Guyana Times Daily

ASL suspends operations over fuel dispute

tuesday, october 1, 2013 | guyanatimesgy.com

Countrywide: Partly cloudy to cloudy conditions can be expected with showers mainly during the early late afternoon. Outburst of thunder may also be experienced. Temperatures are expected to range between 23 degrees to 27 degrees Celsius.

Waves: Moderate reaching about 2.0 metres in open waters.

Winds: North-easterly to easterly at zero to 12 metres per second, gusting at times over some areas.

High Tide: 14:11h reaching a maximum height of 2.68 metres.

Low Tide: 07:50h and 19:51h reaching minimum heights of 0.98 metres and 0.90 metre respectively.

ASL suspends operations over fuel dispute

BY WHITNEY PERSAUD

Air Services Limited (ASL) Director

Annette ArjoonMartins on Monday said the company is in an emergency situation, as its fuel supply has been cut off on short notice by its supplier Rubis.

Taking this into account and with 36 hours fuel supply remaining, ASL has also suspended its operations indefinitely and has asked customers to be understanding during its current crisis.

ASL was informed of the decision via email from Rubis Caribbean Aviation Sales Manager Hutson Inniss.

“We have discovered that our into plane provider, Caribbean Aviation Maintenance Services (CAMS), received jet fuel from another supplier and this product was comingled with Rubis’s product in the storage tanks at Ogle,” the email said.

To this end, Rubis has suspended its supply at Ogle, East Coast Demerara with immediate effect un-

til it can be able to verify the integrity of the blended fuel.

Inniss told ASL in his email that he had been working with the Rubis operations to determine the procedures that will need to be followed before it can resume supply to Ogle, but assured that in the meantime, Rubis can offer supply at Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA).

The development appears to be as a result of a dispute between Rubis and CAMS and nothing to do with ASL.

No alternative

Rather this will affect ASL because of the fact that no fuel will be supplied and aircraft will be left with no alternative, but to remain on land until the issue with Rubis and CAMS is resolved.

CAMS has since written to ASL through its Maintenance Director John Isaacs, informing her of Rubis’s Caribbean instructions to discontinue deliveries to ASL.

Further to that, the

email indicated that CAMS can supply the company with fuel but ASL has remained reluctant to re-engage in any such agreements.

She claimed that in the past, CAMS had exorbitant prices which were continuously on the rise and the company has never been open to negotiations.

“Despite collective lobbying by ASL, Wings Aviation and Roraima Airways from the period 2004 to 2011, we were not able to negotiate

with them… most importantly, is that they also interrupted our fuel supply in August of 2011,” she said.

Arjoon-Martins said this development is a perfect example of the hurdles for aviation companies which are at the mercy of a sole supplier.

While the company has established its own fuel farm, there is still a lengthy process before it can actually bring its own fuel to Ogle.

“It is not a case of something that can happen. It did happen, and it is totally the result of actions taken by two other companies,” she said.

Arjoon-Martins complained to reporters that it was these same circumstances which ASL had foreseen that drove the company to invest in the establishment of a state-of-the-art fuel farm in 2011.

This $100 million facility would have not only raised the standards of fuel handling at Ogle, but it is intended to offer aircraft operators at Ogle an alternative fuel supplier and breaking the fuel monopoly there.

Court frees teen in Corentyne vigilantestyle killing

Ateen who was among several men accused of the vigilante-style killing of Alfred Munroe, also called “Guana Man” of Manchester Villager, Corentyne, Berbice on April 9, has been set free.

Zaffar Seetaram, 18, of Rose Hall Town, Corentyne, walked out of the Whim Magistrate’s Court on Monday a free man after Magistrate Rabindranath Singh ruled that there was not sufficient evidence linking him to the crime.

On September 23, Attorney Mursaline Bacchus made a no-case submission on behalf of Seetaram after the prosecution had closed its case. The magistrate had set September 30 to make a ruling on the submissions by Bacchus.

Seetaram was remanded along with five others for the vigilante-style killing of Munroe at Bound Yard, Port Mourant, in April.

Meanwhile, Defence Attorney Rabindranath

Singh, who is representing four of the defendants, on Monday made a no-case submission to the court, while Bacchus, who is also representing Randolph Samuel, another accused, is expected to make a petition to the court when the preliminary inquiry (PI) continues on October 7.

Those on trial for the death of Munroe are Randolph Samuel, called “Rudy”, 22; Aris Cecil, 21; Richard Griffith, called “Buck Head”, 19; Michael Lewis, called “Mickey”, 31; and Khruhnaraj Jagdeo, 47, all of Rose Hall Town, Corentyne.

ASL Director Annette Arjoon-Martins

Zaffar Seetaram

Editor: Nigel Williams

Tel: 225-5128, 231-0397, 226-9921, 226-2102, 223-7230 or 223-7231. Fax: 225-5134

Mailing address: 238 Camp & Quamina Streets, Georgetown

Email: news@guyanatimesgy.com, sales@guyanatimesgy.com

Editorial

Agriculture in the Caribbean

After a 10-year hiatus, the Caribbean Week of Agriculture (CWA), which was launched back in 1999, will be hosted by Guyana October 4-12. The steering committee for the event is drawn from the Agriculture Ministry, the Caribbean Community (Caricom), the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).

The theme chosen for this edition of the CWA is, “Linking the Caribbean for Regional Food and Nutrition Security and Rural Development”.

Coming as it does after the second high level meeting of financial experts in The Bahamas two weeks ago with the International Financial Institutions (IFIs), prime ministers, finance ministers and private sector leaders, one would hope this exercise would lead to some kind of activity that would filter down and help the ordinary citizen in the region.

After all, the citizens of the Caribbean have become used to having their leaders meeting at the heads of government (HoG) meeting of Caricom annually for 40 years without achieving the goals of development that their predecessors has set.

The meeting in The Bahamas, for instance, which had the theme, “Building Growth into the Caribbean Sustainability Agenda”, followed a previous meeting almost a year ago and covered pretty much the same ground. In that meeting, it was unanimously agreed that “economic growth” should be on the top of the agenda for Caribbean policymakers.

The keynote speaker tried to be more specific and proposed that to achieve such growth the focus must be “export led”. None of this was earth shattering since this has been the quest and the mechanism used to pursue it since Emancipation in 1834. Export-led growth has delivered freedom from poverty in almost every country that achieved “emerging economy” status since 1945.

Just three months before that 2012 meeting of financial and economic experts, the same group plus others from the British and European aid agencies, had sponsored another meeting with the same goal of “saving” the Caribbean through “sustainable development”. It led to an organisation called the Caribbean Growth Forum (CGF).

Chapters were formed in 12 territories (interestingly, none in Guyana) and more meetings were held, with a followup grand meeting at the very same hotel in The Bahamas that was to host the second IFIs high level meeting. In their deliberations and conclusions, CGF agreed that “growth” is the key to solving our problems – but with no specific path proposed.

In the meantime, the European Union (EU) had also announced in Guyana last month that their “aid” of nearly €1 billion was going to facilitate the Aid for Trade (AfT) initiative of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). This initiative for securing our development was premised on the argument that trade is the key to development and that the region had to be “prepared” for trading.

The only problem was, as some pointed out, trade takes place in two directions and the preparation might bring more goods into the region (imports) than send out (exports). Once again there was a lack of specificity as to exactly what the region was supposed to export and how they would be assisted.

We now return to the hosting of CWA during what is also our Agriculture Month. We would like to suggest that as a country in which agriculture is still a significant segment of our economy, we should take the bull by the horns and call on the other governments of Caricom to put their money where their mouths are, as far as agriculture is concerned.

From the launching of Caricom in 1973, food security has been on our agenda. The Jagdeo Initiative that was accepted as the way forward towards achieving food security has been allowed to wither on the vine. It must be returned to the table and pursued, rather than wasting time with empty and costly rhetoric that gets us nowhere.

Rise of the robots

The president’s power of withholding assent (part two)

Dear Editor,

The contention, therefore, that the president cannot withhold his assent to a bill on the ground that, in his opinion or based upon the advice he receives, the bill is unconstitutional, is palpably wrong. To place such a restriction upon the president’s power to withhold his assent from bills is simply ultra-vires the express language of the Constitution. The framers did not contemplate it and the Constitution does not warrant it.

President’s duty to uphold the Constitution

Pragmatically, a president withholding his assent from bills will, indeed, be a rare occurrence since, invariably, bills emanate from the government’s side in the National Assembly and would have received an input from and the approval of Cabinet of which both the president and his attorney general are a part.

However, different considerations will obviously apply where the bill originates from the opposition in an opposition-controlled National Assembly and more so, where the bill was opposed by the government members. It is in such sit-

uations, therefore, that the presidential power of withholding assent assumes paramount importance. If the objections are legal or constitutional, then providence would dictate that the president seeks legal advice. If the president is persuaded by the legal advice that the bill is unconstitutional, obviously, he is free to invoke the power to withhold assent to such a bill and advance the advice which he received as the reasons for so doing as the Constitution mandates him to do. Where is such course of action prohibited by the Constitution? In fact, and indeed that is precisely why the Constitution gives him such wide latitude of powers.

The Indian constitutional expert Durga Das Basu’s Commentary on the Constitution of India, 8th Edition 2008 Volume 4 considered this very issue. The learned authors at 5295 posit that if a bill, which is in direct contravention of the Constitution, is presented to the president for his assent, the president may refuse his assent to such bill on that ground. The rationale proffered by the learned authors is indeed

seminal. “The president has to take the oath that he will to the best of his ability preserve protect and defend the Constitution. We have already seen that though in England there has been no occasion for the government to advise a use of veto power since 1707, in India, we have had an instance where the government required a use of the power in 1954, because the bill, if made an act, would have become ultra vires the Parliament. Similarly, supposing after the passage of a bill, the government, upon a better consideration, comes to the conclusion that the bill as passed contravenes any of the Directive Principles [the Constitution], it can hardly be urged that it would be unconstitutional for the Council of Ministers to advise the president to refuse his assent to the bill, even though it has been passed by the legislature.”

I submit that the president under the Guyana Constitution takes a similar oath and would have similar obligations.

As regards the U.S. constitution, the matter is even clearer. At page 5289 of the aforementioned text,

the learned authors adumbrate thus “The veto power given to the president by the American Constitution has, however, proved to be a real and effective check upon the legislature. According to Hamilton (Federalist No 73) one of the objects of the veto power was to “increase the chances in favour of the community against the passing of bad laws, through haste, inadvertence or design.” The power may be exercised to veto not only laws which are apprehended to be unconstitutional or defective in form, but those which seem to be objectionable to the President on merits. Sometimes, it is used according to the President’s view about expediency or policy as well. In the latter case, it is a substantive legislative power in the hands of the president, even though negative in form. As Woodrow Wilson said:

“In the exercise of the power of veto, the president acts not as the executive but as third branch of the legislature.”

Legal Affairs Minister and Attorney General Mohabir Anil Nandlall, MP

Lessons from the GDF rescue acts

Dear Editor, As the two recent rescue acts of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) in the Pomeroon River are investigated, I think we should all learn from this encounter. If fisherfolk can work in a way that they can communicate with at least another crew, then it will minimise their danger.

I do not know how this can actually play out, but it is worth giving it a try. It may mean having a smaller catch and working and sharing a particular fishing ground, but in the long run, it will work out.

Also, if there are suspicious elements at sea, there should be some kind of track-

ing. Fisherfolk are loaded up quite differently from pirates. This should be looked at. The sea is dangerous but profitable. If natural elements are not taking the lives of our fishing community, why should we allow pirates to do so?

The rough sea should have been feared more than anything else. It is time then to go after piracy and, when any set of pirates are caught, they should be put away.

Yours truly, Fisherman/resident of Charity Name withheld by request

Workers check the functions of a giant robot unveiled as part of an exhibition in Hefei, China. The 38 robots are mostly made from car parts (BBC Future)

“Pick It Up” campaign will most likely never end

Dear Editor,

This pick-it-up idea is not complete. We will always be picking it up if we never stop throwing it down. When we walk around any busy environment, all we see are cigarette butts, coffee/drink cups, plastic bags, half-eaten food in boxes and many other forms of debris.

When it blows heavily or rains, the aftermath is most nauseating. We are not strangers to this and we all complain, but we seem to be stuck with this kind of thing. We need more signs all over the place.

This will remind people even though they already know, and sometimes

do not care. The signs will now function legally, so that when persons litter, they can be arrested right on the spot, and I have no qualm about sending them on a one-hour supervised cleanup exercise.

When these people have to be taken to court, it takes forever, and that element of embarrassment is missing. Punishing litterers by a touch of embarrassment may very well work wonders.

In some places, Singapore for example, even chewing gum is prohibited, and if caught spitting it out, then a flogging ensues. We can avoid all of this by simply

asking any person caught littering to do a little clean up exercise, on the spot too.

Then a lot of garbage is strewn overnight by vagrants and animals, scavenging for food. I notice that the University of Guyana (UG) has big “litter-free” signs all over the place, yet garbage is quite abundant.

This is solely because of the many stray dogs on the campus. Does it make any sense that people try and keep the place clean then? It is like wiping oil from a leak – we have to fix the leak first.

Yours truly,

Annalisa Ally

The Lusignan massacre appeal revisited

Dear Editor,

It is not a surprise to me that the director of public prosecutions (DPP) has appealed the recent acquittals in the Lusignan massacre trial. I did not like how things went and I did sense some kind of subversion.

The reason for the appeal is that the lawyer for one of the two accused and the jury foreman both failed to disclose a six-year attorney-client relationship. This

kind of selective collusion is consistent with the attorney for the two accused herein. Still fresh on the mind is the disingenuous nature of this lawyer. He played the Guyanese people, especially supporters of his former Alliance For Change (AFC), for his own personal gain as regards his position as company secretary for Amaila Falls Hydro Inc.

I personally still cannot believe that this attorney

could have failed to disclose to the trial judge that he had represented the foreman of the jury. The massacre in Lusignan is still reverberating and no stone must be left unturned. If the first trial was botched, then a new one must be forthwith.

Yours respectfully, Resident of Lusignan Name withheld by request

We must continue the education drive

Dear Editor, It is exciting to watch how many companies are caught up in the fervour of education.

How about our schools right across Guyana receiving complimentary newspapers to encourage reading? This will have a double ef-

fect – actual reading as we will be keeping people totally informed of happenings around them.

E R Burrowes School of Art is a school of importance

Dear Editor, For too long, the arts have been sidelined and now people are hearing more and more about various achievements and the yearly progress of arts students.

I was very fortunate to attend the E R Burrowes School of Art’s 34th graduation ceremony recently, during which a batch of 33 students graduated in various sub-disciplines.

This school has really come along way. In an interview, not too long ago, the E R Burrowes School of Art director expounded on the significance of the school as an

undergraduate institution accredited by the University of Guyana (UG).

This stepping stone must not be missed. This school actually goes back to September 1975, being named after the renowned artist and art teacher, Edward Rupert Burrowes.

Its current programmes include drawing, painting, sculpture, ceramics, graphics, English, textile design, basic design, leather craft, art history and art appreciation.

Students can graduate in two or three years with the E R Burrowes School of Art Certificate or Diploma,

the latter qualification earning a two-year exemption on the fine arts degree programme at UG.

I see that a new piece is being added to our sea wall along the Kitty Public Road. We can encourage our many people in arts to make use of the walls and showcase their talent.

Who knows, some sponsor may spot a piece and we never know what this can translate into. I just ask that these recent graduates find ways of expression –they should not just wait.

Yours sincerely,

Christine Alexander

Road safety not being taken seriously

Dear Editor, The ironies of life come to the fore again. This time it is as the campaign for a safer road way is intensifying, another avoidable accident takes place. The whole thing shows how scant respect some people have for the life of another human being. The details show that a 12-yearold child had to be rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital, suffering from lacerations about her body. The accident took place on her village road, the Success, East Coast Demerara.

Fortunately, she is now out of danger and was not terribly battered and this rules out extra-speeding, but still enough to pitch her on

impact. What irks me is that vehicles had stopped to allow this child and her mother to cross, hoping to get a minibus. Many people have already spoken out against this. In some ways, the minibus has responsibilities.

Then it stands to reason that if traffic is slowed or held up, a driver should not simply go through, even if his side, being the opposite is clear. Common sense will say that there is a reason for the stalling. This driver behaved very stupidly and almost killed a child. Now she is answering to some serious charges.

We cannot beat up on people for making accidents, even if fatalities are

involved. But at the same time, these reckless drivers have to be mindful of angry citizens, namely relatives and friends. I urge once more that we all take road safety very serious.

Yours faithfully, Stanley Wycliffe

Many fortunate people can assist the not so fortunate with just one thing for a start – say a haversack or a pair of boots.

In the recent months, a number of private entities have been bolstering the education drive by donating to students and schools. Private individuals can go this route too. It does not call for a lot.

Respectfully, Jameer

Bacchus

You can send your letters with pictures to: Guyana Times, 238 Camp & Quamina Streets, Georgetown, Guyana or letters@guyanatimesgy.com

Page Foundation

Confident parents raise confident children

BY BARBARA L MINTON

Remember the news headline from a few months ago about the two-year-old who called 911 to report that his grandmother was not feeling well? The news was full of praise about the child’s actions, but the real story is about the grandmother or whoever is raising a child like that.

That person really knows what she is doing. She has managed to empower that child with knowledge to survive in the world and take care of someone he loves. That child has the power to face an unpleasant situation, make a decision quickly, and act on that decision. That child has confidence.

It wasn’t so long ago that most children were raised to be confident individuals. But recently a new kind of parent has emerged who can be detrimental to the healthy development of their children. These are the parents who tend to over-parent their children.

Over-parenting is a style as well as a mind-set. It came into vogue when the media began to show us the occasional story of a child abducted or a baby stolen from its parents. Of course, we wanted to protect our children from such horrendous experiences.

Then the tragedy on September 11 and the following series of terrorist alerts really turned up the heat on the national paranoia.

We also turned up the heat on each other. Parents now seem to regard over-parenting as a sign of good parenting. If you don’t over-parent your child, you may be viewed by others as being a poor or neglectful parent, even as a parent who is willing to endanger her child.

In other words, you feel really guilty. Peer pressure among adults can be as intense and destructive as it is among children. And this peer pressure has made us question our intuitive parenting skills, and reduced our levels of self-confidence.

What is over-parenting?

Over-parenting is based on a belief that in order for a child to be happy and secure, he must be protected from any experience he may find unpleasant or challenging. In an overparenting family, the child comes first, and most activities revolve around him.

He is allowed to do whatever he wants and have whatever he wants because telling him ‘no’ would be unpleasant for him. He is also viewed by his parents as needing their

constant vigilance and protection, because the world is a scary place.

Extreme examples of overparenting can be seen when parents drive their children to school, even on nice days and even though they live only a short distance away. Or the parent who waits for the school bus in the morning with their child after the child becomes capable of getting on the bus alone, or parents who drive their child to the bus stop and wait in the warm car with them until the bus comes.

They may bring a special lunch to school for their child, because he does not like the lunch being served that day.

Parents who over-parent make all the decisions for their child. He may not be allowed to dress himself, choose his own friends, or have any spare time for playing or daydreaming. Chances are that his life outside of school will be programmed down to the minute by the parent.

Over-parented children can be seen running around in restaurants annoying other guests who wonder why the children are not being made to sit down and be quiet.

Of course the reason is that the children might not like sitting down and being quiet.

(Natural News)

Parenting: Are we raising over-confident children?

BY JO ASHLINE

It’s 16:30h. A shiver runs up my spine. “Ian, it’s time to practice your violin!” I shout from across the house.

I watch wearily as he enters the living room, his violin case in his hand and I manage to plaster a smile on my face as he gently applies rosin to the bow. He opens his music book and I feel my jaw clench. For the next 20 minutes I am subjected to sounds that no human should ever have to hear yet I know I must muster up the courage to stay conscious and not pass out from the pain. He is my son after all, and he’s doing his best.

Even if his best makes me want to set his violin on fire. “You sounded amazing! Really, really good honey!”

I remark joyfully, though the excitement in my voice has absolutely nothing to do with his performance except that it’s Finally over.

I’m almost, kind of, sort of sure that with time, he’ll improve. But right now? I’m pretty much kind of, sort of sure he sucks a little.

Of course, I’m not about to tell him that and risk crushing the potential right out of him. I mean, what if I hurt his feelings? What if I subject him to the truth – that he needs more practice, that the violin just may not be his instrument, that he can’t expect to be great at everything – and set him up for a lifetime of failures and *gasp* the realisation that he wasn’t

born with an inherent expertise in everything?

Now more than ever, parents are determined to raise children with an abundance of self-esteem in an effort to produce confident children; children who are so self-assured they’ll take on anything that comes their way with little to no effort because they’ve been convinced they’re naturally gifted. In everything.

It plays out in dance recitals and ball fields across the country: Susie has the coordination of a potted plant and Johnny can’t catch a baseball to save his life, yet there they are, Susie and Johnny’s parents, not only encouraging them to keep going but falsely telling their offspring they’re number one, when clearly they’re not even in the top 100.

We all want our children to feel proud of their accomplishments and encouraging them through praise is a natural part of parenting, yet that same praise loses it’s meaning and purpose when it gets thrown around every time our children walk ten feet without tripping.

So how do we raise confident children without turning them into egomaniacs who expect an award for just about everything they do?

Lynne Griffin, a graduate-level educator of family studies and author of several parenting books, wrote an article for Psychology Today about selfesteem and how to best build it within our children. She maintains that parents need to implement a realistic approach to building true self-esteem in their children:

“Real self-esteem consists of having accurate perceptions of your capabilities, your strengths, weaknesses. Living with values; accepting achievements and failures; and being able to keep the opinions of others in perspective are all components of this most intangible yet essential component of psychological well-being. “ In the article, Griffin outlines several strategies for building “authentic self-esteem” in your child, including being honest when giving feedback and constructive criticism as well as maintaining age-appropriate expectations about your child’s abilities in a particular area of interest and development.

In my opinion however, her best advice relates to how we treat ourselves in front of our children. Griffin urges parents to put the kibosh on the negative selftalk and role model the true value of self-esteem through our actions.

After all, most of our own parenting styles are the result of being raised by a generation that was far less concerned with whether or not we loved ourselves and more concerned with whether we brought home the prize.

tuesday, october 1, 2013 |

Young professionals should be commended, not castigated –

finance minister tells opposition

The contributions made by young professionals to the development of Guyana should be commended and encouraged, said Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh, in response to the recent attacks by the opposition on a number of professionals in public offices.

“In the face of high global demand for skilled personnel, we in Guyana need to support and encourage those who remain here to contribute to our country’s development and not attack them and render them collateral damage in the contest for political mileage,” Minister Singh said.

The minister added that the opposition has been displaying a most distasteful move to discredit the professional competence of a number of technical, non-political persons working in government with the aim of derailing the projects and tasks on which those persons are engaged.

“The competence and professionalism of persons like Winston Brassington and Mahender Sharma have been under constant attack by the opposition. This begs the question 'why'?” asked the minister.

“These individuals have chosen to remain in Guyana and serve their country, and have been doing so with distinction,” Minister Singh said. “This is highly commendable and should serve as a source of encouragement for others to remain, or return home and to aid in the further development of Guyana.”

Intimidation

The minister explained that the recent attacks on professionals who work for government are aimed at intimidating such competent persons and discouraging other qualified personnel from joining the public sector. He explained that “the more qualified personnel we have in government enhances our ability to deliver a better and more prosperous Guyana”.

“Winston Brassington and Mahender Sharma have been serving this country for 19 and 14 years respectively and have shown unprecedented commitment and dedication to the respective offices in which they serve,” he said. “Their qualifications

GuyExpo 2013 to see large international contingent

and competence can withstand any degree of scrutiny, they can hold their own amongst their professional peers from anywhere else in the world, and any person of sound and objective judgment would attest to their very formidable technical capability.”

The minister stated that from a technical perspective, persons like messrs Brassington and Sharma are impressive young Guyanese of whom all Guyanese should be proud.

Concerted effort

The minister also pointed out that government has been making a consorted effort to attract qualified personnel to fill key positions within the public sector in an effort to propel the government’s long term developmental goals.

“In addition to opposing this government’s developmental projects, the opposition has moved to attack the persons working on those projects without as much as offering any input that would make the projects better or improve the image of Guyana,” explained the minister.

“The opposition is irresponsible in making such unwarranted attacks without acknowledging the message it sends to those interested and willing to return home to serve and those committed to staying and working in Guyana,” he said. “Our government wants Guyana to be a place where Guyanese are proud and comfortable to stay and work, not a place where the opposition will attack them and make them collateral damage in the political contest.”

The finance minister repeated his call for the opposition to work with government in building Guyana’s professional core in the interest of a stronger public and private sector in the country.

“We have a responsibility as political and community leaders to build Guyana’s image and reputation as we work together to develop a stronger, cohesive and united country by supporting and developing our human resources,” the minister said.

Preparations are ongoing for GuyExpo 2013 at the National Exhibition Centre, Sophia, where a walk through was on Monday hosted by acting Tourism Minister Irfaan Ali and Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) Director Indranauth Haralsingh. Several sponsors of the event were also on hand to view preparations.

This year some 419 booths spaces are available and 95 per cent have already been sold. Some 237 exhibi-

tors are expected to participate in the event.

Minister Ali said the ministry is confident that all will be fully ready for the opening of GuyExpo on Thursday.

He added that the Public Works Ministry is completing works on the main bridge and a number of roads leading in and out of the exhibition centre.

This is slated to be completed by Wednesday. He added that the internal infrastructure works are 85 per cent completed.

“At this year, we also have a great international participation from China, India, U.S.A., Argentina, Trinidad, St Lucia and Suriname. We also have four business delegations that will be attending the expo,” stated Minister Ali.

He also alluded to the special business forum slated to be held in collaboration with the Guyana Manufacturers and Service Association (GMSA) as that organisation and the ministry have been working together with GuyExpo 2013.

“We also have delegations from Brazil. Brazil has a fairly large delegation, about 17 persons coming in, Barbados, St Vincent and Suriname. This year we have a number of new exhibitors coming on board also we had some new corporate sponsors, all of whom we wish to thank,” minister pointed out.

He also acknowledged the support of sponsors such as the Demerara

Distillers Limited, Banks DIH Limited, ANSA McAl, the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company, Digicel, E-Networks, Tug Brands, Winsor Tech, Impressions, Caribbean Expo Development Agency and Star Party Rentals.

The work of the manufactures was also highlighted by Minister Ali.

Acting Tourism Minister Irfaan Ali briefing the media at the Sophia Exhibition Centre

Men at work getting things ready for GuyExpo 2013

Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh

Mahender Sharma

tuesday, october 1, 2013| guyanatimesgy.com

Three homeless after Good Intent fire

Three people are now homeless after a fire of unknown origin completely razed a house at Good Intent, West Bank Demerara (WBD), in the wee hours of Monday morning.

The house located at Lot 19, Good Intent, WBD was occupied by Pamela Neils, her husband and their 14-year-old daughter.

According to reports, there are three houses on the plot of land with the Neils occupying the last one. About 01:00h, an explosion was heard followed by huge flames that quickly engulfed the entire building.

Speaking with media operatives on Monday morning, Neils explained that her family spends most of the time at a fish shop that she operates a few houses away from where they live. She said the only time they go home is to get their night’s rest.

In tears, the woman added that this is second time fire has destroyed her home. After the first fire, the frustrated woman stated that it took her family a while for

their lives to return to normalcy.

She further explained that on Sunday, her family went to Splashmin’s Fun Park to partake in a family outing after which they went to the Kingston sea walls.

The woman stated that about 01:00h, they returned home and were standing in front of the yard chatting with some friends when she heard a loud explosion.

As she looked around,

she saw her house on fire, but by the time she reached the scene, the house was completely gutted. Nothing was saved.

Neils said she does not keep a gas bottle in the house while claiming that the only electrical appliance that was in the house at the time of the fire was a television set.

She could not say what may have caused the fire since the television was unplugged from the electri-

cal outlet. After the blaze started, the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) fire tender arrived on the scene, but unfortunately, it was out of water and had to tap into another water source.

Another tender and firefighters from the Guyana Fire Service arrived, but by this time, the house was already burnt to the ground.

She could not have estimated her total losses and is now contemplating her family’s next move.

Man on $80,000 bail for simple larceny

On Thursday, a man appeared before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts to answer to the charge of simple larceny.

It was alleged that on September 26 at Georgetown, Sherwin Benjamin of Better Hope, East Coast Demerara stole

one Dell laptop and one BlackBerry Bold cellphone totalling $166,000; property of Rayon Blaire. He pleaded not guilty to the charge as it was read to him and stated that he is a patient at the Georgetown Public Hospital. He told the court that he got “chop up” and cannot do anything for himself. He went on to say that he was boarding a bus

when he was arrested. He added that he is not a thief.

According to the facts, the two men are known to each other and on the day in question, they were having lunch in the vicinity of Stabroek when Blaire asked Benjamin to collect something from a bag in his car.

When Blaire returned to his car, he noticed the items listed in the charge missing.

The matter was reported and Benjamin was subsequently arrested and charged.

There were no objections to bail and the chief magistrate initially granted it in the sum of $100,000. Benjamin told the court that he cannot afford such a large sum and it was reduced to $80,000. The matter is set to return to court on October 31.

Man refused bail for break and enter with larceny

Askilled worker was on Monday refused bail after he appeared in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts to answer to charge of break and enter with larceny.

Mark Mangal of Lot 200 Barr Street, Kitty, pleaded not guilty to the charge which stated that on September 25, at David Street, Kitty, he broke and entered the dwelling house

of Paul Hooper where he allegedly stole a sum of cash and a quantity of items totalling $742,000.

According to Prosecutor Bharat Mangru, on the day in question, Hooper secured his home and went to the Georgetown Public Hospital. Upon his return, he discovered that the panes from the window on the southern side of his home were missing. On the same

day, Mangal and another male were seen in the yard removing the articles. The matter was reported and he was subsequently arrested and charged.

An unrepresented Mangal told the court that Hooper is lying and stated that he could not understand how a person can be charged for something they did not do. He also said that he had previous convictions

for assault, threatening language and larceny.

Prosecutor Mangru objected to bail on the grounds of the seriousness of the offence, the prevalence and the likelihood that the defendant would not return to court if granted his pre-trial liberty.

Chief Magistrate Sewnarine-Beharry refused bail and the matter stands adjourned to October 31.

Mother of three remanded for trafficking in persons

Almost one month after a woman was charged for trafficking in persons, another woman was charged with trafficking in persons when she was brought before Chief Magistrate Priya SewnarineBeharry at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts on Monday.

Forty-two-year-old Patricia Crossman of Lot 3026 North Ruimveldt, Georgetown, pleaded not guilty to the charge which

stated that on June 14 at Sussex Street, Georgetown, she recruited Joy Thomas for the purpose of trafficking.

According to Prosecutor Bharat Mangru, Crossman met Thomas on Sussex Street and on the day in question; she offered the complainant a job as a bartender at her restaurant in Issano. Crossman then took her to a store where she purchased clothing for her and to a salon to get her hair and nails done. When they ar-

rived at Issano, Thomas noticed that there was already a bartender employed and it was then she was told by the defendant she was there to engage in prostitution.

Attorney Mark Waldron who represented Crossman stated that his client is a businesswoman who owns a restaurant and bar at 14 Mile Issano, and is the mother of three children. He stated that she denies knowing the complainant and has been in custody since Thursday. He

also made a request for reasonable bail.

Prosecutor Mangru objected to bail based on the seriousness and prevalence of the offence along with the fact that the complainant and the defendant are known to each other.

Chief Magistrate Sewnarine-Beharry refused bail and she was remanded to prison. The matter stands adjourned to October 22 and seven witnesses are to be summoned.

Eyew tness

Crackpots…

...on money

The old circus promoter Phineas Taylor Barnum, who certainly knew what he was talking about based on the crowds he pulled into his “freak shows”, used to say “there’s a sucker born every minute”. From the available evidence displayed in the letter columns, it appears there’s also a crackpot born every minute – if not more frequently. Take the case of this wanker in the StabberNews yesterday – Mike Persaud. Through his other missives, we know he’s a taxi-driver somewhere in New York. He’d “discovered” the solution to Guyana’s ethnic problem: the People’s National Congress (PNC) should appoint an Indian to become its presidential candidate.

He belaboured this suggestion ad nauseum in the papers – they put up with his simplistic nostrums. He wasn’t so fortunate when he walked into Congress Place and harangued Robert Corbin on the issue. He was thrown out on his ear!

Moving off from his political “silver bullet”, Mike seems to have discovered another cure – this time, for our economic problems. Obviously this fella has a lot of time on his hands – probably works the “graveyard” shift at some taxi stand. His economic panacea is “dollarisation”. That is, Guyana should dump its currency and adopt the U.S. greenback as its currency.

This is the type of rum-shop gyaaf that used to circulate in Guyana when things were “brown”. That is, when we couldn’t get foreign exchange. Now that we’re rolling in gold – which is convertible into whatever currency you want – we haven’t heard this talk for years. Obviously it’s just caught up with Mike. Like we said, he’s off the beaten track.

But before he gets to his main suggestion, he hauls in the “benefits” the European Union (EU) reaped with their single currency. What a dolt! If the EU is on the verge of repealing that experiment because it just doesn’t work when economies with such different growth rates are yoked together, he wants to tie us to the U.S. economy? Reminds us of Malcolm X’s retort when told that Blacks in the U.S. should integrate with Whites: “Why the hell should we integrate into a burning building??”

Meaning, if the U.S. economy appears to be tanking –note it’s the Federal Reserve’s “quantitative easing” and “not easing” dilemma – why should we go down with it? Mike should be worrying about what’ll happen to the value of his savings in greenbacks (assuming he has any) if the Chinese decide to dump the US$3 trillion in U.S. reserves they’ve piled up.

...in politics

The other crackpot appears in the same edition of the Stabber News – the Alliance For Change (AFC) “economist” Tarron Khemraj, who just decamped for the greener A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) pasture. He’s obviously fooled by the green shirts his new leader traipses around in. The APNU pasture itself is as barren as AFC’s. But Khemraj chose to throw away his “economist” hat –which isn’t surprising, considering the abysmal record of economists in the present economic meltdown.

Anyhow, Khemraj puts on a political/sociological hat and delves into the “ethnic security dilemmas” he and his old party Rise Organise And Rebuild Guyana (ROAR) used to carry on about. Seems that only the constituents of his new party have a security dilemma. What happened to the security of the other groups – especially the one that ROAR mobilised? Not to worry...that was all a figment of Ravi Dev’s fevered imagination.

Seems that Indians have no need to fear that crimes against them might have a political nexus. The parent of the party that Khemraj’s now hooking up with – PNC –never had a connection with Buxton. Desmond Hoyte never draped a flag over Linden London (Blackie). Winston Felix, his new security expert, never spoke to Basil Williams. Isn’t it nice to know that with Roger Khan in jail, all our crimes are over?

...in culture

Imagine this fella Barrington Braithwaite, claiming to be a writer and artist, boasts that all his early exposure to high culture came from the condensed books of “Reader’s Digest”! No wonder something appears to be missing!

The remains of the house gutted by fire

President warmly received in New York

President Donald and First Lady Deolatchmee Ramotar were given a standing ovation and warm welcome in Richmond Hill, New York by overseas-based Guyanese last Friday at the Fairfield Pavilion.

While in New York, the president also addressed a large gathering of Guyanese in Brooklyn on Thursday evening at the Woodbine Catering Hall. Accompanying the president were Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh and Foreign Affairs Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett.

The president told the large gathering in Queens that he wanted to speak with them candidly about affairs in their homeland. He outlined a number of projects the government has undertaken since the November 2011 general elections and the obstacles being faced by the government because it lacks a majority to pass bills.

He said the party was ready and not afraid to face the voters, either in local government or general elections. He said he cannot allow the combined opposition to continue to frustrate the

government’s initiatives and development programmes.

President Ramotar noted that the government was promoting Guyana as a tourist hub and tourist arrivals were increasing.

Inadequate air link

Many of those present lamented the lack of direct, non-stop flights from New York, which they claim deter them from regularly visiting Guyana. In response, the president noted that Fly

Jamaica has started a service and Travel Span will commence operations soon, adding that Jet Blue and other carriers will hopefully start next year. He also said government was re-engaging Delta to get the airline, which pulled out in May, to return to Guyana.

To further boost the aviation sector, Guyana needs a modern airport with a longer runaway that will allow bigger jets to land, Ramotar stated. He believes that with

a modern airport, Guyana can be a hub for flights to South America and elsewhere.

He blamed the opposition for the failure of the airport expansion project, as well as the Amaila Fall Hydro Project and the Specialty Hospital, adding that it was also against the Marriott Hotel project, which is needed in Guyana. The president said he was determined to develop hydroelectric power in Guyana, as it will pro-

vide cheaper electricity to Guyanese.

Asked about the failure of the Skeldon Sugar Factory, the president said it was the engineers from Booker Tate who were to be blamed. “The Chinese builders objected to several aspects of the design and construction, but Booker Tate insisted it should be built to their specification,” he explained.

Corruption and crime

Queried about corruption and crime, Ramotar said he does not dispute that corruption exists, as it does everywhere, but said it is difficult to prove it, and no one has come forward as yet with solid evidence. He said there are many problems with the court system and police investigation of crime and corruption.

The president noted that under the People’s National Congress (PNC), there were hardly any Auditor General reports and whenever, they were done, they showed a lack of accountability on the part of the then government. He said, on the other hand, since 1992, there have been annual Auditor General reports.

Attorney general says opposition stalling budget

Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister

Anil Nandlall is accusing the A Party for National Unity (APNU) of stalling the 2012 budget cut case by the “dilatory” tactics they have employed.

Speaking with media operatives, Nandlall called the opposition’s request for an adjournment a “dilatory, time-wasting strategy”. He had argued in court that no proper reasons were proffered by the appellant’s attorney for the adjournment to be granted.

“You saw another example of that dilatory exercise being played today. The reasons advanced were all spurious – that other lawyers involved are overseas – the record is there. Mr Williams has been the only lawyer appearing in this aspect of the case,” said the attorney general said.

Appeal

Monday was the preliminary hearing of the appeal filed by Opposition Leader David Granger, challenging acting Chief Justice Ian Chang’s decision to exclude the parliamentarian from the 2012 budget cut case.

Shortly after the matter commenced before Justice Rishi Persaud and Justice James Bovell-James in the Full Court of the High Court, Attorney Basil Williams representing Granger, requested an adjournment, stating that the other attorneys who are part of his team are out of the jurisdiction.

Nandlall, in responding to the appellant’s request, pointed out that Williams is

the only attorney listed on the appeal and notice of appeal that were filed, therefore, his argument is not supported, however, Justice Drakes pointed out that other attorneys can still be added to the panel even after a matter is filed.

Meanwhile, Williams expressed surprise as to the speed with which the matter was called since it was filed, noting that appeals usually take years before they are heard.

Justice Drakes informed the attorney that they (the judges) were only presented with the assignment and do not have any say whether otherwise, while pointing out to the attorney that he does not want the matter to be entangled with politics.

Odd On the other hand, Nandlall stated that as the appellant, Williams should be happy that his grievances are being ventilated in a timely manner. “I don’t know why he said that because he is the one who filed the appeal… I don’t under-

stand, you hear constant complaints all the time that the judiciary is working too slowly; there is too much backlog in the system and the sloth of the judiciary resulted in injustices, now you have an instance where the justice system is moving with some degree of dispatch and you get the reverse complaint that the judiciary is working too fast,” Nandlall told reporters.

After consultations among all the parties, the presiding judges finally agreed to grant the adjournment. The case has been adjourned to October 22 for commencement of arguments; however, both parties were given up to October 11 to lay over their submissions.

In April 2012, the combined parliamentary opposition used its one-seat majority to slash $21.9 billion from the proposed $192.8 billion 2012 national budget, saying that enough explanation was not provided for some expenditure.

The government subsequently took to the court to

block the National Assembly from cutting the budget, and Justice Chang in a preliminary ruling said the opposition can only approve or disapprove of the budget in its entirety, and not make any changes.

However, this year, the opposition refused to abide by the preliminary ruling handed down by the acting chief justice, arguing that it was not binding or final.

The president said also noted that there was a tendering process for public works. “All projects are publicly advertised and opened for public bidding. The bids are publicly opened in front of the media,” said the president.

Interior development

Asked about granting autonomy to the Tain Campus of the University of Guyana (UG), Ramotar said the government is looking into the problem.

Asked about development in the interior, Ramotar said the government has undertaken a number of projects to assist residents there. He said government has established wells and built hospitals and schools, in addition to refurbishing many schools and health clinics. The president said the government has also carried out an ambitious immunisation programme for everyone. He concluded by thanking Guyanese for coming to listen to him, and appealed for their support to help transform Guyana into a better nation, declaring the government was eager and willing to work with all.

cut case

As a result, the combined opposition, with the Speaker’s blessings, shaved off more than $31.4 billion of the $208.8 billion 2013 budget. Chaos reigned when the Speaker also proclaimed that the court had no oversight responsibility or powers over the legislature.

Attorney General Anil Nandlall Attorney Basil Williams

President Donald Ramotar, flanked by Foreign Affairs Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett and Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh, among others, while addressing Guyanese in the New York diaspora recently

Guyana has been moving from strength to strength

prime minister

Prime Minister Samuel Hinds reminded Essequibo residents about the progress made over the two decades of the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) government since returning Guyana to democracy in 1992.

Delivering the main address during an outreach over the weekend to Adventure Village, the prime minister outlined the issues faced by government given the changed dispensation in the National Assembly, and called on residents to be prepared to ensure the current gains achieved by the ruling administration were cemented.

The new parliamentary dispensation was attributed in part to some supporters being over confident, he said. He promised that the government will continue its mandate to improve the lives of all Guyanese.

He reminded residents of

what he described a “bad period”, of shortages, low wages, poor electricity supplies and high inflation which prevailed during the late 70s up to the early 90s. These were the conditions that the current government met when it gained power, but now, the lives of Guyanese have improved.

There is the challenge of re-energising the country to ensure the continuity of the progress made in infrastructure, pensions, wages, education, and business, the prime minister acknowledged. “After 21 years in government, we have to

think of where we want to go and how we are going to get there.”

The efforts of the former President Bharrat Jagdeo to push transformative projects such as the Amaila Falls Hydro Power Project were lauded by Prime Minister Hinds, who also said the need for cheap, reliable electric power was recognised by all. He explained the details of the project, particularly the benefits which would lead to increased production, cheaper manufacturing costs and more jobs.

The Specialty Hospital and the Cheddi Jagan International Airport Expansion Projects have been stalled by the actions of the political opposition, but Prime Minister Hinds noted that government has been continuously working to study and pursue ways to make these stalled transformative projects a reality.

Businessman wants Transport Ministry to investigate accident on Good Hope/Supenaam stelling

AWest Coast Demerara businessman has expressed concern over the poor monitoring of the influx of vehicles at the new Good Hope/Supenaam stelling and is calling on Transport Minister Robeson Benn to look into the matter.

Harinarine (only name given), a car dealer from Parika, told Guyana Times that a truck slammed into the back of his vehicle while he was on the ramp of the boat on Sunday afternoon.

The businessman said he was signalled by a sailor to stop when the accident occurred. Harinarine, his wife and sister-in-law were in the vehicle at the time.

The businessman said he reported the matter to the boat captain but was told that he cannot do anything about the situation as he could not leave the vessel since he was awaiting the

arrival of the prime minister, who was on a visit to the Essequibo Coast.

The businessman said the driver of the truck bearing registration number GJJ 9 came out and said he got the signal from the sailor to

go head and he proceeded.

The frustrated car dealer said the captain of the boat did not investigate the matter although it happened on the boat, but advised him to take the damaged vehicle to the Parika Police Station and

lodge a complaint.

Harrinarine said when he reported the matter to the Parika Police Station, he was told that the incident did not happen in their division and should be reported at the Aurora Police Station.

The confused man said he was being pushed around and when he eventually reached the Aurora Police Station, he was told by officers there that the Transport Ministry has to address the issue. The driver of the truck was detained but was later released.

The businessman is now clueless as to who will compensate him for the damage to his vehicle.

He said if the sailor had properly directed the drivers, the accident could have been avoided. The businessman is calling on the Transport Ministry to thoroughly investigate the incident.

Green Jah is a brave man to want a collision wid Donald

It comin down to de time when de guvament gettin ready to prepare de budget. And this is always a favourite time fuh some of de parliamentarians. All of dem gon have to seh some ting when de time come fuh de budget debate. No matter what budget matter come up, dem does talk like scientist and accountant. Most of dem don’t seh nutten of substance and don’t mek sense, but de whole idea is to be in the media next day.

That is exactly how plenty of dem does like to pomp a scene. And some of de media does help dem pomp a scene too. After all, de Kocheur got de biggest soup drinker in exchange fuh publicity. People seh he got de belly fuh it. That is there fuh every body to see. Is any kinda soup fuh some ting in de mud paper. German does run outta soup some days. It must be a world record as to how a crab can eat so mucha crab soup.

When de budget time come, is every body gon hear from Green Jah to Green Bridge. Green Bridge is de man who bruk up de country when he was in de guvament. But he now got a solution fuh every ting pun this earth, especially de earth in Guyana. According to Green Bridge, he know how to run every ting. According to de people, Green Bridge only know how to do two tings good: run he mouth and run down every ting else.

As fuh Green Jah, this year he tekkin it to another level. De Stabber seh Green Jah put de guvament pun notice that he gon have a collision wid de prezzi if dem don’t listen to he. Well, Green Jah must be a brave man to want to collide wid Donald.

Ting-a-ling-a-ling…friend tell friend…mattie tell mattie! Watch and see after that collision, Green Jah gon be sorry he didn’t vote fuh de Specialty Hospital in de last budget.

Alogger was on Saturday evening stabbed to the neck with a sharp instrument during a heritage celebration at Orealla Settlement, Region Six by an unidentified man.

Raphael Morgan called “Chaplin”, 42, of Orealla Savannah, Corentyne River was admitted a patient at the Skeldon Hospital and is said to be in a stable condition.

According to information received, Morgan was in the company of residents and other persons from various parts of the country as the community celebrated its annual Orealla Heritage Day.

About 21:00h on Saturday evening, Morgan said he was next to the Orealla benab located downhill, when the man confronted and stabbed him with a sharp instrument behind his neck and fled the scene.

The injured logger left

the area and walked up the hill with the intention of going by his mother-in-law Orvina Joseph, but after reaching some distance, he collapsed.

Morgan was picked up in an unconscious state and taken to the Orealla Health Centre where he was treated by Nurse Joan Vanderburgh. He subsequently regained consciousness and was referred to the Skeldon Public Hospital for further treatment.

At the medical institution, he was seen and examined by a doctor who treated and admitted him as a patient in the male ward for observation. His condition is regarded as stable.

Several persons were questioned, but there was no information gathered that would have helped in the apprehension of the attacker.

Police are continuing their investigations.

Harinarine’s damaged car

Prime Minister Samuel Hinds addressing residents of Adventure Village, Essequibo

Prime Minister Samuel Hinds listening to concerns raised by an Adventure Village resident

Caricom, Spain to cooperate on US$1.1M programme

The Caribbean Community (Caricom) and Spain will collaborate on a citizen security project that will focus on youth and gender issues.

The Caricom-Spain Citizen Security Project was signed off on September 25, during discussions between representatives of the Caricom Secretariat and the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development (AECID), to formalise approvals for new regional interventions for the 2013-2014 period.

The US$1.1 million total investment of the CaricomSpain Joint Fund in the activities approved for the 20132014 cooperation programme will consist of both cash and in-kind contributions of the parties to the joint fund.

The interventions under the project focus on support for the prevention and reduction of youth on youth violence in schools and communities in five Caricom member states, and support for the implementation of youth entrepreneurship training through the Creative for Employment and Business Opportunity (CEBO) Programme in 10

Caricom member states. These interventions will be implemented in large part by the Caricom Secretariat and will entail collaboration with national public and private sectors, civil society partners and other stakeholders.

Last Wednesday’s discussions served as a follow up to the second meeting of the Joint Technical Committee to the Joint Fund, which

was hosted on September 11 at the embassy of Spain, in Port of Spain Trinidad. There, Spanish high-level officials, led by Rafael Garranzo Garcia, director of the AECID’s Department for Cooperation with Latin America and the Caribbean (DCALC) in Madrid, and the ambassador of Spain accredited to Caricom, Joaquin de Aristegui, met with senior officials of the Caricom

Secretariat.

The Joint Technical Committee, which is established by the addendum to the agreement on Scientific and Technical Cooperation between Caricom and the Kingdom of Spain, is charged with proposing and approving the implementation of regional development programmes and projects, monitoring those programmes and projects, and overseeing the operations of the joint fund.

The second meeting of the Joint Technical Committee also reviewed the progress of current institutional strengthening and economic development projects and agreed on the systems and resources required for effective management and operations of the joint fund for the current period.

Despite the grave economic and financial crises which the country has been battling in recent times, the government of Spain has continued to provide important technical and financial assistance for development in the region, a sign of commitment to its engagement with the member states and peoples of Caricom.

GGMC investigating miners’ deaths

Acting commissioner of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) Rickford Veira told a media conference on Monday that the pit collapse which claimed the lives of four miners, could have been avoided.

Veira said the miners were evicted some three weeks ago, after a visit was conducted in the area by GGMC officials. However, it was reported that the miners went back to the area and recommenced mining.

He added that from preliminary reports, the mining team was engaged in unsafe mining practices, hence, the reason for the recent incident.

This is still to be confirmed. Further, it was reported that the miners came into Guyana illegally through Venezuela and are not in possession of a work permit.

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Robert Persaud

A miner who survived the tragedy is expected to be charged. The GGMC head said that a senior engineer and an occupational health and safety officer have been dispatched to the area to investigate the incident. Meanwhile, Natural Resources and Environment Minister Robert Persaud said he is disappointed with what happened; noting that while the GGMC has some general oversight of mining operations, the village councils in these areas have full responsibility.

Persaud said this is an issue which his ministry is looking at, because support and proper training will have to be provided in order for them to maintain proper work ethics; particularly as it relates to mining villages.

“I’m hoping that through this mechanism that we can augment and help Amerindian communities to better manage mining operations. We’re very hopeful that this proposal will win some form of support with the various stakeholders,” he added.

He assured that his ministry is making every effort to reduce such incidence, but admitted that this is difficult given the terrain and the scattered way in which gold mining takes place. Nevertheless, he said a plan will be introduced shortly.

The incident which occurred at Arau Backdam, Eteringbang, claimed the lives of four Brazilians on Thursday afternoon. The Brazilian nationals Taigo Nunes Pinto, Ronaldo Da

Silva Sousa, Joao Nelson Pinto Mands and Joao Gonsalves Martins were killed after a mining pit about 40 feet deep caved in on them. One of the men, Jose Roberto Diaz, survived the incident and was admitted at a private hospital.

It was reported that after the pit caved in; it took other workers sometime to reach the location the men were trapped.

At that time, persons thought that it was more or less a recovery mission, but were surprised to have found Diaz alive.

The four men were finally pulled from under the clay and their bodies were transported to the Lyken’s Funeral Home via the Ogle International Airport.

In April of this year, Dennis Anthony Barker, 16, of Lot 550 East Ruimveldt, Georgetown was killed and another person injured when a mining pit caved in on them at Pamela, Mahdia, Region Eight.

Lethem man found in Abary River

The partially decomposed body of a labourer was on Monday morning found in the Abary River, Region Five after he was seen floating by residents in the area.

No wasting of the court’s time

By Shara reid, NormaN maNley law School

After initiating no less than six proceedings in a range of different courts, Delroy Garraway’s claim was brought to a final rest in the Caribbean Court of Justice. In Garraway vs Williams [2011] CCJ 12 (AJ), after dismissing Garraway’s appeal, the CCJ ordered him to give up possession of certain disputed property within two months to Alvin Rambarran, the new owner of the property.

Garraway had taken the owners of a piece of land to the High Court of Guyana in order to force them to sell the land to him. He failed on that occasion. He appealed to the Court of Appeal and he was again unsuccesful.

He subsequently brought the same matter to the Land Court, failed, then appealed that decision to the Court of Appeal and failed again. He appealed to the CCJ which had to decide whether, on Garraway’s second trip, the Court of Appeal, was correct in finding that his claim in the Land Court was barred based on the legal doctrine of res judicata.

The judges looked at doctrine of res judicata and noted that its purpose was to prevent continued litigation between the same parties about the same matter. The doctrine serves to bar “the same parties from litigating on the same claim or any other claim arising from the same transaction or subject-matter that was or could have been raised in the first suit”. Garraway’s case fitted squarely within the scope of this doctrine.

Consequently, since, on Garraway’s first trip, the Court of Appeal addressed his complaint concerning possession of the piece of land, the doctrine of res judicata applied. He would not be allowed to re-litigate the same matter with the hope of securing his desired result. In fact, the court also found Garraway’s unfounded persistence to be an abuse of the court’s process. He failed once again.

This summary is intended to assist the Caribbean public in learning more about the work of the CCJ. It is not a formal document of the court. The judgment of the court is the only authoritative document and may be found at http://chooseavirb.com/ccj/wp-content/ uploads/2011/08/JUDGMENT-FINALCV-1-of-2011.pdf.

Whim man dies after complaining of abdominal pains

The relatives of a Berbice man were plunged into mourning following his mysterious death on Saturday evening.

Parsveran “Boy” Appadu, a 44-year-old lorry driver of Lot 46 Whim Village, Corentyne, Berbice was found dead by his son between 21:00h and 21:30h at his home. Appadu shared the home with his son, Harrynarine called “Vicky”.

he made a mug of milkshake and called out to his father asking if he wanted a glass, but there were no response. This promoted Appadu to go to his father’s room where he observed him lying on his bed. He said he shook him repeatedly, but he was motionless.

Information reaching this newspaper revealed that Anastace was last seen on Saturday with three other men at a popular drinking spot.

Orin Wayne Anastace, 34, of Lethem, Central Rupununi, was believed to have drowned. He was employed with Anthony Marques, an overseas-based Guyanese, as a labourer.

About 10:00h on Sunday, a resident reportedly saw the body floating in the Abary River and alerted the police.

On Monday morning, the police travelled to the area and recovered the body. After a few hours, the man’s remains were transported out

of the area, but investigators could not confirm whether the body bore marks of violence owing to its state of decomposition.

His body was taken to the Lyken Funeral Home to await a post-mortem examination. Anastace’s family has been contacted.

The younger Appadu told investigators that his father complained about feeling pain in his abdomen and so he went to use the outdoor lavatory. After a few minutes, he returned to the house and went into his room. About 21:00h, the distraught son explained that

He checked for a pulse on his hands but there was none discernible. He then alerted his neighbours and made contact with the police. No marks of violence were visible on the body. Appadu was taken to the Port Mourant Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival by a doctor on duty. His body is at the hospital mortuary awaiting a post-mortem.

Director of the AECID’s Department for Cooperation with Latin America and the Caribbean, Rafael Garranzo García

NA doctor killed in road accident

Aprominent New Amsterdam doctor died in a road accident Sunday evening, shortly after witnessing a game of cricket, his favourite pastime.

Dr Physal Sattar, 69, of LFS Burnham Street, died at the New Amsterdam Hospital shortly after colliding with a truck on the Number 11 Farm Village Public Road. He was on his way home after attending the cricket match between Berbice and Demerara earlier at the Albion Sports Complex.

Reports are that Sattar attempted to overtake a truck in his car, but instead drove straight under the larger vehicle.

The truck driver, Modhakai Ramsundar, 35, was admitted to the same medical institution after sustaining injuries to the chest. His father, Edwin, said he called him shortly after 19:30h saying that he was involved in an accident.

Noise

“He told me that he was driving when he heard a noise at the back and the impact caused him to hit the steering wheel. He say that he clutch in and allow the truck to roll and stop,” said the truck diver's father.

Witnesses say that they heard the impact and ran to assist the drivers. Sattar’s car was in the centre of the road, while the truck was a few metres off the road shoulder.

“We had to push the truck to get it in the corner,” one resident, Kushnarine Deonarine said.

He explained that Dr Sattar was removed from his mangled vehicle after several attempts to get the driver’s door open. “When we get him out, we put him to lie down on the road. He did talking. When I hold up he head, plenty blood running, the skull open and the brains showing,” he said.

Deonarine said it took them more than 30 minutes to find transportation

to take the injured doctor to the hospital. “Nobody ent wan carry him. They say the blood would nasty the car. But nobody ent know that is a doctor,” he added.

Dr Sattar was placed in the tray of a pickup and taken to the hospital where doctors tried desperately to save their colleague’s life.

Deep loss

An autopsy performed on the body by government pathologist Dr Vivekanand Bridgemohan revealed that Dr Sattar died as a result of loss of blood (haemorrhage) due to grave injuries – several ribs were broken and there was extensive damage to the brain.

Dr Sattar had been practising medicine in New

Amsterdam for the past 42 years. He leaves to mourn his wife of 40 years and four children.

Region Six Chairman David Armogan said the loss will be felt by the entire Berbice community.

“Every time you call on him to do community work and medical outreaches, he would readily make himself available. So it is a great loss to the community and I think that the medical community would have also lost a great colleague,” he said.

Friends of the doctor said they were surprised to learn that he was driving at night, since that was an unusual occurrence.

Police are investigating the accident.

NICIL v Royal Investments Inc court battle continues

The court case brought by the government against the majority shareholder of Guyana Stores Limited (GSL), Royal Investments Inc, continued before Justice Roxanne George-Wiltshire on Monday in the High Court.

The lawsuit was initiated by government some eight years ago to recoup US$2 million and interest owed after the privatisation of the company for US$6 million.

When the matter was called, National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) Executive Director and Privatisation Unit head, Winston Brassington, returned to the stand where he was further cross-examined by Senior Counsel Edward Luckoo, who is representing the respondent in the matter.

The senior counsel put a series of questions to Brassington about several pieces of correspondence between NICIL and Royal

Investments Inc.

He also questioned the witness about several meetings between the two entities.

NICIL’s attorney, Rafiq Turhan Khan, then proceeded to re-examine the witness about the costs of dividends at the time of the sale of GSL’s shares.

Brassington replied that the net current assets of the GSL at the time of the sale had to be reduced and the dividends were added in order to prevent a “windfall”.

He noted that if the dividends were not added, it would have left the company with net current assets of $600 million.

Substantial dividends

The witness further disclosed that the GSL had substantial dividends leading up to the sale.

Attorney Khan’s examination of Brassington was cut short, so he will continue on October 14 when the matter is called again.

He indicated that on that occasion, he is expect-

ed to complete his examination.

During the previous hearing, Brassington was asked about a letter of guarantee that was prepared during the process of selling GSL’s shares almost 12 years ago.

He was also questioned about a general audit done by an independent body Nizam Ali and Co, which was agreed upon by NICIL

and Royal Investments Inc.

Under the terms of the privatisation agreement, the balance owed by Royal Investments Inc, which acquired 70 per cent of GSL’s shares in the sale, was due by September 2002. However, the company failed to make this payment.

In a subsequent agreement between the plaintiff and the defendant on October 5, 2000, the parties decided that the latter would pay interest on the said sum at the U.S. prime rate prevailing at the time of payment, commencing one year after September 30, 2000.

In June 2004, the government holding company initiated legal action against Royal Investments Inc for the recovery of the US$2 million plus interest.

The trial started in late 2010, and had almost a year’s break in court. Brassington, who negotiated the deal on behalf of government, has been on the stand for more than two years.

Bandits loot New Amsterdam jewellery stall

Police are investigating the break and enter of two stalls at the New Amsterdam Market and the theft of more than $100,000 in jewellery. Reports are that sometime between Saturday evening and Sunday morning, stalls in the New Amsterdam Market were again targeted by robbers. On this occasion, the bandits broke into two stalls and were attempting to gain entry to a third.

According to one of the stallowners, Imran Busjit, he received the unfortunate news from his wife early Sunday morning.

next stall without making much noise.

Meanwhile, the owner of a stall next door said that it was not easy for the robbers to gain entry into his stall as it is surrounded by a double wall.

The intruders managed to gain entry into Husain’s Jewellery Stall, and stole silver jewellery valued $100,000, along with a diamond tester valued $40,000. Busjit, who has been operating at the New Amsterdam Market for the past 45 years, said it is the third time bandits have broken into his stall. He said

“My wife told me that the cleaner said that when she come to sweep out, she see the stall open an she run an tell the guard because she know that nobody in the market. But when I come, I see the whole stall ransack.”

However, he was quick to point out that items in the stall were intact.

“What they did was came into this stall and tried to gain access to the jewellery stall over there,” Busjit said as he showed Guyana Times boards which were removed from a section of the wall of his stall.

He said the robbers broke into his stall by wrenching the padlock on the door open, and pointed out that because of the amount of glassware on the shelves; it was difficult to make much of an attempt to get to the

on one occasion, the vendors had employed three persons to guard the back of the market at nights.

“The market don’t have enough guards. They have a hut at the back, but no one usually be in it.”

Guyana Times understands that at the time of the incident, there were only three constables on duty.

The bandits gained entry by releasing a bolt on one of the doors leading to the main section of the market, and climbing through a space that they created when the bolt was removed.

“We need them to have at least two guards inside the market or if not let them install cameras inside the market,” Busjit said. The matter was reported but no one has been arrested.

NICIL head Winston Brassington

The jewellery stall that was broken into by robbers

The state of Imran Busjit’s stall after the robbers struck

Dr Physal Sattar

The mangled remains of Dr Physal Sattar’s car

Trotman not in support of delayed local govt bills

Speaker of the National Assembly, Raphael Trotman has said that he will be using other methods to have the clerk of the National Assembly send bills to the president and not other government offices.

He was at the time responding to questions on the clerk sending the four local government bills passed in the National Assembly to the attorney general’s chambers.

Trotman believes that the bills should have been sent directly to President Donald Ramotar. He said if the president wishes to have further legal advice, then the decision should lie with him whether or not to send the bills to the AG. “That is my personal belief,” the Speaker stressed.

The four local government bills are still sitting in the AG’s chambers under review. Members of the opposition have slammed this move.

Both the Alliance For Change (AFC) and the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) believe that the bills should not have been sent to the AG's chambers.

The Speaker, however, noted that it was common

practice to send government bills to the chambers to be tidied up, after which they were sent to the president.

Given the situation facing the 10th Parliament, the Speaker said this practice should cease. Trotman also confirmed that the 21day period stipulated for the president to give his assent only begins when the bills actually reach the president’s desk.

Essential

The four local government bills, essential for the holding of local government elections, were passed in the National Assembly on August 7. The House approved the

Fiscal Transfers Bill; the Municipal and District Councils (Amendment) Bill; the Local Government (Amendment) Bill; and the Local Government Commission Bill. This was after a 12-year period of attempting to reform the process.

Local Government and Regional Development Minister Ganga Persaud piloted all four of the bills and while government supported the pieces of legislation, it attempted to amend at least two.

The diplomatic community has supported calls for local government elections, which were last held in Guyana 19 years ago.

Obama reassures Israel over Iran talks

The United States reserves the right to keep all options, including military action, on the table with regard to engaging with Iran, U.S. president Barack Obama has said after holding talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu.

Addressing the media after meeting with Netanyahu at the Oval Office in Washington, DC, on Monday, Obama said the United States would be circumspect before entering negotiations with Iran.

“We have to test diploma-

cy, we have to see if in fact they are serious about their willingness to abide by international norms and international law,” Obama said.

“We enter into these negotiations very clear eyed. They will not be easy.”

Obama also made clear that he reserved the right to take military action against Iran. The meeting comes just days after Obama’s historic phone call with new Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

Netanyahu urged President Barack Obama to keep tough economic sanc-

Region must unite to wipe out debt – daughter of former Jamaican PM

The countries of the Caribbean are drowning in debt and the only way to address this issue is with a united regional effort. This was the argument of Rachel Manley, daughter and granddaughter of two Jamaican prime ministers – Norman and Michael Manley – as she delivered the 27th annual Eric Williams Memorial Lecture on Saturday night. Manley, a writer, reminisced about growing up around her grandparents in pre-independence Jamaica, to an

audience which included Tobago House of Assembly Chief Secretary Orville London and Opposition Leader Keith Rowley, at the Central Bank Auditorium, Port-of-Spain. Manley has written awardwinning memoirs about her life with her father and her grandparents. Her paternal grandmother was the sculptor Edna Manley.

She said a united approach to eliminate debt in the region could avoid the chaos that the present course of debt in the Caribbean was headed for. “It can be done. If we think as a region instead of a unit it can be done, and this would be following the charter of Caricom that bears the signature of Eric Williams,” she said. She said Jamaica had a national debt of just over a trillion U.S. dollars. The host country’s debt is US$3.2 billion, a figure that Trinidadian former economist with the World Bank Dr Ridwan Ali described as “very manageable.” Another Caricom neighbour, Grenada, has a national debt of US$2.2 billion. (Excerpt from Trinidad Guardian)

Popes John Paul II and John XXIII to become saints

Pope John Paul II in 2005. His progress towards sainthood began just a month after he died

John XXIII, the pontiff who called the landmark second Vatican council, and John Paul II, who crisscrossed the globe during his 26 years as leader of the Roman Catholic Church, will be declared saints in April 2014 in a historic ceremony that could be attended by their two living successors.

The announcement of the date for the canonisations had been expect-

ed since July, when Pope Francis approved a second miracle attributed to John Paul, clearing the path for the fastest canonisation in modern times.

During a meeting with cardinals inside the Apostolic palace on Monday, the pope revealed that the canonisations would take place on April 27, 2014. The Vatican has also hinted that Pope Benedict XVI might join

Francis for the event despite the retired pontiff’s expressed desire to spend his final days “hidden from the world” in the Vatican monastery.

“There’s no reason either doctrinal or institutional that he couldn’t participate in a public ceremony,” said the Vatican spokesman, Federico Lombardi. “I don’t have any reason to exclude it.”

The prospect of two living popes honouring two dead ones will serve only to heighten interest in what is already an highly unusual double-canonisation.

When Benedict began John Paul’s beatification process a month after the latter died in 2005, the Vatican said the customary five-year waiting period was to be waived because of “exceptional circumstances”. (Excerpt from The Guardian)

Car bombs kill scores in Shiite areas of Baghdad

tions on Iran in place, even as the U.S. weighs a potential warming of relations and a restart of nuclear negotiations with Tehran’s new government.

“If diplomacy is to work, those pressures must be kept in place,’’ Netanyahu said during the meeting with Obama. Al Jazeera’s Peter Sharp, reporting from Jerusalem, said Netanyahu would have been heartened by Obama’s reassurances that Iran would have to prove itself and that Israel had the right to defend itself.

(Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

Aseries of car bombs exploded in busy areas in predominantly Shi’ite neighbourhoods of Baghdad on Monday, killing at least 42 people and wounding dozens more, police and medical sources said.

The deadliest attack took place in Sadr City,

where a car bomb blew up near a place where workers had gathered. It killed at least seven people, including two soldiers

It was not immediately clear who carried out the attacks, but hardline Sunni militants who view Shi’ites as non-believers have been stepping up their insurgency and striking with a fe-

rocity not seen in years.

More than two years of civil war in neighbouring Syria have aggravated deep-rooted sectarian divisions and strained Iraq’s fragile coalition of Shi’ite, Kurdish and Sunni factions.

Shi’ites, security personnel government employees of both sects and governmental-backed Sunni “Sahwa” militia members are prime targets for AlQaeda and the Sunni insurgents.

On Sunday, a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a mosque where a Shi’ite funeral was being held, killing at least 40 people in Mussayab, 60km (40 miles) south of Bagdad. The United Nations mission in Iraq said about 800 Iraqis were killed in acts of violence in August. (Excerpt from France24)

The sudden prospect of diplomacy with Iran overshadowed a host of pressing issues on the U.S.Israeli agenda

A series of car bombs killed at least 42 people in predominantly Shiite neighbourhoods of Baghdad on Monday, police sources said

Speaker of the National Assembly Raphael Trotman

Bruce Paddington, founder of the TT Film Festival (TTFF) says its time for the business community and television stations to play their part in developing the local film industry. “In TT it is very difficult to make money from films. We are producing more films now, especially short films, but the TV stations are not being helpful with this. We are lucky if they even show these films, let alone pay for the film. Many

filmmakers pay the station to get the film shown which is absolutely crazy,” he said.

Paddington spoke to the TT Guardian at the closing session of a three-day Unesco-sponsored workshop on A sustainable Caribbean Film Industry at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Port of Spain. Participants from the film industry were locals and foreigners, including Hollywood producers, he said. This workshop was one of

the events of the TTFF which ends tomorrow. Paddington said: “A lot of the tv stations feel they are taking a risk by showing local films, they do not think they can get the advertising support. They can buy a foreign show like Big Bang Theory or Two and a Half Men for very little money, that would have cost millions of dollars to make. But the tv stations here can buy them for US$150. (Trinidad Guardian)

U.S. companies are warning about thirdquarter earnings at a rate lower than last quarter but still at the second highest level since 2001, leaving estimates well below what they were just three months ago.

Companies issuing negative outlooks for the quarter outnumber positive ones by 5.2:1, the most negative since the 6.3:1 ratio in the second quarter.

The second-quarter ra-

tio is the worst since the first quarter of 2001. The third quarter would be the second worst since 2001, according to Thomson Reuters data.

As a result, third-quarter earnings for Standard & Poor’s 500 companies were expected to increase by 4.6 per cent compared with a year ago, down from a forecast of 8.5 per cent on July 1. “I think companies have done exactly what they do in the confessional month eve-

ry cycle. They try to talk the numbers down so they can engineer an upside surprise,” said Phil Orlando, chief equity market strategist at Federated Investors in New York.

S&P 500 companies have beaten analysts’ earnings expectations, on average, by 67 per cent over the last four reporting periods. Technology is the sector with the highest number of third-quarter negative outlooks, with 27 warnings. (Reuters)

Eurozone inflation is running at its lowest rate in more than three years. Consumer price inflation fell to an annual rate of 1.1 per cent in September from 1.3 per cent in August according to Europe’s statistics agency Eurostat.

A fall in energy prices helped to ease inflation. Price rises in food, alcohol and tobacco moderated, also helping. Economists say slowing

inflation gives the European Central Bank (ECB) more freedom to help the eurozone’s weak economic recovery.

The ECB targets an annual inflation rate of below, but close to two per cent. “The ECB has plenty of scope to loosen monetary policy further,” said James Howat, European economist, at Capital Economics in a research note.

“At the very least, further

action to boost liquidity in the banking sector looks increasingly likely.” The ECB could boost the banking sector by offering eurozone banks a oneoff chance to borrow at low rates for relatively long periods of time.

A similar operation at the end of 2011 offered banks cheap financing for three years and is credited with helping to keep the cost of borrowing low. (BBC News)

Companies creating digital jobs in Africa

Samasource is a social business that connects women and youths living in poverty to data-and content-processing work from U.S. clients. This work provides a living wage and helps workers gain skills and inject capital into their communities.

Samasource’s proprietary technology platform, the SamaHub, breaks down complex data projects from large companies into small tasks

that can be completed by people with basic English skills and a few weeks of training.

All work is checked, then aggregated into complete projects, and finally returned to the client.

Founded in 2008, Samasource is headquartered in San Francisco and has 10 programmes across Haiti, India, Kenya and Uganda.

Samasource’s Microwork model fits within the overall field of Impact Sourcing,

which aims to create jobs in rural or economically depressed communities.

NairoBits is a youth-based organisation that uses technology training to improve the lives of less privileged youth in Kenya. The 10-year-old programme trains students in web design, information technology skills, creative multimedia, and entrepreneurship to improve their opportunities in employment and/or entrepreneurship. (allAfrica)

Japanese electronics firm

Toshiba has said it will halve the number of staff in its TV division to 3000 as it looks to revamp the unit’s operations. The changes will also see the firm close two of its three overseas TV manufacturing facilities.

Toshiba said it would focus on emerging markets including Asia and Africa, and end sales in “unprofitable regions”. Toshiba, like other Japanese TV makers, has

been hit by slowing demand, falling prices and increased competition.

The company’s digital products division, which includes TV manufacturing, saw its losses widen to 16.3 billion yen (US$166 million; £103 million), in the financial year to March 31, compared with a loss of 3.3 billion yen a year earlier.

Toshiba, which makes the Regza brand TV sets, said in a statement that the changes

were aimed “toward improving profitability and strengthening foundations of the business”.

The firm said it would separate the TV business from its Digital Products and Services Company and merge it with Toshiba Home Appliances Corporation. Toshiba said that it would move resources towards making large screen ultra high-definition (HD) 4K LCD TVs “where growing demand is expected”. (BBC News)

Britain’s Vodafone and three Gulf telecoms companies have formed a consortium to launch a 1400km fibre network to meet rising demand for broadband services in the region.

Vodafone, Kuwait’s Zain, du of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwaiti internet service provider Zajil will create the Middle EastEurope Terrestrial System (MEETS) with the long-term aim of connecting the network

overland to Europe. MEETS will activate a largely dormant fibre-optic network built as part of the 1400km power grid installed by the Gulf Cooperation Council’s (GCC) interconnection authority. The network runs from Kuwait to Fujairah, an eastern emirate in the UAE on the Gulf of Oman, via Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar. The consortium has signed a 15-year rental contract to activate and manage

the fibre network. The GCC Interconnection Authority is owned by the six GCC countries. The network will have estimated capacity of 2300 gigabytes per second (gbps) and is expected to launch in the first quarter of 2014, the companies said at a news conference in Dubai, adding that the project will cost about US$35 million. Total Gulf usage is estimated to be about 500 gbps at present. (Arabianbusiness)

Impact of globalisation on small businesses

The following is a classic story, often used by socialists to highlight the “evils of a capitalist society” – the small town grocer gets mercilessly taken out by the new Wal-Mart in town. The small town grocer may have an established customer base and friendly relations with the community, but it simply can’t match the low prices offered by Wal-Mart. Being a large national company, WalMart has the sprawling global resources and is willing to sacrifice margins to take out local competitors. In the end, customer loyalty means nothing and the grocer goes bank-

rupt, decades of hard work decimated overnight. This is a well-known anecdote referring to the impact of globalisation on small businesses. Once you start up a new business, you plunge into an ocean populated by a few smaller fish, which compete with you for food, and lots of bigger ones, eager to eat you alive. The big fish in the sea tend to be well-connected, multinational beasts taking full advantage of the perks of globalisation – such as outsourcing, uneven exchange rates, and low-margin highvolume sales models – making them nearly impossible to compete against. What are the impacts of globalisation on the small business owner, and how can you defend yourself from the blows that will inevitably come your way? In “The Communist Manifesto”, Karl Marx famously warned that small local businesses will inevitably be wiped out by large multinational companies in a form of imperialist capitalism. According to him, the destruction of local businesses leads to the loss of local culture, and the rise of a singular anonymous corporate culture which only varies slightly from country to country. (Dictionary)

Local miners very receptive to mercuryfree technology

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Robert Persaud on Saturday visited the operations of Correia Mining Company (CMC) in Olive Creek, Region Seven, where he was given a firsthand look of gold-washing using an Xtruder 255 Shaking Table, a very viable alternative to mercury usage.

This shaking table, which costs US $32,000, is considered a gold finishing table and is the final step before smelting. It is allows for 98 per cent recovery, is simple to operate, has the capacity of up to 255 pounds per hour and can recover very fine gold, down to 400 mesh with a minimal water requirement of six to 10 gallons per minute.

Banned

Mercury, a highly toxic chemical element, is banned in many countries, but is still used in Guyana and most of the developing world. However, the government aims to gradually phase out its use by 2020 as it recognises the environmental and human health risks of mercury.

The Natural Resources Ministry, working closely with the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), has been looking at ways in which miners can be further ‘incentivised’ for incorporating mercury-free technologies into their practices.

CMC Mining Operations Director Charles De Freitas explained that the “washing down” process takes about two to two-and-a-half hours maximum after which it goes straight to the furnace for smelting.

“Mercury is over $20,000 per pound so we feel that in the long run this will not only pay for itself, but is also eliminating all the risks that come with mercury. This is a viable alternative,” De Freitas said.

Minister Persaud disclosed that discussions are ongoing with key stakeholders of the industry on additional incentives other than tax waivers on the importation of such technology.

“Our main aim is to ensure a general buy-in by the sector, and I am sure that there will be greater interest once people see the returns…it is commendable that the Correia Company, which has been mining since 1926, has made this transition and has done so because it makes economic sense, while at the same time protecting the environment,” Minister Persaud noted.

The GGMC has invested in the procurement of two centrifugal gold recovery systems from South Africa, which is another form of mercury-free technology.

The minister explained that globally, it is recognised that there will be restrictions in the trade of mercury, and as a result ac-

cess to the element will become very difficult and even more costly.

As such, the ministry stands ready to work closely with the players of the sector to gradually phase out the use of mercury and the initiative that CMC has taken lends significant impetus in this regard.

Minister Persaud said to date, he has not met a miner who is not interested in transitioning to mercury-free mining practices. He noted that “there is curiosity, there is interest and there is willingness”.

Sustainable

CMC Chief Executive Officer Michael Correia Jr said it was incumbent on all involved in the sector to ensure that mining is done in a sustainable manner. He stated that it was an established fact that mercury is a poison and therefore, the elimination of its use was in the best interest of all involved.

This particular shaking table has the capability of recovering approximately 15 per cent more fine gold at a faster rate, and when powered with solar energy, eliminates a lot of miscellaneous costs compared to operations using mercury.

The CMC is the first company in the local mining industry that has a shaking table that is at an operational stage. The others are now conducting trial runs.

Man arrested for gun, ammunition possession

Aman was on Sunday morning arrested after a 9mm Luger Pistol was found in his possession during a police operation at Mandela Avenue, Georgetown.

Two held for execution-style killing of Charity woman

Region Two Chairman Parmanand Persaud has extended sympathy to the family of Shelly Basir-Lall, who was gunned down execution-style at a bar at Kitty, Georgetown on Sunday.

Persaud, on a visit to the home of the bereaved family on Monday, also conveyed sympathy on behalf of the Region Two administration and the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C).

The regional chairman told the woman’s husband Raymond Lall, also known as “Big Ray”, 33, to continue to keep faith in God and hope for the best.

Two persons are in custody for the shooting which occurred in the wee hours of Sunday morning at the Mambo’s Bar, Barr Street, Kitty, Georgetown.

According to information received, the two suspects were nabbed with guns that matched the bullets used in the shooting.

Self-discharge

Raymond Lall, a businessman and gold miner of Charity, Essequibo Coast, told Guyana Times that he took self-discharge from hospital and is recuperating and feeling much better. The businessman said he is still traumatised by the incident and is trying to come to grips with what happened.

Lall said he is thankful to God and lucky to be alive. However, he said the loss of his wife will be difficult to overcome.

The businessman related that he went to Georgetown to conduct some business and left his wife at a city hotel.

Lall recounted when he returned to the hotel, he found his wife in bed so he went to take a shower and

when he finished, a friend called and invited him to take a few drinks.

The tearful businessman said he was returning to Region Two early Sunday morning and did not want to disappoint his friends. He said his wife did not want to go and he did not force her. However, when he started to dress, she decided to go with him.

Family friend

When asked why Mambo’s Bar was selected for the drink, Lall said that Mambo is a family friend and the owner and his wife usually socialise with his family whenever they are in Georgetown.

He said he arrived at the bar around 23:00h with three more friends and around midnight, a white car pulled up and two masked men came out and started to shoot.

He said his wife got up and was running to safety when she was hit. Lall was

also shot in the foot.

Lall, struggling to hold back tears, said he met his wife nine years ago and during that time, their relationship blossomed, noting that she will always be alive in his heart even though she has moved on to the great beyond.

Shelly’s mother, Shamun Basir, said she last spoke with her daughter on Saturday night, and still could not believe what has happened.

The family is busy preparing for the funeral of the young woman, which is slated for today.

The body of the deceased will be taken to the Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana (CIOG), in Georgetown for viewing from 08:00h to 09:00h and from there it will be transported to Lot 2 Charity, Essequibo Coast for viewing from 12:00h to 14:00h.

It will then be taken to the Sirki Cemetery, Upper Pomeroon for burial.

No CPG member was arrested in Tuschen incident – police

The Guyana Police Force has refuted accusations that policemen arrested members of the Tuschen Community Policing Group on September 19.

The force was responding to an article in one section of the media on September 22 captioned “Police detain six members of Community Policing Group instead of chasing suspected bandits”.

The news article had stated that six members of the Tuschen policing group and two residents, including a licensed firearm holder were detained by the police after the owner of the firearm discharged a few rounds to scare off suspected bandits in the area.

Community Policing Group was arrested and placed in police custody in this matter,” Public Relations Officer, Senior Superintendent of Police Whitney Bacchus said.

In clarifying the issue that occurred on Thursday, September 19, the police spokesperson confirmed that ranks at the Leonora Police Station received reports of gun shots in the Tuschen Housing Scheme.

In responding to the reports, enquiries led them to Khemraj Ramgobin, a licensed firearm holder in the area, who admitted that he discharged several rounds in the air.

His action did not go down well with the policemen who asked him to report to the Leonora Police Station.

offender returned to the station accompanied by several members of the Tuschen Community Policing Group, who made pleas to the police, on behalf of him for the return of his firearm on the basis that he was of great assistance to them in fighting crime in the community.

The police said after further questioning, this time by a senior rank, the fire arm was returned to Gobin. He was however cautioned about the indiscriminate discharge of rounds.

According to information received, about 04:30h on Sunday, police ranks stopped and searched a motorcar on Mandela Avenue, Georgetown, and discovered the gun with 10 matching rounds.

ersack in his possession.

Police in a release stated the man in custody was in the vehicle during the operation when ranks observed that he had a hav -

The ranks requested a search be conducted on the bag and upon doing so, the firearm and ammunition were found.

He was taken into police custody and charges are expected to be laid shortly.

Residents had accused the police of turning up at the scene and behaving unprofessionally towards them as well as the community police members, instead of pursuing the suspected criminals.

“From the onset, the Guyana Police Force wishes to categorically deny that any member of the Tuschen

“At the station, his story as to why he discharged his firearm conflicted with the one he had given earlier to the police, hence, he was requested to lodge his firearm and return the following morning,” he added.

However, on the following day, September 20, the

“The Guyana Police Force recommitted its support for community policing which has become an integral part of the government’s crime fighting strategy, and reiterated that at no time was the Tuschen policing group members placed under arrest.

“The force is also once again voicing its concern over the practice by some media representatives of publishing articles on police matters without seeking confirmation of such report from the police,” the police spokesperson said.

Gold washed through the "Shaking Table" process about to be smelted

Region Two Chairman Parmanand Persaud (left) chatting with the injured Raymond Lall at his home at Charity, Essequibo Coast

SUDOKU

Don’t feel pressured by what everyone else is doing. Take whatever path you feel most comfortable following and can afford. Emotional blackmail must not alter your plans.

By Bernice Bede Osol

(June 21July 22) (Jan. 20Feb. 19) (Dec. 22Jan. 19)

Look for ways to improve your financial situation. What you learn may not help you immediately, but should allow you greater choice regarding your income potential in the long term.

Take a break and engage in activities that will broaden your outlook and bring you in contact with interesting people. What you learn will prove enlightening.

Pursue the changes that will help you get ahead professionally. A career involvement could improve your income, but make sure you can do the work before you commit to do so.

(Aug. 23Sept. 22)

(July 23Aug. 22) (Feb. 20-March 20)

Diverse interests will lead to interesting opportunities. There are financial gains to be made if you partner with someone you feel akin to or who can complement your skills and personality.

(March 21-April 19)

Your unpredictable nature will get you into trouble. Slow down and consider outside influences before you make a costly error that could upset an important relationship.

(April 20-May 20)

Make a promise and keep it, and you will develop a long-lasting relationship with someone who is in sync with you. If you make the right moves, Cupid will be in your corner.

(May 21June 20)

Someone involved will be upset if you make any drastic decisions regarding your immediate surroundings. Communicate openly and honestly before you proceed.

Mingle and engage in playful interactions with people who interest you or have unusual skills. Use emotional situations to promote the changes you want to see take place.

(Sept. 23Oct. 23)

If you participate in functions that involve a lot of people from all walks of life, you will encounter someone interesting. Revisit an old idea.

(Oct. 24Nov. 22)

Emotional deception must not be allowed to creep into your life or influence your decisions. Think outside the box, and you will find the answer you are looking for.

(Nov. 23Dec. 21)

It’s a good day to get away, even if it is only a short distance. Visiting new places will spark your imagination and help you find ways to improve your current living situation.

Peanuts

Calvin and Hobbes

arCHie

dilbert

Dentures provided in 72 hours from as low as $4500. Contact Dr B Stuart, 209B Charlotte St, Lacytown. Tel: 225-5034

Electronics course - hands-on training, starting October 2, Abdul Electronics. Phone: 226-6551, 225-0391.

Learn to play the guitar, keyboard, drums, and train your voice at Foundation 7. Phone: 225-1151 or 617-4200.

Available: Fresh long-stemmed roses, fresh dried and silk floral arrangements, gift items, bridal boutiques and wreaths. Nesha’s Flowerland. 78 Church Street (opposite St George’s Cathedral). Tel: 227-3553/225-3315

3114, 692-0126 One 320CL Excavator located at Mahdia; excellent working condition. Owner migrating, call 6820365 or 614-1669

Gold Land, excellent investment. Priced to sell, call 682-0365, 6141669

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Pure bred American Akita puppies for sale $200,000. Phone: 639-8924, 227-4674

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1 Canon copier (Image Runner 6020) with finisher. Call 647-5150, 694-5738

Cheap earth. Delivery to spot, ECD and EBD. Phone: 627-9977

Clean garden earth & builders waste. Also bobcat rental, excavating, clearing & leveling done. Phone: 6160617, 663-3285.

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Cellphone accessories and spares for all smart phones: Blackberry, Samsung, Nokia, Motorola, HTC, iPhone, Sony Ericsson, LG at Halema’s Fashion 104 Regent Street, next door to the Multiplex Mall. Call 622-7740/696-4008

One music set with three power amps with a total of 5,500 watts, etc. for more information please call, 682-3481. Price negotiable.

Healthworld Holistic Centre: Psychotherapy available for all types of abnormal behaviors – addictions, emotional, suicidal, anger, relationships and sexual problems. Treatment of stress disorders, depression, fear, low self-esteem, insomnia, trauma, psychosomatic sicknesses and children's disorders. We also conduct IQ evaluations and behavioral assessments. By appointment only. Clinic hours: 11:00 - 17:00h. Tel: 592-621-0552. Email:healthworldhc@gmail.com

Ayurvedic herbal treatment for all chronic genetic/none genetic diseases, including HIV, Cancer, diabetic, pregnancy, sexual (weakness), etc. Phone: 685- 3220.

Are you pouring on pounds? Then call Raul /Carol Wilson: 660-6818, 641-5923, 216-3016, 216-3601 for your healthy eating package. Stay healthy and flexible with yoga. Phone: 693-2233

YELLOW PAGES

tuesday, october 1, 2013

Immigration & Visa Services

We handle all Canadian, USA and UK immigration and visa matters. Self sponsorships, holiday/visitor’s visas, work permits, students visas, family, class, immigration forms, embassy enquiries, appeals for refused cases, US green card lottery, business class waivers, pardons, etc. Get your visa approved. High success rate. Balwant Persaud & Associates. Certified Immigration Consultants, 68 Sixth Street, Alberttown, Georgetown (Between Cummings & Lights Sts) Tel: 2251540, 622-8308, 655-3105. Email: balwantpersaud@yahoo.ca

U.S. Green Card Lottery 2013. We are now accepting entries for the Annual Green Card Lottery sponsored by the U.S. Government. Enter now for a chance to become a permanent resident of the USA. Closing date November 2, 2013. Contact Balwant Persaud Immigration and Visa Services 68 Sixth Street, Alberttown, Georgetown (Between Cummings and Light Sts.) Tel: 225-1540, 6553105, 622-8308

Professional Key Shop, 125 Carmichael Street, Georgetown. Phone: 225-3923, mobile: 6213249. We cut any type of key, service and repair all types of locks. Get your extra key today.

L AND FOR SALE

Parfaite Harmonie $1M and $1.2M phone: 675-7292

46 houselots in residential area between Charles & Peter Streets, Parika, EBE. Phone: 6226971/6612289

Gas station land. Size: over one acre Phone Ms Liverpool on 625-7582, 681-9293.

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Retired Engineer aged 66 would like to know a single female over the age of 50. Phone: 604-7022

One business property, Lamaha Street. Phone: 669-3313, 2314586, 695-4382. Properties for sale. Phone: 6422116

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and iPhone. Halema’s Fashion 104 Regent Street, next door to the Multiplex Mall. Call 622-7740/6964008

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Dutch healing and upliftment, for clearing of land, dredging and ground work (strictly interior operation). Phone: 662-1247.

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Financial Services: Taxation, VAT Compliance, Accounting & Consultancy, and Cash Flow

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House plans starting at $9,000 Phone: 674-0725, 266-2154.

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Divinations and cleansing of spiritual problems of all kinds.

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situated on the ECD. Phone: 6699384, available for

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VACANCiES

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One Honda Cappa (Yellow) ideal for taxi or private use. Leather seats and roof, alarm, reverse camera, DVD/TV/CD player, mag rims. Also Motorola Base Radio with Antennae. HC series; immaculate condition; give away price $1M. Call 647-2491.

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1 Bedford truck. Phone: 616:0617, 663-3285.

Regional agri sector to get boost at CWA –

several MoUs to be signed

As the 12th edition of the Caribbean Week of Agriculture (CWA), the region’s premier agricultural event, gets underway in Guyana, the region will sign memorandums of understanding (MoUs) to boost its agriculture sector.

This was revealed by Agriculture Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy during a press conference on Monday about the regional celebration of agriculture (October 4-12), in his ministry’s boardroom.

Among the MoUs is an agreement with the InterAmerican Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (ICCA) and the European Union (EU), which will see Guyana and other countries benefiting from an 11-million euro grant.

The grant will fund a capacity strengthening programme in the Caribbean region on sanitary and phytosanitary standards to create a harmonised regulation regime.

Guyana's programme

Each country included in the project will develop its own tailored sub-programme. The minister said Guyanese can rest assured that Guyana’s programme will focus on human resources and technical capacity building.

The CWA formally opens on Wednesday, October 9 at the Guyana International Conference Centre, Liliendaal, with the various agriculture ministers in attendance.

The week brings together stakeholders for activities to promote agriculture and agri-industry via policy dialoguing, learning sessions, field visits, workshops, and an exhibition and trade show showcasing the fruits of the sector.

This year, the region’s ministers will visit the thriving Santa Fe mega farm, which is situated on what

was wasteland in Region Nine. Another major event is the agriculture exhibition, which starts on Wednesday and ends on Friday. The general public is invited, free of charge, to the exhibition, which will see 40 groups participating from around the Caribbean and the world. The workshops slated to be held include examining the coconut industry, sanitary and phytosanitary standards, and pest control in a changing climate.

Agricultural enterprise Dr Ramsammy said the focus of the week was pushing the Caribbean to use agricultural enterprises for development. “We are using this week to propel us forward and reject the notion that agriculture is just for subsistence livelihood. We are promoting agriculture for the generation of wealth and entrepreneurial investment,” he said.

Citing the corn industry, he stated that Caribbean countries already produce enough corn, so they do not need to import the staple, yet they do.

Some countries will be highlighting that the Caribbean can produce as much corn as is needed for the stock-feeding industry, during the agriculture week, as “it’s no secret that the Caribbean is self sufficient” . The theme for CWA is “Linking the Caribbean for Regional Food and Nutrition Security and Rural Development”. About 300 overseas persons are expected to attend the weeklong event, which is being hosted by the government, through the Agriculture Ministry, in association with the Alliance for Sustainable Development of Agriculture and the Rural Milieu.

This is the second year Guyana will be hosting the event. The first time was in 2003.

SPiRituALity

VEHiCLES FOR SALE

OPtiCiAN

KEy CuttiNg

Agriculture Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy

Brathwaite building blocks back to top

SHIMAGO, India –Kraigg Brathwaite

topscored in the magnificent victory by the West Indies A team in the first unofficial ‘Test’ match against India A and now the opener is looking to push on in the upcoming second four-day firstclass match.

The slim right-hander played two vital knocks as the West Indies outplayed the home side at the Gangothri Glades Cricket Grounds in Mysore.

He made 92 – the highest score of the match – in the first innings of 429. He added 172 for the second wicket with skipper Kirk Edwards (91). In his second knock Brathwaite made 34 – and added an opening stand of 112 with left-hander Kieran Powell (68).

"Totally satisfied"

“I felt I played well. I felt I contributed to the team’s win. We played well as a team and in the end we were totally satisfied with the outcome of the match,” Brathwaite said.

“It wasn’t easy at first because the pitch wasn’t coming on. You had to work really hard to get in and then things became a lot easier... but you always had to keep playing straight because the pitch tended to keep a little low at times.”

Kraigg Brathwaite

After the win in Mysore the Windies drove to Shimago and have started preparations for the second encounter at the Jawaharlal Nehru National College of Engineering Ground.

Brathwaite said the he was pleased with the work in the nets on Monday.

“It’s a good facility. There was some grass on the pitch where we had our nets,” said Brathwaite. “It was overcast and the ball was doing a bit, and that was the kind of preparation that can help going into such a major match. It helps to keep your eyes opened and focussed on what is to come in the match.”

Overall, Brathwaite said his aim is to use the ongoing series as a chance to impress the selection panel and work

his way back into the West Indies senior team.

“I had the benefit of playing Test cricket here back in 2011 so when I came I knew what to expect...I knew the type of surfaces are normally really good to bat on first days. The key is to play straight and not let the spinners bog you down....be positive,” said the 20-year-old, who has nine Tests behind his name.

“I believe this tour is a good opportunity to get some major scores and look to get back to the top. We always anticipated this series would be a very competitive one and once I get some big scores it will help me get back... I’m mainly concentrating on scoring runs and everything will take care of itself.” (WICB Media)

SA players want CSA, BCCI to sort fixtures soon

South Africa’s players would like to see an “urgent engagement” between their board, CSA, and its Indian counterpart, the BCCI, to resolve fixtures over this summer’s India series.

The national team is due to leave for the UAE this Friday but their home tour against India has no confirmed itinerary after the BCCI objected to CSA’s schedule of three Tests, seven ODIs and two Twenty20s.

Tony Irish, the South African Cricketer’s Association (SACA) chief executive, told ESPNcricinfo that the BCCI’s leadership structure has been formalised following yesterday’s AGM and the players are hopeful the series can be discussed as a matter of importance.

Bilateral arrangements

ICC chief executive Dave Richardson also spoke on the issue for the first time when he said they could not intervene in bilateral arrangements.

“This is the main tour of the summer and has a massive financial implication on cricket. We are about six weeks away from it and to have it all up in the air is really worrying and frustrating,” Irish said. “The players want to see it sorted out. Until yesterday, CSA did not know who they were dealing with

at the BCCI because they had not had their election but now that that is sorted it, they need to do whatever it takes to get the discussion going.”

CSA has confirmed it is awaiting the dates of a meeting with the BCCI, although it was earlier mooted that the presidents of the boards would meet at the ICC board meeting on October 16 and 17.

Irish, in the meanwhile, met with all the players as part of his usual pre-season get together and said the issue of the India tour came up among many of them. “The players are stakeholders in the game and will be affected by whatever happens,” he said, explaining the impact is two-fold. “It’s not just a financial thing, it’s also about the opportunity to play in a highprofile Test series and substantial limited-overs competitions.”

The South Africa Test team, ranked No. 1 in the world, has not played a match since February. They were due a bumper summer including two Tests against Pakistan and three each against India and Australia in a bid to extend their lead at the top of the rankings.

“This is the best Test team we have ever had and it’s a very settled unit. They need to be playing in order to keep that momentum,” Irish said.

Yuvraj back in limitedovers squad

Yuvraj Singh has made a comeback to India’s limited-overs squad for the Twenty20 and first three ODIs of the home series against Australia.

There were four changes made to India’s last firstchoice ODI squad, the one that won the Champions Trophy in England. Yuvraj replaced opener M Vijay, Dinesh Karthik lost out to his Mumbai Indians teammate Ambati Rayudu, the injured Irfan Pathan made way for Mohammed Shami, and Jaydev Unadkat’s left-arm seam was preferred to Umesh Yadav’s erratic-at-times pace.

Yuvraj’s last ODI was against England in Dharamsala in January 2013. He was dropped from the squad for the Champions Trophy and did not feature in the Zimbabwe series either, when India had rested several first-choice players.

Fitness programme

However, following a fitness programme in France, he has shown a return to top form in List A cricket. He was the leading run-getter for India A in the limitedovers series against the touring West Indies A, with 224 runs from three matches, including one hundred and a fifty at an average of 74.66. He also scored a half-century for India Blue in the Challenger Trophy, a domestic 50-overs tournament.

has lost out to Rayudu, who scored 101 runs off 163 balls at an average of 50.5 against Zimbabwe.

Two other changes from the Champions Trophy squad mostly explain themselves. Vijay struggled in West Indies, and Irfan is injured. Yadav, though, remains a curious case. He cannot have been considered unfit because he played the Challenger Trophy last week. He cannot have been rested because he is just coming out of a break.

ered around the same mark. His career economy rate also stands at over six, and an average of 41.58 doesn’t do him any favours.

While seven ODIs were considered overkill, the financial gains would have benefitted South Africa’s smaller grounds. Should the tour be curtailed, which seems a certainty in light of India’s other series against West Indies and New Zealand, South African cricket could lose up to R200 million (US$20 million).

Concerns

Irish and the players are not the only people who want to see the issue sorted out.

South Africa’s provincial affiliates are anxious to know who will host matches and even Richardson expressed concern.

“The ICC does not like the fact that two of its strongest members are in dispute. Historically, South Africa and India have been the strongest of allies. The game needs both,” he told South Africa’s Sunday Times.

But Richardson explained why the ICC cannot intervene in bilateral arrangements. “Constitutionally we are a members’ organisation. The ICC only has as much authority over the members as the members are prepared to give it. The ICC currently does not have the authority to determine the FTP. The FTP schedule was determined by agreement between the full members.” (Cricinfo)

A fit Yuvraj is seen as a bigger asset than Karthik. Karthik had a decent run in England and in Zimbabwe, but he failed to reach 50 in the tri-series in the West Indies. In effect, Karthik

The selectors have either begun to look at him as a Test-only prospect or it was his performance in the Champions Trophy that has got him the axe: four wickets and an economy rate of 5.55 in a mostly low-scoring tournament. His economy rate in the West Indies tri-series hov-

The seam-bowling replacements, Shami and Unadkat, played all the five ODIs in Zimbabwe, and have been retained. Mohit, who played two of them and was Man of the Match in the first of them, was expected to replace Vinay Kumar, but the Karnataka quick has retained his place. Vinay went at 6.03 in the recently concluded Challenger Trophy, although he did pick up eight wickets in three matches.

Batsmen Karthik, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, seamer Mohit and spinner Parvez Rasool missed out from the team that played Zimbabwe. (Cricinfo)

Azarenka beaten at China

Open by Andrea Petkovic

Victoria Azarenka’s defence of her China Open title lasted just one match as she was surprisingly beaten by German world number 43 Andrea Petkovic.

The Belarusian world number two, 24, was beaten 6-4 2-6 6-4 in a match lasting two hours 22 minutes.

Azarenka served 15 double faults and made 44 unforced errors, while Petkovic took a medical time-out in the second set after appearing to feel dizzy.

It follows Azarenka’s second-round loss to Venus Williams in Tokyo last week.

After taking the opening set, 26-year-old Petkovic looked in discomfort during the second and lost seven straight games as the second seed forced the decider.

The players traded breaks in reaching 4-4 in the third set but Azarenka’s 15th double fault on break point left her opponent to serve out the match.

“It was an awful match and very bad performance from me, so not much to say,”

Victoria Azarenka

said Azarenka, who was beaten by Serena Williams in the US Open final earlier this month.

“It happens once, twice a year to every player, and happened to me today (Monday).

“If I’m going to be doing it again, I probably should have taken a longer break (between tournaments) and just prepared myself. I don’t feel like I was ready to play.

“It’s just my mistake for not paying much attention after the US Open how I managed my time and how I

managed my health.”

Petkovic said: “I’m very happy with my performance. I was happy with my movement and my serve for the most part, and I managed to get a lot of balls back very deep and very strong.

“Parts of the match were a really, really good levelsome parts I lost a bit of energy, but overall I’m very happy.”

Meanwhile, fifth seed Sara Errani of Italy reached round three with a 6-3 6-2 win over Misaki Doi of Japan.

Eighth seed Jelena Jankovic beat Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 1-6 6-4 6-0 to progress to the second round along with fellow Serb Ana Ivanovic, the 14th seed beating Flavia Pennetta of Italy 7-6 (9-7) 6-1.

Williams and Britain’s Laura Robson play their second-round matches today, when Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic begin a week that will see them vying for the world number one spot. (BBC Sport)

Yuvraj Singh

tuesday, october 1, 2013

Everton too good for Newcastle

Everton’s unbeaten start to the Premier League season continued as they moved up to fourth with an excellent display against Newcastle on Monday.

Loic Remy’s late strike ensured a nervy finish for Everton, who deserved the win after taking a 3-0 firsthalf lead.

Romelu Lukaku opened the scoring at the near post and prodded in the third, either side of feeding in midfielder Ross Barkley for his well-taken goal.

Yohan Cabaye’s superb shot made it 3-1 before striker Remy poked in.

French striker Remy then almost levelled for the Magpies with a stoppagetime strike that flew just a foot above the Everton bar.

Had he scored and rescued a point for Newcastle, it would have been a bitter and unjust blow for Everton, who were outstanding, especially during the first 45 minutes.

Roberto Martinez’s side were sharp, showed great movement and closed down the opposition superbly.

Everton, who travel to Manchester City on Saturday, remain unbeaten in the Premier League under Martinez, who succeeded

David Moyes in the summer.

Their first goal came after five minutes when Belgium international Kevin Mirallas left Newcastle fullback Davide Santon in the blocks and sped down the right flank before delivering a low ball for his compatriot Lukaku. The 20-year-old,

on loan from Chelsea, produced enough power with his strike at the near post to beat Tim Krul.

Everton came close to doubling the lead straight from the restart, when Barkley’s snap-shot whistled past the left-hand upright.

T&T stay in contention with D/L victory

Trinidad & Tobago remained in the hunt for the second semi-finals berth in Group B, after rain halted a Titans surge as the match approached its crescendo on Monday.

Titans needed 36 to win from three overs, with an imperious AB de Villiers at the crease and Sunil Narine already bowled out, but Titans had lost six wickets en route to 153, and that meant they were six runs adrift of the Duckworth-Lewis par score after 17 overs.

T&T’s victory was founded on a scintillating 109-run stand for the second wicket between Evin Lewis and Darren Bravo, which came in 64 balls. They hit 188 for 6 despite an indifferent finish to the innings, and thanks largely to Narine and Lendl Simmons, who took 4 wick-

ets for 41 in seven wickets between them, that total proved sufficient. Their victory means that three teams, including Titans, remain capable of progressing to the semi-finals alongside Chennai Super Kings.

Lewis struck 70 off 35 deliveries, prospering most conspicuously on the off side, where he hit each of his five sixes and five of his seven fours. Bravo was his more conservative foil and contributed only 38 from the other end, but he ditched the innings-anchor role as the death overs approached and finished with 63 off 44, having hit four sixes and five fours.

Morne Morkel’s firstup maiden proved to be a red herring, as Lewis’ ferocious progress during the Powerplay belied both cap-

tains’ reluctance to bat first. Lewis got his big offside strokes humming in Morkel’s second over, lofting the third ball over cover, before depositing two consecutive deliveries well into the stands.

Bravo found the middle of his own bat in the next over, flaying an errant Marchant de Lange for three fours through the offside, and in three overs the pair had lifted T&T’s run rate from two per over to almost 10. The team would maintain that breathless pace until both men were out.

As T&T’s strokemaking grew bolder, the Titans’ attack became equally meek.

Left-armer Rowan Richards sprayed it around the crease to travel at 13 runs per over, and Henry Davids’ erratic offbreaks fared little better, as he went at more than 10. Roelof van der Merwe brought Titans’ some respite from the onslaught, conceding only four runs from his first two overs - in which he

ironically dismissed Lewis with his only poor ball - but Bravo adopted Lewis’ hyperaggression after his partner’s demise and sent van der Merwe thrice into the stands in his next over.

T&T should perhaps have made more of the foundation Bravo and Lewis had provided them. Two-hundred seemed likely to be eclipsed at 145 for 2, but Bravo’s dismissal brought two more in quick time, and the Titans quicks found the consistency that had eluded them for much of the innings.

Henry Davids set Titans off apace in response, as he hit two sixes and six fours in a 24-ball 42, but a stutter in the middle overs, in which Titans lost four wickets for 23, surrendered much of that momentum. De Villiers hit 23 from 13 to resurrect the chase alongside Farhaan Behardien, but the Ahmedabad crowd were denied a thrilling finish by a shower that quickly worsened to a torrent. (Cricinfo)

SCOREBOARD

Trinidad & Tobago innings

L Simmons b de Lange 0

E Lewis c Richards b van der Merwe 70

DM Bravo b de Lange 63

N Pooran c van der Merwe

b Davids 11

N Stewart c †Mosehle b de Lange 23

D Ramdin*† c †Mosehle b Morkel 6

S Narine not out 8

J Mohammed not out 1

Extras: (lb 1, w 5) 6

Total: (6 wkts, 20 overs) 188

Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-113, 3-145, 4-164, 5-171, 6-179

Bowling: M Morkel 4-1-291, M de Lange 4-0-38-3, R Richards 2-0-26-0, D Wiese 3-0-26-0, H Davids 3-0-311, F Behardien 1-0-12-0, R van der Merwe 3-0-25-1

Titans innings H Davids* b Emrit 42

J Rudolph c Emrit b Simmons 31 H Kuhn c Lewis b Badree 7 R van der Merwe c Bravo b Simmons 4 AB de Villiers not out 23 F Behardien c Lewis b Narine 29 D Wiese c Badree b Narine 0 M Mosehle† not out 11

Extras: (lb 2, w 3, nb 1) 6

Total: (6 wkts, 17 overs) 153 Fall of wickets: 1-65, 2-79, 3-88, 4-88,

The England international was on loan at Sheffield Wednesday last season, but has been given a key role in midfield this season by new manager Martinez.

His close control is brilliant for a 19-year-old and he made the Newcastle midfield pair of Moussa Sissoko and Cheick Tiote look like sluggish veterans.

The Everton youngster scored his side’s second with a well-placed finish from 15 yards after Lukaku showed both his physical superiority and craft in one move to turn his marker and set up the chance.

The first two goals both came as a result of poor defending, which was even worse for the third goal.

This time, goalkeeper Tim Howard’s long kick downfield was misjudged by Fabricio Coloccini to allow in Lukaku, who got the faintest of touches to push it past Krul and walk the ball into the empty net.

Newcastle manager Alan Pardew made two changes at the break, replacing Hatem Ben Arfa with fellow midfielder Cabaye and centreback Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa with Mike Williamson.

One of the changes had an immediate effect for the Magpies. Moments after the restart Yoan Gouffran saw his dinked effort come off the post before Cabaye, who did not start because of a groin problem, smashed a fantastic 25-yard shot into the top corner of Howard’s goal.

Newcastle’s purple patch lasted 15 minutes and the Magpies had another spell of pressure very late in the game. Remy, who was one of Newcastle’s better players on the night, beat Everton captain Phil Jagielka to Mathieu Debuchy’s header into the six-yard area and poked the ball beyond Howard.

The France striker, on loan from QPR, then saw his powerful drive fly a ball’s width over the bar. (BBC Sport)

Sunrisers eliminated after washout

The match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Brisbane Heat was abandoned without a ball being bowled in Ahmedabad on Monday.

This puts Sunrisers out of the Champions League after they finished with six points from four matches, winning once and losing twice. This was the third washout in Motera, after the double-header on September 23 took the same route due to rain.

Heat were already knocked out having lost their first three matches. This leaves the Titans and Trinidad & Tobago battling for the second position in Group B behind Chennai Super Kings who have al-

ready qualified. All T&T need to do is not lose by a great margin against Super Kings in their final group match. The match scheduled for a 20:30h start could not go through after heavy rain began during the first match between T&T and Titans. That match ended with three overs to spare, the Caribbean side winning by six runs by the Duckworth/ Lewis method. The two matches were retained in Ahmedabad, after an earlier game was moved out of the city due to week-long rains. Though there was 60 percent chance of rain on Monday, the first game was uninterrupted until rain struck 17 overs into Titans’ chase. (Cricinfo)

Evin Lewis hits over the top (BCCI)

Romelu Lukaku opened the scoring for Everton

The rain began during the T&T-Lions match (BCCI)

Griffith elected president of Little Diva Flames FC

Recently commissioned female football club, Little Diva Flames held elections of Saturday and and members elected Lawrence Griffith as President of the entity.

Dr George Norton was elected Vice President while the position of Secretary was filled by Charmain Wade; the Treasurer’s position remains vacant but the Assistant Secretary/ Treasurer is Carlica Pollydore; the Committee members are Monica Ferreira and Sibby Sancho.

According to a release from the club, the position of treasurer will be filled when a suitable candidate is found. On the other hand, Joseph “Bill” Wilson and Sheron “Sherry” Abrams were the coaches identified to works with the footballers. At Saturday’s AGM, the objectives of the club were outlined as per the Constitution: i) To promote, foster and develop in all aspects of the game of Association Football among females in Guyana; ii) To assist the mental, moral and

Lawrence Griffith

physical development of females through age group and all forms of competition; iii) To encourage proper attitudes to the game and to promote the highest traditions of sportsmanship consistent with the Olympic ideal; iv) To provide quality coaching, education and welfare within all age groups and ability levels; v) To ensure that all players reach their potential within football and achieve their goals when possible; vi) To

provide coaches with all the support they need and work closely with the coaches to help them develop personally and within a coaching capacity; vii) To develop female players to a standard consistent to the highest levels of female football; viii) To provide all players with a safe environment allowing them to learn and be confident; ix) To set achievable goals for players and coaching staff monitoring progress and improvement in each session.

Meanwhile, the club will commence training on October 12 from 09:00h at a ground to be named shortly, although the Ministry of Education ground is being considered, according to the release. For the initial phases the club will train every Saturday, and probably, Thursday.

The club has already received 10 footballs from Sports Plus Sports Store. Another sponsor has pledged to donate football shoes to the team and another sponsor will be supplying training gear, according to a statement from the club.

Miller’s attitude brings success

ShiMAGO, india – After his nine-wicket heroics in the opening four-day unofficial ‘Test’ match, Nikita Miller, believes he can repeat the performance when the West indies A team face india A in the second match.

The experienced left-arm spinner had match figures of 9-101 off 71.4 overs to bowl the Windies to victory in Mysore. in an inspired spell with the new ball in the second innings, he picked up 5-40 off 36.4 overs to follow up his 4-61 off 35 overs.

Miller said he was happy with his effort in the match, as well as his resolute 49 with the bat in the West Indies first innings. However, he has kept his feet on the ground and plans to “go back to hard work” when the second match bowls off on Wednesday.

“i’m always on a mission. i’m always looking to make the most of every opportunity and perform well. Things worked out really well for me in the first match so I’m pleased with my effort and my success for the team,” Miller said.

“it was a pitch where you wanted to bat first. We did that and posted a score of over 400 (429) which was a great batting effort. The plan was to get them out as cheaply as possible in first innings after we played so well.

“The coach [Junior Bennett] always says ‘you set up the game in the first innings’ and that exactly when we looked to do.”

Miller’s first-class record is quite impressive – 285 wickets at the phenomenal average of 15.50 runs per wicket in 57 matches. he has taken 17 five-wicket hauls and five hauls of 10-or-more in a match.

Dominance

After his dominance in the first innings, Miller was asked to use the new ball by skipper Kirk Edwards, when West indies A set India 314 to win on the final day. It proved a brilliant move and Miller responded.

“I didn’t expect it. In the morning the captain asked me how i felt about the new ball. i said ‘anything you want me to do i will do’. My idea was to keep it tight from one end and let the other bowlers attack from the other end,” he explained.

“When i was batting i was watching the game really closely and got a good feel of how

Nikita Miller

the pitch was playing. i found when the spinners bowled, it was easier to score when they bowled slowly. i took note of that and realised I had to bowl a bit quicker than normal.

“When you quickened up the pace, the ball came on and created problems. Some balls were standing up and some were keeping low. [The pitch] offered something for the spinners and I decided to exploit it.

“We came away with a superb victory and that’s what we wanted.”

The second ‘Test’ will be played at the Jawaharlal Nehru National College of Engineering Ground. First ball is 00:00h Wednesday Eastern Caribbean Time/23:00h Tuesday Jamaica Time. (WICB Media)

Falcons upset Kings in basketball tourney

The Bankers Trust Falcons stunned number one seed Kashif and Shanghai Kings 47-42 on Saturday when the Trophy Stall Open Basketball Championships continued at the Mackenzie hard court in Linden.

The eighth ranked Falcons, returning to competition after an absence of 10 years, dominated the post and held the Kings with tough defence to pull off the win in the final period to walk away with the victory.

With the Kings up 38-33 heading into the final period, the defence in the paint by the Falcons made it hard for penetrations into the lane.

This resulted in a number of defensive rebounds that were transferred into fast-break points, allowing the Falcons to climb into the game and close it out for the win.

Power forward, Lawrence ‘Bolo’ DaCosta controlled the paint for the Falcons, dropping a game-high 17 points while guard Leonard Caleb supported with 12 points.

Budding forward Akeel Primo dropped a teamhigh 14 points in the loss while Orin Rose and Omally Sampson contributed eight points each.

Meanwhile, in the other game of the evening Amelia’s Ward Jets blew out Block 22 Flames 67-48 to get the win.

The Jets used a second quarter 24 to 2 run to go ahead of the Flames for good. Jets played superb perimeter defence, forcing steals that resulted in a track meet up the court.

Shane Webster top scored for the Jets with 11 points while Dennis Niles had nine for the winners.

Flames’ Kerwin Williams top scored with a game-high 14 points while Aubrey Johnson had 10 points in the loss. The competition continues on Wednesday with a double-header in the Linden Amateur Basketball Association (LABA)organised tournament at the Mackenzie facility.

Blatter hopes Trinidad striker recovers from heart attack

BuDAPEST, hungary

- FiFA President Sepp Blatter has joined the growing list of well wishers hoping Trinidad and Tobago National defender Akeem Adams makes a full recovery after suffering a massive heart attack in hungary Wednesday night.

FiFA Social Media manager Alex Stone has indicated that Blatter was aware of Adam’s situation and has sent his regards to his family and the Trinidad and Tobago Football fraternity.

“Sending my best wishes for a full recovery to #akeemadams, a 22 year old player of Ferencváros & @ TTFootballAssociation” the post stated in Blatter’s official Twitter account.

Adams, 22, continues to be warded at the ICU of the Varosmajori Heart Clinic in hungary after undergoing three surgeries and is now surviving on a mechanical heart due to the severe damage to his heart.

Large

Reports suggest that Adams will require a heart transplant . Meantime Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) is reporting some positive signs from the footballer.

A media release from the (TTFA) said there was some movement from Adams who plays for Ferencvaros club.

“There was one significant occurrence, as the 22-year-old player was said to have nodded in acknowl-

edgement of his mother’s presence and held her hand for a brief moment on Sunday (yesterday) morning,” the release read.

“he nodded and held on to her hand when she asked ‘Akeem do you know i am here’, and we continue to pray for his recovery,” Adams’s local handler, Dion Sosa, also told TTFA Media. Adams, who signed a one-year contract with Ferencváros in July with the option of an additional year.

contingent of international cyclists for Tobago classic

SCA r BO r OUGH , Tobago - Over 110 international and regional cyclists from 25 countries are down to participate in the Tobago international Cycling Classic (TICC) which involves six days of racing from today. The Cycling classic is expected to reach fever pitch with the main event the

World ranked UCI tour of Tobago in which cyclists will confront scenic but unforgiving hilly terrain.

Organisers have also introduced a series of Mountain Bike races through the scenic trails of Tobago’s rain forest in an effort to broaden the appeal of the TICC.

Twenty teams have

been confirmed for Division One including riders from Denmark, united Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, united States, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Jamaica, St Lucia, Barbados and St Vincent and the Grenadines. international viewers in over 200 cities around the world are expected to watch the event on ESPN.

Shane Webster Lawrence DaCosta Kerwin Williams

Akeem Adams

No secrecy over non-disclosure of DCB executives' identity – Raj Singh

By Rajiv Bisnauth

The decision not to release the names of the Demerara Cricket Board (DCB) is not a clandestine move to keep the public in the dark, but rather it is linked to several pending court cases, according to the board’s head Raj Singh.

This disclosure was made on Monday by Raj Singh, after he was questioned by this publication on the matter.

The Raj Singh-led board has faced severe criticism about the non-disclosure of its elected officials.

Meanwhile, a source told this publication on Monday that the Raj Singh faction may not want to release the names and positions of the DCB office bearers, as they "may have flouted the order of the high court”.

According to the source, if those names are released, the persons acting on behalf of the DCB may find themselves in contempt of court.

The Raj Singh faction of

Raj Singh

the DCB held elections on January 25 this year, but not everyone has given credence to the result, due to an apparent power struggle that has clouded Demerra cricket for about three years running.

Eventually, a High Court ruling prohibited both factions from acting on behalf of the entity after

they had held separate elections back in January 2010.

The Bissoondyal Singh faction has so far abided by that ruling. However, in January this year, the Raj Singh faction proceeded with elections, despite another injunction that was served hours prior to the elections.

Observers have maintained that the elections were held so as to ensure that there was some amount of validity to Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) elections that were held two days after, and that there would have been a quorum to facilitate the local governing body’s elections.

The East Coast Cricket Board (ECCB) and Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA) were not part of the DCB elections and have since pulled out of any commitments to the current DCB setup that draws its support from the East and West Bank Demerara sub-associations.

The injunction was

granted to plaintiffs Roger Harper and Davteerth Anandjit and the defendants named in the court document were Rajendra Singh, Lalta Digamber, Anand Sanasie, Alfred Mentore, Anand Kalladeen, Ravindranauth Persaud, Ronald Sarjoo, Nazimul Drepaul, Colin Europe, Ray Persaud, Krishnchand Mangal, Chetram Singh, Lionel Jaikaran, Ramsey Ali, Fizul Bacchus, Drubahadur, Troy Mendonca, Terrence Holder and Rayon Griffith.

The interim injunction had restrained the defendants “by themselves, their servants and or agents acting collectively or individually…from convening or causing to be convened or holding an Annual General Meeting of the Demerara Cricket Board on January 25, 2013 or any other date for the purpose of the election of office bearers to the Executive Committee of the Demerara Cricket Board for the period 2013 to 2015 term of office.”

GYO win GCA/Banks Malta Supreme U-13 title

Gandhi Youth Organisation (GYO) were crowned the Georgetown Cricket Association/Banks Malta Supreme Under-13 champions after they defeated Transport Sports Club (TSC) by 45 runs in the final on Saturday at GYO ground.

GYO posted 320 for 5 off their allocated 25 overs and then reduced TSC to 270.

Pradesh Balkishun topscored with 21 while Anil Singh, 15, Chandra Mohan, 11, and Robin Williams, 10, supported well. Toney Singh, Joel Spooner, Randy Persaud and Ronald

Jaisingh picked up one wicket each.

TSC made 285-6 in 25 overs, but finished on 225 after the deduction for dismissals were made (10 runs for each wicket lost).

Adrian Hinds led with 21 and Mark Baptiste scored nine. The pair added 39 for the last wicket. Mahendra Dindyal and Danesh Alli backed up Balkishun with one wicket each.

Both teams received trophies while members of both teams were given medals. Balkishun collected the prizes for the best batsman, bowler and most valuable

player in the final; Hinds received the best fielder award.

Elnathan Suknanand took the trophy for the best bowling performance in the competition (6-6), Hinds collected the prize for the best batsman in the tournament, Sachin Premchand of Everest grabbed the award for picking up the most wickets while the most outstanding all-rounder’s accolade went to Nicholas Sattaur (61 runs and eight wickets).

Speaking at the presentation ceremony, president of the GCA Roger Harper thanked Banks DIH for

North Georgetown begin trials today

With the Schools’ National Championships around the corner, defending champions District 11/ North Georgetown are wasting no time to get their team together.

The district’s swimmers get into action with trials today at the Colgrain Swimming Pool from 10:00h.

Cycling will also pedal off today in the National Park from 10:30h; the cycling team will be looking to improve their effort to retain the title.

Field events will jump off at the Guyana Teacher’s

Union (GTU) ground on Wednesday and Thursday where some of the best junior jumpers and throwers in the city will look to solidify their spot on the team; track events will run off from October 7-11.

District 11/North Georgetown have won the most championships and have also won four of the last six. Their main rivals have been District 10/Upper Demerara and Kwakwani for back-to-back championships. The 53rd edition of the championships begin in November.

Court defers decision on Srinivasan’s position until October 7

India’s Supreme Court has deferred until October 7 its decision on a petition against BCCI president N Srinivasan that sought to restrain him from taking charge of BCCI.

In arguments on Monday, the BCCI contended that Srinivasan should be allowed to discharge all duties except for IPL affairs, to which Cricket Association of Bihar (CAB) counsel Harish Salve objected. The IPL, he argued, cannot be differentiated from the BCCI.

The court then asked both parties to come up with a common solution to conduct the investigation into the IPL teams and owners’ alleged involvement into the IPL corruption scandal.

“We will welcome an independent probe commission appointed by the Supreme Court but if the BCCI tries to distance itself from the IPL, then it will be difficult to form consensus about the structure of the commission,” the petitioner Aditya Verma, the CAB secretary, said.

Probe committee

their support and congratulated GYO for winning. He added that they played well throughout the tournament as did TSC.

Communications Manager of Banks DIH Ltd Troy Peters said that the company was pleased to be associated with cricket at that level. He stated that the establishment was happy with the commitment shown by the youngsters and hopes that they can grow from strength to strength.

He urged the coaches to continue working with the players and wishes them well in the future.

PTI reported that the BCCI’s counsel suggested that the probe committee to investigate the IPL corruption scandal could be headed either by the former BCCI vice-president Arun Jaitley or by lawyer Vinay Dutta. Salve didn’t agree with the suggestion, but said he would consider it.

“Let us apply our mind as to how the probe has to be done because there has been a rot and we have to see whether the rot is limited to IPL or how long the rot runs deep and has any bearing on BCCI,” Salve said. The court also asked Srinivasan not to be in a “hurry” and allow the CAB to mull over his suggestion for the constitution of the panel.

N Srinivasan

Last week, the CAB filed a plea asking the Supreme Court to restrain Srinivasan from contesting the BCCI elections. On September 27, a court ruling permitted Srinivasan to attend the board’s annual general meeting and contest for the president’s post, which he won unopposed on Sunday.

However, the ruling said that if elected, Srinivasan could not take charge of the board pending the Court announced its verdict on a special leave petition filed by Cricket Association Biharagainst an earlier order of the Bombay High Court - related to the constitution of BCCI’s independent IPL probe committee.

The matter dates back to a plea that the Cricket Association of Bihar filed in June, raising charges of conflict of interest in the formation of the two-member inquiry panel set up to inquire allegations of corruption in the IPL.

A Bombay High Court ruling later termed the probe panel “illegal”. The BCCI and the CAB filed petitions in the Supreme Court against this order, with the CAB contending that the Bombay High Court could have suggested a fresh mechanism to look into the corruption allegations. (Cricinfo)

Members of the victorious GYO team display their prizes along with representatives of the sponsor and GCA

Ageday remains unbeaten in Mackeson Fight Night c/ships

The inaugural Mackeson Fight Night continued on Saturday night at the National Cultural Centre tarmac with Marvin Ageday scoring a controversial split decision win over William Hendricks.

Ageday won two of the three rounds even though Hendricks knocked him down in the final round to come away with the win in the middleweight division, increasing his record to two wins following his win against Kevin Rodney in Linden two weeks ago.

A win on Sunday night can see him topping the division as the open-air event wraps up in Berbice this weekend. Rodney left the division wide open after he defeated Trevon King, who had beaten Hendricks by a unanimous decision.

The feature bout between Ageday and Hendricks sparked heated discussions among fight fans. Hendricks did more work in the two last rounds even though he was tattooed with some

clean combinations from Ageday. Seemingly an even con-

test after two rounds, Hendricks went on the offensive to gain the advan-

tage. Then a hard shot connected from Hendricks that put Ageday on the canvas.

In the middleweight division after two cards, Ageday remains unbeaten while King and Rodney have a win and a loss each. Hendricks is yet to record a win ahead of one remaining card in the Ancient County. Ron Smith defeated Clifton Graham in the welterweight division while Bert Braithwaite kept his unbeaten record intact with a unanimous decision against Aquincy Harvey in the junior welterweight division. He is on a collision course with Kurt Kendall, who lost a unanimous decision to Kelon King. In the lightweight division, Stephan Gouveia knocked out Kevin TingA-Kee. Gouveia is unbeaten in the category while Clairmont Gibson, who outlasted Ting-A-Kee last week, lost a split decision to Anandram Dharamraj. Gouveia beat Dharamraj last week.

Marvin Ageday in blue trunks connects with an uppercut against William Hendricks

William Hendricks connects to the mid-section of Marvin Ageday