Guyana Times - Sunday, November 5, 2023.pdf

From dirt bikes to Starlet category

– Steven DeNobrega is a force to be P13 reckoned with Nationwide coverage coverage from from the the best best news news team team in in Guyana Guyana Nationwide Issue No. 5544 guyanatimesgy.com

THE BEACON BEACON OF OF TRUTH TRUTH THE

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2023

EU throws support behind initiatives, calls by Guyana to combat climate change – EU Ambassador – says ‘No time to waste anymore’ as climate threats deepen

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WHAT'S INSIDE:

Subsidising fuel prices for electricity cost Govt US$100M in 3 years – Min Indar P23

See story on page 3

– hopeful for concrete actions at COP28

100 int’l flights projected to arrive weekly at CJIA by December P21

N/A businesswoman bound, beaten during home invasion P25 –bandits cart off cash, jewellery

President Dr. Irfaan Ali sharing a toast with the new U.S. Ambassador to Guyana, Nicole D Theriot, during a reception on Friday evening to formally welcome her to Guyana. Also in the photo is Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister Hugh Todd

Finalising National Gas Monetisation Strategy while gathering public feedback will save time – VP Jagdeo

– says released document just a ‘discussion’ paper to gather comments

Armed robbery suspect shot dead after opening fire on Police at Annandale Page 2

Over 800 allottees at Cummings Lodge to access lands in time for holidays P24

Page 7

US$5M food terminal earmarked for Soesdyke-Linden Highway Page 11

– as Barbados to establish packhouse, source produce from Guyanese farmers

GTT named sole service provider for US$15M Aiden by Best Western Hotel P10

2 NEWS

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2023 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Armed robbery suspect shot dead after opening fire on Police at Annandale – was wanted for spate of robberies between Annandale and Non Pareil

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23-year-old man who was fingered in several armed robberies was on Saturday shot dead during an encounter with Police ranks at Annandale, East Coast Demerara (ECD). The dead man has been identified as Joseph

Fiffee of Buxton, ECD. Preliminary investigations revealed that on the day in question, an unknown caller contacted the Vigilance Police Station and reported that the now dead man was riding a bicycle at Annandale.

Dead: Joseph Fiffee

As a result, Police went to the location and as they approached Annandale Cross Street, the wanted man was observed riding a bicycle with a cutlass stuck between the bar.

Upon seeing the Police vehicle, the suspect began

to ride faster and eventually turned into a nearby street. The Police reportedly gave chase during which, the suspect whipped out a handgun and discharged two rounds, thus forcing the ranks to take cover.

In retaliation, one Police rank discharged a round in Fiffee’s direction, which struck him to his lower back. He reportedly dropped the bicycle and scaled a fence but subsequently collapsed.

The injured man was picked up and upon examination, a gunshot wound was seen to his lower back. He was taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

At the scene, two .25 spent shells, along with a .25 pistol with its serial

The firearm and ammunition found at the scene on Saturday

number filed off, and a magazine containing three live rounds of ammunition were found in a drain next to the fence where the now dead man had jumped.

Police stated that between October 21 and November 3, 2023, Fiffee and another male were involved in seven armed robberies between Annandale and Non Pareil, ECD. The Police added that during the spate of robberies, Fiffee would have wounded several of the victims, one of whom remains hospitalised.

Records showed that he was slapped with an armed robbery charge on April 23, 2023, and was remanded to

prison but he was released on August 30, 2023.

In 2021, at the age of 19, he was also charged with robbing a Policewoman and an elderly woman at Annandale, ECD. In that case, he was remanded to prison.

Again, he was arrested on May 2, 2020, after he was caught throwing a parcel of contraband over the southern fence of the Lusignan Prison. The parcel contained a quantity of cigarettes, rolling paper for smoking along with a cell phone and charger.

Fiffee was released from prison two months prior, after he was charged for another criminal activity.

NEWS

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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2023 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

BRIDGE OPENINGS

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

Sunday, Nov 5 – 22:30h – 00:00h and Monday, Nov 6 – 23:30h – 01:00h.

The Berbice Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on:

Sunday, Nov 5 – 10:50h – 12:20h and Monday, Nov 6 – 12:05h – 13:35h.

EU throws support behind initiatives, calls by Guyana to combat climate change – EU Ambassador

– says ‘No time to waste anymore’ as climate threats deepen Parika and Supenaam departure times – – hopeful for concrete actions at COP28 05:00h, 10:00h-12:00h, 16:00h, 18:30h daily FERRY SCHEDULE

By Rupa Seenaraine

WEATHER TODAY There will be thundery showers and sunshine during the day. Expect clear skies at night. Temperatures should range between 24 degrees Celsius and 33 degrees Celsius.

Winds: East North-Easterly to East South-Easterly between 2.68 metres and 4.47 metres.

High Tide: 09:48h and 22:11h reaching maximum heights of 1.98 metre and 2.03 metres.

Low Tide: 15:37h reaching a minimum height of 1.29 metre.

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U Ambassador to Guyana, His Excellency Rene Van Nes has pressed that there is no time to waste in setting concrete actions to address climate change, as countries prepare for the United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP28) later this year in the United Arab Emirates.

Addressing the salient item of climate change as he spoke with media operatives on Friday, the EU diplomat said more action and less talk is needed at this critical time. While there were clear intentions set out in the

EU Ambassador to Guyana, Rene Van Nes

that are necessary. We support your President [Irfaan Ali] in that and I know the preparations are really far advanced. I’m hopeful that the parties at COP28 will

will be translated into concrete actions as there is no time to waste anymore,” the EU representative underscored.

Vulnerable to the effects of climate change and the ripple effect on the country’s agriculture sector, Guyana will be allocating some US$500 million for climate-proofing within the next three years.

Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo made this disclosure last month. Small island developing and low-lying coastal states face imminent threats of climate change and have been promised funding for climate adaptation. However, Jagdeo con-

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Guyana’s low-lying conditions put it in grave danger from flooding and other climate change-related disasters (file photo)

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Paris Agreement at COP21, Van Nes drew attention to the apparent hesitation seen since.

“Everyone that is committed and worried to the overall state of climate change agenda wants to see more action and wants to see less talk…We were pretty clear in Paris about what should happen and now we see that there is hesitation to implement, to take the next steps.”

The central aim of the Paris Agreement was to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Now, the European Union is worried about the status of climate change, as the Ambassador threw support behind initiatives and calls of Guyana and its Government. Hopeful that COP28 will result in concrete actions, he contended that there is no time to lag.

“The EU is very worried about the overall state of climate change and is very willing to take these actions

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COMMODITIES Indicators

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Change %

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$84.89/barrel

-2.26

Rough Rice

$286.29/ton

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indeed be able and willing to come to agreements that

tended that this will never materialise on a level that is

required to safeguard these nations, and as such, the Government is making its own moves.

“We’re setting aside, maybe over the next three years, nearly US$500 million for just adaptation purposes, climate proofing…

That’s the first big challenge here and we’re trying to deal with this, the adaptation,” he had announced.

Last year, Guyana signed a historic, multi-year US$750 million agreement with Hess Corporation for the purchase of 37.5 million carbon credits. Guyana is, in fact, the first country to conclude the Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) process of certifying its forest carbon.

As per the 10-year agreement, the purchase of 37.5 million credits at US$750 million would see Guyana earning some US$150 million in 2023. Some 15 per cent of this sum was distributed to Indigenous villages, the remainder will be utilised for climate adaptation projects, such as sluices and canals among others.

Going into negotiations at the United Nations Climate Change Conference or Conference of the Parties (COP), Jagdeo had contended that Caribbean countries must take a unified, straightforward stance that does not reflect weakness.

He reminded that climate change has dire impacts on agriculture – a sector that is being heavily pushed to obtain self-sufficiency.

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guyanatimesgy.com

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2023

Views Editor: Tusika Martin News Hotline: 231-8063 Editorial: 231-0544 223-7230,223-7231,231-0544, 225-7761 Marketing: 231-8064 Accounts: 225-6707 Mailing address: Queens Atlantic Industrial Estate Industrial Site, Ruimveldt, Georgetown Email: news@guyanatimesgy.com, marketing@guyanatimesgy.com

Our work ethic W

hile India is widely considered a rising economic power, having recently pipped its colonial ruler Britain to be ranked 5th in the world's GDP rankings in 2023, we must view this against its productivity in order to appreciate if its citizens are enjoying the standard of living that such a ranking hints at.

A comparison of the per-capita income in Britain ($48,910) and India ($2610) offers a hint. While it is certainly on the rise, India’s economic data is heavily influenced by its huge population of 1.4 billion. A better comparison would be with China, which clocked in at 2nd with a per-capita income of $12,540 – almost 5 times that of India’s.

However, while India's economy boasts diversity and swift growth, fuelled by key sectors such as information technology, services, agriculture, and manufacturing, it is counting on its comparatively youthful demographics for future growth in productivity. While the median age in China is around 39, India's is just above 28. And in 2021, the percentage of the population below the age of 14 years in India was 26%, compared with 18% in China.

But some recent comments by world-class corporation Infosys’ billionaire founder NR Narayan Murthy (father-inlaw of British PM Rishi Sunak) have shaken that premise – and as such, has implications for Guyana, which also boasts of diversifying its burgeoning oil-fuelled GDP and a youthful population. Our median age is 26 years, with 29% being under 14.

Murthy declared that India's youth will have to work 12 hours a day for the country to catch up with economies such as China’s or South Korea’s, that saw tremendous progress in the last 2-3 decades. He pointed out that India’s work productivity is among the lowest in the world, and that in order to compete with such countries, India’s youngsters must put in extra hours of work, as Japan and Germany did after World War II. But he also included some other variables that he believes can affect overall productivity. "Unless we improve our work productivity, unless we reduce corruption in the Government at some level; because we have been reading, I don't know the truth of it; unless we reduce the delays in our bureaucracy in taking this decision, we will not be able to compete with those countries that have made tremendous progress.”

While there has been a 2018 IDB-funded study on our labour force and other follow-up surveys, these have focused on the specific skills of the labour force demanded by the new economy spawned by our burgeoning oil industry. While such studies are absolutely necessary – especially in the short term, as specific industrial and agricultural needs are satisfied - for future economic growth to be sustainable while including the non-oil sector, policymakers will have to consider the question raised by Mr Murthy on work ethic.

For the longest while, as the economy stagnated after it reached its production frontier possibilities after the Washington Consensus-driven neo-liberal policies, the high unemployment rates excluded large segments – especially of youths from the workforce. Many of them depended on remittances from relatives from abroad to survive, and this fostered a dependency syndrome in many. Those who have entered the workforce demand large salaries now that a labour shortage has developed - without a commensurate increase in productivity. We note that Venezuelan refugees have picked up the slack in the lesser-paying manual labour jobs, even as the unemployment rate among unskilled Guyanese youths remains high.

Some in the labour movement – especially those that support the Opposition – are quite content to rail against “neo-liberal anti-worker” policies, and demand that oil monies be handed out without even a means test – which should include a willingness to accept available jobs.

While we support the right of all sectors of the economy to benefit the lot of their members, we would like to point out that, only if the economic pie increases in an absolute through increased productivity from all sections, our growth will be illusory, and not lead to real development.

The Government needs to dispense some of Mr Murthy’s “tough love” to youths.

The Guyana Defence Force (GDF) collaborated with the Agriculture Ministry to host a Farmers’ Market Day activity outside of Camp Ayanganna on Saturday. Scores of persons supported the endeavour by purchasing the products the farmers had on sale. In this photo, a farmer is busy selling plantains

PPP/C on track in making housing a reality in Guyana Dear Editor, The dailies report that “Since taking office in 2020, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration has distributed more than 23,500 house lots to date, and is working aggressively to meet the target of 50,000 by the end of its 5-year tenure in 2025.”

To this I say, “Congrats!”, and even if the 50,000 target is not attained, there can be no justifiable condemnation.

And why? For one, housing people across the world is not just monumental; it is extremely difficult with what currently obtains in the world.

As we all know, people consider the high cost of a mortgage as the biggest obstacle to buying a property today. Latest research from the Building Societies Association (BSA) has shown that well over 71%; that is, seven out of 10 people, cited affordability when asked for their top three barriers to home buying.

I read that, in Germany, soaring interest rates are pushing up the cost of credit, demand is plummeting, and the price of materials is skyrocketing. Business bankruptcies in the German construction sector have doubled in the space of a year, bringing many projects to a halt. I think these two cases highlight how truly remarkable Guyana’s housing success is.

Focusing now on the 150 Region 10 healthcare workers who are set to get ‘young professional’ homes, President Irfaan Ali noted that the PPP/C’s overall plan is unfolding in a well-organised manner.

He explained, “We’re now developing Plantation York. I have asked that, before the end of this year, those 150-plus who have applied, we must have them prequalified and have the bank approve their loans. So, by the first quarter next year, they can move into their ‘young

professional’ homes.”

It gets better as the President, in a promissory mode, stated, “… pending applications for doctors, nurses, and medical technicians (that) will soon be processed, a total of 1000 homes are in the construction phase at Plantation York, accelerating Government’s housing initiative.”

Editor, for me, this is a big issue in Guyana, where “young people have the best opportunity for a brighter future.” I fully agree with this utterance from the Head of State, who added that we should not be ‘sidetracked’. Oh yes, we will have some incipient setbacks, but if we are in for the long haul, then things will better balance out. After all, owning a home is beneficial personally and collectively.

I think of the “Pride of Ownership.” Indeed, the benefits of owning a home aren’t all dollars and cents, and if this list were ranked in order of impor-

tance, the pride that accompanies owning a home would surely be at the top.

Owning a home is an accomplishment and an investment in the future that provides both security and stability. In fact, home ownership boosts the educational performance of children, induces higher participation in civic and volunteering activity, improves health care outcomes, lowers crime rates, and lessens welfare dependency. Owning a home is completely different from renting or squatting.

Cometh the homes, cometh a better country.

Where York is concerned, the word is that “…there will be a residential area, as well as commercial and industrial zones. The housing development is holistic and incorporates the building of roads, bridges, drainage, and culverts as well as utilities.”

Guyana is truly changing at every level.

Yours truly, HB Singh

guyanatimesgy.com

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2023

5

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

Guyana’s Draft Gas Monetization Strategy Dear Editor, Guyana’s Draft Gas Monetization Strategy offers a good general overview of the sector, with valuable background information. However, most of what has been presented can be placed in an appendix of a proposed strategy. The strategy must be actionable, with enough specifics to garner support for an informed investment and budgetary commitment. The draft strategy as it stands today creates more questions than answers.

Some initial suggestions on the draft strategy are as follows: 1. Needs an Executive Summary 2. Although demand scenarios for natural gas are provided, what it means for Guyana when considering other factors, such as the examples provided, must be part of what informs the strategy: • full energy portfolio mix being pursued • trade agreements with suppliers of val-

ue-added products from the sector • value-added products’ supply-and-demand scenarios • the environmental strategy being pursued by Guyana and the Guyana Shield.

• installed and planned capacity for the areas of interest in the value-added sectors 3. A cost-benefit analysis is also needed, with a deeper discussion and presentation around: • Natural gas extraction costs (the paper suggests that it may not be economically feasible).

The financial analysis needs to be completed • Make vs buy analysis on value-added products • Projected financial scenarios.

4. A clear outline of the recommendations should also be fully fleshed out, and the draft strategy rereleased for review and analysis.

5. The natural gas comparison to renewables is

missing the future scenarios that include technological improvements and performance projections.

Based on the construction timelines provided, a three-to-five-year minimum time horizon should be considered.

6. Although pricing information is provided, the “where to play question?” is not clearly answered, nor is the analysis complete with margin information. A deeper review of the value-added components of the sector is needed. As stated in the paper (taken from Poten and Partners, Trinidad and Tobago’s Natural Gas Master Plan 2015), “Understanding the gas utilization options available and the relative value that each will generate for all parties is at the heart of solving this problem”.

Time should be taken to further analyze each value-added option, in order to make informed recommendation for a monetization strategy of Guyana’s gas.

EU throws support behind...

FROM PAGE 3

by flooding due to climate change and global warming will only worsen in the years to come, increasing flooding risks and other disastrous events if not properly addressed.

“We have to have a more unified position at Caricom and we also have to have greater clarity…If we want agriculture to do well in the Region and we don’t control the biggest challenge to agriculture which is climate problems, then we have to make sure that there is a global environment and policy that allows us to address this. That requires our negotiators when they go the COP meetings to… doggedly stick to a narrow script and pursue it with great intensity,” he underscored.

Climate adaptation measures, a necessary part of Guyana’s sustainable development plans as the fallout from climate change continues to be felt by the most vulnerable countries, could cost Guyana over US$2 billion.

At the United Nations General Assembly last month, President Dr Irfaan Ali called out developed countries over their failure to fulfil the US$100 billion per year pledge to assist developing nations’ fight against climate change.

He also noted the need for a collective reset of global relationships, which can aid in confronting the most pressing challenges of this era, including climate change, the energy and food crises as well as achieving sustainable development.

Guyana continues to pursue growth premised on a Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS 2030).

Guyana is already poised to lead the Net Zero by 2050 Agenda, through its robust plans for energy security and renewable generation, while continuously recording increased economic prosperity.

The United Nations Global Roadmap sets out the target that the world must achieve net zero emissions by 2050. It involves balancing the amount of greenhouse gas produced and the amount removed from the atmosphere.

Despite being a carbon sink, the country lies several feet below sea level, and climate change is presenting grave concerns for the coastal population. The devastation brought on

Overall, the draft is a good introduction to start a discussion on where to focus our efforts in the

sector. It has answered the question, “Will the sector be needed in the near future, and is it an

area that we should take a closer look into?”

Best regards, Jamil Changlee

An open letter to The Opposition Leader Dear Editor, This is a question that one would commonly want to ask: Is the Opposition APNU really interested in Guyana’s sovereignty over the Essequibo?

I ask this question based on analyzing several statements made by Mr. Norton and some of his mouthpiece media.

They are now on a campaign of lies, trying to poison our minds that the Venezuelan migrants, many of whom are returning Guyanese refugees, are here with the sole purpose of voting for the PPP/C party. Utter rubbish!

These are very idiotic and subversive moves made by the Opposition as they try desperately to shore up their party’s flagging image on the local scene. Washing their dirty linen in public only strengthens Venezuela’s case here. They fail to take into consideration that the more they play cheap politics here in Guyana, the more it undermines our efforts against Maduro’s

aggression.

The point is clear: like Maduro, who is trying to keep his political life afloat, Norton is doing the very same thing here. Maduro has to face the polls in 2024, and like as always, Essequibo becomes one of his campaign rhetoric strong points. In like manner, Norton is facing forces within his own party for a replacement to his leadership. There is a strong upswell within the PNC for Norton’s head, with a no-confidence motion already on the cards.

Now, this is an internal party issue that should be kept there. However, that does not give him licence to come center stage with his hysterical foolishness, and to politicise our border issue with Venezuela. Playing that political stunt game is dangerous business, and Mister Norton should be ashamed of himself even to speak in such tones to an educated Guyanese audience.

Making such asinine remarks tells me that

Norton is more interested in his personal political future than in being fully committed to our country’s cause. As it stands, Norton’s personal survival is of more importance than being on the same page as the Government and people of Guyana.

So, let me be frank with my readers: I am more afraid of the PNC Opposition than I am of Maduro’s Venezuela. The PNC is more of a threat to us, like the stunt they tried to pull off for five long months, than the frivolous Venezuelan claim. By God’s good grace, we will see a final and binding settlement of the border issue at The International Court of Justice. However, the battle to stave off a rigging party with its ingrown efforts to steal an entire country is ever before us.

My call to Norton’s PNC is to stop the nitpicking and let us unite on the border issue and get this matter resolved quickly.

Respectfully, Neil Adams

Sunday, November 05, 2023

06:00 (Sign on) Jewanram Rel. Hour 07:00 Cartoons 08:00 Shekinah Ministry 08:30 Evening News (RB) 09:30 Fast & Loud 10:30 Cartoons 11:00 David Persaud Religious Program 11:30 Blippi Educational 12:00 Movie - Signed, Sealed, Delivered: To the Altar (2018) 13:30 Movie - Around the World in 80 Days (2004) 15:30 Forged in fire 16:30 Payless Power Hour 17:30 The Healing Touch 18:00 Wheel of Fortune 18:30 Week-in-Review 19:00 Lucifer S5 E7 20:00 Arrow S5 E7 21:00 Riverdale S5 E5 22:00 Unsolved Mysteries 23:00 Stand-up Comedy 00:00 Sign off

6 FEATURE

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2023| GUYANATIMESGY.COM

W

e have given this topic an extraordinary amount of coverage, because we feel that the subject matter is serious enough to warrant dealing with a range of considerations which have to be factored into even the peripheral complexities concerning this decision to end the pet’s life.

Previous columns have dealt with the definitions, actions, emotional and psychological stresses, among other factors associated with the decision-making process for euthanasia.

Allow me to re-emphasize the major elements of attention and motivation for

the family and the veterinarian relative to euthanizing a pet.

1) The principal reason is usually that the companion animal’s ailment is irreversible, and is creating

EUTHANASIA – Final Considerations

great pain and suffering for the pet and its caregiver(s).

2) There exists no possibility for long-term continuous home-care; nor are appropriate hospitalization facilities available.

All concerned would recognize that euthanasia is a difficult decision to make, not least because there is always the hope that the pet can recover. In addition, there is the veterinar-

ian/ caregiver’s motivation that many an elderly and even infirm pet can be made quite comfortable with just a bit more thoughtfulness and T.L.C (in excess of what a normal healthy pet needs

and usually gets). The pet may still be able to enjoy months of happiness in the company of loved ones.

But when life ceases to be enjoyable and pleasurable; when the dog suffers from

a painful and progressive condition for which there is no hope of betterment; then perhaps at this time we owe our beloved companion animal the final kindness of having it depart easily and painlessly.

Last week we documented the possible methodologies used to place the animal into a permanent “sleep”.

Recognizing the importance of humane termination of an animal’s life, many countries and professional organizations have developed guidelines and recommendations for animal euthanasia. These include: 1) Appropriate Drugs: The method employed in euthanasia must use chemicals which have been tested and proven to induce loss of consciousness (and eventual death) with minimal pain and distress.

(The above is a most important consideration. For example, if one uses a stun gun, either with a bolt or a bullet, the animal may instinctively/reactively move, and the penetration does not hit the brain. So, it has to be repeated, perhaps more than once. This renders this method untidy and really unacceptable. See # 3 below).

2) Time required to induce the loss of consciousness/life.

4) Irreversibility.

It must never happen that the ‘dead’ animal is taken home, and then recovers.

for the disposal of the pet’s body.

5) Misuse of drug being used to euthanize the animal. Never must the medication be given to the pet owner/ technical personnel to take home. I can expand on this advice, if needed. In fact, the chemicals used for euthanasia in the clinic must be secured at all times.

euthanasia exercise. This should be a definite “NO, NO”. After the injection of the sedative to the animal being euthanized, all “goodbyes” may be said. In fact, if the owner at this last moment changes his/her mind, we still have the possibility of stopping the procedure.

6)

Disposal of the dead

7) Participation/presence of the caregiver in the

8) Caring for the distressed caregiver during

3) Reliability, which includes the safety of the trained and experienced executing personnel.

pet after euthanasia must be worked out satisfactorily between the veterinarian and the caregiver. (i) I advise burial – in a space deep enough that the pet’s dead body cannot be exhumed by marauding predators and scavengers. (ii) If the caregiver does not have the requisite yard space, an arrangement must be made with a humane society to dispose of the dead animal’s body. (iii) Cremation is also a possibility. Adequate safeguards must be in place to avoid unwanted inferno. You may also reach out to the local crematorium to seek its services. (iv) Unless it had been previously agreed, the clinic will not be responsible

these last moments. Here is where the veterinarian and the clinic staff must be trained to compassionately deal with exhibitions of emotional stress by the caregiver(s). It is a challenging time for both parties, and it is deeply disquieting.

9) Permission of the caregiver/ owner for the clinic to commence with and implement the euthanasia procedure. This must be documented and approved by the owner after a family decision. With the assistance of a professional draft legal person, a “Permission Form” has been established.

The euthanasia intervention will be performed only after the owner has signed the “Permission Form”.

NEWS

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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2023 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Finalising National Gas Monetisation Strategy while gathering public feedback will save time – VP Jagdeo – says released document just a ‘discussion’ paper to gather comments

Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo

F

ollowing the release of the draft National Gas Monetisation Strategy last week, there were criticisms of the document lacking some details but Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has explained that the released document is merely a discussion paper and Government will simultaneously work on the final strategy using the public feedback submitted.

Speaking on the draft national gas strategy during his press conference last Thursday, Jagdeo pointed out that this approach to simultaneously finalise documents while receiving feedback will save time.

“It’s more of a discussion paper because we already started getting feedback on where the gaps are and everything else, and we appreciate that. That is why we put it out early because due to an internal rework, it would take a while… That internal rework has to happen but we can benefit from the public view too as we do the internal rework. So, both can be done simultaneously,” he noted.

The Vice President further urged the public especially the commentators who usually have much to say about this topic to ensure they provide their feedback.

“So, I want you to see this as a blank canvas now… and all the people who have

views on these matters now is your time to share these views with the Government of Guyana before we finalise this document. So, if you don’t, we have enough gas there and we shouldn’t pursue it, tell us so. If believe that there should be a lot of concessions to develop these then say so now but justify it, of course,” he stressed.

In addition to the public, the Government is also expecting feedback on the national gas strategy from ExxonMobil, and bilateral partners such as Qatar from whom Guyana is receiving assistance in crafting its own strategy.

According to Jagdeo, “Now, people can share their view on the paper or generally on a strategy for the country …and then we will look at everything together.”

He outlined that the main goal of the Guyana Government in developing this national strategy is to ensure that the country’s gas resources are monetised.

“So, we would have to work through all the challenges like how we could convert associated gas, probably look at Pluma separately [or] maybe partnerships, what would be the best way of using the gas – LNG, ammonia. All of these things are explored in the document but it’s a discussion paper more than a finished strategy

An artistic impression of the Gas-to-Energy project

from the Government which it puts in the public domain.

We’d probably have to get all the comments in and then incorporate them and then maybe do a short consultation again before we finalise,” the VP stated.

The deadline for the submission of comments from the public is November 14, 2023.

In the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana, some 17 trillion cubic feet of gas have been found, with the Pluma and Haimara wells being proven gas fields.

The Government is planning to use the natural gas onshore for its model gas-to-energy project at Wales, West Coast Demerara, where an Integrated Natural Gas Liquid (NGL) plant and a 300-megawatt combined cycle power plant will be built.

With Guyana seeking to develop the infrastructure to transport and store gas, a pertinent question will be capital costs. According to the draft gas strategy, the Government will be seeking to attract private funding for the gas infrastructure.

It was pointed out that gas transmission pipelines

usually require Government investment in the early stages. When it comes to domestic gas and power projects, the strategy pointed out that initial Government investment is particularly in countries with minimal existing gas infrastructure.

The strategy notes, however, that once the sector is more developed and private companies have the capacity, then the Government’s direct participation in these projects may be reduced and the projects themselves privatised.

“Infrastructure investments such as gas transmission pipelines and gas distribution systems typically require initial Government investment, particularly in countries with minimal existing infrastructure. When the sector and regulations are more developed, private companies can build and operate whole integrated systems.”

“At which point the

Government participation may be reduced to regulation and the collection of taxes and fees. As projects for which Government has provided the initial investment near the point of becoming economically self-sustaining, there is then the opportunity for the Government to divest the project through privatisation,” the document states.

One benefit of this, according to the strategy, is for the State to avoid the risks and debts, as well as diversifying the investment in the sector. It was noted that private investment is necessary considering Stabroek Block operators ExxonMobil and its partners, as they produce oil from the floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessels.

“GoG will seek to attract private funding for the timely and cost-effective development of its gas infrastructure to avoid the large upfront capital required to develop

such projects and eliminate the risk associated with the debt infrastructure given uncertainty related to the revenue streams required for repayment.”

“Additionally, by diversifying the participants in the gas value chain and securing private investment, the GoG will avoid significant capital charges into the cost bank through the current PSC structure, which will significantly accelerate revenues to the GoG given the current upstream plans and FPSO deployment by the Stabroek Consortium,” the strategy states.

The strategy meanwhile noted that generally, power generation and electricity distribution projects are initiated by the Government.

It noted, however, that some power generation projects, such as Independent Power Producers (IPPs), are done with private participation.

(G-8)

8 NEWS

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Govt also has plans for wind, solar renewable energy – Min Bharrat – exploring all renewable energy options to keep up with power demand

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hen it comes to renewable energy projects, the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project (AFHP) has dominated local conversations for years. However, the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) Government has assured that it also has plans for solar and wind energy.

Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat in a recent address, informed delegates from Africa and the Caribbean Community (Caricom) of the Government’s plans for the energy sector.

These plans, encapsulated in the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), include solar and wind as viable renewable energy options to confront the growing demand for power.

“The gas-to-energy project is utilising 50 million cubic (feet of gas) per day, to generate 300 megawatts of power. Some people may say 300 megawatts of power is not much. But in Guyana, our peak consumption is maybe 200 right now. But right now, with the amount of development that is coming to our country, 12 new hospitals and 15 new hotels.”

“And so many other new industries coming on stream very shortly, our housing programme, the 300 megawatts would be used up. That is why we’re doing a hydro project of

Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat

165 megawatts. We already are working on installing 23 megawatts of solar energy. And we have plans for wind as we move on,” Minister Bharrat said.

Bharrat also made reference to the mini-hydro projects currently being undertaken in the hinterland. He noted that due to Guyana’s terrain, it's very difficult for hinterland communities to be connected to the national grid.

“Because of the geography and cost of getting infrastructure into those areas. Hence solar power generation is critical in those regions, as well as hydro and mini-hydro,” Minister Bharrat explained.

The demand for electric power is being driven by the

massive developments that are unfolding across the country, and already, the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) has projected that a whopping 236 megawatts of electricity would be needed in 2024.

When the Government entered office in 2020, there was a demand for 120 megawatts of electricity. This grew to 136 megawatts in 2021; 156 megawatts in 2022; and then peaked at 184 megawatts in 2023. This year’s peak was recorded when all industrial customers were on the grid.

Minister within the Public Works Ministry Deodat Indar, on Thursday during a press conference, projected that the demand for power would meet 236 megawatts next year. This means that in less than five years, power demand would have increased by almost 50 per cent. According to the Minister, plans will be set in motion to adequately cater for this demand.

The Government currently has a number of plans in the pipeline to grow the country’s energy capacity. These include the 300 MW gas-to-energy project which, when it comes online, could see Guyana saving between US$150 million and US$200 million in foreign currency that would otherwise have been invested in the coun-

try’s fuel importation.

The scope of Guyana’s gas-to-energy project consists of the construction of 225 kilometres of pipeline from the Liza field in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana, where Exxon and its partners are currently producing oil.

It features approximately 200 kilometres of a subsea pipeline offshore that would be run from Liza Destiny and Liza Unity floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels in the Stabroek Block to the shore.

Upon landing on the West Coast Demerara shore, the pipeline would continue for approximately 25 kilometres to the NGL plant at Wales, West Bank Demerara. The project is slated for a 2025 start-up.

Meanwhile, the Government, in staying true to its promise, has reinvited Requests for Proposals (RFP) under a Build-Own-OperateTransfer (BOOT) model, to advance the development of the long-awaited Amalia Falls Hydropower Project.

According to published documents from the Prime Minister’s Office, the project will integrate and expand Guyana Power and Light’s national grid capacity to include Linden, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice). (G-3)

Lessons…

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…on state terror

hen Beckett - Archbishop of the Church of England - became a thorn in the side of King Henry II, because he insisted that it was the responsibility of the Church to discipline errant priests, the exasperated King uttered the words that have reverberated through the ages: “Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?” It became the cry of all later rulers – including elected ones - who refused to accept the evolving institutions that were meant to involve others in the use of power. Beckett, of course, was murdered – a tradition Burnham followed when he had Rodney assassinated!!

And this tendency doesn’t only play out in internal politics; it’s just as prevalent in international politics!!

We know that during the 1945–1989 Cold War between the USA and the USSR (Russia), countless leaders were assassinated because they were considered “turbulent”!! The biggest of them all, of course, was Patrice Lumumba of the Congo, who stood up to defend the wealth of his country from being raped by those who came bearing “democracy” – including the colonial power Belgium. He was murdered: chopped into pieces and dissolved in acid!! Gotta makes sure, no?? A tooth that survived was kept by Belgium, and returned to his family in the Congo only last year -- sixty-one years later!!

The Ruskies on the other side also did more than their fair share of executions to get rid of turbulent challengers. The 1930s “Great Purge” to decide who would succeed Lenin as the Top Dog wasn’t just doling out senna pod!! Hundreds of Stalin’s rival leaders were killed, and Trotsky had to flee to foreign!! But - like Joe Louis told his opponent - “you can run, but you can’t hide”!! Trotsky was assassinated in Mexico City 6 years after fleeing!! But chickens do come home to roost: there were at least 4 assassination attempts on Stalin, and it’s now clear that JFK, who ordered quite a few assassinations in his day, was assassinated by the US deep state. And that ain’t just “the fevered imagination of conspiracy theorists”, which is trotted out to derail that train of thought!!

Today we see the principle being played out between Israel and Hamas, with the Israeli’s Mossad considered the best in the world in the assassination game. They’ve taken that game to a whole new level by using missiles to take out Hamas leaders. The six or so THOUSAND civilians killed are just “collateral damage”!!

Hey, some shells gonna get broken when you’re making “assassination” omelettes to protect your power!!

So, can this happen in our neck of the woods after Cord assassinated Bishop and his entire Cabinet in Grenada to “protect the revolution”?? Hell, yes!! Even by agents of corporations!! …on blackouts The PPP Govt is caught between a rock and a hard place with the blackouts sweeping our mudland. Ultimately, nothing reminds us that we haven’t crawled out of our “shithole country” status like blackouts! To be modern, you gotta be able to switch on all the electrical appurtenances that are now necessities. Imagine the shame of being unable to pop your sliced bread into a toaster!! Gasp!!

Anyhow, the PPP knew what they were getting into, since from 1992 they had to extricate us from the blackout mess - along with the mountain of debt – that the PNC bequeathed. It’s no use pointing out that all this would’ve been of no consequence if the PNC and AFC hadn’t nixed the Amaila Falls Hydroelectric Power project in 2013. This would’ve delivered 165MW to our electricity grid. Folks also don’t care it’ll take time for the Gas-to-shore to power us up. They want to be modern NOW!! Gotta blow dry our hair!!

Ignore those tree huggers and get diesel generators pronto!! …on bullying We’re still teaching kids that “Guyana’s 83,000 square miles”. Wrong!! Since Venezuela invaded us in 1966 and SEIZED our half of Ankoko Island, Guyana’s area has been reduced!! Guyana’s 82,997 square miles!!

We gotta recover our 3 square miles… Not a blade of grass!!

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

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

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10 NEWS

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GTT named sole service provider for US$15M Aiden by Best Western Hotel

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Officials of GTT and Aiden Hotel sealed the deal during a signing ceremony

he Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GTT) Business Solutions is set to be the sole service provider for the US$15 million boutique-style Aiden by Best Western Hotel that is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2024.

In line with the hotel’s vision, GTT announced on Friday that it will offer a comprehensive line of services de-

signed to enhance the experience of its anticipated 149 smart rooms. These services include high-speed cable internet, state-of-the-art Wi-Fi connectivity, security solutions, and much more.

The new hotel, located at Robb and Oronoque Streets, Georgetown, is an undertaking of Guyanese-owned Arimu Investments Incorporated. The multi-million-dollar hotel will span nine floors of a 74,000 square foot modern building.

The vision is to have more than 100 executive rooms, an executive bar and lounge, executive conference rooms, private dining rooms, a state-of-the-art gym, bar, and restaurant.

Initially, the hotel was slated to have a 101-room capacity, but this has been increased to 150 rooms following the investor’s acquisition of additional

the unique personality of each community/country it serves.

Guests would discover local flair and imaginative designs with Aiden as their welcoming and stylish host.

The Aiden by Best Western Hotel would be providing guests with executive chauffeur services, shuttle bus tours around Guyana, Demerara River tours, and the investor is also engaging the aviation sector for helicopter tour packages. This hotel will be the 12th Aiden Hotel worldwide and the first for the Caribbean and South America.

In keeping with Guyana’s push to increase the number of hotel rooms that can accommodate visitors to the country, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) has been determined to create an enabling environment for new

An artistic impression of the Aiden by Best Western Hotel

land at its Robb and Oronoque Streets, Georgetown location early last year.

On December 16, 2022, Arimu Investment’s Inc announced that it signed a contract with a Chinese company, CNQC Engineering, and Construction Limited, to take the Aiden by Best Western to its “completion and turnkey stage”.

The company had initially said the hotel would be completed sometime between December 2023 and January 2024 after some delays and hindrances.

Aiden is a boutique-style hotel under the world-renowned Best Western Hotel and Resorts. It is part of a trendy collection of laid-back boutique hotels that blend cool, casual and charm with an eclectic neighbourly feel.

No two hotels are alike, as each is designed to reflect

hotels. It is an initiative the Government expects will add 2000 hotel rooms over the next two years.

Brand-name hotels are springing up all over Guyana, with the sod turned last year for the AC Marriott hotel in Ogle and the Sheraton Hotel in Providence that will together add over 300 rooms to Guyana’s hospitality industry.

In June of 2022, Marriott International, in collaboration with H-Towers Incorporated and other international partners, signed an agreement that will bring the Sheraton Hotels & Resorts brand to Georgetown, Guyana, by 2025.

Then there is the AC Marriott Hotel, which will be situated on 2.61 acres of land 2.5km south of the Atlantic Ocean and 0.5km east of the Eugene F Correia Airport. The project is being developed by Trinuyana Investments. (G-12)

11 US$5M food terminal earmarked for Soesdyke-Linden Highway NEWS

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– as Barbados to establish packhouse, source produce from Guyanese farmers

Our place in the world

A

s we attempt to forge a national unity to counter the Man on Horseback on our Essequibo border, we should be reminded that, as a much smaller nation than Venezuela by almost all criteria, we need to deploy a strategy that checkmates those advantages. And that raises the question as to the Ravi Dev available options in such a situation. There is, first of all, the very bleak advice of the great power Athens to the minnow state Melos, as recounted by Thucydides, the “realist” Greek historian of the Peloponnesian War: “Right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must”.

So, does this mean that we must cave in to Maduro’s bullyism? During the Peloponnesian War, Melos simply wanted to be neutral in the struggle between Athens and the other great power, Sparta, and this opens up the facticity that International Relations inevitably involves other powers that can influence the power equation. In our situation vis-a-vis Venezuela, our world now has over 200 states of varying sizes trying to protect their own interests, as has been the case since the Westphalian state system was launched in 1648. This circumstance offers us some other options in devising strategies we may deploy to protect our interests, other than knuckling under.

There is, first of all, the United Nations; to which all states belong, and which is supposed to mediate relations between them in the spirit of multilateralism. But while that seemingly idealistic effort after WWII, when over 50 million persons were killed, began with great fanfare, we have discovered that the Spartan aphorism remains quite relevant. There is the General Assembly, involving all members; but which has to defer to the Security Council, where the five victorious members of WWII have veto powers over the Security Council’s recommendations.

We note for instance that, last week, 187 nations voted for the 31st time for the US to drop its sixty-one-year-old sanction against Cuba. That vote will get nowhere. We should note, also, the gradual diminution in effectiveness of the other multilateral institutions, like the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) etc. This means that while we must continue to utilise the UN system, as we have done by taking the Venezuelan Border controversy to the ICJ, ultimately, we will have to win some powerful friends in the state system.

The small state of Israel’s ability to count on the support of the still strongest state, US, is the key element in their strategy to not only survive, but prevail up to now against nominally more powerful adversaries.

This is the neo-realist strategy coming out of the Cold War, which focuses on the orientations and actions of the more powerful players in the state system in pursuit of their interests, which jockey to either become hegemonic or attain some sort of balance of power.

As such, we should start by accepting that, for us to be noticed, much less protected by one of these larger powers, we must orient our policies with one of them. No matter how much, like Melos, we attempt to be “neutral”, at best we will be seen as “running with the hares and hunting with the hounds” by one or the other big power that attempts to influence the global state system.

This is our predicament in the present strained relations between the present world hegemon, the US, and its challenger, China. We should note that China is cozying up to Venezuela’s overtures, even though the latter is threatening not only us, but implicitly CNOOC’s 25% interest in the Stabroek Block.

In such a world, of great relevance to us is another neorealist approach that stresses a strategy of alliance formation – either “balancing or bandwagoning”. In the former, one aligns with other states to counter the power of a hegemon – the approach pushed by an apparently reasonable China against the U.S. In its just-released world manifesto, China stresses its desire not to dominate any other country. In bandwagoning, a small state forms an alliance with the strongest power it considers will best protect its interests. We should not kid ourselves that Caricom, or the Commonwealth, or the UN can protect us against a revanchist Venezuela. It is up to us to decide which power has the ability to protect us, and then make ourselves important enough for them to do so.

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

A

food terminal to the tune of approximately US$5 million is earmarked to be constructed along the Soesdyke-Linden Highway, in keeping with the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government’s efforts to continue to grow the agriculture sector.

Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha recently met with a team from Barbados’ Ministry of Agriculture, Food and National Security, who were represented by his Barbadian counterpart, Indar Weir. During the meeting, they discussed various areas of collaboration between the two countries.

One of the things that was discussed was Guyana’s plans to build a food terminal, with Minister Mustapha informing the Barbadian delegation of Guyana’s intentions to build a food terminal of its own. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Weir was informed of Guyana’s intentions to move ahead with construction hopefully before the end of the year.

Minister Mustapha, meanwhile, told Guyana Times in a telephone interview that the intention is to have the food terminal completed hopefully by next year. He noted that their technical team is working to advance the project.

“We are looking forward to starting and I’m hopeful that over the next year or so, we will complete [it] hopefully by next year. We are working to start the construction… we are looking at the highway. Our technical team is working.

It will be on the highway,” Mustapha said.

Guyana is collaborating with Barbados on the construction of a food terminal in St Michael, Barbados, and during the meeting between the two sides, this project was one of the many topics discussed.

Discussions also centred on aquaculture development in the two countries, shade house technology, as well as an ongoing livestock exchange programme.

Meanwhile, the Barbadian Minister also informed the Guyanese side of plans already in motion to establish a pack house facility that will store large quantities of fresh fruits and vegetables. These products, according to the Ministry of Agriculture release, will be purchased from Guyanese

Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha and his Barbadian counterpart, Indar Weir, along with their respective delegations during the meeting

farmers and used to supply the Barbados market.

Minister Weir further said that the process is expected to commence shortly as the island is now at the end of its hurricane season.

Guyana and Barbados have closely collaborated in the areas of agriculture in recent years. Already, Guyana has benefited from black belly sheep from Barbados, which were introduced in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) with special emphasis being placed on women and young people to take the lead in this project.

Barbados had earlier this year agreed to send 1000 sheep to Guyana to kickstart this project as the two countries entered

a collaboration with the overall goal of building a regional brand of sheep to decrease the importation of lamb and mutton products into the Region. Last year August, Guyana received the first 132 sheep from Barbados, consisting of 112 ewes and 20 rams.

The Government has expended approximately $600 million to start this project and later another $17.7 million to provide additional resources to maintain it. Major infrastructural work to support this project continues to progress. For one, there will be a $257 million all-weather 4300m road at Blairmont, West Bank Berbice, as well as fences and living quarters for those supervising

the project.

There had also been plans for Guyana and Barbados to set up Trade and Investment Facilitation Offices in each other’s countries. This came about during business collaborations between the Guyana Office for Investment (GO-Invest) and Export Barbados.

Last year, a group of young Barbadians also travelled to Guyana to be trained on shade house development.

Simultaneously, Guyana also concluded a deal to ship pre-fab shade houses to Barbados that will be developed by trained young people to accelerate agriculture in the island state. (G-3)

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FEATURE

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DeNobrega during one of his dirt bike races

wenty-eight-year-old Steven DeNobrega is one of the racers who will be competing in the Starlet category of the Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club’s “Clash of Champions” card being staged at the South Dakota Circuit today.

The young father of two, last of five

children born to Leandra and Gregory DeNobrega, completed his secondary education at School of the Nations, and is the father of two boys: Chase, who is now one year old; and Eli, who is four years old.

Among his hobbies is motor racing, in which he became engaged at age 16. He started his career by participating in the dirt bike novice category, after which he switched to go-karts, and has now evolved into the Starlet Cup category.

Steven describes himself as a cool, loving person with a good personality.

Growing up as a young man, he has always admired Stephen Vieira and Andrew King, two veterans of motor racing. He was often mesmerized by the varying he-

roics of these men from a very tender age while going to watch races with his family.

“I always came to the races from a tender age; and from that point, I knew it was something I always wanted to do,” Steven has declared.

He is currently competing in the Starlet category, but his hope is not to remain there, but to eventually join the big boys in the Group League. He has been quite successful while competing in dirt bike races, and has several wins under his belt. In addition, he has won the senior gokart race and currently holds the second spot in the Starlet Cup Championships.

As he looks ahead, he sees himself bettering his craft with the aim of winning more championships; but he says he would also spend some time with his fouryear-old son, who is already riding.

One of Steven’s most memorable races occurred in 2018 when he competed at the motocross Championships, which was a rewarding experience. DeNobrega represented Guyana in Jamaica, where he competed in the go-kart championships and finished in the top three. He also represented Guyana in Suriname at the Dirt Bike Championships, which he won.

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FROM PAGE 13

Racer Steven DeNobrega and his family

Young speedster Steven DeNobrega has said he is impressed with the new layout of the South Dakota track – one that will see racers taking advantage by showcasing their full potential.

“With the new layout, it definitely brings a new dynamic to racing; and with proper management, I think we can get back motor racing in Guyana to its top level,” he offered.

However, his all-time favourite racing track is Gt Motorsport at Thomas Lands, Georgetown.

Today Steven DeNobrega will be aiming to win big in the Starlet category of the Clash of Champions, but one of his main competitors is Nyron Maraj. He had this to say of their impending clash: “Well, I respect all of the guys that I compete with, but me and Nyron Maraj have been going at it for a couple of years now.”

They are not enemies; it is just that whenever they compete against each other, the rivalry is intense, with each of them pressing the accelerator to cross the finish line ahead of the other. Steven has always made his team proud by winning races, and without a doubt, the team enjoys every moment of victory.

Young and dynamic, this impressive racer told Guyana Times that while motor racing is demanding, it is important that he

ration is none other than his boss Harold Hopkinson, because of Hopkinson’s successes and his general character, he further divulged.

Now that he has been in the racing fraternity for a number of years, Steven DeNobrega says, he is sufficiently experienced to advise those who want to get into the sport. He is urging them not to give up. He says he had participated in a number of races, and for two straight years, he did not place.

Car number 221 is one to look out for

finds time for his family and for work.

“Spending time with the family is one of my greatest joys… Seeing my two sons brings the positive vibes that calm the nerves after a hectic day at work… They are my go-to when I feel down… My wife Christine has been my rock and greater motivator; without her, I would not be enjoying the successes of life,” Steven De Nobrega has divulged. His inspi-

“I never gave up, and now those who were laughing at me cannot even make a podium spot,” he declared.

On a lighter note, he says his favourite colour is red, and he loves a hot and spicy chicken curry, whether with rice, puri or roti.

We extend sincere best wishes to this remarkable young man as he competes in the “Clash of Champions” race card today.

FEATURE

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he union of 25 couples from Baramita, North West District (NWD) in Region One (Barima-Waini) was legalised between September 27 and 30, 2023 in a significant and heartwarming event undertaken by the General Register Office, led by its Deputy Registrar General, Visham Budhoo.

During registration outreaches, it was found that within the area of Baramita -- mainly Cassie Creek, Aranka and

Warapa -- there were several couples who had been together for over 25 years without being legally married.

For a number of couples in these close-knit communities, the concept of legality in their relationships had remained elusive for an extended period. What made this event particularly distressing was the circumstances which had hindered these unions from obtaining legal recognition.

Among the most prevalent barriers was the absence of basic documentation such as birth certificates or National Identification Cards.

These barriers, predominantly rooted in language constraints and distance, obstructed access to fundamental documentation, preventing these ardent couples from legalising their commitment and receiving the recognition they deserved.

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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2023 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM FROM PAGE 15

The General Register Office, in a laudable collaboration with community leaders and local churches, embarked on an endeavour to address these barriers.

Working diligently within the community, efforts were made to assist individuals to obtain the vital documentation needed to formalise their unions. It was a collective effort that ultimately led to the facilitation of these long-awaited marriages.

The culmination of these efforts saw not only the exchange of vows, but the issuance of long-awaited marriage certificates, a tangible symbol of their enduring commitment. It was a testament to perseverance, unity, and the power of a community

General Register Office, stands as a beacon of hope and support, affirming that every individual deserves the right to have their love recognized and their unions validated, regardless of administrative

coming together to support and uplift its members.

The Home Affairs Ministry, through the

hurdles. These efforts can serve as a model for other regions and communities facing similar issues,

demonstrating how local authorities and communi-

ty leaders can work together to support individuals and families in overcoming documentation challenges and ensuring that their unions are solemnised.

In the end, the smiles, tears of joy, and palpable sense of relief among the newlyweds reflected a long-awaited culmination of love finally bound by legality, a celebration of commitment. It also brings about a new sense of stability in the communities.

The General Register Office remains committed to ensuring this vital function is not only accessible

to all Guyanese, but the process of registering for a marriage licence, and the

issuing of a marriage certificate, is simple and in keeping with the laws of Guyana.

In efforts to ensure there are more trained marriage officers, we have also, over the past three months, facilitated the training of over 60 marriage officers across the region, as well as providing training and awareness sessions to organizations and churches within Guyana.

Persons desirous of applying for a marriage licence can simply follow the procedure outlined via our website: gro.moha.gov.gy, email us at groguyana@ gmail.com, or message us via WHATSAPP at +592 610 9394.

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21 100 int’l flights projected to arrive weekly at CJIA by December NEWS

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he Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) is expecting to record 100 international scheduled flights weekly by December, owing to growing partnerships and a surge in incoming passengers.

This was reported by the Department of Public Information during an interview with the Director of Air Navigation Services (ANS), Rickford Samaroo.

According to Samaroo, the airport currently has 85 scheduled incoming flights per week.

Over the past year, Guyana welcomed direct flights from Canada Jetlines, British Airways, and Sky Cana, among others. There were also inaugurated landings by Qatar Airways and Ethiopian Airlines. These achievements have since allowed the airport to process over

Rickford Samaroo: Director, Air Navigation Services

545,000 passengers as of last month, which reflects a 13 per cent increase.

Meanwhile, the Eugene F Correia International Airport currently has 45 scheduled international flights per week, which is also expected to increase to 52 by the end of the year.

The airport has recorded an average of 139 daily landings and take-offs to

date. These include an average of 12 international landings and 20 offshore flights.

The influx of the international arrival rate is due to Guyana becoming one of the fastest-growing economies in the world with many booming sectors and the vast development of its tourism industry. The country has been investing in numerous tourism products

and experiences such as its eco-lodges, tours, and cultural extravaganza, among other tour initiatives.

CJIA reported an increase of 90 per cent in passenger arrivals for September 2022 when compared to September 2021.

During the month the airport processed 31,050 ar-

Cheddi Jagan International Airport

riving international passengers. This notable increase in passenger arrivals was evident in the influx of visitors for the Cricket Carnival activities.

The airport is currently undergoing construction to facilitate a state-of-theart commercial centre designed to further enhance

the travel experience of passengers. This is part of the Government’s comprehensive approach to transform the airport in alignment with the country’s recently elevated stature. Works on the modern commercial centre are 50 per cent completed, with a March 2024 deadline.

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NEWS

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Subsidising fuel prices for electricity cost Govt US$100M in 3 years – Min Indar

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n order to curb the burden of increased power costs on the common man, the PPP/C Government has kept these prices constant despite climbing rates per barrel of oil.

Minister within the Public Works Ministry, Deodat Indar on Thursday disclosed that in three years, this subsidisation would have fetched a price tag of US$100 million.

When the PPP/C Government came into office in 2020, the price was about US$41 per barrel of oil.

During the past three years, it has fluctuated around US$100 per barrel.

“It has been circling at a high level in terms of cost per barrel. Between US$41 to whatever the average price is over the last three years, GPL has subsidised over US$100

Minister within the Public Works Ministry, Deodat Indar

million. We have not raised the price on anyone. That US$100 million could have been used to buy all sorts of generating capacity and sacrifice to some extent, certain things that they wanted to do,” Indar told media operatives during a press conference.

Presently, the company has been grappling to meet in-

creasing demands and households have been dealing with a spate of power outages in recent times. GPL is projecting that Guyanese will expect an ease to the current situation until mid-December when supplemental generation comes on stream.

Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo had explained that the increasing demand was due to large consumers flooding the grid. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government had moved the excise tax on fuel from 50 per cent down to zero per cent in a bid to combat increasing global prices for oil and the impact those increases were having on the local economy. As such, self-generation became more expensive, and many companies opted to use the GPL supply to capitalise on the subsidised costs.

GPL has about 224,000 customers in total with a current demand of 172 megawatts. With a capacity of about 167 megawatts, thousands of customers still face disruptions.

On Friday, the utility company publicly announced that it had reached a historic peak in electricity demand, recorded at an unprecedented 182 megawatts (MWs).

It reasoned that this sit-

uation is not unique to GPL, as countries around the Caribbean have recorded significant increases in demand due to rising temperatures in the Region.

TURN TO PAGE 24

24 NEWS

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2023 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Over 800 allottees at Cummings Lodge to access lands in time for holidays H

ousing and Water Minister Collin Croal has announced that some 800 allottees within the Cummings Lodge, 1767 Development will have access to their land, in time for Christmas.

The announcement was made on Friday when the Minister made an impromptu visit to the area to meet with contractors. The Minister toured the area, starting from the Aubrey Barker access point to the Cummings Lodge 1767 Development, then to the Eccles highway.

According to Minister Croal, people have been waiting far too long for access to their lands, and as such he issued an ultimatum to the contractors. A total of six contractors are carrying out works in the area.

These works include; the laying of the pipe network, road network, land clearing, and drainage infrastructure.

The contractors were told that all works must be completed by November 30, 2023; failure to meet this deadline will result in the Ministry applying liquidated damages.

Further, the Minister gave an update on the ongoing road work taking place on the Ogle to Eccles interconnection. He noted that the works are progressing

Aerial view of the Cummings Lodge Housing Scheme

smoothly, despite some minor challenges.

Additionally, mention was made of the $1.4 billion water infrastructure works that are ongoing in the Cummings Lodge housing development.

The Minister spoke of the ongoing works on a new well and water treatment plant which will serve the area and Sophia.

Over the last three years, a total of 25,996 house lots have been allocated, with a significant portion – 14,054 – being granted to young individuals between the ages of 21 and 35.

The youth demographic represents 54 per cent of the overall allocations made between 2020 and 2023, and

the age group ranging from 36 to 50 constitutes 31.5 per cent of the overall allocations while the age group ranging from 36 to 50 constitutes 31.5 per cent.

Regarding house lots allocated to single women, at the end of August this year, 11,373 lots were granted to women, representing 43.7 per cent of the total allocations.

Those allocated jointly to couples account for 26.6 per cent.

Additionally, a total of 10,873 house lots were allocated to low-income earners.

He emphasised the significance of this allocation, particularly in light of the focus on vulnerable groups.

The distribution of thousands of house lots annu-

Housing and Water Minister Collin Croal on site

ally is done through the Government’s signature “Dream Realised” house lot allocation exercise; by the allocation of housing units to low-, moderate- and middle-income earners; and by allocations to young professionals.

Billions of dollars are also being invested to carry

out infrastructural work in both new and existing housing schemes with the aim of ensuring that all necessary amenities are in place for the allottees.

President Dr Irfaan Ali revealed a few months ago that there are approximately 57,000 pending house-lot applications. However, to ad-

dress this and provide lots and housing units to thousands of people, a substantial $170 billion is required.

Another $400 billion would be needed to develop about 200 kilometres of roadways needed for access to the new housing areas being developed in the immediate to medium terms.

Subsidising fuel price....

GPL’s Development and Expansion Plan, 20232027 projected 186.6 MWs in 2023. Given this projection, the company began acquiring additional generation through public tenders early this year. This process resulted in the procurement of 28.9 MWs of generation as an interim solution in anticipation of

the 300MW Natural Gas Power Plant at Wales, West Bank Demerara.

Currently, the daily peak demand has been surpassing our existing generation capabilities. In order to prevent total system shutdowns resulting from insufficient generation, the company has been temporarily de-energising some distri-

FROM PAGE 23

bution feeders daily during peak demand periods to maintain grid stability.

Last month, GPL announced that large consumers of electricity, who each have a power-generating capacity, would be removed from the grid during peak hours in order to prevent widespread service disruption for the population.

NEWS

25

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2023 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

N/A businesswoman bound, beaten during home invasion – bandits cart off cash, jewellery

A

female bar owner was in the wee hours of Saturday morning bound and beaten by two armed masked men who invaded her New Amsterdam home. The incident occurred sometime between 01:30h and 03:30h.

Based on information received, the two bandits reportedly scaled the perimeter fence to gain entry into the woman’s yard, after which they used a crowbar

“So, I go back in my bed and then I heard one hard noise and then I see two men come into the room; one with a big long gun and the other with a small gun.

They start asking me where is the money and where is the gold. I start screaming for the neighbours to hear because the windows are normally open. Called on the watchman and said, ‘Watchie, thieves in here!

Thieves in here, they are

The door that had its lock wrenched off to break one of the access doors.

The businesswoman, Barbara Singh, 63, of Smythfield, New Amsterdam, lives alone and operates a bar in the bottom flat of her two-storey house.

According to the Police, the bandits managed to escape with approximately $500,000 in cash, a quantity of gold jewellery and one Samsung A52 cell phone.

Both men were reportedly masked, with one wearing a camouflage shirt and a hat.

According to Singh, she was awakened by noises and barking dogs and immediately attempted to get the security guard but he was reportedly asleep.

She eventually got him up and after making some checks around the property, he assured her that everything was fine.

killing me’.”

According to the businesswoman, the bandits bound her hands and feet after which they ransacked the bedrooms while demanding cash and jewellery.

She stated that one of them jumped on her as she was trying to remove the tape they had used to bind her hands and feet.

“One of them put his knee and rest in on my stomach and started to hit me in my face,” Singh said as recalled the frightening ordeal.

“Anyway, they searched and searched and got what they found; it is a good amount but I can’t say. They took everything even my expensive watch and my cell phone – they took everything.”

After getting their hands on the loot, the men made their way into the bar where

they started to drink beers.

During this time, Singh managed to free herself and ran into the lower flat where the two men were seen escaping.

“I get to open my door and came out to the front door and come downstairs and peep and see them so I start to run back upstairs and they something knock and they get away,” Singh added.

The men reportedly jumped over a gate and made good their escape.

Back in September, bandits attempted to break into the building twice but were unsuccessful on both occasions. This publication understands that the property was recently sold and the new owners should be taking possession of the property later this month.

The Police are on the hunt for the bandits as investigations continue.

(Andrew Carmichael)

The business place that was robbed

The ransacked bedroom

26

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2023

guyanatimesgy.com

Regional

Caribbean countries named South America’s Lake Titicaca nears record low PAHO Malaria Champions water level as El Nino bites of the Americas 2023

T

T

he water level at Lake Titicaca on the PeruBolivia border is edging towards a record low, exacerbated by the weather phenomenon known as El Nino that is expected to get still more intense in coming months.

The waters of the sprawling freshwater lake nestled in the Andes mountains have fallen an average 4 inches (10 cm) per month since April, said Milagros Quispe, an engineer with Peru’s national meteorology and hydrology service Senamhi.

Severe drought conditions and unusually high temperatures have caused the shoreline to shrivel at Titicaca, South America’s largest lake and the world’s highest navigable body of water. The water level is now around 13 inches (33 cm) above its record low recorded in 1943.

The double whammy of extreme dryness and heat has led to higher-than-normal water evaporation, said Quispe. Over the past sev-

Isabel Apaza showing the area of Lake Titicaca that is without water, in Huarina, Bolivia August 3, 2023

en months, the lake’s water level has fallen 29 inches (74 cm), according to Senamhi data.

Limited rainfall in the mountainous area had not been enough to stabilize the lake’s shoreline, Quispe added.

El Nino causes major rainfall along Peru’s Pacific coast but drought conditions in its highlands.

Last month, Peru’s climate study office raised the probability that the intensity

of this El Nino will be strong from December, up from a previous forecast that saw only moderate intensity.

Climate change is doubling down on the impacts from the natural El Nino phenomenon — layering heat on top of heat, or excess rainfall on top of excess rainfall.

That includes Titicaca.

“The lake’s basin and ecosystem have been modified as a result of global warming,” said Quispe. (Reuters)

Elections seen as rebuke to Colombia’s Gustavo Petro

W

hat a difference a year makes for Gustavo Petro. Just 14 months after his historic election win, Colombia’s First-Ever Leftist President is struggling.

His ambitious, wide-ranging reform proposals have lagged in Congress. His Administration has faced a campaign finance scandal.

And just last Sunday, on October 29, he was dealt a sobering defeat in Colombia’s local and regional elections.

Voters in the country’s major cities turned their backs on Petro’s candidates, voting instead for critics of his Administration, particu-

larly from the right and centre. Petro’s coalition Pacto Historico won governorships in just two of Colombia’s 32 departments.

Following the election results, Petro said it was his duty “to respect the voice of the people”.

But he has since tried to cast the results as a win for his Administration, saying that many of the winning candidates were part of the coalition that brought him to power in the first place.

Those candidates, however, largely ran independently in the local elections.

Experts say Petro’s spin on the elections is a way to

see the glass half full. But there is little doubt that the poor results portend a difficult road ahead for the President — and his personality-driven political movement.

“Unlike with the other parties, his coalition is very personalistic,” Sandra Borda, a political analyst and professor at the University of the Andes, told Al Jazeera.

“Petro has not done the task of building a strong party, so while everything remains focused on him and him alone, it is very possible that elections will continue to go wrong [for him].”

(Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

vehicle.

The man then requested to test drive the vehicle along KP Lands, and the victim agreed.

The man sat in the left side front passenger seat of the vehicle and the victim proceeded to drive along KP Lands and while doing so, the man pointed a firearm at him ordering him to continue driving.

A short distance away, the gunman instructed the victim to stop. Four men dressed in dark coloured clothing entered the backseat of the vehicle.

On reaching the Valencia Bypass Road, the victim was dealt a blow to his head by one of the men.

The victim continued driv-

ing west and on reaching the end of a gravel road he was asked to stop the vehicle and get out.

The victim became fearful for his life and complied with the instructions. The four suspects also exited the vehicle and began beating him. He who began to plead with the suspects not to kill him At the time four guard dogs began to bark and were rushing in the direction of the suspects. They became startled by the sounds of the dogs barking and approaching and made good their escape by running off into the nearby bushes and disappeared. (Excerpt from Trinidad Observer)

he Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) on Friday, named the Dominican Republic, Belize and Suriname, as well as the Mexican state of Quintana Roo and the Brazilian city of Manaus as the 2023 Malaria Champions of the Americas for their sustained actions towards malaria elimination in the Region.

The awards were presented at an event to celebrate Malaria Day in the Americas, including the Caribbean, which takes place on November 6.

During the ceremony, PAHO and its partners acknowledged the national and sub-national efforts of these countries, as well as

the impact the projects have had in addressing malaria and improving the health of their populations.

“Despite the significant challenges that remain in eliminating malaria in the Americas, we also have successful experiences like the projects awarded today, which help position us as one of the Regions making the most progress towards the elimination of this disease globally,” said PAHO Director, Dr Jarbas Barbosa.

PAHO said the Dominican Republic was recognised for its efforts to interrupt malaria transmission by 2022 in Los Tres Brazos, the main urban focus of the disease in recent

years.

Belize was distinguished for its continued efforts to eliminate malaria, achieving World Health Organisation (WHO) certification as a malaria-free country in 2023, PAHO said.

It said Suriname was awarded for being the first Amazonian country to report zero malaria cases for a year.

The state of Quintana Roo (Mexico) was also recognised for its efforts to interrupt malaria transmission and prevent the reestablishment of the disease in a context of high population mobility, PAHO said. (Excerpt from Jamaica Observer)

Brazil’s Workers Party slams Israel for holding Brazilians in Gaza

B

razil’s ruling Workers Party criticised the Israeli Government on Friday for not allowing 34 Brazilians to leave Gaza, saying Israel is playing favourites when deciding who should be allowed to evacuate the besieged Palestinian territory.

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen told his Brazilian counterpart Brazil’s nationals would leave Gaza

by Wednesday, a Brazilian Foreign Ministry spokesman said late on Friday.

In three days since the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt opened to allow nationals of other countries to leave Gaza, Brazilians waiting to leave were not on the list approved by Israel, despite diplomatic efforts to include

them.

“For the third time, the Israeli Government denied the departure of Brazilian citizens threatened by the massacre against the civilian population in the Gaza strip,” Workers Party President Gleisi Hoffmann said in a social media post.

She said the Israeli Government has not provided any explanation for what she said was discrimination.

Brazil tried to find a negotiated solution to the conflict when it presided over the UN Security Council in October, Hoffmann said.

“Unfortunately, the Israeli Government signals that it has established a political hierarchy for the release of civilians, favouring some countries over others,” Hoffmann said.

“We cannot allow that Brazilian civilians remain threatened in a region under military massacre,” she added.

Hundreds of foreign passport holders and gravely injured Palestinians have been evacuated from Gaza via the Rafah crossing to Egypt since Wednesday in a deal brokered by Qatar between Egypt, Israel and Hamas, in coordination with the US. Brazilian officials said they have no explanation for the failure to let their citizens out of Gaza. Some local media have speculated it is due to positions taken by Brazil at the United Nations and comments by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. (Excerpt from Reuters)

UWI principal laments low enrollment at tertiary level Barking dogs in TT save man from abductors

A

22-year-old man of KP Lands, Valencia was saved from his abductors by barking dogs at a farm at Silicia Sands, Valencia.

The four suspects, who became startled by the barking dogs which were heading in their direction, released the victim and ran into the nearby bushes and disappeared.

The victim then made his way to the Valencia Police Post where he made a report.

He reported around 9 pm he was approached in the roadway in front his home by a man of African descent whom he doesn’t know, who indicated that he was interested in purchasing his motor

P

rincipal of The University of the West Indies, Mona, Professor Densil Williams is warning that low enrolment in tertiary education within the Region is a recipe for stifling growth.

“When you look at this hemisphere, from Alaska down to Argentina, this Region has the lowest level of enrolment in post-secondary education. The lowest level! It is not surprising, therefore, that this Region, as I indicated before, has not seen economic take-off, but has actually remained at the commodity-driven kind of economic management, economic performance for a long

time,” he said.

Williams was the guest speaker at Wednesday’s opening ceremony for the 31st Heads of Caricom Social Security Organisation’s conference at Hilton Rose Hall Resort and Spa in Montego Bay. He cited data which indicated that, except for “a handful of countries” in the Region, only two out of every 10 students who graduate from secondary education then go on to pursue higher studies.

“So we have eight people struggling on the periphery, just trying to get into mainstream society in a knowledge-driven world. They don’t have any training beyond sec-

ondary education. Now that’s bad for your labour force, extremely bad for your labour force, but also equally bad for your productivity,” the educator warned.

Williams contrasted that to what transpires in other parts of the world where eight out of every 10 student who graduate from secondary school move on to post-secondary education.

The renowned academic in the field of business and management further argued that the region has to begin moving away from its focus on economic growth and towards economic transformation. (Excerpt from Jamaica Observer)

guyanatimesgy.com

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2023

27

Around the World

Israel ramps up attacks in Gaza, OILNEWS OIL NEWS striking schools, hospitals and mosques

US rig count takes a dive

T

he total number of active drilling rigs in the United States fell by 7 this week after climbing by 1 last week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published Friday, with the number of active oil rigs plunging to their lowest level since January 28 of last year.

The total rig count fell to 618 this week. So far this year, Baker Hughes has estimated a loss of 161 active drilling rigs. This week’s count is 457 fewer rigs than the rig count at the beginning of 2019 prior to the pandemic.

The number of oil rigs fell by 8 to 496, down by 125 so far in 2023, and the lowest level since January 2022. The number of gas rigs rose by 1 this week to 118, a loss of 38 active gas rigs from the start of the year. Miscellaneous rigs stayed the same.

The rig count in the Permian Basin fell by 3 this week, and is now 36 rigs below this same time last year. The rig count in the Eagle stayed the same and is 19 fewer than this time last year.

Primary Vision’s Frac Spread Count, an estimate of the number of crews completing unfinished, rose in the week ending October 27, to 275, up from 269 in the week prior.

The frac spread count is 17 more than where it started the year.

Crude oil production levels in the United States stayed steady at 13.2 million bpd for week ending October 27, according to the latest weekly EIA estimates, the highest production level in the United States ever. US production levels are now up 1 million bpd from the start of the year, according to estimated weekly figures.

At 12:10 pm ET on Friday, the WTI benchmark was trading down US$0.47 (-0.57%) on the day at US$81.99— down roughly US$2.60 per barrel from this time last week.

The Brent benchmark was trading down US$0.53 (-0.61%) at US$86.32 per barrel on the day—down roughly US$3 per barrel from a week ago. (Oilprice.com)

A

day after Israel struck a convoy of ambulances transporting critically wounded patients from the al-Shifa Hospital to the Rafah border crossing, the Israeli army has intensified its bombardment of the Gaza Strip, hitting schools, mosques and more hospitals.

On Saturday morning an Israeli air missile struck the al-Fakhoora school run by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in the Jabalia refugee camp, killing at least 15 people and injuring 54, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

“The number [of deaths] is expected to rise,” said Muhammad Abu Silmeyeh, director of Al-Shifa Hospital.

Thousands of people displaced due to Israeli bombing in the Gaza Strip had taken refuge at the al-Fakhoora school.

A witness to the attack who lost family members in the bombing told Al Jazeera that four people in their family were killed or injured.

“We have nothing to do with anything related to the Hamas movement. The room only had children and women,” the witness added.

The attack on the school is the third major attack on the Jabalia camp.

It came hours after a deadly strike on the Osama bin Zaid school sheltering displaced families in the al-Saftawi area north of Gaza City, killing at least 20 people, according to local

Israeli forces also attacked power generators and solar panels at al-Wafa Hospital in Gaza City, according to local media

media.

On Saturday morning, the entrance of the al-Nasser Children’s Hospital in western Gaza City was also attacked, and several local media outlets reported civilian casualties.

The Health Ministry’s spokesperson has said an estimated 2200 people, including 1250 children, are currently buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings in Gaza. (Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

Ukraine war not in 'stalemate', more air defence help needed, Zelenskiy says

U

kraine's President V o l o d y m y r Zelenskiy denied on Saturday that the war with Russia had reached a "stalemate", and said more work with allies was needed to strengthen air defences.

His comments came days after Ukraine's Commander-in-chief, General Valery Zaluzhnyi,

said in an article the conflict was moving towards a new stage of static and attritional fighting, a phase that could allow Moscow to rebuild its military power.

"Today time has passed and people are tired. But this is not a stalemate," Zelenskiy said during a news conference with visiting European Commission President Ursula von der

Leyen.

"Russia controls the skies. We care about our military."

Zelenskiy acknowledged there had been difficulties in the war, now in its 21st month, and that Kyiv had yet to achieve any major successes in its counteroffensive.

But he said Ukrainian troops had no other alternative but to keep fighting and required more support from Western allies, especially with air defences.

Ukrainian forces have

made slow progress through vast Russian minefields in a counteroffensive that began in the east and south in early June, but Russia has hit back hard in the east.

Russian troops were mounting numerous attacks near Avdiivka, Lyman and Mariinka in the eastern Donetsk region, the Ukrainian military said in its daily update.

Ukrainian forces were continuing their advance in the southeast towards the sea of Azov, the report added. (Reuters)

Rescuers struggle Militants attack air force base in central to find Nepal Pakistan, says military quake survivors as More than 500

N

ine Islamist militants attacked an air force training base in the central Pakistani area of Mianwali on Saturday damaging three "non-operational" aircraft, the military said, adding that all assailants had been killed by security forces.

Three militants were killed before they entered the base while the others had been cornered before the clearance operation began, the military said in a statement. It did not mention any casualties amongst security personnel.

The early Saturday attack startled residents living close by when volleys of gunfire broke the morning silence.

"I woke up at around 3 am after I heard massive gun shots which continued till around 7 am," Zeeshan Niazi, a resident of Mianwali, told Reuters.

The military said nine

militants had been killed in the attack on the Pakistan Air Force Training Airbase Mianwali. An earlier statement said that six militants were involved in the attack.

"No damage has been done to any of the Pakistan Air Force's functional operational assets, while only some damage was done to three already phased out non-operational aircraft during the attack," the military statement said. It earlier said a fuel tanker had also been damaged in the attack.

"Due to the swift and effective response by the troops, (the attack) has been foiled and thwarted, ensuring the safety and security of personnel and assets," the statement said.

Islamist militant group Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan (TJP) claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement sent to journalists by its spokesperson. (Excerpt from Reuters)

deaths reach 157

R

escue workers in Nepal began digging through the rubble of collapsed houses with their bare hands on Saturday, searching for survivors after the country's worst earthquake in eight years killed 157 people and shook buildings as far away as New Delhi.

The quake struck the Jajarkot region in the west of the Himalayan nation at 11:47 pm (1802 GMT) on Friday with a 6.4 magnitude, Nepal's National Seismological Centre said.

The German Research Centre for Geosciences measured it at 5.7 and the US Geological Survey at 5.6.

Officials fear the death toll could rise as first responders had reached the hilly area near the epicentre, some 500 km (300 miles) west of the capital Kathmandu, only early on Saturday and began searching for survivors.

"The number of injured could be in the hundreds

and the deaths could go up as well," Jajarkot district official Harish Chandra Sharma told Reuters by phone.

Although the quake's magnitude was not severe, the damage and the death toll are high due to the poor quality of construction in the area and because it struck while people slept, officials said.

Rescue work was expected to be slow as emergency teams must first clear roads blocked by landslides in many places, they said, adding that helicopters and small planes have been asked to be ready to join the effort.

The quake is the deadliest since 2015 when about 9000 people were killed in two earthquakes. Whole towns, centuries-old temples and other historic sites were reduced to rubble then, with more than a million houses destroyed, at a cost to the economy of US$6 billion.

(Excerpt from Reuters)

migrants rescued off Spain's Canary Islands

M

ore than 500 migrants were rescued in the Atlantic Ocean off Spain's Canary Islands, the Spanish coastguard said on Saturday, as the number of people arriving on the archipelago so far this year neared an all-time record posted in 2006.

The coastguard said they had also found two dead bodies among those rescued from four boats in the waters off El Hierro, the smallest and most westerly of the Canary Islands.

Two other people died later in hospital, said the Spanish Civil Guard, which also took part in the rescue in which women and children were among those saved.

The number of arrivals has recently jumped as milder weather and calmer seas since September have made it more feasible to attempt the still perilous

crossing from Africa.

Spain's Interior Ministry said on Thursday that a total of 30,705 undocumented migrants had reached the Canary Islands in the first 10 months of this year, representing a 111% increase from the same period in 2022.

This figure compares with the full-year record of 31,678 migrants arriving on the Canary Islands in 2006, when other routes to Europe were blocked off.

The Canary Islands accounted for the bulk of the 43,290 undocumented migrants arriving in Spain by sea last year.

The archipelago lies around 100 km (60 miles) off Africa's west coast. Its seven islands have become the main destination for migrants from Senegal and other African countries trying to reach Spain, fleeing conflict or seeking a better life. (Excerpt from Reuters)

28

guyanatimesgy.com

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2023

Challenge yourself and ARIES (March 21- participate in events that April 19) bring you joy. Walk away from ventures that have nothing to offer but a hefty price tag.

Stick to what moves you.

Do what you must and TAURUS (April 20- move on to something new. If May 20) you let your emotions take the reins, you’ll find it challenging to reach your goal. A partnership looks promising.

Alter your surroundings GEMINI to meet your needs. Don’t let (MAY 21outsiders tell you what to do.

June 20) A persuasive offer will be misleading and could put you in a precarious position.

Jump at a chance to get inCANCER (June 21- volved in something exciting.

July 22) Participation will lead to encounters with individuals who motivate you to explore your options and use your imagination.

LEO (July 23Aug. 22)

Pickles VIRGO

You’re in a good position.

Speak up and negotiate deals that will lead to new opportunities. Learn all you can and participate in events that offer insight into personal gain.

LIBRA (Sept. 23Oct. 23)

Safeguard your money. A tempting sales pitch will set you back. An unexpected expense is apparent. You have more time than you think to negotiate and dictate what you want to unfold.

SCORPIO

Use your imagination to capture what’s happening around you, and you’ll gain the respect and support you need to take advantage of a rare opportunity. Social events will be eye-opening.

(Aug. 23Sept. 22)

Peanuts

Take a moment to review what’s happening in your life.

Don’t get worn down by trying to keep everything in balance. Refuse to let others push you in the wrong direction. Do what’s best for you.

(Oct. 24Nov. 22)

Don’t let a last-minute SAGITTARIUS change ruin your plans. Do (Nov. 23your own thing and turn an Dec. 21) adventure into a learning experience. It’s time to expand your interests and embrace personal growth.

Calvin and Hobbes

Emotions and money won’t CAPRICORN mix well today. Put your wallet (Dec. 22away and focus on home, famJan. 19) ily and relationships. Make honesty and communication your priorities. Romance is favored.

AQUARIUS Trust yourself and ignore gossip.

Talk is cheap; someone (Jan. 20will go out of their way to upFeb. 19) set you if you appear vulnerable. Stay focused on what’s important to you. Focus on personal gain.

PISCES Don’t be afraid to do things (Feb. 20- differently or to follow your Mar. 20) intuition and change how you handle your money or earn your living. Deal with things you don’t like.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2023

29

ICC World Cup 2023…

ENGLAND NO LONGER IN CONTENTION – as Australia march towards semi-finals

I

t's over! And that's not simply the worst World Cup defence in the history of international sport. Every single thing that for eight heady years had been taken for granted about England's white-ball batting has vanished without trace, as if some Hollywood baddy had pinched a sports almanac(k) from the future and set the dials on the team's Delorean for the 2015 World Cup. We've re-entered an epoch of endless desperate failure, the miracle of 2019 lost forever to some branch-line of the spacetime continuum.

England's sixth defeat in seven games -- by 33 runs in Ahmedabad -- was in turn Australia's fifth win in five, and they have marched clear of a hard-chasing pack to tighten their grip on a semi-final berth.

It was marginally less supine than some of England's losses -- thanks to another spirited bowling display led by Adil Rashid and Chris Woakes, who also rallied gamely at the death with the bat; and there was another compelling but all-toobrief sighting of Ben Stokes in #HeroMode.

But with Adam Zampa surging to the top of the tournament wicket-charts with an outstanding haul of 3 for 21 in ten overs, Australia's apparently middling target of 287 was never realistically challenged; especially after another abject powerplay in which Joe Root, one of England's indisputable greats across formats, produced an innings of such awfulness that it

truly deserves to be his last in coloured clothing.

‘England versus Australia’ always tends to exist outside of context, but not on this occasion. Australia's victory has brought closure to everything: England's barely-less-than-nonexistent hopes of a top-four finish; their claim on the so-called #MoralAshes, especially after Marnus Labuschagne's Testtempo 71 proved to be the decisive score of the match; and maybe even their hopes of playing in the 2025 Champions Trophy, if other results go against them in the coming days.

The only thing that must limp on, ironically, is England's World Cup campaign itself.

Netherlands are up next for an unlikely shot at European Championship glory, before Pakistan -- fuelled by qudrat ka nizam after their astonishing win in Bengaluru -- rock up in Kolkata with a chance to make their 1992 comeback seem like a standard day in the life.

Just as had been the case in their 100-run loss to India in their previous outing, England played a pretty canny game for the first 50 overs of the match, as they bowled Australia out for 286 after winning the toss, hoping - then as now - that the onset of evening dew might even out a two-paced wicket and allow the ball to skid onto the bat more freely. But even if that did eventually prove to be the case, England's desperate lack of batting form had long since sunk any hopes of making the depth of their line-up count.

SCOREBOARD Australia (50 ovs maximum) Travis Head c Root b Woakes 11 David Warner c Willey b Woakes 15 Steven Smith c Ali b Rashid 44 Marnus Labuschagne lbw b Wood 71 Josh Inglis † c Ali b Rashid 3 Cameron Green b Willey 47 Marcus Stoinis c Bairstow b Livingstone 35 Pat Cummins (c) c Malan b Wood 10 Mitchell Starc c Ali b Woakes 10 Adam Zampa c †Buttler b Woakes 29 Josh Hazlewood not out 1 Extras (lb 6, w 4) 10 TOTAL 49.3 Ov (RR: 5.77) 286 Fall of wickets: 1-11 (Travis Head, 1.4 ov), 2-38 (David Warner, 5.4 ov), 3-113 (Steven Smith, 21.4 ov), 4-117 (Josh Inglis, 23.1 ov), 5-178 (Marnus Labuschagne, 32.6 ov), 6-223 (Cameron Green, 40.4 ov), 7-241 (Marcus Stoinis, 43.4 ov), 8-247 (Pat Cummins, 44.2 ov), 9-285 (Adam Zampa, 49.1 ov), 10286 (Mitchell Starc, 49.3 ov) • BOWLING O-M-R-W David Willey 10-1-48-1 Chris Woakes 9.3-0-54-4 Mark Wood 10-0-70-2 Liam Livingstone 6-0-42-1 Moeen Ali 4-0-28-0 Adil Rashid 10-0-38-2

England (T: 287 runs from 50 ovs) Jonny Bairstow c †Inglis b Starc 0 Dawid Malan c Head b Cummins 50 Joe Root c †Inglis b Starc 13 Ben Stokes c Stoinis b Zampa 64 Jos Buttler (c)† c Green b Zampa 1 Moeen Ali c Warner b Zampa 42 Liam Livingstone c sub (SA Abbott) b Cummins 2 Chris Woakes c Labuschagne b Stoinis 32 David Willey c Zampa b Hazlewood 15 Adil Rashid c †Inglis b Hazlewood 20 Mark Wood not out 0 Extras (lb 6, w 8) 14 TOTAL 48.1 Ov (RR: 5.25) 253 Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Jonny Bairstow, 0.1 ov), 2-19 (Joe Root, 4.3 ov), 3-103 (Dawid Malan, 22.3 ov), 4-106 (Jos Buttler, 25.1 ov), 5-169 (Ben Stokes, 35.3 ov), 6-174 (Liam Livingstone, 36.6 ov), 7-186 (Moeen Ali, 39.1 ov), 8-216 (David Willey, 43.2 ov), 9-253 (Chris Woakes, 47.6 ov), 10-253 (Adil Rashid, 48.1 ov) • BOWLING O-M-R-W Mitchell Starc 10-0-66-2 Josh Hazlewood 9.1-1-49-2 Pat Cummins 10-1-49-2 Adam Zampa 10-0-21-3 Travis Head 5-0-28-0 Marcus Stoinis 4-0-34-1

The nadir arguably came when Jos Buttler, their captain and white-ball GOAT, skimmed the first ball of Zampa's fifth over to Cameron Green at long-off; to trudge off for 1 from six balls, leaving England in the soup at 106 for 4 at the half-way mark of their chase.

But the omens had been grim from the very start of an angsty chase. The England of old could take mishaps in their stride.

Take Jason Roy's mighty white-ball record, for instance; that had

could elude Australia's clutches.

He might have got away with another life when Starc lured him once more in the channel, but Labuschagne charged in from cover to insist he'd heard a noise. UltraEdge duly confirmed a thin snick, to leave England 19 for 2 in the fifth over, and Root had succumbed to his 11th powerplay dismissal in 18 innings since the 2019 World Cup, in which time he has averaged a ghastly 5.63.

In Stokes

Adam Zampa got his third wicket in the form of Moeen Ali

been pockmarked by countless first-over dismissals, including to the very first ball of his career, but this trait was factored into his willingness to have a go in the first place, safe in the knowledge that his team-mates would close ranks around him.

By contrast, when Jonny Bairstow flicked at an innocuous leg-side loosener from Mitchell Starc to leave England at zero for 1 after one ball of their innings, the groan of recognition was palpable from dugout to press box to the armchair of every England fan.

Starc's reaction was sheepish in the extreme. Nevertheless, after going wicketless for the first time in his World Cup career against New Zealand last week, Starc was back on the board at the earliest opportunity, and Australia were surging back onto the front foot in their favourite rivalry.

What followed, from an England perspective, was gory and uncomfortable viewing.

Though Dawid Malan hunkered down for the long haul with his familiar sang froid, Root's equilibrium endured another thorough rinsing. His second-ball drive for four was as good as his night would get. In the space of his next 15 balls, he survived an lbw appeal from Starc by the skin of his leg bail, a bad drop by Marcus Stoinis at point, and an edged drive off Josh Hazlewood that eluded second slip. Root's luck was in, you might presume; his form, unfortunately, is not, and there were only so many gifts that

and Malan, England still had a pair of batters whose apparently contrasting methods are united in the belief that good things come to those who lay a platform. And while they were grinding out an 84-run stand for the third wicket at a tempo similar to that with which Labuschagne and Steve Smith had revived Australia's own innings, a flicker of muscle memory rippled back into England's equation.

But then Malan, on 50, gave his innings away with an over-eager pull off Cummins, to expose the out-of-sorts Buttler to a match situation that his game-brain cannot currently compute; and though Moeen Ali rose to the awkward occasion with a diligent run-a-ball 42, the entire psyche of England's innings screamed "Stokes or bust!", and Australia knew it too.

Despite the horror of his duck against India, Stokes's stage presence was undimmed, and he allowed himself to reach 15 from 37 balls before his first true shot in anger, a fierce straight drive for four off Starc.

Thereafter, he became increasingly mighty and muscular, his innings replete with obligatory limps as that troublesome left knee repeatedly buckled beneath the force of his launches to leg.

But for all his Superman bravado, Stokes’s innings had far too much in common with his lost-cause Ashes onslaughts at Headingly and Lord's; and his loud groan of "Oh no!" as he

scuffed a sweep off the incorrigible Zampa confirmed that more than just his innings of 64 from 90 was ending, as Stoinis clung on at short fine leg.

Liam Livingstone, bizarrely preferred to Harry Brook despite his own grim lack of form, duly lasted less than an over before skimming a pull to midwicket, and when Moeen became Zampa's third of a superlative spell, the rest was mere formality.

It's a measure of England's desperate funk that Australia arguably won against the head in the wake of their own piecemeal batting display; that never really got going, and would surely have been more closely challenged by almost any other chasing side at this tournament.

Without the power of Mitchell Marsh and Glenn Maxwell in their middle order, Australia had a huge amount riding on their equally proactive opening partnership, but Woakes bagged both Travis Head and David Warner inside his first three overs; meaning that, at 38 for 2, Labuschagne and Smith had little choice but to fall back on their Ashes best, grinding out a third-wicket stand of 75 across 16 overs to guard against a repeat of their 2019 semi-final meltdown.

The delayed entry of England's main man, Rashid, destabilised Australia's innings once more. With 20 overs gone, Smith's timing was still eluding him when Rashid served up a slower and wider googly in his second over, and it dipped on an attempted cut to loop to Moeen at backward point for 44. That soon became 117 for 4 when Josh Inglis fell to the same combination in Rashid's second over; this time to an illjudged reverse-sweep off his sixth delivery. And though Labuschagne brought up his half-century from 63 balls, Rashid's canny variations and willingness to take off his pace against his entrenched oppo-

nents kept Australia waiting for their chance to cut loose.

It took Wood's return to the attack for a visible step-up in Australia's tempo. Green, Maxwell's stand-in, looked deeply uncomfortable against Woods's express pace. At one stage, four fielders converged on a top-edged pull as his bat soared out of his hands towards the square-leg umpire, but he somehow found enough leverage on the wider line to keep snaffling his runs through backward point, including a startling deflected four off a near pinpoint 153kph yorker.

And though Wood busted a gut once again to make a difference -- extracting an lbw that left Labuschagne nonplussed as his review showed three reds -- before later bombing out Cummins with the short ball, his final figures of 2 for 70 confirmed this was another night on which his raw speed proved too profligate whenever he missed his mark.

Fittingly, it was Zampa who proved this point in decisive fashion. At 247 for 8, he alone found the gumption to kick on into the death overs albeit he needed a large slice of luck when a 149kph throatball from Wood fizzed off his gloves and flew over the keeper's head for four. Unfazed, Zampa smashed his very next delivery back down the ground for another boundary, and rattled along to 29 from 19 before Woakes ended Australia's late charge with two wickets in three balls, two more cutters to prove the virtues of pace-off on a capricious deck.

It should not have been nearly enough, given England's once-vaunted reputation for chasing, and their belief at the toss that the dew factor would be decisive. It proved to be plenty on a night when normal service in the white-ball leg of this ancient rivalry was resumed in emphatic fashion.

(ESPNCricinfo)

Agreements signed...

Meanwhile, the eight disciplines that would be contested are: chess, futsal, football, lawn tennis, swimming, basketball, volleyball, and athletics. The two disciplines that have been removed from the initial list of 10 sports following a request from the hosts are table tennis and badminton.

The staging of respective international competitions in the aforesaid disciplines during the same window is the primary reason for their removal from the competitive list.

The travelling delegations are expected to arrive in Suriname by November 16th, and depart therefrom by

FROM PAGE 30

November 20th.

The IGG was first held in 1967, and is traditionally staged on an annual basis. However, interest in the Games was rekindled last year by the People's Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government following a fiveyear hiatus, a period that encompassed the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2022 edition, held on Guyanese soil, featured over 400 athletes and coaches.

The IGG not only showcases the future young athletes of the three countries, but also serves as a cultural and educational platform. The IGG helps forge unity, trust, and understanding among the peoples of the Guianas.

30

GUYANATIMESGY.COM

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2023

ICC World Cup 2023: NZ vs Pakistan…

PAKISTAN KEEP HOPES ALIVE

– as fabulous Fakhar pulls off stunning chase

A

gainst all odds, Pakistan somehow remain alive in World Cup 2023. In a game in which Pakistan turned in one of their most ordinary bowling displays in World Cup history, a century from Rachin Ravindra and 95 from the returning Kane Williamson saw New Zealand amass 401 - their highest World Cup total - to leave Pakistan on the ropes. But an astonishing counterattack from Fakhar Zaman, in which he smashed an unbeaten 126 in 81 balls, saw Pakistan keep up with the DLS asking rate with the threat of rain looming for much of the second innings.

And when the rain did arrive, Pakistan were comfortably ahead of the rate, thereby pulling off a win that levels them on points with New Zealand and puts a semifinal berth realistically within their grasp.

Pakistan's decision to field

Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman put up a big second-wicket stand

first on a flat wicket after winning the toss raised eyebrows, and suggested they had as

SCOREBOARD New Zealand (50 ovs maximum) Devon Conway c †Mohammad Rizwan b Hasan Ali 35 Rachin Ravindra c Saud Shakeel b Mohammad Wasim 108 Kane Williamson (c) c Fakhar Zaman b Iftikhar Ahmed 95 Daryl Mitchell b Haris Rauf 29 Mark Chapman b Mohammad Wasim 39 Glenn Phillips b Mohammad Wasim 41 Mitchell Santner not out 26 Tom Latham † not out 2 Extras (lb 8, nb 1, w 17) 26 TOTAL 50 Ov (RR: 8.02) 401/6 Did not bat: Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Trent Boult Fall of wickets: 1-68 (Devon Conway, 10.5 ov), 2-248 (Kane Williamson, 34.2 ov), 3-261 (Rachin Ravindra, 35.5 ov), 4-318 (Daryl Mitchell, 41.1 ov), 5-345 (Mark Chapman, 44.3 ov), 6-388 (Glenn Phillips, 48.5 ov) BOWLING O-M-R-W Shaheen Shah Afridi 10-0-90-0

Hasan Ali Iftikhar Ahmed Haris Rauf Mohammad Wasim Agha Salman

10-0-82-1 8-0-55-1 10-0-85-1 10-0-60-3 2-0-21-0

Pakistan (T: 180 runs from 25.3 ovs) Abdullah Shafique c Williamson b Southee 4 Fakhar Zaman not out 126 Babar Azam (c) not out 66 Extras (lb 1, w 3) 4 TOTAL 25.3 Ov (RR: 7.84) 200/1 Did not bat: Mohammad Rizwan †, Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Agha Salman, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Wasim, Haris Rauf Fall of wickets: 1-6 (Abdullah Shafique, 1.6 ov) BOWLING O-M-R-W Trent Boult 6-0-50-0 Tim Southee 5-0-27-1 Mitchell Santner 5-0-35-0 Glenn Phillips 5-1-42-0 Ish Sodhi 4-0-44-0 Daryl Mitchell 0.3-0-1-0

much of an eye on improving their net run rate as they did on putting points on the board.

But as soon as New Zealand's innings started, both prospects began to look like distant improbabilities. Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra had started brightly, and Pakistan, who had somewhat curiously gone without either of their two legspinners or Mohammad Nawaz, found themselves turning to Iftikhar Ahmed's spin in the sixth over. New Zealand went after him too, and it was Haris Rauf who drew first blood with a short delivery that kissed Conway's bat on the way through to Mohammad Rizwan.

It brought Williamson out for just his second game this tournament, but he started like he'd never been away. The duo, on opposite ends of the spectrum in experience, were united in the comfort with which they negotiated a Pakistan attack that looked desperately toothless; and Babar Azam rung the changes and strug-

gled for respite from any corner.

They had long brought up their half-centuries, and were speeding towards three figures, turbocharged by a Hasan Ali over that yielded 18 runs as both approached the 90s.

There was to be no slowdown from either. With New Zealand hovering around 240 for 1, there was little need to stall momentum in pursuit of a milestone; if anything, Williamson's risk-taking increased to reckless levels, and he nearly ran himself out three times while within touch of his century. Ravindra, meanwhile, smeared Wasim through the onside to get to 99, before a single brought up his third World Cup hundred in the city of his parents' birth. Williamson fell in looking to bring up his own hundred with a straight six, as he holed out to long-off, while Ravindra scooped one up to the midwicket boundary shortly after.

But if Pakistan thought two new batters would stem the bleeding, Daryl Mitchell and Mark Chapman soon disabused them of that notion. The pair, along with Glenn Phillips and Mitchell Santner, put on cameos to see New Zealand arrive at 140 runs in the 14.1 overs since Ravindra had fallen, and they breached the 400-barrier against a battered, broken Pakistan fielding unit.

Pakistan needed everything to go their way to have a snowball's chance in hell, and that's certainly not how it started. The irrepressible Williamson drew first blood with one of “the catches of the tournament”, a sensational diving grab as he ran backwards, that put paid to Abdullah Shafique.

But it brought on Fakhar, whom Pakistan needed in a

Rachin Ravindra pulling one away

situation like this, and his onslaught against Trent Boult made his intentions clear. Two fours and a six in Boult’s third over set the tone, with the 17 Boult conceded being his most expensive over in World Cups.

It was followed by another 16 in his next, as Babar also joined the party.

However, the show was the Fakhar show. Soon Tim Southee was also taken on, as was Santner, as Pakistan posted 75 by the time the first powerplay ended. Fakhar soon brought up his half-century off 39 balls with a late cut off Ish Sodhi, and he was only getting warmed up.

A pair of sixes off Glenn Phillips meant Williamson was also struggling to get a handle on Fakhar, who was in that zone where he looked like every ball would disappear for six.

Before you looked up, you saw Fakhar had smacked Santner for his ninth six of the innings, and he was suddenly one ball away from three figures, bringing up a phenomenal 62-ball hundred soon after.

When the rains arrived, Pakistan were ten runs ahead on the DLS, but it was to be a relatively brief interruption.

When they got back on, though, they rubberstamped their dominance as the chase dwindled to 342 off 41 overs; they had effectively reduced it to a T20 game.

Agreements signed for IGG’s hosting in two weeks

T

he staging of this year’s Inter-Guiana Games (IGG) in Suriname from November 17th to 19th has been set in stone with the signing of the protocol agreement occurring on Thursday last (November 2nd) in the host country’s capital, Paramaribo.

In a formal meeting involving the respective Directors of Sport of the participating countries - Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana - the accord was inked, symbolizing the final step in the confirmation of the event.

Inspection of the sports facilities and accommodation apparatus was also officially done.

Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) VicePresident Cristy Campbell, board member of the National Sports Commission (NSC), accompanied Guyana’s Director of Sport (DoS) Steve Ninvalle on the visit to neighbouring Suriname.

During the post-signing press conference, Ninvalle said, “I bear you greetings from the Honourable Minister of Culture, Youth, and Sport, Charles Ramson Jr., and just to say that we are very happy that Guyana can once again be participating in the IGG. We would have had site visits and inspections of the accommo-

In centre, DoS Steve Ninvalle; French Guiana’s Vivane Tchung Ming; and DoS of Suriname, Gordon Touw Ngie Tjouw, displaying the signed agreements

dation facilities in Suriname, and we are very happy with what we saw. It is important that we note that the IGG, in our thinking, is not about any one country being victorious on the field of play, but I think we all will come out winners because of the bonds and friendships that we would have earned and developed during the course of the IGG.” Ninvalle further posited, "Now that the IGG is over 50 years old, we have seen the closeness that it has brought the three nations; and I would expect that coming out of the

IGG in 2023, we would become even closer. It would be remiss of me if I did not urge and encourage my colleagues that after more than 50 years, I think it’s appropriate…that we come together and try to have a logo that will carry us through to the other years. And adding to that, it is my hope also that we will have a flag that we can proudly display as an IGG flag and as a representative of the friendship and camaraderie that would have been harnessed over the 50 years.

“We expect to be very competitive; we expect that

the level of camaraderie and brotherhood will hold for IGG 2023 as it has held for all the other years; and we will expect that, from this, we can only develop into better nations.

Come IGG 2024, we expect to have much more rounded and impactful games. This is my personal wish, and I also share that this is the wish of my Honourable Minister Charles Ramson Jr.," he added.

GOA Vice President Campbell said, “For us, it’s not about domination, as Director Ninvalle would have mentioned; it’s more about uni-

ty and embracing our sister countries. We have had this partnership for decades, and we just hope that the Games continue to foster good relations, and that we have a good brotherhood and sisterhood, moving forward. It would be difficult for me to isolate and say that Guyana is going to dominate in any one sport, because we are not an arrogant nation. We never underestimate our opposition, and we just look forward to fair play and mutual respect across the board. And hopefully, all of the athletes and officials have a good time as well.”

The aforesaid sentiments were also echoed by Director Ninvalle, who, in closing remarks, said, “The only thing I think that we all will dominate in is the fostering of unity; and that is what I hope that we all can dominate.”

The historic event, which was initially set for the October 26th–31st window, was deferred for several weeks owing to a dearth of fiscal resources from the Surinamese administration. Suriname had previously staged the 2017 edition, which was the last iteration before the five-year hiatus.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 29

Williamson fatefully turned to Sodhi, who conceded 32 in the two overs he sent down, including two gigantic sixes that indicated the break had not sapped any of Fakhar’s momentum. When steady rains began once more, Pakistan were much further ahead: 21 clear of where they needed to be.

And on a wet evening, the game did not go on. Pakistan dashed away with the two points in a smash-and-grab move of the ages, one whose lore may continue to be told and reinvented if a few results go a certain way in the coming week. (ESPNCricinfo)

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GUYANATIMESGY.COM

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2023

31

CG United Regional Super50 Tournament…

Chanderpaul, Hetmyer, bowlers hand Eagles comfortable win over Scorpions H

alf-centuries from Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Shimron Hetmyer, backed by a comprehensive bowling performance from the Guyana Harpy Eagles, ensured them a seven-wicket win over Jamaica Scorpions yesterday.

Scorpions, reigning CG United Regional Super50 champions, have been kept winless in this 2023 edition of the tourna-

by Imlach off the bowling of Nial Smith.

Rain halted play with Scorpions at 111 for four after 30 overs, but when play resumed, it didn’t take long for Eagles to remove Powell.

Scorpions slipped further into disrepair when Sinclair removed Jeavor Royal for an 11-ball duck and Rutherford removing Dennis Bulli who failed to trouble the score in his

Set a target of 184, Eagles rocketed to their goal with 54 balls to spare, the left-handed opener Tagenarine Chanderpaul striking his third half-century, a career-best 77 off 110 balls that included eight boundaries.

When Chanderpaul lost his new opening partner Kevin Sinclair for seven, he joined forces with Tevin Imlach, debuting as captain, and they added 86 runs

SCOREBOARD Tagenarine Chanderpaul struck a career-best 77 (CWI photo)

Shimron Hetmyer scored his first half-century of the season (CWI photo)

ment. Having won the toss, they elected to bat first; and with rain reducing the match to a 47-over affair, managed only 181 all out in 46.5 overs.

for the second wicket. That partnership was broken when Imlach was dismissed for a 57-ball 30 after an innings that featured just one boundary.

three-ball stint, leaving the Scorpions at 118 for seven.

A late blitz from Brad Barnes, who top-scored with 36 from 53 balls, and Odean Smith (20) showed the fight in Scorpions, but they could not fend off the Eagles bowlers for too long.

Nial Smith ended with 3-26, while Sinclair ended on 3-48. Rutherford and Permaul each picked up two wickets for 38 runs.

Chanderpaul was then joined by Shimron Hetmyer, and a partnership of 63 runs for the third wicket followed, with Hetmyer finishing on 62 not out in an innings highlighted by two sixes and five fours. In this match, Hetmyer chalked up his best performance with the bat, and almost doubled his tournament figures in a single innings. The Scorpions’ Shalome Parnell picked up 2-26 in six overs.

When Scorpions batted, Kirk McKenzie was the first to fall, dismissed

by Sherfane Rutherford (238) with just 12 runs on the board.

Chadwick Walton looked to steady the ship, but could not convert his start and was dismissed leg before wicket to Veerasammy Permaul for 26, having struck two fours and two sixes during his 45ball resistance.

Two balls later, Permaul removed Nkrumah Bonner for 20 to see the Scorpions slip to 52 for three at the end of the 16th over.

Rovman Powell and Andre McCarthy collaborated to put on 53 runs for the fourth wicket.

Powell worked his way up to 33 from 44 balls, while McCarthy made a 31-ball 23 before he was caught behind

Jamaica Chadwick Walton lbw V Permaul 26 Kirk McKenzie c K Sinclair b SE Rutherford 2 Nkruma Bonner c KA Anderson b V Permaul 20 Andre McCarthy c TA Imlach b N Smith 23 Rovman Powell c SO Hetmyer b K Sinclair 33 Brad Barnes b N Smith 36 Jeavor Royal b K Sinclair 0 Dennis Bulli b SE Rutherford 0 Odean Smith c V Permaul b K Sinclair 20 Shalome Parnell not out 13 Nicholson Gordon b N Smith 0 Extras (b: 0 lb: 3 wd: 5 nb: 0) 8 Total 181 all out (46.5 overs) BOWLING O-M-R-W Nial Smith 8.5-1-26-3 Sherfane Rutherford 9-1-38-2 Gudakesh Motie 9-2-28-0 Veerasammy Permaul 10-1-38-2 Kevin Sinclair 10-1-48-3

Guyana Harpy Eagles Tagenarine Chanderpaul c NA Gordon b S Parnell 77 Kevin Sinclair c OF Smith b S Parnell 7 Tevin Imlach c None b AM McCarthy 30 Shimron Hetmyer not out 62 Sherfane Rutherford not out 2 Kevlon Anderson Kemol Savory Richie Looknauth Gudakesh Motie Veerasammy Permaul Nial Smith Extras (b: 0 lb: 0 wd: 6 nb: 0) 6 Total 184/3 target reached (39.0 overs) BOWLING O-M-R-W Shalome Parnell 6-0-26-2 Jeavor Royal 10-1-33-0 Nicholson Gordon 3-0-18-0 Dennis Bulli 3-0-26-0 Odean Smith 3-0-14-0 Andre McCarthy 10-0-35-1 Brad Barnes 4-0-32-0

GT Beer East Coast 5/5 Tapeball bowls off at Enmore today

N

ineteen teams will vie to outdo each other over the course of November, and be crowned East Coast Demerara champions of the GT Beer sevena-side 5/5 Tapeball competition sponsored by Banks DIH Limited.

After launching a similar tournament in Essequibo, the beverage company has zoned in on the Demerara East Coast, with three match days being slated for the Enmore Community Centre ground.

The first set of games will be played on November 5 from 09:30h, followed by

the final group of round-robin matches on November 19, and the knockout games and final on November 26 under lights.

Over G$400,000 in cash and prizes are at stake, with the champion team guaranteed G$200,000.

The losing finalist will collect G$100,000, third placed team G$40,000, and fourthplaced team G$20,000. All cash prizes will be accompanied by trophies.

There are also several individual awards in the form of cash and trophies up for grabs. Teams will be awarded two points for a

GT Beer Brand Manager Dwain Bristol (seventh left) and Key Accounts Manager of Banks DIH Limited, Shameer Shahib (centre), posed with some representatives after a team briefing

These trophies will be accompanied by cash prizes for the top four teams and leading individual performers

win and one point for a tie or no-result.

Admission to the games is free, and apart from the on-field action, there will be several family-oriented activities beyond the boundary.

GT Beer Brand Manager Dwain Bristol has said there is the added incentive of the champion side representing East Coast Demerara in a national playoff featuring the winning teams from other districts.

“We’re looking forward to the games being played in the right spirit. I know we’re

all competitive and want to win, but just come out and have fun and make it a tournament to remember,” Bristol told team representatives during a briefing.

Bristol explained that at the end of the Essequibo and East Coast legs, action will resume in other areas in January 2024.

Shameer Shahib, Key Accounts Manager of Banks DIH Limited and one of the coordinators of the competition, has said the ultimate aim is to cover eight catchment areas around the country, with the winners meet-

ing in the national playoff.

The specific areas and competition dates are to be finalised.

Shahib has encouraged the teams to stick to the rules of the competition, and play within the spirit of the game while having fun. He noted that GT Beer, and by extension Banks DIH Limited, is committed to community development by investing in grassroots activities like Tapeball cricket, which has been growing not only in players’ participation, but viewership at the venues.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2023

Sport is no longer our game, it’s our business

biker sets new track record ahead of today’s ‘Clash of Champions’ - Mark Vieira leads Group 4 qualifier

T

eam Mohamed’s biker, James Westmoreland from the United Kingdom has set a new track record with a time of 1:15.798s during the race qualifier of the Super Stock/Super Sport Bikes on Saturday at the South Dakota Circuit. The previous record was held by

Kevin Persaud

race car driver, Mark Veira.

Also coming in second and third with the best lap time were Daniel Linfoot with 1:16.397s and Lee Jackson with 1:17.089s – both from Team Moahmed’s camp.

The trio was followed by Matthew Viera with a time of 1:18.385s; Dylan Singh with 1:20.571s; Stephen Viera with 1:23.320s and Heemand Boodram with a time of 1:25.080s.

For the Group 4 qualifier, Mark Viera had the best lap time of 1:16.596s followed by Franklyn Boodram with a time of 1:16.769s; Vishok Persaud with 1:17.006s and round off the top four is Mohan Rangasammy with a time of 1:19.450s.

In addition, leading the Super Street Bike qualifying is Kevin Persaud with

1:21s followed by Heeranand Boodram with 1:22.710s; Abdul Ali 1:22.787s and Allian Hopkinson with a time of 1:23.617s.

Scores of fans were on Saturday given a glimpse of what is in-store today. The Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club (GMR&SC) is determined to commence the day’s activities at 11:00h with 15 races scheduled for the day.

Kicking off the Enet’s ‘Clash of Champions’ will be the Street/ Super Stock/Super Sports rave at 11:00h. These will be followed by the Starlet Cup at 11:20h; Street Tuners/Sport Tuners at 11:40h; Group 2/Rookie at 12:00h; Group 3/Group 4/ Unlimited at 12:20h; Street/ Super Stock/Super Sport at 12:40 and Starlet Cup at 13:00h.

The action continues at 13:20h with Street/Tuners/ Sport Tuners; Group 2/Rookie at 13:40h; Group 3/Group 4/ Unlimited at 14:00h. Several other races are on the program before the final, which is the handicap scheduled to commence at 15:40h.

Apart from the Super Bike races all eyes will be on the Group 4 event where the big boys/girl come out to play. The Group 4 line-up includes Mark Vieira; Andrew King; Kevin Jeffrey; Vishok Persaud; Gavin Gayadin; Harold Hopkinson and Denzel Hopkinson from Guyana.

From Jamaica will be Doug Gore and Sara Misir while Mark Maloney and Tremaine Catwell will represent Barbados; Kristian Boodoosingh and Franklyn Boodram are in the Trinidad camp. Neil Persaud and Mohan Rangasammy are from Team CAMS.

Mark Vieira with his Mazda RX-8

The Team Mohamed’s bikers along with Azruddin Mohamed and team members (Mike Gonsalves Photos)

Pan American Games 2023…

Baird bags bronze in Javelin

Guyana’s Leslain Baird brought the country’s medal tally at the 2023 Pan American Games to 3 with a bronze medal performance in the Men’s Javelin throw. Baird had a best throw of 78.24M for the podium finish. More details on Baird’s historic achievement will be published in tomorrow’s issue of Guyana Times Sport

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