhanli on Saturday, increased fears that Syria’s civil war is dragging in neighboring states, despite renewed diplomatic moves to end it. Damascus denied involvement, but Turkish
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said those behind the attacks were from an “old Marxist terrorist organization” with ties to Assad’s administration. “It is time for the international community to act together against this regime,” he told a news conference during a visit to Berlin. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said in a speech broadcast later on Turkish television: “We will not lose our calm heads, we will not depart common sense, and we will not fall into the trap they’re trying to push us into.”
But he added: “Whoever targets Turkey will sooner or later pay the price.” NATO-member Turkey has fired back at Syrian government forces when mortars have landed on its soil, but despite its strong words has appeared reluctant to bring its considerable military might to bear in the conflict. It is struggling to cope with more than 300,000 refugees but is not alone in fearing the impact of Syria’s war, which is stirring the Middle East’s cauldron of sectarian, religious and nationalist struggles. “We, like Jordan, are hosting hundreds of thousands of Syrians. Security risks to neighboring countries are rising,” Davutoglu said. The bombings took place as prospects appeared to improve for diplomacy to try to end the war, after Moscow and Washington announced a joint effort to bring government and rebels to an international conference.
Monday May 13, 2013
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Cameron faces growing party splits over Europe (Reuters) - A senior minister said yesterday he would support an exit from the European Union if there were a vote on the issue, as Prime Minister David Cameron faces a revolt over Europe from MPs in his own party. Up to 100 eurosceptic Conservative members of parliament are expected to back an amendment this week criticising the legislative plans unveiled by the coalition government last Wednesday because they did not include a bill for a referendum on Britain’s continued EU membership. Ministers have been ordered not to join the rebels but will be allowed to abstain, a sign of the extent of the divisions that have dogged Cameron’s party for decades. Three senior ministers, including Education Secretary Michael Gove, said yesterday they were ready to abstain. Gove went further, becoming the most senior Conservative figure to publicly confirm that he would back Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union if there were a vote based on the current terms of the relationship. “I’m not happy with our position in the European Union but my preference is for a change in Britain’s relationship with the European Union,” said Gove, seen as a possible rival to
David Cameron Cameron. “Life outside would be perfectly tolerable, we could contemplate it, there would be certain advantages.” Cameron came to power in a coalition with the proEurope Lib Dems in 2010 with a plea to his party to “stop banging on about Europe” a squabble that helped to bring down his predecessors Margaret Thatcher and John Major. But the prime minister has come under increasing internal pressure after the party suffered in local elections this month at the hands of the anti-EU UK Independence Party. Cameron has promised to renegotiate Britain’s relationship with the European Union and hold a plebiscite on EU membership in 2017, but eurosceptics want a vote now. Cameron’s plans depend not only on securing more
favourable EU membership terms but also on forming the next government after elections in two years. The Conservatives currently trail the opposition Labour Party by around 10 percentage points in surveys. Gove and other ministers said they fully supported Cameron’s stance, but that has done nothing to dim the internal clamour. Junior Conservatives in parliament would have free rein on whether to back the proposed amendment, but ministers had been instructed to abstain, a government source said. One unnamed minister told the Sunday Telegraph the fact that Cameron could not even force his cabinet colleagues to vote against the motion showed t h e p r i m e m i n i s t e r ’s weakness. Former senior minister Liam Fox, who ran against Cameron in 2005 for the Conservative leadership, told Sky News he would back the amendment, but described it as “an element of frustration” rather than an overt criticism of the prime minister’s position. While more than 500 business leaders backed Cameron’s renegotiation policy in April, saying a new, looser relationship would boost the British economy, others fear his referendum pledge has created uncertainty that will deter investment.
Some 800,000 people to need food aid in Niger - U.N. (Reuters) - Some 800,000 people will require food aid in Niger in the coming months despite a good harvest last year due to problems supplying cereals to markets, which have pushed up prices, and an influx of Malian refugees, the United Nations said. The U.N. office for humanitarian coordination (OCHA) said they would need food from now until the start of the rainy season, which is usually in July, July and August. It said the situation was critical in 13 regions surveyed by the government in March, where 84,000 people needed emergency food aid. The agency cited problems with supplying food to markets in some areas, such as the northern mining region of Arlit and Tahoua in central Niger and Tillabery in
the west, which had driven up cereals prices. Recurrent shortages in recent years have forced pastoralists to sell livestock, including valuable young females normally kept for breeding, reducing their resistance to food shocks. The presence of some 60,000 refugees from Mali where a French-led international mission has battled Islamist rebels since January - has exacerbated the food shortages in Ti l l a b e r y a n d Ta h o u a , OCHA has said. In 2011, the landlocked desert nation was struck by a famine that afflicted nearly 6 million people - roughly onethird of its population - as a drought coincided with a return of emigrants from conflict-stricken Libya and Ivory Coast. Niger appealed to
international donors for $354 million (230 million pounds) in February to tackle this year’s food crisis, down from $490 million in 2012 - of which only two-thirds was received - OCHA said.
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Republicans demand probe of tax scrutiny of conservative groups (Reuters) - Republican lawmakers called yesterday for a broad investigation of the tax agency’s acknowledgement that its agents had singled out conservative political groups for more scrutiny, and demanded that President Barack Obama make clear the action was unacceptable. “This is something we cannot let stand. It needs to have a full investigation,” House of Representatives Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, a Michigan Republican, said on “Fox News Sunday.” “I don’t care if you’re a conservative, a liberal a Democrat or a Republican, this should send a chill up your spine,” Rogers added. In a practice that drew complaints during the 2012 general election campaign, non-profit advocacy groups with the words “Tea Party” or “patriot” in their names were flagged for closer review by the Internal Revenue Service when they applied to the agency for tax-exempt status. Such groups may focus on issues, but may not directly support any candidate. “This is truly outrageous and it contributes to the profound mistrust that the American people have in government,” Senator Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “The president needs to make crystal clear that this is totally unacceptable in America.” Collins said she also doubted the IRS’s claim that the groups were targeted as part of an “inappropriate” organizing technique by a few bureaucrats in the agency’s tax-exempt section, rather than for political reasons. “I just don’t buy that this was a couple of rogue IRS employees. After all, groups with “progressive” in their names were not targeted similarly,” Collins said. “If it had been just a small
Mike Rogers group of employees, then you would think that the highlevel IRS supervisors would have rushed to make this public, fire the employees involved and apologized to the American people and informed Congress,” she said. An IRS official has apologized for the practice, which has embarrassed the tax-collecting agency and poses another potential headache for the Obama administration at a time when Republicans continue to raise questions about the administration’s actions related to the deadly assault on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, last September. Lois Lerner, director of the IRS tax-exempt office, said on Friday that revenue agents in Cincinnati targeted the conservative groups “without talking to managers” and that politics had played no role in the screening. The Cincinnati staffers were trying to deal with a crush of applications for taxexempt status by using key words to get through the paper work faster, she said. About 300 applications initially were flagged for
closer scrutiny. Of those, 75 were chosen for that treatment based on the presence of the key words in their names. Lerner said none of the applicants was denied tax-exempt status. The Treasury Department’s inspector general for tax administration is to release a report on its investigation into the issue within a few days. White House spokesman Jay Carney has called the closer scrutiny of the conservative groups “inappropriate,” and has said he expected the inspector general’s investigation to be thorough and lead to changes at the IRS. Rep. Rogers said an outside investigation was needed to get to the root of the matter, referring to IRS statements last year that no groups had been targeted for additional scrutiny. “I don’t know where it stops or who’s involved ... (The investigation) has to be external. It’s clearly shown that they can’t do it themselves. And I think Congress needs to have that oversight,” Rogers said. Representative Darrell Issa, a California Republican, requested the IRS inspector general report last year after accusing the IRS of targeting conservative groups. He has vowed to investigate, and the House Oversight and Government Reform committee he chairs has the power to issue subpoenas. At least one other congressional panel intends to hold hearings, giving Republicans multiple opportunities to hammer the agency and the White House over the IRS affair.
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Kaieteur News
Monday May 13, 2013
Greece invokes emergency Egyptian lawyer denies that powers to block teachers’ strike Mubarak spoke to paper
ATHENS (Reuters) Greece has threatened high school teachers with arrest if they go ahead with a nationwide strike that would disrupt university entrance exams that start this week, the official government gazette said. It is the third time this year that Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’s government has invoked emergency law to force strikers back to work to try to show foreign lenders who bailed out Greece that the country is sticking to unpopular reforms. The conservative-led coalition wants state high school teachers to put in two more hours of work each week and transfer 4,000 of them to remote parts of Greece in order to plug staffing gaps. The union representing the teachers, OLME, says that under the plan, about 10,000 part-time teachers could be dismissed once their
temporary contracts expire. It has called for a 24-hour strike when exams start on May 17 and rolling strikes the following week. Under Greek law, the government can forcibly mobilize workers in the case of civil disorder, natural disasters or health risks to the public. The coalition, in power since last June, has made increasing use of these powers to deal with frequent anti-austerity strikes, breaking week-long walkouts earlier this year by seamen that led to food shortages on islands and metro workers that disrupted transport in the capital. OLME plans to hold a rally in central Athens on Monday and called on the main public and private sector unions, representing about half the country’s workforce, to stage a general strike in solidarity on May 17. Teachers will be served a
civil mobilization order to go to work on that day or face arrest. Education Minister Constantine Arvanitopoulos said banning the strike was necessary because students had a “sacred right” to sit exams without disruption. The main opposition has called on the government to withdraw the law and open dialogue with the teachers after the exams. “These threats by the prime minister and his government are directly against the overwhelming majority of workers and society,” the Syriza party, which opposes the country’s bailout, said in a statement. The government broke a taboo last month by agreeing to dismiss 15,000 public sector workers by the end of 2014, a key demand by its European Union and International Monetary Fund lenders to qualify for further rescue loans.
(Reuters) - A lawyer representing former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak denied yesterday that his client had spoken to a newspaper, describing as a fabrication reports that he had said it was too early to judge Mohamed Mursi’s performance as president. Sunday’s edition of ElWatan said its journalist had broken through security lines to speak to Mubarak on Saturday before his retrial on charges of complicity in the death of protesters killed in the uprising that swept him from office. Responding to Mubarak’s lawyer’s denial, El-Watan’s editor-in-chief Magdi El Galad stood by his reporter’s account. Asked if his reporter had recorded the interview with Mubarak, El Galad said: “We
would disclose that in court if we found ourselves in court because of that.” T h e p a p e r, w h i c h i s fiercely critical of Mursi and his backers in the Muslim Brotherhood, splashed the story on its front page, billing it as Mubarak’s first comments to the media since he was toppled in 2011.
Lawyer Farid el-Deeb said he had sent Mubarak, 85, a message asking if the interview with the reporter had happened. “He sent me a message saying this didn’t happen,” he said. “All of it is incorrect ... Mubarak did not meet with him or sit with him or any of this.” El-Watan said its journalist had spoken to Mubarak in a side room at the court where his retrial began on Saturday. It quoted the deposed leader as saying it was too early to judge Mursi and expressing concern about the economy and lax security in Egypt, which he ruled for 30 years. Deeb said the remarks appeared to be based on comments that he himself had made to the media.
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syrian rebels yesterday released four Filipino U.N. peacekeepers they abducted last week in a dramatic incident that prompted warnings from the Philippines that the nation might pull out its contingent from the Golan Heights. Meanwhile, a Syrian official said President Bashar Assad’s troops have the right to enter the Israeli-occupied Golan whenever they wish — a veiled threat toward Israel to stay out of Syria’s conflict. Also yesterday, Damascus rejected Turkey’s allegations that Syria was behind two car bombings that killed 46 people in Turkey and wounded dozens more the day before. The four Filipinos, seized
Tuesday, were apparently unharmed, but they will undergo a medical checkup and stress debriefing, said Brig. Gen. Domingo Tutaan. A statement by the rebel group holding the peacekeepers — the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade — said the four were handed over to a U.N. delegation in the border area on Sunday, but provided no other details. The peacekeepers are part of a U.N. contingent that patrols a buffer zone between Syria and the Golan Heights, a plateau Israel captured from Syria in 1967. It was the second abduction of Filipino peacekeepers since March, when 21 were held for three days by rebels fighting Assad.
The Philippine foreign secretary has said he would recommend withdrawing Filipinos from the peacekeeping contingent in Syria, but the final decision is up t0o the country’s president. Nearly 1,000 U.N. peacekeepers patrol the Golan. Other major contributors are India and Austria. Croatia recently withdrew its contingent. The buffer zone has been largely quiet for four decades, but tensions have risen there since the outbreak of the revolt in Syria more than two years ago. In Damascus, Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi told a news conference yesterday that Syria has the right to enter the Golan Heights.
Hosni Mubarak
Syrian rebels release 4 UN Filipino peacekeepers
Monday May 13, 2013
Kaieteur News
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T&T: $200M CAL WRITE-OFF
Barbados Nation - State carrier Caribbean Airlines (CAL) is facing a potential write-off of approximately $200 million in losses, including $60 million lost from what executives say could amount to credit card fraud related to airline ticket purchases. More than $100 million has already had to be written off from the company’s cargo department. A report submitted to the CAL board of directors recently stated the losses were incurred because there were no policies in place to ensure the enterprise got its earnings. Four executives from the company’s management team, who had oversight over those operations but failed to stop the haemorrhage from the company or come up with solutions to recover the money lost, have been identified by other senior staff for the losses. The Sunday Express obtained a series of e-mails and documents last week which point to questionable actions by management of the company with regard to several multi-million dollar transactions which have handicapped the organisation financially. The Sunday Express understands the CAL board has already sanctioned an independent company to conduct an audit of the multimillion cargo losses and has instructed the management team to fix the credit card issues related to ticket purchases. With regard to the credit card problems, the Sunday Express understands basic principles were not followed when tickets were booked. It has cost the company millions, sources close to the operations explained. Since the inception of CAL, the Sunday Express
learnt that management never adopted the basic controls required for online and call centre credit card transactions and was not concerned about the millions of dollars these lack of controls cost the company. With regard to the cargo revenues, the Sunday Express understands the losses occurred in 2011 and 2012. For 2011, the company will write down $21.4 million of overstated revenue and will write off $40.4 million of uncollected cargo revenue. CAL, the Sunday Express learnt, could not determine if all manual invoices raised have been settled. In 2012, the company will write down $43 million of overstated revenue, and will write off $44.3 million of uncollected cargo revenue. “It has not been sufficiently determined since the invoices are done manually as such there is no accurate method to track if payment is collected on all invoices,” the note read. The Sunday Express understands that when CAL began operations in 2007, it simply had an “honour” agreement with its cargo operators who paid the company afterwards and as such, was always in the red with payments as CAL was never up to date on invoicing its customers. The Sunday Express learnt the independent review of the cargo issues will be presented to the board this week and it is expected a senior executive could be dismissed. Another executive, speaking to the Sunday Express on condition of anonymity, pointed out that it was “gross negligence” and “incompetence” on the part of CAL’s management over the past three years which led the company to its
Robert Corbie present state. While the executive conceded that CAL was to some extent mirco-managed by its board, he pointed out the management was hired to run the organisation for its best interest while the board is supposed to be principally focused on governance issues. Some executives further allege certain officials at the airline sought to ingratiate themselves to the board but never sought the best interest of the company. Several attempts to reach CAL’s acting chief executive, Robert Corbie, yesterday to respond to the allegations and finger-pointing at several of his senior staff members were futile. The Sunday Express understands he is out of the country but is expected back next week. While the issue of the losses and fraud have been known to the company’s executives within the last month, some executives questioned why this had not been as “leak worthy” to the press as the tickets and upgrade requests of the company’s vice-chairman, Mohan Jaikaran. “It is a well-known fact that these executives have not and would not make any decision and when engaging the board would take suggestions, provide feedback and carry it out without question. They would then turn it around and
Rating Agency reacts to IMF/Jamaica agreement Jamaica Observer Rating Agency Standard and Poor’s says that last week’s approval by the International Monetary Fund of a new agreement with Jamaica does not warrant a review of that country’s credit worthiness at this time, as the details of the agreement were in line with expectations. At the same time, agency spokesman and analyst Joydep Mukherji has acknowledged that “meeting the targets will be
challenging” for the country. In an interview with the Jamaica Observer, Mukherji said that Jamaica’s credit rating remains at triple C + (CCC+) which was applied at the time the debt exchange was undertaken in March. He noted that “there were no new details in the announcement last week,” as Jamaican authorities had already made those details public in parliament. Elaborating on his assertion that implementation
of the programme will be challeinging, Mukherji pointed to Jamaica’s low growth which he said amounts to almost zero when measured against its per capita. He said that it is “difficult to impose pain when growth is at such low levels.” Under the agreement which was approved by the IMF board at its meeting on May 1, Jamaica is to receive US $932.3 M over a four-year period.
communicate to the general staff that the board were giving these guidance or suggestions as directives,” another staff member said. To illustrate their point, the executives pointed to a Guardian story on Jaikaran’s request for CAL’s sponsorship of a Mother’s Day concert in Toronto, Canada, in the form of tax only tickets. They observed it was never a board decision but a decision taken by CAL’s marketing department. In an e-mail dated April 26, acting chief executive Corbie wrote to Alicia Cabrera, CAL’s senior marketing manager, and copied its corporate secretary, Nalini Lalla: “Alicia as per meeting the VC (vice chair) this morning and the coverage (if you are ok with the levels of returns) we will proceed as requested.” They further observed that Jaikaran’s request to upgrade passengers who included manager of the West Indies cricket team Omar Khan; chairman of the
Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (T&TEC), Sushilla Ramkissoon-Mark; chairman of National Petroleum (NP), Neil Gosine, and family; Minister of Legal Affairs, Prakash Ramadhar, and his wife; CrimeWatch host Ian Alleyne, and his spouse and child; chairman of the National Self Help Commission, Surujdeo Mangaroo, and Nadra Mangaroo; attorney Kelvin Ramkissoon; former Miss Universe, Janelle Commissiong; among others, cost the company less than the mismanagement which has taken place over the past three years. Another executive, when asked for comment, was concerned about “how the public is being distracted with a few thousands of dollars in upgrades when in fact, the (chief financial officer) has now exposed hundreds of millions in write-offs from cargo and credit card, insurance claims never being claimed since the inception of CAL”.
Another was concerned about how the leaks have put the company at risk legally by divulging travel itinerary and personal travel plans of certain individuals which is in contravention of CAL’s policy. “It is time for CAL’s executives to be executives and act decisively in carrying out the transformation plan, communicating with internal and external customers. The team realises that confidence needs to be built in CAL’s product and our focus should be on that and not on leaking information,” said another executive, who was also reluctant to be named. The losses are separate from the credit crunch which CAL is seeking to crawl out off. In 2012, CAL’s unsubsidised cash flow was a deficit of US$234 million for 2012. To this end, the airline embarked on a Stabilisation and Transformation Road Map, to incrementally reduce cost and streamline the airline’s operations once more.
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Kaieteur News
Jamaica Govt. to build million-dollar medical facility KINGSTON, Jamaica CMC – The Cabinet has approved the construction of a US $200 million medical facility in the western parish of St. James in an attempt to tap into the multi-billion dollar global health tourism industry. Minister of Health, Dr Fenton Ferguson said construction of the facility represents the first formal health tourism project for Jamaica and will be spearheaded by members of the Diaspora, through an established partnership with the Government of Jamaica.Ferguson said Jamaica represents the best possibilities and
opportunities for health tourism, not just based on geographical location and the strength of the tourism product, but also the improved road network characterised by modern highways, and the first class airports. He pointed to the “impressive reputation” of Jamaican doctors and nurses in the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States, as well as the inexpensive costs of certain medical services offered in the island in comparison to other countries. The Health Minister noted that arrangements must also be in place to facilitate
mobility in the use of health insurance by tourists and international partners, who will be coming to Jamaica for medical services.
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - CMC – Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Jose Miguel Inzulsa, has called for greater equity and transparency in the systems of political financing in the Caribbean. Addressing the regional forum, “Strengthening Regulation of Political Parties and Political Financing Systems in the Caribbean,” the OAS chief said these are necessary “not only for the consolidation of free and fair elections but for the strengthening of democracy. “This is not only our duty but our obligation so that the
peoples of the Americas may realize their aspiration for a fair, democratic system, and benefit from the certainty of liberty and e q u a l i t y, w h i c h a r e intrinsic to democracy and indispensable for greater freedom and justice,” he said. Insulza warned that it is “undeniable that money can introduce important distortions to the democratic process.” The leader of the hemispheric organization said there is need for greater regulation of political parties and political financing systems in most countries of the Caribbean, where the
OAS has deployed Electoral Observation Missions. Forty-two delegates from 14 OAS-member states attended the regional meeting in Barbados which discussed the “underlying complex relationship between money and democracy.” The forum built upon a 2010 regional consultation on model campaign finance legislation was aimed at engaging high-level stakeholders in the development of laws and regulations on political financing in order to ensure transparent and equitable electoral processes in the region.
Dr. Fenton Ferguson
OAS urges strengthening of transparency in political financing
Monday May 13, 2013
Construction boom in South ...$500M entertainment centre takes shape in Corinth Trinidad Guardian - With the launch of JT Allum and Company’s $500 million C3 Centre at Corinth, a major construction boom is under way in south Trinidad. The project, set for completion in 2015, is in addition to the ongoing construction of the $7.5 billion San Fernando to Point Fortin highway extension and the soon-to-begin San Fernando Waterfront project. On Thursday, Planning and Sustainable Development Minister Dr Bhoendradatt Tewarie joined JT Allum executives, including managing director Christopher Mack, to turn the sod for the multi-milliondollar project. He commended the JT Allum company for its investment in the shopping and entertainment complex. “This contribution here by the Mack family is appreciated. The local content, the boost in labour in construction, as well as permanent jobs and the enlightened green practices are much appreciated,” Tewarie said. He said JT Allum and Company, which celebrates its 70th anniversary this year, “has been synonymous with strong business ethics and has generated successful operations in the supermarket and real estate industries over the years.” The company,
incorporated in 1943, was founded by Humming Bird Gold recipient Carlton Mack, an immigrant from China. It is now managed by second and third generation members of the San Fernando family. Tewarie said the fact that the $500m investment was coming from the local private sector demonstrates confidence in the strength of the economy. Mack, speaking at the sod-turning ceremony, said the C3 Centre will be anchored by main tenants JTA Supermarket and MovieTowne Cineplex, and is expected to be completed by 2015. He said the facility will feature environmentallyfriendly initiatives such as extensive water-retention ponds to recycle rain water, use of natural gas, solar panels and expansive skylights to save energy. “It has been three years in the making. We are very, very happy that we have gotten to this stage. We are excited that this development is under way. I think it is a game changer for the south,” Mack said. He said MovieTowne will open an eight-screen cineplex and the new JTA Supermarket, which is owned by the Mack family. This will be the fifth branch for the local supermarket chain. “With almost 600,000 square feet of building space on over 20 acres of land, C3
Centre will deliver a unique shopping and entertainment experience to the southland that will be the envy of the other malls in the country,” Mack said. He said the C3 Centre will also offer other forms of entertainment, including a branch of US fast-food chain, Chuck-E-Cheese’s which he described as a new and exciting childrens’ entertainment destination for pre-teens. There will also be a Galactica outlet providing entertainment for older children, as well as a wide array of shopping in a fully air-conditioned retail mall with a selection of casual dining restaurants. Mack said the location will be convenient as it is just metres from the Sir Solomon Hochoy Highway and the highway extension to Point Fortin.
Jamaica Observer - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade has begun a probe into the status of Jamaican cyclist Horace McFarlane who has been languishing in a Trinidadian prison since September last year. McFarlane was arrested and slapped with cocaine and ganja charges after Trinidadian police raided a house where he had gone to visit a female friend. He and two others were arrested. But Kerrian Graham, the mother of McFarlane’s son, believes that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time and fears that he will not get a fair trial as he complained of being verbally abused by police because of his nationality. “He had gone there to take part in a road race. He has been to Trinidad more than once as a cyclist and
never has he been found with anything. He does not sell drugs and we, his loved ones, are afraid that he will not get a fair trial as we know that Trinidadians don’t particularly like Jamaicans,” a worriedlooking Graham told the Jamaica Observer. The foreign affairs ministry was not aware that McFarlane was arrested in the twin-island republic until it was contacted by the Sunday Observer. “Having been informed of the case, we have checked with the authorities in Trinidad and Tobago and have been informed that Mr McFarlane is in the maximum security prison in Arouca. We have since begun our investigations,” head of public relations at the ministry, Ann-Margaret Lim, told the Sunday Observer.
McFarlane is jointly charged along with American Devon Scotland and Trinidadian Afeisha Khan for possession of 1.060 grams of cocaine and 300 grams of marijuana. The three were arrested during a joint police exercise conducted in Freeport and Chaguanas. Graham said that she managed to speak to McFarlane, whom she said told her that he had gone to visit the woman when cops barged into the house in search of her nephew, who was wanted by them. “He said no drugs were found on him, but some was found inside the house where he was just a visitor. He said as soon as the police found out he was Jamaican they handcuffed him and started to curse him and tell him that Jamaicans were not wanted in their country,” she said.
Dr. Bhoendradatt Tewarie
JAMAICAN CYCLIST JAILED IN TRINIDAD
Monday May 13, 2013
Kaieteur News
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Monday May 13, 2013
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PROPERTY FOR SALE Two storey business property Agriculture Road call:612-2522 (1) Stabroek $130M (2) Regent street $35M (3) Eccles AA $55M & BB $25M (4) Enmore $15M (5) Diamond $60M (6) Ogle $33M- contact:615-8810/ 668-3100 Diamond- $6M-35M; Anna Catherina-$11M; Prospect$13M; Charlestown-$40MCall Diana:227-2256/ 6269382 Versailles 5 Bedroom House with modern facilities and beautiful landscape- Call: 592-684-9203 / 592-624-8704 Parcel 877 of Block XXXIII public rd., Bachelors Adventure E.C.D opposite Guywa:0.585 acre- call Pearl Realty:689-9991 Charlestown property with Business potentialTele:673-5882 House for sale- Contact: 6090062 0.12 acres Transport land with 2 houses Anna Catherina, West Coast Demerara: Price negotiableCall:628-9411 East Ruimveldt $27M, Regent St $38M, Ogle $55M, LBI $55M, Bel Air Park $60M, Campbellville $43M. Phone: 6216888
4 Cylinder Perkins Engine and 45 (gal) Plastic Barrelscontact Nicky @ tele:2267948 or 646-6000 1-MF 185 $2M, 1-MF 394 4WD $6M, 1 fiat F150 4WD $7M- callL699-2995/276-3701 Solar and Hand Crank water proof LED flash lights $4000 each- call:697-3430 Spare for washing machine, microwaves, fridges, stoves, timers, gearbox, pumps, etc call:225-9032,647-2943 Rock star hollow blocks available in large quantity in 3",4" & 6" call: 269-1406, 617-9230 Lumber Sales, dressed (B) grade quality at Lumber Master Sawmill- Tele: 684-5868 8 Weeks Pit Bull: Fully vaccinated and de-wormed: Call:622-7057/668-4377/2182170
SERVICES Vehicle lights restoration service on the spot, 297 Independence Boulevard LaPenitence Georgetowncall:624-6471
VEHICLE FOR SALE Toyota Allion 2.6 Million Negotiable- Tele:616-3001
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We repair fridge, freezer, AC, washer, dryer call:2310655,683-8734 Omar ONLINE SHOPPING ZERO COMMISSION, WEEKLY S H I P M E N T S , AFFORDABLE RATES, FREE PRIVATE MAILBOX. CALL:231-5789, 225-9030. WE FILLOUTVISAFORMS: USA, UK & CANADA & CREDIT CARD SERVICES CALL: 231-5789 Services and repairs to Gas stoves, washing machines, electric stoves call:686-6209 PERMANENT& VISITORS VISA APPLICATIONS, PROFRESSIONAL IMMIGRATION CONSULTANT ROOM D5 MARAJ BUILDING CALL: 225-6496, 662-6045, 2238115
Live/pluck chicken call:6504421,220-9203 Diving suit call: 613-5158 M.Khan
1- F150 XLT in excellent condition, 22" Mag fully loaded- call:690-6520/6420110 Smart Choice Auto: Unregistered Runx, Allion call:652-3820,665-4529 1 Toyota Land-cruiser Prado PMM series- call:225-0188/ 225-6070 1- Toyota 4 Runner surf, EP82 & EP71 Starlet, AT192, 1-Honda Civic, BMW 318I, 1-Nissan Van E24- Tele:6445096/697-1453 1 EFI Long base Mini Bus, BJJ- RZ Call:277-0042 First Class Auto (03 & 06) Allion, (03 & 04) Spacio, (01) Carina, (07) Axio, VerossaCall:609-8188/226-2689 Axio, Blue Bird, Pitbull: Going cheap- Call:697-0294 1 2007 Toyota Avensis unregistered-Call:698-0674
House Plan Drafting for only $10,000- call:6949843/227-2766
1 Toyota Ceres series PJJ: Good working condition $950,000 Neg. call:653-6419
Repairs to walk in cool room, fridge, washing machines, ice making machines etc: contact:666-2276
Unregistered Toyota Sienta 2004, 7 seats, 1500cccall:617-5536 Leading Auto- Unregistered: Allex, Runx, Spacio, IST, Allion, Premio, Tacoma (06), F150 (06)- Tele:677-7666/6107666 Tractor MF 285 $24M, Pick up red Ford Ranger sport $1.7M: Just arrived from Canada - Call: 628-9596/ 6825230
We Refill HP cartridges for $1800 call: 650-7699 Looking for a job & need assistance? Contact: N&A Establishment: na.estab@ yahoo.com or 694-0096 Repairs to Fridge, Freezer, AC, Washers, Stoves, TV, DVD Call 683-1312,627-3206 (Nick) Do you have Spur in your heel? Conquer your Spur without surgery- call:6458046 or 270-1835 Computer repairs, upgrades, customization and more contact 664-8660 Do you have a property to rent/sell: Then contact 6876647/639-8207 Spraying of Call:681-6603
Vehicles-
Pat-Cell-Phones, Vreed-EnHoop: Motorolla (L6 $6,000); W205 $4,000; BB $13,000; 8GB $4,000; 4GB $2,200call:650-9999 HID lights call: 642-2850
Nissan wing road Ryder wagon call:612-2522
LEARN TO DRIVE Soman & Sons Driving School , First Federation Building Call 225-4858, 6445166,622-2872,615-0964
One Nissan canter, needs minor repairs- call:228-5655/ 628-1756 (1) 2003 Toyota Tundra 4×4 immaculate condition: Owner resides overseas: :Low miles: Never driven offroad: call:627-0700 Unregistered: Raum with reverse camera $2.150M; Solid DEF 4×4 Pick-up; 2 Ton Dump canter $2.3Mcall:227-1737 (2) F-150 Trucks, blue-$1.8 million, white-$2.5 million: Both in very good working condition- Call:674-3735/ 652-8970 1 AT 192 Carina Car: Good condition, good price, negotiable- contact:6269735 or 697-8947 White Rav4: Excellent condition- Call:624-3950/ 225-5568/219-3972 (Continued on page 33)
Monday May 13, 2013
Kaieteur News
Page 33
Domingo takes over as SA coach ESPNcricinfo - Russell Domingo has been appointed South Africa’s new coach on a two-year deal. Domingo, who is currently assistant coach, will take over from Gary Kirsten in August with his first assignment being the limited-overs series in Sri Lanka. Domingo has been second-in-command since Kirsten was named coach in June 2011 and was put in charge of South Africa’s Twenty20 squad last December. Prior to that, he had six seasons at the helm of the Warriors franchise, with whom he won two trophies and nurtured a string of national players including Wayne Parnell, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Robin Peterson and Ashwell Prince. Kirsten earmarked Domingo as his successor two years ago and rubberstamped him upon his resignation Friday when he said Domingo was ready for “high-level coaching.” And it was Kirsten who informed Domingo he may be in line to take over. “Gary called me about 10 days ago and told me he was not going to extend his contract for another two years and that he is confident in my ability to take over,” Domingo told ESPNcricinfo. Domingo had time to mull over whether he would accept the job while CSA’s board considered its options. When Kirsten opted not to exercise his renew option on Friday, acting CEO Nassei Appiah told the media CSA would appoint a committee to oversee the “due process,”
Russell Domingo of appointing a new coach. None of that was required. The board decided on Friday they would offer Domingo the job in the interests of continuity. “They gave me a call around lunch-time and asked me if I wanted the job and I accepted,” he said. “I made a few calls to all the players, whether in South Africa, England or India, and let them know the decision and get their thoughts on it. All of them were confident in me, which was great to hear. This is a very big day in my life. It was to be highlight in anybody’s coaching career to be given the honour and responsibility of being in charge of your national side.” It’s been a whirlwind few days for Domingo, who thought Kirsten would stay on until the 2015 World Cup but now finds himself the man that will take South Africa to that tournament. His yet-to-be signed contract will terminate in August 2015 but none of the specific terms
have been discussed. Domingo expects to meet with CSA’s board over the next week to negotiate. Chris Nenzani, the president, said “all options,” would be discussed which means Domingo could, like Kirsten, ask for specific periods of leave to be with his family, although that is unlikely. While Domingo is not expected to emulate Kirsten in that regard, he will employ a similar style of coaching which will focus on transferring responsibility to the players and managing them, rather than instructing them. “I need to try and do a lot of things Gary has done but also to bring my own flavour to it,” Domingo said, “I’m still very much in the planning stage as to how I want to take this team forward. I’ve got a lot of thinking to do over the next few weeks. I need to canvas a lot of opinion and pull out some ideas from various people and add my own ideas to that.” One of the distinct differences between Kirsten and Domingo is that the latter has no playing experience, having discovered at a young age he would not cut it as a first-class cricketer. That has never hampered Domingo before, though, and he does not expect it to become an issue even as he takes on one of the most high-profile jobs in world cricket. “I’ve been coaching for 16 years now, since I was 22 years old,” Domingo said. “Playing and coaching are two totally different
Rafael Nadal beats Stanislas Wawrinka to win Madrid Open
Nadal looked totally at ease against everyone this week which bodes well for Roland Garros. (AFP Getty Images) BBC Sport - Rafael Nadal beat Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka 6-2 6-4 to win the Madrid Open. The Spaniard went through the match without dropping serve,
winning the tournament for the third time. Nadal was in impressive form on his favourite surface, winning his fifth title of the year since returning from a left knee injury. “Maybe this win is even more special given where I have come back from,” the 26-yearold said. “Playing in Madrid is always very exciting for me and the tournament couldn’t have worked out better.” Yesterday’s final came two weeks before Nadal begins the defence of his French Open title, in the climax to the clay-court season. The 11-time Grand Slam winner now has a 9-0 record against Wawrinka, beating him in an hour and 11 minutes. “Last season was a difficult season and to play for me was a dream,” Nadal added. “This is the most aggressive I have been in a match. I think these have been intense matches in which I have been able to play well and thanks to this excellent crowd it has been easier.” Wawrinka went into yesterday’s final on a nine-match winning streak, having won his seventh ATP title last week at the Portugal Open. Despite defeat to Nadal, the 28-year-old returns to the world’s top 10 next week for the first time in five years.
scenarios. I’ve developed a good rapport with players, and I’ve gone through all the stages a coach needs to go through - rightfully so because I haven’t got the playing credentials.” Domingo will also have free reign to choose other assistants but will likely to keep the same core of support staff. “The guys that are there at the moment have done an outstanding job. We have a good relationship and we work really well together, and I don’t see why that should change at all,” he said.
LAND FOR SALE 13 Acres land; Behind Emerald Tower Madewini call:6220860 Golden Grove East Bank Demerara- Call:610-5761 House lot for sale: Friendship EBD & drafting of house plans call: 223-0733, 223-0730 Providence Prime developed land, available in ¼ , ½, 1, 2,4 & 7 acres plots- call:6683100/615-8810 Transported land, Lot 44 South of the Central Dam Pouderoyen, W.B.D $1.5M – Contact:685-3874: Serious enquires only 7 Acres cultivated with house, 2 Acres cultivated, 2-1 Acres cultivated contact:226-7968 Granite Quarry Blocks North West US$650,000- contact Shawn:231-7805/618-7483 Kurubrong, Ekeruku-top landing, Cayuni, MazaruniPeiama, Issano, Imbaimadaicall GME Realty:231-2200/ 618-7483/680-3687
FOR RENT 2 Bedrooms apartment $55,000-Newly renovated – Call:674-3735/652-8970 Furnished/unfurnished houses to rent from US$700. Phone: 6216888 Residential 2 storey concrete 5 bedroom properties in Lamaha Gardens &Eccles $1500US (neg)- contact:687-6647/6398207/223-1440 (Evenings) Active Business place for rent: Ideal for Internet & Boutique- Call Mariama:6140599
(From page 32)
VACANCY Administrative support. Excellent English skills. Fast, accurate typist. $140K per month www. capitaltyping. com/gyjob to apply Popular 24 hour East Coast Guyoil needs day & night pump attendants, sales girl, cleaners/maintenance- Tele: 698-5559/ 684-2838 Vacancy exist for computer literate person: Apply with written application to :Manager @ Trophy stall, Bourda Market Medical Clinic seeks driver/ office assistant: Please send applications to PO Box:26022 Hair Stylist & nail technicians at TJ’s Barber shop, Grove E.B.D- contact Christine @266-0864/642-9139. Trainee refrigeration Technician call:231-0655,6838734 One experienced Legal Clerk- Call:226-4283 or 6247087 or 258-0213
VEHICLE FOR SALE Bush Truck model M, GNN series, have winch and needs repairs $1.7 millionCall:674-3735/652-8970 Black CRV: PMM seriescontact:692-5460
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FOR RENT Rooms to rent- Call:225-9223/ 225-3234 Furnished short term apartments- call:646-5147 Commercial Building to rent at Adventure, Stelling road Essequibo Coast- contact: 693-3751: email: indiisingh @yahoo.co.uk 2 Property Atlantic Gardens E.C.D: one fully furnished, one unfurnished, long term Rental only- Tele:614-9060
Page 34
Kaieteur News
Woodpecker Junior National Squash Championships
Favourites dominate as tourney concludes Favourites emerged as the winners when the curtains came down on the Guyana Squash Association in collaboration with its number one corporate sponsor Digicel National Junior Squash tournament sponsored by Woodpecker Products Ltd at the Georgetown Club Courts yesterday. The final set of matches took place yesterday with several of the leading junior squash players in Guyana vying for the top places in their respective categories. The first category on the court was the Boys Under-11. After the dust had settled with each of the boys having to play thirteen matches, the winner in this category was Shomari Wiltshire, having not dropped a game against any of his opponents. Shomari Wiltshire also had a classic of a match in his Boys Under-15 match up against Matthew Phang. After having easily won the first game 11-1, Phang stormed back to take the second game 11-8, before Wiltshire again took the lead as he won the third game 116, but Phang was not going to give in easily and won the fourth game 11-8. The two boys were playing excellent squash and the crowd settled down for an entertaining fifth game. Phang won the first four points, before Wiltshire reeled off the next five as they traded leads until Wiltshire moved to within one point of winning the match at 10-7. Phang not intent on folding meekly responded by winning the next two points to trail 9-10, but Wiltshire too showed admirable tenacity and eventually wrapped up the match 11-9. The leading two Under-19 girls Mary Fung-a-Fat and Ashley De Groot put on a fine display of squash. On this occasion, however, it was not to be for DeGroot as she made several errors at crucial moments and Fung-a-Fat came out the victor in straight games 11-6, 11-8, 11-4. Jason Ray Khalil made light work of Steven Xavier in his final Under-19 match, winning easily three games to nil. Results of the day’s matches are as follows: Boys Under-11 Ethan Jonas beat Daniel
Lowe 7-11, 11-8, 15-13 Dominic Collins beat Rajiv Lee 11-2, 11-2 Rajiv Lee beat Nathan Rahaman 11-4, 11-3 Zachary Persaud beat Nathan Rahaman 11-1, 11-4 Zachary Persaud beat Liam Carpenter 11-2, 11-0 Shomari Wiltshire beat Demetrius De Abreu 11-1, 111 Lucas Jonas beat Liam Carpenter 11-1, 11-0 John Phang beat Demetrius De Abrue 11-7, 11-5 John Phang beat Michael Alphonso 11-3, 11-2 Gianni Carpenter beat Ethan Jonas 11-5, 11-5 Gianni Carpenter beat Dominic Collins 11-9, 11-4 Lucas Jonas beat Michael Alphonso 11-4, 11-2 Girls Under-11 J’Anay Nedd beat Halley Carpenter 11-4, 11-9 Girls Under-13 & 15 Taylor Fernandes beat Rebecca Low 11-7, 11-3, 11-6 Maya Collins beat Makeda Harding 8-11, 11-7, 11-9, 12-10 Boys Under-15 Alex Cheeks beat Michael Ramroop 11-4, 11-7, 11-5 Ben Mekdeci beat Daniel Islam 11-0, 11-2, 11-0 Shomari Wiltshire beat Matthew Phang 11-1, 8-11, 116, 8-11, 11-9 Jael gaskin beat Anthony Islam 13-11, 13-11, 11-9 Girls Under-17 & 19 Mary Fung A Fat beat Ashley De Groot 11-6, 11-8, 11-4 Larissa Wiltshire beat Kristina Cheeks 11-4, 11-2, 111 Akeila Wiltshire beat Taylor Fernandes 11-6, 11-5, 11-3 Boys Under-17 & 19 Nyron Joseph beat Alec Melville 11-7, 11-2, 11-0 Jason ray Khalil beat Steven Xavier three games to love Final results as per category Boys Under-11 Winner Shomari Wiltshire Second John Phang Third Gianni Carpenter Fourth Lucas Jonas Fifth Zachary Persaud Sixth Demetrius De Abrue Seventh Dominic Collins Eight Ethan Jonas Girls Under-11 Winner Makeda Harding Second J’Anay Nedd Third Halley carpenter Boys Under-13 Winner Shomari Wiltshire Second Alex Cheeks Third Daniel Islam
We cannot determine our destiny, but we do have a choice of a philosophy that will influence the direction of our life.
Fourth Anthony Islam Girls Under-13 Winner Sarah Lewis Second Maya Collins Third Makeda Harding Boys Under-15 Winner Ben Mekdeci Second Shomari Wiltshire Third Matthew Phang Fourth Alex Cheeks Fifth Daniel Islam Girls Under-15 Winner Taylor Fernandes Second Rebecca Low Third Sarah Lewis Fourth Savannah Mendes Boys Under-17 Winner Nyron Joseph Second Ben Mekdeci Third Alec melville Girls Under-17 Winner Akeila Wiltshire Second Larissa Wiltshire Third Taylor Fernandes Boys Under-19 Winner Jason Ray Khalil Second Nyron Joseph Third Steven Xavier Fourth Ben Mekdeci Girls Under-19 Winner Mary Fung A Fat Second Ashley De Groot Third Akeila Wiltshire Fourth Larissa Wiltshire Most Improved Girl Taylor Fernandes Most Improved Boy Alex Cheeks Most Outstanding Girl Akeila Wiltshire Most Outstanding Boy Shomari Wiltshire
Monday May 13, 2013
Serena subdues Sharapova to defend Madrid title MADRID (Reuters) - World number one Serena Williams racked up the 50th title of her illustrious 18-year career when she thumped Maria Sharapova 6-1 6-4 to defend her Madrid Open crown yesterday. Williams’ victory, her fourth tournament success of 2013 and only the seventh on clay since she turned pro in 1995, prevented Sharapova from leapfrogging her to the top of the rankings. It also showed the 31-year-old American, a 15-times grand slam singles champion, is on red-hot form as she prepares her bid to add to her sole French Open title at Roland Garros starting later this month. With the sliding roof over the Manolo Santana show court open to a cloudless sky, Sharapova struggled to find her range as Williams battered winners to all corners to race into a one-set lead. The Russian world number two mounted a fightback at the start of the second set but could not sustain it and Williams broke her for a fifth time in the match to secure a first title on red clay - the Madrid courts were blue last year - since the 2002 French Open. “It’s not the ultimate title, but it’s a good start in the right direction,” Williams, who was upset by Virginie Razzano in the first round at Roland Garros last year, told a news conference. “I don’t know how many more (titles) I can win,” she added. “Like I say every day, who knows if I’ll ever win another title? I just want to live the moment and the dream every chance I get.” Sharapova, 26, the French Open champion, has a woeful record against Williams. She has only beaten her twice in 15 attempts, and never on clay, with both victories coming almost a decade ago. She did not seem too dejected by her latest reverse to the American and said she was pleased with the way her preparations for Roland Garros were going.
Serena Williams
“At the end of the day I’m setting myself up opportunities to go out on the court and face her and play against her,” Sharapova told a news conference. “Obviously I wouldn’t be happy if I wouldn’t set up those opportunities because I do want to go on the court and I do want to face someone that’s number one in the world and is playing tennis the way she does,” she added. “So I am happy about the fact of getting late into tournaments, winning tournaments, getting to the finals. “If that means having to face Serena in the final that’s a pretty great challenge out there. I take it, because I’m a very big competitor.” Williams, the oldest player to hold the number one ranking, is 10th on the all-time list for most career titles. Martina Navratilova leads on 167, followed by Chris Evert with 154 and Steffi Graf with 107. Sharapova has 29, third among active players behind Serena and her sister Venus Williams who has 44.
Stephen Curry plays as Warriors beat Spurs in Game 4
Stephen Curry OAKLAND — Now they’re even — in more ways than one. After losing a doubleovertime heartbreaker in Game 1 against the San Antonio Spurs, the Golden State Warriors took Game 4 97-87 in overtime to tie the Western Conference Semifinals series at 2-2. Warriors guard Stephen Curry, who nearly didn’t play because of a turned left ankle suffered in Game 3 on Friday, spent much of afternoon needing his teammates to carry him as he struggled to break free from the flurry of relentless
Spurs defenders. But with 1:46 left and the Warriors already up seven after a Jarrett Jack layup and four points from Harrison Barnes, Curry used a high screen to lose Kawhi Leonard and buried a scoop shot over Tim Duncan that sent the Oracle Arena crowd into hysterics and sent Curry to the line. His free throw put the Warriors up 93-84, and the Spurs — for now — were put back in that place they found themselves when they first Curry, who had six points at halftime after taking three shots, finished with 22 points on 7 of 15 shooting. Barnes had 26 points but was 9-for26 from the field, and Jack had 24 points on 9-for-16 shooting. Yet the Warriors, who had showcased their offensive firepower so many times during these playoffs, got it done with defense. San Antonio shot 35.5% from the field, with reserve guard Manu Ginobili finishing with 21 points after scoring 11 in the first quarter. Duncan (19 points) missed 15
of his 22 shots, while Tony Parker was 6 of 17. The Warriors took control from the start of overtime. Jack drove right for a runner in the lane to start the extra period, followed by Ginobili misfiring on a shot at the rim when Bogut contested. Yet it was after Barnes’ drive and two converted two free throws that the ominous oddities occurred for the Spurs: Ginobili airballed a three from the left wing despite being virtually unguarded with 4:05 left, and Danny Green missed two free throws after being fouled on his shot. The Warriors trailed by as many as 10 points in the third quarter, but they used a 10-2 run late in the fourth quarter to tie it 82-82. With Curry struggling to break free from the Spurs’ Danny Green, Jack found his way into four open midrange jumpers and Thompson hit a shot from the right wing to even it up. Parker answered, sneaking a shot from the left wing off as Jack closed to make it 84-82 before
Thompson delivered again with 30 seconds left. He took a baseline pass from the left corner, then drove right with Kawhi Leonard on his hip all the way to the right side of the floor. Thompson’s running righthander was good, and the Warriors had knotted it up yet again. Ginobili missed a three from the left wing after a timeout, with Barnes falling on the floor and Festus Ezeli closing fast to contest the shot. Bogut corralled the rebound, then lost it, only to see Jack hit the floor to grab the loose ball and give Golden State one last attempt at the win in regulation. Warriors coach Mark Jackson went back to Jack for the final play on an isolation set with Parker defending. Jack’s jumper from 20 feet out was short, and the buzzer sounded for overtime. “We put ourselves in a position to win the game and it’s frustrating because we feel like we gave it away,” Duncan said.
Monday May 13, 2013
Kaieteur News
West Indies Fullbore Rifle Shooting C/ships Individuals – Day 2
Braithwaite is the best Caribbean shot
By Franklin Wilson in Barbados Reigning West Indies Fullbore Shooting Council Individual King Lennox Braithwaite enjoyed another satisfying day yesterday when the second day of this year’s championships concluded at the Paragon Ranges, Christ Church, Barbados. Braithwaite, who did not drop a single point on the opening day, Saturday, dropped 3-points yesterday but was still able to end the day as the best shooter so far from the Caribbean after four ranges of competition. Yesterday, Guyana shot in the afternoon session at the 300 Yards and 600 Yards Ranges. Braithwaite so far Day 1 Name Lennox Braithwaite Mahendra Persaud Dylan Fields Ransford Goodluck Dane Blair ACP Paul Slowe Sigmund Douglas Lt. Col. Terry Stuart Charles Dean Peter Persaud Leo Ramhalho
English shooters on a high has an overall aggregate of 247 Points and 28 V-Bulls. His closest rival in the Caribbean is Trinidad and Tobago’s Norris Gomez, who is also President of the West Indies Fullbore Shooting Council who has an overall Aggregate of 246 Points and 16 V-Bulls. As expected, the Great Britain shooters have been in devastating form with two of them, David Luckman and Jonathan Underwood, both very experienced and well exposed shooters, not dropping a single point after four ranges of action. Luckman has 250 Points and 41 V-Bulls, while
300 Total 600 Total 49.007 73.008 48.003 70.007 44.002 70.007 48.006 66.004 45.002 70.006 45.002 68.005 42.002 69.004 46.001 68.004 42.004 66.002 41.000 57.001 0.000 0
Underwood has a similar amount of points with 33 Vs. Two others GB shooters, Jane Messer and David Calvert have only dropped a single point to date. Today, competition would be at the 600 (2x10) Yards and 900 (2x15) Yards Ranges, Guyana will again be shooting this afternoon, while tomorrow’s final day, the Guyanese will be shooting in the morning. Leo Ramalho did not recover yesterday and so did not compete; Captain Mahendra Persaud said that he is hoping that Ramalho can get well in time for today.
Day 2 Total 122.015 118.01 114.009 114.01 115.008 113.007 111.006 114.005 108.006 98.001 0
Bfwd Grand Total 125.013 247.028 120.011 238.021 119.008 233.017 116.006 230.016 112.005 227.013 113.004 226.011 114.006 225.012 110.001 224.006 111.006 219.012 117.005 215.006 114.003 114.003
Narine, Kallis keep KKR’s slim chances alive ESPNcricinfo - Kolkata Knight Riders kept their 100% record of successfully chasing totals under 120 intact as they triumphed at their second home in Ranchi. Their bowlers were largely responsible for keeping them in the competition, having restricted Royal Challengers to their lowest total in a first innings of an IPL match in India. Through good lengths and variation, they ensured the batsmen would not have to toil as much as Royal Challengers’ troops did. They laboured through the slowest Powerplay in this year’s tournament, with only 22 runs from the first six overs and limped to their slowest century of 2013, off 102 balls. They managed just seven boundaries in their innings, their second lowest count in the tournament’s history. Knight Riders’ selection of Sachithra Senanayake proved a shrewd move on a slow surface, as he and L Balaji made run-scoring difficult upfront. Chesteshwar Pujara was dismissed for 5 as he tried to hit out, but Chris Gayle managed his frustrations well. His only four came from an edge past first slip and he had little respite, besides Ryan ten Doeschate’s sole over, in which Virat Kohli and Gayle took 14 runs of it. Kohli, however, didn’t last long, playing on off Jacques Kallis for 17. Four boundary-less overs followed before Gayle’s vigil was broken. He went forward to defend the first ball of Sunil Narine’s second over, but it turned past the outside edge, and he was stumped with his toe right on the line. Gayle was Narine’s first scalp. Saurabh Tiwary, Ravi Rampaul and Abhimanyu Mithun were the other three which took the West Indian to the top of the wicket-charts with 22 to his name. He tied Royal Challengers up at
the end of their innings, after Balaji got rid of a threatening looking AB de Villiers. The South African one-day captain managed a paddle and a loft over extra cover before he was caught behind, trying to tickle the ball fine. Had de Villiers lasted into the last four overs, Royal Challengers may have been able to eye a total over 130, but they had to settle for a below-par 115 for 9. Despite the sluggish surface, they needed a better bowling effort than their attack has seemed capable of producing this season. Ravi Rampaul gave them some hope when he had Manvinder Bisla caught at point off the second ball. He should have accounted for Kallis too, but Mithun badly misjudged the catch at fine leg, running in before realising he had underestimated the strength of the shot. Kallis capitalised on his let off and anchored the chase almost to the end. The required run rate hovered around a run-a-ball throughout, but Royal Challengers could not build any pressure. Gautam Gambhir took three fours off a Mithun over that was peppered with generously short balls, and Murali Kartik conceded boundaries when he tossed it up. Kallis and Manoj Tiwary worked the ball around, and even though both were dismissed at the twilight of the match, they had done enough. Ryan ten Doeschate hit the winning runs to make qualifying for the playoffs an uphill battle for Royal Challengers in their remaining matches. Scores: Kolkata Knight Riders 116 for 5 (Kallis 41, Vinay Kumar 2-17) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 115 for 9 (Gayle 33, Narine 4-22) by five wickets.
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Holding receives Lifetime award University Of East London - LONDON, ENGLAND - Jamaican cricket legend, Michael Holding, was last night honoured with a ‘Lifetime Achievement’ award at the University of East London’s annual Sports Awards, which celebrated an unprecedented year for the University’s sports teams. Michael, who is regarded by many as the greatest fast bowler of all time, was a key player in the legendary West Indies squad which dominated international cricket at a time of global race riots and apartheid, with an exceptional winning streak that lasted from the midSeventies to the early Nineties. Despite his easy-going persona, Holding was feared by batsman the world over, often referred to by the chilling moniker ‘Whispering Death’. Speaking to a packed audience at the Emirates Stadium – home of Arsenal Football Club – Michael said: “It’s a great honour to be receiving this award. It means a lot, when I was a kid my mother always told me ‘make sure you get a piece of paper behind your name, and now I’m a doctor. It’s a great feeling to know that the
University of East London wants to give me this award.” The event, which was also attended by UEL Chancellor, Lord Noon, and High Commissioner of Jamaica, Her Excellency Aloun Ndombet-Assamba, along with Olympian rowing star, Mark Hunter MBE, saw students in jubilant mood, having enjoyed a truly exceptional year in sport. Director of Sport, David Cosford, described the day as ‘Wonderful Wednesday’ earlier this year when UEL teams ‘swept the board’ at the British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) cup finals, bringing home an impressive haul of winners medals, and in some cases, beating teams many tiers higher up the league. UEL was also recognised by BUCS in 2011 as the most improved university for sport. In other highlights of the evening, Essex County Cricket Club were awarded partner of the year; Team GB sprint sensation and sport sciences student, Adam Gemili received an International Excellence Award, while the Men’s Rowing Heavyweight Quad team received individual recognition in the
Michael Holding Achievement of the Year category. The University of East London aims to be the number one university in London for sport by 2015. The University of East London (UEL) is a global learning community with over 28,000 students from over 120 countries worldwide. Our vision is to achieve recognition, both nationally and internationally, as a successful and inclusive regional university proud of its diversity, committed to new modes of learning which focus on students and enhance their employability, and renowned for our contribution to social, cultural and economic development, especially through our research and scholarship. We have a strong track-record in widening participation and working with industry.
Tiger Woods hangs on to win The Players Championship PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Digging deep after dunking his tee shot into the water on the 14th hole and squandering a two-shot lead in the p r o c e s s , Ti g e r Wo o d s collected his thoughts and controlled his emotions down the stretch to win The Players Championship yesterday. Woods was in control of the tournament before hooking his tee shot into a water hazard on 14 and m a k i n g d o u b l e b o g e y, allowing many players, including Sergio Garcia, back into the tournament. Woods still had a share of the lead after his water miscue and took the outright lead with a birdie on the par-5 16th. Garcia, playing in the group behind Woods after the two spent Saturday and yesterday morning playing together but not talking to each other after an incident in the third round, matched Woods’ birdie on 16 to grab a share of the lead. But as Woods stood on
the 18th tee, Garcia dunked not one but two balls into the water surrounding the island green at 17. Garcia then knocked his tee shot on 18 into the water. Woods, who closed with a 2-under 70 and at 13 under par, became the sixth player to win multiple Players titles in the tournament’s 40 years, joining Hal Sutton, Fred Couples, Steve Elkington, Davis Love III and Jack Nicklaus, the only three-time winner. Woods, who had a share of the lead with Garcia and David Lingmerth after 54 holes, has now won 52 of the 56 tournaments he’s played when having at least a share of the lead after three rounds. Woods now has 78 Tour titles, trailing just Sam Snead’s all-time mark of 82. Lingmerth (72) tied for second at 11 under with Kevin Streelman (67) and Jeff Maggert (70). Garcia (76) dropped six shots in the last two holes to fall out of a tie for the lead to a tie for eighth at 7 under. Woods and Garcia sniped
at each other throughout the weekend. It started Saturday when Garcia complained in a TV interview that his shot from the par-5 second fairway was disrupted by cheers from the crowd around Woods, who was some 50 yards away in the trees and fired them up by taking a fairway metal out of his bag. He said Woods should have been paying attention, and it became a war of the words the next two days. “Not real surprising that he’s complaining about something,” Woods said. “At least I’m true to myself,” Garcia retorted. “I know what I’m doing, and he can do whatever he wants.” When they finished the storm-delayed third round Sunday morning, Garcia kept at it, saying that Woods is “not the nicest guy on tour.” Garcia, when asked if he would have changed anything about the flap with Woods, replied, “It sounds like I was the bad guy here. I was the victim.”
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Kaieteur News
Monday May 13, 2013
A FOOTBALL UNTOUCHABLE
By Camini Marajh Head Investigative Desk
Trinidad Express - Repeated transgressions of self-dealing by the scandal-prone ex-football powerhouse Jack Warner were largely ignored, downplayed or simply covered up by his former FIFA ally and president of the world football governing body, Sepp Blatter. Long before the world got a front row seat to the dramatic play-byplay Warner/Mohamed bin Hammam betrayal and Blatterexacted revenge for challenge to his leadership, the island schoolteacher-turned football-jefeturned-politician was using his FIFA connections to build a US multimillion dollar family empire with the full protection of FIFA’s oligarch. And, as this special Sunday Express investigation has found, the list of Warner-committed football-related heists is as long as it is rich. From huge cash transfers from the national football federation to private and other Warner-controlled accounts to the controversial sale of World Cup TV rights for the Caribbean and the black market trade of 2006 World Cup tickets, among other things. A review of private and longsought documents, including FIFA board minutes, a FIFAcommissioned 2006 Ernst & Young forensic audit into a Warner-run World Cup tickets racket, World Cup broadcast licence agreement signed with Warner’s Cayman company and a damning May 3, 2002 confidential report by former FIFA General Secretary Michel ZenRuffinen reveal an abuse of authority, self-serving deals and the raw pursuit of personal profit. From all of the evidence, Warner not only took advantage of any money-making opportunity to come his way, he created opportunities to grow his family fortune. The evidence also showed a complete disregard for accounting rules and built-in conflicts of interest. In his first tickets racket in 1989, Warner, the then general secretary of the Trinidad and To b a g o N a t i o n a l F o o t b a l l Federation (TTFF) risked public safety by printing some 20,000
Part X of a Special Investigation
Jack Warner tickets more than the national stadium could accommodate for a crucial World Cup qualifier with the United States. Nearly 35,000 people crammed into the stadium, thousands more could not get in and the maxi taxi that was taking the national team inside the stadium was mobbed, according to the then national coach Gally Cummings. He recalled tense moments when angry fans unable to get inside the Hasely Crawford Stadium hurled abuse at the players and used their fists to pound on the vehicle transporting the team. The players were rescued by members of the Defence Force. Relations between the former profession a l player-turned n a t i o n a l c o a c h a n d Wa r n e r soured when Cummings refused Wa r n e r ’s r e q u e s t t o g o o n national TV in the aftermath of the ticketing scandal with a script that said the game was not oversold. Cummings said Warner had him fired and blacklisted from professional coaching jobs in St Vincent and Grenada, among other places where Warner/Concacafinfluence had currency. He said subsequent offers to coach the national Under-17 team and other football prospects were withdrawn after Warner’s spite and intervention got in the way. He said the powerful football figure wielded tremendous influence in the region and more than 20 years later: “To this day, I cannot get a job as a
national coach.” Cummings, who has a passion for the game and country, filed a complaint with the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) in 2010 which after 18 months determined that his complaint against Warner had “no status”. He said he has no idea what that means and his enquiries were met with a rude response. Warner escaped unscathed from the 1989 ticketing debacle and by 2006, he had finessed his game. He made millions of dollars touting 2006 World Cup tickets at inflated prices on the black market in a scam that used his family travel business as a front for tour packages to matches involving England, Mexico and Japan. The World Cup ticketing deal was run through Simpaul’s Travel Service, a family-owned Port of Spain agency which had also been gifted with all of the travel business of the national football federation of which Warner was special adviser and his key lieutenants Oliver Camps and Richard Groden were top officials. Groden had secured Simpaul’s credentials with FIFA’s Ticketing Office (FTO) by naming the agency as the official tour operator of the TTFF. Warner was identified in a FIFAcommissioned report by auditors Ernst & Young as having bought World Cup tickets which were then re-sold at up to four times their face value. A unique ticket bar code number led auditors to a customer reference number which trailed right back to Jack Warner, then a powerful FIFA vice-president and deputy chairman of FIFA’s Finance Committee. According to the Ernst & Young report, Warner ’s son, Daryan collected an initial order placed for World Cup tickets for different matches at the Intercontinental Hotel in Germany on June 14, 2006. The documents trail showed that the Warner-collected tickets changed hands with a Florida-based tickets agency, Kick Sports Inc which in turn sold the tickets to a Swiss Travel company, GTU Travel AG for Euro 400 apiece, collectively Euro 80,000, a staggering Euro 60,000
Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports to host Independence Half Marathon The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports (MCY&S) in collaboration with the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) will be hosting the Independence Half Marathon Road Race on Sunday May 26 starting at 5:30am in front of the Jerricks Funeral Home at Paradise, East Coast Demerara and ending in front of the Ministry on Main Street. In a press release, the AAG
extended an invitation to Clubs to send athletes to participate in the r a c e , s t a t i n g t h a t n o a t h lete should be younger than 18 years old. The categories are Open (Men and Women) and Masters (Men 4055 and 56 & older and Women 35 and older). Cash prizes will be presented to the persons finishing 1-5 in the Open category and 1-3 in the Masters.
Prizes: Senior (Men and Women) 1st $75,000; 2nd $60,000; 3rd $45,000; 4th $30,000 and 5th $20,000. Masters (Men and Women) 1st $50,000; 2nd $30,000 and 3rd $20,000 Transportation for athletes leaves the Ministry at 4:00am. Entries for this race are free and should be submitted to the Association’s Secretariat, 76 High Street, Kingston no later than Wednesday May 22, 2013.
Darryl Warner more than face value. The Ernst & Young report said the FIFA ExCo (Executive Committee) member paid for the tickets with his credit card and that an additional order placed with the FTO on June 23, 2006 for 1,245 tickets for second round matches was refused. Warner’s game was busted by GTU which filed a grievance complaint with the FTO in Berlin after Kick Sports failed to deliver all of the tickets within the agreed to timeframe. The Swiss company claimed that it was forced to find alternative sources for the prized tickets at considerable expense to the company. The auditor’s report identified Kick Sports as a business partner of Simpaul’s Travel Services. The Warner family-owned business was also running another scam selling World Cup ticket packages straight out of the member Association’s allocation. The agency’s initial orders for accommodation relating to the packages under scrutiny were made in June 2005 through FIFA’s World Cup Accommodation Services (FAS). The Warner agency also made separate ticket requests to the FTO, according to the Ernst & Young report, which found that the packages were sold to local fans and agents around the world at vastly inflated prices. Daryan Warner, the agency’s managing director initially agreed to co-operate and met with investigators in Manchester but later changed tack, saying he had no more information to provide. He confirmed that some of the payments to FAS were made through one of his private companies, Nauti Krew, which has as its registered address, 31 Sunset Drive, Bayshore. Ernst & Young reported that information requests made to Daryan Warner for specific bank details for payments and receipts were refused. He told investigators he saw “no middle ground” to the situation and that in his view, the matter was potentially more damaging to FIFA than to him.
He also instructed several related parties to ignore FIFA’s requests for information. The Warner agency was said to have made about US$1 million in profit and Jack Warner was found guilty of violating FIFA’s code of ethics. Private minutes of a 2006 FIFA ExCo meeting record members “disapproval” of Warner’s lack of integrity but in a strong defence of the man he once described as “a wonderful and loyal friend”, Blatter countered that there was “no concrete evidence” that the vicepresident himself had played an active role in the ticketing scandal. And, as with the all the other Warner-related scandals, the FIFA oligarch had Jack Warner’s back when the going got tough. In his bid to downplay Warner’s role in the affair, Blatter said: “The Executive Committee has expressed its disapproval over the conduct of Mr Warner. This disapproval of the conduct of the vice-president draws his attention to the fact that he should be more prudent and cautious when it comes to ticketing and should also oversee the activities of his son a little more. That is all there is to say in relation to this affair and we now consider the matter closed.” Blatter said it would be up to the FIFA administration whether Warner’s family travel business would be allowed to sell tickets for future World Cups. The disciplinary committee of the world football governing body also rejected Warner’s criticism of the then FIFA general secretary Urs Linsi, FIFA’s Administration and the auditors engaged to investigate the ticketing affair, Ernst & Young. Daryan Warner was later made the fall guy in the ticketing case and was secretly fined close to US$1 million by FIFA. British investigative journalist Andrew Jennings was the first to report details of the fine in his book, Foul: The Secret World of FIFA. Jennings wrote that the Warners had paid only US$250,000 in December 2006. Blatter’s goodwill to Warner ensured that the former ExCo member escaped any sanction despite FIFA’s ruling that he was guilty of an ethics violation. Warner told FIFA that he and his wife, Maureen had sold their shares in the travel company and had no idea he had violated any rules. Of course, he omitted to mention that two $1 shares were sold at the height of the tickets racket in 2006. Warner, his wife Maureen and sons Daryan and Daryll all came off the company director registry in 2006 but were re-installed as directors of the travel agency by August 21, 2009. And as before, FIFA Media provided a general response about corruption reform to a specific question relating to the governing body’s failure to impose any disciplinary action in the face of its own guilty ruling in the ticketing case involving Warner.