Guyana Times, Sunday January 19, 2020

Nationwide coverage coverage from from the the best best news news team team in in Guyana Guyana Nationwide Issue No. 4170 guyanatimesgy.com

THE BEACON BEACON OF OF TRUTH TRUTH THE

PPP rebuilt Guyana without oil & gas – Ali to mammoth Essequibo Coast rally Sunday, January 19, 2020

Page 3

…vows to transform agriculture sector …promises incentives for rice farmers

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WHAT'S INSIDE: St Agnes Primary School attack

Parents, teacher to appear in court this week P8 – Police

Convicted murderers seek to overturn sentence, conviction P17 13-yr-old P14 lashed to head after rebuffing classmate’s inappropriate touching

APNU no good for progress, democracy – Jagdeo tells Region 2 supporters Page 9

…as Govt given “F” grade in every sector

ExxonMobil’s President Upstream in Cuba Head lauds Guyana’s oil for medical progress evaluation Page 7

Woman robbed by cutlasswielding P16 bandits

Lennox Shuman admits he is still a dual citizen P15

Page 11

M&CC to P16 implement garbage separation to foster recycling

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SUNDAY, JANUARY 19, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

NEWS

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SUNDAY, JANUARY 19, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

BRIDGE OPENINGS

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

Sunday, January 19 – 13:00h – 14:30h and Monday, January 20 – 01:00h – 02:30h and 13:30h – 15:00h.

The Berbice Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on:

Sunday, January 19 – 12:10h – 13:40h and Monday, January 20 –13:10h – 14:40h.

FERRY SCHEDULE

Parika and Supenaam departure times – 05:00h, 11:00h and 16:00h daily

WEATHER TODAY Sunshine is expected throughout the day. There will be clear skies at night. Temperatures should range between 21 degrees Celsius and 30 degrees Celsius.

Winds: North-Easterly to East North-Easterly between 1.34 metres and 4.91 metres.

High Tide: 11:57h reaching a maximum height of 2.33 metres.

Low Tide: 05:24h and 18:05h reaching minimum heights of 0.96 metre and 0.88 metre.

PPP rebuilt Guyana without oil & gas – Ali to mammoth Essequibo Coast rally …vows to transform agriculture sector …promises incentives for rice farmers

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t was a scene of red, yellow and black at Damon Square, Anna Regina, Essequibo Coast, Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), where thousands of People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) supporters decked in the party’s colours gathered to hear from the leadership of the party.

At the event, a number of projects and developmental initiatives planned for Guyana under the next PPP/C Government were announced. Among the plans highlighted by the party’s Presidential Candidate, Dr Irfaan Ali, was that a PPP Government will examine setting up a rice stabilisation fund. He made it clear to the crowd that unlike the coalition government, rice is not “private business” but rather, the business of the entire country.

“Removing the taxes on

made was for specific interventions to assist farmers with their rice production.

According to him, rice farmers must have incentives in order to be able to compete and enhance production.

“Rice is very important to the economy of Region Two. We’re going to remove the charges on drainage and irrigation. We’re going to give back the incentives to farmers so that you can reduce your input costs and improve your profitability. And when you suffer because of paddy bug, we’re going to give you back help with seed paddy and fertiliser to put you back on the crop.”

He added that a PPP/C Government will not only work on creating new markets but “we have to create markets that are sustainable. Markets that are viable and ensure our farm-

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A section of the gathering at Anna Regina, Essequibo Coast

equipment and machinery.

Because if your cost goes down, your profits will increase. So there’s a plan that links the profitability of rice with policies and programmes that enhance the rice sector and industry,” Ali told the excited crowd.

“If you read our manifesto, you will see we will expand technical support and services. But very important too, we will examine the viability of a rice stabilisation fund that can be there to help the farmers in hard times. This is the commitment of your party and you know when we make a commitment, we stick with that commitment,” Ali added as the crowd cheered.

The establishment of a rice stabilisation fund, which would ensure that farmers are protected from price swings on a volatile global market, was one of the failed promises that the current administration had announced. It is one of the several promises that the PPP has highlighted which remain unfulfilled.

Incentives

Another commitment Ali

ers receive a fair price. And a fair price must be a price that is profitable to the farmer. We must support our farmers having access to low-cost financing”.

Ali pointed out that when the PPP/C entered Government in 1992, it met a country overburdened by huge debts and a stagnated economy. According to him, his party, while in Government, rebuilt Guyana sector by sector without oil money… the implication being that such efforts will be redoubled with revenues from oil and gas.

Plans

Meanwhile, Ali’s running mate and Prime Ministerial candidate, retired Brigadier Mark Phillips, also spoke about the help his party will be offering to rice farmers should they be elected at the March 2 elections.

“This is an agriculture region. Rice is the big crop here. And you have a government who say they don’t have no business in rice.

But we will always have a business in rice. I came here with your past Minister of Agriculture. And he told

PPP Presidential Candidate, Dr Irfaan Ali and Prime Ministerial candidate Mark Phillips standing before thousands of supporters in Region Two

me that at the end of the last PPP/C Government,

we were producing over 600,000 tonnes of rice.”

“And we want to get back to that. We want to get back to that, so you can get the money from your rice production to have a better life. So in our manifesto, we have plans for you. We want to have the experts come in and work with you, so you can improve the yield of your rice,” Phillips also said.

Phillips also spoke about security concerns in the region and how his party, once in government, will seek to properly equip the Guyana Police Force (GPF).

According to Phillips, it is not just about criticising the Police Force but also about retooling the Force and equipping it with what it needs to fight crime.

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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 Investment Estate Industrial Site, Ruimveldt, Georgetown Email: news@guyanatimesgy.com, marketing@guyanatimesgy.com

Decadent political campaigning

T

he key idea of “democracy”, of course, is that it involves the demos— the people. Literally, the word, derived from Greek demos+kratos, means “rule by the people”. With the spread of the democratic ideal, few modern rulers can afford to ignore “the people”. Elections are supposed to allow “the people” to elect representatives that will rule for the next five years on their behalf.

With this in mind, one would have thought it was selfevident that those vying for leadership on the campaign trail would utilise the opportunity presented, to inform the voters about the policies and programmes they would implement if they were elected. Traditionally, the parties would release their plans (labelled manifestos, betraying our historical leftist tilt) and compare and contrast them with their opponents. This practice appears to have fallen by the wayside.

The new mode of campaigns launched by the PNC seems geared towards the lowest common denominator of the psyches of “the people” – their urge to bacchanalia; their fears, and their prejudices. Our history informs us that after grinding their slaves for months – literally into the ground 24/7 – during the “crop season”, the planters would give some their cast-off clothes, liquor and food to the slaves for them to have a “jump up”.

Surely, with our 50th Republic anniversary upon us, can we move off this bread and circus to our people for them to forget their trials and tribulations? But it would not seem so if we are to view the wall-to-wall array of speakers booming out their dancehall and chutney wine-down music from the campaign stages of the PNC – starting with the foreign Farmer Nappy. The announcements of the meetings are punctuated with the same ear-splitting tunes so that the average resident can be forgiven if he is confused as to whether he is being invited to attend a bubble session or a political meeting.

When “the people” end up at the political meeting (or rally) they will eventually be greeted by the mind-boggling sight of their erstwhile leaders gyrating and “getting down” (literally) to the music. Perhaps because of their ages, Granger and Nagamootoo have thankfully confined themselves to swaying with upraised hands. It would seem they have decided that the prime criterion “the people” want to use in making up their minds as who will run the Guyanese ship of state is their comparative ability to “wine and guh down”.

In the intervals between the cacophony of the music, when the politicians decide to speak, invariably it has very little to do with any plans or manifestos. In fact, the Caretaker APNU/AFC have not even produced a manifesto mere weeks before the elections. The rhetoric is all about “cussin” out their opponent in the most vulgar manner imaginable and using racist dog whistles. Physical disabilities of opponents are fair game, sexual proclivities and peccadilloes are salaciously detailed and expletives are now routine.

All of this is grievously disappointing. We are, after all, still a poor country with over one-third of “the people” still living in dire poverty, with the Indigenous peoples still at the bottom of the barrel. Why cannot the PNC focus on their plans for developing our country? Their nod to “bread” is to merely distribute handouts that will be soon dissipated. The circus cannot go on forever.

The new political mobilisation manuals emanating from the US assure us that “negative” politics are the most effective. Maybe for America, but most certainly not for us. We are a different society and the negativities that are blared from the campaign platforms will linger on as we know to our cost, from our history.

We call for some good sense to prevail in these last two months. We ask all parties, but especially the PNC, to jettison the negative politicking and show respect for “the people” by exposing them to their programmes and policies so that the latter can make an informed choice when they enter the voting booths on March 2.

Dancers performing at the cocktail reception to celebrate Guyana’s First Oil at the Guyana Marriott on Friday evening (Shaconeil Burnette photo)

How APNU sucked the oxygen out of the economy Dear Editor, If business and consumers feel overtaxed under APNU, they have every right to be.

Simply put, APNU’s tax policy has sucked the oxygen out of the economy. Over the 2015 to 2019 period (a 5-year period), APNU has extracted over 65 per cent more in taxes than under the PPP. In some cases, the increase is 85 per cent.

2014 was the last complete year of the PPP. We have reports of the Auditor General for every year up to 2018. We have Minister Jordan’s 2019 Budget Estimates. The following table presents information on tax collections using the AG reports and the 2019 Budget:

Report, and refer to page 6 (Table 3) of the 2019 Budget Estimates (Volume 1).

The evidence speaks for itself. An 85 per cent increase in customs and trade taxes; a 75 per cent increase in internal revenue, which is largely income tax from persons and companies, a 60 per cent increase in excise tax (collected on fuel, vehicles, alcohol and tobacco) and a 46 per cent increase in VAT which has been applied to almost every item including electricity and water.

And much of the taxes have been wasted – the average man can witness an era of squandermania by this APNU/AFC Government, with much of our tax dollars going to pay handsome salaries, travel, and dietary for an elite number of per-

years, our country has reduced its foreign reserves, reduced its gold reserves, run up an illegal overdraft with the Bank of Guyana of over $75 billion, drained the coffers of many statutory bodies such as GGMC, GFC and the Lotto Fund, and expanded the national debt (both internally funded and externally funded). Not to mention the many inside private deals and lack of transparency. Not much to show – but taxation, squandermania, increased debt and a raid on the everything in the Treasury.

APNU cannot point to any new investment that was not started under the PPP – from oil to gold to bauxite – virtually all new projects were started under the PPP. The PPP left sub-

For those who would like to check the data, refer to page 362 of the 2015 AG Report (which shows 2014 data for comparison); refer to page 12 of the 2018 AG

sons. Simply look at where the money is expended, and there is no shortage of extravagance and wastage.

And the record will show that during the last five

stantial loans that were intended for the development of the country’s social and physical infrastructure – these have funded the major capital programmes al-

though many are behind schedule. Not much in new loans for the productive sectors to speak about. No major projects completed except for the Cheddi Jagan International Airport with considerable cost overruns and reduction in scope.

And major infrastructure stalled – no parallel road (bypass) from Georgetown to Diamond, despite a $50 million Indian loan; no new Demerara Bridge; no Amaila Falls or new power generation along the coast; no Speciality Hospital. In short, no new projects but lots of expensive feasibility studies that are kept under lock and key.

No wonder there have been massive job losses including sugar, non-performing loans are up, and people have a sense of hopelessness. Clearly, for most businesses and persons in the Private Sector, their lives are more difficult as they are forced to pay more in taxes and their livelihood is being squeezed at every corner of their daily lives.

The hallmarks of the APNU/AFC Government: taxation, squandermania, crime, corruption and anti-investment. We like acronyms: T-S-C-C-aI. Sincerely, A Grant

Nothing GuySuCo says today is to be trusted Dear Editor, Sugar output in Guyana fell by more than oneeight over 2019, as one of Caricom’s largest sugar-producing nation witnesses its sugar industry collapsing. The State-run Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) confirmed to the media that the 90,246 metric tons produced in 2019 was the lowest in 93 years.

The decline comes as GuySuCo struggles with a debt load of more than $500 million, most of which

should not have been on its books since it was incurred by the Central Government of Guyana and not the sugar company. This financial misery was further complicated with the permanent shuttering of three of its six factories and with the firing of about 7000 of its 15,000-member workforce as of December 31, 2017. The ripple effect in the industry since then was destructive not just financially, but economically and socially.

Today, prime sugar lands

are now bush and many of these lands will have to be burnt, flooded and then replanted at a huge expense to the taxpayer, but it is the economically correct decision to make as some 4000 families are expected to directly benefit as one member of that family returns to work in the industry.

Unfortunately, Mr David Granger promised the nation a more efficient sugar industry but to date, the non-value added charges (mainly head office charges)

climbed in the sugar company from 20 per cent before the Granger plan was implemented to 35 per cent at the end of 2019. The bottom-line of the Granger plan which was supposed to make GuySuCo more efficient ended up making it more inefficient and sent some 4000 families into immediate poverty. The only people who benefited from this Granger plan were about 50 geriatric fat cats who mainly work at the head office twiddling CONTINUED ON PAGE 5

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

The hate, bile and bigotry of Freddie Kissoon

Dear Editor, It is obvious to me that Freddie salivated when his puerile mind perceived an opportunity based on my dual citizenship to continue his vendetta against me, using his stock full of diatribe, collection of malignant thoughts and excess hate that has poisoned his mind against certain Guyanese.

Dr Kissoon's column in Kaieteur News dated Tuesday, January 14, 2019, and captioned "Only the Guyanese can produce a Nigel Hinds" illustrates clearly that with all the education and knowledge Kissoon has, his mind has not been nourished or informed to be honest, objective and logical.

Instead, he often uses his bigoted mind and daily column in Kaieteur New to cosy up to the wealthy, especially those in private business, operating like a blood-sucking parasite seeking to gorge himself, using his daily columns in Kaieteur News as a platform for his vampire-like attacks, witless accusations and ad hominem attacks.

It is most foolish of Freddie Kissoon to conclude that I, who has been referenced in many of his little-minded stories, would be fearful of what he will release to the public.

The canards within his rambling mind, from where he convinces himself that fiction is facts, and then seeks to vilify his targets into silence. Is it too much for his mental state that this Guyanese knows the difference between syntax and semantics?

Over a year ago Freddie threatened to release emails of my criticisms of the PPP. In his tortured mind, my speaking at PPP sponsored events is improper. It is for him only proper that I stay in the historic lane that has cursed this land of ours, since the 1950s.

What he has released so far amounts to foul hot air and shows his partisan intention and lack of objectivity.

It seemed to me then that Freddie wanted to drive a wedge between the PPP and myself. As if the PPP is incapable of doing their own research and recognising that I was a constant critic of their governance prior to the May 2015 elections. Why is it wrong for me to speak on matters of national importance in an impartial manner at any forum?

Freddie brought up several falsehoods in his recent faecal explorations published on January 14, 2020.

In his lumpen and scandalising style, he sought to make my involvement in the review and report on the November 28, 2011 Elections Statement of Polls for the PNC a shocking issue. Even though at least one press conference was held, where the media were presented with extracts of the report findings and questions were taken from the press. It was not for me to release the report, as it was and is a PNC decision.

The same foolishness extends to his asinine suggestions that I release the forensic audit reports. The forensic audit reports were submitted to the

Ministry of Finance and some of the reports were posted on the Ministry of Finance website. My task was to conduct the audit and prepare the audit report for presentation to the Ministry of Finance, not to release the reports to the public.

Then in more of his diatribe, Freddie strains to link my resignation as Chairman of GWI to the dispute over a GWI resource on property owned by Queens Atlantic when they bought the Sanata Textile property. The passage of three years after my resignation has confirmed that my actions were in compliance with the terms of the Agreement of Sale and the law.

Freddie’s infantile obsession and malicious comments on former President Jagdeo is constantly seen in his columns, and now he sees it convenient to link sponsorship of Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation by a particular company to my resignation from GWI. How low are you willing to go, Kissoon, in your ill-founded and vindictive pronouncements? Maybe former President Jagdeo was willing to be compromised by your pay for play shenanigans.

Digging deeper into his inventory of emails and documents, Freddie pulls out my “extolling the virtues of Jagdeo” on May 25, 2017.

Suffice to say I stand by my statements. Let the facts and logic of my statements be tested. Use your daily column to publish my statements. When will you bring up my defence

of Minister Harmon or that does not fit your narrative?

Freddie seems to slaver in his explicit focus on me, a non-presidential candidate for the scheduled March 2, 2020 Elections, with his warped threats and blackmailer-like pronouncements. There is a saying that if it barks like a dog, walks like a dog, looks like a dog, then it’s a dog.

We also have his irrational and presumptuous conclusion in another of his putrid forays in Kaieteur News published on December 23, 2019; quibbling that I will not pull votes from the middle class or the rural areas. What a revelation from his exalted mind. After all his years in politics as a political scientist, has Freddie not realised that it is the primary leader and leadership of the party, the collective party attributes, the image built of the party and the party’s structure that pulls the vote.

Of course, his objective is not to be logical but instead to indulge in his partisan, divisive and ad hominem attacks on those not buttressing his ego or desires.

In his writings, Freddie uses a type of fearmongering technique by frequently claiming some special knowledge he has or knowledge that has been shared with him or information from reliable sources or some name he cannot call or he has seen documents that will upend some political or business figure.

Always trying to portray himself as a purveyor of justice and a straight shooter, yet constantly withholding infor-

President refers sugar workers’ petition to Minister Holder Dear Editor, The GAWU, a few hours after it issued a statement on January 14 regarding President David Granger’s non-response to a follow-up letter to enquire about the status of the sugar workers petition, received a correspondence dated January 13 signed by the President’s secretary.

Through the correspondence, the GAWU and by extension the sugar workers have been informed that the President has referred the matter to Minister of Agriculture, Noel Holder.

The President’s secretary has advised that the Union will hear from the Minister of Agriculture on the matter.

We note with interest that the President chose to reply through his secretary which no doubt, in our view, says a lot about the regard he has for the workers' petition. The GAWU, on several occasions, has pointed to the glaring lack of concern the coalition Administration has for the sugar industry.

This is not the first time that correspondences addressed to the President have not been frontally addressed by him but is referred to one

of his Ministers. While Mr Granger obviously can decide how to address a matter, our experience has been that matters referred to other Ministers by the President are hardly ever addressed, at least positively. Of course, we believe that the President could have fully addressed the matter as we are aware that he has been presented with proposals from the GuySuCo regarding the pay rise matter.

The fact that he has chosen to take the focus away from him is a mouthful in itself.

At this time, we hardly have any hope that the Minister of Agriculture will address the matter. We say so after we saw in the January 14, Guyana Times that the Minister, from all appearances, has begun to pack up his desk and he seems eager to head out the door. In addition to that, we have seen a GuySuCo report wherein the CEO advised the Board that “…the Corporation is working closely with the Minister of Agriculture to arrive at a solution to the Corporation’s cash flow problems and the Corporation was assured that there would be some relief which would stem from dis-

cussions with the Ministers of Finance and HE the President”. The CEO went on to share the view “…that the Corporation had to do something in order to survive”. The utterances of the CEO were made since October 2019 and the GAWU is aware that as recently as Christmas Eve 2019 the matter remained unaddressed. We are unsure, at this time, of the present status but, we believe, that the status quo prevails as the Corporation has yet to re-engage the Union and we read recently the Corporation’s CEO was on leave and out of the jurisdiction.

From our perspective, the current caretaker Government of Guyana has no intention to assist the sugar workers who have not benefitted from any rise in pay

since the coalition took office. It is saddening to see the workers being treated with such derision especially when senior actors in the coalition had promised them not only to preserve their jobs but to approve substantial pay hikes in the region of 20 per cent.

Rather than a 20 per cent hike in pay, the workers’ real and nominal wages, over the period, have probably declined by over 20 per cent as they must contend with reduced benefits, lesser work weeks and massive jumps in the cost-ofliving which have heavily impacted them and their family.

The lack of compassion by the APNU/AFC Government is a clear indicator of the beast we are dealing with.

Sincerely, GAWU

mation he purports to have, be it emails, recordings, documents or untellable tales.

Freddie is like the boy who keeps crying wolf when he just seeks to deceive.

One only has to be aware of the wealthy businessmen in Guyana and you will recognise how Freddie toady’s up to them like a benefit seeking missile and too often uses his columns to write with venom and maliciousness against those who have rejected his pay for play journalism, while hiding behind the veneer of being an advocate for the poor.

Instead of using his brush with philosophic teachings to spread a positive message, he has become the chief exponent of ad hominem attacks on a selected group that he cannot

succour from and who are not fearful to respond to his petty and cowardly attacks.

“The greatest wealth is a poverty of desires." This quote from Seneca typifies my belief that giving is the greatest wealth. My wealth is not in monetary financial accumulation, but in helping and giving to Guyanese. I have never claimed to be financially wealthy, that would be ludicrous.

Will Freddie now release his vitriol and nastiness on others who are dual citizens such as Vishnu Bandhu, Lennox Shuman and Timothy Jonas or is it reserved for Hinds? I think not!

Sincerely, Nigel Hinds

Nothing GuySuCo says...

FROM PAGE 4

their thumbs as they fight with NICIL over who should have control of the $30 billion that team Granger borrowed in the name of the Guyanese people.

Sugar was once the country’s largest source of foreign exchange, with an inflow of around US$120 million a decade ago. Today only a quarter of that foreign currency was generated by the sugar industry in 2019 coming it at some US$29 million.

This had a seismic effect on the foreign reserves at the Bank of Guyana which continues to decline as was approximately US$520 million at the end of 2019 compared to US$653 million five years ago; a decline in value of some US$133 million.

Nothing GuySuCo says

today is to be trusted because the new leadership appointed by Mr David Granger lacks credibility, and are using a colonial mentality of rank and privilege to attempt to turn the wheels of production, but the reality remains; every month that passes, the efficiency of the industry get worse because of ineffective and incompetent leadership.

Sugar output in Guyana is expected to hit below 88,000 tons in 2020 unless there is an urgent injection of fresh new leadership into the industry and at least two sugar factories are reopened.

With regards, Sasenarine Singh

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Foundation

School issues: How to

Promoting empathy keep in our kids (and in ourselves)

your teen motivated

By Pam Myers, BSEd

S

ixteen years seems like a long time to spend in school. Teens often lose their motivation to keep trying and excelling. As a parent, you want to know how to keep your teen motivated so they will do more than graduate. You want them to excel in school so they have the best chance at a successful life.

One way to help your teen stay motivated in school is for you to continue taking an active role in their education. They may complain to their friends about you, but they inwardly enjoy having you involved. If they’ve been struggling in one subject, show them how to set targets or goals which will bring those grades up. Can they study more effectively? Should they cut out extracurricular activities until they raise their grade?

Assist them in setting specific, measurable goals and they’ll be more motivated to succeed.

Ensure their school work is done and they meet all educational deadlines. They may not seem to be interested in whether or not their homework is completed on time, but chances are they really do care. Encourage them by helping with problems they don’t understand, but don’t do their school work for them.

Praise them for a job well done. Grades may not seem to mean much, but they are

…how to promote empathy, and a gentler, kinder child (and perhaps a kinder you) Part2

By Vanessa LoBue, PhD

I

a n indication of how well your teen is paying attention in class and how well they’re keeping up.

Don’t fixate on the actual grade but applaud their effort. Let them know you love them and are proud of them even if they don’t bring home an A in every subject.

Explain to them how important a good education is for their future. If your teen applies themselves in school now, they will have the foundation they need to apply for nearly any entry-level job. If your teen isn’t sure what they “want to be when they grow up”, you’ll want to tell them how doing well in school will open doors for them, whereas goofing off in school can adversely affect what type of job they can get after graduation.

Suggest they develop a good relationship with their

n general, empathy is associated with healthy social relationships, close friendships, cooperation, and even school success (Masterson and Kersey, 2013). In adolescence, moral emotions are the biggest predictors of moral choice, like choosing whether or not to cheat or steal (Krettenaur, Jia, and Mosleh, 2011). Further, empathy is negatively associated with bullying behaviour, in that children who display more empathy are less likely to bully their peers (Mitsopoulou and Giovazolias, 2015) and more likely to intervene when they see someone else being bullied (Nickerson, Mele, and Princiotta, 2008).

Unfortunately, trends suggest that empathy is on the outs.

In a large-scale analysis of studies with over 13,000 American college students between 1979 and 2009, empathy is declining sharply in the United States (Konrath, O'Brien, and Hsing, 2011). And despite some downsides, we need empathy: It allows us to relate to other people, consider their feelings, and motivates us to help. In fact, in a political climate where Americans are so divided, empathy might be more important than ever.

In his new book, The War for Kindness, author Jamil Zaki argues that empathy is something we can choose, something

teachers. Rather than seeing their teachers as the adversary, teens who develop friendships with their teachers actually can find someone to cheer them on for years to come. They may even be able to establish a mentor relationship which will greatly influence their future educational decisions.

Is your teen afraid of the future and that’s why they don’t try harder? Facing graduation and what the future holds can be scary. Do they have a learning disability? Are they afraid of failing? Do they lack self-esteem? Are they simply unsure of what they want to do with their life? Encourage your teen to talk about what concerns them so you can help them move past it and look forward to what the future holds.

If your child is unmotivated because they don’t know how to study, you can help them with this. Perhaps you struggled when you were in school so you’re not sure what you can do. There are organisations which can show your teen how to be more organised, teach them how to study so they do better in school and even tutor them to help them catch up. Knowing how to keep your teen motivated to work hard in school is important for their future. Help them succeed by using the tips above. When your teen realises how interested you are in their future, you may find that they become more motivated as well. (childdevelopmentinfo.com)

we can cultivate. For adults, imagining what it might be like to be in another person’s shoes might help us make kinder, more empathetic decisions. Further, contact with individuals who are different from us can also help us to behave more empathetically towards people who usually wouldn’t bring out our kindest selves. Research suggests that even reading fiction novels can help with the ability to put ourselves in the minds of others and encourage empathy (Dodell-Feder and Tamir, 2018).

Besides helping ourselves behave more empathetically, there are also some things parents can do to encourage empathy in their children. If you have a child who tends to be a bit sensitive or is already highly in tune with the emotions of others, you might not have to do much to encourage empathy.

In fact, like me, you might have to spend more time working through a child’s worry or guilt at the sight of a person in pain or distress. But for other children, talking to them about their emotions and the emotions of others can help.

Indeed, parents who talk to their kids about their emotions have children who are higher in empathy, and behave more prosocially (Brownell, Svetlova, Anderson, Nichols, and Drummond, 2013; Garner, Dunsmore, and Southam-Gerrow, 2008). A secure, warm, and responsive relationship between parents and children is also related to empathy (Stern and Cassidy, 2017; Spinrad and Eisenberg, 2019). In fact, some researchers have suggested that parents might be able to model empathy for their children (eg, Eisenberg, VanSchnydel, and Hofer, 2015), so promoting an empathetic environment at home might produce more empathetic kids, and maybe even a kinder, more empathetic you. (Excerpt from psychologytoday.com)

NEWS

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SUNDAY, JANUARY 19, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

ExxonMobil’s Upstream Head lauds Guyana’s oil progress

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s extraction of the first batch of crude continues in the Liza field in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana, President of ExxonMobil’s Upstream Oil and Gas, Liam Mallon has lauded the unprecedented pace of the country’s petroleum sector from discovery in May 2015 to first oil in December 2019.

He was at the time speaking at a reception organised by ExxonMobil, the Department of Energy and co-ventures at the Marriott Hotel on Friday evening to commemorate first oil. The reception was followed by a spectacular display of fireworks.

According to Mallon, persons do not fully appreciate the progress that has happened over the past five years. He pointed out that milestones like this rarely come around and as such, urged stakeholders to dwell on this unique opportunity.

“The reality is if we had met average industry performance, do you know when we would’ve been celebrating this event – 2014, we would’ve been celebrating this event. The average time in water of this depth from discovery to first oil is nine years. This was done in five,” he stated.

Mallon went on to say that not only was first oil achieved in five years, something which he credited to the Guyanese people and Government as well as its partnership, but it was done safely, and more importantly, it was done below the cost initially anticipated.

“That directly benefits the partnership and benefits the Government. Five years, below cost and safe. I don’t think we could ask this great team of people to do anything more than that,” he posited.

belling it a waste of taxpayers’ money especially since Guyana is yet to receive any payments from the oil lifts.

In fact, in a statement on Friday evening, Executive Member of the PPP/C, Gail Teixeira said that this hosting of the reception is an indication of how the incumbent coalition intends to use the oil revenues, that is, on extravagant things.

“The issue is that

Exxon Upstream Oil and Gas President, Liam Mallon

The Exxon Upstream President further noted that in addition to having a strong team, taking well-managed risks also contributed to the success thus far.

“When we decided it was ready to go first oil, it was less than three years – we said to our project team, you have to do this in less than three years. It can be done!

I know the industry benchmark is double that but we put people on the moon, we can put first oil in Guyana in three years. You’ve got to set an aspirational goal and this team has more than stood up to that… you have to take well-managed risks,” he contended.

However, Mallon posited that the company and its partners significantly exposed themselves to financial risks but were confident that they would be successful.

“This is a risky business.

We made decision to proceed with two wells – that is rare.

We put significant money on the ground on the basis of what we knew based on early information… Our company, HESS/CNOOC took significant financial risks on the basis that we would

make this happen. This is an uncertain world, you really don’t know until you get well down the path. That’s what we bring to the table and I’m very proud…,” he noted.

According to Mallon, this aspirational milestone is just the start of many more things to come. He added that he is looking forward to celebrating many such milestones with Guyana.

Meanwhile, Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan, who is performing duties of Prime Minister, in brief remarks posited that this rare milestone is one of national pride and upliftment. He praised Exxon for taking the risks to fulfil one of Guyana’s greatest potentials.

Friday night’s grand reception was attended by Government Ministers, senior Government officials, members of the Diplomatic Corps, stakeholders in the petroleum industry and special guests. However, it was boycotted by the Opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP).

Boycott

The party had criticised the hosting of the event, la-

Guyana as a nation and its people are not benefiting and will not benefit for quite a while… Tonight, whilst everyone clinks glasses and look at the fireworks in the sky, we should remember that… before we even ascent in revenue, we owe over six billion dollars [in pre-contract costs and in oil revenues],” she stated.

Nevertheless, Teixeira went on to outline some of

the plans that the PPP intends to implement should it get into office come March in order to streamline the oil and gas industry. This includes better contract administrative negotiations and criminalising non-disclosure of oil revenues as well as redo and strengthen the legislative framework for the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) and streamline a Local Content Policy.

8 NEWS

SUNDAY, JANUARY 19, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

St Agnes Primary School attack

Parents, teacher to appear in court this week – Police T he parents of a primary school student along with the child’s teacher – who was attacked at the school on Thursday last— will be hauled before the court of law this week.

This is according to Commander of Region Four (DemeraraMahaica) Sub-Division A (Georgetown), Assistant Police Commissioner Edgar Thomas, who told Guyana

Oblivious...

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Parent kicking teacher during the attack at the St Agnes Primary School

Times on Saturday that the teacher made a formal report to a Police station shortly after the incident.

According to the Commander, although footage of the incident went viral on social media, ranks did not rely on the short video as a critical part of their probe.

He said that the footage did not capture the beginning or the end of the situation which developed inside of the school on the day of the assault.

However, the Commander stated that statements were retrieved from the parties involved as well as witnesses to the incident and based on those, the file was prepared and sent to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for advice on the way forward.

Not keen to divulge much information about possible charges that the parties can each face, Commander Thomas was only willing to share the fact that the matter will come up in court this week.

After the video, which showed the parents of a child at kicking the teacher, went viral, there was much public outrage and condemnation of the incident.

As a matter of fact, the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) has called for all teachers to dress in black and white to school on Monday.

According to the GTU, “this is to indicate to our employers that we are dissatisfied with security arrangements put in place for teachers…By 10:00hrs, all schools must post a picture of staff in their black and white outfits with caption ‘ Parents!

Stop the violence against teachers’”.

The brutal attack on the teacher stemmed from an incident between two students who were injured.

Following the attack, GTU President Mark Lyte said that the Union will be taking actions to protect its teachers. Lyte also criticised the Guyana Police Force (GPF) for their inability to properly deal with such incidents.

“The Guyana Police Force has to do better at charging parents and placing them before a court of law. It is due to the reluctance and inability of the GPF to act swift and justly that this has continued. Our teachers are now fearful for their lives.

The question is, who is next?

The perpetrators of violence against teachers must face the full penalties for their actions. We have demanded that the charges laid against the St Agnes Primary School teacher for defending herself in her place of employment must be dropped immediately,” Lyte stated.

…to ground reality our Eyewitness wonders who’s advising the consortium of oil companies on their PR. Here on one hand, you had the self-defined elite of Guyana “knocking glasses” with the oil execs at the Marriott and on the other, the masses turning out at the seawall bandstand to look with open mouths at fireworks provided by the GDF and the IOC’s. Blink your eyes and you can see the local colour-defined elite of the last century knocking glasses with the colonial governors at the Georgetown Club and Watooka Club while the natives pressed their noses – if they were lucky – on the show cases on Water Street!!

As one sees Raphael Trotman in the thick of things, questions have to be raised about whether he’ll be allowed to get away with the crime he committed against the people of Guyana, when he signed along the dotted line on that infamous contract of 2016. Every year since, there have been contracts signed in so many other “frontier” destinations – all infinitely more equitable for the owners of the oil resource. Why not us??

Just the other week, Suriname signed an oil contract where they got three times the royalty we got PLUS ONE HUNDRED MILLION US DOLLARS signing bonus!! Yes, dear reader, we got a lousy US$18 million bonus – which would’ve been more appropriately described in local parlance as a “freck”!! Maybe Trotman and Jordan hid it away because they didn’t want to face the question – which eventually were transmuted from “why peanuts” to “why did you hide the peanuts”??

As he saw the gliteratti at the Marriott, your Eyewitness’ mind went back to that account by an imperial poet as to the reaction of our native people to the arrival of Columbus: “There was an Indian, who had known no change,/ Who strayed content along a sunlit beach/ Gathering shells. He heard a sudden strange/ Commingled noise: looked up; and gasped for speech.

For in the bay, where nothing was before,/ Moved on the sea, by magic, huge canoes/ With bellying cloths on poles, and not one oar,/ And fluttering coloured signs and clambering crews.

And he, in fear, this naked man alone,/ His fallen hands forgetting all their shells,/ His lips gone pale, knelt low behind a stone,/ And stared, and saw, and did not understand,/ Columbus’s doom-burdened caravels /Slant to the shore, and all their seaman land.”

Today, the “doom burdened caravels” are a million times larger; have no billowing sails, and can’t even be seen. But what we do have, thanks to Trotman and the PNC, are the modern-day trinkets and beads being exchanged for our black gold, this time!!

And it’s our 50th Republic Day!! Oh…the irony!! …to Caretaker Status Granger lives in a bubble – a bubble created by his mentor Forbes Burnham back in the seventies after he proved to be pliable enough to earn the dictator’s trust. Unlike the older officers, he didn’t giggle when Burnham strutted around in a Two-star general’s outfit and demanded that all the officers swear personal loyalty to him (Burnham”! It looks like one lesson he learnt from Burnham was speak in categorical terms as if he alone was possessed of TRUTH!!

Take the status he was forced to concede kicking and screaming, almost a year after that legal NCM was passed: that he was a caretaker president heading a caretaker government. But he’s really only given lip service to that concession: in every respect, he’s carried on just as he did before the NCM. And this is what voters must remember on March 2nd: you don’t need a flambeau to see in bright daylight.

To rub salt into the wound of the body politic, Granger insists he’ll abolish the NCM!! …to real needs Granger couldn’t find funds to keep sugar going, but boasted he built the People’s Militia to 1,500 members from the 125 in January, 2015. He said the Militia “resulted in a timely response to threats and emergencies”!! Did we miss these??

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

NEWS

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SUNDAY, JANUARY 19, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

APNU no good for progress, democracy – Jagdeo tells Region 2 supporters

…as Govt given “F” grade in every sector

PPP General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo addressing the gathering in Region Two

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n light of the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) paltry track record in upholding democracy and the Constitution of Guyana, People’s Progressive Party (PPP) leaders seemingly touched a chord with supporters in Region Two. During a campaign rally in Anna Regina, Essequibo Coast, Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), on Saturday, PPP General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo

“We fought them in Parliament, protested against them. Imagine when they put the VAT in education, it was our fight we led that got them to remove the VAT. When they increased the tributors tax and increased the 2 per cent final tax for the miners, it’s the PPP that led the fight.”

Referring to the coalition Government’s firing of thousands of Amerindian Community Service Officers (CSOs), Jagdeo pointed out that it was the PPP that

science. He said that the Government has shown an inability to manage the macro-economy… something even oil will not fix.

“We knew this day would come. We’re not fair-weather friends. Immediately after the Government changed, we came on to the Essequibo Coast visiting. We’ve been talking to people. We knew the day would come when we save our country, not just for PPP people but everybody.

“So much is at stake. We

hyped the large crowd as he laid bare APNU/AFC’s constitutional transgressions. He pointed to the party’s fight in the courts of law and beyond, to get the Government to call elections - without the support of other, small political parties.

“I see all these small parties. You have a ton of them who’ll be on the ballot paper.

You didn’t see them when the battle was there and we had to fight a long, hard battle against APNU/AFC or it would have been worse now.

We would have lost more than 30,000 jobs,” Jagdeo told the large gathering.

wrote the United Nations (UN) seeking help.

“We have been at the forefront of the struggle, your party, for the last several years, or it would have been worse. They would have taken more advantage.

They would have been more corrupt, but we have been exposing them every single day. And they have no shame.”

Jagdeo noted that with the mismanagement of the economy and various sectors, the party knew the day would come when persons would get a chance to vote according to their con-

[could] give this Government US$10 billion of oil money and we’d still be worse off than Venezuela… they were exporting 3 million barrels daily. We’re going to produce 120,000 barrels a day and they don’t have food.”

F-grade

Meanwhile, PPP candidate and former Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr Frank Anthony also cited the Government’s track record in his address to PPP supporters. According to Anthony, the Government has failed in almost every sector.

“You know what is at stake because you have been living it. You have been experiencing it. You have seen your income go down. While prices have gone up. It’s harder to pay loans, mortgages, electricity and water. It is even harder to send your children to school,” Anthony said in his speech.

“Farmers, the hands that feed this nation now have a difficulty feeding their family. Drainage and irrigation charges are the highest it has ever been. Land rent has shot up. And adding VAT to agriculture equipment is one of the disastrous policies that have helped cripple this once prosperous rice industry. Judge them!

Judge them by their promises. They told you $9000 per bag of paddy. How much are you getting now?”

In addition to this,

Anthony returned to many of the promises made by the APNU/AFC Government on the campaign trail.

According to the medical doctor, the coalition failed to fulfil many of them.

“It is time we the people give them a grade. They promised rice farmers a good life. Did they get a good life?

No! How do you grade them?

They failed! They promised the business people a good

life. Did they get a good life?

How do you grade them?

Failed!”

“They promised police, nurses, teachers a good life.

Did they get a good life? No! How do you grade them?

Failed! On every single subject, they failed. Do you want another five years of failure and broken promises?” he questioned, to which the crowd responded with a resounding no.

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SUNDAY, JANUARY 19, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Scenes from PPP/C Anna Regina rally

NEWS

President in Cuba for medical evaluation

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resident David Granger on Saturday morning departed Guyana for

President David Granger

Cuba to undergo a follow-up medical evaluation by doctors at Centro de Investigaciones

Medico Quirurgicas (Centre for Surgical Medical Research) CIMEQ. According to the Ministry of the Presidency, he was accompanied by First Lady, Sandra Granger.

The President’s health has been an issue of concern following his diagnoses with cancer in 2018.

Last October, almost one year after being diagnosed with cancer, Granger was said to be in remission. At that time, medical specialists had expressed complete satisfaction with the state of the President’s health. They also explained that his ailment is now in remission. In

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SUNDAY, JANUARY 19, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

The seeds of competition

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The hospital where President David Granger is receiving medical treatment

complete remission, all signs and symptoms of cancer disappear, although cancer still may be in the body.

Granger was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s

Lymphoma, a type of cancer that develops in a network of vessels and glands spread throughout the body. The announcement was made on November 14, 2018.

n Guyana, the question of an equitable distribution of economic goods has always loomed large. And history offers valuable perspectives on this condition; perspectives that should assist us in moving away from the finger-pointing stage (interspersed with gun-toting episodes) that we seem to be mired.

The concern over economic distribution should not be surprising in light of our origin as a colony founded on slave and indentured labour. As a non-settler European colony, the Guyanese economy was structured to produce primary products in agriculture and mining at the cheapest possible labour cost, for export to the metropole countries.

The movement for the abolition of slavery in the 19th century, followed by the agitation in India for humane working conditions for the indentured labourers in the 20th century, left a legacy of sensitivity to the exploitation – economic and otherwise – of labour in Guyana. In fact, the trade union movement – founded to agitate for economic justice on behalf Ravi Dev of workers – was launched here as far back as 1919, long before political parties appeared on the scene. It was the womb for most modern politicians. The ethnic organisations, formed contemporaneously by mostly middle-class elements, were also concerned about the economic status and progress of their members.

The historical development of the colony, by and large, led to ethnic economic specialisation and this was to have farreaching consequences. Within a decade of the abolition of slavery, the majority of Africans left the plantation and were channelled – by laws and other institutions – into becoming an urbanised workforce of lower civil service clerks, messengers, transport workers, dock workers, shop assistants, artisans, masons etc. The unbroken wave of rural to urban migration, continuing to the present, soon created a large African urban underclass, which could be used to depress urban wages and led to several riots. Some Africans gravitated into the hinterland to prospect for gold and opened up a new industry.

Those Africans who remained on the sugar plantations constituted the majority of skilled factory workers, who were inevitably separated from the mostly Indian field workers.

When the bauxite industry was developed following WWI, the workers recruited were primarily Africans. The Portuguese and Chinese, small in numbers, also gravitated to the urban centres directly after serving their indenture contracts, with some remaining as shopkeepers in the newly formed villages.

Some Portuguese became gold prospectors and soon became the large operators in that field. The majority of Indians, even after indentureship ended in 1921, were encouraged to remain on the plantations or to form rural settlements near the plantations so as to provide readily available seasonable labour for sugar – focusing primarily on rice and vegetable cultivation and cattle rearing.

Economic competition was sustained with the rural migration continuing as a constant feature of the colony’s development since the towns were promoted as the centre of “civilised” life and higher standards of living. As mentioned, rural African migration precipitated severe contradictions as the African underclass grew while opportunities stagnated.

The early success of the Portuguese migrants in business, (even in the production of vegetables for the Sunday markets) which squeezed out many Coloured/African entrepreneurs, led to several African – Portuguese riots, notably in 1848, 1856 and 1888. The Portuguese were seen as unfairly moving ahead of Africans due to special treatment from the colonial powers.

It was the beginning of the movement of Indians into the urban-centred occupations after the end of indentureship in 1917 however, that precipitated the greatest stresses in the society – some of which are still unresolved. The Indians, building on their successes in rice, cattle rearing and petty retailing, began to open businesses in Georgetown by the 1920s and also to enter the independent professions of medicine and law. These were very highly prized occupations in colonial society that helped to define status and when some Indians began to percolate into the Civil Service by the 1930s, the Coloured/African elite began to feel threatened.

They felt that the Indians, with their immigrant drive for economic advancement coupled with their greater numbers (by the end of indentureship) would become so economically dominant even if they were to occupy only a proportionate share of the valued economic platforms, as to overwhelm them. This fear increased as the Indians slowly began to follow the path earlier trod by the rural African to the urban centres.

The fear actuated, and still actuates politics today.

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SUNDAY, JANUARY 19, 2020| GUYANATIMESGY.COM

13-yr-old lashed to head after rebuffing 2020 – UN classmate’s inappropriate touching International Year …Police launch probe of Plant Health

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teenager is now nursing gaping wounds to her head after she rebuffed inappropriate touching by her male classmate who allegedly retaliated by using a piece of wood to hit her twice to the head.

The eighth-grade student and the suspect both attend an East Coast Demerara secondary school, where the incident occurred on Friday afternoon.

According to a post on social media (Facebook) shared on the page belonging to the injured teen’s father, his daughter “was given two blows to her head by her classmate who was troubling her [and] other girls by touching there rear ends with his cricket bat”.

The irate man related that his daughter refused to allow the male teen to continue harassing her and pushed him. This reportedly led to a confrontation between the girl and her class-

mate.

However, later in the afternoon, after the school was dismissed, the male teen reportedly walked behind the 13-year-old and used a wooden leg of a table to inflict injuries.

“She fell when she got the 1st and he gave her a next one while she was on the ground....I’ve made the nec- The wound the 13-year-old girl received after essary running being struck to the head around I’m to go (East Coast Demerara), to the police station tomor- Assistant Police row (Saturday) to go get this Commissioner Royston animal…” the girl’s father Andries-Junor told Guyana added on his Facebook page. Times that an investigation When contacted on has been launched into the Saturday, Commander of matter.

Region Four (DemeraraHe explained that the inMahaica) Sub-Division C

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Commander of Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) C (East Coast Demerara), Assistant Police Commissioner Royston Andries-Junor

jured teen, along with her family, visited an ECD police station on Saturday morning and reported the matter.

Commander AndriesJunor stated that his investigators are following the necessary procedures when handling matters involving juveniles.

Meanwhile, this newspaper was told that the Social Protection Ministry’s Child Care and Protection Agency (CCPA) has been notified about the incident.

lants are essential to our daily lives. Not only do they produce 98% of the oxygen we breathe but they make up 80% of our food. However, plants are under constant and increasing threat from pests and diseases.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), pests and diseases account for up to 40 per cent of global food crops lost, leading to over $220 billion annually in national agricultural trade losses. This, of course, leaves millions of people facing hunger, and severely damages agriculture, which is the primary income source of many communities here in Guyana and around the world. Recognising the importance of protecting and conserving these resources, the United Nations declared 2020 International Year of Plant Health (IYPH).

History of the UN’s International Year of Plant Health (IYPH) for 2020 The FAO at the UN Agency’s Council Meeting on December 2, 2019, launched the United Nations’ International Year of Plant Health (IYPH) for 2020, which aims to raise global awareness on how protecting plant health can help end hunger, reduce poverty, protect the environment, and boost economic development.

“Plants provide the core basis for life on Earth and they are the single most important pillar of human nutrition.

But healthy plants are not something that we can take for granted,” as indicated by Mr Qu Dongyu.

In addition to raising awareness, the year’s observances seek to emphasise the importance of healthy plants for achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; while highlighting the impact of plant health on food security and ecosystem functions and sharing best practices on how to keep plants healthy while protecting the environment.

Healthy plants, healthy environment Integrated pest management is one recommended measure the FAO is encouraging farmers and policymakers to adopt to help keep plants healthy whilst protecting the environment.

Governments, legislators and policymakers should: 1. Empower plant protection organisations and other relevant institutions, and provide them with adequate human and financial resources to aid in their mandate; and 2. Invest more in plant health-related research and outreach, as well as innovative practices and technologies.

Why should you be concerned?

Plants are the source of the air we breathe and most of the food we eat, yet we often don’t think about keeping them healthy. This can have devastating results. * We get two major life essentials from plants: air and food. * Plant health is increasingly under threat. * Climate change and human activities are continually changing ecosystems, reducing biodiversity and creating new niches and environment for invasive species. * International trade and travel contribute to the spread of diseases. * When it comes to plants and diseases, prevention is always better than cure. * Plant health policies and actions are essential for reaching the Sustainable Development Goals.

How to join in on the celebration?

1. Ensure you get the relevant approvals for bringing plants and plant products across borders, even transporting from one local to another within the same country can be a health risk.

2. Take action to protect and manage natural resources.

3. Spread the word about #PlantHealth on social media and in your community throughout 2020 and beyond.

4. Farmers can prevent the spread of pests by using only certified pest-free seeds and seedlings. Regularly monitor and report the occurrence of pests on your farms.

5. Also, you can adopt environmentally-friendly pestmanagement practices including those based on biological approaches that do not kill pollinators, and beneficial insects and organisms.

6. If accessible use modern digital technology, mobile apps and software to access information about how to prevent and manage plant pests and diseases and to report outbreaks.

Source:http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/1253551/ icode/ You can share your ideas and questions by sending letters to: “Our Earth, Our Environment”, C/O ECEA Programme, Environmental Protection Agency, Ganges Street, Sophia, GEORGETOWN, or email us at eit.epaguyana@gmail.com or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

NEWS

Lennox Shuman admits he is still a dual citizen

…as small parties announce list merger

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residential candidate for the Liberty and Justice Party (LJP), Lennox Shuman admitted on Saturday that he is still a dual citizen. Shuman is a Guyanese with Canadian citizenship. During a press conference on Saturday, Shuman said that should his party win any seats in Parliament during the March 2 elections, he will not enter Parliament unless the relinquishment process is complete.

However, it is unclear how Shuman’s candidacy has been accepted by the Guyana Elections Commission, since, according to the laws of Guyana, to have been accepted as a presidential candidate on the list submitted to (GECOM), Shuman would have had to sign a Statutory Declaration form on nomination day attesting to the fact that he was qualified to be a Member of the National Assembly. However, to be

Lennox Shuman

a qualified member of the National Assembly, a person cannot be a dual citizen.

Article 155 (1) of the Constitution of Guyana states: “No person shall be qualified for election as a member of the National Assembly who (a) is, by virtue of his own act, under any acknowledgement of alle-

giance, obedience or adherence to a foreign power or state.”

Section Four of the Statutory Declaration Act, Chapter 5:09 states that “Everyone who makes a declaration according to this Act containing any statement false in fact, which he knows or believes to be false or does

not believe to be true, shall be guilty of a misdemeanour and shall be liable to imprisonment for one year.”

“The fact that we have submitted a list without objection… Every single document has been submitted to the Canadian Government.

It’s a matter of receiving confirmation,” Shuman said when pressed for direct answers on the status of his claim that he has applied to renounce his Canadian citizenship.

Asked what would happen if the LJP wins seats in Parliament before those papers arrive, Shuman noted that he is not indispensable to his party and should he not be able to participate, the party will go on without him.

“I don’t know how much clearer I can get. The question has already been answered. If you’re asking about my position within this arrangement, it is not an arrangement of persons. We all represent a party. If Lennox Shuman moves on, the party still exists. Because we have a party structure,” Shuman said without directly answering the question.

Collaboration

Meanwhile, during a joint press conference on Saturday between his party, A New and United Guyana’s (ANUG) Presidential Candidate Ralph Ramkarran and The New Movement’s (TNM) Presidential Candidate Dr Asha Kissoon, it was announced that the parties will merge their candidates' list.

Leaders from the three parties took care to stress that they are not coalescing; rather, they are joining lists and pooling resources.

ANUG candidate Ralph Ramkarran noted that the Representation of the People’s Act allows for this arrangement.

“It’s not a coalition. All that happens is, the parties will go to the elections on their own, the people will vote for the party of their preference and the votes will be counted for the party of preference. But at the end of the process, the votes will be combined.”

The issue of dual citizens in the National Assembly came to a head during the last Parliament, when dual citizen Charrandas Persaud’s vote brought down the Government in a NoConfidence Motion. Since then, a number of dual citizens resigned from their parliamentary and ministerial positions.

It was only earlier this week that Presidential Candidate for the United Republican Party (URP) Dr Vishnu Bandhu had to withdraw his name from the contest, after knowingly signing a Statutory Declaration form attesting that he was in effect not a dual citizen when in fact he is.

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SUNDAY, JANUARY 19, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

The hidden cost of political instability – an endemic inhibitor of economic growth and development

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uyana is at a major crossroad for the first time in its postIndependence history. With oil production having commenced in December 2019, and General and Regional Elections to be held in March 2020, sections of society -- and perhaps more so the international community -- are deeply concerned about the credibility of elections: whether those elections will be free and fair, and whether the pre- and post-elections periods will be peaceful.

This is a preconceived fear among many Guyanese, and it is premised upon Guyana’s history, wherein there have been allegations of questionable elections and politically motivated violence and crime.

Further, it is also noteworthy to highlight that some politicians are on record in describing these election as the “mother of all elections”; that is to say, with the immense oil wealth, these are highstakes elections which would serve as the key determinant of fierce, politically- competitive and contestable elections for political power and control of the resource.

While this is the current reality that Guyanese of all walks of life are grappling with, Guyana is, for the first time, receiving an unprecedented level of global attention and attraction -- an extremely positive outturn of the emerging oil and gas sector – that makes it now, more than ever before, imperative to strategically exploit these opportunities to reposition Guyana as a number one Caribbean tourist destination.

It is unfortunate that budgetary allocations to Guyana’s tourism industry have, over the years, been almost meagre compared to Guyana’s Caribbean counterparts. It is important for politicians and budding policymakers to understand and acknowledge at the very outset that oil will not last forever. Therefore, central focus ought to be given to industries that would outlive oil for centuries to come, and one such industry is tourism. Case in point: In 2018, there were 286,732 visitors. Now, if each visitor spends an average of US$1,500, that’s US$430 million, or Gy$92.4 billion, or 11% of GDP. That is the kind of economic potential tourism has. Imagine if we can triple and quadruple this number, then Guyana literally does not need oil. Oil will be short-lived, but tourism is a more sustainable industry, and will continue to be so for decades to come.

Having said that, let’s now examine the thematic area for today.

Empirical evidence suggests that political coups and civil conflicts around government transitions are common, especially in the developing world.

Political instability can directly hurt a country’s economy by affecting the investment decisions of the firms. It takes time for the firms to make the investment decisions, especially the manufacturing firms. In unstable political environments, it is very difficult to determine the net present value of an investment, as there are many uncertainties regarding social conditions, which make it impossible to determine the rate of return. Further, the expectations on the future policy and financial return depend very much on general socio and macro-economic conditions. If the expectation is dim in future, then development in the economic sector is almost impossible for any country.

The case of Bangladesh Political instability always stays a prime concern in any country, and always affects any kind of investment analysis to be made.

In Bangladesh, studies have shown how political instability has hampered the business environment and jeopardised the commercial conditions. This is not to mention that the economy heavily depends on how much investment is made within that economy. The reason which makes the investment environment in Bangladesh unpleasant can also be the same reason which would hamper the economic development of the same economy.

Political instability has harmed the financial markets of Bangladesh also. Political restlessness gloomed the stock market right after it had survived the liquidity crisis. In February, 2013, Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), and Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) had taken some measures to boost the stock market. As part of these measures, institutional investors had been given scope to overcome losses. When daily turnover went to more than 500 million taka, many investors were interested. When the market was about to be cured, political instability struck, and investors went away from the markets and refrained themselves from investments. As a result, the Index came low. Due to hartal, companies had faced losses because of reduction in their production. As a result, the share prices of the companies had gone down. Like the rest of the country, the stock market was also doomed with the political instability (Roy & Borsha, 2013) cited by Chawdhury (2016).

The country had experienced hartal from 4th February to 5th March, 2013, and the DSEX lost 6.07 per cent. (the Daily Star). The Dhaka Stock Exchange general index had fallen to new lows, which is because, according to analysts, political unrest had undermined investors’ confidence. Only nine regular working days were available in March, which made buyers and investors think reasonably to invest their business and investment dollars elsewhere.

According to US Ambassador Dan Mozinathis, this is not how to build an Asian tiger.

The National Board of Revenue also failed to collect the taxes, Vat, and other duties to their expected levels in these months. Political restlessness and sluggish investment conditions were the reason behind this (Chawdhury, 2016).

The author wishes to take this opportunity to urge our politicians not to push our economy into a fragile state, and into a state of political instability; and to promote a peaceful and respectful elections campaign season among themselves; and in the post-elections period, work together to develop and transform the economy. There is enough wealth for everyone in a politically stable environment, and if we all work together towards one goal. This is a time when all politicians across the divide need to unite post-elections; otherwise, Guyana risks becoming another Venezuela.

Let’s not go down that path!

16 NEWS

SUNDAY, JANUARY 19, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

M&CC to implement garbage separation to foster recycling

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olid Waste Director, Walter Narine has revealed that the Mayor and City Council will be moving to separate garbage in 2020 to boost efforts at recycling waste.

In an interview with Guyana Times last week, Narine explained that they are planning to target communities individually to generate more effective results.

“We are hoping again, which was something stapled for last year, but we are hoping again this year that we can target one community. We can give each household two bins one to put the organic waste in and one to put the regular waste in. We can take that organic component of the waste, that is the food waste and we can turn that to compose where the

Solid Waste Director Walter Narine

community can benefit from the compose. They can sell it and have money for their communities,” he told this publication.

He added that for this recycling plan to be implemented, it requires a lot of effort and preparation.

“Separation of waste is a must, it is something that is burning, it is something that has to happen, but for that to see realisation very soon it takes a massive amount of education, PR, and consultation with our residents”, he emphasised.

According to the Solid Waste Director, some measures prevented them from accomplishing this task in 2019.

“A lot of things step back, remember we consulted with the residents… the idea is not only to target the residents but also to target the supermarkets and entities around the area; if you know our society, if you know some of our citizens we don’t do things unless we know what is in for them as an incentive,” he pointed out.

Meanwhile, Narine ex-

pressed appreciation to residents of Georgetown for properly disposing of their garbage in 2019, since there has been a significant decrease in the amount of garbage collected compared to previous years.

Garbage collected daily

The M&CC reported that they have been collecting an

average of 180 tons of garbage per day. Narine added that one of the major challenges that face the M&CC is the indiscriminate garbage dumping around Georgetown by store owners and vendors.

He referred to the garbage pile-up at the Route 44 minibus park, where business owners and vendors continue to dump garbage

even though a sign was posted there warning against the activity.

“We have a prime location at Stabroek Market, where we have a compactor that you would expect that excess garbage would be taken there but these guys would find any open spot and go and dump it there,” he pointed out.

Woman robbed by cutlass-wielding bandits

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man is now in Police custody after the woman that he and his accomplice robbed while wielding a cutlass positively identified him to the Police hours after the crime was committed.

Although quick action by the Police led to the one suspect’s arrest, his accomplice is still on the run. The jewellery and $100,000 which the duo snatched have not been recovered.

This newspaper was told that the robbery occurred at

about 01:30h on Saturday morning near Saffon Street, Charlestown, Georgetown.

At the time, the victim and her friend were walking home.

According to Commander of Region Four (DemeraraMahaica) Sub-division A (Georgetown), Assistant Police Commissioner Edgar Thomas, when the incident took place, ranks in his Division were immediately contacted.

He said that a patrol vehicle in close proximity ar-

rived quickly at the scene.

Commander Thomas noted that after receiving a description of the two perpetrators and the direction in which they fled by foot, the ranks gave pursuit. They managed to apprehend one of the suspects. He has since been positively identified by the victim.

Meanwhile, it is believed that the man’s accomplice took the loot. Commander Thomas added that the Police are on the hunt for the second bandit.

NEWS

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SUNDAY, JANUARY 19, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Convicted murderers seek to NGSS hosts 1st business expo overturn sentence, conviction T

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wo young men— who are each serving a 75-year prison sentence for the murder of an Enterprise East Coast Demerara businessman, Kumar Mohabir – are now seeking to overturn their conviction and sentence imposed by a High Court Judge during their trial in 2015.

The duo, Devon Thomas and Randy Isaacs, were each handed the same number of years after being found guilty of the indictment, which stated that on February 23, 2013, at Vlissengen Road, Georgetown, they murdered Mohabir.

On the grounds listed for the appeal, the duo is contending that the trial Judge, Justice Navindra Singh erred

Murdered: Kumar Mohabir

in law when he imposed on them an unduly severe sentence. This is in addition to the Judge erring in law by usurping the discretion given to the Parole Board when he stated in his sentencing of the appellants (Thomas and Isaacs)when they would be

eligible for parole.

The convicts are further arguing that the Justice Singh erred in his direction to the jury on how to deal with the inconsistencies and discrepancies that arose during the trial between the witnesses’ testimonies.

According to previous media reports, the now-dead man, who was with his family partaking in Mashramani celebrations, was attacked and killed by a group of men who were armed with broken bottles.

The altercation stemmed from the deceased stepping on one of his attackers’ feet.

Following investigations, the convicts were arrested and charged for the capital offence.

WCD murder suspect discharged from hospital ...to make court appearance this week

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he Crane, West Coast Demerara (WCD) man, who was admitted to the West Demerara Regional Hospital after he ingested a poisonous substance shortly after brutally stabbing his reputed wife to death, was on Friday discharged from the medical facility and taken into Police custody.

This was confirmed by Region Three’s (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) Commander, Assistant Police Commissioner Simon McBean when contacted by this publication on Saturday.

Commander McBean stated that the murder suspect is likely to make his court appearance this week since the post-mortem examination of the murdered woman, Bibi Zameena Ali, is set for Monday.

“We have the post-mortem examination scheduled

Bibi Zameena Ali

for Monday so after that he will be charged,” McBean stated.

Ali, 34, a mother of three, was stabbed to death in her Lot 15 Old Road, Crane, WCD home by her reputed husband on Wednesday after she was accused of being unfaithful.

The dead woman’s mother, Rashpattie Persaud, told the media that she was awakened by her daughter’s

Commander of Region Three Simon McBean

screams. The woman recounted that she rushed out of her bedroom and saw her son-inlaw stabbing her daughter and she too started screaming and pleaded with the man to stop but it was too late.

It was related that the suspect, on numerous occasions, would threaten to take Ali’s life but regardless, the now dead woman did not make a police report.

Rotary Club of NA installs pure water systems in 4 Berbice schools

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tudents from four schools across Region Six (East BerbiceCorentyne) are now benefiting from pure water.

The Rotary Club of New Amsterdam has installed purifying water systems at these institutions.

The project is a collaborative effort between the Rotary Club and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Rotary International has been focusing on sanitation as one of its primary objectives and as a result, the Rotary Club of New Amsterdam has as its main focus of attention water sanitation and hygiene.

The project was held under the Club’s clean water initiative.

According to the Club’s President, Nolan France, not only does the club focus on water and sanitation but

six other areas as well.

Similar projects have also been installed at Manchester Secondary School, Rose Hall Estate Primary and Berbice Educational Institute.

The Club initiated the project in 2016, with a similar project at Canje Secondary School and since then, six other schools have benefited from the school clean water initiative – bringing the total to ten schools.

France said the schools were chosen by location.

“Not just because some children live in the townships, they must benefit from clean water systems. That is not our way at Rotary, so, we go forward in ensuring that to our best finances or if we collaborate with an organisation we will give back to the community what they deserve and what they must have.”

Elder Lehman represented the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

He noted that they have been looking for opportunities worldwide to collaborate with organisations Meanwhile, Education Officer attached to the Department of Education on Special Projects, Wainwright McIntosh in thanking the organisations said there is a need for partnerships in education.

Additionally, Head Teacher of McGowan Primary, Rosemary LesterHudson referred to pure water as being the world’s first medicine. She said only recently one student attended a programme organised by the Education Ministry and expressed a desire to have a water dispenser at the school – but now the school has an entire system.

he North Georgetown Secondary School (NGSS) on Wednesday hosted its first business fair that was aimed at encouraging students to become entrepreneurs.

The exhibits were created and organised by students who are preparing for the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) Principles of Business (PoB) examination this year.

In contrast, the expo was designed to help students in the business stream to put into practice what they have learnt in the classroom. Head of the school’s Business Department, Dawn Monplaisir, said that each group was charged to be creative and innovative.

“The idea here is to have them create their own employment. They can go out there and find jobs of their own by making their own product and putting it out there in the market,” she said.

Monplaisir further added that the business ideas had to be conceptualised— which is catered for in their syllabus.

“Besides them [being] taught the concept, they have to learn the practical aspect of it. They are taught cohesiveness, they are taught how to work together, they are taught problem-solving strategies,” she pointed out.

Meanwhile, some of the products created were bath soaps, hair products, facial cleansers, health shakes, body scrubs, wine, and scented candles.

Students from neighbouring schools were also in-

Students of North Georgetown showcasing their products

vited to view the exhibition which is likely to become an

annual event.

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SUNDAY, JANUARY 19, 2020

guyanatimesgy.com

Around the World

Mexico violence: Indigenous musicians Dozens wounded as Lebanon's anti-Govt killed in ambush in Guerrero

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en Indigenous musicians blocked a road on Friday night, have been shot dead and La Jornada newspaper reportburned in an ambush ed (in Spanish). in western Mexico believed The Guerrero prosecutor's to have been carried out by a office said it was investigating drug cartel, officials say. the case.

The members of the Nahuas Guerrero is one of Mexico's Indigenous group were returnmost violent states, where ing from a party when they drug gangs fight for control of were attacked in the town of trafficking routes to the Pacific Chilapa in Guerrero state. and other parts of the counThe victims, all men, were try. The Los Ardillos have aged between 15 and 42. been linked to dozens of deaths The Los Ardillos car- The men attacked were part of the Sensación Musical group in recent months, including tel, which frequently targets many indigenous people, acIndigenous people in the area, cording to local media.

CRAC-PF. was blamed for the attack.

President Andrés Manuel López Gunmen attacked their vehicle at The victims, part of the Sensación around 14:00 local time (20:00 GMT) in Obrador has opted for a non-confronMusical group, were returning to their Mexcalcingo, he said. tational approach to the cartels, focusAlcozacán community on Friday afWhen the bodies were found, they ing, instead, on tackling inequality center playing the day before, said David were beyond recognition. After author- tral to his efforts under a policy dubbed Sánchez Luna, coordinator of the re- ities refused to release them to the fam- "abrazos, no balazos" – hugs not bullets. gional indigenous group known as ilies, hundreds of indigenous people (Excerpt from BBC News)

Myanmar, China ink deals to accelerate Belt and Road as Xi courts an isolated Suu Kyi

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hina and Myanmar inked dozens of deals on Saturday to speed up infrastructure projects in the Southeast Asian nation, as Beijing seeks to cement its hold over a neighbour increasingly isolated by the West.

But no major new projects were agreed during the two-day visit by President Xi Jinping, the first of any Chinese leader in 19 years.

Analysts said Myanmar was generally cautious of investments by Beijing and was also being careful ahead of elections later this year.

Still, Xi and Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi signed 33 agreements shoring up key projects that are part of the flagship Belt and

Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Presidential Palace in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, January 18, 2020

Road Initiative, China’s vision of new trade routes described as a “21st century silk road”.

They did not address a

controversial $3.6 billion Beijing-backed mega dam, where work has been stalled since 2011, reflecting the contentiousness of Chinese in-

vestment in Myanmar, where many are uncomfortable with the sway Beijing has over its smaller neighbour.

“While a large number of different agreements have been signed, there is no Big Bang here,” said Richard Horsey, a Yangon-based analyst with the International Crisis Group.

“The overall impression is that Myanmar is being cautious about Chinese investment, especially ahead of elections planned later in the year, he said.

“China will be hoping that this is an incremental step toward realising its mega-infrastructure goals, and that further progress can be locked in over the coming months,” he said. (Excerpt from Reuters)

protests turn violent

A demonstrator throws a tear gas canister during a protest against a ruling elite accused of steering Lebanon towards economic crisis in Beirut, Lebanon, January 18, 2020 (REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir)

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ozens of people have been wounded after security forces used tear gas and water cannon to disperse crowds of anti-Government protesters trying to reach Martyrs' Square, the hub of a months-long protest movement in Lebanon calling for changes to the country's political and financial systems.

On Saturday, demonstrators set out from various spots in the capital Beirut in a march towards the city centre under the slogan: "We won't pay the price."

But before they all converged near the road leading to Parliament, dozens of protesters flung rocks, traffic signs and tree branches at security forces guarding the institution, local television channels showed.

Security forces sprayed young men with water cannon and lobbed tear gas over a metal fence to disperse remaining protesters on the wet tarmac.

The Red Cross said that more than 160 people from both sides were wounded in

the clashes.

Angry protesters told Al Jazeera that they would not back down and would continue to demand change.

The protest movement rocking Lebanon since October 17 was revived this week, over delays in forming a new Cabinet to address the country's growing economic crisis.

No progress appears to have been made towards a final lineup, which protesters demand be comprised of independent experts and exclude all traditional political parties.

Forming a new Cabinet is often convoluted in Lebanon, where a complex system seeks to maintain a balance between the country's many political parties and religious confessions.

But protesters say they want to scrap the old system, and demand only impartial technocrats staff a new Government to address their growing economic woes, including a severe liquidity crisis. (Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

Somalia: Turkish workers wounded in deadly al-Shabab car bombing

Brazilian tribes back manifesto to save Amazon habitat from Bolsonaro

t least four people have been killed and 15 others wounded in a suicide car bomb attack claimed by the alShabab group near the capital of Somalia, according to authorities.

Both Turkish and Somali officials said those injured in Saturday's attack near the town of Afgoye, about 30 kilometres (18 miles) southwest of Mogadishu, included Turkish engineers as well as Somali nationals working on a road in the area.

Turkey's Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said six Turkish nationals and nine Somali citizens were wounded in the bombing, with two in critical condition and undergoing surgery.

The AFP news agency said at least four people were killed, citing local police officer Abdirahman Adan.

"A speeding suicide car bomb rammed into a place

up the destruceaders of native tribes in tion of the rainBrazil issued a forest, which is a rallying call to protect bulwark against global climate the Amazon rainforchange. est and its Indigenous “We do not people from what they called the “genoaccept mining, cide, ethnocide and agribusiness and ecocide” planned by the renting of our the country’s farlands, nor logright President Jair ging, illegal fishing, hydroelectric Bolsonaro.

A manifesto signed dams or other on Friday at the end projects that will of a four-day meeting Brazil's Indigenous Chief Raoni Metuktire arrives for a impact us directin the Xingu reserva- meeting with politicians to discuss the environmental ly and irreverstion said Bolsonaro situation in the Amazon and a protest against the ibly,” the fourwas threatening the Government of Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro at the page document National Congress in Brasilia, Brazil survival of indigenous said. tions and environmental acpeople with plans to alThe meeting low commercial mining and tivists. in the village of Piaraçu on Bolsonaro has vowed to the Xingu River was called ranching on their protected encourage economic devel- by Raoni Metuktire, the lands.

“The government is at- opment in the Amazon to 90-year-old Kayapó chief tacking us and wants to lift the tribes from poverty who became an environgrab our lands,” the docu- and improve the lives of 30 mental campaigner in the ment said, calling for a year million Brazilians who live 1980s with British rock Environmentalists singer Sting at his side. of demonstrations and the there. support of foreign organisa- fear his plans will speed (Excerpt from Reuters)

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Paramedics carry an unidentified man injured in the explosion in Afgoye in Somalia [Feisal Omar/Reuters]

where the Turkish engineers and Somali police were having lunch," a different police officer, Nur Ali, told the Reuters News Agency.

Somalia-based alShabab armed group, which has stepped up activity in the East African country and neighbouring Kenya in recent weeks, claimed responsibility for the attack on their media outlet, Radio Andalus.

"We are behind the martyrdom of the suicide

car bomb in Afgoye," said Abdiasis Abu Musab, spokesman for the group.

"We targeted the Turkish men and the Somali forces with them. There are casualties of death and injuries."

This is the latest in a string of attacks by the alQaeda-linked group since the beginning of the year.

The group has been fighting for supremacy in the Horn of Africa country for years.

(Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

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SUNDAY, JANUARY 19, 2020

19

NBA roundup:

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Doncic, Mavs shoot past Blazers

uka Doncic made a career-best eight 3-pointers, and recorded 35 points, eight rebounds and seven assists to lead the Dallas Mavericks to a 120-112 victory over the visiting Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night.

Tim Hardaway Jr. made five 3-pointers while scoring 29 points, and Seth Curry tallied 16 points off the bench, as the Mavericks won their fourth straight game.

Jalen Brunson added 13 points and Maxi Kleber scored 10 for the Mavericks.

Portland’s Damian Lillard registered 34 points and 10 assists in his clash with Doncic.

Carmelo Anthony scored 22 points, and Hassan Whiteside had 21 points, 18 rebounds and five blocked shots for the Trail Blazers.

Anthony has become the 18th player in NBA history to top 26,000 points. His total sits at 26,014.

Portland guard CJ McCollum departed the game in the second quarter with a sprained left ankle. He had four points in 12 minutes before exiting.

Atlanta Hawks: 121, San Antonio Spurs: 120 Kevin Huerter poured in the decisive 3-pointer with seven seconds to play, and Trae Young scored 31 points as Atlanta rallied in the final two minutes to stun host San Antonio.

The Spurs led by 11 points after a huge third quarter, but Atlanta clawed back to 120118 on a basket by Young with 48 seconds to play, setting up Huerter’s game-winner.

DeMar DeRozan had a chance to win the game for San Antonio, but missed a last-second fadeaway jumper, allowing the Hawks to win their second straight game, but just their fourth in their

for the seventh straight time, including two meetings this season.

Terence Davis scored 23 points, and Marc Gasol added 20 points, as the Raptors hit their season high for points in a game and won their second straight game.

Troy Brown Jr. had 22 points for the Wizards, who have lost three straight games.

Isaac Bonga added 17 points and 10 rebounds.

Toronto outshot Washington from the field 57.1 percent to 44.9 percent.

Dallas Mavericks forward Luka Doncic (77) reacts after scoring during the fourth quarter against the Portland Trail Blazers at American Airlines Center Part of the night’s action

past 19 outings.

DeRozan scored 25 points on 9-of-18 shooting from the floor, to stretch his streak of scoring 20 or more points and shooting 50 percent or better from the floor to 13 straight, breaking a tie with Michael Jordan for the most such games in a row in the last 35 seasons.

Indiana Pacers: 116, Minnesota Timberwolves: 114 Malcolm Brogdon nailed a tiebreaking 15-footer with 18.7 seconds left, and T.J. Warren scored a game-high 28 points as Indiana spoiled the return of Karl-Anthony Towns in beating Minnesota in Indianapolis.

The win allowed Indiana to sweep a tightly contested home-and-home series.

The Pacers won 104-99 at Minnesota on Wednesday in

a game Towns missed with an illness, to continue a string of 15 straight absences after earlier having sustained a knee injury. Towns scored a teamhigh 27 points on Friday.

The Timberwolves had a chance to tie after Brogdon’s clutch hoop, but Shabazz Napier misfired with nine seconds remaining.

Wolves’ Robert Covington managed to tie up Warren for a jump ball, but the Pacers were able to run out the clock after Warren controlled the tap.

Miami Heat: 115, Oklahoma City Thunder: 108 Kendrick Nunn scored 22 points to lead visiting Miami over Oklahoma City, holding off a late charge after once leading by 22 in the final quarter.

Bam Adebayo finished with 21 points, eight rebounds and five assists, while going 7 of 11 from the field for Miami; and Jimmy Butler finished with 14 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. Seven players scored in double figures for the Heat.

Oklahoma City hit a season-high 18 3-pointers, including seven from Danilo Gallinari, who scored a teamhigh 27 points. His 3-point total was a season high. The loss was the Thunder’s second in a row and third in four games.

Philadelphia 76ers: 100, Chicago Bulls: 89 Furkan Korkmaz scored a career-high 24 points, hitting a career-best six 3-pointers, and Ben Simmons posted a double-double, to lift host Philadelphia past Chicago.

Simmons finished with 20

points, 11 rebounds and seven assists as the Sixers improved to 20-2 at home.

Al Horford scored 20 points and Tobias Harris had 13 for the Sixers, who played without All-Star center Joel Embiid for the 12th time this season.

The Sixers are 6-6 without Embiid, who remains out with a torn ligament in a finger on his left hand.

Zach LaVine missed all seven of his 3-point attempts, but led the Bulls with 23 points while Coby White added 14. Luke Kornet contributed 13 and Lauri Markkanen had 12.

Toronto Raptors: 140, Washington Wizards: 111 Norman Powell scored 28 points and grabbed five rebounds off the bench, as host Toronto defeated Washington

M e m p h i s Grizzlies: 113, Cleveland Cavaliers: 109 Dillon Brooks scored 26 points, and host Memphis recorded its season-best seventh straight victory by beating Cleveland.

Brooks made 9 of 16 shots from the field, and rookie Ja Morant added 16 points for the Grizzlies, who extended their string of consecutive games with at least 110 points to 13. The last time the Grizzlies failed to reach that mark was a 114-107 setback in Cleveland on Dec. 20.

Collin Sexton scored 28 points and Kevin Love added 19 for the Cavaliers, who have lost eight of their past 10 games. (Reuters)

Tour de France 2020…

Chris Froome going for a fifth title B

ritain’s Chris Froome has confirmed that he will go for a record-equalling fifth Tour de France title in 2020.

The Team Ineos rider is training again, after being seriously injured during the Criterium du Dauphine last June. Defending champion Egan Bernal, and Geraint Thomas, the 2018 winner, will spearhead the team at this year’s Tour.

“The only appointment I’ve set myself is the Tour de France,” said Froome, 34.

“The prospect of going for a fifth yellow jersey is massive for me.”

Froome suffered a fractured right femur, a broken hip, a fractured elbow and fractured ribs, and lost consciousness after crashing on a practice ride during the Criterium du Dauphine in Roanne, France.

His four victories came between 2013 and 2017, and only four riders have won the Tour five times: Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain.

“It’s such a motivation,” Froome added. “On top of that now, coming back from this injury, it’s even more reason for me to try to get back there.

“There are no guarantees in sport; there are no guarantees that I’ll be back to challenge for it, but I’m going to give it absolutely everything I’ve got.”

Team Ineos boss Sir Dave Brailsford has confirmed the British team are planning on the pair being co-leaders on this year’s Tour.

“As it stands at this moment in time, we are looking at Richard [Carapaz] going to race the Giro [d’Italia] and try and retain his title there, and then for Geraint and Egan to take on the challenge of, and focus on, the Tour,” said Brailsford.

“Of course, Chris (is) coming back, he’s still really craving that big fifth win, and he’s working very, very hard to get back to the level required to be competitive.” (BBC.COM)

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GUYANATIMESGY.COM

SUNDAY, JANUARY 19, 2020

ICC 2020 U19 Cricket World Cup tournament…

West Indies defeat Australia in tense finish

− credit due to Nyeem Young, Jayden Seales

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ayden Seales and Matthew Forde shared seven wickets between them to bowl Australia out for 179, after which all-round-

the fifth wicket to stabilise their chase.

The game began an hour late after a drizzle had delayed the toss. It was reduced

Jayden Seales bagged 4-49

er Nyeem Young dragged West Indies out of a precarious position to seal a win in the first ‘Group B’ game of the 2020 U-19 World Cup. After leg-spinner Tanveer Sangha had taken four top-order wickets, West Indies had seemed to be in plenty of trouble in their chase, but then Young combined with Forde in a 78-run partnership for

to 49 overs a side, and West Indies chose to field.

While opener Jake FraserMcGurk was at the crease in the first innings, Australia looked set for a competitive first-innings total despite an early wobble, but his dismissal for a 97-ball 84 triggered a batting collapse that saw them lose their last six wickets for only 21 runs.

There were two freak runouts in their innings, when their captain, Mackenzie Harvey, and Lachlan Hearne were dismissed at the non-striker’s end, caught napping outside their crease. On both occasions, the on-strike batsman’s straight drive had taken a touch off the bowler before crashing into the stumps at the bowler’s end.

At that stage, Australia were 67 for 4, but FraserMcGurk continued to pile on the runs at a healthy rate, and added 91 for the fifth wicket in combination with wicketkeeper Patrick Rowe (40). However, when FraserMcGurk was dismissed,

“LET US RUN!”

…Fraser-Pryce insists athletes must retire on their own terms

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amaican sprint superstar Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce insists that athletes should retire on their own terms, and not be harried to step aside because of ageing.

With sprinting, and sports in general, often considered the domain of younger athletes, FraserPryce is one of several current stars who are willing to buck that trend.

She captured gold at the Doha World Championships last year, in the process becoming the oldest woman to ever win 100m gold at a global championship.

The 33-year-old has also become the only sprinter to be crowned world champion over 100m four times (2009, 2013, 2015 and 2019) and the first woman to hold dual titles on two separate occasions.

With 10 years having passed since she made her debut as a 21-year-old at the 2008 Olympic Games, her achievements are a tes-

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce

tament to her longevity as much as they are to her talent.

“The last time I won this award was (in) 2015, and to be here, over a decade later, still representing the unique legacy that we have here for Jamaica in sprinting and athletics is a huge honour,” Fraser-Pryce has said.

“I hope that, with this award, a lot more athletes can understand that there is so much more to us as athletes, and so much more to give. You decide when it’s time to go,” she added.

Fraser-Pryce had taken time off from the sport in 2017 to have her first child.

Australia’s rapid slide began.

Forde, who bowled without any success in his first spell with the new ball, caused the most damage at the back end; bowling uncomfortable lengths to the Australia lower-order, which ended up lobbing soft dismissals towards mid-on and midwicket.

The wickets of Todd Murphy and Sangha - the last Australia wicket to fall - left Forde with figures of 3 for 24.

With family members cheering him on from the stands, Seales capped the solitary wicket he had taken in his opening spell with three more in his second spell. He dismissed the set FraserMcGurk, who holed out at mid-on. After that, his pace in the late 130s troubled the remaining Australian lower-order batsman, and he finished with 4 for 49 in his eight overs, as the first innings ended in the 36th over.

West Indies began their

chase in a swift manner, with Leonardo Julien smashing three fours and a six in the first five overs.

That pushed their run-rate beyond six, but Julien couldn’t carry on, and was dismissed for a 22ball 20.

His opening partner, captain Kimani Melius, was out soon after, caught by the wicket-keeper off Sangha’s leg- Matthew Forde bagged 3-24 break.

Sangha went on to dismiss the next three batsmen as well, bowling them out in a single spell in which he returned figures of 4 for 30, leaving West Indies at 92 for 5. He was able to turn the ball well, and Antonio Morris and Matthew Patrick fell.

W i t h Australia no longer having an attacking spin option, West Indies’ Nyeem Young top scored with 61 No. 6 batsman, Young, saw off through to a five-wicket Corey Kelly’s off-spin with win, but both their dismissnot much trouble, occasion- als at the same score briefly ally finding the boundary brought the game back to life. to keep the required run- Unfortunately for Australia, rate in check. He reached they could not penetrate furhis half-century by drilling ther, and West Indies’ No. 8 a drive through the hands batsman, Joshua James, and of the fielder at cover, and No. 9 batsman Kirk McKenzie raised his bat towards the got the final ten runs needed. tiny West Indian contingent McKenzie finished the on the grass banks. game off in style, cracking a With the score at 170 for six over extra cover to seal the 5, it looked like Young and win in front of a 1600-plus Forde would see West Indies crowd. (cricinfo)

SUNDAY, JANUARY 19, 2020

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Major improvements evident over a 2-year period T

he Lusignan Golf Club -- Guyana’s only golf club -- continues to grow from strength to strength, with several big corporate entities coming on board in support of the club’s programmes.

Among those supporters are the Machinery Corporation of Guyana (Macorp), the Marriott Hotel, and oil exploration giant ExxonMobil.

With the AGM of the LGC impending, Club President Aleem Hussain is confident members would continue investing their trust in him to lead them into the future.

He detailed that, during the past two years, the sport of golf has seen a dramatic increase in the number of events being held both on and off the course, concomitant with the number of members participating.

Major contributions from Macorp have greatly assisted in development of the grounds, and allowed more playing days than ever before.

The LGC has seen tremendous progress and growth over the past two years, with more sponsors contributing (230%), events occurring (140%), and members participating than at any other time in the club’s history.

US Ambassador to Guyana, Sarah-Ann Lynch, stands alongside LGC President Aleem Hussain

Individual membership increased by 36%, corporate membership increased by 40% and associate membership increased by 56%.

This means that the revenue from membership will now cover almost 50% of operating expenses, up from just 22% in previous years.

Hussain told Guyana Times Sport, “If we (current executives) are elected in the next AGM, which is set for the next 30 to 45 days, then we have some plans that we want to execute. We will add more (facilities) to

the club: swimming pools, tennis club; we have plans to host 65 events at the club; host other sporting activities at the club, such as archery; and (there will also be) a focus more on youths as well.

“None of what we have been able to accomplish has been possible without our sponsors, who have helped us elevate the game of golf in Guyana. Because of this, they have begun to confirm dates for activities in 2020.”

Some of the entities that have thrown their support behind the LGC are Macorp,

2020 UWI-Unicom Twenty20 tournament…

All Stars bow out in semis 223-7230-1 (Ext 55)

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National U12 Chess

Championships begin

T

GUYANA T TIMES

in your area?

The course two years ago, as compared to the present

The young minds were hard at work in the Junior Chess Championships on Saturday

NOT RECEIVING YOUR DAILY & SUNDAY COPIES OF THE

21

he Malteenoes All Stars, the lone Guyanese team participating in the 2020 UWIUnicom Twenty20 tournament, had their dream run come to an end when they went down by 55 runs to the Queen’s Park Cricket Club (QPCC) in a semi-final match of this tournament, played at the UWI Spec ground in Trinidad and Tobago.

The All Stars won the toss and elected to bowl first, having been more successful at chasing targets than setting same in this tournament.

However, things fell apart when they found a minor target of 161 unattainable.

Confident as always, the Queen’s Park Cricket Club were able to make good use of the ‘power play’ overs, with Tion Webster digging deep

The Malteenoes All Stars

and scoring a handy 37 off 26 balls, and the team receiving able support from Nicholas Alexis with 35 and Justin Guillen with 25.

Bowling for the Malteenoes All Stars, Anthony Adams took 3-34 and Quintin Sampson 2-31.

Needing 161 to win, the Guyanese side crumbled under pressure and were bowled out for 105 in 17.1 overs. Hard pressed, they abandoned their usual flamboyant batting style as they lost wickets at important moments, and just could not hold a partnership together.

Trevon Griffith top scored for the All Stars with 23 runs off 12 deliveries, and Raj Nannan chipped in with 17.

The Queen’s Park Club destroyers were Christopher Vincent, who bagged 4-25;

Jon Rus Jaggessar, who bagged 3-21; and Dexter Sween, who took 2-36.

All Stars coach Darien Best said after the match: “We batted terribly tonight!

Irresponsibly! (We) lost wickets in bunches, and couldn’t string together a partnership!

160 is a paltry score, and we felt we should’ve chased that comfortably! Up until this game, we played, well, as a unit…

“Young Sampson was somewhat of a revelation, and I could see big things in store for him in the future. Nannan had a good all-round season, and I hope national selectors give him a look sometime.”

For progressing to the semi-finals of this tournament, the All Stars earned themselves TT$4000.

he National Under-12 Chess Championships began yesterday, and more than 30 students from the Marian Academy, School of the Nations, Mae’s Under 12 and other schools gathered at the School of the Nations premises on New Market Street in Georgetown to display their skills and flex their mental muscles.

Sponsored by DeSinco Trading under the Moo Milk brand and by Rambarran’s Transport Services, the 7-round, Swiss System junior tournament began on Saturday morning, and Guyana’s youngest crop of chess players had a mentally exhausting day, wherein they had to go through four rounds of play.

These under-12 championships are the first tournament on the Guyana Chess Federation’s calendar of events for the year 2020, and are regarded as integral in the Federation’s preparation for the Junior Chess Championships of the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA), wherein Guyana would be hosting more than 10 Caribbean countries

from April 10 to 13 at the Ramada Georgetown Princess Hotel at Providence, East Bank Demerara.

These National Under-12 Chess Championships will continue today at the School of the Nations premises, where the final three rounds of play will be conducted and the top finishers will be awarded their respective prizes.

While scouting players to represent Guyana at the CARIFTA Junior Championships in April is one objective of this under-12 tournament, an organiser told Guyana Times Sport that there is another objective to the competition.

“We’re trying to work on the technical aspects of their game also,” the organizer explained.

The young players are also being trained in proper game etiquette, so their level of play would be up to international standard when the regional competition commences in Guyana in April.

Results from these Under-12 National Championships will be published in a future production of Guyana Times Sport.

22

GUYANATIMESGY.COMOM

SUNDAY, JANUARY 19, 2020

CWI Colonial Medical Insurance Regional 4-Day Championships

Bajans dominate on day 3 ...Singh leads resistance for Jaguars

T

he Barbados Pride continued day 3 of the CWI Colonial Medical

timate day with a score of 141-3 in 41 overs. Overnight in the middle are Vishaul

Barbados Batting 1st Innings

Kyle Mayers top scored for the Pride with 75

Keon Joseph bagged 4-75

Insurance Regional 4-Day Championships on 239-3, they were further able to further expend their total to 389 all out with the better prospects of winning the game, being played at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados.

With a first innings total of 389 and lead of 180, the Jaguars managed to chop the total down, trailing by 39 runs heading into the penul-

Singh and Raymond Reifer, on 56 and 17 respectively.

The mammoth total set before them was no easy task as the Pride innings saw Kyle Mayers top scoring with 75 off 100 balls. He was ably supported by Jonathan Carter 73, Sheyne Moslely 46 and Kraigg Braithwaite 40. To add further insults to a below par Jaguars bowling unit tail enders Kemar Roach, Jomel Warrican and

SCOREBOARD

Keon Harding were able to contribute scores of 35, 24 and 21 runs respectively.

Some reward did come after toiling in the hot sun as Jaguars pacer Keon Joseph bagged figures of 4-75, he was also rendered assistance

by Nial Smith who picked up 2-84, also chipping in with wickets were Christopher Barnwell, Versammy Permaul and Raymond Reifer all chipping in with one wicket a piece.

Sent into bat needing to surpass a target of 180 runs, the Bajans did not make things easy for their counterparts.

Tagenarine Chanderpaul’s barricade like batting was broken down as Kemar Roach rained down a barrage of fiery deliveries that trapped him leg before

for 6, Chandrapaul Hemraj retired hurt on 8 after he copped a bouncer from Roach to his arm forcing him off the field to add to the woes of the Jaguars. Skipper Leon Johnson was unable to make a contribution with the bat as he was bowled by Kevin Stoute for 17. Vishaul Singh and Christopher Barnwell came to the crease and added a superb partnership of 46, one that was much needed by the Jaguars as they commenced the counter attack.

Even after Barnwell departed for 26 as he was dismissed by Warrican, Singh continued to carry on as he gradually brought up his half century which included 10 boundaries. From their Singh and new batsman to the crease Raymond Reifer

Kraigg Brathwaite c Hemraj b Smith 40 Sheyne Moseley b Joseph 46 Sharmarh Brooks c Johnson b Reifer 10 Jonathan Carter lbw b Joseph 73 Shane Dowrich c Smith b Permaul 25 Kyle Mayers c Chanderpaul b Joseph 75 Kevin Stoute c Johnson b Barnwell 6 Kemar Roach run out 35 Jomel Warrican c Bramble b Smith 24 Keon Harding c Chanderpaul b Joseph 21 Chemar Holder 2 Extras- 32 Total389-10

Bowling K Joseph N Smith K Sinclair

(22.2-4-75-4) (25-5-84-2) (24-5-56-0)

carried on as the Jaguars safely made it through the final session of the day with-

V Permaul C Barnwell R Reifer

(22-3-64-1) (10-3-31-1) (19-3-72-1)

Guyana Batting 2nd Innings

T Chanderpaul lbw b Roach 6 C Hemraj ret hurt 8 L Johnson b Stoute 17 V Singh 56* C Barnwell c Harding b Warrican 26 R Reifer 17* DNB: A Bramble, K Sinclair, V Permaul, Nial Smith, K Joseph Extras 11 Total – 141-3

Bowling

K Roach K Harding C Holder K Stoute J Carter J Warrican K Brathwaite

(9-3-25-1) (4-0-25-0) (9-0-38-0) (7-1-25-1) (4-1-10-0) (7-3-13-1) (1-1-0-0)

out the loss of a wicket.

Day four commences at 10:00 hrs today.

Vishaul Singh led a fight back for the Jaguars on day 3

Turbo Knockout tournament

Fight for final spots on tonight!

W

hen the curtains come down this evening at the Ministry of Education Ground, Carifesta Avenue; two teams will remain standing, face to face, as they prepare to battle in the final of the Turbo Knockout football competition.

The precursor to the fi-

nal showdown will be held tonight as four teams battle in the semifinal round of the exhilarating competition. The scheduled double header will see Pouderoyen FC taking on Fruta Conquerors Under 20 at 18.30hrs, while defending champions Northern Rangers do battle with

A glimpse of what to expect tonight in the semi-final

Georgetown Football Club (GFC) at 20.30hrs.

Given the straight knockout nature of the tournament, all the teams will enter the semifinal round with a clean slate.

In the first encounter, Pouderoyen FC’s experience in the game will hand them an advantage over the only remaining under 20 team in the competition.

However, the youngsters are not be taken lightly, since they are the current champions of the Limacol Football tournament.

Expectantly, the match between the West Coast and Georgetown based teams will be one to behold with a wealth of talent on show.

Thus far, Stephen Jupiter and Darrell Abrams have been the leading men for Pouderoyen while young stars like Ryan Hackett and Nicholas Mc Arthur have been on the frontline in Fruta’s victories.

However, Fruta

conquerors have recently benefitted from the presence of defensive whizz Jeremy Garrett who can be a huge hurdle for Pouderoyen to cross, should they look to attack Joel Yhap’s area.

Should the first semifinal run its full course, a decider from the penalty mark will be an intriguing one to watch, given the fact that both teams have secured victories on penalties. All in all, the night of football Anything is possible in tonight’s encounters action will most definitely begin on a stimteam in their last encoun- this the third installment of ulating note. ter against Santos Under the tournament, the 2018 On the other hand, 20 and their hard work paid winners Northern Rangers defending champions off as they brushed aside made it clear that they will Northern Rangers have their younger opponents. be looking to recapture the taken an offensive apNow, it will be interesting Turbo title, as such, it is proach to the tournament to see how GFC’s new outfit safe to say that this battle and have been rewarded will augur against a more to get into the final will be on many occasions for their experienced team. an sensational one. style of play. Given this GFC’s Deon Alfred has The eventual winner of fact the second semifinal already added merit to the the Guyana Beverage INC will produce fireworks as team but being rivaled by sponsored tournament will the incumbent clash with the likes of Wendell St. Hill walk away with $400,000 The Georgetown Football of Northern Rangers, the while second place pockets Club, who are keen to add a Bourda based team may not $200,000. Third and fourth title win to their club’s legbe able to over run their op- place will receive $100,000 acy. ponents as easily this time and $50,000 respectively.

GFC sported a boosted around. At the beginning of (Jemima Holmes)

GUYANATIMESGY.COM

SUNDAY, JANUARY 19, 2020

23

2020 CONCACAF Under-20 Championship Qualifiers…

Guyana drawn in Group A – host venues and schedule announced

G

uyana has been drawn in ‘Group A’ of the tion for this tournament began with a scouting programme Confederation of North, Central America and throughout the Regional Member Associations (RMAs), Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) 2020 which was further complimented by the inauguration of the Under-20 Championship Qualifiers. first National KFC U20 Tournament.

This announcement was made by CONCACAF on Friday The shortlisted players have been training since last last at the same time that details regarding the host venues year, but unfortunately not at the frequency we would have and schedule were made public. preferred due to the financial challenges as a result of the CONCACAF also said the first round of the youth compe- Senior Men’s Nations League campaign. tition is set to take place from February 15th to 23rd, 2020 in Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Curacao and Puerto “Notwithstanding, I am confident that Coach Dover and Rico.

Under the watchful eyes of Coach Wayne ‘Wiggy’ Dover, the Guyana team has recommenced training after the Christmas holidays. Dover informed that training commenced in earnest ahead of next month’s matches in Nicaragua on January 15th.

“Twenty-seven players were called up to compete for the final twenty-man squad in our final breakdown. The technical staff’s focus will be to organise the team in offense and defence, and have them playing as a unit,” he said.

The 2020 edition of the men’s World Cup qualifying competition will be played in three stages, beginning with the qualifiers. For the qualifiers, the 17 participating teams (ranked from 17-41 according to the CONCACAF Training at the GFF National Training Facility, Providence Under-20 Ranking as of June 2019) were divided into three groups of four teams and one his staff understand the importance of making a commandgroup of five teams. ing statement at the CONCACAF championship this year, GFF President Wayne Forde, in commented on the and I have no doubt that they will deliver.”

Under-20 programme, said: “I am confident that we will see The groups for the first-round qualifying stage are as folan improved performance from the U20 lads. The prepara- lows (listed in the order drawn):

Group A: Nicaragua (ranked 20), Guyana (ranked 25), Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (ranked 28), Montserrat (ranked 41) and US Virgin Islands (ranked 33).

Group B: Dominican Republic (17th), Grenada (24th), Dominica (26th) and Anguilla (36th).

Group C: Curacao (19th), Guadeloupe (22nd), Belize (30th) and Saint Martin (32nd).

Group D: Bermuda (18th), Puerto Rico (21st), Cayman Islands (27th) and Barbados (31st).

After round-robin play, the top finisher in each of the groups will advance directly to the knockout stage of the competition (third round).

The second round of the competition would also be played in a groups format between the top ranked 16 participating teams (according to the CONCACAF Under-20 Ranking as of June 2019). For this round, the teams have been divided into four groups of four.

The groups for the second-round group stage are as follows (listed in the order drawn): Group E: United States (1st), Costa Rica (5th), Jamaica (12th) and Saint Kitts and Nevis (15th).

Group F: Mexico (2nd), El Salvador (6th), Canada (9th) and Aruba (16th).

Group G: Panama (3rd), Haiti (8th), Trinidad and Tobago (10th) and Suriname (14th).

Group H: Honduras (4th), Cuba (7th), Guatemala (11th) and Antigua and Barbuda (13th).

After round-robin play, the top three finishers of each group will advance to the knockout stage of the competition.

The knockout stage of the competition (round of 16, quarterfinal, semifinal and final) will be played in June of 2020 in a yet-to-be-announced host country.

Meanwhile, at the same championship, in November 2018, contesting the Group Stage, Guyana recorded an historical 2-0 win over El Salvador, compliments of goals from Kelsey Benjamin and Captain Jeremy Garrett in their final match at the IMG Academy in Florida, USA. In the matches played before, the young Guyanese narrowly went down to Curacao 3-4, and Cayman Islands 2-3, after giving up their opening match to Guatemala 0-4.

2021 Concacaf Gold Cup Qualifying…

Senior Golden Jaguars back on the training pitch ahead of crucial matches against Barbados 1

8th January 2020; Georgetown Following the hosting of the successful Super 16 Cup championship, the Guyana Football Federation has now turned its focus back to the preparation of its Senior Men’s National Team (SMNT) and Under20s for upcoming and very important qualifiers.

The senior ‘Golden Jaguars’ under the guidance of Head Coach Márcio Máximo are on a path to qualify for the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup but will have to cross two hurdles in order to punch their tickets.

As a result of ending second in Group C of the 2019-2020 Concacaf Nations League (League B) behind group winners Jamaica, Guyana will now play a two-round qualifier in a direct elimination format against the League C (Group A) winners, Barbados.

Those matches will take place in March but the dates and venues are yet to be announced by Concacaf. In an effort to be in pristine condition; mentally, physically and otherwise, Coach Máximo and his Technical team have been putting in the work on the pitch which has re-started last week.

He noted that along with Assistant Coach Toledo Wilson and staff they have been putting in the work at the office, mapping out their approach for training on the pitch which takes place five days each week.

Assistance is also given to the Under-20 team currently getting ready for the Concacaf qualifying competition. On Saturday’s both the senior and Under-20s train togeth-

Unity is strength! Senior and Under-20 Golden Jaguars and Technical Teams listening to Head Coach Márcio Máximo

er with the direct aim of strengthening the U20s ahead of their sojourn in Nicaragua, next month.

“We have been doing our work for the Barbados games which include studying tapes of their previous matches including friendlies. Barbados will be strong opponents but I know we’ll have the condition in order to win. We’ll go with the same confidence as before by training hard.”

Commenting on the role of the international players, Coach Máximo informed that they will continue to use their quota of eight (8) noting that that amount will not increase

even though they might have tougher opponents to play going forward.

“We’ll stick with the eight because we have the challenge of developing local players too despite the end result. Every player is important for me, international and local; the competition to make the final team will be the same here and overseas as players work hard to make the final cut, they all have to challenge and compete against each other and the best will come forward.”

A few friendly matches are being looked at to ensure the team has some competition

before the March assignment.

“We expect friendly matches at the end of next month to test the local players’ level of readiness for the test at hand. I want to see the players who are ready to represent us because they should prove that they have the quality to be there.”

Meanwhile, Guyana Football Federation President, Wayne Forde says his executive and members are fully behind Coach Máximo and team.

“The Golden Jaguars will have to dig deep during these critical qualification playoff games, there is no question about the quality of players available to us but we also have to be respectful of the quality of players available to Barbados and Trinidad.

Both teams are reaching deep into their respective Diaspora reservoirs to locate players that can improve their chances of qualifying for the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup. Coach Maximo has done a fantastic job with the team since appointed, in particular he has really improved the quality of the local players and I am confident that our chances of qualifying are no different than that of Barbados and Trinidad.”

The winner of the Guyana vs Barbados matches will advance to play Trinidad and Tobago which finished third in League A, Group C. These matches will be contested in the June FIFA International window with the winner qualifying to the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 19, 2020

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

guyanatimesgy.com

Major improvements Championships evident over a 2-year period begin National U12 Chess

Pg 21

Pg 21

US Ambassador to Guyana, Sarah-Ann Lynch, stands alongside LGC President Aleem Hussain

West Indies defeat Australia in tense finish

The young minds were hard at work in the Junior Chess Championships on Saturday

Guyana drawn in Group A – host venues and schedule announced

Pg 23

Pg 20

Training at the GFF National Training Facility, Providence

GUYANA TIMES - www.guyanatimesgy.com, email: news@guyanatimesgy.com, NEWS HOTLINE: 231-8063 EDITORIAL: 223-7230, 223-7231, 231-0544, 225-7761 SPORT: sport@guyanatimesgy.com SALES AND MARKETING: 231-8064 - lezas@guyanatimesgy.com - PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY GUYANA TIMES INC.

JANUARY 19, 2020

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2 Sunday Times Magazine

guyanatimesgy.com

JANUARY 19, 2020

Feature

T

he Guyana Cancer Foundation is close to the heart of Bibi Hassan for the very reason that it was the struggles her mother while battling breast cancer, that inspired her to form such an organisation. Today, the Foundation helps cancer victims, survivors and their families go through the motions of dealing with the ‘deadly C’.

Founded in January of 2015, the Foundation was established to provide help and inspire hope in those affected by cancer through early detection, education, awareness and free medical screening. The GCF puts pri- mary focus on the medically underserved (low-income and under-insured) population and to make a difference in their lives.

In 2005, the now-defunct Avon Beauty set up the Avon Community Health Fund which Hassan was selected to be a part of. They were tasked with starting breast cancer awareness in Guyana. From there on Bibi’s journey started with the fund to create awareness and education.

On the 29th January 2015, Avon was dissolved in the Caribbean and the Fund couldn’t use the name “Avon Community Help Fund”. Later in April 2015, Hassan was asked to take over the fund because she had a vision for it.

Bibi took up the challenge and with the help of others, she changed the name from Avon

Community Help Fund to Guyana Cancer Foundation.

She is truly passionate about this cause because of her encounter when her mom became a breast cancer survivor in the year 2008. She was there at every step with her mother, being her caregiver, going through chemo and hair loss sessions.

Since then her mother inspired her to assist women to fight this disease because early detection can help save lives.

For Cervical Cancer Awareness Month, Bibi and her team at the GCF have been urging women to get screened. Additionally, they have been sharing advice from doctors and their volunteers.

So here are some of what they are sharing: “Take some time to process it, understand your illness. Yes, the prognosis is not favourable in most cancers. But, maybe, just maybe you’re that per cent that can beat it. Our medical world is so advanced these days with treatment and as whole oncologists and their teams work diligently to assure that you get the best care; even better care than their own families.

Secondly, acceptance, just accept it. It’s just the cards that you were dealt to play in this game of life but that doesn’t mean that you have to lose. Appreciate every passing second of your life and be thankful for you still have breath in your lungs.

Just breathe, take it all in. Stop and smell the roses, go on that trip you always wanted or even ask your crush out on a date. Because it’s NOT the time that counts or how long a life we have lived but the quality of life that we would’ve lived and the hearts that we would’ve touched in our numbered days here.

Find the good side in every situation and spread love in every venture that you take. You may be amazed by Dr. Prem Sookhun what a simple smile or a hug can do.

Plus, you never know who is watching.

Be a role model and leave your footprints in this world. For we are only humans, we are allowed to feel sad, happy, lonely or even frustrated but don’t let it overcome you.

Just remember that you were given this life for a reason. Just find your purpose and live it to the best of your ability because at the end of the day we all have to go home, this life is just temporary, passing. But when that day arises we would smile because we would’ve given it our best shot and left a good legacy for others to follow regardless if we suffer from this illness or not. And also remember that prayers do get answered and miracles happen every day.”- Dr Prem Sookhun “Far too many women die from breast cancer when they don't have to. Far too many women are afraid of what detection of a breast lump could mean. Far too many women wait far too long to seek care after they would have detected a breast lump.

Let’s join hands and fight against breast cancer. If you notice a lump get it checked out as soon as possible, visit the nearest health post, health centre or hospital, talk to someone who could help. The earlier you get checked out the greater your chances are of beating cancer. Don't wait until it’s too late. Get screened today.” - Dr Desiree Ross.

Dr Desiree Ross

Leroy Hendricks

“Having cancer doesn't mean it's the end, it means making and adopting new changes to your life. There are things you can do to increase the quality of your life, surround yourself with good people, visit new places, go on adventures and there are treatment options available. Cancer does not define you, just like you, I pray that someday we have a cure. No lie it's going to be mentally, emotionally and physically draining but as I always say, a positive mind is key to living a great life.

You are stronger than you know, braver than you think, more loved than you can imagine.” - Leroy Hendricks – Medical Student, Cuba.

Mahendra Damru

“Cancer is real but so is Hope. Cancer does not have to be painful. With regular screening, early diagnosis and early treatment we can keep the hope alive.

Talk to your doctor about cancer screening, read up on the risk factors and pass the information on. With us together, the hope is real.” - Mahendra Damru - Medical Student, China.

“Skin cancer can affect people of any skin tone, including those with darker complexions. It develops primarily on areas of sun-exposed skin such as the scalp, face, neck, chest and arms.

Factors which may increase your risk of skin cancer include fair skin, excessive sun exposure, living in an area with a sunny climate, a history of previous sunburns and numerous moles or precancerous skin lesions.

These precancerous skin growths Dr Latoya Dyall typically appear as rough, scaly brown patches. They are most common on the face, head and hands of people whose skin has been sun-damaged.

Most skin cancers are preventable. You can protect yourself by avoiding the sun during the middle of the day and using protective clothing along with a broad-spectrum sunscreen with an SPF of at least 30, even on cloudy days. Sunscreen is more effective when applied generously and reapplied every two hours.

Examine your skin often for new lesions or changes in existing moles, freckles or bumps and consult a doctor if you notice any changes to your skin that worry you.” - Dr Latoya Dyall.

guyanatimesgy.com

JANUARY 19, 2020

Sunday Times Magazine

3

Feature

C

ervical cancer is the fourth most frequent cancer in women with an estimated 570,000 new cases in 2018 representing 6.6% of all female cancers.

Approximately 90% of deaths from cervical cancer occurred in low- and middle-income countries.

The high mortality rate from cervical cancer globally could be reduced through a comprehensive approach that includes prevention, early diagnosis, effective screening and treatment programmes. There are currently vaccines that protect against common cancer-causing types of human papilloma virus and can significantly reduce the risk of cervical cancer.

screening programmes designed to reach most women at risk are preferable to opportunistic screening.

Comprehensive approach to cervical cancer

WHO recommends a comprehensive approach to cervical cancer prevention and control that includes multi-disciplinary interventions across the life course. Community education, social mobilization, vaccination, screening, treatment and palliative care are needed to improve cervical cancer control. Almost all of cervical cancer deaths could be avoided if known effective interventions were available to all women and implemented, including immunizing adolescent girls against human papilloma virus (HPV) and cervical screening and treatment of pre-cancerous lesions.

To build on what exists and enhance progress, 7 UN agencies under the United Nations Task Force on NCDs have established a Joint Programme to prevent and control cervical cancer to provide global leadership and technical assistance to support governments and the partners build and sustain programmes.

Human Papillomavirus (HPV)

Early diagnosis

Particularly in countries where screening programmes are not available, diagnosing cervical cancer at an early stage and providing access to effective treatment can significantly improve the likelihood of survival. Currently, in many low resource settings, the disease is often not identified until it is further advanced or treatment is inaccessible resulting in a higher rate of death from cervical cancer. Understanding and detecting symptoms of cervical cancer can assist with early diagnosis.

Symptoms of cervical cancer tend may include: irregular, intermenstrual (between periods) or abnormal vaginal bleeding after sexual intercourse; back, leg or pelvic pain; fatigue, weight loss, loss of appetite; vaginal discomfort or odourous discharge; and a single swollen leg. More severe symptoms may arise at advanced stages. WHO Package of essential noncommunicable (PEN) disease interventions for primary health care in low-resource settings has guidance on the approach to assessment and referral for women with suspected cervical cancer in the primary care setting.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common viral infection of the reproductive tract. Most sexually active women and men will be infected at some point in their lives and some may be repeatedly infected.

The peak time for acquiring infection for both women and men is shortly after becoming sexually active. HPV is sexually transmitted, but penetrative sex is not required for transmission. Skin-to-skin genital contact is a well-recognized mode of transmission.

There are many types of HPV, and many do not cause problems. HPV infections usually clear up without any intervention within a few months after acquisition, and about 90% clear within 2 years. A small proportion of infections with certain

Screening

Screening aims to detect precancerous changes, which, if not treated, may lead to cancer. Women who are found to have abnormalities on screening need follow-up, diagnosis and treatment, in order to prevent the development of cancer or to treat cancer at an early stage.

WHO has reviewed the evidence regarding the possible modalities to screen for cervical cancer and has concluded that: • screening should be performed at least once for every woman in the target age group (30-49 years) when it is most beneficial; • HPV testing, cytology and visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) are all recommended screening tests; • cryotherapy or loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP) can provide effective and appropriate treatment for the majority of women who screen positive for cervical pre-cancer; • “screen-and-treat” and “screen, diagnose and treat” are both valuable ap-

proaches.

Regardless of the approach used, the key to an effective programme is to reach the largest proportion of women at risk with quality screening and treatment. Organized

types of HPV can persist and progress to cancer.

Cervical cancer is by far the most common HPV-related disease. Nearly all cases of cervical cancer can be attributable to HPV infection.

Though data on anogenital cancers other than cancer of the cervix are limited, there is an increasing body of evidence linking HPV with cancers of the anus, vulva, vagina, and penis. Although these cancers are less frequent than cancer of the cervix, their association with HPV make them potentially preventable using similar primary prevention strategies as those for cervical cancer.

Non-cancer causing types of HPV (especially types 6 and 11) can cause genital warts and respiratory papillomatosis (a disease in which tumours grow in the air passages leading from the nose and mouth into the lungs). Although these conditions very rarely result in death, they may cause significant occurrence of disease.

Genital warts are very common and highly infectious. (World Health Organisation)

4

Sunday Times Magazine

JANUARY 19, 2020

guyanatimesgy.com

Feature

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By Safraz Hamid

he World Health Organization (WHO) recommends exclusive breastfeeding of newborns up to 6 months of age. The health benefits of exclusive breastfeeding are extensive: for the newborn, breastfeeding lowers the risk of respiratory and gastrointestinal infections, allergic diseases, and long-term morbidities such as diabetes mellitus and obesity; for the mother, breastfeeding reduces the risk of breast and ovarian cancer, promotes bonding with the newborn, and provides a natural form of contraception.

Despite these health benefits, only 33% of newborns in Guyana are exclusively breastfed in the first 6 months of life. The reasons for this low rate of exclusive breastfeeding have not entirely been elucidated. While ethnographic and public health research is needed to understand the barriers to breastfeeding in Guyana, the reasons are likely multifactorial, involving a variety of issues such as workplace maternity leave, stigmatization of public breastfeeding, and cultural misconceptions of breastfeeding.

Here, I will discuss the role of health care professionals in overcoming the low rate of exclusive breastfeeding in Guyana. In doing so, I will draw upon my experience counselling mothers in the newborn nursery of a “baby-friendly” Brooklyn, NY hospital that serves a predominantly Caribbean population.

One significant step that Guyana’s health care professionals can take to increase the rate of exclusive breastfeeding is supporting the Ministry of Public Health’s efforts to create more “baby-friendly” hospitals. The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) is a program started by UNICEF and the WHO in 1991 to ensure that all hospitals become centres committed to actively encouraging and supporting breastfeeding.

In 2002, more than a decade after UNICEF and the WHO implemented the BFHI, there were zero hospitals in Guyana that had earned the “baby-friendly” hospital designation. Now, as of 2016, there are a total of eleven “baby-friendly” hospitals in the country: West Demerara Regional Hospital, Davis Memorial Hospital, Mahaicony Cottage Hospital, Mahdia District Hospital, Lethem Regional Hospital, the Upper

Demerara Hospital, Georgetown Public Hospital, Suddie Hospital, Oscar Joseph Hospital, New Amsterdam Hospital, and Skeldon Hospital.

To attain designation as “baby-friendly,” a hospital must fulfil ten steps outlined by UNICEF and the WHO. Some of these steps include having written breastfeeding policy that is communicated to hospital staff, informing mothers about the benefits of breastfeeding, and actively teaching mothers about breastfeeding techniques. The BFHI also requires hospitals to initiate skin-to-skin contact following birth for at least an hour and to promote “rooming-in” where the newborn stays in the mother’s room allowing for breastfeeding on-demand.

In the day-to-day operation of “baby-friendly” institutions, these steps are carried out by health care professions such as physicians, nurses, and lactational specialists who have direct contact with mothers and serve as counsellors and mentors to these mothers during the periand post-partum periods. Thus, through promoting the values of the BFHI, health care professionals in Guyana’s eleven “baby-friendly” hospitals are frontline in the efforts to improve breastfeeding rates.

The efforts to attain “baby-friendly” status in Guyana’s hospitals are tremendous and commendable; however, there are still two regions in the country (Regions 1 and 7) where there are no “baby-friendly” institutions. These predominantly rural regions are potentially the most susceptible to misconceptions about breastfeeding and could benefit greatly from “baby-friendly” initiatives. The efforts to improve the breastfeeding rates in Guyana must, therefore, be more comprehensive and reach the entire country and health care professionals in all regions should be trained in promoting the values of the BFHI.

In addition to promoting the specific recommendations of UNICEF’s and the WHO’s BFHI, Guyana’s health care professionals can work to improve the country’s breastfeeding rates by providing helpful anticipatory guidance to mothers.

In my experience in a newborn nursery, a common complaint from mothers is that their newborns are not getting enough milk through breastfeeds. The initial milk expressed by mothers is called colostrum and is naturally produced in very small quantity. Because newborns have small digestive systems, colostrum delivers rich nutrients in a very concentrated low-volume form. So, although the initial colostrum may appear inadequate to mothers, this milk form is sufficient intake for the newborn and mothers should not automatically give up breastfeeding for formula feeds. Another common complaint I’ve experienced regarding breastfeeding is that mothers are often discouraged by how painful breastfeeding can be.

There are a variety of breastfeeding techniques and various positions to hold the newborn when breastfeeding and, when these are correctly taught to mothers, breastfeeding becomes a completely painless process, even for mothers who recently delivered via Caesarean section.

This is the type of anticipatory guidance that physicians, nurses, and lactational specialists should actively provide to mothers. It not only supports their use of breastfeeding over formula feeding but it provides reassurance that breastfeeding exclusively for 6 months is a feasible process for the mother. In addition, anticipatory guidance should focus on training mothers on recognizing lactational cues, breastfeeding frequently, and expressing and storing breast milk when mothers will be separated from their newborns.

Guyana’s low exclusive breastfeeding rate is likely the result of a variety of complex cultural, socioeconomic, and even legal factors. At the hospital-level, however, health care professionals can work to encourage exclusive breastfeeding by promoting the values of the “BabyFriendly” Hospital Initiative and by providing key anticipatory guidance to new mothers.

guyanatimesgy.com

JANUARY 19, 2020

Sunday Times Magazine 5

Feature

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he Cancer Institute of Guyana (CIG) is a non-profit organisation that has been in operation since 2006 as a result of a project between the Health Ministry and Global Imaging Services Inc. The Institute is touted as a one-stop centre for diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of all types of cancer prevalent in Guyana.

The mission of the CIG is to provide evaluation; radiation treatment at a subsidised cost; follow-up services for patients with malignant and certain benign diseases which are performed in accordance with standards of the Health Ministry and the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) and to improve services by reaching out to individuals in remote villages who have no access to education, screening, and diagnosis.

The CIG has a team of qualified professionals that manage their day-to-day operations. The Institute offers a wide variety of services which include MRI, mammograms, ultrasounds, xrays, and bone density testing.

“CIG understands the special needs of people of Guyana and makes these services available to the patients who come through the Ministry of Health at a subsidised rate. Global Imaging

Service and Cancer Institute of Guyana understand and value the need to improve the health of the community it serves, and to this end, we pledge to work with governmental agencies/NGOs and physicians groups to improve health awareness by way of education, screening, diagnosis and treatment,” the CIG says on its website.

In an effort to provide more effective treatment of cervical cancer, the Cancer Institute in 2018 boosted its cervical treatment services with the procurement of a Brachytherapy machine aimed at significantly reducing the instances of remission.

The treatment of cervical cancer occurs in three stages and includes chemotherapy, external radiation and internal radiation.

The Cancer Institute’s Medical Director, Dr Sian Chakraborthy had said that with the acquisition of the Brachytherapy machine, Guyana was now in compliance with international treatment specifications. He noted that the machine was not only for the treatment of cervical cancer but can be used for a variety of other cancer treatments, adding that the primary focus for now is the treatment of cervical cancer. Brachytherapy or internal radiation is the final part of cervical cancer treatment. The Brachytherapy machine is fully computerised.

According to the Cancer Institute’s figures, the number of patients diagnosed with cervical cancer fluctuates every year.

However, most of the time, the diagnosis is made in the final stages of the cancer since most women wait until they are seeing signs and experiencing symptoms before they get checked out.

In 2011, there were 42 cases diagnosed at the Cancer Institute. In 2012, there were 30; 2013 saw 54 new cases; 2014, a total of 41; 2015, a whopping 68; 2016 saw a drop to 55 and ever since the number has been dropping with 50 and 46 in 2017 and 2018 respectively.

The Cancer Institute says that cervical cancer is a type that is entirely preventable, and, if prevention fails, it can be completely cured if detected in the early stages. The CIG screens over 1000 women per year for cervical cancer and states that it is the second most common cancer in women in Guyana, adding that it is often detected too late.

Cervical cancer starts in the cells of the cervix, which is the opening leading to a woman’s uterus. When cervical cancer first appears, there are no symptoms and the woman is entirely unaware that a deadly disease process has started in her body. Later, as the cancer grows, there may be pelvic pain and bleeding. Cervical cancer is entirely preventable, because it is caused by a class of viruses called Human Papilloma Viruses (HPV), and vaccines are available to prevent infection from those viruses. Some types of HPV do not cause any disease; some types may cause non-cancerous warts, and other types result in deadly cervical cancer.

Cervical cancer that is detected early is more likely to be treated successfully. Most guidelines suggest that women begin screening for cervical cancer and precancerous changes at age 21. Screening tests include: A Pap smear test during which your doctor scrapes and brushes cells from your cervix, which are then examined in a lab for abnormalities. A Pap test can detect abnormal cells in the cervix, including cancer cells and cells that show changes that increase the risk of cervical cancer.

HPV DNA test. The HPV DNA test involves testing cells collected from the cervix for in-

fection with any of the types of HPV that are most likely to lead to cervical cancer. This test may be an option for women age 30 and older, or for younger women with an abnormal Pap test.

Stages of cervical cancer

include:

* Stage I. Cancer is confined to the cervix. * Stage II. Cancer is present in the cervix and upper portion of the va gina. * Stage III. Cancer has moved to the lower portion of the vagina or in

ternally to the pelvic side wall. * Stage IV. Cancer has spread to nearby organs, such as the bladder or rectum, or it has spread to other areas of the body, such as the lungs, liver or bones.

Early-stage cervical cancer is typically treated with surgery to remove the uterus (hysterectomy). A hysterectomy can cure early-stage cervical cancer and prevent recurrence. But removing the uterus makes it im-

possible to become pregnant.

Simple hysterectomy: The cervix and uterus are removed along with the cancer. A simple hysterectomy is usually an option only in very early-stage cervical cancer.

Radical hysterectomy: The cervix, uterus, part of the vagina and lymph nodes in the area are removed with the cancer.

Minimally invasive surgery may be an option for early-stage cervical cancer.

Surgery that preserves the possibility of becoming pregnant also may be an option, if you have very early-stage cervical cancer without lymph node involvement.

6 Sunday Times Magazine Feature

JANUARY 19, 2020

guyanatimesgy.com

PRESERVING OUR LITERARY HERITAGE BY PETAMBER PERSAUD

(Extract of an interview with Paul Harris, Georgetown, Guyana, January 2020. Harris is an artist and cartoonist, son of Hawley Harris. Paul Harris has collected and published some of his work in books such as ‘Like Father…Like Son’ and has created memorable characters like ‘Justin Kunsorn’, and ‘A Littlesoap’.)

P

P Paul, help us to explore the world of the cartoonist, let’s get into the art of getting away with almost anything, the art of the crafty, the art of the word merchant.

Paul, many a times you have put your foot into your mouth, many a times you have stepped into hot water…

PH Well, yes, I’ve done many things, I was accused of many things but at the same time whenever I do cartoon, I do it with the idea, taking into account the circumstances we have to live with nowadays, maybe not through any fault of our own, but be it as it may.

Now let look at the first cartoon I’ve done, Justin Kunsorn; the name suggests that I just didn’t concern but it does not mean that this character is a heartless, insensitive beast – he wasn’t that at Petamber Persaud all. The intention behind that cartoon was that for people to take the circumstances we lived with at that time which was chronic shortages, blackouts, unavailability of many, many essential items, food items etc and hopefully the cartoon would make you look at the lighter side of life and not jump off the harbour bridge or the jetty or PP The Kaieteur Falls PH Or the Kaieteur Falls. Hopefully it would put you in a better frame of mind to deal with the circumstances at that time. You could laugh at it today but tomorrow you still have to deal with it so hopefully, and I say hopefully, it would put you in a better frame of mind to deal with the issues of the day.

PP I deal with Guyanese Literature and people would ask me why tie myself down to such a narrow stream of literature and I would respond that I concentrate on our literature because if we read our own literature which reflects our society and all its ills and all its successes, we may be better able to deal with the local issues.

PH You just outline my intention – to be in a better frame of mind to deal with the issues, I agree with that but at the same time, I have to understand that it doesn’t mean or give me the licence to do as I please, whenever I please, however I please. I have to do things within a certain framework.

For instance, the cartoon I did then and I do now, I have to operate or create in a framework of what we call libel.

I often meet people who would say I should have talked about this or that, or I should have said this about that and

so on and so forth but at the same time, I realise and my father told me this that you can’t please everybody, don’t matter what you do, you can’t, don’t matter how hard you try.

People are people and they are affected by circumstances and they want to let off steam about it and do it in such a way as not to come off like a madman. But as I said before hopefully my cartoon put you in that frame of mind. Even though I have that intention, I have been accused of being a racist, a misogynist – criticising women all the time.

I have been accused of a number of things, I can’t remember them all right now.

But over the years, I learn that these criticisms I have encountered and still do encounter go with the territory. So I take them on board and make my own sense of them and then I move from there…

PP You use the criticism as material and move on…

PH But the thing is I feel at the end of the day what I say needed to be said, of course, it will upset some people and some will agree. But at the same time too I don’t claim to speak on behalf of anybody, any organisation, any group, any issue; I speak from within. If people agree with me, that’s fine. If people disagree with me, that’s okay too – I am not perfect, I get that all the time.

Some people ask me how come I haven’t given up yet and I respond with ‘why’.

At the end of the day, I enjoy doing it – it’s a job.

PP I like what you just said - that it’s a job because many people do not see the work of the artist or the writer as a job and they are also reluctant to pay for the product [the work produced by the artist/writer]. What’s your take on this?

PH Well, as I said before, what I offer is satire, humour to bring you into a better frame of mind. You either agree or don’t agree. And I consider it a job because I am the only one stupid to pursue with it and because I was told often when I started that I wouldn’t last long – I would run out of ideas, I would run out of steam. I thought of it then and indeed I did run out of ideas, I did run out of steam but the more I think on it the more I feel that I must say something and produce something and hopefully the newspapers would buy it and print it.

I said it is a job but I enjoyed doing it, I like doing it and it is not a job I set out to do like some people setting out to become a doctor, a soldier or lawyer. I never set out to be a cartoonist.

Of course, you would know my father did cartoons…

PP The remarkable Hawley Harris…

PH When he was doing his cartoon, I may have shown a passing interest …I sort of bumped into it….(to be continued) Responses to this author telephone (592) 226-0065 or email: oraltradition2002@ yahoo.com

Poem

Goodnight Our Hero To be brave is to cry But still to fight on, And that's what you did, Our hero, our son.

The battle was hard.

We thought we had won, But still you fought on, Our hero, our son.

The happiness you brought To the lives you have touched Will live on forever As you are loved so much.

When we close our eyes we can see you.

When we whisper your name we can hear you, And when we reach with our hearts we can touch you.

Goodnight our hero, our son, our Dan. You are just a child But you have died a man.

By Juli Round

guyanatimesgy.com

JANUARY 19, 2020

Sunday Times Magazine 7

Feature

By Lennox J Hernandez

P

etroglyphs are picture-writing images (pictograms - a pictorial symbol for a word or phrase; or logograms - a sign or character representing a word or phrase) created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading.

Petroglyphs are found worldwide and the term is usually used in the context of prehistoric peoples.

Guyana has its own petroglyphs and these are strong evidence of human presence here as much as 7,000 years ago (our Indigenous peoples). The late Dr Denis Williams (1923-1998) is still our greatest exponent on this subject, culminating in his posthumous publication, “Prehistoric Guiana”.

Williams defined three types of petroglyphs in Guyana: the Enumerative or Aishalton type; the Fish Trap type; and the Timehri type. Later, he discovered what he determined was a sub-type of the Enumerative Type which he named the Cuneiform Type.

Simply put, the Enumerative Type gives an account of prehistoric events, while the Fish Trap type is associated with a severe drought in South America about 4,000 years ago – this particular petroglyph represents types of fish traps, indicating the type of fish that are found in a nearby pond.

These photographs depict a few of the Rupununi petroglyphs. The markings on the rocks are highlighted with white chalk so the image can be easier seen. Unfortunately, decay of these prehistoric artefacts is becoming more rapid and is of great concern to the national heritage.

Weathering is a dominant cause of decay in most cases, whilst in some cases the rock being in a water body poses a challenge for conservation. In contemporary times the greatest challenge however, is the damage caused by persons who have no care for such heritage items.

Aishalton Probably the largest rock with petroglyphs, it is approximately 3.7 metres (12 feet) high. Oral history says that, et al, the writing describes a journey taken by the indigenous peoples through seas.

Rupunau - According to the villagers, the petroglyphs on this rock signify the journey of people by water, similar to the Aishalton rock. It also enumerates the animals which lived in the rivers such as turtles, snakes and fishes. The rock is about 1.7 metres (5 ft 5 ins) high.

Sand Creek The Petroglyphs are on the bed of the Minisaruwau River, a tributary of the Rupununi River, and are easily seen in the dry season, but not so easily depicted because of erosion over the centuries.

Aishalton - Because of the shape of the rock itself and the markings made on the surface, this rock is known as the Alligator (the name “Caiman” would be correct).

Fairview (North Rupununi) The petroglyphs are on the bank of the river (Essequibo) in the Iwokrama reserve. Again, because of the erosion by water, these petroglyphs are becoming less distinct. A number of rocks are marked, one is depicted here.

8 Sunday Times Magazine

guyanatimesgy.com

JANUARY 19, 2020

Feature

W

e all enjoy eating delicious foods but most of us have absolutely no idea how that food grows or is produced. You’d probably be shocked with some of the truths behind how your favorite foods are made.

We’re about to throw back the curtain on some of them:

Pineapples

Sesame Seeds

These come from crazy spikey looking bushes that grow out of the ground. The fruit comes from the middle of the plant.

Sesame seeds come from sprouts plants that grow straight up and tall out of the ground inside of little pods known as “buds.”

Artichokes

Artichokes come from big pretty purple flower with feathery tops.

Brussel Sprouts

Brussel sprouts are a member of the Germmifera group of cabbages and grow from a leafy green plant that is about 2.5 to 4 cm in diameter. They grow in a cluster and look like little cabbages.

Peanuts

Peanuts look like pretty little yellow wildflowers when they grow out of the ground but when you pull those flowers up their roots reveal the little bulbous nuts.

Pistachios

Pistachios grow in clusters on trees.

It usually takes seven to ten years for these trees to get significant production with peak production being reached around 20 years. The pistachios are then dried and dry roasted or processed in machines. They kind of look like mangoes.

Cashews

Cashews are super weird looking. They grow on trees that produce cashew apples, then the nuts grow out of the apples.

Kiwi

Kiwis also start out as flowers that hangs on a vine and is grow along trellises. The flower turns into kiwis that hang down until they are ready to be harvested.

Vanilla Bean

Vanilla bean is also a flowering plant with white flowers. The plant produces long pods that are treated and dried.

Cacao

Cacao, which is what chocolate is, is grown on a tree that produces giant pods. The cacao beans are found inside these pods.

guyanatimesgy.com

JANUARY 19, 2020

Sunday Times Magazine

Feature

9

By Dr. Steve Surujbally

Adopting/acquiring a dog as a new family member A

s promised, let us this week look at some specific considerations associated with choosing a dog as your companion animal. After all, we don’t want the animal to make a round-trip back to the previous owner – or worse, that you get rid of your pet in a way that, shall we say, is inimical to its interests.

Consideration #1: Size/space

Should you choose a large dog or a small dog? Well, firstly, all puppies are relatively small and you may not know if it will grow into a huge dog. There is a pearl of conventional wisdom that dictates that you look at the dog’s paws. If they are big, the dog will be big. I tend to advise that you look at the parents of the pup. When that pup grows up it is unlikely that it would be much larger than its father if it’s a male, or larger than the mother, it is a female. (Of course, when in doubt, ask your Veterinarian or a bona fide breeder). If the dog is a pure-breed, then your job is simple. The dog will grow (all things being equal – health, nutrition, etc) to the size that is standard for that breed.

Size is also an important consideration according to the home in which you live. It would not make too much sense under our local conditions to keep a large dog indoors. (One wonders whether this would be sensible under any condition). If we are going to keep a canine companion animal indoors in a small house then let’s look for a small dog.

Large dogs would need yard space with sturdy and high fences. Males, scenting females in heat, would go over, under and through weak, symbolic fences.

Please remember that dogs need to run around freely.

It is cruelty to an animal if it is tied to one spot for long periods of time. It is also illegal.

Consideration #2: Time

Do you have enough time to exercise (playing with it; taking it for walks, etc) your dog? Do you have the time (and patience) to groom your canine ward, and perhaps manually extract ticks and fleas from its coat? What about the time needed to take your pet to the vet for its immunization and dewormings? Will you spend some time daily playing with and training your pet?

Consideration #4: Treatment

If you have a lot (or even one) of young energetic children in the home, can you condition them away from the belief that their new furry friend is not a bouncing ball?

Have you chosen a puppy that can tolerate some rough play? And if you have chosen an adorable fun-ball, can you accept with equanimity its not-so-adorable bad habits and general mischief. Do you have the necessary patience?

You must know whether you would prefer a vivacious ball of energy or a dog with a more relaxed temperament.

Consideration #5: Health

Consideration #3: Cost

In choosing a dog as your pet, you should think of the costs associated with its care. Feed costs can be high, especially with large dogs. A very large active dog may require both between eight and ten pounds of feed daily. Then there are the veterinary costs – vaccinations and dewormings and incidentals. If it is a female you may wish to spay (removal of the ovaries and womb) her so that she will not continue to present you, during the mating season, with her beaus and litter after unwanted litter. You may wish to consider neutering (removal of the testicles) your male canine pet. That too will cost money.

When you are choosing your puppy from the litter, it would be advisable to select a puppy that has clear alert eyes and a cool moist nose. Preferably, the puppy must be active and effervescent and exhibiting great vitality. It must not show signs of lethargy, slinking away from approaching humans and tending to hide itself in a secluded spot. The coat must be soft, smooth and glossy. In the area of the anus, there should be no signs of a diarrhoea (pasted hair, discolouration) etc. Bones (ribs, pelvic bones) shouldn’t be visible and the legs should not signs of rickets (bowed or X-shaped legs, etc). There should be no watery or purulent discharge from the nostrils or eyes. A good rule-of-thumb is to throw a bundle of keys (or anything that makes some unaccustomed noise) into the middle of the litter. Consider taking one of those puppies that immediately investigate the keys and not one of those which shrieks and runs away.

Next week we will deal with considerations as they apply to the adoption of cats as pets.

10 Sunday Times Magazine

JANUARY 19, 2020

Fashion

S

tyle is subjective, but what we can all agree on is that some men in the world have a knack for getting it right more often than the rest of us simple souls. You, no doubt, have people you look to, whether it’s on social media or television, for some style advice or inspiration, but this guide is going to narrow down some of the most stylish men in the world and how you can get their style.

guyanatimesgy.com

guyanatimesgy.com

JANUARY 19, 2020

Sunday Times Magazine 11

Recipes

Ingredients

1 pound skinless catfish fillets, cut into 16 pieces 3/4 cup whole buttermilk 1/2 cup fine yellow cornmeal 1/2 cup panko (Japanesestyle breadcrumbs) 2 tablespoons Cajun seasoning 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, divided 1/4 cup mayonnaise 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 2 cups shredded napa or green cabbage 8 (6-inch) yellow corn tortillas, warmed 2 radishes, cut into matchsticks (1⁄4 cup) 1 ripe avocado, thinly sliced 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro leaves 2 tablespoons minced fresh chives Lime wedges Hot sauce

Ingredients

How to Make It

Preheat oven to 450°F with oven rack 6 inches from heat. Combine catfish and buttermilk in a medium bowl; cover and chill 20 minutes or up to 1 hour.

Whisk together cornmeal, panko, Cajun seasoning, and 1/4 teaspoon of the salt in a shallow dish. Drain catfish; discard buttermilk. Working in batches, dredge fish in cornmeal mixture. Place fish on a wire rack set inside a rimmed baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven until it’s golden brown and flakes with a fork, 20 to 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk together mayonnaise, lime juice, pepper, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl. Add cabbage; toss to coat.

Place 2 pieces of catfish in each tortilla. Top with cabbage mixture, radishes, avocado, cilantro, and chives. Serve with lime wedges and hot sauce.

Ingredients

6 ounces andouille sausage, sliced 1 1/2 cups sliced yellow onion (from 1 onion) 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided 2 teaspoons Creole seasoning, divided 12 ounces large peeled, deveined raw shrimp 2 (8.8-oz.) pkg. pre-cooked microwavable white rice 1 1/2 cups chunky salsa (such as Tostitos) 1/2 cup thinly sliced scallions (about 4 scallions)

Step 1

Ingredients

How to Make It

Preheat oven to 425°F. Place sausage and onion on a large rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the oil and 1/2 teaspoon of the Creole seasoning; toss to coat. Bake in preheated oven until onions are softened and sausage blisters, about 8 minutes.

Step 2

Meanwhile, toss together shrimp, 1 teaspoon of the Creole seasoning, and remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Arrange in an even layer over the sausage mixture. Return to oven, and bake until shrimp is pink, about 4 more minutes.

Step 3

Stir together rice, salsa, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon Creole seasoning. Spoon over and around shrimp and sausage, and return to oven; bake until rice is warmed through and tender, about 6 minutes. Sprinkle with scallions, and serve hot.

Ingredients

3/4 cup unsalted chicken stock 2 (15-oz.) cans unsalted kidney beans, rinsed and drained 1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter 5/8 teaspoon kosher salt, divided 5/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided 2 teaspoons olive oil 1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined (about 24) 1 1/2 tablespoons sweet chili sauce 1 (8.5-oz.) pkg. precooked brown rice 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro 1 ripe avocado, sliced 2 tablespoons crumbled Cotija cheese 4 lime wedges

1 pound dried black beans 1 1/2 teaspoons canola oil 1 yellow onion (about 10 oz.), chopped (about 1 3/4 cups) 1 red bell pepper (about 8 oz.), chopped (about 1 cup) 3 garlic cloves, chopped (about 1 Tbsp.)

1 jalapeño chile, halved lengthwise 6 cups lower-sodium chicken broth or vegetable broth 4 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt, divided 1 teaspoon light brown sugar 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1/2 teaspoon black pepper 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar 1/4 cup water 2 teaspoons granulated sugar 1 cup thinly sliced red onion 1/2 cup chopped fresh mango 1/2 cup chopped ripe avocado 2 tablespoons finely diced jalapeño chile 3 tablespoons finely diced fresh cilantro, divided 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice 1 teaspoon olive oil 4 corn tostada shells 1/4 cup cheese

2 teaspoons grapeseed oil (or substitute canola oil) 4 slices (4 ounces total) dense multigrain bread 3 ounces shredded skinless, boneless dark meat rotisserie chicken, warmed 1/4 cup arugula 2 tablespoons thinly sliced shallot 1 tablespoon lime juice 4 ounces mango, very ripe, peeled and thinly sliced 1 large jalapeño pepper, sliced paper thin 3 tablespoons cotija or feta cheese, finely crumbled 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt 1 1/2 teaspoons powdered sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons finely ground black pepper

How to Make It

Step 1

Rinse and sort beans according to package directions. Heat canola oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Add onion, bell pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are tender, about 8 minutes. Add garlic, and cook, stirring often, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Step 2

Transfer onion mixture to a 6-quart slow cooker; add beans, jalapeño, chicken broth, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, brown sugar, cumin, pepper, and oregano.

Cover and cook on LOW until beans are tender.

Step 3

Boil apple cider vinegar, water, granulated sugar

and 2 teaspoons salt in a small saucepan over medium-high until sugar and salt dissolve, 3 to 5 minutes. Pour vinegar mixture over red onion in a medium bowl; cover and chill at least 30 minutes.

Step 4

Toss together mango, avocado, diced jalapeño, 2 tablespoons cilantro, lime juice, olive oil, and 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt in a medium bowl. Lightly mash 2 cups drained cooked black beans, chipotle pepper in adobo, and 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt; spread mixture on corn tostada shells.

Top with mango mixture and 1/4 cup pickled red onions. Sprinkle tostadas with cheese and 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro.

How to Make It

Step 1

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-low heat.

Step 2

Brush grapeseed oil on 1 side of each bread slice. This will be the pan-contact side. Lay out all 4 bread slices, oil side down, on foil or parchment paper (as a work surface).

Step 3

Toss warm chicken with arugula, shallot, and lime juice.

Evenly distribute over 2 bread slices. Shingle mango evenly over chicken mixture. Scatter jalapeño over mango. Sprinkle evenly with cheese and salt. Close the sandwiches. Press gently to adhere all the ingredients.

Step 4

Griddle the sandwiches for 4 to 6 minutes on each side, pressing gently to ensure that all the surface area of the bread is in contact with the pan. Be patient, and let it cook without peeking (you’ll get a more even toast that way).

Step 5

Combine powdered sugar and black pepper. Cut sandwiches in half, and dust with powdered sugar mixture.

How to Make It

Step 1

Bring stock and beans to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat.

Cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove pan from heat.

Place bean mixture, butter, 3/8 teaspoon salt, and 3/8 teaspoon black pepper in the bowl of a food processor; process until smooth.

Step 2

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat.

Sprinkle shrimp with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt

and remaining 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Add shrimp to pan; cook 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove pan from heat. Stir in chili sauce.

Step 3

Heat rice according package directions.

Step 4

to

Divide bean mixture and rice among 4 shallow bowls; top evenly with shrimp, cilantro, and avocado.

Sprinkle with cheese. Serve with lime wedges.

Ingredients Cooking spray 3/4 cup sugar 1/2 cup regular small pearl tapioca 2 (13.5-ounce) cans light coconut milk 1 large egg 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh pineapple 1/2 cup flaked sweetened coconut, toasted How to Make It Coat a 4-quart electric slow cooker with cooking spray. Combine sugar, tapioca, and coconut milk in slow cooker, stirring with a whisk. Cover and cook on LOW for 2 hours or until most of tapioca is transparent. (Pudding will be thin.)

Place egg in a medium bowl; stir with a whisk. Add 1/2 cup hot tapioca mixture to egg, stirring constantly with a whisk. Stir egg mixture into remaining tapioca mixture in slow cooker. Cover and cook on LOW for 30 minutes. Turn off slow cooker. Stir pineapple into tapioca mixture; cover and let stand 30 minutes. Serve warm or chilled. Top each serving with toasted coconut.

12 Sunday Times Magazine

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JANUARY 19, 2020

Puzzles

ACROSS 1 Slalom obstacles 6 Gill or lung 11 Cool place, perhaps 16 Retail giant 21 Favored set (hyph.)

22 Piggy bank coin 23 Gave an edge to 24 Knight wear 25 Slowly, in music 26 Meter reading 27 Had lots of status 28 Gaucho’s rope 29 Sunset remnant 31 Vail haulers (hyph.)

33 Bleachers shout 35 -- de guerre 36 Ave. crossers 37 Ship bottoms 38 -- 500 39 Rose-petal oils 41 Compass pt.

42 Gossips 44 Tightwad 46 Plans in detail (2 wds.)

51 Find a buyer 52 Beyond the -53 Pakistan’s language 57 Orchard pests 58 Aquarium fish 59 Guys like Hamlet 60 Email provider 61 Prize 62 Slowly vanishes 63 Gets frizzy 64 Pellet shooter (2 wds.)

66 Environmental prefix 67 Savoir-faire 68 Rash, as a decision 69 Pop singer -- Brewer 70 Coming up 72 Band together 73 Bottle tops 74 Trouser features 75 Zany 77 Tours de force 78 Thin pancakes 79 Picks up on 82 Fountain for wishes 83 Very funny person 84 Pas de -88 Sirens 89 Full of dandelions 90 Flat-topped hill 91 66 or I-90

92 Jeweler’s magnifier 93 Hippie attire 94 Turns to liquid 95 Sausalito’s county 97 Hosp. employee 98 Good farm soils 99 Uncertain 100 Ornate 18th-century style 101 Sherpa’s sighting 103 Opens the window 104 Blondie’s shrieks 105 Old pro 106 “No -- at All” 108 Rough sack 110 Avg. size 111 Rathskeller orders 114 Sari sporter 115 -- boom 117 Walk silently 120 Boring tool?

121 Ran into 123 Jung’s inner self 125 Like carnivores 127 A Judd 129 They turn litmus red 131 Orange box 133 Hand-held dryer 134 Armless sofa 135 Lawn products brand 136 “M*A*S*H” clerk 137 Helen, in Madrid 138 Stone monument 139 Mild protest (hyph.)

140 Jugs 141 Showed in the summer DOWN 1 Big bashes 2 Hang -- -- (turn) 3 Salon rinses 4 This, to Juan 5 Chimney nester 6 Lavish 7 Fix a shoe 8 Tackles a bone 9 Filmmaker -- Lee 10 “Da” opposite 11 Drew up 12 Stockpiles 13 On pins and needles 14 Aberdeen’s river 15 Vortex 16 Black-belt sport 17 Hi-tech scan 18 Freezer name

KATHLEEN SAXE

WORD GAME TODAY’S WORD -- LEAPFROG (LEAPFROG: LEAP-frog: A game in which one player bends down and is jumped over by another.)

Average mark 53 words Time limit 60 minutes Can you find 75 or more words in LEAPFROG? TODAY’S WORD -- LEAPFROG lager large leaf leap loaf loafer loge lope loper lore earl ergo ager aloe aper

page pager pale paler pare parol parole peal pear pearl pergola plea polar pole poler

pore fare faro fear feral flag flap flare flea floe flog flop flora foal forage

fore forge froe frog rage rale rape real reap regal role rope ogle ogler ogre

opal opera oral gale galore gape gaper gear glare goal golf golfer gore grape grope

RULES OF THE GAME: 1. Words must be of four or more letters. 2. Words that acquire four letters by the addition of "s," such as "bats" or "dies," are not allowed. 3. Additional words made by adding a "d" or an "s" may not be used. For example, if "bake" is used, "baked" or "bakes" are not allowed, but "bake" and "baking" are admissible. 4. Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexually explicit words are not allowed.

19 Helicopter blade 20 Cable cars 30 Biological group 32 -- the Kid 34 Slackens off 40 Play about Capote 42 Home of a brave 43 Hannibal’s route 44 Like John Wayne 45 Dots in the Seine 46 Acknowledged expert 47 Swiftly 48 Fragrant perennial 49 Carbondale sch.

50 Lyric poem 51 Like dishwater 52 Hairdo features 54 Storms around 55 Extinguish 56 Humerus neighbors 58 Merrily 59 Twilights 62 Mom and Pop 63 Cholla and nopal 64 “How’ve ya --?”

65 Uniform trim 67 Treaties 68 Bad guy in films 69 Heard too often 71 Nerd 73 Requirements 74 Gets lumpy 76 Crowning point 77 Astaire and Flintstone 78 Very small 79 Flirt 80 Split to join 81 Jeer at 82 Coaches’ charges 83 Governs 85 Scoreboard posting 86 City on the Mohawk 87 Kin of argon 89 Bushed 90 Tom Sawyer’s sweetheart 93 More than simmer 94 Bearing 95 Witticism 96 Poker card 98 Expire, as a policy

99 Tough fabric 100 Started over 102 High dudgeon 105 Facades 107 Weasel, in winter 108 Ben Kingsley film 109 Complete accord 110 Pestle partner 111 Docks 112 Hold off for 113 Mitt 114 “Nick of Time” artist 115 Digging tool 116 Supply a banquet 117 Juice, so to speak 118 Stadium 119 Protest song writer 122 McCloud’s hometown 124 Ranch measure 126 Decorated tinware 128 -- de mer 130 Dernier -132 Untrained SEE SOLUTION ON PAGE 13

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Sunday Times Magazine 13

Tech

G

oogle shared an updated timeline for when Chrome apps will stop working on all platforms. June 2022 is when they’ll be gone for good, but it depends on which platform you’re on (via 9to5Google). Previously, we knew that Chrome apps someday wouldn’t work on Windows, macOS, and Linux, but Google revealed that Chrome apps will eventually stop working on Chrome OS, too.

A Chrome app is a webbased app that you can install in Chrome that looks and functions kind of like an app you’d launch from your desktop.

Take this one for the read-itlater app Pocket, for example — when you install it, it opens in a separate window that makes it seem as if Pocket is functioning as its own app.

You probably don’t need to worry about the death of Chrome apps messing up your browsing experience too much.

At this point, most apps on the web are just regular web apps, which is why you’ll be able to keep using Pocket without issue in much the same way by

Sony’s once steadfast approach to video game exclusives appears to be giving way to a new, more playerfriendly one. According to Kotaku, the PlayStation 4 exclusive Horizon Zero Dawn is slated to come to PC later this year. The game would be the first Sony-developed PS4 exclusive to launch on another platform after release.

Horizon Zero Dawn was released in 2017 to widespread critical acclaim for its immersive world, stunning visuals, lead female protagonist Aloy, and its top-notch writing and storytelling. The game has been a hallmark exclusive title of the PS4 platform, alongside hits like 2015’s Bloodborne and 2018’s God of War and Marvel’s Spider-Man. And for the last seven years or so,

navigating to https://getpocket. com/.

In rarer cases, you might also be using Progressive Web Apps, which are basically websites that are cached to your device so they can have some offline functionality and be launched like an app. Some Chrome apps you have installed may already redirect to websites, like many of Google’s apps. And Chrome extensions are also different from Chrome apps, and those will keep working just fine.

There’s a pretty decent chance you’re not using any real Chrome apps at all, even if you use web apps all the time.

When Google first announced all the way back in 2016 that it would end support for Chrome apps on Windows, macOS, and Linux, it said approximately one percent of users on those platforms were actively using packaged Chrome apps. That was nearly four years ago, and web developers have moved on.

If you do use Chrome apps, they will stop working much sooner on Windows, macOS, or Linux than they will on

Sony has used games like this to drive sales of its hardware and to keep consumers loyal to its brand. All of the abovementioned titles, save From Software’s Bloodborne, were developed by Sony-owned studios, including Horizon Zero Dawn developer Guerrilla Games.

For Sony to now decide that, three years later, it would like to republish Horizon Zero Dawn on PC is a notable shift in strategy. But to be fair, it’s not totally out of left field. Sony has been loosening its grip on exclusivity over the last couple of years.

There have been highprofile compromises like relinquishing control over Fortnite players’ accounts to allow for cross-platform play and Sony’s announcement last month that long-

Chrome OS. Here’s Google’s timeline: • March 2020: Chrome Web Store will stop accepting new Chrome Apps. Developers will be able to update existing Chrome Apps through June 2022.

• June 2020: End support for Chrome Apps on Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Customers who have Chrome Enterprise and Chrome Education Upgrade will have access to a policy to extend support through December 2020.

• December 2020: End support for Chrome Apps on Windows, Mac, and Linux.

• June 2021: End support for NaCl, PNaCl, and PPAPI APIs. • June 2021: End support for Chrome Apps on Chrome OS. Customers who have Chrome Enterprise and Chrome Education Upgrade will have access to a policy to extend support through June 2022.

• June 2022: End support for Chrome Apps on Chrome OS for all customers.

To break that down a bit: • At some point in June 2020, Chrome apps will stop working on Windows, macOS, and Linux, unless you have Chrome Enterprise or Chrome Education Upgrade, which lets you use Chrome apps for six more months.

• If you’re on Chrome OS, Chrome apps will work until June 2021. Again, if you have Chrome Enterprise or Chrome Education Upgrade, Google says you can use Chrome apps for an additional year.

Originally, Chrome apps were supposed to stop working on Windows, macOS, and

time MLB series The Show, the only game franchise with exclusive rights to baseball teams and trademarks, would also be going cross-platform.

Players have also been able to access Sony exclusives like The Last of Us and other titles without owning a PS3 or PS4 console using the PlayStation Now cloud gaming service for some time now. And game developer Hideo Kojima’s recent Death Stranding, once billed as a Sony-published PS4 exclusive, ultimately launched on PC, too.

Yet it would still be a big deal for Sony to take one of its biggest, most successful exclusives and decide to open it up to more players on other platforms. It signals that the company’s strategy for the upcoming PlayStation 5 might be different, and that more PlayStation exclusives in the future might see PC releases, perhaps only after they’ve first arrived on console. Considering Microsoft’s approach for its upcoming Xbox Series X will also involve cross-platform publishing spanning the Xbox One to Windows for all first-party games, it appears the era of strict console exclusivity might soon be coming to an end. (The Verge)

Linux in early 2018, but in December 2017, when Google removed the Chrome apps section from the Chrome Web Store, it pushed that early 2018 deadline to an unspecified date in the future. Now, more than three years later, we finally know when Chrome apps won’t work on those platforms — and when they won’t work on any platform at all. (The Verge)

14 Sunday Times Magazine

A

ctor Deepika Padukone’s new film Chhapaak is getting love and support from all quarters. The latest to speak for the film is Malayalam actor Parvathy Thiruvothu; the actor left a long post on Instagram.

She wrote: “‘Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable’ - Banksy. Movies impact and how! #Chhapaak has fortified the undercurrent of awakening I had a year ago through Uyare. For the many Pallavis and Maltis of this world; the ones who survived and the ones who succumbed to the attackswe owe it to them to keep speaking up. To bring their stories to the fore. Thank you @meghnagulzar @deepikapadukone and the whole cast and crew for holding us so close through Malti’s journey. Let’s stay reminded that acid is still sold over

A

fter having enthralled fans with his soulful voice for years, singer Arjun Kanungo is now set to make the next big move of his career by making his Bollywood debut with the Salman Khan-starrer Radhe.

Elated with this progression in his career, the 29-year-old says, “I’m quite excited about the role.

Salman bhai felt I should be acting more, and chose me for a part in the film. It’s completely his vision for me.

It means a lot to me that he is giving me a chance.”

Arjun has studied acting in Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute: Method Acting School in New York, USA, and says that getting this opportunity is “stuff of the legends” for him. “I haven’t been so excited about something in a long time. To work on a project as big as this and with megastars like Salman bhai is a dream come true. I haven’t been able to sleep on most nights since we started filming (laughs).”

B

ollywood actress Sonam Kapoor Ahuja has warned fans to not use Uber in London after she had the "scariest experience".

The 34-year-old, who splits her time between London and India, said she was "super shaken" after she used the ride-hailing app on Wednesday night.

Ahuja, daughter of Slumdog Millionaire star Anil Kapoor, said her Uber driver was "unstable and was yelling and shouting".

"I was shaking by the end of it," she said on Twitter to her 12.8 million followers.

The award-winning actress, who has a house in London with her business-

the counter in our country and we are losing hundreds of lives every year due to faulty implementation of regulations and stringent deterrent laws.

Let’s stay reminded that one remains party to this by staying apolitical and choosing not to engage and not ask questions. Let’s stay reminded that more often than not its mere luck that lets us walk freely, myself included, and not because we have the certainty of security. Let’s listen better and get used to the unrest.

We are all we have! #repost @meghnagulzar that need to be told. That need to be felt.”

She commented on the importance of speaking up,

Although his fans, had been long waiting to see Arjun on screen, the singer says that he was waiting for the right film. “I was waiting for the right role. I’m in no hurry. I believe the universe gives you what you settle for.

With this project, I felt it was the right time and the right character to make my debut. The character I play in Radhe is nuanced. The script is great. Prabhudheva sir is directing it, and my character is an important one, and also a difficult one. I’m happy that I was considered for the role. All I’m going to say is that people are going to be surprised to see me in a character like this. It’s not the way they’re used to seeing me,” says the singer known for songs Aaya Na Tu and Baaki Baatein Peene Baad.

Arjun is excited to join

man husband Anand Ahuja, added: "Please please be careful. The best and safest is just to use the local public transportation or cabs.

"I'm super shaken."

Uber said in a reply on Twitter: "Sorry to hear about this, Sonam. Can you please send us a DM with your email address and mobile so we can look into this?"

The actress, who is one of Bollywood's most highly paid actresses, replied that she tried to complain on the app but "got multiple disconnected replies by bots".

Uber said: "It is a regrettable and concerning incident. What's been described has no place on the Uber app

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JANUARY 19, 2020

I

adding that how these stories need to be told, over and over again. She also said that one can’t remain apolitical in such situations.

It may be recalled that Parvathy played an acid attack survivor in Malayalam film, Uyare. She played an aviation student, whose life becomes a living hell after her possessive boyfriend throws acid on her when she breaks up with him. Deepika’s Chhapaak is inspired from the story of Delhi girl, Laxmi Agarwal, who too is an acid attack survivor. (Hindustan Times)

the film industry, however he aims to maintain a balance between his singing and acting career. “I’m extremely excited about my debut as I’ve studied acting in a good school and wanted to pursue acting seriously. I believe that things happen in your life only when they are meant to, and I feel that in 2020 acting will become an important part of my career.

Music will always have equal importance, but I believe I can do both, if I work hard.

I’m grateful to my fans, who have always supported me.

I hope they keep supporting me in this new part of my journey,” Arjun signs off.

(Hindustan Times)

and we're reviewing the matter."

The star's experience is the latest in an already bad few months for Uber after it had its London licence stripped in November.

Ahuja's travelling between the UK and India appears to have not been all that smooth, with the actress cutting ties with British Airways a week before the Uber incident for losing her luggage.

She tweeted: "This is the third time I've travelled British Airways this month and the second time they've lost my bags. I think I've learnt my lesson. I'm never flying British Airways again."

mmediately after Abby Huntsman announced she was exiting ABC’s “The View,” her co-host Whoopi Goldberg had a meeting with ABC News president James Goldston and the division’s senior VP of talent, Barbara Fedida, at the Atlantic Grill.

“They were having lunch, and Whoopi did not look happy,” a media insider told Page Six. After the talk, “she took off with her private driver, and James walked back to the ABC headquarters.”

A source close to Goldberg explained her

mood at the meal by telling us, “She was unhappy that the media ‘won’t let a b!#@h eat in peace.’” The same source also insisted that the reason for the meeting was because “ABC News is going to be doing documentaries, some of which [Whoopi] is pitching.”

Insiders told us that producers at the hit daytime show are fearful of leaks, with all the drama around Huntsman’s departure and the cast’s tense relations with Meghan McCain.

An ABC spokesperson said Goldberg’s meeting with top brass was strict-

ly business: “Nothing to see here. They had a nice meal.

Someone is trying to create drama where there is none.”

(Page Six)

A

merica's golden girl, Betty White, turned 98 on Friday.

Here's a look at the life of Emmy-award winning actress Betty White.

Personal: Birth date: January 17, 1922 Birth place: Oak Park, Illinois Birth name: Betty Marion White Father: Horace White, electrical engineer Mother: Tess White Marriages: Allen Ludden (June 14, 1963June 9, 1981, his death); Lane Allen (1947-1949, divorced); Dick Barker (1945, divorced) Children: Three stepchildren with Allen Ludden: David, Martha and Sarah Other Facts: Nominated for 21 Primetime Emmy awards and won five.

Nominated for one Grammy Award and won one.

Was offered the role of Blanche Devereaux on "The Golden Girls," but accepted the role of Rose Nyland instead.

Turned down a part in the 1997 film, "As Good as it Gets," because she objected to a scene in which a dog is thrown down a laundry chute.

Timeline: • 1940s - Has roles on several popular radio shows, including "RinTin-Tin," "This is Your FBI" and "The Great Gildersleeve."

• 1949 Lands her first role on television on "Hollywood on Television," a live daily show.

• 1975 - Wins Emmy Award for Outstanding Continuing Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for "The Mary Tyler Moore Show."

• 1976 - Wins Emmy Award for Outstanding Continuing Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for "The Mary Tyler Moore Show."

• 1985-1992 - Plays Rose

Nyland on "The Golden Girls."

• 1986 - Wins Emmy for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series for "The Golden Girls."

• 1995 - Is inducted into the Television Hall of Fame.

• 1996 - Wins Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for "The John Larroquette Show."

• January 23, 2010 - Is presented with the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award.

• May 8, 2010 - Hosts "Saturday Night Live."

• August 21, 2010 - Wins a Creative Arts Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, for her guest host spot on "Saturday Night Live."

• 2010-2015 - Plays Elka

Ostrovosky on "Hot in Cleveland."

• February 12, 2012 Wins Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album (Includes Poetry, Audio Books & Story Telling) for "If You Ask Me (And Of Course You Won't)."

• December 2013 - Earns the Guinness World Record for Longest TV Career for a female entertainer (74 years).

• April 26, 2015 - Receives a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 42nd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards.

• August 18, 2018 - Betty White's career is celebrated with a documentary called Betty White: First Lady of Television.

• 2019 - White voices a toy tiger named after her in Toy Story 4.

• January 17, 2020 - Betty White turns 98 years old.

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JANUARY 19, 2020

Sunday Times Magazine 15

Feature

16 Sunday Times Magazine

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JANUARY 19, 2020

Fun Times

Archie

ARIES Travel will result in knowl(March 21- edge and a better underApril 19) standing of what you will be doing next. Your ability to see all sides of an issue will give you leverage when discussing your intentions.

You may not agree with the TAURUS changes someone makes, (April 20- but if you take care of your May 20) affairs and remain quiet, you will avoid a dispute.

Protect your reputation and security.

You are best off handling GEMINI relationships with care.

(MAY 28- Your expectations may not June 20) measure up to what someone close to you anticipates.

Don’t wait until a situation gets out of hand. Offer suggestions and incentives now.

Make serious decisions and personal changes that will (June 21- improve your life, home enJuly 22) vironment and relationship with a loved one. A reunion will bring back fond memories.

CANCER

LEO (July 23Aug. 22)

Dilbert

VIRGO (Aug. 23Sept. 22)

Don’t sit around accomplishing little. Accept an invitation, do something that will help you obtain better health or add to your knowledge. You can improve your life!

Don’t hesitate to make a change. What you discover will open a passage to new friendships, financial possibilities and personal growth. Love and romance will enrich your life.

LIBRA Balancing your responsibilities will be easy if you are (Sept. 23practical and moderate and Oct. 23) also know when to say no.

Be precise regarding what you are willing to do for others.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24Nov. 22)

Peanuts

Be reasonable if someone challenges you. Injury is likely if you take on more than you can handle. You’ll make a better impression if you promote peace and love, instead of showing physical strength.

SAGITTARIUS Look at your to-do list (Nov. 23- and get to work. A practiDec. 21) cal approach will help you get things done promptly.

Once finished, enjoy some serious relaxation.

Honesty will help you drum CAPRICORN up the support you need to (Dec. 22- get ahead. If you share your Jan. 19) feelings, you will be able to resolve an issue that has been standing in your way.

Calvin and Hobbes

Put some energy and initiAQUARIUS ative behind your ideas. Be (Jan. 20- ready to deal with last-minFeb. 19) ute changes or people who don’t come through for you.

Know your boundaries and limitations.

PISCES Touch base with people (Feb. 20- from your past. What you Mar. 20) hear will make you reconsider a decision you made a long time ago. It's never too late to backtrack.