GNN Online Newspaper - Nov 18, 2015 by Guyana News Network

Wednesday November 18, 2015

paper

-PAGE 9

GAJRAJ SUES TEIXEIRA AND CHRONICLE -PAGE 2

JONESTOWN SHOULD BE A MEMORIAL SITE ‐ Gouveia

A Hammy/Sooba situation in Region 3? -REO cuts fuel allocation for Chairman Former City Hall Town Clerk, Carol Sooba, last year slashed the fuel allowance for Mayor Hamilton Green at a time when the two were at war over the administration of the council and its business. Sooba was deemed to be an installation of the then Peoples Progressive Party Civic government while Green was aligned to the then Opposition. Now a similar situation seems to be playing out in the Region 3 between longstanding Regional Chairman, Julius Faerber, and recently appointed Regional Executive Ofﬁcer, Denis Jaikaran, who is responsible for the administration of the Region. Faber is reportedly aligned to the People's Progressive Party Civic which is now in Opposition while Jaikran is said to be aligned to the government. Speaking today shortly after a picketing exercise to protest the

actions of the REO, Faber explained that his fuel allowance has been cut from ten gallons per day to ﬁve gallons per day while his weekend allowance for fuel has been taken away all together. Faerber uses a state own land cruiser which is maintained by the Region. While Faerber stated that the move has caused him to be unable to execute his duties effectively, Jaikran has stated that the decision was taken since the vehicle was being used to do other things rather than work of the region. “I shall continue to issue on working days ﬁve gallons of gasoline for the Regional Chairman, I shall not issue any gasoline for weekends and holidays in an effort for people to do work apart from governmental work and let me put it in very clear and blunt terms, I shall not be putting gasoline in any governmental vehicle for

people to do political work and I am clear about that. It shall not happen under my stewardship as Regional Executive Officer Region 3 and I am straight on that unless otherwise instructed by the Minister or Permanent Secretary” Jaikarran told the Guyana News Network. R e g i o n a l Chairman Julius Faerber said that the position taken by the REO has effectively prevented him from carrying out his duties as Chairman and more so to be the representative of the people who voted for the Peoples Progressive Party Civic. “He has cut my fuel to half from ten to five gallons of fuel per day, some of the days I go out in the field I run out of fuel I have to take taxi to come to work join the regular minibus or I have to take minibus to go home” Faerber said that

Regional Chairman, Julius Faerber

he spoke to Jaikran about the development but the problem has not been addressed. According to him, he usually gets ten gallons during the weekend to do visits to the communities and but Jaikran has written on a document that the Chairman is not on ofﬁcial

duties during the weekend hence the fuel would not be supplied. “I am an elected ofﬁcial I am 24/7 how can I not visit my people during the weekends so that was another issue” Faerber explained He said that matters within the Region

should be discussed with the Chairman and the Regional Vice Chairman by the REO but that has not been happening. This, according to Faerber, is despite the fact that the REO is the administrative head of the region.

Jonestown should be established as Memorial Site ‐ Gouveia Gerald Gouveia Today, (November, 18, 2015) as many relatives and friends remembers their loved ones who lost their lives in the 'historical Jim Jones massacre', at Jonestown in the North West District, 37 years after, Captain Gerald Gouveia who was an Army Pilot and friend of some of the residents of Jonestown at the time and now owner of Roraima Airways, have

renewed calls for the site of the fatal incident to be cleared and 'up kept' for persons desirous of visiting the location. In an interview with GNN today, Gouveia stated that Roraima Airways takes persons to the location often and it is “embarrassing” and overgrown with bushes. He stated that the “area in which they congregated should be fenced off so that persons who want to visit don't have to walk with a cutlass and cutting jungle every time.” “I believe that we should establish it as a memorial to the 913 people that died. A very respectful memorial with all of the trimmings of what a memorial should be like and

we make it accessible to visitors. We also should make it a place where family and friends and historians, students and people interested should be able to go and walk the trail and the ground that the people of Jonestown had walked; touched their picture, their names, in a very solemn and respectful way in memory of the people who came to Guyana and was pioneers” he said. Speaking of the importance of remembering the past, Captain Gouveia alluded to sign that was embraced by the Leader; Jim Jones which said “those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it”. In this regard, he highlighted that mankind must never forget the dangers of ultimate power. He noted that “We

must never forget that we must never give any leader ultimate power, supreme power, leaders must always be kept in check with accountability and transparency systems around them, whether we are talking about governments, church, clubs, our leaders got to be accountable to the people and never vice versa… The lessons of Jonestown should be kept alive”. Having wrote letters to the former government asking for the permission to embark on a

project to 'up keep' the site and receiving no response after 10-15 years, the former army pilot is of the view that Guyanese are ashamed of the 1978 incident, even as the United States (with whom Guyana share an excellent relationship) keeps the memory of its lost citizens alive. “Guyana should not be ashamed of the Jonestown incident…those persons that died were very hardworking pioneers and they were looking for new life and they believe that Guyana offered them the

place to develop that new life…what is important to note is that Guyana had nothing to do with the tragedy, we have nothing to be ashamed of. The fact that it happened on our soil, we have a responsibility to keep the lessons learned alive but we have nothing to be ashamed of. In fact if anything else, we should be proud as a people that we lived in a country where this 913 people believed that they could've carved a new life”.

MAN SHOT DURING ROBBERY A twenty-ﬁve year-old resident of Eccles, East Bank Demerara, Coilin Abbert, was last night shot in his chest during a robbery. According to the police, Abbert and twenty-three year-old Shabike Perreira, were

held at gunpoint last night by two men armed with handguns at Ketley Street, Charlestown. The bandits robbed the duo of their jewellery and cash during which Abbert was shot. The bandits

escaped on two motor cycles driven by two accomplices. Investigations are in progress.

Govt. unity call 'insincere' and 'hypocritical' - PPP/C The call by leader of the H o u s e , M o s e s Nagamotoo, for national unity talks is deemed insincere by the Opposition Parliamentary Party. Speaking to the media today, Peoples Progressive Party/Civic (PPPC) Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira, said the Party is of the view that Nagamootoo, as Minister of Information cannot make that call, since it falls within the ambit of the President. “A lot of the call by the honourable Prime Minister is rather ﬂuff, because one is questioning does he really have the mandate of the President and of the government to

engage anybody in national unity or is it the honourable Prime Minister enlarging his portfolio which is restricted to information,” Teixeira questioned. PPP General Secretary Clement Rohee announced on Monday that the Party will not be engaging the government on unity talks while highlighting a number of concerns that it wanted to be addressed before any talks could be held T e i x e i r a endorsed Rohee's position saying that the PPP/C has always as a Party stood for national unity and inclusivity and therefore they are prepared to speak to the President once their

issues are addressed. The Party is calling on the government to stop the discrimination and termination of people based on their ethnic or political afﬁliation, restore collective bargaining with the sugar workers and their unions with GuySuCo, address problems in the rice sector and assist farmers in the same way they have done with the miners. The Party claims that after three weeks they have not had a response from Agriculture Minister Noel Holder on the nine point plan that it submitted to rescue the rice sector. In addition, the PPP/C says it wants the coalition government to

Bishop Juan Edghill and Gail Teixeira at today’s press conference

stop usurping the Parliamentary norms, rules and conventions and muzzling the Opposition's role in Parliament, as in the case of the unknown fate of the motion to annul the salary increase. It also wants the government to stop interfering in the General Registrar's ofﬁce in creating birth certiﬁcates for persons who are under aged. Questioned by GNN on whether the party is sending the wrong signal to the public based on its refusal to engage the government in national u n i t y t a l k s , Te i x e i r a replied in the negative. H o w e v e r, s h e went on to state that the PPP/C is on record over the years as promoting national unity. “In the last Parliament there is nobody that can say that the PPP did not try to have discussions with the opposition led by Mr. Granger. She recalled during the period of the Linden unrest in 2012 the

then Opposition had set out conditions to commence talks with the then government. One of which was that unless there was a unanimous agreement on the terms of reference for the Linden Commission of Inquiry no talks would begin. She posited that it is not unusual for conditions to be added to issue such as national unity talks. Supporting his colleagues position, former Junior Finance Minister, Juan Edghill stated that based on one of his area of training in conﬂict management and if he had seen personally an opening that is based upon sincerity and that will lend for a conducive environment for national unity talks he would be the one advocating on the PPP side to get engaged. “There is a high degree of insincerity that is displayed every single day. How can you talk to people about national unity when every day you calling them thieves and corrupt. You can't be

sincere on talking national unity when you are stretching, manipulating, twisting, spinning things to present a picture to your constituencies that the opposition are all thieves and corrupt and then you still want to talk to them,” Edghill expounded. If the now government had taken the same principle position that they had taken while they were in Opposition as it relates to equalities, practices of nondiscrimination, respect for people despite of their religion or status there would have been that enabling environment for national unity talks. He accused the government of going into communities and dividing them along religious lines. According to him, the call for national unity and dialogue is premised on a high degree of insincerity and hypocrisy.

Sacred Heart Church to Be Re-opened Next Month The Sacred Heart Church at Main Street which was destroyed in an electrical ﬁre 11 years ago will be reopened next month. Catholic Bishop Francis Alleyne said the rebuilt church would reopen next month after a US$600,000 investment.

The Catholic Standard report said that a special Mass will be held on December 6. At present, the new concrete church and caretaker's quarters are said to be over 90 percent complete. According to the Catholic Standard, the

Sacred Heart Catholic community will ofﬁcially and permanently occupy the rebuilt facilities on Main Street. The Sacred Heart Church was originally built by Portuguese settlers in 1861.

GARBAGE COLLECTION FOR THE HOLIDAYS IN GT The Georgetown Mayor and City Council is putting systems in place for proper garbage disposal as the Christmas season is fast approaching. T he M&CC stated that “the festive season is fast approaching and many residents may have bulk waste to dispose of hence; it wishes to inform the general public

that the Puran Brothers Disposal Inc. is contracted by the Council to collect bulk waste from the following areas; First Saturday of each month --- Bel Air Spring, Bel Air Gardens, Subryanville & Kitty. Second Saturday of each month --- Bel Air Park, Campbellville, Newtown

Kitty, Lamaha. Third Saturday of each month --- Werk-en-Rust, Charlestown,Albouystown, Wortmanville& Stabroek. Fourth Saturday of each month --- Castello H o u s i n g S c h e m e , We s t Ruimveldt, East Ruimveldt, North East La Penitence, East La Penitence, La Penitence Jeeboo Lands, Extra Nuclear & West La Penitence.

What prevents the establishment of a Jonestown Memorial? Today marks thirty-seven years since the occurrence of the Jonestown massacre on November 18, 1978. The incident, which shocked Guyanese and the world, instantly placed G u y a n a o n t h e international scene. Many foreigners would have scrambled for their atlas to locate the only English speaking country in South America to conﬁrm this new found knowledge of world geography and which rocketed Guyana to fame. The sudden fame resulted from the deaths of over 900 Americans who died within hours of each other in one area nestled within the jungles of Region 1, Guyana. That massacre is second with regard to the number of Americans killed in a single deliberate act to the bombings of the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001. For twenty-three years, it held the record for the most American killed is one act. That in itself, if one was unaware of the details pertaining to the actual Jonestown massacre, had the potential to cause one to take stock of such an unfortunate and unenviable record. The effect of an incident occurring in a then poor third world country impacting the social fabric of the United States of America, probably would have been unheard of. Both the

Guyanese and American people, were shocked beyond belief at what transpired at Jonestown, more so the world. Given events at that time, it may not be farfetched to posit that that such an incident would have been unimaginable thirty-seven years ago. History has proven differently. From all reports Jonestown was a thriving community with some amenities far in advance to what the majority of Guyanese could have imagined. What they, the Guyanese people, couldn't have imagined as was subsequently learnt, was a community of about one thousand Americans booming in their land. The vast majority was clearly unaware with some knowing Jonestown to be a small community along the East Bank of Demerara. The massacre of November 18, 1978, proved there were two communities named Jonestown. That aside, the solemnity of the tragedy must not be forgotten. People, including many children, were forced to commit suicide and an American Congressman, Leo Ryan, along with international media operatives, were also killed. While the incidents surrounding the Johnstown massacre have been reenacted in some ﬁlms, a parallel conduit to

help convey the pains, would have been the vast number of videos of the various aspects of the bombings of the World Trade Centre in 2001. The images captured in a more modern time still haunts same as narratives being read about Jonestown. Given the immeasurable and excruciating pain of these horriﬁc events, healing becomes paramount for all involved. Opportunities to allow for grieving are given much priority as evident from the observances at Ground Zero in Manhattan on every September 11 since 2001. Relatives of those who were killed travel every year to be part of this now much anticipated service which is generally attended by the President of the United States. In addition to the relatives, millions of visitors converge at the 911 Memorial site during the year to pay their respects to the lost souls. From an economic standpoint through tourism, the heinous crimes committed through the bombings, have presented opportunities for remembrance and commerce in a most respectful manner. Some Guyanese lost their lives in the 911 bombings and many their relatives and

countrymen and women, visit the memorial in New York every year. Wi t h t h i s i n mind, it begs the question as to why Jonestown could not have been developed into a memorial to derive similar outcomes. It would be difﬁcult to believe that relatives of the Americans who were killed would not have gravitated to the Jonestown annually for the same reason that surrounds the 911 memorial. It has always been believed that if such an undertaken was realized the potential for related economic activity would be brimming. Some have in the past called for such an endeavour cognizant of the tremendous potential. One ambitious call was for the basic

reconstruction of the Jonestown community as a museum and memorial. Students, historians, ﬁlmmakers, tourists (both local and foreign) and of course, relatives would ﬁnd it irresistible if the all the infrastructure were to be in place. The economic spinoffs through jobs, guest houses, eating houses, souvenirs and transportation (air, land and river) could become vibrant making such a memorial a major attraction for regional and international tourists. It has the potential to help in the marketing of Guyana as a tourist destination. What would have prevented its establishment over the thirty-seven years is not fully known. Reportedly, one reason was the reluctance to endeavor into what was deemed as

“dark tourism”. While the sensitivities surrounding any such incident must be respected, it could not be of harm to endeavor taking a leaf out of the 911 memorial, the Vietnam War memorial and the memorials for the two World Wars and others. Given those examples, it unfortunately exposes Guyana's unwillingness to provide the related opportunities for almost four decades. The old cliché of “it's never too late” is still relevant to realise another cliché that says, “out of every bad, comes some good”. The hope would be for meaningful discussions in this regard with the hope that someday, a memorial would be established.

Man shot in attempted execution A City resident is currently being treated after being shot late this afternoon. According to information, the man was sitting on his steps when two armed men approached him and opened ﬁred. It appears it was an attempt to execute him. It is believed that the man was shot twice and that the shooters were masked. They escaped in a car. Investigations are ongoing.

PPP concerned about corruption in awarding of contracts -calls on govt. to state new rules

Government is being called out to correct a number of alleged discrepancies that have been taking place in the public infrastructure sector. Parliamentary Spokesperson for the Opposition Peoples Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), Juan Edghill at a media conference today at Freedom House lashed out at the A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) for reports he claims the Party received of skullduggery with regard to the awarding of contracts. Edghill pointed out that he is in receipt of information that contracts are not being signed by procuring entities unless the contractor commit to give sub-contracts to specifically identified subcontractors. He added that major contracts are on the desk of the accounting officers of procuring

entities for 30 days and in excess of 60 days without being signed. According to Edghill, some of the subcontractors are newly registered companies with no experience. This, he says is in total breach of procurement requirements of which the company should have at least three years experience. “As a Party in Opposition we are bringing this to public notice that this must come to an immediate end. We are calling on all public officials, accounting officers to ensure that they are not obeying any unlawful instructions that put them at odds or in difficulty with the financial management regulations that govern the financial architecture of Guyana,” Edghill added. In addition, the P a r l i a m e n t a r y spokesperson said It was brought to the PPP's attention through its constituencies that

contractors that are allowed to have their contract signed for implementation are receiving up to eighty percent of the contract sum in mobilization and advances. To this, the former Finance Minister said is contrary to the every ﬁnancial regulation as it relates to the management of contracts. “It gives the impression at the Ministry of Finance that the expenditure is being incurred because the money is paid out and on the IFMAS (Integrated Financial Management and Accounting System) there will be a report that the expenditure is used but in reality the contractor receives eighty percent of the contract sum, he holds it in his bosom, there is no implementation and the year will come to an end and you don't see the works being done on the ground, Edghill explained.

Bishop Juan Edghill

He noted that there has been a cosmetic approach as it relates to contract management and contract implementation. The PPP/C is calling on the Minister responsible to make public the new procurement rules and to ensure that they are being followed. Many contracts that were already awarded before May 2015 and should have been in the implementation stage what we are seeing is that many of the contractors had to

send their workers home, Edghill told the media. “We are hearing that the only time these contracts will go forward is when there is a reconﬁgured arrangement as it relates to these contracts that will allow speciﬁc companies, individuals and newly formed companies to be engaged and participate in these contracts” The former Minister stated that Public infrastructure is a critical and key driver in the

country's developmental process and should not play politics with this area. “It provides for the creation of jobs, it advances economic activities in the manufacturing sector, it is key and critical for the retail sector, providers of the goods and services. “Many of them are at a standstill because many of these projects are at a standstill,” Edghill stressed.

Police dismiss Ramotar's call for Army to help ﬁght crime -Reiterates crime not spiraling out of control

The Guyana Police Force today technically dismissed the call by former President Donald Ramotar, for the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) to be deployed to aid in the ﬁght against crime. Ramotar recently h a d n o t e d h i s disappointment in the mentality in the APNU +AFC regime to keep the army in barracks even as he believes crime is spiraling out of control.

“The trend all over the world is for the army to come out and work with the police in combating crime, as in the case of Trinidad and Tobago, Mexico among others in the world,” Ramotar stated. However, in a press statement today, the Police was emphatic that crime is not spiraling out of control based on its statistics and which is supported by other data.

The statement noted, “in the recent instances when the Guyana Defence Force was called out in support of the Police it was with the aim of giving assurance to the members of the public and confidence boosting, and not because the police was overwhelmed by the crime situation.” The statement pointed to statistics with regard to serious crimes which indicate that there has been an 8% increase for the period January 01, 2015, to October 31, 2015, when compared to the same period in 2014; and for the same period in 2013 an increase of 0.2%. According to the Police, despite the increase significant efforts were made regarding the arrest and prosecution of several high profile

groups of criminals. Ramotar had also condemned the attack on the home of Assistant Commis s ioner Les lie James by armed bandits recently. He noted that the brazen attack on one of the most senior police ofﬁcers tells the grim story of how crime is sparling out of control in the country. “It is a slap in the face of the Guyana Police Force and the government as a whole. I am very disappointed at the casual way the government seem to be handling the situation,” Ramotar stated. “I call on the regime to immediately take steps to have the army assist the police with joint patrols now. If Mr. Leslie James's home was so wantonly invaded, no one is safe from the criminals,”

the former President said. The police pointed out that it is unfortunate that the former President gave the impression that in view of the recent armed robbery committed on an Assistant Commissioner of Police, that any citizen should feel vulnerable. “Our view is that such a statement is mistaken and does not ﬁt into the context,” the Police noted. According to Ramotar, as the nature of crime evolves, the role of the disciplined forces must also evolve and noted that in other parts of the world the army is doing more to ﬁght crime. The Police, through its statement takes the opportunity to remind citizens that under the Constitution they have a

Donald Ramotar

fundamental right to defend themselves and property. A s s i s t a n t Commissioner of Police Leslie James and his family were attacked and robbed after armed bandits invaded their lot 453 Hendy Street, Block X, Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara home around 3:00 hours last Sunday morning.

Iwokrama Starts Phase 2 of Its Model Forestry Operation

The Iwokrama Centre in partnership with Farfan and Mendes Limited on Tuesday (November, 17) announced that it has started phase II of its model forestry operation at the Centre. In a statement, the center noted that given its mandate to develop

sustainable businesses using multiple forest r e s o u r c e s a n d international best practices, “The Centre will use the results of the research and experience it acquired in phase I of its operations in areas such as forest dynamics, preharvest and post-harvest

inventories, community e n g a g e m e n t , certiﬁcation, facilities layout and logistics to help reﬁne and improve operations and forest management in phase 2”. It says “as with its other businesses, the Centre will replicate its overarching management

and sustainability protocols in the timber operations by 1) informing forestry policy by providing practical results to policy holders and 2) building local, regional and international capacity in areas of sustainable forest management”. A Sustainable Utilization Area (SUA) was demarcated as the area where development work for the Centre's experimental timber model and all of its other business models, including tourism and training services are undertaken. The Centre will employ a 60-year cutting cycle, harvesting a maximum of 1,800 ha per year (which is less than 0.5% of the Iwokrama Forest) under a very selective harvesting regime which will result in only a few stems per ha being removed and no large gaps created in the f o r e s t c a n o p y. T h e

operations will employ best practcies in forestry including a strict no-log export policy and the employment of Reduced Impact Logging (RIL) and Directional Felling (DF) techniques. N e w technologies will also be tested – a new Tigercat 635D skidder and a model 234 knuckleboom log loader are also being tested. This brand is new to Guyana and the technology should allow for the faster and more efﬁcient harvesting operations and a reduced environmental footprint. F o r e s t r y research studies such as testing inventory and log measurement methods and sawmilling efﬁciencies will be done and the impact of harvesting on the forest by conducting pre and post harvesting inventories on indicator species etc. A l l o f Iwokrama's business models are designed to

follow international economic, social and environmental best practices and employ innovative governance systems involving various stakeholders. As it develops the model, the Centre intends to continue to work closely with its community partners, the North Runununi District Development Board (NRDDB) which represents the 16 villages of the North Runununi The Iwokrama International Centre (IIC) was established in 1996 under a joint mandate from the Government of Guyana and the Commonwealth Secretariat to manage the Iwokrama forest, a unique reserve of 371,000 hectares of rainforest “in a manner that will lead to lasting ecological, economic and social beneﬁts to the people of Guyana and to the world in general”.

PPP/C motion to annul salary -Peeved at suspension increase expires Dec. 1 of Sitting Advice is being sought from the Clerk of the National Assembly by the Opposition Peoples Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) on the way forward with regard to the motion tabled in the House to annul the salary increases given to Ministers, Members of Parliament and other government ofﬁcers. PPP/C's Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira told the media at a press conference today that the Party has ofﬁcially sought advice from the Clerk who is the point person by the constitution and standing orders who advises on Parliamentary proceedings, norms and conventions, given that the motion will expire on December 1. “ We h a v e n o w formally written to him seeking his advice and guidance because the motion we have tabled calling for the annulment of order 16 2015 with regard to the salary

increase of the Ministers, Members of Parliament and special ofﬁcers will expire under the standing orders on December 1. Any order that is brought before the Parliament that is subject to negative resolution it has to be given the time to allow for negative resolution by the Opposition side or even the government side,” Teixeira explained. She pointed out that the motion was laid in the house on October 2 became law on that date and will expire in forty days according to the standing orders. The Party is now seeking to clarify whether the motion will lapse on December 2 and if it does if it can be re-tabled. They are however awaiting advice from the Clerk on the matter. Government suspended the November 12 sitting of the House to an indeﬁnite date saying that

during that period, several key government functionaries, Members of Parliament and the Clerk of the Assembly would have been travelling to attend important conferences and training courses. The PPP/C has said it was a clear move by the government to avoid the debates on the salary increases and to delay the sitting of the House so that the motion can expire. The Party then moved to seek permission for an extraordinary sitting of the House in the month of November so as to proceed with the debates, however, this was disallowed by the Speaker of the National Assembly, Barton Scotland. The Speaker via a letter stated that the request is not in order and will not be entertained. In addition, he ruled that the PPP lacks the locus-standi as prescribed by the Standing Order that

deals with convening a sitting of the House on such occasions. Teixeira said the Speaker explained in the letter that en extraordinary sitting could only be called

Gail Teixeira “If is that if it is represented to the Speaker by the government that the public interest requires an early meeting of the National Assembly and/or the

Speaker's opinion is that the public's interest requires that the Parliament should meet at a date earlier than that which it stands adjourned.”

37 YEARS AFTER, THE JONESTOWN MASSACRE STILL HAUNTS In 1978, if Guyana was considered as an unknown country, it all changed on November 18, of the same year when, arguably, it became the most talked about nation. Unfortunately, the popularity following the sudden thrust into the international spotlight, was for all the

Entrance to Jonestown

reasons. On that now infamous day, 909 Americans died at Jonestown, in Region 1, Guyana, in what was described as a mass suicide pact. As the story subsequently unraveled, it was revealed that many were forced to drink “kool aid” laced with cyanide while others were reported shot at the behest of cult-leader, Rev. Jim Jones. Guyanese were shocked at the news which took a while to circulate given the absence of television and phones (land lines were extremely limited). However, as it spread, so did the shock and disbelief. The fact that there was a place called Jonestown which was relatively developed, in the context of the time, and home to some one thousand Americans inhabitants on Guyana's soil, was almost unfathomable.

Houses in Jonestown

Questions immediately surfaced; when did the settlement began? Who were these people and what was the purpose? How were Guyanese unaware of such a major undertaking? What was indisputable, was how transfixed Guyanese were in grappling with what suddenly unfolded. As the news spread beyond the country's shores, the international spotlight educated many of a country named Guyana nestled in the continent of South America. Scores of international media entities and United States personnel flooded in as coffins were transported from what was believed to be an unknown area of Jonestown, not far from Port Kaituma, to areas in proximity of the Capital and the main international

airport. It became the most talked about incident at the time and for many years after, forever removing any veil of ignorance about Guyana and drastically changing its image. Thirty-seven years after, it is still talked about, not with the same emphasis, but not forgotten. Who could? It was the largest such event in modern history and resulted in the largest single loss of American civilian life in a deliberate act until September 11, 2001. Some survivors, regard the event as a mass murder. The cult, as all subsequently learnt, was branded the Peoples Temple under Jones' leadership. Jonestown, which, was the informal name for the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, became synonymous with the incidents at the location. The poisonings in Jonestown followed the murder of ﬁve others by Temple members at Port Kaituma, including United States Congressman Leo Ryan. Four other Temple members died in Georgetown at Jones' command. In 1974, Jones and the Peoples Temple negotiated a lease of over 3,800 acres of jungle land located 150 miles west of Georgetown. The site was

isolated and was believed to be advantageous not only for Jones, but for the Guyanese government at the time given that the settlement stood not far from Guyana's border with Venezuela, which would be reluctant to mount a military incursion on the land if it risked American lives. Temple members worked six days a week and Jones would often read news and commentary, including some from Radio Moscow and Radio Havana. Children were generally surrendered to communal care, addressed Jones as "Dad," and at times were only allowed to see their real parents briefly at night. Jones was called "Father" or "Dad" by the adults as well. The community had a nursery at which 33 infants were born. US Congressman, Congressman Leo Ryan, who represented California's 11th congressional district, announced that he would visit Jonestown following a number of complaints that persons were being held against their will there. He flew to Jonestown on November 14, 1978, along with a delegation of eighteen people, including leading US media personnel. On preparing to depart following the visit, a tractor driven by members of the Temple's Red Brigade security squad, arrived at the airstrip and opened fire on the aircraft while at least two gunmen circled the plane on foot. The first few seconds of the shooting were captured on ENG videotape by NBC cameraman Bob Brown who was killed. The Congressman was killed after being shot more than twenty times. Jones urged Temple members to commit "revolutionary suicide" which had been planned before and, according to Jonestown defectors, its theory was "you can go down in history, saying you chose your own way to go, and it is your commitment to refuse capitalism and in support of socialism." It is believed that the first to take the poison were Ruletta Paul and her one-year-old infant. A syringe with its needle removed was used to squirt poison into

the infant's mouth and then Paul squirted another syringe into her own mouth. The poison caused death within five minutes. According to reports, after consuming the poison, people were then escorted away down a wooden walkway leading outside what is known as the Pavilion. In response to Congressman Leo Ryan reactions of seeing the poison take effect on others, Jones counseled, "Die with a degree of dignity. Lay down your life with dignity; don't lay down with tears and agony." He also said, "I tell you, I don't care how many screams you hear, I don't care how many anguished cries...death is a million times preferable to ten more days of this life. If you knew what was ahead of you – if you knew what was ahead of you, you'd be glad to be stepping over tonight." Jones was found dead lying next to his chair between two other bodies, his head cushioned by a pillow. His death was caused by a gunshot wound to his left temple that Guyanese coroner Cyrill Mootoo stated was consistent with a self-inflicted gun wound. The event was covered heavily by the media and photographs pertaining to it adorned newspaper and magazine covers for months after its occurrence, including being labeled "cult of death" by Time and Newsweek magazines. In February 1979, 98% of Americans polled said that they had heard of the tragedy. George Gallup stated that "few events, in fact, in the entire history of the Gallup Poll have been known to such a high percentage of the U.S. public." The bodies of over 400 of those who died are buried in a mass-grave at Evergreen Cemetery in Oakland, California. In 2011, a memorial to them was erected at the cemetery. In 2003, Captain Gerry Gouveia, who was involved with the Jonestown Massacre cleanup and a television crew recording a special for the 25th anniversary of the event. Although the site was covered with dense vegetation, after searching for several hours the team uncovered a standing cassava mill (possibly the largest remaining structure), the remains of a tractor (speculated to be the same tractor used by the airstrip shooters), a generator, a filing cabinet, an overturned truck near the site of Jim Jones' house (claimed to be his favorite vehicle by Gouveia), a fuel pump, and other smaller miscellaneous items. He led the team to the site where the pavilion once was, and they found the remains of a steel drum, an organ, and a bed of daisies growing where the bodies once lay.

RONALD GAJRAJ REPORTEDLY SUES GAIL TEIXEIRA AND THE GUYANA CHRONICLE

Ronald Gajraj

Former Minister of Home Affairs in the Peoples Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) Administration, Ronald Gajraj, has reportedly sued another former PPPC Minister of Home Affairs, Gail Teixeira, as well as the state owned Guyana Chronicle Newspaper. Gajraj who is presently serving as the High Commissioner to India, reportedly sued the Chronicle and Teixeira for defamation of

character. The lawsuit is believed to have stemmed from a headline carried in the Guyana Chronicle Newspaper on Tuesday where it stated that the former Government Minister, Gajraj was involved in visa racketeering. The Guyana News Network was informed that the lawsuit is for in excess of ten million. According to information, Teixeira

was reportedly served this morning while at freedom House in Robb Street. It is unclear if and at what point the Chronicle Newspaper was served. The article in question which was published in the Chronicle, did not carry a byline. It contained allegations which were reportedly released in the Wikileaks Cables and reportedly dated in 2005. According to

the article, allegations of racketeering were made allegedly by Teixeira while reportedly communicating with personnel from the United States Embassy Gajraj resigned as Home Affairs Minister in 2005 and was succeeded by Teixeira who headed the Ministry for a short period before the 2006 National Elections.

BANDITS STEAL HISTORIAN CAR AT GUNPOINT Guyanese Historian Tota Mangar has been robbed of his vehicle after being held up by two armed men; one with a gun and the other with a knife. According to reports, at about 20:30 hrs on Monday night, Mangar, having left a book launch at Moray House at the corner of Camp and Quamina Streets, was held up as

he was preparing to drive off. The bandits entered the vehicle, one placing a knife to his neck from the backseat and the other a gun to his head from the front passenger seat demanding the keys to the vehicle. Fearing for his life, the Historian complied and exited after which the bandits quietly

drove off leaving him stranded. He sustained a cut to his face. According to him, the bandits seemed to be pros given the manner in which they executed the heist of the vehicle. Investigations are ongoing

Tota Mangar

CARVIL DUNCAN PRESENTED HIMSELF TO THE POLICE (Newssource photo)

Carvil Duncan

Tr a d e U n i o n i s t , C a r v i l Duncan the former member of the Board of Directors of the Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL), who allegedly paid himself an increase from state funds without proper authorization, turned himself over to the investigators at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) yesterday afternoon. Duncan, who was not accompanied by an a t t o r n e y, s u b m i t t e d a statement to the police regarding the accusation. According to information, he

is contending that the money which he allegedly paid himself, was approved by the Board of Directors, stating that he worked in the capacity he did with the company for almost a decade but was only paid for 48 months. He also denied that the money was taken from the PetroCaribe Fund as reported in the media which he accused of getting their reports wrong. R e p o r t e d l y, Duncan has promised not to repay the money, since

according to him, it was approved by the Board. Duncan, along with the Deputy Chief Executive OfďŹ cer of the G P L , A e s h w a r Deonarine,are accused of transferring state funds, totaling some thirty million, to their personal bank accounts without the requisite approval. It is believed that Deonarine, who reportedly is in Canada, had indicated that is willing to repay the amount of some twentyseven million which he is accused to transferring.

'We all feel vulnerable' – President on signing Book of Condolence for Paris victims President David Granger, today, signed the Book of Condolence that was opened at the French Consulate in Peter Rose Street, Georgetown in memory of the 129 persons, who lost their lives after terrorists from the so-called Islamic State group executed a series of attacks in Paris on November 13. According to the Government Information Agency (GINA), the President said that Guyana stands in solidarity with the Government of France and has strengthened its resolve as a member of the United Nations (UN) community, to support the ﬁght against this type of transnational crime. “ We a l l f e e l vulnerable now and in this regard we must all respond to this attack… all states are vulnerable and we must stand together with France to bring an end to this abomination,” the President said.

He added that the Caribbean, as a community, must oppose the forms of extremism that give rise to this type of criminal activity that threatens the peace and security of large and small states alike. The President reiterated his position on the importance of small states to be protected. He made a similar call at the UN General Assembly held in September and it will be his message at the u p c o m i n g Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Malta next week. Last Friday, a series of attacks was launched in the French capital, which included suicide bombers and mass shootings in ﬁve different locations. Terrorists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group have since claimed responsibility for the attacks.

President David Granger signing the Book of Condolence at the French Consulate in Georgetown in memory of the 129 persons that were killed in a horriﬁc terrorist attack in Paris on November 13

Monetary Studies Conference aims to strengthen ﬁnancial arrangements in the Caribbean

The 47 t h edition of the Monetary Studies Conference which is being hosted by the Bank of Guyana in collaboration with the Caribbean Centre for Money and Finance, commenced earlier today under the theme “Financial Development and Economic Growth.” The annual threeday event which is being

facilitated at the Bank of Guyana will explore a plethora of themes related to ﬁnancial arrangements and the correlation between that and economic growth. Discussions and debates are expected to target critical issues including; regional and economic integration, economic transformation in a postindependence Caribbean,

building financial sector resilience, financial stability, prices preparedness and risk management, financial stability, debt and economic growth, and macro prudential supervision – financial stability and monetary policy. According to Governor of the Bank of Guyana, Dr. Gobind Ganga, the event which forms part of the Bank's calendar of events

for its 50th Anniversary celebrations is one which provides an important opportunity for networking and research in the ﬁeld of ﬁnance and economics. And while the region is currently at a point where uneven economic growth is being recorded, Dr. G a n g a o ff e r e d t h a t t h i s conference is also expected to stimulate new insights in

assessing regional ﬁnancial development and economic growth. “The region is facing new risk factors from the monetary organisations in the US, such as US interest rates hikes, and strengthening of the US dollar. The adverse effects of these include the tightening of domestic utility conditions, currency depreciation and increase in US dollar denominated debts” the Governor said. But according to him, all is not lost. In fact, the strengthening of the US economy as well as other developed countries which are major tourist markets are expected to have a positive spin over effect in the region, he said. In addition, those regional economies with more ﬂexible exchange rate regimes should be able to adjust to the market forces. The conference therefore, is appropriate and timely given the region's slowing growth and the effort by most

territories to improve and strengthen their financial sectors, Dr. Ganga noted. Delivering the featured address at the opening was Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan who explained that the conference and the Caribbean Centre for Money and Finance (CCMF) have built a formidable body of research and expertise in Caribbean money and finance. This expertise, he said, is even more important given the challenging economic environment in which the region finds itself in presently. And the themes which are expected to be deliberated on by the participating bodies will focus on the pressing issues of the day, the Minister said, adding that these issues are those which the region has had to grapple with in its quest for growth and development.

PPP CITES DISCRIMINATION IN STREET LIGHTING The Peoples Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) has deemed as discriminatory the government's move to remove the street lights from Bath Settlement, Region ﬁve following the recent announcement by Minister of State, Joseph Harmon that he will be donating his salary increase for the purchase of street lights for villages i n t h e We s t B a n k Demerara area. The Party is questioning how will be recurring cost be paid. “The Minister of Public Infrastructure is called upon to explain to the

people of Guyana who and how will the recurrent cost for the street lights to be i n s t a l l e d i n We s t Demerara would be paid,” PPP Member of Parliament and former junior Finance Minister, Bishop Juan Edghill said. The Guyana Power and Light Inc. removed the street lights from Bath Settlement after the government said it cannot afford to pay the power company for the lights installed there. P u b l i c Infrastructure Minister David Patterson defended the decision to remove the

lights, saying that the free streetlights to Bath residents was a mere campaign promise by the former regime during the elections period; and that the government cannot afford to bear the cost. Patterson said the Private Sector Body had requested 30 days to come up with a payment plan, however the time expired and the lights were removed. GPL is asking that residents pay $3500 per streetlight monthly. Against this backdrop, the PPP/C Parliamentary

Bishop Juan Edghill

spokesperson on public infrastructure, Juan Edghill is calling for information to be made public as to who will bear the cost for the lights that will be set up on the West Bank. Reference was made to Minister Harmon's announcement that he has donated his salary increase in aid of street lights, for several villages across the country. “You cannot discriminate against one community and seek to provide services to another community,” Edghill stated. M i n i s t e r

Harmon handed over a cheque at the weekend for the sum of two hundred, seventeen thousand dollars ($217,000) to Mr. Bowman, a resident of the Crane Housing Scheme, for the installation of street lights, which will be placed from the highway, into the Housing Scheme. He said this is following requests from the residents for street lights to be installed in preparation for Village day 2015. The Regional Democratic Council (RDC) did not have a budgetary allocation for the installation of Street

lights. According to the PPP, there seems to be a very partisan move and assault by the government in areas where the party enjoys overwhelming support. Opposition leader Bharrat Jagdeo had pointed to the fact that the people of Linden continue to beneﬁt tremendously from a whopping $3 billion electricity subsidy, but the government is saying it cannot afford street lights for Bath Settlement. He questioned how that can be justiﬁed.

Process to access duty-free vehicles for Head Teachers should be shortened The names of thirty additional head teachers are being processed by the Ministry of Finance to access duty-free concessions to purchase vehicles even as sixteen would have benefited from the facility. Guyana Teachers' Union (GTU) General Secretary Coretta McDonald, at a press conference held yesterday at the GTU headquarters on Woolford Avenue, said, “We are still awaiting final approval for a final 30 to complete this, but we are hoping [that], pretty soon, in some days ahead, we will be able to receive these names” while approval has been given for 16. Among those teachers are: Kamal Persaud, Kathlene

Armstrong, Magna Bethune, Zailmoon Samad, Gwenette Sam, Bernadette Lewis, Chandradee Kanhai, Paul La Cruz, Susan Rhius, Vernell Razack-Giles, Deborah GreenidgeHinds, Juliet Mattis, Avril Lake, Georgieanai Lewis, Paulette Merell and Beverly Henry. To qualify for duty-free concession, a teacher must have been a head teacher for at least three years, and have at least ﬁve years of employment before retirement. T h e G T U General Secretary is calling on the authorities to work towards cutting back on the time the process takes. She said that the entire process

should take two weeks maximum. McDonald noted that “We should be able to ﬁnish this whole business of duty-free when we submit names in a matter of two weeks, because GTU has information on our teachers, the Education Ministry's Personnel Department has the same information we do, so we should not have that long-drawn-out period, because it is sometimes very frustrating and fatiguing when head teachers have to be going back and forth and going here and there; so we are asking to sit together as partners, and complete the list at one end, so when we send off to the other end, which is the Ministry of the

Zailmoon Samad, headteacher of the Leonora Primary School, with four of her ﬁve students who secured a place at Queen’s College this year. Teacher Samad is among 16 headteachers who have been approved to beneﬁt from duty-free concessions

Presidency, that we would be able to cut back on the time it usually takes to have the duty-free concession issue dealt with.”

The Guyana Teachers Union has, since 2009, been behind the Education Ministry to obtain duty-free concessions for eligible

head teachers who have been within the teaching profession for over 30 years.

VOGUE NAMES INFLUENTIAL JAMAICAN MODELS

Grace Jones

Stacey McKenzie

In its October 28, 2015, publication, Vogue magazine named '5 Jamaican Top Models Who Changed the Face of Fashion'. They are: Grace Jones Long before Grace Jones sang her iconic hits, she was a model working with the most inﬂuential designers in Paris. Jones's arresting beauty landed her work on the runway with Yves Saint Laurent, Issey Miyake, and Claude Montana in the late '70s. Even Jones' roommates were legendary. She shared her apartment in Paris with Jerry Hall and Jessica Lange. Ever the provocateur, Jones would eventually leave modelling for a boundarybreaking career in music and cinema. The imagery she created with her then partner, photographer Jean-Paul Goude, more than stands the test of time. Stacey McKenzie With her bright red Afro and freckles, Stacey McKenzie was unlike anyone else on the '90s fashion scene. She

Nadine Willis

Robyn Mackintosh

worked with the decade's top talents, including Jean Paul Gaultier, Thierry Mugler, and Richard Avedon, who shot her for Calvin Klein's memorable CK Be campaign. McKenzie's unconventional look and outspoken personality even landed her a role in Luc Besson's sci-ﬁ romp, The Fifth Element. In recent years McKenzie has switched from model to television personality, taking on hosting duties on Canada's 'Next Top Model'. Nadine Willis A favourite of Tom Ford, Nadine Willis and her sleek look captivated Gucci loyalists when Ford handpicked her for the brand's memorable Fall 2003 campaign. Booking ad after ad in the early '00s, Willis's elegant appeal translated into instant fashion success. She reinvented herself as a musician since her Gucci days, dropping a reggae single back in 2008. Her biggest role to date, though, is that of mom to two daughters, Zein Bell and Tatjana Berg.

Jeneil Williams

Robyn Mackintosh A seminal beauty of the late '80s, Robyn Mackintosh grew up in Montego Bay before heading to the States to pursue modelling. Blessed with a dramatic pout and high cheekbones, her sleek look attracted the attention of photographer Steven Meisel, who cast her for his very ﬁrst cover of Italian Vogue. Jeneil Williams Though not a household name, Jeneil Williams has been something of a quiet storm in the fashion world since she won the Caribbean Model Search back in 2005. Known for her effortless walk and skill in front of the camera, Williams has worked with some of the biggest names in the business, including Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott and Steven Meisel. Her chameleon-like modelling abilities make her a photographer's dream - perhaps that's why L'Oreal tapped her as its ﬁrst Jamaican face earlier this year. (Jamaican Gleaner)

VETERAN ACTOR SAEED JAFFREY PASSES AWAY The extremely talented actor Saeed Jaffrey (who hailed from an Indo-British origin) passed away yesterday at the age of 86 years. The sad news of his death was shared by his niece Shaheen Aggarwal her Facebook page.

Speaking about his death, Shaheen Aggarwal w r o t e " To d a y, a generation of Jaffreys h a s p a s s e d a w a y. Saeed Jaffrey has joined his brothers and sister and is rejoicing in the lap of his Heavenly Father,

eternally. The entire Jaffrey Family bids you, "adieu", you beautiful, beautiful man See you in h e a v e n ! " Readers may recall the veteran actor Saeed Jaffrey for his memorable roles in ﬁlms like

Gandhi, Henna, Shatranj Ke Khiladi, Dil, Ghar Ho Toh Aisa, Deewana Mastana, Kishan Kanhaiya, Vijay, Jab Pyaar Kisise Hota Hai a n d o t h e r s . (Bollywoodhungama. com)

LIAM NEESON EXPLAINS HIS SHOCKING WEIGHT LOSS

It was all for a movie! After paparazzi pictures of Liam Neeson surfaced earlier this summer, we were left

wondering why the Taken actor looked so frighteningly frail. Now, the 63-year-old revealed

that he lost 20 pounds for Martin Scorsese's new ﬁlm, Silence. "Martin wanted us all to look a bit more gaunt, which [stars Adam Driver and Andrew Garﬁeld] did as well," Neeson explained to press at the 4th Annual Los Cabos International Film Festival. "I know Adam went to the extreme. He's an ex-Marine, and when he's given an order, he follows it through. He was

like something out of Auschwitz." Silence follows two 17th century Jesuit priests, played by Driver and Garﬁeld, who face persecution when they travel to Japan. "Martin requires this level of [dedication] and I think it pays off," Neeson, who looked noticeably healthier stepping out at the festival, explained. The weight loss wasn't the only challenge

of the ﬁlm. There was also a 6.1 earthquake in Taiwan that delayed production -Neeson calls it the "most terrifying moment of my life" -- as well as Scorsese's demanding directorial habits. "He require[s] absolute silence on set, like everybody has to stop work when he's giving a direction or explaining a scene. I mean everybody," Neeson, who previously worked with the director

on Gangs of New York, revealed. "The guy that's painting 400 yards away has to stop. If he hears one tiny sound, it's shattered for him, so he commands that respect. He commands that silence, and especially for this ﬁlm, it was necessary." Still, Neeson said, "Who's going to turn down a job with Martin Scorsese?" (Yahoo)

HEALTH

This is what happens when you don't wash your sheets Okay, be honest—when was the last time you changed your sheets? If you're thinking you can go more than seven days without stripping your bed and still be sleeping in a sanitary environment, some of you may be in for a rude—or shall we say crude—awakening. “Once a week is a safe amount of time, as long as there's no bodily secretions or any potential risk factors,” Marilyn C. Roberts, PhD, Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences in the School of Public Health at the University of Washington, tells Yahoo Health. Let's start with infectious ﬂuids that can be soaked into your linens, such as urine, vomit, diarrhea, fecal spray, etc. “which

should be changed right a w a y. ” A n d w h i l e e a r drainage from an ear infection is more likely to happen in a child's bed, it's worth noting since the puss and bacteria left on the sheets can also “be very infectious.” While many “typical” infections are transmitted person-toperson, some skin infections can be “caught” between the sheets.The other thing that needs to be stressed is that people who have eczema and other kinds of skin conditions can be very susceptible to bacterial infections. And let's not forget your favorite furry companion who might be sharing the other half of your pillow. “Dogs, by nature, are not hygienic,” stresses Roberts. “You can wash them

every week, but they still go outside and sniff other dogs, so they can pretty much bring in anything.” “Pets should be pets—they should have their own bed because they can be a reservoir for human diseases,” states Roberts. Do you get the nighttime sweats? “If the sheets are pretty wet, I'd strip the bed,” says Roberts. “It just makes sense because the sheets may not dry out. Changing the sheets every day can be excessive, but it may turn out that at least once a week is necessary.” Then there are dust mites, which Roberts says are lurking in just about every mattress. While bacteria can live in dust, these microscopic creatures can cause allergic symptoms. Now here's some

good news—a little dirt in necessarily take showers your linens shouldn't kill you. everyday and they're dirty,” “ S o m e p e o p l e d o n ' t explains Roberts. “So if you

see visible dirt on your sheets, it's more of an ick factor than anything else.” (Adapted from Yahoo Health)

Men giving birth? Maybe! Will men be able to give birth sooner than, well, never? That's the question provoked by last week's announcement that the Cleveland Clinic is performing uterus transplant surgery on women who were born without a womb or whose uterus is diseased or malfunctioning. Hearing the news some wondered if science can transplant a

uterus into a woman, can it transplant one into a man? The answer is yes; theoretically, men could receive a uterus, carry a baby to term and give birth. When? “My guess is ﬁve, ten years away, maybe sooner,” says Dr. Karine Chung, director of the fertility preservation program at the University of Southern California's Keck

School of Medicine. Today, medical advances let transgender women adjust their biochemistry to suppress male and introduce female hormones, have breasts that can lactate, and surgically construct a vagina that includes a “neoclitoris” that allows sensation. Uterus transplants are still in the research stage for women suffering from uterine factor infertility (UFI). A Swedish team already has successfully transplanted uteri harvested from live donors and achieved ﬁve pregnancies and four live births. In the coming months, the Cleveland Clinic team plans to transplant uteri from

deceased donors into UFI female patients. H o w e v e r , biological women have a leg up on biological males when it comes to accepting and nurturing a transplanted uterus. Women already have: Vasculature needed to feed the uterus with blood, pelvic ligaments designed to support a uterus, a vagina and cervix that lead to a uterus, and natural hormones that prepare the uterus for implantation and support the pregnancy. Men have none of those support systems – naturally – but none is impossible to create. “Male and female anatomy is not that different,” says Chung.

“Probably at some point, somebody will ﬁgure out how to make that work.” In fact, medical techniques already exist to overcome many obstacles to male pregnancy. 1. Hormone therapy can shut off testosterone and introduce progesterone and estrogen needed to prepare the uterus for pregnancy. 2. Even though males do not have uterine veins and arteries needed to nurture the womb, it's possible to attach a branch of a large vessel, like the internal iliac, to the uterus. “It's doable, it just hasn't been done,” Chung says. 3. Although it's

preferable for a vagina to support the uterus, it's possible to attach a transplanted uterus to other ligaments in the pelvis. Perhaps the most insurmountable obstacle will be the economics; transplants are wildly expensive ranging from $25,000 for a corneal transplant to $1.3 million for a heart, according to the National Foundation of Transplants. We can't even begin to guess how much a uterus transplant will cost if the surgery makes it out of the research phase. “It's a class issue; you'll only have wealthy people able to do this.” (Adapted from Yahoo Health)

Lambskin Condoms” Everything you (and Charlie Sheen) need to know Charlie Sheen announced yesterday that he is HIV. The actor told Matt Lauer in an exclusive interview that he had informed all of his sexual partners of his status. However, one of his past girlfriends, former Penthouse model and adult ﬁlm actress Bree Olson (nee Rachel Oberlin), told Howard Stern that while she herself does not have HIV, Sheen never told her about his HIV positive

status. Hearing Sheen publicly announce otherwise, Olson said, was deeply upsetting. “He doesn't even value my life,” she told Stern. Olson also told Stern that while she and Sheen did use protection when they had sex, this was limited to the use of lambskin condoms (and not latex ones) and, at times, the pull-out method. Health experts

agree, however, that while lambskin condoms may help prevent pregnancy, they do not protect against HIV. This is becau s e, D r, N ate DeNicola an obstetrician / gynecologist with the University of Pennsylvania Health System and an ACOG fellow, explains, lambskin condoms are “not lambskin at all. They are made from sheep intestine,” a material that has micropores that,

while small enough to block semen, are not small enough to block a virus from passing through. “HIV is very tiny,” echoes Dr. Jill Rabin, the head of urogynecology. “Lambskin just does not afford enough of a barrier. It is really quite simple. The virus can go through.” She also notes that if you examine condoms under a microscope after they've been used, you will see more

micropores in the lambskin created by the force and friction of intercourse than in latex or polyurethane. L a t e x a n d polyurethane condoms, Rabin explains, are 80 to 90 percent effective in preventing HIV transmission – if they are used correctly and used every time people have sex. To maintain the efﬁcacy of latex condoms, it's critical to not store them in a

wallet, where body heat will make them age more rapidly, becoming more rigid and more likely to break. (Adapted from Yahoo Health)

OUR WORLD

Muslims face 'worsening environment of hate' in UK in 2010.

British government policies are fueling a worsening "environment of hate" in which abuse, discrimination, and even the threat of violent assault have become the "normal experience and expectation" for Muslims living in the UK, according to the conclusions of a new report.

The study into the day-to-day experiences of British Muslims, carried out by the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC), found a sharp rise in the number of people reporting verbal abuse and an increase in the number of physical attacks since the survey was last undertaken

Two-thirds of the 1,800 people polled said they had been subjected to verbal abuse, up from 40 percent in 2010, while 82 percent said they had witnessed Islamophobia being directed at someone else, up from 50 percent. Reported cases of physical assault rose from 14 percent in 2010, to nearly 18 percent. Muslims in the UK feel targeted by media and political institutions, w h i c h i n t h e i r understanding contribute heavily towards a deteriorating climate of fear, a rise in far-right groups and a rise of anti-

Muslim racism... Most Muslims now feel they are hated," the report says. It cites examples of individual cases of discrimination, such as a woman working with children with autism who was told she could not wear a hijab because parents would not feel safe leaving their children with her. But the report also highlights widespread opposition to government policies such as the controversial Prevent counter-extremism strategy a n d t h e n e w C o u n t e rTerrorism and Security Act, which the authors say have "created a police state in all but name", as well as

growing sensitivity to antiMuslim rhetoric used by politicians and in the media. The Prevent strategy, which was set up in the aftermath of the 2005 London bombings with the aim of tackling Islamic extremism, has long been a source of resentment among many British Muslims, with critics complaining that it sows mistrust of Muslims and subjects them to discriminatory levels of surveillance and harassment. But under the current government, Prevent has been rolled out into schools, hospitals and other public sector institutions, with teachers,

doctors and even childcare providers now required by law to monitor and report children, patients and colleagues who they suspect of holding extremist views, and to promote so-called "British values". In a series of high-proﬁle speeches, David Cameron, the British p r i me m i n is te r, h a s repeatedly called on Muslim communities to do more to tackle extremism, even suggesting earlier this year that obeying the law was now no longer enough. (Adapted from Al Jazeera)

Mosques vandalized as US states reject Syria refugees Several mosques have been vandalized and a number of suspected hate crimes targeting Muslims carried out after dozens of United States governors announced they would not accept Syrian refugees in their states. The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), a civil rights organization, said on Monday that it has documented recent "vandalism, threats and hate [incidents]" in Massachusetts, Florida, Texas, Kentucky, Virginia, Nebraska, Tennessee, Ohio and New York, among other states. The wave of

incidents follows declarations by at least 27 state governors - 26 from the right-wing Republican Party and a Democrat saying they will block Syrian refugees, citing last Friday's deadly attacks in Paris, claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group. In one incident, officials at the Islamic Centre in Omaha, Nebraska, said that an image of the Eiffel Tower was spray-painted on the wall of a local mosque overnight on Monday, CAIR said. In Pflugerville, Texas, worshippers arrived at their local mosque on Monday morning to find

faeces smeared on the door and a torn-up copy of the Quran on the doorstep. The Islamic Center of St Petersburg, Florida, received threatening voicemails just hours after news of the Paris attacks broke. The caller said that they have "a militia that is going to come down to your Islamic Society of Pinellas County and ﬁrebomb you and shoot whoever is there in the head". According to CAIR, another Florida mosque, the location of which has not been made public, received similar threats. A caller vowed to "bomb" the mosque and

"shoot people at will". In Portland, Oregon, protesters gathered outside a local and taunted worshippers as they arrived for prayer. They called members of the local Ahmadiyya Muslim community "cowards" and told them they are "going to hell". On Tuesday, an Uber driver in Charlotte, North Carolina, said he was punchedand threatened with death by a passenger who mistook him as a Muslim, according to local media. And a Muslim family in Orlando, Florida, said their family home was shot at by an unknown a s s a i l a n t o n M o n d a y.

Speaking to local media, the Elmasri family and their neighbours said they were targeted because of their faith. C o r e y S a y l o r, spokesperson at CAIR, told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that the governors' refusal to accept Syrian refugees has encouraged Islamophobic

sentiment. "It gives people a license to put into action the uglier things they may be thinking" about Muslims, he said. "After any incident like the Paris attack, we see a clear uptick in anti-Islam rhetoric. (Adapted from Al Jazeera)

Father kills special needs son; attempts suicide A Lilburn father is charged with murdering his own special needs son. Police said the boy's mother told t h e m t h e 1 2 - y e a r- o l d needed around the clock care and screamed a lot with outburst. She also told police her husband had not been able to sleep for 10 days. The two were found in the rear parking lot at the First Baptist Church. The father, Fikri Erdem, called 911 around 9:15 Monday evening from his Toyota truck in the

parking lot. Police said Erdem attempted a murder-suicide. He used a kitchen knife and cut his son's throat. He them attempted suicide by inﬂicting injuries on himself. Erdem was rushed to Gwinnett Medical Center where he underwent surgery and is expected to survive. Police said Erdem confessed to the killing from his hospital bed. The boy was reportedly a 7th grade student at Sweetwater

Middle School. Police said the older Erdem called his wife and left her a voicemail message saying he was sorry and asked her to tell their daughters it was an accident. People we talked to who live in Lilburn said the circumstances did not sound like an accident. They wondered why the father did not reach out for help. Erdem faces one count of malice murder. (Adapted from Fox News)

Regional

Venezuela's Threatened Elections

Late last month, President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela said that in the event of a defeat for his party in December's legislative election, he would “not hand over the revolution.” That outcome, he warned, would force him to govern “with the people in a civil-military union.” That message is disturbing. Mr. Maduro appears to be suggesting that if his ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela takes a beating at the ballot box on Dec. 6, as polls predict, he will

render the legislative branch toothless. As his support base has dwindled in recent years, Mr. Maduro's government has arbitrarily prosecuted political opponents and unfairly disqualified opposition leaders from running for office. He gerrymandered voting districts to give his party a leg up and sought to shore up popular support by picking fights with two neighbors, Guyana and Colombia. The world has noticed. On Nov. 10, Luis Almagro, the secretary

general of the Organization of American States, sent the chief of the Venezuelan election commission an 18-page letter raising alarm about the fairness of the coming vote. The tone of the letter was remarkable because the O.A.S., of which Venezuela is a member, has historically been reluctant to publicly criticize Latin American leaders. The following day, a group of 157 lawmakers from the United States, Brazil,

Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Peru sent Mr. Maduro a letter urging him to allow international observers to monitor the vote. Mr. Maduro has never taken international criticism to heart, and he is likely to dismiss these recent complaints as part of an American conspiracy against him. But they signal the extent to which he has become a pariah in a region where leaders are traditionally reluctant to publicly criticize how their neighbors govern. Further usurping the will of voters

would only deepen Mr. Maduro's isolation and erode his legitimacy. New leadership in Venezuela's Congress could give the country a

welcome jolt. The nation desperately needs to mend its devastated economy and rebuild the democratic institutions that have w i t h e r e d u n d e r M r. Maduro's watch. (Yahoo)

Killing of two-year-old 'heartless'

Crime weary Trinidad and Tobago was left reeling over the news that a twoyear-old girl was shot dead as she slept during the early

morning hours yesterday inside her humble wooden home in Patna Village, Diego Martin. The bullet that ended the

life of Keyra Singh, police said, was intended for her father. Little Keyra was sleeping with her mother Neilya, father Keron and a ten-day-old sister who does not yet have a name, inside their home at Good Session Drive, Patna Village, Diego Martin when gunmen came and without warning, sprayed the house with bullets. One bullet struck a sleeping Keyra who never opened her eyes. Miraculously, as bullets whizzed by from all directions the sleeping ten-day-old baby girl was unharmed even as the

desperate parents shielded an already shot Keyra and the newborn, with their o w n b o d i e s . The bullet to the stomach ripped through the child's internal organs with death being caused by shock and massive haemorrhaging. “Oh God! Oh God! She will never come back in my life! I will never get to hold my baby in my arms again! How could there be any justice if she is never coming back,” Neilya cried. Holding her stomach, the anguished woman vented her sorrow in one loud scream. Keyra's murder

comes a day after another of the country's innocents — three-year-old Artie Ramkhelawan — barely escaped a similar fate when her throat was slit by her own father Premnath Ramkhelewan, 25, who later stabbed Artie's mother Aarika Bhim, 26, to death as daughter and mother sat in the backseat of a car. Premnath later committed suicide by hanging himself from a rafter at the back of their Penal home. Little Artie remains warded in stable condition under close observation by nurses and doctors at the San

Fernando General Hospital. Ofﬁcials from the Children's Authority of Trinidad and Tobago yesterday expressed sadness over the murder of Keyra and the nearmurder of baby Artie. In a press release, the Authority extended condolences to Keyra's family for their tragic loss. Baby Keyra is this country's 372nd murder victim for this year. (Adapted from Trinidad Newsday)

Mutilated body of missing six-year-old boy found The mutilated body of a six-year-old boy who was reported missing has been found in a gully in Mount Edgecombe district, St Ann. D a n i e l Anderson of Bellaire in Runaway Bay, St. Ann was reported missing on Sunday. The Runaway Bay Police say

Daniel's body was found by residents of Mount Edgecombe about 4:15 yesterday afternoon. They say the child's body was seen with a wound to the head. The scene was processed and the body removed to the morgue pending a post mortem examination. An earlier

missing persons report from the police said Daniel was last seen at Mount E d g e c o m b e , Runaway Bay in the parish dressed in a navy blue sleeveless shirt, black jeans pants and a pair of black sneakers. (Jamaican Gleaner)

INTERNATIONAL

Dozens killed killed in Nigeria bombing -Facebook's activated Safety Check

At least 31 people were killed and 72 others injured in a bomb blast that ripped through the northeastern

Nigerian city of Yola on yesterday, according to Aliyu Maikano, a local Red Cross ofﬁcial.

Nigeria has suffered a wave of terrorrelated violence in recent years. The country suffered

7,512 deaths from terrorism in 2014, a 300% increase from the previous year. Facebook (FB, Tech30) faced criticism after it activated Safety Check following the Paris attacks last week. While 4 million people marked themselves as "safe" with the tool, some users asked why the peopleﬁnder feature wasn't used following other violent incidents, including a recent bombing in Beruit. Facebook is following through on a pledge to deploy its Safety Check feature more often, activating the tool for the second time in less than a

week following a bomb blast in Nigeria. "We've activated Safety Check again after the bombing in Nigeria," CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post. "A loss of human life anywhere is a t r a g e d y, a n d w e ' r e committed to doing our part to help people in more of these situations." Facebook's policy up until the Paris attacks was to activate the feature only for natural disasters. But Zuckerberg said that in the future, it will also be used for human disasters. Safety Check asks users if they are safe, and allows

friends to view the responses. " We ' r e n o w working quickly to develop criteria for the new policy and determine when and how this service can be most useful," Zuckerberg said Tuesday. It's unclear how often Facebook will activate the feature. But the response to the Nigeria bombing suggests it could be used much more widely. More than 32,000 people around the world were killed by terrorism in 2014, according to the Global Terrorism Index report. (CNN)

Two dead in Paris raid of 'terror boss' Two people were killed as police carried out a sevenhour raid on a ﬂat suspected of housing the alleged mastermind of Friday's attacks. A woman blew herself up with a suicide belt and another suspect was killed by gunﬁre. Seven arrests were made. But the fate of chief suspect Abdelhamid Abaaoud was not yet clear. He was initially thought to have directed the attacks from Syria, but prosecutor Francois Molins said intelligence indicated he was in Paris. The French

government said on Wednesday it had ﬁnally identiﬁed all the 129 victims of last Friday's attack. Speaking from the scene after the operation had ended, Mr Molins said it was ordered after phone taps and surveillance operations suggested Abaaoud, a Belgian of Moroccan descent, could be there. The prosecutor said a young woman - who France's BFMTV said was a relative of Abaaoud detonated her explosives belt soon after the raid

began. Another suspect was killed by grenades and police bullets, Mr Molins said. Three men were arrested in the apartment. Two others were found hiding in rubble and a further two including the man who provided the lodging were also detained, he said. "It is impossible to tell you who was arrested. We are in the process of verifying that. Everything will be done to determine who is who," he said. As the operation

got under way, roads were Denis, by truckloads of blocked off around Rue de soldiers and armed police. la Republique in SaintLocal residents,

who were urged to stay indoors, spoke of hearing continuous gunshots and large explosions. (Adapted from the BBC)

$2BN stolen from anti-Boko Haram ﬁght -Arrest ordered for senior ofﬁcial

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the arrest of his predecessor's security adviser, for allegedly

stealing some $2bn (£1.3bn). Sambo Dasuki is accused of awarding phantom contracts to buy 12 helicopters, four ﬁghter

jets and ammunition. He denies the allegations. The equipment was meant for the ﬁght against Boko Haram Islamist militants.

Soldiers have complained that despite the military's huge budget, they were ill-equipped to ﬁght. Mr Dasuki reacted to the order by saying he had never been invited to appear before the weapon procurement investigative panel, which made the allegations. He was already under house arrest when the president issued the order for his arrest. This was as part of an ongoing trial for allegedly possessing illegal ﬁrearms. The court for that trial had ordered for his passport to be

released for him to be able to travel to the UK for treatment for suspected prostate cancer. It was expected that the trial would continue on his return. But the government refused to let him leave the country. Before he got into power in May, Mr Buhari vowed to investigate corruption in the previous government, which Mr Dasuki was part of. The BBC's Bashir Sa'ad Abdullahi says soldiers have reported they are better equipped since President Buhari came

into ofﬁce, but the previous president's supporters say this is because those weapons were ordered while Goodluck Jonathan was in power. A spokesman for Mr Buhari said the corruption resulted in the needless deaths of thousands of Nigerians. Boko Haram has killed thousands in north-eastern Nigeria in its campaign to create an Islamic state. (Adapted from the BBC)

Blatter & Platini appeals rejected

Fifa president Sepp Blatter appeals against 90-day appeal committee. They and vice-president Michel bans rejected by world w e r e s u s p e n d e d i n Platini have had their football governing body's October while Fifa's

ethics committee investigates corruption claims against them. Blatter, 79, is accused of signing a contract "unfavourable" to Fifa and making a "disloyal payment" to Platini. Both deny wrongdoing and could appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Fifa secretary general Jerome Valcke was also suspended in October but there was no mention of him in We d n e s d a y ' s F i f a statement. The adjudicatory panel of Fifa's ethics committee is due to hold hearings into the misconduct charges before Christmas. Uefa chief

Platini - who wants to succeed Blatter as Fifa president - has said the 2m euros (£1.35m) payment was "valid compensation" from his time working under the Swiss more than nine years earlier. They insist there was an oral agreement for the payment in 1998, although it was not made until 2011. Blatter and former France captain Platini were suspended after the Swiss attorney general opened criminal proceedings against Blatter, who has been Fifa president since 1998. The ethics committee also opened an inquiry into Platini over the payment. Platini's ban means his bid to succeed

Blatter has had to be put on hold. He is one of seven candidates for the presidential election on 26 February but no integrity check will be carried out until his case is resolved. Blatter was discharged from hospital last week after what was described as a "small emotional breakdown". Earlier this year, United States authorities indicted 14 Fifa ofﬁcials and associates on bribery and racketeering charges. A simultaneous Swiss investigation was started into the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 Wo r l d C u p s . ( B B C Sports)

Former cricketer calls for dissolution of WICB F o r m e r Tr i n i d a d a n d Tobago cricketer Zaheer Ali says he is in full support of the immediate dissolution of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) as well as the appointment of an interim board to run the game in the region. However Ali, who chairs the working committee which focusses on the development of West Indies cricket at H u g h Wo o d i n g L a w School, says he is opposed to the governance of West Indies Cricket in the hands of Caribbean politicians.

The dissolution of the WICB was the main recommendation of a Caricom commissioned Cricket Review Panel which released a report last month. Chairman of Caricom's Cricket Governance Committee, Grenada's Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell has made it clear that the body is not interested in running cricket and has r e f e r e n c e d a recommendation from the panel that a change management expert be installed to help run the

affairs of cricket in the region until a new governance structure is implemented. Ali is also advocating that the WICB be re-incorporated in one of the Caribbean islands that have adopted the Caribbean Court of Justice as its ﬁnal Court of Appeal. He said that the present climate in West Indies Cricket is in urgent need of legal intervention in order to ﬁrmly uphold the rule of law, principles of democracy and transparency and

accountability which according to him, are the issues that are affecting the governance of the game in the Caribbean. “ We m u s t b e reminded that the many administrations of West Indies Cricket have been accused in the past of nepotism, discrimination and corruption and it is hardly digestible and believable that placing the governance of West Indies Cricket directly into the political domain would consolidate our vulnerable position,” he said. “ T h e

stakeholders of West Indies Cricket must be empowered by having access to an entity like the Caribbean Court of Justice in order to hold the We s t I n d i e s C r i c k e t

Board Incorporation accountable for its decisions”. (Adapted from the Trinidad Newsday)

caught by surprise by saying that our structure is wrong. We need to know if things are right for us. We must do the right things and know if Spain let us work. We need to stop these investigations. We want the peace of mind”. "His image is not associated with his job. His image is part of a company in Brazil, which has existed since 2006. It is not now that we've taken advantage of his image. "For years we've been working with this

company. I do not want to talk about persecution but if we don't have a comfortable situation to work we cannot stay in Spain. B r a z i l international Neymar still has three years remaining on his contract with Barcelona but has been linked with a move to Premier League side Manchester United in recent months. (Yahoo)

Neymar could be forced to leave Barcelona

Neymar could be forced to resolved, according to the leave Barcelona if his tax player's father. A Brazilian evasion case is not c o u r t h a s f r o z e n

£31.3million worth of assets belonging to the Barca attacker, his family and related businesses, with the 23-year-old alleged to have evaded £10.5m worth of taxes in Brazil from 2011 to 2013. Neymar, who has scored 13 goals in 14 appearances for his club side this term, is enjoying a rich vein of form but his father revealed his future at Camp Nou could be jeopardised by the ongoing investigations. "We are talking about a

[contract] renewal but we need to solve some things," Neymar Sr told Cadena SER. "We need to know if Spain accepts our situation. It's hard for us because we are receiving many attacks, from Brazil and from Spain. Neymar is a star and works his image here and from Brazil”. "We're talking to everyone to know what to do with this matter because we don't want to be in Spain two, three, four, ﬁve or 10 years and then we are

Wednesday November 18, 2015

paper e-Mail

: gnn@gnngy.com | Website: www.gnngy.com

-See page 17

FORMER CRICKETER CALLS FOR DISSOLUTION OF WICB