Guyana Times - Saturday, November 26, 2022

BRIDGE OPENINGS

The Demerara Harbour Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on:

Saturday, Nov 26 – 04:15 – 05:45h and Sunday, Nov 27 – No closure.

Culture change needed on health and safety – Edghill to local businesses

Saturday, Nov 26 – 05:50h – 07:20h and Sunday, Nov 27 – 06:35h – 08:05h.

FERRY SCHEDULE

The Berbice Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on: Parika and Supenaam departure times – 05:00h, 10:00h-12:00h, 16:00h, 18:30h daily.

WEATHER TODAY

There will be light cloud and light rain showers during the day. Expect thundery showers and light rain showers at night. Temperatures should range between 22 degrees Celsius and 30 degrees Celsius.

Winds: South-Westerly to Westerly between 1.34 metres and 3.57 metres.

High Tide: 06:06h reaching a maximum height of 2.76 metres.

Low Tide: 11:39h reaching a minimum height of 0.65 metre.

With Guyana em barking on a mod ern economy and many businesses expanding, Public Works Minister Juan Edghill has emphasised the need for operators in differ ent sectors to adopt a new culture of having health and safety as a core part of their operations.

He was at the time deliv ering the feature address at the Centre for Local Business Development (CLBD) award ceremony for 30 companies that completed a six-month Health, Safety, Security and Environment (HSSE) Management System pro gramme. These participants, mostly small operators, pri marily service the oil and gas sector, which has high health and safety stipulations.

According to the Public Works Minister, Guyana is not where it used to be and the new order of the day calls for businesses to implement the necessary Occupational Health and Safety mea sures.

“The way we used to be, we got to do better and if we got to do better, it’s not only the Government [but] we got to get full participa tion… Big businesses have to come into compliance. You that are now growing your own business and de veloping, start on the right foot. Develop a new culture [of implementing health and safety measures]. So, the way to bring about this kind of transformation and mod ernisation is to get a culture change,” he contended.

Edghill pointed out that traditionally, Guyanese businesses failed to imple ment the necessary health and safety requirements due to the costs attached and the impact it would have on their profits. However, the Public Works Minister argued that as responsible and serious business own ers, they need to lift their standards in order to com pete with and in the modern economy that the country is heading towards.

“Lifting standards means that things can’t be normal… We’re engaging with inter national partners and some of them come with very, very high standards… If we’re go ing to lift the standards and be able to engage at levels with international partners,

we can’t forever be playing catch and look like the left behind child. We got to im prove our standards locally and we must not be forced to improve standards because we gotta partner with some international firm,” he con tended.

To this end, Minister Edghill commended the Centre of Local Business Development for preparing local businesses to operate in a modern Guyana.

Meanwhile, similar sen timents on the need for a culture change by Guyanese operators was expressed by Labour Minister Joseph Hamilton during his re marks at Thursday’s award ceremony.

He highlighted that risk-taking in workplaces is unnecessary, and therefore no one – management nor employees – should accept or condone such the lack of appropriate health and safe ty measures in workplaces, both in the public and pri vate sectors.

“I have a deep concern about workplace accidents… I hold the view that when a worker leaves home to go to work, there’s an expecta tion of their family that he/ she will return them safe ly at the end of the workday or work period, and every ef fort should be made by both workers and employers to ensure that this happens,” he posited.

According to Hamilton, while there had been a de cline in the number of work place fatalities over the past two years, his Ministry’s Occupational Safety and

Health (OSH) Department continues to work assidu ously to improve working conditions and environment, with emphasis on preven tative rather than curative measures.

On this note, the Labour Minister urged that com panies set up Safety and Health Committees com prising of both management and employees in order to ensure that these bodies are kept functional. Hamilton stressed that taking pre cautionary steps is good for business, cautioning too that failure to do so can cost busi nesses.

“A safe and healthy workplace does not only pro tect workers from injury and illness, but it can also low er injury/illness costs, re duce absenteeism and turn over, increase productivity and quality, and raise em ployee morale… In today’s world, it is simply unaccept able for corporate executives to ignore safety and health. It is even dangerous for ex ecutives to take the chances that they might have taken over the years. The manag ers, employers face risks and the possibilities of civil and even criminal liability,” he warned.

The Centre for Local Business Development’s HSSE Management System programme, which was de veloped in collaboration with ExxonMobil and other key industry players, is aimed at empowering companies to implement a safety culture in the workplace.

This is the Centre’s sec ond award ceremony and

has seen an increase in par ticipants over the figure from the previous year.

According to CLBD’s Director, Dr Natasha Gaskin-Peters, even more companies are expected to complete the programme next year.

“Not only do we have sev en women-owned companies graduating this year, but we have over 15 companies that have women as their HSSE leads in those com panies. Overall, the Centre would have trained over 400 companies across its HSSE training programmes. But more importantly, we have over 200 within the HSSE mentorship programme that are actively and diligently working towards complet ing the programme. So, the next year we expect to have quite a larger batch of com panies completing the HSSE MS programme,” she stated.

Among the 30 awardees are companies engaged in 25 different sectors rang ing from offices, shipping and logistics, industrial fabrication and catering. This diversification, Dr Gaskin-Peters explained, underscores the important role the HSSE programme plays in Guyana’s growing economy.

The Director went on to say that health and safety is an important part of the work that the Centre does, pointing out that it enables local companies to have doc umented systems in place to operate their business es, as well as the necessary documentations needed to participate in procurement processes for contracts with prime industry players.

On this note, GaskinPeters urged the graduat ed companies to ensure they upkeep these health and safety measures.

“I task you with continu ing to update and upgrade these system as well as con tinuing to implement these systems. Let it translate to every business venture that you will undertake. The Centre will continue to fol low your progress… We will be checking in on you at our six-month interval as well as annual training. [You] will not be left alone. We will continue to support you throughout this journey,” she asserted. (G8)

Public Works Minister Juan Edghill addressing the gathering at the CLBD awards ceremony

Labour Minister Joseph Hamilton with CLBD officials and representatives of the 30 companies that completed the HSSE MS programme at Thursday’s awards ceremony held at Marriott Hotel

Editor: Tusika Martin

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

Enforcing Intoxicating Liquor Licensing (Amendment) Bill

In August, the much need legislation to deal with the sale of alcohol to minors and designated drivers was passed in the National Assembly.

The Intoxicating Liquor Licensing (Amendment) Bill 2022 is long overdue, and more importantly, the consequences of the sale of alcohol to minors is long overdue.

As it stands, the law now requires liquor stores to verify the age of patrons prior to entry into the establishment, and, importantly, stipulates harsher penalties for holder/ holders of a liquor licence who employs/employ a minor to supply, sell, or assist in the sale of alcohol. This carries a fine ranging from $500,000 to $1million.

However, more importantly, sale of alcohol to a designated driver would also be prohibited. Over the years, the issue of alcohol and the massive damaging effects it is having on individuals and communities has again been brought to the fore. There have been a number of deadly accidents countrywide, most of which were as a result of alcohol consumption. Persons, all of whom could have been working and assisting their families, and perhaps helping in the development of their communities and country as a whole, are now dead. This is in addition to the dozens of other persons who had lost their lives earlier in the year because of some form of recklessness committed by drivers, or, in some cases, carelessness by pedestrians themselves.

We are indeed convinced that the efforts being made by law enforcement and other authorities to reduce the alarming rate of road accidents are not achieving the desired results. This year will go down as yet another year when Guyana experienced some of its most horrific road accidents, resulting in losses of lives and injuries to countless others. We are very concerned about the number of persons losing their lives on our roadways. Too many families have been broken as a result of losing loved ones due to road accidents, most of which could have been avoided.

The reasons for the high rates of road accidents are well known, and there is no need to rehash them here, except to say that while there are various factors which impact on road safety, there is little doubt that the single most important one, in a general sense, is enforcement of the traffic laws. The Government has enacted the relevant legislation in relation to driving under the influence, loud music in vehicles, overloading, speeding, etc; but if the laws are not adequately implemented, they become useless. It would be interesting to find out how many of the drivers who are stopped for breaking a traffic law/s are actually charged and brought before the courts. It should also be mentioned here that, in some cases, Police officers themselves are engaged in breaking the traffic rules; for example, by speeding or driving under the influence, and hence are the source of some of the accidents we currently experience.

While it is not our intention to paint the entire Police Force with the same brush, as there are many professional and honest officers within the Force, we are convinced that unless what is perceived as the endemic corruption in the organisation — and the traffic section in particular — is addressed in a systematic way, we will not achieve the desired results.

We had also made the point before that Guyanese need to move away from the culture of disregard and irresponsibility in relation to using the roadways. For a small country such as ours, we cannot afford to continue along this path. We support the Intoxicating Liquor Licensing (Amendment) Bill 2022, which seeks to bring the full force of the law upon those who are reckless in the use and sale of alcohol.

Three tools to teach teens gratitude

By Dr AshA PemBerton

Although most of us understand the con cept of gratitude, it turns out that many young people exist day to day with out taking the time to ac knowledge the things in their lives that they are thankful for. Teens, like adults, often do not notice good things until they slow down and focus. Once they do, they feel more grateful, optimistic, and better about life overall. Gratitude is linked to decreasing stress, boosting resilience, and de veloping a sense of matter ing to the world. Although we are inundated with neg ative images and bad news, it is possible to focus on the opportunities around us and express thanks. There are specific tools that increase the recognition of gratitude in teens and young adults.

Journal writing

Writing in a journal is a very helpful practice for boosting gratitude levels. When adolescents take the time to write down the pos itive aspects of their lives, there is a gradual and con sistent improvement in mood. While it is not essen tial to write every single day, it is important to be specif

ic. Through the act of trans lating thoughts to written word, young people become more aware, reflect more, and these shift their overall perspectives into positivity.

Letter writing

Similar to journal writ ing is the act of writing spe cific “thank you” letters. Letter writing is consid ered by some to be a dying art, which should be re vived. Young people should always be encouraged to tangibly express thanks to their families, friends, teachers, or indeed anyone who has performed an act of kindness towards them. Saying “thank you” is abso lutely the first step, but by creating a physical form of thanks, young people are forced to recall how much others have cared for them over time. Generally speak ing, life seems less hard and lonely when kind acts are recognised.

Mirror work

Several modern life coaches promote the con cept of daily positive selftalk in a mirror as an ad ditional gratitude-building tool. While there are many approaches, the underlying principle simply involves

looking at oneself with an attitude of admiration and thanks, to reaffirm grati tude for the moment, the new day, life and opportu nity. For some young peo ple, mirror work feels com pletely intuitive, while for others it may seem strange.

Nevertheless, a critical part of positive self-esteem devel opment is taking time to ac cept oneself, be grateful for opportunities, and approach life with an aura of wonder and hope.

These three tools have

similarities and differences which would appeal to dif ferent young people in dif ferent contexts. That said, parents should actively en courage tweens and teens to demonstrate acts of grat itude. Adults themselves should take the time to ex press their thanks for the wonderful things that their young people bring to their lives. In time and overall, a general awareness and prac tices of gratitude then be come a part of the fabric of life.

(T&T Newsday)

President Dr Irfaan Ali attended the 3rd special Caricom Heads of Government meeting at State House on Friday afternoon. Chaired by Surinamese President Chan Santokhi, the meeting focused on Haiti and the steps that are still needed to be taken to restore peace in Haiti. Guyana’s Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister Hugh Todd also attended the virtual meeting (OP photos)

Father of 1 stabbed to death during argument

Afather of one lost his life on Friday morning after he was beaten and his throat slashed by another man during a heated ar gument.

Dead is 32-year-old Mark Delon Frank of Yarrow Dam, Ruimveldt, Georgetown. The stabbing oc curred around 07:00h at Riverview, Ruimveldt, Georgetown.

According to a family member of Frank, he had left his home early in the morning to go to a small bar at Riverview, Ruimveldt, where he usu ally goes to imbibe alcohol. While there, he got into an argument with a young man, and as he was about the ride off from the scene on his bicycle, the suspect allegedly ran behind him, hit him on his head, and slashed his throat.

This caused Frank to fall to the ground, where he bled out and sub sequently died at the scene. The sus pect then made good his escape but was arrested hours later by Police.

“We were told that they found him [the suspect] at his place of residence hiding under the house and was washing off the knife. Mark didn’t even get to ride off when he kill him. His hands were on the handle when they found the body.”

“Mark was a good person. He was that one person who is always ready to defend his family. He was a happy soul, very jovial, and always helpful towards his family and friends. This boy [the suspect] is a troublemaker.”

“This is not the first time the suspect was involved in a murder. I would like to get justice because he didn’t deserve to die like that even if they were in an argument, he hit him in the head, how you gonna still go and cut he throat,” the relative said. (G9)

Put safety first – Region 3 Police on DUI

With Driving under the Influence (DUI) cases posing a chal lenge for Regional Division Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), the ranks in the re gion are calling for persons to put safety first when behind the wheel and to never drive im paired.

Region Three Traffic Officer Wendell Harry in an episode of “Police and You”, said the ranks in the region are currently tar geting rum shops to help mini mise drinking and driving. He said they also had discussions with bar owners with the aim of curbing this issue.

“We talked to them about if persons look intoxicated to re fuse to sell the alcohol and ask them to leave and to make sure they have a designated driver, whenever they observe they are drunk,” he said.

Driving while above the pre scribed alcohol limit attracts a charge for the offence of driv ing under the influence (DUI) which carries a fine. Persons can be charged if, when tested, their blood alcohol content is found to exceed the prescribed limit of 35 micrograms of alcohol in 100 mil lilitres of breath, and their blood alcohol concentration exceeds 80

milligrams of alcohol in 100 mil lilitres of blood.

This seems to be a reoccur ring issue in the region, since last year they recorded the high est number of DUI cases com pared to the other regions. While the Traffic Officer did not release the number of cases the region recorded this year, in 2021, 501 persons were arrested in the dis trict for driving under the influ ence of alcohol.

Only two days ago, Nicholas Balkishun, a 28-year-old tailor of Lot 108 Best Road, West Bank Demerara, was arrested and charged with assaulting a Police

officer, while he was driving un der the influence.

He pleaded guilty to three charges stemming from his as sault on the Policeman, which was captured on video.

Arraigned before Magistrate Faith Mc Gusty at the Wales Magistrate’s Court, Balkishun pleaded guilty to behaving dis orderly, assaulting a peace offi cer, and driving under the influ ence (DUI). He has been fined a total of $27,500, broken down as follows: $10,000 for the disorder ly behaviour charge; $10,000 for assaulting the Police officer, and $7500 for the DUI charge. (G9)

Guyanese must think seriously about violence against women, girls

Dear Editor,

The theme for this year’s observance of 16 Days of Activism against GenderBased Violence, which begin on 25 November, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and runs until 10 December, Human Rights Day, is: “UNITE! Activism to end violence against women and girls”. It comes on the heels of Guyana experiencing the highest number of report ed femicides in a calendar year – 31 - according to our records. This raises very se rious questions: are we ac tually working to prevent violence and deaths, or are we just comfortable with re porting on their occurrence? Have we become desensi tised to the crisis?

The official UN commem oration of the 16 days states that gender-based violence against women and girls is not only preventable, but must urgently be prevent ed. It also encourages the mobilisation of more people to support efforts in ending violence against women and girls. Noting this, we are re minded that engaging men and boys – the main perpe trators of violence against women and girls - is a key factor in prevention.

Our public education outreaches with essential

services’ workers have re vealed that many people - both males and femalestasked with helping others are suffering in silence. One Police officer said, “we got to help the public, but we have domestic problems too, and nothing is in place to help us.”

Among teenagers, we ob serve a growing reliance on drugs and alcohol use as a coping mechanism, and the choice of suicide as the only option for some of those af fected by violence.

We cannot ignore the tragedies that are happen ing among us. Prevention requires that no one is left out, ignored, or made to feel excluded from the conversa tion. Our hope, as we observe the 16 Days of Activism, is that all Guyanese think se riously about the perpetra tion and perpetuation of vi olence against women and girls, and be determined to make sustained efforts to not use violence and abuse themselves, and be involved in efforts to prevent this scourge in our society.

To persons suffering in silence, please be informed that confidential psychoso cial help is available at Help & Shelter. Do reach out to us through our Hotline num bers: 613-1811/633-3788. Our office numbers are 2273454/ 225-4731/227-8353.

You can also reach us via our Facebook page a@ handsgy. In closing, we acknowl edge the contributions of the Government of Guyana, funding agencies, public and private sector organi zations, civil society orga

nizations, other NGOs, and brother and sister Guyanese in 2022, and look forward to continued support as we do our part in working to elim inate all forms of violence against women and girls.

Yours faithfully, Kevin Massiah Niveta Shivjatan Josephine Whitehead Selina Lepps Denise Dias Shondelle Branche Pamela Nauth

Carole Inis-Baptiste Linda Hustler Gray Karen Shaw Colin Marks

Petal Baboolall Help & Shelter Board and Staff

You can send your letters with pictures to: Guyana Times, Queens Atlantic Investment Estate Industrial Site, Ruimveldt, Georgetown, Guyana or letters@guyanatimesgy.com

Dead: Mark Delon Frank

Region Three Traffic Officer Wendell Harry

Foundation

In this fun and easy cool science experiment for kids, we’re going use a chemical reaction to crea te a bubbling button.

Materials: Can of Sprite soda Glass

A shirt button that is three quarters of an inch or smaller

Instructions:

Fill the glass with Sprite. Drop the button into the glass. Wait a moment and the button will rise to the top of the glass.

Tap the button lightly with your finger to knock off the air bubbles.

The button will sink and after several mo ments it will rise again.

How it works: Sprite is a carbonated soda and contains car

bon dioxide. Tiny bubbles of carbon dioxide will stick to the surfaces on the button. These bub bles will lift the button toward the surface of the soda where they will burst. When the bubbles burst, the button sinks back toward the bottom of the glass.

Make this a science project: Try other items like raisins, rice, and popcorn kernels. Try different temperatures of soda. (sciencefun.org)

By The BroThers Grimm CONTINUED FROM FRIDAY

Govt reverts constituency boundaries changed under APNU/AFC

Fourteen areas in which boundar ies were modified by the former APNU/AFC Government will be revert ed leading up to the March 2023 Local Government Elections to allow for better representation.

Local Government Elections will be held on March 13, 2023. Local Government and Regional Development Minister, Nigel Dharamlall an nounced at a press confer ence on Friday that changes were made after consulta tions with communities and residents in the interest of democracy building.

While the decision was made to revert boundaries

Attempted murder accused on $750,000 bail

Aman accused of at tempted murder was granted $750,000 bail on Wednesday by Magistrate Esther Sam. David Forde, 25, a market vendor of Lot 553 C Field Sophia, Greater Georgetown; and New Road, Essequibo Coast, Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), appeared at the Anna Regina Magistrate’s Court.

It is alleged that on November 20, at Suddie Market on the Essequibo Coast, Forde unlawfully and maliciously wounded Roy Thorne, with the intent to murder him.

The accused was not re quired to plead to the indict able charge.

According to reports, Forde and Thorne called “Short Boss”, 30, a singer of Lot 38 Parika, East Bank Essequibo (EBE), were in volved in a heated argument on the day in question.

It is alleged that Forde whipped out a knife and stabbed Thorne in his ab domen. The injured man was reportedly taken to the Suddie Public Hospital, where he remains a patient.

As per the condition of bail, Forde is required to re port to the Charity Police Station every Monday and Wednesday until the hear ing and determination of a Preliminary Inquiry/trial. (G1)

– Minister

to before they was changed in the year 2016, other com munities which were previ ously not captured will be placed under townships and Neighbourhood Democratic Councils. In some areas, NDCs will also be merged or split.

“There are 14 areas that were affected in 2018 and we have decided that for better representation, that those areas go back to the 2016 constituency boundar ies…We are aware that local democracy is essential to the overall development of com munities, our people and our country,” he commented.

In Region One, there will be an extension of the boundaries of Mabaruma township to capture Wauna, putting them under an insti tutionalised administration. Previously in 2018 local polls, they were left out of the township as the Minister now assured of zero discrim ination.

In Region Two, where the constituency boundar ies collapsed or merged, he said this decision of the pre vious Administration will be reversed. In the Pomeroon River, due to difficulties in service delivery, there will be a merger to form one NDC of Kitty-Providence and Moruca-Felix.

In Region Three, revert ed boundaries will also fol low for some NDCs to allow

for better representation. Meanwhile the ToevlugtPatentia constituency will be extended to Free and Easy, capturing hundreds of residents.

In Region Four, revert ing the boundaries will also be done for some areas where there was a consol idation of NDCs. In Region Five, Woodlands Farm had been expanded to include De Hoop access road residents who were left out of an ad ministrative area.

“Beyond Number 10 Mahaica, Little Biaboo, Big Biaboo, those areas where people actually live, they will not be part of the NDC areas,” he added.

Over in Region Six, the largest NDC area of Number 52 – Number 74 will be split into two local bodies. Other areas such as

Mahdia, Lethem, Linden and Georgetown will re main the same. No boundar ies have been contracted nor have the number of constitu encies reduced, he added.

The complement of coun cillors will also increase in the 80 Local Authority Areas. In 2018, this number was 1192 councillors in 596 constituencies. For the 2023 polls, there will be 1220 councillors in 610 constitu encies.

The Minister shared that there has been challenges in local democratic organs but Government is confident that this will be improved post-elections. He remind ed that when the changes were made in 2016, the then Ministry of Communities failed to hold consultations with residents across the re spective areas. (G12)

Attempted murder accused David Forde

Former APNU/AFC Communities Minister Ronald Bulkan

Local Government and Regional Development Minister Nigel Dharamlall

“Your depraved criminal conduct must be condemned” – Judge tells interdicted cop

…jails him for 10 years for sexual activity with a child

at a verdict, and as such, he will have to be retried for that offence. Padmore was further found not guilty by the mixed 12-member jury of causing the girl to watch a sexual act.

According to the prose cution’s facts, Padmore was a regular visitor to the girl’s home as he is known to her family. The prosecution had contended that he raped her in December 2019.

Declaring that the prison sentence of 10 years prescribed in law for the offence of sexu al activity with a child under 16 is “wholly insufficient”, Justice Sandil Kissoon’s hands were tied, as he was legally bound to impose the said sentence on an inter dicted Policeman.

Wayde Padmore, 25, a father of one, who enlisted in the Guyana Police Force (GPF) in 2017, was found guilty last month of engag ing in sexual activity with a 13-year-old girl in October 2020.

On the charge which al leged that he raped the teen, the jury was unable to arrive

In October 2020, accord ing to the prosecution, he attempted to rape the girl for a second time, but when he was unsuccessful, he en gaged in sexual activity with her and allegedly mastur bated in her presence until he ejaculated.

During Padmore’s sen tencing hearing on Friday, a probation officer re vealed that the sex offend er has a three-year-old son.

Padmore, he added, who was the best graduating stu dent of his training batch, was interdicted from duties after his involvement in the crime.

Padmore’s mother and spouse, during an interview with the probation officer, related that it was “incon ceivable” that he would com mit such an act given his good upbringing.

The victim, who is now 16, and is preparing to sit the May/June 2023 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) exam inations, expressed that she felt “disgusted” after the in cident and contemplated harming herself. She asked the Judge to impose the maximum sentence on him.

During a plea in miti gation, Padmore’s lawyer, Clyde Forde, submitted that a grave miscarriage of jus tice has been occasioned as a result of the decision of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to dis pose of the charge for the of fence of sexual activity with a child under 16, on indict ment (in the High Court).

He reasoned that if the charge was determined in the Magistrate’s Court (summary disposal), it would have attracted a less er jail term, a sentence of five years.

Section 11 (3) of the Sexual Offences Act of 2010 states that a person who is convicted of sexual activity with a child under 16, is li able on summary conviction to a sentence of five years and on conviction on indict ment to imprisonment for 10 years.

Justice Kissoon, howev er, said that the law gives the DPP the discretion to choose how to dispose of the matter, especially if she be lieves the circumstances of the case warrant a harsher punishment.

Forde, nevertheless, im plored Justice Kissoon to “temper justice with mer cy”, asking that his client be given a suspended sentence along with two years of su pervised probation.

Black...

…Friday in GY

The Americanization of our culture continues apace: on Thursday, many celebrated “Thanksgiving”, and yesterday “Black Friday”!! These celebrations, of course, followed “Halloween”. And don’t you dare quibble as to whether Black Friday was really a “celebration”. All our holidays – especially the “religious” ones - have become so commercialized that Black Friday’s actually their logical culmination!! Here is a day when the hype about “sales” will make this the most profitable day in the year for merchants across the world!!

And in fact that’s connected to the name “Black Friday” - originally connected to a stock market crash in the States on a Friday after Thanksgiving in the 1860s. That was truly “Black” – a tragic day on which so many persons were ruined. But when merchants started selling off their goods cheaply to maintain a cash flow - to keep life and limb (and their businesses) going - a trend was set.

Gradually, it became customary for businesses to announce and advertise all sorts of eye-catching sales on particular items, that were actually baits to lure shoppers into their premises. Now this tactic works even with online shopping, that’s fast becoming the norm! The items you want will surely need some accessories – especially those electronic gizmos. Just check how they weigh down your shopping carts!!The merchants know fully well that, once inside the stores, the mark was certain to pick up other items at regular prices!

Nowadays, the big boys like Amazon have algorithms that predict to a tee what YOU PERSONALLY also want to buy - and will certainly make sure you see them before you click on the “bargain”!! Overall, then, the business is gonna be in the “black” (making a PROFIT) rather than in the “red” (SUFFERING A LOSS)!! Believe it or not, some businesses do more business on Black Friday that they do for the whole quarter!!

But, in all this Americanization, we seem to’ve forgotten we had our own Black Friday right here in dear old mudland. Back on Feb 16, 1962, the PNC and their Trade Unions allies allowed themselves to be used by the CIA who wanted to oust the PPP – which they concluded was Commie!! They burnt down half of downtown Georgetown and - as our National Poet Martin Carter famously wrote - “a city of clerks became men”!!

Had to be – because, on that day, thousands of fridges and stoves and sofas were hauled away from the burning stores on the HEADS of ordinary folks!! Carter obviously concluded that you gotta be REAL MEN to perform those Herculean tasks!! But interestingly, there were as many urban women doing the heavy lifting as men!!

This was one glass ceiling the sisters broke way back then!!

…eye for GY Climate Warriors

Without comment from LRB: “COP27 was held in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh…just around the corner from the world’s busiest shipping lane. Ursula von der Leyen showed up early to make deals for the EU. She signed a contract to buy rare minerals from Kazakhstan; made a timber deal – presented as a plan for the ‘sustainable development and management’ of forests – with Congo, Guyana, Mongolia, Uganda and Zambia; bought hydrogen from Egypt, and lithium and cobalt from Namibia.

“Egypt’s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources signed seven MoUs with Bechtel, Shell, General Electric and others - covering things like the development of decarbonisation technologies, and feasibility studies for producing ammonia. Egypt’s setting up a carbon trade market in Africa, and Singapore was looking to buy carbon credits from Morocco. In side meetings, Caribbean engineers gave lessons on ways to secure funding from the Global Climate Fund and oil companies, and how to build carbon capture and storage units.”

Welcome to the real world!!

…bleak, future

Keeping warming to 1.5 degrees now’s impossible - with an 80% chance of 2 degrees. Given the sea’s cooler than land, a global mean temperature rise of 2 degrees means at least an unlivable 3 degrees on the land.

Readers are invited to send their comments by email to eye@guyanatimesgy.com

The views expressed in this column are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Guyana Times’ editorial policy and stance

Sex offender Wayde Padmore

High Court Judge Sandil Kissoon

BP Int’l selected to market Guyana’s share of profit oil for 1 year

contract has now ended, was the lowest responsive bidder of the shortlisted companies.

Guyana’s crude lift share was initially marketed by Shell Western, after which Hess International market ed Guyana’s crude.

Following a compet itive procurement process, the Guyana Government has selected the United Kingdom’s BP International Limited to market the country’s share of petroleum from the two floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) ves sels producing oil offshore.

According to the Natural Resources Ministry, 14 com panies responded to its Request for Bids that was published on September 16 ahead of the October 11 sub mission deadline.

Of the 14 bids submitted to the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB), an Evaluation Committee set up by the Board recom mended in its report that BP International be award ed the marketing contract. That report was cleared by NPTAB and subsequently received Cabinet’s ‘no objec tion’.

The duration of this con tract with BP will be for 12 months.

Among the services re quired of BP include provid ing support and guidance to the Government of Guyana in all operating and back-of

fice responsibilities of man aging the crude sales and each individual lift whilst fa cilitating timely and cost-ef fective crude operations; supporting the Government in the continued introduc tion of the grade to multi ply geographies and refin ery systems, and providing benchmark and perfor mance comparisons of pric es paid for Guyana’s crude; and working closely with the Government to understand the behaviour and yields of the Liza blend and how these can affect pricing dif ferentials.

“The Guyana Government will continue to employ transparent and in ternational best practices in the management of the na tion’s petroleum resources so as to attain maximum re turns and advance the live lihoods of all citizens,” the Natural Resources Ministry said.

Previously, Saudi Aramco was contracted in September 2021 to market Guyana’s share of profit oil from ExxonMobil-led opera tions in the Stabroek Block over the past year.

The State-owned Saudi Arabian company, whose

Guyana, with US oil gi ant ExxonMobil as the oper ator, began producing oil on December 20, 2019, in the Stabroek Block. Guyana’s oil revenues are being held in the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) at the New York Federal Reserve Bank, where it is earning interest.

With the Liza Destiny and Liza Unity FPSO ves sels operating offshore, Guyana is entitled to 13 of 94 lifts from the oil-rich Stabroek Block this year.

Only last month, the Bank of Guyana (BoG) in its third-quarter report for 2022 (July to September) revealed that Guyana earned a total of $102.8 billion (US$493.1 million) thus far this year. This includes profit oil of $92.1 billion (US$442.1 mil lion) and royalties of $10.6 billion (US$51 million).

The Bank attributed this increase to the addition al FPSO vessel, Liza Unity, that came into operation in February this year.

It was explained that

since oil production began in 2019, there have been 16 lifts of profit oil which have brought in $269.3 billion (US$1.2 billion) in profit oil revenue and $31.9 billion (US$153.1 million) in royal ty payments.

“Over the quarter the Federal Reserve increased its target range for the fed eral funds rate twice mov ing it from 1.5 per cent –1.75 per cent to 2.25 per cent – 2.5 per cent and then again to 3 per cent – 3.25 per cent… As a result of these increases which caused in terest rates on overnight de posits to rise significantly, and a higher account bal

ance, the fund continued to earn a higher level of inter est income on its overnight deposits than previous quar ters,” the Bank further ex plained.

According to the report, the NRF earned $995.7 mil lion (US$4.7 million) in in terest income over the quar ter, compared to the $266 million (US$1.2 million) it had earned in the previous quarter.

Already, some $83.3 bil lion or US$400 million has been withdrawn from the NRF and transferred into the Consolidated Fund to fund major capital projects in Budget 2022.

The oil rich Stabroek Block, which is producing the oil, is 6.6 million acres (26,800 square kilometres).

Exxon, through its local subsidiary EEPGL, is the operator and holds 45 per cent interest in the Block. Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd holds 30 per cent inter est, and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited, a whol ly-owned subsidiary of CNOOC Limited, holds the remaining 25 per cent inter est.

ExxonMobil said it antic ipates at least six projects offshore Guyana will be on line by 2027. (G8)

Liza Unity FPSO

1 dead, 1 injured during explosion at Corentyne worksite

Friday morning.

Dead is 52-year-old Oliver France while the in jured man has been iden tified as 25-year-old Jamal Rose, both of Number 51 Village.

Reports are that the duo had gone to the village to re pair a leaking concrete wa ter tank when the explosion occurred.

Guyana Times under stands that the tank was previously painted with tar on the inside. The tar was applied to stop the leaking, but it persisted.

Aman is now dead while another is se riously injured fol lowing an explosion at a worksite at Leeds Village, Corentyne, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), on

As such, France was asked to fix the problem. Reports are that he em ployed Rose as his worker and used a technique that is frequently being used today; that is to use gasoline and tar to fix the leak.

However, while inside the tank, they were using an angle grinder – a device

known to produce sparks.

A few moments later, a loud explosion was heard. Police said the explosion was heard at about 9:30h.

The concrete tank, mea suring about ten feet in width and length and about eight feet in height, was shattered, with parts reach ing the neighbour’s yard. Glass windows on the neigh bour’s house were also bro ken.

France and Rose were seen lying on the ground in the area, with multiple inju ries on their bodies.

France was taken to the Port Mourant Public Hospital by public-spirit ed persons and succumbed on arrival while Rose was taken to the Skeldon Public Hospital, where he was ad mitted as a patient but sub sequently transferred to the New Amsterdam Hospital.

His condition is con

sidered serious. According to the Police, several per sons were questioned in the area but no useful infor mation was obtained. The now dead man’s sister-inlaw, Chriseshal Ward, said she was at the Police sta tion with her mother when she received the news of her brother-in-law’s passing.

She said she was in dis belief at first but her moth er told her that he had left the village to work at a cous in’s residence and the tank exploded. She then went to the location. “We see only blood and stuff, we didn’t get to see him,” she said. She re ferred to France as being a kind and loving brother-inlaw.

“If you ask him some thing he would always give you good advice.”

Meanwhile, Rose’s moth er, Delma Lowenfield, said after hearing of the acci

dent she rushed over to the neighbouring village but by the time she arrived on the scene, her son was already taken away.

“All I see was a lot of people there and they had Police there, they had the fire truck; I didn’t go into the scene because I am not so well so they put me to sit down. All they tell me is that Jamal get burn and they gone to the hospital,” the woman related.

Photographs seen by this publication of the men showed burns to their faces as well as to their hands and feet.

The Police have launched an investigation. France leaves to mourn a wife and five children, one of whom will be celebrating her first

birthday next week.

France also runs an en tertainment centre at his place of residence. (G4)

Dead: Oliver France

More awareness needed on dangers of antibiotics’ misuse – Health Minister

antibiotics would not help. If someone has a viral in fection and you use an an tibiotic, then that antibiotic would not kill the virus. But we have seen people use an tibiotics in a very indiscrim inate way.”

With trends showing in creasing indiscriminate use of antibiotics, the Health Minister shared that some microbes that are typical ly susceptible to antibiotics have developed resistance.

Using antibiotics in discriminately for every ailment is a practice, and more aware ness is needed, amid con cerns that persons can develop antimicrobial resis tance (AMR).

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), antimi crobial resistance is accel erated when the presence of antibiotics and antifungals pressure bacteria and fungi to adapt.

Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony underscored on Friday that sensitisation is needed both at the level of health institutions and pa tients, in educating about antibiotics misuse.

Antibiotics and antifun gals kill some germs that cause infections, but they also kill helpful germs that protect our body from in fection. The antimicrobi al-resistant germs survive and multiply. These surviv ing germs have resistance traits in their DNA that can spread to other germs.

Antimicrobial resistance is a naturally occurring pro cess. However, increases in antimicrobial resistance are linked to a combination of germs exposed to antibi otics and antifungals, and the spread of those germs and their resistance mech anisms.

The CDC outlined, “When already hard-totreat germs have the right combination of resistance mechanisms, it can make all antibiotics or antifun gals ineffective, resulting in untreatable infections. Alarmingly, antimicro

He added that if anti microbial resistance is de veloped, then the current drugs would be unable to cure many of the diseases.

“One of the things we have to do is start working on becoming wiser on how we prescribe antibiotics to patients. Patents them selves have to be more cog nisant of the importance of how you use antibiotics, when you use antibiotics and not for any disease. This is a very important thing. If we’re continuing the way we’re using antibiotics and resistance develops for the drugs we have, then we will have serious problems,” Dr Anthony explained.

While antimicrobial re sistance has been occurring globally, the Minister said persons continue to use an tibiotics in cases where it would not provide relief.

“We have seen over the years that people have been using antibiotics widely, es pecially in conditions where

bial-resistant germs can share their resistance mech anisms with other germs that have not been exposed to antibiotics or antifun gals.”

Researchers estimated that AMR in bacteria caused an estimated 1.27 million deaths in 2019. A global ac tion plan to tackle the grow ing problem of resistance to antibiotics and other anti microbial medicines was en dorsed at the Sixty-eighth World Health Assembly in May 2015.

World Antimicrobial Awareness Week (WAAW) is a global campaign that is celebrated annually to im prove awareness and un derstanding of AMR and encourage best practic es among the public, One Health stakeholders and policymakers, who all play a critical role in reducing the further emergence and spread of AMR. It was ob served from November 1824, 2022. (G12)

Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony

Security guard remanded for murder of man hit by stray bullet

…juvenile to be charged in new week

AHardina Street, Wortmanville, Georgetown resident has been remanded to prison for the murder of a 53-yearold man who was struck and killed by a stray bullet.

Oyama Patterson called “Shemroy”, 23, a securi ty guard, was arraigned on Friday before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.

The accused, who was unrepresented by counsel, was not required to plead to the indictable charge which alleged that on November

11, he murdered Dexter McFarlene.

It was reported that McFarlene, a labour er of Laing Avenue, West Ruimveldt, Georgetown, was killed after he was caught in the crossfire as a group of young men traded bullets.

Reports are that McFarlene had just gotten off a bus and was heading home through a shortcut in the area when he was hit to his left side chest by a stray bullet.

Based on information reaching Guyana Times,

two young males were chas ing another young man and firing shots at him. At the same time, McFarlene was walking in the street and was shot.

Two .32 spent shells were recovered at the scene. One resident related that the shooting stemmed from an old grievance between the two youngsters.

Patterson and a 16-yearold boy were arrested for the man’s murder earli er this week. Police ranks found them at Number 53 Village, Corentyne, Berbice, on Monday.

The juvenile will be ar raigned in the new week.

Meanwhile, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) on Tuesday issued a wanted bulletin for Andrew Ridley, 30, called “Aids Man” in con nection with the murder of the 53-year-old man.

Ridley is no stranger to law enforcement as he was previously charged with rob bery under arms, break and enter and larceny, and dis charging a loaded firearm with intent. He was recent ly released from jail where

he spent three years for rob bery under arms and as sault.

Ridley’s last known resi dence is at Lot 173 Campbell Street, Albouystown, Georgetown.

Anyone who has infor mation on the whereabouts of Ridley is asked to contact the Police on telephone num bers: 225-8196, 226-7476, 225-6940, 225-2317, 2271149 or the nearest Police station. All information will be treated with strict confi dence.

“Your depraved criminal conduct...

State Counsel Caressa Henry, on behalf of the prosecution, implored the court to impose a sentence that is commensurate with the gravity of the crime. She added: This accused [Padmore] has shown no genuine remorse. Although he has been found guilty by a jury of his peers, he has not accepted responsibility for his actions that violated a young girl…”

No ordinary offender

Given Padmore’s con duct, Justice Kissoon stressed that he is unfit to have been a member of the Guyana Police Force (GPF), and told him: “Your de praved criminal conduct must be condemned in the strongest possible terms by this court.”

According to the Judge, the acts he carried out on the child whilst being a mem ber of the GPF, warrant the maximum sentence contem plated by law. However, he pointed out that the maxi mum sentence is “wholly in sufficient” in this matter.

To do otherwise, the Judge noted that the court would be turning a blind eye to the fact that Padmore at tempted to rape the child in her mother’s home.

He said that the inci dent, which was document ed on video, was viewed by Padmore’s spouse, who col lapsed in the witness box while viewing it.

As a member of the GPF,

FROM PAGE 8

the High Court Judge re minded Padmore that he ought to have protected the child, but instead, he violat ed her, brought shame and disgrace on his uniform and violated the trust and con fidence reposed in him by members of society.

“You are no ordinary of fender… you were dressed in blue…,” Justice Kissoon told the offender.

Given that the prev alence of sexual offences against children has reached a “dangerous point”, a point where it is crying for deter rence, Justice Kissoon point ed out that the safety and security of citizens remain the paramount overriding consideration at all times for the court.

In recapping the facts of the matter, the Judge said that the girl’s mother had left for work when Padmore used his position of trust to gain entry into the home. At the time, there was an other occupant in the house, but Padmore, he noted, sent them away on a “fool’s er rand”.

State Counsel Cicelia Corbin and State Counsel Paneeta Persaud were the other prosecutors. Padmore was tried in-camera at the Sexual Offences Court in Demerara.

Padmore, who was first tried for the three offenc es earlier this year, had to await a retrial after the jury returned hung on all three counts in that trial. (G1)

Murder accused Oyama Patterson

Dead: Dexter McFarlene

Wanted: Andrew Ridley

Stop splurging – Dharamlall to City Hall

…calls for enforcement of existing littering

to happen at City Hall is much more than the polit ical manoeuvrings in the public that is pursued and for the administration to take account of managing the city much better. If you go through the budget, there is a minuscule amount of money placed towards solid waste management by the City of Georgetown, which is possibly the major issue that affects the management of Georgetown,” the Minister noted.

laws

have seen limited resources placed on enforcement but what we have seen is tens of millions going to pub lic relations. We have seen hundreds of millions go to wards employment and who are these people?” he ques tioned.

One of the propositions in the new bylaws was to have heftier penalties for littering. Commenting on this, the Local Government Minister said that the exist ing laws should be enforced instead.

Local Government and Regional Development Minister Nigel Dharamlall on Friday opined that the Georgetown City Council should increase its spending in the area of solid waste management and avoid splurging in un important areas.

He was fielding ques tions during a press briefing, where questions were raised

on new bylaws presented by the Council earlier this year to address solid waste man agement and littering.

Dharamlall pointed out that the collectible revenue for the municipality is about $2.2 billion. However, just a small fraction is set aside for solid waste management – an area which he believes needs adequate resources.

“I think that what needs

According to Dharamlall, the greater imposition of fees in the city will not rem edy the issue with the ex isting operations, but rath er put additional strain on stakeholders.

“What they’re propos ing is to impose greater fees and it is not the imposition of the fees that will change the dynamic on the ground. It is actually getting the work done. They have not been pursuing and collecting what is owed to them…We

“The city has bylaws as well as national laws which, of course, supersede bylaws that can be implemented to manage all of our Local Authority Areas. There is a law against littering and what they have to do is make sure they enforce the laws.”

The Georgetown Mayor and City Council, under the Municipal and District Act, Chapter 28:01, is allowed to fine persons $10,000 for littering while the

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can penal ise an individual for up to $50,000 while a corporate body can be issued a fine of $100,000.

Meanwhile, it has been pointed out that Government Ministries have also been assisting significantly in solid waste management and clearances of drainage networks, especially as the

rainy season persists.

“Our Ministries have been the ones doing the heavy lifting. The Ministry of Agriculture have basi cally provided all the re sources to keep the city clean and drains properly. Despite the torrential rains, we have been able to man age the drainage system of Georgetown,” he outlined. (G12)

Georgetown Mayor Ubraj Narine

Local Government Minister Nigel Dharamlall

Police unearth cocaine, ganja, molly on Essequibo Coast

Anumber of illegal drugs were found in separate lo cations at Riverstown, Adventure Village, and Charity, Essequibo Coast, Region Two (PomeroonSupenaam) on Wednesday and Thursday.

It was reported that on Wednesday at about 12:35h, ranks in Regional Division Two were on anti-crime pa trol headed by a senior rank at Adventure Back Street, Essequibo Coast, when they discovered the first set of marijuana.

They stated that while in the street, a male was seen under an unpainted house acting in a suspicious man ner. Having observed the Police ranks, the young man walked out from under the dwelling house with a trans parent plastic bag in his hand.

As the Police approached him, he reportedly threw the plastic bag in a nearby bush and ran away via the river dam and made good his es cape.

A search was immediate ly carried out in the vicinity

where the bag was thrown, and a transparent plas tic bag was found. When opened, 17 transparent ziplock plastic bags were dis covered containing leaves, seeds, and stems suspected to be cannabis.

A further search was car ried out in the area, and an other transparent plastic bag containing leaves seeds, and stems suspected to be cannabis and a pink trans parent zip-lock plastic bag containing a cream-ish rocklike substance suspected to be molly was found.

Ranks immediately took possession of all the items found. Checks were made for the suspect but he was not located, as a re sult the cannabis was tak en to Suddie Police Station, weighed in the presence of other ranks and amounted to 84.8 grams.

The suspected molly was also weighed and amounted to one gram, and was placed into an evidence bag and lodged with the subordinate in charge of the Police sta tion.

Investigations are ongo ing.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, while on mobile patrol in Riverstown and Charity, Essequibo Coast, Police found another set of illegal

drugs.

At 10:30h, acting on in formation, the ranks went to Riverstown, where 24-yearold Nardeo Shamsondar, a labourer, was contacted, and a search was conducted on his residence.

During the search, a coffee bottle was found in a black plastic bag in his yard, and contained three transparent zip-lock bags containing several leaves, seeds, and stems suspected to be cannabis.

Also, 17 small parcels wrapped with aluminium foil, containing a whitish rock-like substance suspect ed to be cocaine was discov ered. Both substances were weighed and amounted to three grams of cannabis and

5.9 grams of cocaine, respec tively.

Lastly, at around 12:15h on the same day, ranks were on mobile patrol in the Charity Market Square where they observed sever al juveniles, and upon see ing the Police ranks, they all left and went in different di rections.

The ranks then conduct ed a search among some stalls and the surround ing area, and a transpar ent plastic bag was found in a clump of dried grass, containing several leaves, seeds, and stems suspected to be cannabis. The ranks took possession of the nar cotics which were weighed and amounted to 19.1 grams. (G9)

The illegal drugs that were found during the operation in Essequibo

UNFPA gifts US$50,000 to First Lady’s Menstrual Hygiene Initiative

The Menstrual Hygiene Initiative undertak en by First Lady Arya Ali, to end period poverty in Guyana, was given a signifi cant boost with a donation of US$50,000 worth of sanitary pads by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

UNFPA is the United Nations’ sexual and repro ductive health agency.

“Removing barriers to access basic sanitary prod ucts for girls allow them to exercise their reproductive rights. UNFPA is therefore pleased to support the excel lent period poverty initiative of the First Lady as it ad dresses the right to health, dignity and gender equali ty,” UNFPA Liaison Officer for Guyana, Adler Bynoe said during a simple hand ing over ceremony at State House.

Describing the donation as “significant,” the First Lady thanked the UN agen cy for its support and high lighted how important it is for the issue of period pov

erty to be recognised and ac tioned by international or ganisations like the United Nations.

UNFPA will also be part nering with the Office of the First Lady next year to conduct sensitisation work shops on sexual and repro ductive health, and the im plementation of a public education and awareness campaign.

Last year, Ali announced her intention to end period poverty in Guyana – an is sue which adversely affects women and girls in the hin terland and restricts access to education.

Sanitary pads are cur rently being distributed in secondary schools across all ten administrative regions.

More than 30,000 stu dents will receive one year’s supply of pads.

The First Lady explained too that the initiative start ed with a focus on schoolaged girls – many of whom were unable to attend school when they experienced their

menstruation because they either could not afford or ac cess sanitary products.

“So, we started with the schools; providing coverage to all school-aged girls, and then we will move to provid ing coverage to women, be ginning with the most vul nerable,” the First Lady stated.

This year, the Government provided $50 million of $60 million re quired to provide full cover age to all school-aged girls. Donations, sponsorship and fundraisers have helped to compensate for the shortfall.

With full coverage pro vided to all school-aged girls, attention will now be on providing sanitary prod ucts to women in vulnera ble situations, with the aim of expanding coverage coun trywide.

In the long term, the project seeks to ensure that every woman and girl in Guyana is provided with free sanitary products.

First Lady Arya Ali receiving the donation of US$50,000 worth of sanitary pads from UNFPA Liaison Officer Adler Bynoe at State House

Fire erupts at Number 8 Primary School

08:30h and two fire ten ders – one each from the Onverwagt and New Amsterdam Fire Stations – were dispatched to the Region Five (MahaicaBerbice) school.

Upon arrival at the scene, several pockets of fire were observed in the store room in the school’s com pound.

The firefighters succeed ed in containing the blaze to only a section of that room by extinguishing the flames.

A quantity of school sup plies including documents, kitchen utensils and deter gents were destroyed.

It was reported that prompt response from the Fire Service coupled with quick action by teachers and other persons at the school averted any further destruc tion to the property and also prevented any injuries.

Guyana Times under stands that the fire was elec trical in origin.

Over the past two years, at least five schools have been affected by fire. These include North Ruimveldt Multilateral School and St George’s High School in Georgetown; Essequibo Technical Institute (ETI); Amelia’s Ward Primary

School in Region 10; and North-West Secondary School.

The fire at North Ruimveldt Multilateral School occurred in June last year, leaving 512 stu dents and 39 teachers dis placed during the time when 65 of those students were scheduled to write the 2021 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination.

The North-West Secondary School fire, on the other hand, occurred in September last year. Inquiries disclosed that a security guard of Baranobo Hill, Mabaruma, was in his guard hut on his cellu lar phone when he heard three loud explosions. The sounds emanated from a room on the second floor of the eastern side of the build ing. Checks were made and he observed the room en gulfed in flames. Upon the Fire Service’s arrival on the scene, the fire was extin guished – but most of the building was damaged. That fire was ruled out as arson.

Then in July of this year, a massive fire destroyed St George’s High School in Georgetown. That was elec trical in nature, the Guyana

Fire and Rescue Service had said.

Following the blaze, the Education Ministry com menced a registration pro cess for displaced students to ensure that they were placed in a school for the new academic year.

In early October, a ma jor catastrophe was avert ed when a fire, electrical in nature, was averted at the Amelia’s Ward Primary School in Region 10. Reports are that a staff member ob served flames in one of the classrooms and immediate ly sounded an alarm for stu dents to evacuate the area. Staffers at the school man aged to contain the fire.

Fire responders were called to the school and an investigation was conduct ed. That fire was also elec trical in nature.

Also last month, a ma jor fire was averted at the Essequibo Technical Institute (ETI) after a fast response by the Guyana Fire and Rescue Service led to its quick extinguishing. The Guyana Fire and Rescue Service in a release the fol lowing day said that the in cident may have occurred as a result of a breakdown in electrical installation.

Asection of a storeroom at the Number Eight Village Primary

School, West Coast Berbice, was destroyed by fire on Friday morning.

The Guyana Fire and Rescue Service received a report of the fire at about

This section of the school’s storeroom was unaffected by Friday morning’s blaze

Some of the items that were damaged in the storeroom at the Number 8 Primary School

Inaugural HIV/STI conference slated for December 4

…free STI testing, other health services to be offered

In observance of World AIDS Day, the National Aids Programme Secretariat (NAPS) will be hosting the inaugu ral Continuing Medical Education (CME) HIV/ STI (Sexually Transmitted Infections) conference on December 4, under the theme “Equalise”.

The event will be held at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre from 09:00h to 13:30h.

NAPS Programme Manager, Dr Tariq Jagnarine during a recent interview said the objec tive is to provide health care personnel with CME to understand the evolu tion of HIV and STI treat ment.

“The entire objective of this conference is that a lot of new best practices have been coming out with HIV…many new guide lines came out last year, in fact, the HIV guideline was updated last year. The STI guidelines, new approach es in terms of PrEP (pre-ex posure prophylaxis), NPEP (Nonoccupational HIV Postexposure Prophylaxis), self-testing, new changes in treatment for STIs and many persons out there are not updated,” Dr Jagnarine

is quoted as saying by DPI.

The conference will be open to the public. Persons will be able to access free STI and HIV testing and other health services.

Non-governmental or ganisations (NGOs), pri vate and civil society bod ies will have booths set up as well.

The Programme Manager stated that the conference also aims to ed ucate persons on the avail able treatment options for HIV and the other STIs.

“It’s no longer life-threatening. It is life-changing. No one wants to get HIV. We

should all be safe but ulti mately, treatment is avail able. We want people to actually know that. Know that they can go to any one of the care and treatment health centres and get treatment,” he said.

This is the first con ference that will be focus ing specifically on HIV and STIs. The objective is for the event to become an an nual one. Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony, of ficials from UNAIDS, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other in ternational bodies will be present at the conference.

Guyana’s new Ambassador to Suriname accredited

Committing to fur ther strengthening relations between the two South American neighbours, Suriname on Wednesday accredited Guyana’s new Ambassador, Virjanand Depoo.

On Wednesday, Depoo presented his Letters of Credence to President Chandrikapersad Santokhi, who accredit ed him as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana to the Republic of Suriname.

According to the Foreign Affairs Ministry in a state ment, Ambassador Depoo has over thirty years of

service in the public and private sectors in the fields of education, business, and community service.

During the accredita tion ceremony, President Santokhi welcomed Ambassador Depoo to Suriname and reaffirmed Suriname’s commitment to strengthening relations with Guyana.

The ceremony was also attended by Suriname’s First Lady, Mellisa Seenacherry-Santokhi; Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Business and International Cooperation, Albert Ramdin; Spouse of Ambassador Depoo, Sandra Depoo, and First Secretary of the Embassy

Depoo is replac ing Ambassador Keith George, who has been ap pointed as Guyana’s High Commissioner to Canada. George’s reposting was confirmed to Guyana Times last month by Foreign Secretary Robert Persaud, who had indicated that a successor had already been identified.

George’s diplomat ic career spans over 29 years. He has worked in the Technical Cooperation and Political Departments of the Foreign Affairs Ministry. He was once the Director of the Frontier Department.

Programme Manager of the National Aids Programme Secretariat (NAPS), Dr Tariq Jagnarine

of Guyana in Suriname, Malvie Talbot.

Guyana’s new Ambassador to Suriname, Virjanand Depoo, presenting his credentials to Suriname’s President Chandrikapersad Santokhi

Regional

Colombia, ELN rebels invite 3 more countries to help with peace talks

Colombia's Government and left ist guerrilla group the National Liberation Army (ELN) said on Friday they have agreed to invite Brazil, Chile and Mexico as so-called guarantor coun tries in peace talks that seek to end nearly 60 years of conflict.

The peace talks, which had been suspended in 2019, resumed in the Venezuelan capital Caracas on Monday.

Leftist Colombian President Gustavo Petro, a former member of the M-19 insurgency who took of fice in August, has prom ised to bring "total peace" to Colombia after the South American country signed a peace deal at the end of 2016 with the much larg er Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Following a week of dis cussions, Colombia and the ELN said in a statement they have worked in an "en vironment of trust and opti mism." They agreed to bring in Brazil, Chile and Mexico to join Cuba, Norway and Venezuela, as countries who can ensure compliance with commitments made.

They will also in

vite Germany, Sweden, Switzerland and Spain to join and will encourage the United States to appoint a special envoy to the negoti ating table.

Colombia and the ELN also agreed to resume hu manitarian relief, but did not offer details.

Previous attempts at ne gotiations with the ELN, which has some 2400 com batants and was founded in 1964 by radical Catholic priests, have not advanced partly because of dissent within its ranks.

ELN leaders say the group is united, but it is un clear how much sway negoti ators hold over active units. Much of the ELN's negoti ating team is older than its rank and file.

Talks between the ELN and the Government of Juan Manuel Santos began in 2017 in Ecuador, later moving to Cuba, but were called off in 2019 by Santos' successor, Ivan Duque, be cause the ELN refused to halt hostilities and killed 22 police cadets in a bombing.

(Reuters)

In South America's Andes, farmers pray for rain to end drought

High in the mountains of the Bolivian Andes, farmer Alberto Quispe has one thing on his mind: rain.

In the rural area of Tihuanacu, around 100 kilo meters (62 miles) south-west of highland city La Paz, lo cals say there has been little rain this season during a dry spell across the Andean re gions due to a third straight La Nina weather pattern.

"When we raise our hands, we ask God to forgive us our sins and to ask for rain for our crops, because in the fields we don't have water, nor for

the cattle," said Quispe, who climbed into the hills with community members to pray for rain.

Around Bolivia, many ar eas have declared an emer gency due to the drought, which Bolivia's National Meteorology and Hydrology Service expects will last un til 2023, when the intensi ty of the La Nina is expect ed to wane. The drought has hit crops in Bolivia as well as in Argentina, Paraguay and Peru.

Quispe and others climbed Lloco Iloco hill with their evangelical shepherd

to ask for rain from both God and the local indigenous Aymara mountain deities, or Achachilas, raising hands to the skies while on their knees.

Just across the Bolivian border with Peru, the situa tion in similar.

In the Andean regions, drought in recent years has caused falling water reser voir levels in places like Chile and led to important glaciers retreating. Drought has hit crops like wheat and soy, in cluding this year in major grains producer Argentina.

(Excerpt from Reuters)

Stand up comedy booms in Venezuela, but politics are off stage

Samuel Rodriguez's pizzeria in Caracas does not just serve up hot cheesy pies - it also dishes out jokes, offering a stage to young comedians filling the void left by vet eran comics who have fled Venezuela's economic cri sis.

Rodriguez, 36, performs himself several days a week in what he describes as a kind of catharsis for dealing with day-to-day problems, at the unlikely spot that is one of a grow ing number of venues in Venezuela's capital attract ing stand-up fans.

But politics is not neces sarily on the menu.

The public and comedi ans alike are worn out by issues like constant pow er or water cuts and grow

ing income inequality, Rodriguez noted.

"The subject of (what's happening in) the coun try is not touched on in the routines or in the jokes... people are generally tired of it," he said.

The influx of enter tainment venues, includ ing cafes, bars and restau rants, comes after the Government relaxed eco nomic regulations three years ago, allowing more transactions in dollars.

Those new opportunities to get onstage, alongside an uptick in video-based so cial media such as Tik Tok, have been a boon for young comedians, locals say.

Yet for all the gags about daily life, Venezuela's new generations of comedians tend to steer clear of polit

ical jokes.

"(Venezualans' humour follows) the style of North American comedy ... which talks about everyday life, not political issues," said Laureano Marquez, 59, a renowned humourist and political analyst.

Marquez, who has toured South America and is currently doing gigs in Spain, said a "climate of political repression" has also prompted comedians to avoid touchy topics.

Authorities have closed more than 50 radio stations in Venezuela this year, which non-govern mental organisations say is an effort to control informa tion and give state media hegemony over communica tions and journalist guilds. (Excerpt from Reuters)

Three killed, at least 8 injured in Brazil school shooting

Three people were killed and at least eight injured on Friday when a shooter opened fire at two schools in the Brazilian state of Espirito Santo, local Police said.

The attacks happened around 10 am local time (1300 GMT) in the small town of Aracruz, locat ed some 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of state capital Vitoria.

Officials said an un identified teenager in mili tary attire had opened fire at two schools, one private and one public, and was

still missing in the early afternoon.

Local Police said they initially suspected the shooter was a student at one of the attacked schools, but Espirito Santo's head of public security Marcio Celante told reporters that had not been confirmed.

The public security of fice said in a statement that Police and rescue workers were taking care of those injured while continuing to search for the shooter.

One injured person had to be taken by helicopter to Serra, a larger city located some about 60 km south of

Aracruz.

Espirito Santo Governor Renato Casagrande ex pressed his condolences to the victims' families and said that all local security forces had been engaged in the investigation.

President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called it an "absurd tragedy."

"I extend my support to Governor Casagrande in investigating the case and comforting the communi ties surrounding the two affected schools," said Lula, who will take office from President Jair Bolsonaro on Jan 1. (Reuters)

Police ramp up presence under state of emergency in Honduras

Police have stepped up their presence on the streets of Honduras after President Xiomara Castro declared a state of emergency to quash a rise in gang activi ty in the Central American nation.

A photographer with the AFP news agency re ported a heavy presence of special forces and other of ficers on Friday in the cap ital, Tegucigalpa.

Castro, who took of fice in January as Honduras’s first female President, declared a state of emergency on Thursday and urged Police to recov er public spaces “assault ed and controlled by organ ised crime and its gangs”.

She also asked Police to identify hotspots where “the partial suspension of constitutional guarantees” would be necessary.

“To strengthen efforts to recover lawless areas in the neighbourhoods, in vil lages, in departments, I declare a national state of emergency,” Castro said as she announced the mea

sures during a live televi sion broadcast.

Police Chief Gustavo Sanchez said he would ded icate more funds and at least 20,000 officers to the efforts to stamp out gang activity.

The state of emergen cy also would allow new security controls on roads and include measures against money launder ing, with Castro saying her Government was declaring “war on extortion, just as

we declared war on corrup tion, impunity, and drug trafficking”.

Congress must still ap prove the suspension of con stitutional rights, though the security plan came into force on Thursday.

The move came just days after hundreds of truckers protested in the capital to demand the Government take steps to stop gangs from extorting a “war tax” from them.

(Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

Peru’s PM resigns after confidence vote refused

Left-wing Peruvian President Pedro Castillo has accepted the resignation of his Prime Minister and will reshuf fle his Cabinet once again, amid a lengthy battle be tween the executive and legislative branches.

Former Prime Minister Anibal Torres, a staunch ally of Castillo, had chal lenged the Oppositioncontrolled Congress to a con fidence vote last week. But Congress declined to hold such a vote on Thursday, saying conditions for it had not been met.

“Having accepted the resignation of the Prime Minister, whom I thank for his work on behalf of the country, I will renew the

Cabinet,” Castillo said in a national television broad cast.

The confidence vote chal lenge was meant to pres sure Congress amid tense relations between the two branches of government.

Opposition legisla tors have twice impeached Castillo but failed to re move him, although they have managed to censure and fire several Cabinet members.

“I call on Congress to re spect the rule of law, the rights of the people, de mocracy and the balance of state powers,” Castillo said.

His presidency has been marked by a turnover in se nior Government positions. Castillo is now set to name

a fifth Prime Minister – his top adviser and spokesper son – since taking office in July last year.

Confidence votes are controversial in Peru as they can come with sig nificant consequences. If Congress had issued a vote of no-confidence, Torres and the entire Cabinet would have been forced to resign.

But a new Cabinet could then call for a second confi dence vote which, if also de nied, would allow the execu tive to shut down Congress and call new legislative elections.

Last week, Torres said he would interpret a lack of a vote as the equivalent of a no-confidence vote. (Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

A view shows the Humboldt Hotel at the top of El Avila National Park where the news conference took place after renewed peace talks with the National Liberation Army (ELN) rebels began, in Caracas, Venezuela November 21, 2022

President Xiomara Castro said she declared state of emergency “to strengthen efforts to recover lawless areas in the neighbourhoods, in villages, in departments” across Honduras

Around the World

Putin tells mothers of soldiers killed in Ukraine: 'We share your pain'

lost sons.

Oil prices fall 2% as Chinese demand worries linger

Oil prices fell 2 per cent on Friday in thin market liquidity, closing a week marked by worries about Chinese demand and haggling over a Western price cap on Russian oil.

Brent crude futures settled down US$1.71, or 2 per cent, to trade at US$83.63 a barrel, having retraced some earlier gains.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down US$1.66, or 2.1 per cent, at US$76.28 a barrel. There was no WTI settlement on Thursday due to the US Thanksgiving holiday and trading volumes remained low.

"Because there's light volume after the holiday, we're giving up some of the gains here a bit," said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures group.

Both contracts posted their third consecutive weekly declines after hitting 10-month lows this week. Brent ended the week down 4.6 per cent, while WTI fell 4.7 per cent.

Brent and WTI's market structure implies current demand is softening, with backwardation, defined by frontmonth prices trading above contracts for later delivery, having weakened markedly in recent sessions.

For two-month spreads, Brent and WTI's structures even dipped into contango this week, implying oversupply with near-term delivery contracts priced below later deliveries.

China, the world's top oil importer, on Friday reported a new daily record for COVID-19 infections, as cities across the country continued to enforce mobility measures and other curbs to control outbreaks.

This is starting to hit fuel demand, with traffic drifting down and implied oil demand around 1 million barrels per day lower than average, an ANZ note showed.

Meanwhile, G7 and European Union diplomats have been discussing a Russian oil price cap between US$65 and US$70 a barrel, but an agreement has still not been reached. A meeting of European Union Government representatives, scheduled for Friday evening to discuss the proposal, was cancelled, EU diplomats said.

The aim is to limit revenue to fund Moscow's military offensive in Ukraine without disrupting global oil markets, but the proposed level is broadly in line with what Asian buyers are already paying.

Poland is seeking German support to slap EU sanctions on the Polish-German section of the Druzhba crude pipeline so Warsaw can abandon a deal to buy Russian oil next year without paying penalties, two sources familiar with the talks said.

Trading is expected to remain cautious ahead of an agreement on the price cap, due to come into effect on Dec 5 when an EU ban on Russian crude kicks off, and ahead of the next meeting of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies on Dec 4. (Reuters)

President Vladimir Putin spoke on Friday to a carefully selected group of mothers of Russian soldiers sent to fight in Ukraine who praised his leadership while he told them their sons had not died in vain.

Tens of thousands of Russian and Ukrainian sol diers have been killed or

wounded in the conflict sparked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, according to the United States.

Hundreds of thousands of Russians have been sent to fight in Ukraine - including some of the more than 300,000 called up as part of a mobilisa tion announced in September.

Hundreds of thousands

China Xinjiang: 10 dead in Urumqi residential block fire

Ten people have died in a fire in flats in the city of Urumqi, capital of the western Xinjiang region.

The incident has led to an ger online. The city has been under strict COVID restric tions since early August.

State media said the com pound had been categorised as low risk for COVID and residents were able to go downstairs.

A further nine people were injured in the blaze, state me dia reported.

The fire broke out on the 15th floor of the building at about 19:50 local time (11:50 GMT) on Thursday and spread to higher floors before being extinguished nearly three hours later.

Video from the scene post ed online by Chinese state media showed workers re moving fences near the com pound and fire trucks wait ing.

One man in a residential compound near where the fire

happened told the BBC that even in low-risk compounds in Urumqi, residents still had to follow directions from lo cal officials about when they could leave their apartments for a short period of exercise each day.

He said he had been fol lowing a stay-at-home order since August 7.

"We Xinjiang people don't dare to go downstairs without permits as it will violate the law even if the building gate is not locked," he said.

"After the accident yester day, we are now wondering whether we should still fol low the official's notice in the WeChat group," he added.

Fires occur frequently in China because of lax safety standards.

Earlier this week, 38 peo ple were killed at a facto ry in central Anyang city. Authorities blamed "elec tric welding in which work ers violated safety measures". (Excerpt from BBC News)

Walmart gunman railed at co-workers in 'death note' before Virginia store shooting

AWalmart supervisor who killed six co-work ers at a store in Virginia on Tuesday bought a handgun the day of the shoot ing and left a rambling note on his cell phone in which he railed against other employ ees who he felt had mocked and betrayed him.

Information on the fire arm purchase and note was released by the city of Chesapeake on Friday in an update on its investigation into the shooting, in which 31-year-old Andre Bing opened fire on other work ers before turning the gun on himself.

In a separate shooting on Friday, Walmart said it had evacuated a Supercenter in

Lumberton, North Carolina. One person was shot at the store and Police were search ing for a suspect, according to a local CBS affiliate.

Also Friday, law enforce ment officials were investigat ing threatening phone calls made to two Walmart stores in Virginia Beach, about 20 miles east of Chesapeake, ac cording to Police. Known as Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving has historical ly been the busiest shopping day of the year.

Bing, an overnight shift team leader, was armed with a handgun when he shot some but not all of the em ployees assembled in a break room prior to their shift on Tuesday, witnesses and

Police said, raising the pros pect he targeted individuals.

In his note, Bing made ref erence to an unspecified work failure on his part and per ceived slights from co-work ers, who he felt were mocking him. He said he believed his phone had been hacked and

"was giving the worst feeling imaginable."

"The associates gave me evil twisted grins, mocked me and celebrated my down fall the last day," he wrote. "That's why they suffer the same fate as me."

(Excerpt from Reuters)

more have fled Russia to es cape the draft, and dissatis faction with soldiers' lack of equipment or training or the chaotic nature of the mobili sation can be found across so cial media. Protests against the war and the enlistment drive have been crushed by force.

Putin was shown in record ings meeting 17 women at his Novo-Ogaryovo residence out side Moscow to mark Sunday's Russian Mother's Day, sitting around a table laden with tea, cakes and berries, and listen ing to their stories for over two hours.

Putin said he understood their anxiety and concernand the pain of those who had

"I would like you to know that, that I personally, and the whole leadership of the country - we share your pain," he said.

"We understand that noth ing can replace the loss of a son - especially for a mother," he added, breathing heavi ly and frequently clearing his throat.

Putin has said he has no regrets about what he calls Russia's "special military op eration" in Ukraine, which he describes as the moment Russia faced down Western hegemony after decades of humiliation since the Soviet Union fell in 1991.

(Excerpt

from Reuters)

New research has found that the rec ommended eight glasses of water a day may be too much.

Scientists from the University of Aberdeen dis covered the recommended intake of two litres of water a day was often more than people needed.

Given around half of the daily intake of water comes from food, scientists estimate people only really need about 1.5 to 1.8 litres per day.

The latest findings were published in Science this week.

Previous research into water requirements used surveys applied to small samples of people.

Prof John Speakman from the University of Aberdeen told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland: "The original es timate of two litres a day comes from a slight miscal culation.

"The water that we'd

need to drink is the differ ence between the total wa ter that we need to ingest and the amount that we get from our food.

But scientists have now collaborated across the world to measure exact wa ter turnover using a stable isotope technique.

They surveyed 5604 people from 23 different countries and aged be tween eight days and 96 years old.

Research involved peo ple drinking a glass of wa ter in which some of the hydrogen molecules were replaced by a stable isotope of the element called deute rium.

It is found naturally in the human body and is completely harmless.

The rate of elimina tion of the extra deuterium shows how quickly water in the body is turning over.

People with a high er water turnover usually need to drink more water.

(Excerpt from BBC News)

Australia: Python bites and drags 5-year-old into pool

Afive-year-old

Australian boy has survived being bitten, constricted and dragged into a swimming pool by a py thon about three times his size.

Beau Blake was enjoying a swim at home when the 3m long (10ft) reptile struck, his father told a local radio station.

The pair - still entangled - were pulled from the pool by Beau's grandfather and the boy was prised free from the animal by his dad Ben.

But Beau is in good spir its and escaped with only minor injuries.

"Once we cleaned up the blood and told him that he wasn't going to die be cause it wasn't a poisonous snake... he was pretty good actually," his father Ben told Melbourne radio station 3AW on Friday about the in cident that happened a day earlier.

Despite the lucky escape,

the dramatic saga was still quite "an ordeal", he said.

"[Beau] was just walk ing around the edge [of the pool]... and I believe the python was sort of sitting there waiting for a victim to come along... and Beau was it."

With "no self-preserva tion whatsoever", Beau's 76-year-old grandfather Allan jumped in the pool and passed the boy and snake to Ben.

"I'm not a little lad... [so] I had him released within 15-20 seconds," Ben said.

Ben then held on to the python for about 10 min utes as he desperately tried to calm his children and his father, before releasing the snake back into the vegeta tion.

Ben told the radio sta tion pythons were a fact of life in the area, about 8 hours north of Sydney, say ing "look...it is Australia". (Excerpt from BBC News)

Scientists say 8 glasses of water a day may be too much

Russia's President Vladimir Putin attending a meeting with mothers of Russian servicemen participating in Russia-Ukraine conflict, ahead of Mother's Day at the Novo-Ogaryovo State Residence outside Moscow, Russia November 25, 2022

Police walking through the parking lot after a mass shooting at a Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia, US November 23, 2022

DAILY HOROSCOPES

Don’t complain or criticize others. Go about your business and take care of your responsibilities. The more you get done, the better you will feel. Do what makes you happy.

(March 21-April 19)

(April 20-May 20)

Learn as you go. Incorporate what you discover into your everyday routine. Try to fix what isn’t working for you and replace it with a cost-effective, healthy alternative.

Target what you want to achieve and get moving. Hard work will give you a sense of accomplishment. Make plans with someone you enjoy being around and discuss how to pool your resources.

(May 21-June 20)

(June 21-July 22) (July 23-Aug. 22)

Test the waters, embrace what life has to offer and share your fears and thoughts with someone who can help you change your life. Refuse to let out side influences lead you astray.

Be honest with yourself and those you deal with, and you’ll speed up the process of getting what you want. An op portunity to learn something new can change the way you do things moving forward.

Take a break, do something fun, en gage with people you love and discuss the changes you want to make that will improve your life. Problems will surface if you haven’t found a way to accommo date someone.

(Aug. 23-Sept. 22)

(Sept. 23-Oct. 23)

Keep an open mind and discuss alter natives that won’t upset someone going through a rough patch. An open-minded approach that is enthusiastic and filled with hope will draw interest.

If you feel comfortable, you’ll find it easier to function and take care of your responsibilities without feeling over whelmed. The changes you make at home will have a big effect.

(Oct. 24-Nov. 22) (Nov. 23-Dec. 21)

Take the plunge and follow your plans. Don’t let a misunderstanding ruin your schedule or set off an argument with a loved one. Be willing to meet half way and engage in fruitful talks.

Change is up to you, so stop procras tinating and start making moves. Look for unique ways to make your assets grow and your liabilities diminish. Don’t give others the right to decide things for you.

(Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

(Jan. 20-Feb. 19)

If you search, you will find answers. Go directly to the source when looking for information and you’ll save yourself time. Ask questions and assess situa tions based on truth and what’s possible.

What you contribute will affect your reputation. Don’t let anyone take advan tage of you or shut the door on those in need. Maintain a firm but positive atti tude.

(Feb. 20-March 20)

ARCHIE PEANUTS

CALVIN AND HOBBES

DILBERT

FIFA WORLD CUP: Qatar 2022

Iran sucker punch Wales with stoppage-time winning goals

Wales's first World Cup for 64 years looks set to end at the first hurdle, after a gut-wrenching but deserved last-ditch defeat by Iran in Qatar.

Nine minutes into stop page time, substitute Roozbeh Cheshmi struck from 20 yards, before Ramin Rezaeian finished off a count er-attack to seal victory for a revitalised Iran side, who have renewed hope of reach ing the knockout stages for the first time in their history.

Those were decisive blows to Welsh prospects of victory, which had all but vanished when goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey was sent off with four minutes of normal time remaining, following a video assistant referee check for a reckless challenge on Medhi Taremi.

As they did in their open ing draw with the United States, Wales started poorly, and had the video assistant referee (VAR) to thank for dis allowing a goal from Iran's Ali Gholizadeh for offside. In one of the most highly charged at mospheres of this World Cup, Iran's players sang their na

tional anthem this time, hav ing declined to do so before their opening loss to England in an apparent show of sup port for anti-Government protests in their country; but their own fans booed the an them, and some could be seen crying in the stands.

Roared on by the fervent and almost entirely Iranian crowd, Carlos Queiroz's side were extremely unlucky not to score early in the second half, as Sardar Azmoun and Gholizadeh both struck the post within the space of a few seconds. Wales were utterly ragged, and as they pushed forward in search of the late winning goal they desperate ly needed, a long ball over the top left their defence ex posed, and the onrushing Hennessey brought down Taremi. Hennessey was ini tially shown a yellow card, but it was changed to a red af ter the referee was advised to check on the pitchside moni tor.

The 35-year-old Hennessey has become only the third keeper to be sent off at a World Cup. That set the seal on Wales's fate for this match, and in all likelihood,

their hopes of reaching the second round have also been sealed.

While Robert Page's men were just as disjointed as they were against the USA, Iran were unrecognisable from the team thrashed 6-2 by England in their first match, and they fully deserved this win.

Wales now face the formi

dable challenge of needing to win their final group match on Tuesday against England, who take on the United States later on Friday. It is not impossible, but based on how the Group B teams have fared so far in Qatar, Wales's first World Cup for 64 years looks like it is in serious dan ger of ending at the earliest stage. (BBC)

USA hold England to goalless draw

England laboured to a drab draw against the United States, and missed the chance to seal qualification for the World Cup knockout stage.

Gareth Southgate's side were second best for long periods, as they failed to match the energy and inten sity of the USA, who have their own hopes of making the last 16.

England, with Harry Maguire outstanding in defence, were unimpres sive, and rode their luck when Weston McKennie missed an easy chance and Christian Pulisic struck the

bar in the first half. Mason Mount brought a fine save from USA goalkeeper Matt Turner just before the break, but that was an un distinguished display that carried none of the attack ing verve that saw the Three Lions thrash Iran in their opening game, and England are left heading into their match against Wales with their fate undecided.

However, England re main firm favourites to qualify for the knockout stage, knowing they need only avoid a four-goal defeat against Wales to progress. (BBC)

Neymar sustains ligament damage to right ankle

Qatar have exited the World Cup in their home country after Senegal condemned them to a second straight loss and Netherlands drew with Ecuador 1-1.

African champions Senegal are up and running. Boulaye Dia broke the dead lock four minutes before halftime when he slammed home to punish Boualem Khoukhi's miscued clearance. Looking to hit back in the second pe riod, Qatar's hopes were dashed when former Bristol City striker Famara Diedhiou rose to flick in a glorious head er just three minutes after the break. Watford's Ismaila Sarr had an early chance on his 50th cap, but struck into

the side netting, while Idrissa Gueye of Everton's rasping drive went narrowly wide.

Qatar felt they should have had a first-half penalty when Akram Afif was bundled over in the box by Sarr, but refer ee Antonio Lahoz pointed only for a goal-kick, much to the anger of the home supporters.

Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy made stunning reflex saves to deny Almoez Ali and Ismail Mohamad, but he could do nothing about Mohammed Muntari's powerful header.

Qatar were searching for the equaliser, but Bamba Dieng stroked in to deflate the home team’s following, and leave their team at bottom of the group, without a point af ter two games played. (BBC)

Enner Valencia has scored his third goal of the World Cup before being taken off on a stretch er, as Ecuador drew with the Netherlands to leave Group A wide open.

Ecuador fans were bouncing with excitement throughout the second half at the Khalifa International Stadium, as their team equal ised just after the break, and continued to create chances against a rattled Netherlands side.

The entire Ecuador squad, including substitutes, ran over to the corner flag to cel ebrate with Valencia af ter he poked in the rebound from Pervis Estupinan's par ried shot in the 49th minute.

The captain, who scored both goals in Ecuador's victory over hosts Qatar on the open ing night of the World Cup, was a constant threat, but his

night was cut short due to in jury. Valencia went down in the final minute of normal time, and was taken off on a stretcher, but was seen hob bling to his seat in the dug out.

PSV Eindhoven for ward Cody Gakpo gave the Netherlands the lead af ter just five minutes and four seconds - the quickest goal so far in Qatar - when he struck a shot beautifully into the top of the net. But the Dutch struggled to build on their lead, with Ecuador's Estupinan having a goal dis allowed on the stroke of halftime, before Gonzalo Plata's long-range curler bounced off the crossbar after Valencia's equaliser.

The draw leaves both teams on four points in Group A, needing just a draw in their final games to qualify for the knockout rounds. (BBC)

Neymar has been ruled out of Brazil's next two World Cup games af ter sustaining ligament dam age in his right ankle, says the Brazilian team doctor.

The 30-year-old forward was replaced in the 80th min ute of Thursday's 2-0 win over Serbia after a heavy tackle from Nikola Milenkovic, and sat with his face covered while receiving treatment. Pictures showed his right an kle was swollen.

Right-back Danilo will also miss the next two games with ankle damage. Brazil face Switzerland in their sec ond Group G game on Monday (16:00 GMT), before playing Cameroon next Friday (19:00 BST).

"Neymar and Danilo went through (an) MRI on Friday afternoon, and we found lig ament damage in the ankle of both of them," said Brazil

team doctor Rodrigo Lasmar.

"It is important to be calm, and evaluate day by day. The idea is to recover them for the rest of the competition."

Speaking after the win against Serbia, Brazil head coach Tite said they were "con fident Neymar will continue playing in the World Cup", and that he "didn't see he was injured - the capacity he has to overcome it tricked even me".

The Paris St-Germain strik er has suffered a number of in jury problems with his right foot over the past few years. He missed the 2019 COPA America after suffering torn lig aments in his right ankle, and was out for several weeks in 2021 with a similar injury.

Neymar was fouled nine times during the game against Serbia, drawing four more free-kicks than any oth er player at this year's World Cup so far. (BBC)

Iran celebrating their 2-0 defeat of Wales

Hosts Qatar are first team to be eliminated from World Cup

Valencia scores as Ecuador draw with Netherlands

Enner Valencia scored the equaliser for Ecuador

England-USA fixture ended in a draw

-to miss Brazil's next two group games

WI warm-up match vs Australia PM’s

XI…

West Indies set 309 to win

-after Renshaw’s unbeaten ton

Matt Renshaw has sent another strong message to Australian Cricket selectors with an unbeaten hundred on day three of the pinkball tour game against West Indies at Manuka Oval.

Captain Josh Inglis de clared the Prime Minister’s XI’s second innings at 221 for 4, four balls after Renshaw reached his ton, with the Queenslander scor ing 101 not out off 218 balls.

Set 309 for victory West Indies were 35 for 0 at stumps after 16 overs, with Kraigg Brathwaite on 19 and Tagenarine Chanderpaul on 15, requiring another 274 on the final day.

Renshaw, who has been restored to the top of the Queensland order this sea son, after some time in the middle order, notched the 17th first-class century of his career, and his second of the season, following an unbeaten 200 against New South Wales.

The 26-year-old, who played the most recent of his 11 Tests in 2018, added 145 for the third wicket with

SCOREBOARD

Prime Minister’s XI 2nd Innings

Matt Renshaw not out 101

Marcus Harris b Seales 5

Henry Hunt c †Da Silva

b Joseph 2

Peter Handscomb b

Brathwaite 75

Josh Inglis (c)†c Roach

b Thomas 15

Aaron Hardie not out 12

Extras (b 9, lb 1, w 1) 11

TOTAL 70 Ov (RR: 3.15) 221/4d

Did not bat: Ashton Agar, Michael Neser, Joel Paris, Mark Steketee, Todd Murphy

Fall of wickets: 1-6

(Marcus Harris, 5.1 ov), 2-13 (Henry Hunt, 8.2 ov), 3-158 (Peter Handscomb, 54.3 ov), 4-193 (Josh Inglis, 61.1 ov)

BOWLING O-M-R-W

Kemar Roach 9-4-10-0 Jayden Seales 9-1-28-1

Alzarri Joseph 11-1-32-1 Roston Chase 18-0-58-0

Devon Thomas 6-1-29-1

Kraigg Brathwaite 14-0-39-1 Nkrumah Bonner 3-0-15-0

West Indies 2nd Innings (T: 309 runs)

Kraigg Brathwaite (c)not out 19 Tagenarine Chanderpaul not out 15

Extras (nb 1) 1

TOTAL 16 Ov (RR: 2.18) 35

Yet to bat: Raymon Reifer, Nkrumah Bonner, Devon Thomas, Kyle Mayers, Joshua Da Silva †, Roston Chase, Alzarri Joseph, Kemar Roach, Jayden Seales

BOWLING O-M-R-W

Michael Neser 6-1-18-0 Joel Paris 5-2-6-0 Mark Steketee 3-0-7-0

Aaron Hardie 2-1-4-0

Renshaw, who top-scored with 81 in the first innings, struggled for touch early on, and notched just one four off

his first 88 balls. Watched by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, he played with more fluency as the innings progressed, fin ishing with nine boundaries. Handscomb, who scored

55 in the first innings, was bowled five minutes before the dinner break by spinner Brathwaite. He had been given a couple of chances, on 41 and 54.

The PM’s XI accumulat ed runs steadily off 70 overs, after quickly finishing off the West Indies’ first in nings for an 87-run lead.

Resuming at 234 for 7,

Jamaica Scorpions coach Andrew Richardson endorses Captain Rovman Powell

the tourists added just one run from a no ball before their innings ended in the second over of the day.

Paceman Mark Steketee (3-33) trapped Joseph lbw, and two balls later had Jayden Seales well caught at second slip by Handscomb. With Raymon Reifer unable to bat, West Indies ended on 235 for 9.

By the time the PM’s XI had their lead reach 100, they had already lost two wickets. Marcus Harris edged a Seales delivery into his stumps, and Henry Hunt was caught behind slashing at a Joseph delivery.

Joseph and Seales were the most impressive bowl ers, while spearhead Kemar Roach conceded just 10 off nine overs. (Cricinfo)

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Former West Indies

Captain Nicholas Pooran is dominating the Abu Dhabi T10 League, the left-handed pocket rocket having slammed two playerof-the-match efforts in scor ing a blistering 77 and an im pressive 80 in the first two matches.

Pooran, captain of the Deccan Gladiators, has said he is enjoying his crick et, and is grateful for the wins. The ‘fearless man from Trinidad’ is leading the likes of England’s Jason Roy and West Indies’ Andre Russell and Odean Smith, and Tabriz Shamsi and David Wiese in the Gladiators team.

“I am just thankful. Here I am in this T10 (tourna ment) trying to enjoy myself and (trying) to win games for my team. Luckily, I was able to perform in the first two games. I am grateful that we won the game. Today was my day, and I am trying to ride

the wave as (much as is) pos sible. As long as we are win ning, I am happy,” Pooran said after his innings of 80.

Pooran stepped down from being captain of the West Indies white-ball team earlier in the week. He had

In the T20 World Cup, West Indies had come into the tournament as twotime champions, but were stunned by Scotland in the opener, and then went on to lose against Ireland. They finished the tournament with just one win - against Zimbabwe - before crashing out in the first round.

Jamaica Scorpions head coach Andrew Richardson has de scribed team captain Rovman Powell as an “awe some” leader, and believes his performance in the re cently staged Super50 Cup was evidence of the person al investment in his devel opment.

marshalled the troops on the field was awesome to see. Every time he batted, he batted with a purpose. I certainly know…(in the fi nal) he wanted to be there at the end, but unfortunately it didn’t go according to plan.”

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taken over the full-time cap taincy from Kieron Pollard in May of this year, but the West Indies have since won just four out of 15 ODIs and four out of 15 T20Is.

Pooran’s own form has been a concern in recent times. He had scored just 94 runs in his last 10 innings in T20Is. He finished the T20 World Cup with scores of 5, 7 and 13. However, in the re cent Regional Super50 tour nament, he scored 342 runs at an average of 114. He has taken that form into the Abu Dhabi T10 League, and is relishing every moment of play.

Pooran, who was released by SRH, will be aiming to bag a large sum at the December 23 Indian Premier League auction. (Brandon Corlette)

Powell impressed both with his form and his cap taincy as Scorpions bounced back from a shaky start to the tournament to beat de fending champions and favourites Trinidad and Tobago Red Force in last Saturday’s final, and lift their first regional one-day title in 11 years.

Powell led his side’s bat ting with 346 runs at an average of 69, with one hundred – a brilliant un beaten 105 in the semi-final, which spearheaded a tour nament-high run chase of 318 to stun Guyana Harpy Eagles.

“Awesomeness! Awesomeness!” Richardson has said. “Rovy (Powell), the way he operates, you can tell he wants to take his game to the next level. The way he

He continued: “He is one of the cricketers that I can tell you has personally in vested in his game and his improvement, and this is just fruits of his labour.”

The 29-year-old, West Indies’ Twenty20 vice-cap tain at the recent World Cup in Australia, also tast ed success two months ago when he oversaw Jamaica Tallawahs’ capture of the Caribbean Premier League.

Powell, who made his in ternational debut six years ago, has played 45 OneDay Internationals and 55 T20 Internationals. He was one of several play ers with international ex perience in the successful Scorpions side, campaigning alongside current Windies stars Sheldon Cottrell, Brandon King and Odean Smith, and former players like Chadwick Walton and Andre McCarthy. (CMC)

Matthew Renshaw brought up a century against West Indies

Peter Handscomb, after the tourists had reduced the home team to 13 for 2.

GBBFF’s 2022 Seniors Bodybuilding Championships set for December 18

-Keavon Bess hoping fans would be “satisfied”

“I can only be myself”

By TimoThy Jaikarran

The Guyana Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation (GBBFF) are all set to host their first Seniors Bodybuilding Championships for 2022, on December 18 at the National Cultural Centre.

GBBFF President Keavon Bess has said he is grateful to have the compe tition staged as things re turn to normalcy, and he is optimistic that fans would be hungry for more of the same at the end of the com petition.

In a discussion with this publication, he was invited to comment on the compe tition returning for its sec ond year, and he said, “Well, it’s good to have the Seniors competition back two years running in a row. Last year we were still somewhat re covering from the pandem ic, but this year I think we are somewhat in a better po

sition, (because) we are back to normality. Mask man dates and all of these other COVID-related mandates have been removed; so, we are back to normal, where persons can come out and enjoy the competition.”

Bess also related that be cause of the pandemic, the GBBFF were restricted to about 200 seats last year, whereas they have the en tire auditorium this year. This in effect means there are hundreds of seats avail able for the convenience of persons who wish to come out and support the athletes in the various segments, Bess explained.

In regard to what the fans can expect come December 18, Bess declared that fans can expect a high degree of improvement in physicality from the athletes on stage, and professionalism would be much improved as well.

“Most of the athletes who will be on stage have ac quired a lot of internation

al experience by now. Most of them will be coming from that large team that we took to CAC in Barbados, where they did well. So, they are coming to the local stage to showcase to the local audi ence their bodies which… allowed them to do well in Barbados. So, fans can come out and expect a competition of the highest quality, and fun at the same time,” Bess shared.

Bess has promised that the GBBFF would be “run ning a very tight ship” from beginning to end, and he is confident the show would be exciting and fans would leave the venue with “their appetites wet” for more bodybuilding action.

He has disclosed that approximately 30 athletes would be competing in the 4 different segments of this competition: Bodybuilding, Bikini, Women’s Wellness, and Men’s Physique; and has said an official list of par

ticipating athletes would be presented to the me dia within the first week of December, 2022.

Among the athletes whose participation has been confirmed are Darious Ramsammy, Christina Ramsammy, Rosanna Fung, Nicolas Albert, Emmerson Campbell, Odel CrumEwing, Ashanti Conway, Jonathan Jeffery and Julio Sinclair.

Ahead of a possible de but for the Caribbean team in the upcom ing series against Australia next week, West Indies callup Tagenarine Chanderpaul is insisting he is focused on being himself.

On Thursday, the 26-year-old Chanderpaul made 119 off 293 balls during the team’s warmup game against a Prime Minister’s XI in the ongo ing four-day tour match in Canberra. The knock fea tured 11 crisp fours and a six on his way to reaching triple figures.

Chanderpaul, who was called up to the team last month, is widely expect ed to partner Windies cap tain Kraigg Brathwaite at the top of the innings for the match-up with the world’s number-one-ranked Aussies, following the sus pension of John Campbell, who has been banned for re fusing to provide blood sam ples on demand.

Ahead of Chanderpaul’s potential debut, compar

isons with his famous fa ther, West Indies legend Shivnarine Chanderpaul, are inescapable. In an out standing 164 Test match career for the West Indies, Shivnarine Chanderpaul has scored 11,867 runs, which puts him second in the all-time list behind the great Brian Lara. It’s a tow ering legacy to live up to.

“They’re big boots, but I try and be myself. I can only be myself, so I just try and be me,” the young Chanderpaul has said after Thursday’s match.

Like his father, Tagenarine has shown the propensity to be watchful and patient at the crease, which could bode well for the regional team. The bats man is however hoping to eventually be recognised for his own style.

“I try and be myself. I can’t replicate him, so I can only be myself. Fingers crossed… I’ll try to get some runs if I’m select ed,” Tagenarine has said. (Sportsmax)

course commences

The Coach Education Department of the Guyana Football Federation continues to fo cus on efforts to grow fe male homegrown coach ing talent with twenty-four former and current nation al players, club, school and community coaches start ing the journey towards Concacaf W ‘C Licence’ cer tification.

This six-day, women-on ly course opened at the GFF National Training Centre at Providence, EBD with a strong showing from as piring female coaches from nine regional associations across Guyana. Women’s Football Association President Andrea Johnson, in her brief opening ad dress, said the course is a step in the right direction for women’s football devel opment in Guyana.

“Today is a histor ic day for women in foot ball in Guyana. Never be fore have we had 24 female participants for any coach ing course. For too long, we have had a male-dominat

ed coaching staff for female teams, especially national teams. For CONCACAF to be here in Guyana to do a ‘C Licence’ coaching course for only women means that we are making another step towards development of the women’s game,” she said.

The “blended learn ing” programme is be ing facilitated by Anton Corneal, CONCACAF Coaching Educator and for mer Technical Director of the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association; GFF acting Technical Direction Bryan Joseph, and Coach

Linsworth Gilbert. The first part involves online theo retical lessons, followed by practical sessions at the GFF National Training Facility.

This internationally-rec ognised licence would give participating coaches the skills set and knowledge to design and deliver ef fective coaching sessions for a wider range of play ers and scenarios, especial ly for youth football devel opment through the GFF’s nationwide network of Academy Training Centres. CONCACAF Coaching

Educator Anton Corneal has stressed that the “long term effect is actually grow ing the women’s game.

“Countries are at differ ent starting points, and we try to meet countries where there is a need. There is a need for women coaches. Concacaf has recognised that, and has decided to spend a lot of time growing the women’s game. We need this effort; we need to ignite that growth,” Corneal has said.

Guyana is the fifth coun try in the CONCACAF re gion to conduct the ‘C Level’

coach training. It aims to provide over 300 women across the region with the opportunity to coach at var ious levels.

GFF 1st Vice-President Brigadier (ret’d) Bruce Lovell added: “In the foot balling world, there is a greater push to have more female involvement in foot ball. We hear issues such as ‘equitable access, equitable pay’, and so we are doing our part here at the GFF to ensure that we implement more programmes that will provide for greater female participation in the sport.”

Acting Technical

Bryan Joseph has assured participants that the GFF is focused on grow ing the proficiency of the fe male coaches. He explained: “This is not a course (which) at the final day we will do an assessment to determine whether you have passed or failed. The persons who are not yet quite ready to re ceive the licence, GFF will continue to work with them over time, and to help them develop and get to the lev el of competency that is re quired to attain the licence.”

In 2015, GFF President Wayne Forde inherited an ecosystem of coaches who had no valid qualifica tions. The GFF Technical and Education Department has since enabled the prog ress of an all-time high 58 coaches to ‘D’ Licence or ‘C Licence level, and has in troduced a coaching philos ophy and pathway to en sure a uniform approach to football development across the GFF’s nine regional as sociations. The course con cludes on November 29th.

Director

GBBFF President, Keavon Bess

–says Tagenarine Chanderpaul, determined to forge own legacy for WI Cricket

Tagenarine Chanderpaul

INTER-GUIANA GAMES 2022…

Demetri Madamsir has clocked the best time at the Inter-Guiana Games (IGG) on Friday morning at the National Park.

Madamsir, who had visited Guyana before and had battled in cycle races, clocked 4:10:12s for his two-lap ride around the inner cir cuit, while the Guyanese duo of Alex Leung and Aaron Newton finished second and third respectively, Leung

clocking 4:12:10s and Newton clock ing 4:13:26s. The Guyanese cyclists were making their debut at the IGG. A total of 10 riders, five each from Suriname and Guyana, had partic ipated in the event.

The cycle road race will ped al off today, Saturday November 26, from Schoonard, West Bank Demerara and head to Parika, East Bank Essequibo, before returning to Leonora, West Coast Demerara for the finish.

More than 400 athletes from Guyana, French Guiana and Suriname are expected to battle for the championships. The Ministry of Sport in Guyana is aiming to devel op this event and start expanding it to other countries involved in the Inter-Guiana Games.

Speaking before the start of the IGG, Minister Ramson said he be lieves Guyana has a bright future “when it comes to what we can do in the international stage, but it re quires continuity in the direction we have started, and everyone to have that coordinated approach,” Ramson said.

The IGG will see males and fe males competing in Track and Field, Badminton, Volleyball, Tennis, Table Tennis, Swimming

and Basketball. Males would also be competing in Cycling, while females would be competing in Football.

The IGG runs from Friday, November 25 to Sunday, November 27, and will be hosted at multiple lo cations in Regions Three and Four.

The IGG was resurrected by the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government after it was dismantled by the APNU+AFC ad ministration in 2017.

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– Tagenarine Chanderpaul, son of Shiv, determined to forge own legacy for WI cricket

Diminutive Surinamese

Berbician riders Mario Washington, Adjani Cutting, Aaron Newton, Alex Leung and Sherwin Sampson are the five Guyanese participating in the race.

The riders assembling at the National Park on Friday morning