Kaieteur News

Monday January 14, 2013

Kaieteur News

Upsurge in “blackouts” may be interconnection problem President Donald Ramotar has said that the recent increases of “power outages” are not necessarily a result of lack of generation capacity at the Gu y a n a Power and Light Inc. but maybe with interconnections problems.

The President made this disclosure on Friday at his first press briefing of the year, saying that his comments on the power outages were based on the information presented to him at his daily briefings.

Confronted with a negative forecast, President Ramotar said that the information supplied to him suggests differently.

The President assured that his reports include demand and supply data, “so from the information I have, which is on my desk right now, the generation capacity

for the Demerara facility in particular is way above the peak demand.”

Ramotar said that the current generation capacity on the Demerara Grid is at about 92MW while the current peak demand hovers at around 73MW. “That’s why I am saying the blackouts, based on the figures that I have, would probably be based more on local issues.”

Recent blackouts have solicited angry responses from Guyanese who are of the view that the power company is being mismanaged, resulting in a lack of generation capacity.

Guyana has been suffering from blackouts for several decades, and despite the significant investment in the sector by the government, the situation is getting no better.

It was France-based Guyanese, Professor and Electrical Engineer, Joseph Farley, who said that a good electricity supply is paramount if Guyana wishes to progress with businesses.

The specialist, who visited Guyana last year and did work with the University of Guyana Berbice and Turkeyen Campuses, stated that no one in the business world would tolerate employing large numbers of people and have them “sit idle for four hours” during a blackout.

Professor Farley said that there can be several solutions to improve the electricity situation in Guyana. He added that the country needs to ensure that there are the right people doing the jobs and that appointments are based on merits.

Chinese company advertises for 700 Guyanese workers Chinese wood processing company, Bai Shan Lin Forest Development Inc., which is looking to move ahead on its large-scale industrial plans, has advertised for 700 Guyanese workers.

The company’s planned projects include a trade park at Providence, East Bank Demerara.

In advertisements in the media, Bai Shan Lin said that it had vacancies for 220 factory construction workers, 80 skilled chain-saw operators, 80 semi-skilled chain-saw operators, 30 bulldozer operators, 35 loading truck drivers, 60 dump truck drivers, two excavator and grader operators, 60 logging truck drivers, 20 container truck drivers, 10 mechanics, 10 servicemen, 13 cooks and 80 inventory clerks.

Those interested are asked to contact the Human Resources and Development Department on 222-1308 as of January 14, 2013. The company’s address is 9 Shamrock Gardens, Ogle.

In the advertisement, the company said “In order to ensure and accommodate the timely commencement and completion of these projects, meet the demands of the company and to fulfill our promise to utilize (a) local workforce, hence assisting Guyanese people with employment, at present management is in need of approximately 700 Guyanese workers.”

Whenze Chu, Chairman of the China Forest Industry Group Company Ltd, the parent company of Bai Shan

Lin Forest Development Inc., on January 9, 2013 met President Donald Ramotar and Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment Robert Persaud at the Office of the President.

According to a Government Information Agency (GINA) report, the park, which will occupy five square kilometres and would be divided in three construction phases, will promote production of various kinds of wood products and brands “that will boost the development of the local economy, and create employment opportunities.”

It said that while wood processing will be the main feature, the park will also encompass industries for ship building, woodworking, machinery, processing and manufacturing, food and aquatic processing, mining, a school and a hospital.

“Construction of an international mall and an exhibition centre to showcase finished products manufactured at the Bai Shan Lin plant in Linden and other entrepreneurship ventures are also on the cards,” the GINA bulletin said.

China Forest Industry Group Company Ltd is the parent company for several operations across Guyana, including Haimorakabra Logging, Karlam South America Timbers, Wood Associated Industries, Kwebanna Wood Productions, Sherwood Forests, Bai Shan Lin Housing, Construction, Mining Development Inc.,

and Bai Shan Lin Shipbuilding and Heavy Industries Inc. GINA said that Chairman Whenze Chu has a 40-year involvement in the timber industry and has accumulated rich experience in this field.

It said that in November last year, he signed off on a loan with the Chinese Development Bank for the forestry project in Guyana in the presence of Guyana’s Ambassador to China Dr. David Dabydeen.

It further noted that the Building Expo hosted here last year created avenues for several local investors and businesses to enter the housing market, and that foreign companies from Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, China and the United Kingdom have expressed interest.

One such company was the Suriname-based China Dalian Investment Corporation Holding (CDICH) Ltd Company.

The company engaged in talks with the Ministry of Housing and Water in November last year on potential investment in the local low-cost housing market within the East Bank Demerara area and Region 3.

The need for valueadding from foreign investors in the timber industry has been repeatedly urged. In the past there have been several commitments for processing plants.

While these have not materialized, the companies in question have engaged in significant log exports.

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Kaieteur News

KAIETEUR NEWS Printed and Published by National Media & Publishing Company Ltd. 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown, Georgetown, Guyana.

Publisher: GLENN LALL Editor: ADAM HARRIS Tel: 225-8465, 225-8491 Fax: 225-8473, 226-8210

Editorial

FDI and growth For two decades, in our quest for growth, we followed the triple commandments of the ‘Washington Consensus – ”stabilize, liberalize, and privatise” – in order to attract Foreign Direct Investments (FDI). The results, while steady, have not been exactly stellar.

From our perspective as a developing country, FDI is of significance only if it creates employment as well as provides capital for development. However, since Trans-National Corporations (TNC’s) prefer to invest in the modern sectors of the economy, which demands relatively more skilled personnel than we have at present, our employment needs go unfulfilled. As regards capital, FDI makes only marginal contribution in capital formation. Actually, in the equation of growth and investment, growth is a crucial determinant of FDI itself. The question therefore, is whether developing countries commercially grow as a result of the contribution of FDI or they grow first in order to attract FDI? The evidence of FDI so far attracted by developing countries shows that FDI tends to gravitate towards countries that are stable and have efficient infrastructure – neither of which we are blessed with. Economic growth, on the other hand, seems to increase with greater trade openness instead of Foreign Direct Investment inflows. The mission ahead lies in making strategic use of investment for our development needs. So far, the evidence indicates that there are difficulties in deriving macro-economic benefits from most FDI as well as to get them into our area of comparative advantage – agriculture.

Our FDI is highly concentrated in three sectors: telecommunications, financial services and mining. Our land, labour and capital are not fully developed for the advanced sector investment. Therefore technology transfer as well as employment generation has proven to be a myth. In addition, these companies charge high management and services cost in the name of technological transfer but actually they use it to lower their taxes and enhance their profits. In fact these FDI’s have no commitment for technology transfer to the host country.

The ultimate goal of domestic growth will be achieved only if the investment is not volatile. The investment in infrastructure, agriculture and manufacturing sectors will support export-led growth. That is the reason why, neither the countries which developed in the 19th century like, Germany, US or Japan nor the countries that developed in 19th and 20th century, like Russia, China and Korea placed FDI investment as central to their development strategy because benefits and costs are unevenly distributed between the sender and receiver of these investment.

Though, one can point to the success of the East Asian “tigers” as due to the attraction of foreign investment, what must be appreciated is that Malaysia, South Korea, China and Japan have made technology transfer as a performance requirement, along with strong regulations of the markets.

In addition to maintaining macro-economic stability, all highgrowth countries capitalised the foreign investment benefit by having protectionist measures, to attract foreign investment and to spur export oriented growth at the same time.

Nevertheless, this does not suggest that we take a regressive trade policy, but rather, to take advantage of the opportunity of economic globalization. Our government has rightfully identified our agriculture sector as the fulcrum of growth in the near term and has embarked on an ambitious diversification program in this area – especially into nontraditional crops. As we pointed out before we cannot lose in this area but we cannot wait on FDI. We maintain this position even in the face of the T&T interest in this area.

We predict, in line with our observation above, that when growth is demonstrated here, the FDI will arrive. But we will have to ensure that they follow our development strategy.

In conclusion, it is suggested that for us, in the long run, foreign capital is no panacea for sustainable development and growth given our industrial, institutional and human resource constraints and will have no ultimate correlation with economic growth, unless we are able to capitalize the FDI for competitive advantages and export led growth. To believe otherwise will only ensure that we end up simply as a facilitator for other players.

Monday January 14, 2013

Letters... Where your views make the news

Large sections of the Guyanese population are not included in Mash or Republic Day celebrations DEAR EDITOR, Is there an amazingly sudden, spontaneous and natural interest from Brazil, Suriname and Trinidad in our world-famous Mashramani celebrations? Or is the Government actively seeking out the participation of what ‘they’ perceive to be adequate for Mashramani celebrations? The fact that the government is seeking to attract, among others, the participation of a 30-member Brazilian Samba Band and ‘followers’ suggests the latter.

The question arises again about the nature of Mashramani celebrations and their alignment with Republic Day observances. I imagine that the incredible spectacle and sound of Samba Dancers in Georgetown’s Street Parades will bring personal delight to the dear Minister.

This might reflect his and his government’s idea of creativity. This is not creativity, however.

Addressing and accommodating the special needs of others is called inclusion. This special effort at the inclusion of outsiders is an insult to locals who are excluded permanently from national Republic Day activities. While the Ministry of Tourism seeks to address the needs of potential visitors to Guyana, who is addressing the needs of all sections of Guyanese society in relation to Mashramani celebrations?

It is clear that the government feels comfortable with Mashramani celebrations as

they currently are and is committed to supporting the format, content and nature of the celebrations. They also have their typical culturally impoverished, morally and spiritually bankrupt ideas of what Mashramani celebrations ought to be (as is usual - pour rum, nudity, vulgarity and political neutrality on it) and they are pursuing their objectives and imposing them on the Guyanese people.

The Government is clearly confused about its role in cultural activities. Culture does not arise out of Government. At least in democratic societies it does not. This is an abject failing of both the present administration and the PNC dictatorship who pushed Mashramani – a pathetic imitation of Trinidad and Tobago’s carnival - on top of Republic Day. The only role that a democratic Government has in culture is a role of support.

I recall citizens requests for a complete reform of Mashramani celebrations for more inclusiveness of all sections of Guyanese society and for more alignment with Republic Day. Government is not interested in supporting this. Such calls offer no promise of more rum, more prostitution, more hotels and gambling and more ‘dumbingdown’ of the Guyanese population. Government disregard for the opinions and wishes of its own people is merely a symptom of a greater problem that exists in Guyana: does the Government answer

to the people or do the people answer to the Government?

Is the tail wagging the dog?

I reiterate that there are large sections of the Guyanese population who are not included in Mashramani or Republic Day celebrations (I certainly consider myself significant.)

There are large sections of the Guyanese population unsure of how Mashramani relates to Republic Day Celebrations and there is clearly ambiguity and confusion as to what exactly is being celebrated on Mashramani Day itself and whether the manner of celebration is appropriate and inclusive and whether it undermines and overshadows the Republic Day awareness.

While regional influence is understandable, the commitment of the PPP Government to wholesale imitation of the format and content of the carnivals and cultures of other nations stifles and cripples the creativity and development of local culture, again a continuation of PNC dictatorship’s policy of stifling and inhibition of culture during its reign. The PPP Government is actively committed to stifling genuine expressions of culture (evidence: the GIHA experience with Indian Arrival Celebrations) and to restraining those that it does not deem necessary to obliterate to within boundaries that it deems appropriate. The actions of the Government re: GIHA Indian Arrival Celebrations

show it to be far from passive or indifferent in matters of culture. While culturally bankrupt itself, the PPP Government is actively interfering, hindering, distorting and reconfiguring as it deems appropriate. The PPP Government also appears committed to continuation of immoral colonial policies of encouraging the wanton consumption of alcohol or as we say locally, the promotion of ‘Rum-til-I-die’ culture. (As we know also, the PPP Government utilised colonial style abuse of state authority last year to shoot down Lindeners.) It is clear that if Governments, past and present and foreign, get out of the way, the oppressed people of this country will find greater freedoms to express their creativity and improve the quality of their life, more opportunity for social harmony and be able to once again blend cultural authenticity with ingenuity to be able to offer something authentic and of Guyanese origin to the world. Too much Government is never helpful and always imply only one thing: interference and domination by the unscrupulous.

We in Guyana like to talk about Trinidad and Tobago’s Carnival as the inspiration for Mashramani. Here is a little known fact – Carnival Monday and Tuesday are not public holidays declared by law by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago. These are people’s holidays. Also, Continued on page 5

Monday January 14, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Letters... Where your views make the news... Letters... Where your views make the news

A transfer station could enhance the council’s capacity to manage its solid waste challenge

DEAR SIR, Please refer to a feature, which appeared in your Kaieteur News issue of January 8, 2013 headlined: “THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD NOT ALLOW A SOLID WASTE TRANSFER STATION IN THE CITY” We

appreciate the views expressed by the writer on this issue.

However, it appears as though Peeping Tom has missed the central points of our letter and the need for this facility. In the circumstances, we wish to make three points on questions and concerns raised in that article.

First, the writer contends that: Georgetown is a small city and there is no need for a Waste Transfer Station.

“Georgetown is a small city.

It may loom large in some person’s estimation but r e l a t i v e l y speaking…”.paragragh1. .

Large sections of the Guyanese...

From page 4 the people of Trinidad and Tobago support Carnival. It is a people inspired event, not government imposed, hence its success and sustainability. Locally, there can only be freedom on Republic Day if the activities of celebration are emanations of the people. We already know that this Government, like the PNC of past years, is not committed to freedom of expression in matters of culture. Anyone who has visited neighbouring Suriname can contrast the cultural consequences of Dutch colonial practices with those of British colonialism. Guyanese Government interference in culture is yet another continuation of British Colonial Politics. With so much colonial practice still present in the politics of the nation, how much of a Republic do we therefore have? It is no surprise that a majority of Guyanese people have no idea of what they are celebrating on the 23rd February.

Republic Day 2013 offers an opportunity, once again, for intelligent discussion on the meaning of Republic Day and its significance past and present.

However, intelligent discussion in Guyana is severely threatened. Intelligent discussion is precisely what Governments do not encourage.

Hence, the media control plus the dumbing-down promotion of culture that stifles creativity and individual resourcefulness and destroys the mind.

This overwhelming and deliberate Government presence and political presence in every aspect of life in Guyana is a serious problem for it threatens and opposes the very essence of human existence: it aims to control the human mind of its citizens, directly opposes freedom of thought, allegiance to conscience and self determination. It is particularly threatening when the Government promotes ‘national’ activities that exclude opportunities for expressions of decency, propriety and hinders the creation of an environment supporting human self improvement.

A young Sri Lankan friend of mine flat out refused to attend Notting Hill 2012 Carnival with me. She said, listen, I understand the whole freedom thing and the spirit of it, but why do they need to take off their clothes?

Clearly, wearing clothing is a cultural issue as there are tribes in the Amazon who find no need to wear clothing at all and there are some cultures which perceive that stripping down

represents a show of confidence and healthy ‘body image’. But in Guyana, for Republic Day, we do need to accommodate other people whose culture includes wearing beautiful costumes and whose spiritual depth transcends physicality and where music, drumming and dance are of the highest forms of worship and devotion to God. In Notting Hill Carnivals, I observed that Nigerian and Ghanaian contingents are usually fully and beautifully dressed: expressions of culture are not synonymous with expressions of sexuality. Neither ought expressions of solidarity with state to be necessarily conjoined with expressions of frivolity and drunkenness. I have had golden opportunities to prance around the streets of London with Hare Krishna friends in Harinam Sankirtan. I had a similar opportunity to be on a big truck in Port-of-Spain as part of the Hindu Prachar Kendra’s Carifesta contingent.

These street participation activities were fun as well as spiritually and culturally uplifting while conferring that coveted sense of participation, belonging and identity. I have also observed Caribana in Toronto, Crop Over festivities in Bridgetown and Carnival activities in Port-of-Spain. There is definitely a vitality, a Caribbean energy, flavour and authenticity to these festivities and there is certainly a place for it in Guyana since many Guyanese enjoy it.

Calls for reform of Mashramani celebrations pertain to their alignment with Republic Day celebrations, the imposition by Governments and the deliberate exclusion of equal participation of other groups in society and to the elevation of copied Caribbean culture (form and content) over other authentic expressions of Guyanese culture. This is a direct form of Government supported oppression – PNC and PPP – and for it to be happening on Republic Day is a great insult to the people who care about this nation.

It is absolutely critical, beyond the fiveyear, short term, self interested goals of local politicians, in the interest of the future of the nation, that all people of this country be accommodated and given visibility in Republic Day celebrations and that we develop a greater understanding of what it actually means.

Sandra Khan

The fact is that, the geographic size is not the sole consideration in determining the need or location of a Waste Transfer Station. The route between Georgetown and Haags Bosch Landfill is a single artery which is heavily congested by vehicular traffic and hence garbage trucks would spend an average of 1½ hour per trip (approximately 20% of normal working day). Time which could be spent collecting waste, waste could be used to dispose of waste at the nearby Transfer Station.

Second, we note in paragraphs 3 and 4, that Peeping Tom described a transfer station as a storage dump and eye sore. However, a properly designed and managed Waste Transfer Station is nothing near Le Repentir Dump - that was an open dump.

Waste Transfer Stations are indoor facilities (fully enclosed by roof and sides) with appropriate Air Vents and Air

Scrubbers. In addition as the name implies the waste arriving at the Station is IMMEDIATELY mechanically transfer to larger Hydraulically Sealed Compactors (larger specialised containers) with higher compaction factor or crushing factor than those of the normal garbage trucks. So instead of having 5 garbage trucks heading to the landfill the waste is now consolidated into 1 vehicle. Transfer Stations are not intended as Waste Storage Depot.

Finally, Peeping Tom seems to describe the project as Land Grabbing. Again, companies that get involved in land grabbing have no relevance in determining the need for the construction of Waste Transfer Station in Georgetown.

Again, transfer stations offer other advantages including: a. Waste Collection Point When municipalities or Waste Haulage Contractors are on strike all cities use Transfer Station as advisory

point for residence to drop off waste. b. Georgetown still have horse- drawn carts and small vehicles picking up waste and these would never travel the distance to Haags Bosch to off load so the Station provides a link between these collectors and the Landfill. c. Transfer Stations also allow Collectors to work in the nights to clear busy city routes which are difficult to clear in the day since waste taken to the Transfer Station would be immediately be transferred to Hydraulically Sealed Compactors to be taken to the landfill as earliest opportunity d. Most modern Transfer Stations have adds-on to allow for sorting and recycling of waste before unwanted Waste is sent to Landfill facility.

Clearly, a transfer station could enhance the council capacity to manage its solid waste challenge.

Royston King Public Relations Officer Mayor and City Council

Is this not a clear case of conflict of interest?

DEAR EDITOR, Sham Nokta is the Managing Director of Environmental Management Consultants (EMC) and at the same time is having top-level access to the Office of the President as the Presidential Advisor on Climate Change to President Ramotar. Mr. Nokta, as head of EMC, a private company, tenders for Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA), Environmental Audits etc that require approval from the Ramotar administration, the same administration to which he has high-level access.

This state of affairs has been going on for years and yet the majority opposition over the last 12 months has not find cause to call for an investigation into all these

conflict of interest relationships that were encourage under the Jagdeo regime over the years.

Mr. Nokta is the son of a senior member of the PPP Leadership, finds himself in the untenable position of doing professional work for review by the Ramotar administration to which he is a senior member. This is tantamount to reviewing oneself and calling it independent, similar to the wife of the Minister of Finance being the Audit Manager for the book for which he is responsible.

Why all these controversy in the Ramotar administration?

This means Mr. Nokta has access to the confidential state documents and access

to state officials which other bidders for EIAs do not have and thus places his company EMC at an unfair advantage.

I, by way of this letter to the press am formally asking for a response from not only Mr. Nokta, but HE the President, Mr. Ramjattan and Mr. Granger since this certainly looks like a conflict of interest.

Clearly you cannot be half in and half out of government. I am sure when he thinks about it Shayam Nokta will realise it is quite inappropriate to carry on in this paid State job, when he is in charge of a private company that seeks approval of its work from this same State.

Christopher Samuels

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Monday January 14, 2013

Controversy surrounds court ruling…

GNBS seized over 600 scales in 2012 Rohee still cannot table bills

Over 634 scales, 752 masses, six measures and 88 rules were seized and removed by the Guyana National Bureau of Standards during several inspections last year.

For 2012, the GNBS was successful in conducting a total of 1450 inspections at the Ports-of-entry and 893 at importers’ warehouses.

Commodities examined were mainly new and used tyres, electrical appliances, fertilisers, toys, furniture, cell phones, footwear, garments, PVP pipes, safety matches, soap powder, Christmas trees, decorative lighting outfits and gas stoves. The Standards agency noted that the commodities were examined to determine compliance with their respective national standards and were found to be generally in compliance.

However, commodities which were not in compliance with their respective National Standards were placed on hold pending corrective actions and were subsequently released.

During the year under review, the GNBS continued the verification of new, locally-manufactured and imported devices submitted for approval, resulting in a quantity of 1, 272 scales, 3,077

- electrical appliances, cell phones among items verified for compliance

masses, three measures, 20 rules and 2, 300 electricity meters being initially verified for accuracy. At filling stations and bulk terminals 1, 649 petrol pumps, 269 flow meters, 107 wagon compartments and 55 storage tanks were verified.

Inspectors also conducted surveillance activities and visited 6,533 stalls/premises countrywide to ensure that all weighing and measuring devices used in commercial trade were verified and stamped. The execution of verification activities along with weights

and measures surveillance inspections by the GNBS is pivotal in providing consumer protection and equity in trade.

It ensures that devices used in trade and commerce are in an acceptable working condition and are working accurately.

In addition, the Bureau successfully completed 147 verifications on weighbridge scales used at sugar estates, rice industry and retail sectors and 93 Test Masses for the year 2012. Devices which were inaccurate were repaired and re-verified to ensure accuracy is maintained.

as Minister of Home Affairs - Basil Williams A Partnership for National Unity (APNU)’s shadow Minister of Legal Affairs Basil Williams, citing a section of the Chief Justice ruling, yesterday told Kaieteur News that the court’s ruling “maintains the status quo that currently exists in the National Assembly.

Williams explained that in his interpretation of the ruling, “Rohee can only speak as a Member of Parliament and not as a Minister.”

But Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall rebuffed Williams’ claim, stating that “Rohee can speak, full stop.”

He said that Rohee being a Minister “has nothing to do with it.”

The Parliamentary Opposition had used its one seat majority to move a no confidence motion against the Minister of Home Affairs.

The move saw Rohee being prevented from speaking in the National Assembly until the determination of the matter by a Special Select Committee.

This led to Attorney General Anil Nandlall moving to the court to have the Chief Justice rule on the issue.

The Chief Justice in his subsequent decision ruled that Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee has a constitutional right to speak in the National Assembly as an elected member, with his ministerial portfolio being of no relevance.

Williams said yesterday that the Chief Justice (CJ) struck out everything except one issue “1B and 3B pertaining to which he spoke about Rohee’s constitutional right to speak in the National Assembly.”

Williams quoted a section of the Chief Justice’s ruling

APNU shadow Minister of Legal Affairs Basil Williams which stated that “the legal truth is that Mr.Rohee can speak in the National Assembly only as a member of the National Assembly and not as the Minister of Home Affairs.”

This, Williams said, “maintains the status quo that currently exists in the National Assembly.

The opposition had stated its position that Rohee can speak on any other matter but just not in his capacity of Home Affairs Minister.”

Also, Williams told this publication that the Chief Justice struck out numerous sections of the Notice of Motion filed by Attorney General, Anil Nandlall.

The lawyer said that “The Chief Justice struck out a section that called for the court to direct the Speaker of the National Assembly; he also struck out some other sections, In fact, the ruling only allowed section 1B and 3B of the Notice of Motion.”

Also, contacted yesterday APNU leader, David Granger, in whose name the most recent motion to gag Rohee was filed, said that he is confident that some of the information being disseminated is misleading

Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee

Attorney General Anil Nandlall “because the Chief Justice said that the court is not going to infringe on the rights of the Speaker of the National Assembly.”

However, it has been reported in sections of the media that the Speaker of the National Assembly is gearing to seek legal advice on the Chief Justice’s ruling.

CALL FOR REFOCUS In light of all that has been floating around the political air, the Attorney General made a call for the Opposition to change its political posture and for all to refocus on the common objective.

“We have to regroup and refocus on what is our purpose in the Parliament; what objectives we want to achieve in the Parliament. If we want the Parliament to play political football then we will have these things ongoing. If we want to treat the Parliament with the seriousness it was conceivably designed to be treated with and to deal with matters of national importance, we will not have these kinds of clashes.”

Nandlall also reiterated that Rohee or any other Minister does not sit in Parliament based on the confidence of the Opposition and “only Ramotar has the power to remove any Minister. Let’s move on.”

Monday January 14, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Monday January 14, 2013

Culture Minister proposes art fund to help showcase artists’ pieces – as Commemorative catalogue for 2012 Guyana Visual Arts Competition launched

Minister of Culture Youth and Sport Dr. Frank Anthony receives a portrait from artist Michael Griffith (left).

Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Dr. Frank Anthony officially launched at the Castellani House, Vlissengen Road, the first ever commemorative catalogue, celebrating the artists who participated in the 2012 Guyana Visual Arts Competition, which was launched on August 31 and featured a week of activities.

The 60-page document

carries pictures of the work of the various artists, a short synopsis of the artists and their contact information.

It also has a citation from the late renowned Guyanese artist Phillip Moore, a synopsis from the Public Lecture conducted by Ms Theresa Hadchity as part of events for the Guyana Visual Arts Competition and messages from President

Donald Ramotar, Minister Anthony, and the Coordinator of the Competition Alim Hosein among others.

The document was compiled and produced by the Guyana Visual Arts Committee with support from corporate society such as Ansa McAl, Bank of Nova Scotia, Banks DIH, BK International, Citizens Banks,

Digicel and the Guyana Bank For Trade and Industry (GBTI.) Minister Anthony said the creation of an art market is necessary so that artists can have a place where they can sell their pieces, and in this regard, he said that the ministry is proposing, with support from the business community, creating an art fund, whereby the ministry will buy the pieces and rotate them for shows.

“If we can create an art fund, perhaps if we get 20 companies and each one of them contribute maybe $1M or so, we will have some money to start acquiring art works, and we can have some renowned artists and people who know how to appraise art…appraising them now and seeing good quality for us and maybe we can purchase it with the funds,” he said.

“Companies will benefit because we will rotate the art work in the head offices of the various companies …it’s something that we can work on,” he continued.

He said the need to better market Guyanese art was recognised following the hosting of CARIFESTA. “I recognised that since 2008, when we had CARIFESTA that a lot of people thought kindly about our art and they thought perhaps that we really do not market ourselves, but I feel with this competition that we are getting a lot of attention for our art…and now by capturing this and putting into a catalogue you will be able to not only enjoy the exhibition and ambience, but we now have something where at our own leisure we can browse through it and maybe even contact more of the artists and get more acquainted with their work,” he said.

Minister Anthony praised the hard work of the Visual Arts committee for compiling the catalogue and for nurturing the local art. He was also thankful to those in the corporate sector who supported the creation of the document as all that were approached for support came

forward in this regard.

A copy of the catalogue was given handed over to representatives of companies that contributed toward its creation.

There was also the special moment, at the end of the event when the first place winner of the 2012 Guyana Visual Arts Competition, (drawing category), Michael Griffith surprised Minister Anthony. Griffith presented the Minister with a portrait he had created of him.

The Guyana Visual Arts Competition and Exhibition was re-launched in 2012 after a 20- year absence, to unearth, nurture and motivate the country’s best and up-and-coming painters, sculptors, photographers, and sketch, ceramic and textile artists.

The return of the competition came at the request of artists and continues a tradition that was started in 1994 with the National Exhibition of the Visual Arts. The event will now be a biannual feature.

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REGION 10 HAS NO CASE Whenever one is entering into an agreement and especially if one is inexperienced in such matters, one should be very careful to ensure that one’s expectations are spelt out in specific and unambiguous terms in the agreement.

Otherwise there can be differences in interpretation as to just what was agreed.

There has been a suggestion that the Government of Guyana is reneging on the agreement it signed with the Region Ten Administration concerning television for Linden.

However, a careful reading of the agreement would lead to another conclusion.

The agreement should never have been signed between a subordinate and a superior. The Region Ten Administration forms part of the Local Government apparatus and while the Regional Councils are directly elected by the people, they do not enjoy independence from Central Government.

In fact, there is a balancing of responsibilities so as to

ensure that no Region pursues policies that are inconsistent with official policy.

It was therefore a huge mistake by the Opposition parties to have allowed an agreement between the government and an agency that is subordinate to the government.

This by itself would render the agreement as lacking the force of law and would amount to nothing more than an agreement of appeasement.

When it comes directly to the issue of television, nothing contained in the agreement obligates the government to grant to the Region Ten Administration a license to operate a television station. In fact any such decision would be subject to challenge because there are technical and other considerations which have to be made before anyone can be granted a broadcast licence.

The Courts have held that no one has an absolute right to a license and therefore the

government could not have agreed to have granted a licence to the RDC of Region Ten. The courts have also disassociated itself from ordering the grant of the license since there are technicalities involved which are outside the competence of the judiciary.

Any decision to grant a licence to the RDC of Region Ten would be subject to challenge because there are other persons and companies, including persons from Linden itself, who have applied for broadcast licence and the courts had ordered that all those applications be considered by the National Frequency Management Unit (NFMU).

That decision has since been overtaken by the creation of the National Broadcasting Authority, which is now the agency responsible for the granting of licences for television and radio. Therefore any decision to grant a licence to the RDC would have to be sanctioned by the new broadcasting

Dem boys seh

Don’t listen to de obeah man De road full of cars but dem boys didn’t know it was so full till people start to drive into fence and in trench. Was as if dem looking fuh more road to drive. One of dem drive into a lady shop but before that he had to drive through de fence.

That ain’t all. He jump out of de car and run away. Dem boys want to know what he was thinking.

De car got number plate and certain numbers that would tell de police who own it. If was a car he borrow then he got problems because he got to explain how he get de car.

One thing is certain; to

avoid expense, de owner gun tell de police that somebody thief de car. He got to explain how de person get de keys.

Another one refuse to stop at a sign and he get lash into a fence. Dem boys seh that fence got to be de new thing.

He got to repair de other man car, he car and de fence.

One man buy gas and he car ketch afire. Perhaps he use to put kero in de engine.

Just like how de Guyana cricket team run out of gas de other night when dem play Trinidad. Dem boys suspect that something was wrang when dem barely scrape home in de first game. Trinidad

come out to play but Guyana stay in de pavilion.

But this is a country wid a lot of hope. Guyanese done know that dem gun beat Trinidad in de next match. De obeah man tell dem that. De same obeah man tell people how dem woulda get a five thousand dollar bill by de end of de year. De bill ain’t come out yet and de obeah man deh home sick. He name Roger de Lunch Man. He did tell Ed Ah Mad that he coulda thief and he wouldn’t get ketch. He tell Sonny that he coulda do de same thing.

Talk half and wait pun de obeah man.

authority.

It is hard to see how the new authority can grant permission to a RDC for the operation of a television station. This will encourage other RDCs to do the same and it is hard to see how the government can allow one RDC alone to have a television station and not the others.

The RDC of Region Ten may feel that Linden amounts to a special case but the RDC should not get too comfortable with that idea because at the end of the day, the system has to be fair to all concerned.

The agreement signed between the Region Ten Administration and the government has two subparts. The first part commits the government to hand over to the RDC a dish and a transmitter that were donated to Linden. The government was required to hand over the dish fourteen days after the signing of the agreement.

The first part of the agreement that deals with television for Linden therefore relates directly to government handing over a donation made to the people of Linden.

Whether the handing

over was done is immaterial at this stage because the dish and transmitter cannot be used unless a licence is issued.

The second part of the agreement indicates that Region Ten will apply for a broadcast licence and the government will facilitate the granting of the licence in keeping with the law.

Clearly all that this part does is to indicate that the Region is required to apply for a radio license which will be facilitated by the government.

This does not mean that the government can railroad the Region’s application through the new Broadcast Authority. This would amount to favouritism.

There is ambiguity as to just what facilitating the government is required to do, but it can be assumed that it involves some of the modalities needed as part of the application process.

For example, in applying for the licence, the RDC would be required to show legal possession of the transmitter and dish. The government may be required to provide documentation to indicate that the equipment, while remaining the property

of the State, has been entrusted to the RDC. And since the RDC comes under the Local Government system, the government would clearly be required to indicate to the Broadcasting Authority its approval, authorization and the limits to which such a licence can be put. This is perhaps why the word facilitate was used.

If it was the intention to have the government grant a licence, this would have formed part of the text. If it was the intention for the government to support the application, this too would have been explicitly spelt out.

But the agreement merely creates the obligation for the government to hand over a donation, made to the community, to the RDC and for it to facilitate the Region in its application to be granted a licence.

This may not have been what the Region was intending but this is what it signed to. The Region has to live with what is on the dotted line.

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Monday January 14, 2013

Region Six had a productive 2012 - Regional Chairman

By Samuel Whyte The Regional Administration of Region Six had a very productive and successful 2012 despite many challenges.

Except for some roads, all of the planned works were successfully completed with some savings realized, which saw additional works being undertaken.

These were some of the disclosures made by Regional Chairman, David Permaul Armogan when the administration held a press conference to review its last year ’s performance. The press briefing was held on Monday in the Boardroom of the Regional Administration.

The sum voted for the Region was $3.8 billion, which was broken down into $3.5B for current estimates, and $3.7M as capital estimates.

The estimates were broken down into five headings namely Administration and Finance, Agriculture, Public Works, Education Delivery and Health Services.

Agriculture had a good year with rice continuing to do well. The Region cultivated a total of 97,797 acres of land and produced 2,600,075 bags of paddy at a yield of 4.3 bags per hectare, and with more areas being put

under cultivation, there is no reason why there will not be another bumper crop, the Chairman said.

Cash crop and livestock production also increased during the year. However, there were some reports of losses due to various factors including destruction, flooding and rustling. Not much was mentioned of the fishing industry which continues to suffer.

In terms of sugar, the Regional Chairman stated that despite the ongoing problems being encountered in the sugar industry, the Region, with its three sugar estates: Albion, Rose Hall and Skeldon, produced the most sugar in the country, accounting for 218,054 tons or 56% of the total amount of sugar produced by Guysuco in 2012.

He stated that Skeldon was a big disappointment and was expected to pick up during the year. The estate recorded a shortfall of $1,184 tons. Armogan said that major remedial works are ongoing on the factory at the moment and it is hoped that it will start to fulfill its potentials during this year.

In terms of the collection of Rates and Taxes, the Chairman said that the 16 Neighborhood Democratic

Regional Chairman Region 6 David Permaul Armogan (third from right) and some of his top regional officials speaking to the media during the Region’s end of year press briefing.

Councils (NDCs) in Region Six were only able to collect 54% of taxes.

He referred to the 54% as a very poor show, mentioning that “People want 100% services but they are only prepared to pay 54%. It tells the story that people like to have everything free.”

Speaking about the miniscule $3M subvention that is given by the government, Mr. Armogan stated that it has become totally inadequate and efforts are being made to get the

Government to increase that sum.

Looking at the other areas, Administration and Finance had a budgeted sum of $94.8M with $92.9 million or 98% spent.

Public Works had a sum of $152.1M voted with $151.4M being spent. This area was divided into four subheadings –Maintenance of buildings, on which $15M was voted and 14.9M spent; Maintenance of roads $38.5M budgeted and $38.4M spent; Maintenance of bridges,

$22.5 budgeted with an expenditure of 22.4M. While other infrastructure saw $11M available and 10.3M spent.

Education delivery had an estimated budget of $1.885B and 1.883B spent; an estimated expenditure of 99.9 %. Education delivery was broken down into two subheadings-Maintenance of building for which $76M or 100% was expended, and Maintenance of other infrastructure for which $21M was budgeted and spent.

Health Services also had 100% expenditure under its two subheadings of maintenance of buildings $40M and maintenance of other infrastructure $14M. Form their overall budgeted estimate of $962.5M, it showed an expenditure of 953.2M or 99%.

The Regional Chairman, who was flanked by senior officials of his administration at the press conference, stated that with more cooperation and assistance the Region can do even better.

Monday January 14, 2013

Kaieteur News

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CPA to initiate child abuse watch groups 2013 The Child Protection Agency (CPA) has indicated that in the near future they will be promoting “child abuse watch groups.” This is according to agency head, Ann Greene, who was at the time speaking on future plans to strengthen agency/ outreach relationships.

Apart from massive outreach programmes that the

Agency is engaged in, Greene said that moves are being made to widen the level of community and citizen response to child protection.

Community outreach is the agency’s main weapon in ensuring child safety, Greene indicated, adding that efforts are being made to engage more persons in the process.

“We would receive the

reports and then we would act on it.”

In most cases, Greene said, persons would contact the Agency and report a matter. If this does not happen, she said, it would be difficult for the Agency to just know of a matter.

“On the other hand, it is always a major task to engage people.”

Getting persons to play specific roles, she said, is not easy, and while others who are willing to help may know something or have information, they sometimes have no idea what to do with it.

It is for this reason that the Agency believes that Child Abuse Watch Groups, something similar to that of

Community Watch Groups, would render great assistance in getting persons involved.

The Agency Head highlighted that her officers, during the course of the year, will be going out to the various communities, especially the most vulnerable, and offer training and meeting sessions with persons who are desirous of becoming involved in the group.

While her belief is that every adult should be looking out for the nation’s young, Greene said that those involved in the group will have the special task of spearheading child related issues as mediators for the Agency.

Greene explained that the necessary training will be provided by the Agency.

These persons will be taught how to spot potential danger and how to handle small situations which will also have to be reported to the Agency.

Persons in the village can contact these group members and report cases that need the Agency’s attention. They will also have the authority to oversee certain issues that may be taking place in the community, Greene said.

This initiative will have much focus on vulnerable communities such as those poverty-stricken areas with children who may have been abandoned or live in susceptible conditions.

“You are not just calling in to report a matter. The group members will be looking to see who are at risk, who is likely to be a victim or who is facing a dilemma,” Greene explained.

It is therefore the Agency’s task to render the relevant assistance, and this, she said, can be done through the Community Watch Groups.

These Watch Groups will be well known to the community and it is the Agency’s hope, Greene said, that children themselves may become acquainted with the group members.

Coupled with that, Greene mentioned that moves will be made for those group members to have easy access to the relevant front line agencies, such as the police.

Recently Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee in announcing a new bold security initiative for the nation unveiled a plan to flood a number of communities with Neighbourhood Police in an effort to clamp down on the growing incidences of domestic violence and child abuse.

Rohee said that his Ministry is of the view that a new preventative and proactive approach is required on the issue of Domestic Violence and Child

CPA Head Ann Greene Abuse.

In this regard, the Ministry believes that an expanded physical presence on the ground for the purpose of information-gathering and prevention could go a far way in preventing and reducing these unwanted incidents.

“An appropriate approach in our view would be a three-pronged approach.

First, would be to recruit larger numbers of Social Workers who would be stationed at an appropriate location in each Station/ Magisterial District or National Democratic Council, and second, increase the numbers of Neighbourhood Police who patrol the neighbourhoods 24/7, principally by day since, on the one hand, the Police do not have the numbers to patrol on foot in each village day and night while on the other hand, members of Community Policing Groups are active usually by night,” the Home Affairs Minister explained.

“The answer therefore lies in the recruitment of more Neighbourhood Police,” he added.

Advertisements will soon be placed in the media inviting persons to apply to be members of the Neighbourhood Police.

According to Rohee, Cabinet has approved the recruitment of 100 Neighbourhood Police ranks.

He said that the Ministry will work closely with the Ministry of Human Services with respect to the possible recruitment of an increased number of social workers.

Meanwhile, Greene, however, reminded that the success of the initiative lies with the community’s acceptance, support and response.

“We are calling on persons to be responsible and to open their homes and hearts to those children who are in need of assistance.”

Greene said her officers are working vigorously to get the mission on stream. The training course and programme guide she said are a work in progress.

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Monday January 14, 2013

Egypt opens old wound with Mubarak retrial CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt ordered a retrial of deposed president Hosni Mubarak yesterday after accepting an appeal against his life sentence, opening up an old wound in the painful transition from decades of authoritarian rule.

Mubarak, 84, was ousted in 2011 after 30 years in power and jailed for life last year over the killing of protesters by security forces trying to quell a mass street revolt.

He was the first Arab ruler to be brought to court by his own people.

A Cairo court granted Mubarak and his former interior minister the appeal as Egypt prepares to mark the second anniversary of the uprising on January 25.

The retrial is likely to stir emotions and could plunge the government of new President Mohamed Mursi into dangerous waters as he tries to restore law and order and a wrecked economy.

Egypt remains volatile as it prepares for a parliamentary election in the next few months. Anxiety over the economy is on the boil after protests, often violent, in late

2012 prompted citizens to snap up hard currency and take out savings.

During Mubarak’s 10month trial, many protesters accused the then ruling generals and officials seen as loyal to the ousted president of protecting him.

A retrial may revive calls for a deeper purge of those viewed as holdovers from the old era.

“The court has ruled to accept the appeal filed by the defendants ... and orders a retrial,” Judge Ahmed Ali Abdel Rahman said.

Crowds of Mubarak supporters attending the hearing shouted “God is greatest”, clapped and whistled as the judge read out the appeal ruling. Groups of joyful supporters were also spotted handing out sweets in central Cairo.

Mubarak’s health and fate are debated intensely in Egypt as people try to turn a page on decades of his ironfist rule and the political turmoil that followed his downfall.

During the original trial, the televised image of their once feared leader prostrate

on a hospital gurney in the defendants’ iron cage captivated the nation, drawing a line under his era.

The retrial is certain to revive difficult memories.

“If Mubarak and his corrupt aides get lighter sentences this will reignite the revolution and there will be more bloodshed,” Ahmed Abdel Ghaffour, a 33-year-old engineer in Cairo.

The judge did not clarify the legal basis for the retrial, nor did he say when the hearings were likely to start.

But Mohamed Abdel Razek, one of Mubarak’s lawyers, said the retrial would be based on the same evidence used in the original trial and that it would take at least four months to set a date.

“No new evidence will be added to the case,” he said, adding that there were countless flaws in the verdict. “(These) resulted in the unfair trial of our client.”

After the original trial, many in Egypt were disappointed that Mubarak had not been explicitly convicted of ordering the killing of protesters as well as of what rights groups see as

widespread abuses committed under his rule.

Instead, he was found guilty of being complicit in the killings. Around 850 protesters died in the uprising but some rights groups claim the figure is higher.

The opposition, a loose alliance of liberals, secularists and Christians, is now gearing up for demonstrations to coincide with the second anniversary of the uprising on January 25.

The retrial “takes everything and everyone back to square one,” said Hassan Nafaa, a professor of political science. “The timing of the verdict is critical with the second anniversary of the revolution coming up on January 25th. Revolutionary youth and opposition will certainly mobilize on this day for justice.”

The price of the freedom brought by Mubarak’s overthrow is a volatile new politics that often boils over into sporadic street violence.

Attackers threw petrol bombs at tents housing protesters outside the presidential palace in Cairo overnight, firing rubber bullets at security forces.

The exact state of Mubarak’s health is not clear, though last year some media reported that he was close to death. He was moved from prison to a military hospital in late December after

NEW DELHI (AP) — Police said yesterday they have arrested six suspects in another gang rape of a bus passenger in India, four weeks after a brutal attack on a student on a moving bus in the capital outraged Indians and led to calls for tougher rape laws.

Police officer Raj Jeet Singh said a 29-year-old woman was the only passenger on a bus as she was traveling to her village in northern Punjab state on Friday night. The driver refused to stop at her village despite her repeated pleas and drove her to a desolate location, he said.

There, the driver and the conductor took her to a building where they were joined by five friends and took turns raping her throughout the night, Singh said.

The driver dropped the woman off at her village early Saturday, he said.

Singh said police arrested six suspects on Saturday and were searching for another.

Gurmej Singh, deputy superintendent of police, said all six admitted involvement in the rape. He said the victim was recovering at home.

Also on Saturday, police arrested a 32-year-old man for allegedly raping and killing a 9-year-old girl two weeks ago in Ahmednagar district in western India, the Press Trust of India news agency reported. Her decomposed body was found Friday.

Police officer Sunita Thakare said the suspect committed the crime seven months after his release from prison after serving nine years for raping and murdering a girl in 2003, PTI reported Sunday.

The deadly rape of a 23year-old student on a New Delhi bus in December led to the woman’s death and set off an impassioned debate about what India needs to do to prevent such tragedies.

Protesters and politicians have called for tougher rape laws, police reforms and a transformation in the way the country treats women.

“It’s a very deep malaise.

This aspect of gender justice hasn’t been dealt with in our nation-building task,” Seema Mustafa, a writer on social issues who heads the Center for Policy Analysis think tank, said Sunday.

“Police haven’t dealt with the issue severely in the past.

Hosni Mubarak

breaking ribs in a fall.

His legal team had pressed to have him moved to a better-equipped facility, saying he was not receiving proper treatment.

He will remain in custody as he faces new charges from the public funds prosecutor for receiving gifts worth millions of Egyptian pounds from Egypt’s state newspaper, Al-Ahram.

Mubarak has not spoken publicly about the events that followed his downfall, saying almost nothing during the trial beyond confirming his presence and denying the charges.

The court also overturned non-guilty verdicts on Mubarak, his two sons and a former aide on corruption charges and ordered a retrial of six aides to former interior minister Habib al-Adli.

Abdel Razek, the lawyer, said the new panel of judges could consider Mubarak’s health when issuing a verdict.

6 arrested in new rape of a bus passenger in India

Recreation does for you what it says literally.

It creates you again. It refreshes the mind, renews the spirit, and motivates the body.

Constant working towards some objective can do the opposite, unless we control it by rest and relaxation.

The message that goes out is that the punishment doesn’t match the crime. Criminals think they can get away it,” she said.

In her first published comments, the mother of the deceased student in the New Delhi attack said Sunday that all six suspects in that case, including one believed to be a juvenile, deserve to die.

She was quoted by The Times of India newspaper as saying that her daughter, who died from massive internal injuries two weeks after the attack, told her that the youngest suspect had participated in the most brutal aspects of the rape.

Five men have been charged with the physiotherapy student’s rape and murder and face a possible death penalty if convicted. The sixth suspect, who says he is 17 years old, is likely to be tried in a juvenile court if medical tests confirm he is a minor. His maximum sentence would be three years in a reform facility.

“Now the only thing that will satisfy us is to see them punished. For what they did to her, they deserve to die,” the newspaper quoted the mother as saying.

Some activists have demanded a change in Indian laws so that juveniles committing heinous crimes can face the death penalty.

The names of the victim of the Dec. 16 attack and her family have not been released.

Monday January 14, 2013

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France bombs Islamist stronghold in north Mali B A M A K O / PA R I S (Reuters) - French fighter jets pounded an Islamist rebel stronghold deep in northern Mali yesterday as Paris poured more troops into the capital Bamako, awaiting a West African force to dislodge al Qaeda-linked insurgents from the country’s north.

The attack on Gao, the largest city in the desert region controlled by the Islamist alliance, marked a decisive intensification on the third day of French air raids, striking at the heart of the vast territory seized by rebels in April.

France is determined to end Islamist domination of north Mali, which many fear could act as a base for attacks on the West and for links with al Qaeda in Yemen, Somalia and North Africa.

France’s Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said French intervention on Friday had prevented the advancing rebels from seizing Bamako. He vowed that air strikes would continue.

“The president is totally determined that we must eradicate these terrorists who threaten the security of Mali, our own country and Europe,” he told French television.

In Gao, a dusty town on the banks of the Niger river where Islamists have imposed an extreme form of sharia law, residents said French jets pounded the airport and rebel positions. A huge cloud of black smoke rose from the militants’ camp in the city’s north, and pickup trucks ferried dead and wounded to hospital.

“The planes are so fast you can only hear their

French military prepares a Mirage 2000D fighter plane in N’Djamena, Chad, in this photo released by the French Army Communications Audiovisual office (ECPAD). REUTERS/ECPAD/Adj. Nicolas Richard/Handout sound in the sky,” resident Soumaila Maiga said by telephone. “We are happy, even though it is frightening.

Soon we will be delivered.”

Paris said four state-ofthe-art Rafale jets flew from France to strike rebel training camps, logistics depots and infrastructure in Gao with the aim of weakening the rebels and preventing them from returning southward.

A spokesman for Ansar Dine, one of the main Islamist factions, said the French had also bombed targets in the towns of Lere and Douentza.

Residents said rebel fighters had fled from Douentza aboard pick-up trucks.

France has deployed about 550 soldiers to Mali under “Operation Serval” named after an African wildcat - split between Bamako and the town of Mopti, 500 km (300 miles) north.

In Bamako, a Reuters cameraman saw more than 100 French troops disembark on Sunday from a military

cargo plane at the international airport, on the outskirts of the capital.

The city itself was calm, with the sun streaking through the dust enveloping the city as the seasonal Harmattan wind blew from the Sahara. Some cars drove around with French flags draped from the windows to celebrate Paris’s intervention.

More than two decades of peaceful elections had earned Mali a reputation as a bulwark of democracy, but that image unraveled in a matter of weeks after a military coup in March which left a power vacuum for the Islamist rebellion.

French President Francois Hollande’s intervention in Mali has won plaudits from leaders in Europe, Africa and the United States but it is not without risks.

It raised the threat level for eight French hostages held by al Qaeda allies in the Sahara and for the 30,000 French expatriates living in

Russia tells Syria rebels: seek dialogue with Damascus MOSCOW (Reuters) The Syrian opposition should make counterproposals to those President Bashar al-Assad made in a recent speech, to start a dialogue that could end the fighting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said yesterday.

“President Assad came out with initiatives aimed at inviting all opposition members to dialogue. Yes, these initiatives probably do not go far enough. Probably they will not seem serious to some, but they are proposals,” the Interfax news agency quoted Lavrov as saying.

“If I were in the opposition’s shoes, I would

Sergei Lavrov come up with my ideas in response on how to establish a dialogue.”

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon voiced

disappointment over Assad’s speech a week ago that was also dismissed by the United States. Syrian rebels described it as a renewed declaration of war.

Russia which has shielded Damascus from more international pressure to end the bloodshed - setting Moscow at odds with the West and most Arab states said Assad’s ideas should be taken into account.

Lavrov also reiterated Moscow’s long-standing position that the Syrian opposition’s demand for Assad to quit could not be a precondition for peace talks to end the 21-month conflict that killed at least 60,000 people.

neighboring, mostly Muslim states.

Concerned about reprisals, France has tightened security at public buildings and on public transport. It advised its 6,000 citizens to leave Mali as spokesmen for Ansar Dine and al Qaeda’s north Africa wing AQIM promised to exact revenge.

In its first casualty of the campaign, Paris said a French

pilot was killed on Friday when rebels shot down his helicopter.

Hours earlier, a French intelligence officer held hostage in Somalia by al Shabaab extremists linked to al Qaeda was killed in a failed commando raid to free him.

President Hollande says France’s aim is simply to support a mission by West African bloc ECOWAS to retake the north, as mandated by a U.N. Security Council resolution in December.

With Paris pressing West African nations to send their troops quickly, Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara, who holds the rotating ECOWAS chairmanship, kick-started the operation to deploy 3,300 African soldiers.

Ouattara, installed in power with French military backing in 2011, convened a summit of the 15-nation bloc for Saturday in Ivory Coast to discuss the mission.

“The troops will start arriving in Bamako today and tomorrow,” said Ali Coulibaly, Ivory Coast’s African Integration Minister. “They will be convoyed to the front.”

The United States is considering sending a small number of unarmed surveillance drones to Mali as well as providing logistics support, a U.S. official told Reuters. Britain and Canada have also promised logistical support.

Former French colonies Senegal, Niger and Burkina Faso have all pledged to deploy 500 troops within days. In contrast, regional powerhouse Nigeria, due to lead the ECOWAS force, has suggested it would take time to train and equip the troops.

France, however, appeared to have assumed control of the operation on the ground. Its a i r s t r i k e s allowed Malian troops to drive the Islamists out of the strategic town of K o n n a , which they had briefly seized this week in their southward advance.

Analysts expressed doubt, however, that African nations would be able to mount a swift operation to retake north Mali - a harsh, sparsely populated terrain the size of France - as neither the equipment nor ground troops were prepared.

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More than 130 nations Gun groups predict assault begin mercury treaty talks weapon ban will fail in Congress

GENEVA (AP) — Delegates from more than 130 nations began a final round of negotiations yesterday that are expected to lead to the creation of the first legally binding international treaty to reduce mercury emissions.

The treaty would set enforceable limits on the emissions of mercury, a highly-toxic metal that is widely used in chemical production and small-scale mining, particularly artisanal gold production.

Swiss diplomat Franz Perrez, whose nations helped prompt the call for the treaty, told reporters yesterday in Geneva that “we are confident that we’ll be able to conclude here this week” with a final document that nations will adopt later this year.

Fernando Lugris of Uruguay, who chairs the negotiations, said the six-day conference that has drawn almost 900 delegates and dozens of non-governmental organizations from around the world already has agreed on a draft text to be used this week for negotiations.

The U.N. environment program reported last week that mercury pollution in the top layer of the world’s oceans has doubled in the past century, part of a manmade problem that will require international cooperation to fix.

The report by the U.N. Environment Program, which is helping to sponsor the treaty talks, showed for the first time that hundreds of tons of mercury have leaked from the soil into rivers and lakes around the world.

Communities in developing countries face increasing health and environmental risks linked to exposure to mercury, which comes from sources such as coal burning and the use of mercury to separate metal from ore in small-scale gold mining, the U.N. agency says.

About 70 countries are involved in so-called artisanal gold mining, putting up to 15 million miners at risk of exposure to mercury, including 3 million women and children, said David Piper of the U.N. Environment

Program.

But the risk of mercury exposure in gold mining “cannot be solved through a ban,” said Perrez, who called that aspect of the negotiations “a special situation” that requires a more complex approach.

Mercury concentrations pose the greatest risk of nerve damage to pregnant women, women of childbearing age and young children.

As a naturally occurring element, mercury comes from the earth’s crust and, like some other elements, cannot be created or destroyed. Some natural processes, like volcano eruptions and weathering of rocks, release mercury into the environment. But about 30 percent of mercury emissions come from human causes, which the treaty would seek to reduce.

Once it gets into the land, air and water, mercury accumulates in fish and wildlife and goes up the food chain. Most of it isn’t removed until ocean or lake sediments bury it, or other mineral compounds trap it.

WA S H I N G T O N (Reuters) - Gun rights groups yesterday forecast that bids to ban assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition clips would fail in Congress, as Vice President Joe Biden prepares this week to give President Barack Obama proposals to curb gun violence.

Even some congressional Democrats indicated that a bill to revive the U.S. assault weapons ban that expired in 2004 would have a difficult time winning passage in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and Democratic-led Senate.

“An assault weapons stand-alone ban - on just guns alone ... in the political reality that we have today, will not go anywhere,” Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, himself a gun owner, told the CNN program “State of the Union.”

National Rifle Association President David Keene signaled little appetite for compromise as the White House mulls action on gun violence after the December 14 massacre of 20 children and six adults at a Connecticut elementary school.

“What we put the brakes on is anything that simply takes away a person’s Second Amendment right for no good reason,” Keene told the CNN show, referring to the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of the right to bear arms.

Joe Biden “The likelihood is that they are not going to be able to get an assault weapons ban through this Congress,” Keene said. Asked about new limits on high-capacity ammunition clips, he added: “I don’t think ultimately they are going to get that either.”

Biden, who heads a task force on gun violence due to give Obama recommendations as early as Tuesday, has said he will recommend universal background checks for gun buyers and new limits on the capacity of magazines like those used by the Connecticut gunman.

The White House also has said it will try to revive the U.S. ban on assault weapons that expired in 2004 after being in effect for a decade. Democratic Senators Dianne Feinstein of California and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut

U.S. envoy says Iran working to destabilize Yemen SANAA (Reuters) - Iran is working with southern secessionists in Yemen to expand its influence and destabilize the strategic region around the Straits of Hormuz, the U.S. envoy to Yemen was quoted as saying yesterday.

Yemen’s state news agency Saba cited U.S. Ambassador Gerald Feierstein as accusing Iran of supporting south Yemeni leaders trying to revive the formerly independent state of South Yemen, and naming Ali Salem al-Beidh, who runs a pro-independence satellite TV station from Lebanon, as one of them.

Yemen is grappling with al Qaeda militants and Shi’ite Muslim rebels in the north as well as the southern separatists. Its location flanking top oil producer Saudi Arabia - Iran’s Sunni Muslim regional adversary - and major shipping lanes have made restoring its stability an international priority.

Yemen’s Gulf neighbors, led by Saudi Arabia, sponsored a deal that saw veteran strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh step down last February after a year of protests and allowed his deputy, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, to take office.

The power transfer deal mandates Hadi to oversee reforms during a two-year interim period to ensure a transition to democracy, including amending the constitution and restructuring the armed forces to break the Saleh family’s grip.

The process is expected to lead to presidential and parliamentary elections in 2014.

are expected to introduce legislation on reviving the assault-weapons ban.

The gun control debate has been heating up since the Connecticut massacre.

The issue even came up during the Miss America pageant on Saturday night in Las Vegas. Miss New York, Mallory Hytes Hagan, the eventual winner, was asked during the competition whether armed guards should be put in schools.

“I don’t think the proper way to fight violence is with violence,” Hagan said, indicating that she opposes the idea championed by the NRA after the Newtown massacre.

The NRA has a long history of influence in Washington. It spends heavily on political races and says it has 4 million members.

The group criticized the White House effort after meeting with Biden on Thursday.

Appearing on “Fox News Sunday,” Larry Pratt, executive director of another gun rights group, Gun Owners of America, said: “We don’t think that there is much likelihood that the Congress is going to move on making gun-control laws worse than they are.”

Pratt also touted a House Republican lawmaker’s proposal to get rid of “gunfree zones” around schools, and asked: “Are we really better off when we say, ‘No defense is a good defense?’”

Representative Elijah Cummings, a Maryland Democrat, was cautious about the chances for a revival of the assault weapons ban. He told CNN: “I think that we have a possibility. But I think it’s going to be very difficult. I think the things that we do agree on, it seems, (are) the universal background checks and the (limits on) highcapacity magazines.”

Biden on Friday wrapped up a series of White House meetings with people on various sides of the issue, including the NRA and gun owners’ groups, the movie and video-game industries and law enforcement.

The background check requirement would extend to all gun purchasers. This would close the “gun-show loophole,” in which vendors at open-air gun sales events can sell without a background check on the purchaser. It would also extend to private sales such as those conducted over the Internet.

Monday January 14, 2013

Kaieteur News

Allies lead pro-Chavez rallies across Venezuela CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Supporters of ailing President Hugo Chavez held rallies across Venezuela yesterday and defended a controversial court ruling allowing the indefinite postponement of the socialist leader’s inauguration.

Despite opposition claims the constitution required that the inauguration be held on January 10, the mostly proChavez congress voted to delay the swearing-in ceremony. The Supreme Court endorsed the postponement, saying the president could take the oath of office before the court at a later date.

The government says Chavez, who won re-election to a fresh six-year term in October, is fighting a severe respiratory infection in a Cuban hospital. The president underwent his fourth cancer-related surgery on Dec. 11. He hasn’t spoken publicly or been seen since the operation.

In Havana, Cuban leader Raul Castro met on Saturday with Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro, National Assembly president Diosdado Cabello, Attorney General Cilia Flores and Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez, all members of Chavez’s inner circle.

Cuba’s Juventud Rebelde

Hugo Chavez newspaper published a photograph showing a smiling Castro greeting Cabello and Ramirez. In another photograph, Castro was shown bidding farewell Saturday to presidents Cristina Fernandez of Argentina and Ollanta Humala of Peru as they wrapped up visits to the communist-led island.

Fernandez was also shown in several photographs meeting with former Cuban President and revolutionary icon Fidel Castro.

The newspaper’s reports on the visits by Latin American leaders did not mention Chavez.

In Caracas on Sunday, Elias Jaua, a close Chavez confidant, urged a crowd of government supporters gathered inside a packed

auditorium to safeguard Chavez’s “Bolivarian Revolution,” a political movement taking its name from 19th-century independence hero Simon Bolivar.

Chavez backers “must be active in defense of the constitution, in defense of Commander Hugo Chavez’s popular mandate,” Jaua said.

Many government opponents claim the Supreme Court’s decision violated the constitution. The opposition plans to present a case before the Costa Rica-based InterAmerican Court of Human Rights to challenge the court’s decision.

Opposition politicians are also demanding more information regarding the health of Chavez.

Leopoldo Lopez, a prominent opposition leader, criticized government officials on Sunday for failing to provide details of Chavez’s medical situation.

“The whole truth has not been told to the Venezuelan people,” Lopez told a news conference.

Lopez slammed the president’s allies for accusing the opposition of attempting to stir up violence, saying government foes are seeking a peaceful solution to the South American country’s political crisis.

Allen Stanford victims to receive US$55M (Reuters) – Roughly 18,000 defrauded investors in Allen Stanford’s US$7 billion Ponzi scheme would receive an initial payment of US$55 million for their claims, according to a plan submitted by a court appointed receiver on Friday.

Stanford was sentenced last year to 110 years in prison for bilking investors with fraudulent certificates of deposit issued by Stanford International Bank, his bank in Antigua.

Following a lawsuit by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, a Texas-based federal judge appointed a receiver to settle the Stamford estate and disburse any assets to claimants.

The plan filed in court on Friday proposes that US$55 million be disbursed to investors.

“Many of these people entrusted their entire life

savings to the scheme and have received a pittance or nothing at all from it,” the receiver wrote.

A victim’s advocate group immediately criticized the plan, saying the fees involved in collecting the money far outweighed that payout.

“To say the recovery of one penny on the dollar is disappointing is a dramatic overstatement,” Angela Shaw, the director the Stanford Victims Coalition, said in a statement.

Attorneys for the receiver, Ralph Janvey, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Separately, the SEC had requested that an industry backed fund, the Securities Investor Protection Corp, start a court proceeding that could help further compensate victims.

But a U.S. judge turned down the SEC’s request,

Allen Stanford saying the agency had not met its legal burden to show why SIPC should be compelled to act.

SIPC, which has handled high-profile liquidations such as Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, contended that Stanford’s offshore bank fell outside the scope of its authority.

The SEC has appealed.

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T&T cops probe $6M attempted fraud at RBC Trinidad Guardian Detectives are investigating two separate incidents of attempted fraud against high-profile clients at RBC Royal Bank (RBC). Sources say the clients — a businessman and an attorney — were almost defrauded of more than $6 million at the Independence Square, Portof-Spain branch of the bank.

Contacted on Friday, Sherry-Ann Singh, the bank’s regional manager of business communications-corporate communications and brand, in an e-mail response to queries posed by the Sunday Guardian, said, “RBC is aware of the allegations of attempted fraud and we are co-operating with the authorities in their investigations.”

Singh said because of the police investigations and the bank’s need to maintain client confidentiality, the bank could not give any details.

Fraud Squad officers yesterday said they were following certain leads and hinted at the possibility that banking officials might be involved. Sources said the first incident was unearthed last Friday and involved the attorney.

On December 20, RBC received a written request purporting to be from the attorney. The letter asked the bank to transfer $5.9 million to another bank to cover a business transaction the lawyer was seeking to complete, and bore his signature. RBC transferred the money as requested, to the other bank, also in Portof-Spain.

Sources said the fraudster/s apparently let the transferred cash sit in the other bank for over two weeks before attempting to retrieve it, by asking for a manager’s cheque to be made out for the amount on January 4. However, someone at the second bank apparently alerted the lawyer about the transaction as the bank was carrying out the fraudster/s orders last Friday.

Sources said the attorney,

who rarely checks his account at RBC, had not been aware of the missing cash until he was alerted by the second bank.

After being alerted, the lawyer went to RBC and alerted them about the fraudulent transaction.

Management immediately contacted the other bank and, luckily for the attorney, the fraudster/s had not yet turned up to collect the cheque.

The transaction was terminated and the attorney was able to recover the money. Contacted about the incident, the attorney confirmed it occurred, but said he did not want to be named, as his family was traumatised by the incident.

He said the bank was investigating the matter and he would leave it in their hands.

Businessman targeted, too Fraud Squad officers had hardly begun investigations into the first incident when the fraudsters struck again, this time targeting a businessman. Sources said last Tuesday, the fraudsters would have got away with almost US$60,000 if the businessman had not been more alert to activity in his account.

In this case, the fraudster/ s again asked RBC to transfer money to another bank to cover a business transaction, but this time did so by e-mail.

Police said some US$35,000 was fleeced from the businessman in two separate

fraudulent transactions before he realised there was a discrepancy with his account. The fraudsters targeted his account again.

The businessman contacted RBC after realising US$24,000, which the fraudsters were trying to obtain in a third transaction last week, was missing from his account.

This third transaction was stopped after bank officials realised they had again been hit by the fraudsters. Sources say, following investigations, it was discovered that on two previous occasions money totalling US$35,000 had been withdrawn from the account after similar requests.

The bank repaid the funds and again called in the Fraud Squad and launched an internal probe. Contacted on Friday about the incident, the businessman confirmed it had occurred but opted not to comment. “I owe them (the bank) a degree of confidentiality. The matter is still under investigation and I don’t want to comment,” he said.

Sherry-Ann Singh, in her e-mail response to the Sunday Guardian, said although no institution could prevent fraud 100 per cent, at RBC there was a zerotolerance policy and that the bank worked hard to “protect its clients and operations from financial crime.” Singh said maintaining its clients’ trust was a fundamental responsibility of paramount importance.

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Kaieteur News

Monday January 14, 2013

Renewed call for action in Haiti on third anniversary of earthquake NEW YORK - CMC – As Haiti marks the third anniversary of the devastating January 12, 2010 earthquake, Caribbean American Congresswoman Yvette D Clarke has renewed calls for heightened action to help the improved, Frenchspeaking Caribbean country recover quickly.

“Despite the many years that have since passed, the people of Haiti are still

struggling to rebuild their infrastructure,” Clarke, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, who represents the 9th Congressional District in Brooklyn, New York, told the Caribbean Media Corporation.

“After the 7.0 magnitude earthquake devastated the nation, thousands of people died and millions became homeless,” added Clarke, cochair of the Congressional

Caribbean Caucus.

In the coming weeks of the 113th US Congress, Clarke said she will reintroduce the Haitian Emergency Life Protection (HELP) Act, which will allow applicants with familysponsored petitions that were approved on or before January 12, 2010 to work in the United States and send remittances back home, as they await their green cards.

The Obama administration recently approved an 18-month extension of Temporary Protected Status for Haitian living illegally in the US. “I am committed to the redevelopment of Haiti and the Caribbean region. This year, I will join my colleagues in calling for true accountability and real investment in the Haitian people,” she said.

“My colleagues in the Caribbean and Black caucuses cannot complete this task alone,” she, however, added. “I call on my Haitian constituents, Caribbean sisters and brothers to join me in not just rebuilding H a i t i b u t r e s t o r i n g t he island (nation) to its former glory as the ‘Pearl of the Antilles.’

“We can no longer observe another anniversary with the same incremental change as we have in the past,” Clarke said.

Grenadian American Councilman Jumaane Williams said he takes “very seriously the responsibility of contributing to the ongoing mission of remembrance, recovery and rebuilding” in Haiti.

“Three years later, I am dismayed at the substandard conditions under which many Haitians continue to live in their homeland,” he told CMC. “The cameras have moved elsewhere, but the need is still there,” he added.

“We cannot forget the promises we made as Haitians continue to suffer.

Meanwhile, three years after the monstrous 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti, and a year after the government, with help from the international community, began emptying the most visible neighborhoods, a s e n i o r U n i t e d N ations official has urged that the focus now be on jobs.

“In a sense, you are no longer talking about the earthquake, you are talking about poverty,” said Nigel Fisher, who heads the United Nation’s humanitarian operations in Haiti, about the ongoing challenges being faced by those leaving the camps.

“We are talking about the dearth of resources for taking on the transformation of a country, which has very poor infrastructure, which has most people living in poverty,” he added.

Yvette D Clarke Francois Desruisseaux, the International Organization for Migration (IOM)’s program manager for camp management, said surveys showed that while living in the camps, people considered shelter as their main priority.

But after relocating to neighborhoods, he said shelter soon becomes a fourth priority. Finding a job, followed by food and education, become their top concerns, he said.

Desruisseaux said while the average camp resident received $500 in rental subsidy, they also received an additional $150 for moving and other expenses to help them out.

Meanwhile, the IOM said Haiti is facing even tougher economic times. It said rising food prices have helped increase inflation almost 2 percent since June to 6.8 percent.It added that the forecast growth in gross domestic product, once projected at 7.8 percent, is now down to 2.5 percent because of the government’s slow execution of public projects.

In addition, the IOM said a spring drought followed by two storms this hurricane season created more than $170 million in crop losses and put an additional 1.5 million Haitians in danger of hunger.

Barbados police dismantle criminal ring Barbados Nation - The Police have successfully dismantled a criminal ring at the Barbados Port made up of four Port employees and a freighter.

The members of the Drug Squad started their investigations in 2012 and were successful between January 9, and January 10, 2013 in making arrests.

All four men have been jointly charged with illegal possession of three firearms; illegal possession of a quantity of ammunition; importation of firearms without valid licences; importation of ammunition without a valid licence; possession of 16.5 kgs of cannabis; trafficking, possession with intent to supply; and importation.

The four men are expected to appear expected to appear at the District A Magistrate Court today.

Monday January 14, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Top Venezuelan leaders in Cuba to support Chavez CARACAS (Reuters) Venezuela’s three most powerful government figures after President Hugo Chavez gathered in Havana yesterday to check on their ailing leader’s condition and meet with Cuban allies.

Vice-President Nicolas Maduro, Congress head Diosdado Cabello and Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez have been shuttling to and from Cuba since the 58-year-old socialist president’s fourth and most serious cancer operation a month ago.

Chavez, who missed his own inauguration for a new, six-year term last week, has not been seen or heard from in public since the surgery.

Many Venezuelans are assuming his momentous 14year rule of the South American OPEC nation could be nearing an end.

Though acknowledging the gravity of the situation and a severe lung infection Chavez is suffering, officials are trying to stay upbeat on the president’s hopes for recovery. His brother on Saturday denied that Chavez

was in a coma.

“We are all Chavez!” and “Chavez will return!” were among slogans sang and chanted at numerous solidarity rallies, meetings and concerts across Venezuela over the weekend drawing thousands of passionate and anxious supporters.

Venezuelan state TV yesterday split its screen into four to show events going on around the nation.

“Commander, take your time returning to us,” Trujillo state Governor Henry Rangel said at one.

Information Minister Ernesto Villegas said Maduro, who Chavez recently designated as his successor, informed Venezuela’s leader of the outpouring at home. He gave no more details of their encounter or the president’s condition.

State media said Maduro, Cabello, Ramirez - who also heads the powerful state oil company PDVSA - and Attorney General Cilia Flores all met Cuban President Raul Castro over the weekend. But

there were no details of the talks.

The joint presence of top Venezuelan officials in Havana inevitably deepens rumors Chavez is at death’s door - and draws opposition criticism that Raul and Fidel Castro are giving instructions behind the scenes.

But officials have been lashing “necrophilic” opponents for such speculation, and Chavez’s brother said on Saturday that, on the contrary, he was improving daily.

One opposition leader, Julio Borges, said yesterday the secrecy around Chavez’s exact condition was unacceptable.

“No one is asking for details of the operation or the president’s treatment, but that simply they tell the truth about his health prognosis,” said Borges, a right-wing legislator who wants Chavez formally declared absent from office.

That would trigger the naming of a caretaker president, and an election within a month, but

Venezuela’s Supreme Court has ratified that Chavez remains president with Maduro in charge as No. 2 until his health situation is clarified.

“It’s been a year-and-ahalf of contradictions and announcements of his complete curing followed by relapses,” Borges added, saying problems like inflation, housing shortages and power-cuts were being neglected during a political impasse.

Since the disease was discovered in mid-2011, Chavez has in fact wrongly declared himself cured twice, in an extraordinary and unsettling saga for Venezuela’s 29 million people.

The stakes are high for the wider region too. Cuba and a handful of other leftistruled nations have for years been depending on Chavez’s aid to bolster fragile economies.

Should Chavez die or be incapacitated, the most likely next step would be an election pitting Maduro, 50, against Henrique Capriles, 40, the

A Venezuelan man holds a picture of Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez during a mass to pray for his recovery at a church in Havana.

REUTERS/STRINGER main opposition leader who lost to Chavez in an October presidential election.

In a statement yesterday, Capriles railed against the “national paralysis” but said the opposition would not be drawn into confrontation or street protests. That tactic failed spectacularly for them a decade ago when Chavez was briefly toppled but came

back stronger than before.

“Just as the president has the right to attend his ill health, so Venezuelans do not deserve urgent problems to be put on hold,” Capriles said. “We are not going to play the game of calling people onto the street to create a confrontation that will benefit the violent and radical ones.”

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Kaieteur News

Monday January 14, 2013

Monday January 14, 2013

Kaieteur News

Monday January 14, 2013 ARIES (March 21 - April 19): Your resources are feeling a bit pinched lately. But your creativity is still fully fleshed out. And powerful!

So if you're feeling strapped for cash, simply apply your ingenuity to the situation. ******************* TAURUS (April 20 - May 20): You might have to perform a tricky negotiation with someone who rubs you the wrong way today, but you'll do well with it -- and your confidence will send a very powerful signal to some very powerful people! ****************** GEMINI (May 21 - June 20): There is nothing to fear from trying something that you have never tried before - foreign influences are having a very strong and very positive impact on your life right now, so be open to them. ******************** CANCER (June 21 - July 22): You will get a lot further if you connect with other people today than if you stick to yourself. Do not be aloof, because it could give you a reputation for being difficult to work with or even rude -and that's not you. ********************* LEO (July 23 - Aug. 22): You are feeling more open to new things than ever before, so this is a great day to explore a new physical exercise like Pilates, yoga or even swing dancing. You'll be able to get the hang of any new physical actions in no time, and you just might find the next great obsession in your life. ******************* VIRGO (Aug. 23 - Sept.

22): People are going to be extra sensitive to whatever you say today, so do your best to offer constructive criticism instead of being just plain critical. ********************* LIBRA (Sept. 23 - Oct. 22): Today you'll have an un-

expected hole punched into the middle of your day -- these free hours will offer you a very good excuse for deep thought and contemplation about a recent conflict you had with a friend or coworker. ********************* SCORPIO (Oct. 23 Nov. 21): It's time to finish up some unfinished business with one of your old relatives. Whether you forgot someone's birthday, still need to buy someone a wedding gift, or have left a conversation unfinished, today is the day to make up for it. ******************** SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22 Dec. 21): You need to start celebrating your uniqueness and stop comparing yourself to others! You have your own personality and it's wonderful -- so what if it prevents you from clicking with every single person you meet? .********************* CAPRICORN (Dec. 22 Jan. 19):Changing your daily routine sounds a lot easier than it is, there is no doubt about that! But the efforts you are putting forth to find a better way of doing things will definitely be worth it. ******************** AQUARIUS (Jan. 20 Feb. 18):As happy as you are to be going where you are going right now, not everyone is right there on the same page with you. While you must be aware of it and make adjustments accordingly, you don't have to completely change your path -that will only cause you to feel resentment. ********************* PISCE S ( F e b . 1 9 March 20): Your analytical side and your intuitive side are in conflict right now -- and right now you have to balance the two or else you won't be able to get anything done today!

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DTV CHANNEL 8 08:55hrs. Sign On 09:00hrs. GMA 10:00hrs. Live! With Kelly and Michael 11:00hrs. The Ricki Lake Show 12:00hrs. The View 13:00hrs. World News 13:30hrs. The Young and the Restless 14:30hrs. The Bold and the Beautiful 15:00hrs. The Talk 16:00hrs.

MacGyver (FINALE) 17:00hrs.

The Ellen DeGeneres Show 18:00hrs. World News 19:00hrs. Greetings and Announcements 20:00hrs. Channel 8 News 21:00hrs. Movie: The Deadly Trackers 23:00hrs. Hawaii Five-0 (New Episode) 00:00hrs. Sign Off MTV CHANNEL 14/ CABLE 65 06:00h Islamic Perspective 06:30h The Diary 07:00h DAY BREAK ( live) 08:00h Dabi’s Musical Hour 08:30h Avon Video & DVD music hour 09:00h Current affairs 09:15h Top Notch Music Break 09:30h Caribbean Temptation music break 10:00h Amanda’s music break 10:30h BBC World News 11:00h Salvation Message with Pastor Kelvin 11:15h National Geographic 12:00h The View 13:00h Village Talk 13:30h The Young and The Restless 14:30h Days of our lives

15:00h General Hospital 16:00h The Bold and the Beautiful 16:30h Cartoons 17:00h Birthdays & other Greetings 17:15h Death Announcements/ In Memoriam 17:30h Sitcom 18:00h Aracari Resort Hour 19:00h CNN News 19:30h News Update 20:30h Getting it Right 21:30h Movie: Forrest Gump 23:00h News Update 23:30h English Movie: Forrest Gump continues Sign Off NCN CHANNEL 11 05:00h – Inspiration 05:30h – Newtown Gospel 06:00h – NCN News (R/B) 06:30h – BBC 07:00h – Guyana Today

08:00h – Weekly Digest 08:30h – Feature 09:00h – Stop the Suffering 09:30h – Cartoons 10:00h – CCTV 11:00h – History 12:00h – CNN 12:30h – NCN Newsbreak 12:35h – Movie 16:00h – Cartoons 17:00h – Anderson 18:00h – NCN News Magazine – Live 18:30h – Pulse Beat 19:00h – Al Jazeera 19:30h – Feature 20:00h – 3d/daily millions/play de dream/lotto draw 20:05h – NCN Newsbreak 20:10h – GINA Presents 21:05h – We Linkin 21:35h – Feature 22:05h – NCN Late Edition News 22:35h – Caribbean Newsline 23:00h – Movie

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You’ve heard about the late James Brown or the “Godfather” of soul, but what about the godfather of Sole or the Codfather? He is Muhammad Shahid Nazir, a Pakistani immigrant to Britain who while engaged in fishy business starred in a viral video and has moved from sardine to shark status. He is now a principal in the global school of fish that follow the moving tides of fad and fashion.

Only the hard of herring or the technologically challenged have not heard his million-hit YouTube sensation, “One pound fish” with its immortal lines, “Come on ladies, come on ladies, one pound fish... Have a have a look, one pound fish!”

According to the BBC, the 30 year old Shahid was born in Pattoki, near Lahore in Pakistan. He used to work for a transport company and has a wife and two young children. About a year ago he left his home town to go to England and got a job in the market - first at an “everything for a pound” stall before he started selling fish a few months ago at a stall in

Kaieteur News

Queen’s Market in East London, not far from the Olympic Stadium.

It all started when, on his first day at work, his boss told him to shout out to the customers to catch their eye.

He hated shouting so instead he invented a song. Shahid, who used to sing religious songs in his school as well as Bollywood and Punjabi tunes, explained, “I’d been doing the job for just a week before I decided to sing the song which I made up myself.

“I soon realised it got people’s attention and drew them to the stall to buy fish.”

Shahid has now gone completely upscale and his many customers are not only snapping up his fish but he has been approached by a record company.

In the meantime, the BBC says, the song has inspired American boy band Mindless Behaviour and British singer Alesha Dixon has added her own twist to it. Rio Ferdinand, himself a big fish at Manchester United, is also a Shahid fan.

Speaking about big fish, the BBC also ran a story about one of them that

fetched a record price in a Japanese fish-market recently.

The BBC reported that a single bluefin tuna was sold in Japan for US$1.7m, almost triple the record price of US$736,000 set last year. The price works out at US$3,500 per pound. Other media reports say that the fish’s tender pink and red meat is prized for sushi and sashimi.

The best slices of fatty bluefin – called “o-toro” – can sell for about US$23 per piece at upmarket Tokyo sushi bars. With a single mouthful-sized piece of sashimi weighing around one ounce, the record breaking tuna is worth around US$223 per bite.

On the whole everyone involved will earn significant net profits. They are better off than the Massachusetts fisherman who caught an 881-pound tuna only to have it seized by the federal authorities.

Even though he had permits to fish for tuna, the law says you must use a rod and reel and not a net. The problem is that whatever rod you use to catch a tuna that size, when you try to land the

fish it will turn out to be a snapper.

Despite the increasing popularity of sushi-bars or Japanese-styled restaurants in the Caribbean, most West Indians find the idea of eating sushi or raw fish distasteful.

In fact, the fishermen I hung out with when I was younger had their own word for sushi.

They called it “bait”.

Interestingly, before nylon line was developed, fishermen used “Marlin” twine.

Other big fish go by different names. A literary big fish would be a SalmonRushdie and since he went into hiding you can’t meet him face-to-face, you have to drop him a line. There are the outlaws and baddies like Billy the Squid and Jack the Kipper. There are Jacks aplenty and there are some weird ones as well.

Kids know about these and ask questions like, “What do you call a man with a large flat fish on his head?”

Ray. “What do you call a man with a seagull on his head?”

Cliff. “What do you call someone who is good at catching fish?” Annette.

“What do you call a fish that

Monday January 14, 2013

floats on the surface?” Bob. What do you call a man who spends long hours in a wooden boat with a plastic reel in his hand, fishing line balanced on his index finger, bits of raw fish and shrimp adhering to his hand, watching his companions drink themselves into a semistupor and not catching anything but the drift of flatulence?

I will not carp at whatever name you come up with since you can well be describing me in my younger days and my still enduring love for fishing.

As one ancient fisherman said, “Fishing is not just a matter of life and death, it is much more serious than that.”

The bug first bit me when I experienced the miraculous transformation of dry land, banked for rice-planting, with nothing growing on or in it but tufts of grass, suddenly becoming huge pools full of fish through which we waded barefoot, weighed down with heavy rice stalks and fearful that the eels (which we called “gangies” or “zangies”)

would bite our toes. I was lucky. My feet were so large and so dirty that the eels preferred other amusement and in the land of calypso formed conger lines.

Later, fishing with my friends in the sea, after finding a “hole” or “spot” full of red snappers we would carefully line it up so we could find the area again on our next trip.

Now I no longer have a boat but rent one. Two friends did the same thing and in a rapidly depleting Gulf of Paria were extremely lucky to catch some huge snappers.

One said to the other one that they should mark the spot. His buddy leaned over and put a mark on the side of the boat. The first one chided him.

“That won’t work,” he said. “Why?” the other one asked. He replied, “Don’t forget we rent this boat and I am sure we will not get the same boat tomorrow.” *Tony Deyal was last seen talking about the swearing fish. It swam into a wall and said, “Dam.”

Monday January 14, 2013

Kaieteur News

Linden Commission of Inquiry to resume month end

Members of the Linden Commission of Inquiry (from left) Justice Claudette Singh, Justice Lensley Wolfe O.J.; Ms. Dana Seetahal S.C and Mr. K.D. Knight S.C The Linden Commission of Inquiry is expected to resume on the last Monday in this month. This was disclosed by Commissioner Justice Cecil Kennard, who told this publication that the Commission has not finished all the testimonies with regards to the compensation aspect of the inquiry. He said that has to be finalized into the report.

Members of the Commission of the Inquiry are Justice Lensley Wolfe O.J., Mr. K.D. Knight S.C and Ms. Dana Seetahal S.C. along with Guyana’s former Court of Appeal Judge, Claudette Singh, CCH and Justice Kennard himself, a former Chancellor of the Judiciary of Guyana. Attorney at Law Peter Hugh, who represented the Guyana Police Force at the Linden Commission of Inquiry, had stated that the state was not responsible for compensation to any of the Linden protesters who were injured or killed on July 18, since he argued that there is no evidence to prove that the lawmen shot at the group.

Hugh in his final

submission had said that evidence presented is purely circumstantial and ballistics tests proved that the protesters were killed and injured with a caliber of ammunition that is not used by police. He added that police were most times following standard operating procedures and when they didn’t it can be justified, taking into consideration the protestors’ hostile behavior towards them. Hugh added that the police had a duty to disperse the gathering and the leaders of the Linden protest should be held responsible for condoning the illegal act.

However, Attorney-at-law Nigel Hughes, who represented the families of the deceased,( Lyndon Lewis, Ron Sommerset and Shemroy Bouyea), said that there is compelling evidence to prove that the police shot the three men and injured the about 20 other Lindeners. He added that the deceased and injured persons were all shot with 00 buckshot pellets.

The lawyer had stated that the pellets could only

have been discharged from a shotgun and not a handgun or rifle. Hughes said that that eliminated the possibility of either a concealed weapon or sniper being present.

Hughes said that there were around several hundred persons present at the time of the shooting and the only persons who were seen with shotguns were three police officers. He said that a shotgun is at least three feet in length and if it was in the possession of anyone other than the police ranks it would have been clearly visible at the time of the shooting.

Superintendent of Police Patrick Todd, who was in charge of the police ranks at the time of the incident, admitted that he discharged several rounds from shotguns which he took from various ranks that were on the police line. Todd further said that he was the only one who discharged the shotguns.

Hughes said that evidence shows that no witness, whether civilian or police, claimed to have seen anyone else but the police armed with a shotgun.

Suriname deports over 200 Guyanese PARAMARIBO - In 2012, Suriname deported 234 Guyanese, or nearly onethird of the 750 Guyanese citizens sent back by foreign countries to Georgetown.

The Guyana Police Force (GPF), which released these figures, says cases involved drugs-related offences and other crimes, illegal border crossing, overstaying their visa and refusal of the refugee status.

Most deportations by Suriname’s Immigration Department involved people

who crossed the border illegally, or had served a prison sentence. Police sources claim most illegal Guyanese were detained in Nickerie and at the checkpoint near Burnside in Coronie and had entered the country via the so-called backtrack route.

While most of them had a passport but did not enter through a legal border post, some illegals came to Suriname without any travel documents.

The reason most often stated for traveling to

Suriname was visiting relatives.

The GPF reports that the 750 persons were deported by the USA, Canada, Great Britain, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, French Guiana, Suriname, St. Martin, France, Curacao, Antigua and Barbuda, Jamaica, Costa Rica, the Netherlands and Spain.

The USA deported 158, the largest group after Suriname, followed by Trinidad and Tobago with 128. Canada and Barbados sent back 112 and 82 Guyanese, respectively

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Canada pledges better water for aboriginals amid blockade threat (Reuters) - Canada will spend C$330.8 million (208.4 million pounds) over the next two years to improve water systems on aboriginal lands, as the Conservative government tries to deal with growing unrest on native reservations.

The government said it will improve water systems in more than 50 First Nation communities on reserves where residents often complain of deplorable infrastructure and housing.

“Our Government is committed to addressing water and wastewater issues on reserves to ensure that First Nations communities have access to safe drinking water,” Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan said in a statement.

The announcement followed a meeting between Canadian native leaders and the federal government on Friday, where Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper agreed to pay more attention to the demands of First Nations groups.

Under the banner of “Idle No More,” native groups have been blocking roads and railways as well as staging hunger strikes to protest conditions on the reserves.

Some native chiefs have warned that the aboriginal protest movement was prepared to damage the economy unless Ottawa addressed the poor living conditions and high jobless rates facing many of Canada’s 1.2 million natives.

Native groups complain that Canada has ignored treaties signed with British settlers and explorers that they say granted native peoples significant rights over their territory.

Ottawa spends about C$11 billion a year on its aboriginal population, but living conditions for many are poor and some reserves have high rates of poverty, addiction, joblessness and suicide.

Gordon Peters, grand chief of the association of Iroquois and Allied Nations in Ontario, threatened last week to “block all the corridors of this province” this Wednesday unless natives’ demands were met. Ontario is Canada’s most populous province as well as its financial and industrial hub.

Kaieteur News

Monday January 14, 2013

Tenants of Broad Street apartment building living in fear of African bees Tenants of an Africanbee-infested apartment building located on Broad Street are desperately calling for the swift removal of the dangerous insects, fearing that one day the consequences could be catastrophic if they are not.

This was after a tenant suffered several stings from the bees yesterday.

The bees have been on the premises for several years and the appeals of the owner and the tenants have been falling on deaf ears.

One tenant, Leroy Vanderhyden has “had it with the bees.” He explained that as recent as Saturday evening, his elderly mother was attacked while taking a bath.

The man’s mother told Kaieteur News that she was in the bathroom when she heard a strange sound, and upon looking up, she realized that it was the buzzing of the bees, which appeared threatening.

“I had to just pull the towel to cover myself and run out. My foot is not well and I had to run out of there. My foot is paining really bad right now,” the woman lamented.

The aged woman said that

This tenant said that she was stung on several parts of her body yesterday. she can no longer handle such a frightening situation.

“The bees are in the wall.

We got to sleep with the lights off just to make sure that the bees don’t come into

our bedroom. It’s very scary.”

Another tenant of the building told this publication that she is scared for the lives of her young children. Her sons, ages seven and three

were both attacked and had to be taken for medical treatment.

“These bees does kill people and it needs to be taken care of before something bad happens,” the woman said.

The landlady of the building, which is located close to the Child Protection Agency, said that she had contacted the Agriculture Ministry on many occasions.

The woman added that she made her last call to the Ministry just two weeks ago, and was told that the “team” responsible for such situations is not available. She was then given a number to call a private exterminator.

The exterminator, she explained, inspected the place and said that she would have to pay him $40,000, plus arrange for scaffold to be erected around the building.

“Where am I going to find that amount of money…I can’t afford that. If I could’ve, I would have, because I know how dangerous it is,” the woman posited.

She is therefore asking that the Ministry of Agriculture assist with the situation as there are small children living in the building.

Protests grow across Pakistan after killing of Shi’ites (Reuters) - Protests against attacks on Shi’ites spread across Pakistan yesterday as the prime minister flew to the city of Quetta to meet mourners refusing to bury 96 victims of a sectarian bomb attack until they were promised protection from Sunni militants.

The protests were triggered by twin bombings on Thursday targeting Shi’ite ethnic Hazaras in Quetta, capital of Balochistan province. The attacks, claimed by the Lashkar-eJhangvi militant group, killed at least 96 people.

Sectarian killings have been rising in Pakistan even as deaths from other militant violence have dropped.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, whose roots are in the heartland Punjab province, wants to expel the Shi’ites who make up about a fifth of the 180 million population.

Human Rights Watch says more than 400 Shi’ites were killed in sectarian attacks last year.

“We want assurances that the killers will be arrested so our younger children will not die also,” said Sakina Bibi, 56, sitting by the coffins of two of her sons.

“They were my

everything,” she wept.

“Sitting here will not bring them back but it is our right to protest.”

Islamic tradition demands that the dead be buried as soon as possible. Leaving the bodies of loved ones above ground for so long is such a potent expression of grief and pain that many people in other cities held protests and vigils in solidarity.

Protests took place in five areas of the commercial capital Karachi, home to 18 million people. Protesters blocked railway lines and the road connecting the airport to the city. Hundreds also gathered outside the president’s private house.

“If we remain silent now, the whole Shi’ite community will be wiped out in Pakistan and the security agencies won’t say anything,” said Ali Muhammad, 55.

“We will choke the roads of the entire country if the demands of the Hazara community are not met.”

In the eastern city of Lahore, thousands of people gathered outside the governor’s mansion, vowing to stay there in solidarity with the Quetta protesters.

In the provincial capital of Peshawar, around 600 people settled down for the night

outside the governor ’s house.

Small protests also broke out in 11 other cities across the country, including Islamabad.

Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf met local officials in Quetta, but did not talk to the protesters, who refused to leave the site of their vigil.

A person present at the talks said the government had promised to carry out a limited operation against suspects and consider legal possibilities for removing the chief minister of Balochistan.

But there was no public statement and no sign that the protesters - who want security guarantees, army action against Lashkar-eJhangvi and the dismissal of the provincial government would back down.

“We will keep protesting until our demands are met,” said Raja Nasir Abbas, secretary general of Majlise-Wahdat-ul-Muslimeen, a national body of Shi’ite groups and clerics.

Two national government ministers and three other senior officials wrote to the president and prime minister recommending that Balochistan’s chief minister be fired.

Monday January 14, 2013

Kaieteur News

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Kaieteur News

Monday January 14, 2013

BOLT, SHELLY CITE HARD WORK ...Laud public support after landing top awards Jamaica Observer THOUGH neither was surprised at their victories, RJR Sports Foundation Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year, Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, were thankful for the support of fans and felt winning the titles had capped a year of hard work.

The duo won the country’s top awards at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel on Friday evening.

“I kind of knew I was going to win because I defended my title, but it was kind of bitter/sweet for me because I’ve always said the next time I win the Sportswoman of the Year Award I want to break the world record and I didn’t get to break the world record, but I did the next best,” Fraser-Pryce told the Jamaica Observer.

“I have to give thanks for everything that has happened in 2012; the support from the fans and everybody who chipped in,” she said.

Bolt, who said he wanted to thank his true fans and not the “bandwaggonists”, was pleased with being the first

man to defend the 100m and 200m Olympic titles.

“I’m very proud of my accomplishments this year and I worked really hard through the bad and through the good,” he said. “It shows that the work you put in throughout the season when you win the awards; it shows that these works have not gone in vain, so for me, it’s always a pleasure,” Bolt added.

Swimmer Alia Atkinson, who was female runner-up and winner of the People’s Choice Performance Award for her fourth-place finish in the 100m breaststroke in the London Olympics, said the latter award meant more.

“It was the thought that people over and over showed that they appreciated what I was doing and knowing that they wanted to support me, so that was definitely a lovely surprise,” she said.

The male runner-up was Olympic 100m and 200m silver medallist Yohan Blake.

The other male nominees were athletes Nickel Ashmeade, Hansle Parchment and Warren

Weir; boxer Nicholas Walters and cricketers Marlon Samuels and Chris Gayle. The other female nominees were athletes Veronica Campbell Brown and Kaliese Spencer; boxer Alicia Ashley and cricketer Stafanie Taylor.

The Sagicor Iconic Award worth $200,000 went to legendary coach Glen Mills who guides Bolt, Blake, and Weir, as well as other members of the Racers Track Club. The funds will be donated to a charity of Mills’ choice.

Category Award winners were Fraser-Pryce and Bolt for athletics; Katherine Wynter and Charles Pyne for badminton; Sasha Dixon and Samardo Samuels for basketball; Ashley and Nicholas Walters for boxing; Taylor and Samuels for cricket; Dahlia Palmer and Marloe Rodman for cycling; equestrian Samantha Albert; Jodi Ann McGregor and Rudolph Austin for football; Trudy Ann Knight and Kemar Mitchell for hockey; Sebastian Rae for motor sports; Jhaniele Fowler for netball; Paul Scott for sailing; John Nelson for shooting; Imani and Icah

Wilmot for surfing; Atkinson and Timothy Wynter for swimming; Tracey Ann Dattadeen and Kane Watson for table tennis; Ina Daley and Matthew Parchment for triathlon, and Shedeiky Hamilton-Barnes and Dellan Brown.

Special Awards were presented to Caribbean squash champions Alyssa Mullings and Chris Binnie; Tae Kwon Do World Cup champion Kenneth Edwards and silver medallist Nicholas Dussard; World Junior championships 100m bronze medallist Odean Skeen and the women’s 4x400m team of Sandrae Farquharson, Shericka Jackson, Janieve Russell and Olivia James.

Fredrick Dacres received an award for taking discus gold at the World Juniors. Alphanso Cunningham won an award for his javelin gold at the 2012 Paralympics.

Team awards were also presented to the Olympic women’s mile and men and w o m e n ’s s p r i n t r e l a y

RJR Sports Foundation Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year, Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, display their awards at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel on Friday evening. teams; National Under-17 women’s and men’s cricket teams for winning regional championships, and the national junior and senior netball teams.

In the inaugural year of the ISSA Schoolboy and Schoolgirl Awards, athletes Danniel Thomas of Edwin Allen and Sanjay Powell of Kingston College; cricketer Fabian Allen of Vere and

footballers Shanice Bowen of Lennon and Bryan Brown of Rusea’s. Guest speaker Michael Holding used his time to celebrate Jamaica’s sporting achievements over the years.

“All these greats obviously had abundant talent, but it didn’t and doesn’t end there. A lot of hard work was put in,” he said.

Monday January 14, 2013

Kaieteur News

Robert Williams Memorial Dominoes commences tomorrow The Robert Williams Memorial 10 zone Dominoes competition will kick start tomorrow at Transport Sports Club. Entrance Fee is $6,000.

The winners will take away $250,000 and a trophy while the runner up will receive $100,000 and a trophy. The third and fourth place teams will collect $40,000 and a trophy and $20,000 respectively. The most valuable player in the finals will be rewarded with $10,000.

According the organizer, Orin Joseph who is also the president of the Georgetown Dominoes Association, the competition will be played on an 2 in 1 out basis with the

top three teams from the preliminary round going through to the final and will also receive $6,000. He also stated the management of each venue will be given an award.

Joseph also told Kaieteur Sport that Williams was keen domino player and fan and always wanted to see the sport reach a higher level. He added that Williams was a founder member of the GDA. The competition will be played in memory of the late Robert Williams who was a former Mayor of Georgetown, President of the GDA and member of the Blue Bird Domino team. Sponsors

Orin Joseph willing to get on board can contact Joseph on 685-6123 or Mark Wiltshire on 680-4888.

Lance Armstrong has to ‘reveal facts’ says GB cycling president

Lance Armstrong BBC Sport - Lance Armstrong should reveal all if he admits to doping on the Oprah Winfrey show later this week, says British Cycling president Brian Cookson.

The American was stripped of his seven Tour de France wins following a report by the US Anti-Doping Agency (Usada). Armstrong, 41, who has always denied doping, has remained silent since the report was published in October, but newspaper reports say he may confess.

“Let’s have facts, names, places and times,” Cookson told BBC Sport.

The interview is scheduled to be recorded on Monday with the 90-minute programme being aired on Winfrey’s OWN network and live-streamed online from 21:00 EST on Thursday (02:00 GMT on Friday in the UK).

Cookson, speaking to BBC Radio 5 live’s Sportsweek programme, continued: “If the allegations are true in Tyler Hamilton’s book and the Usada report then there are substantial numbers of people involved.

“The real thing that has to

come out is who were these other people involved? Who were the people supplying and helping him, the doctors that helped him, the companies that supplied him? Let’s have that information.

“The sort of thing Armstrong was doing, according to the Usada report, was not just popping a few pills behind the changing rooms, it was sophisticated conspiracies, cheating over a long period of time on a large scale.”

In his book, Hamilton, who was a team-mate of Armstrong during his Tour de France victories in 1999, 2000 and 2001, alleged that the American was a fellow doper.

Armstrong ended his fight against the charges against him in August 2012. In October, Usada released a 1,000-page report saying he had been at the heart of “the most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping programme” ever seen in sport.

As a result he was banned from competing in cycling and all sport sanctioned by the World Anti-Doping Authority or Usada, but the New York Times reported that if he admits to doping he could then try to return to racing in marathons and triathlons.

“I think this is the only way out for him,” added Cookson.

“I think there will be all these layers of emotion and obfuscation of the real issue, which is that he cheated, along with a lot of other people in and around his team. “If [being allowed to compete in triathlons is] part of his motivation I kind of understand that but frankly

we don’t want him back in cycling. “[He has] undermined the credibility of our sport to such an extent that people, who I am now confident are competing clean, are still getting smeared and slurred.

“We have had massive investment in anti-doping procedures and a real change in culture over the last five years and I’m pretty confident that the sport is much cleaner than it was but we’ve still got the reputational damage that was done by Armstrong, so I don’t want him back in our sport.

“I hope he doesn’t get a reduction in his sentence from Usada that would allow him to take part in any other sport.”

The Sunday Times, which in December announced plans to sue Armstrong as a result of losing a libel action to him over doping allegations made in 2006, has taken out an advertisement in the Chicago Tribune with a list of 10 questions it wants Winfrey to ask the disgraced cyclist.

The questions include whether Armstrong, who recovered from testicular cancer, accepts “lying to the cancer community was the greatest deception of all” and if he intends to return the prize money he has won.

Armstrong was stripped of his titles by the International Cycling Union (UCI) shortly after the Usada report was released and he was given a lifetime ban from the sport.

He also resigned as chairman of the Livestrong foundation - the cancer charity he created - after the cycling body’s decision.

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Djokovic faces tough first round as history beckons MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Novak Djokovic takes his first steps towards entering the history books on Monday and the two-time defending Australian Open champion is taking nothing for granted in his first round clash.

The world number one, bidding to become the first man in the professional era to win three successive Australian Open titles, meets France’s Paul-Henri Mathieu in the final game of the day session on Rod Laver Arena.

“There is no underestimating him, that’s for sure,” the Serb said of the 31-year-old right hander, who has won four titles on the ATP Tour. “Maybe he’s lower ranked at this moment but he was a top-20 player. He knows how it feels to play on a big stage.”

Mathieu was ranked as high as 12th in the world five years ago but needed surgery on his left knee and missed all of 2011.

He entered 2012 as an unranked player and finished 59th in the world, advancing more than 1,500 places in the rankings and Djokovic was preparing for a battle. “You just try to take one match at a time, focus on your next opponent, your next challenge,” the 25-yearold added.

“I’m going to try to focus from the start.”

Local fans will also have plenty to look forward to on the tournament’s opening day with sentimental favourite Lleyton Hewitt due to take on eighth-seeded Serb Janko Tipsarevic in the first night match on the main center court.

Hewitt has been dogged by injuries in recent years and is entering the twilight of his career, but showed glimpses of the class that made him the world’s best player in winning the invitational Kooyong tournament, beating Juan Martin del Potro in the final.

The 31-year-old, who has a history of titanic five-set battles on Rod Laver Arena, has already laid down a marker for the Tipsarevic match predicting it would go the distance. “I haven’t played him for a few years now,” Hewitt said.

Novak Djokovic of Serbia serves during a practice session at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne January 13, 2013.

REUTERS/David Gray “But he’s improved a bit in the last couple years obviously to get in the top-10. It’s going to be a tough match obviously over five sets.

“I feel like all I can control is my preparation and doing all the right things. I’ve done absolutely everything in my power. I look forward to the challenge.”

Women’s second seed Maria Sharapova will actually open the tournament’s proceedings on center court against fellow Russian Olga Puchkova, while former French Open champion Li Na will meet Kazakhstan’s Sesil Karatantcheva on Margaret Court Arena, the third showcourt at the sprawling tennis complex.

World number five David Ferrer, fresh off his record-equaling Auckland Open title on Saturday, does not get any respite from his trans-Tasman dash when he concludes the day’s action on Hisense Arena against Belgium’s Olivier Rochus.

New Zealand show fight against South Africa (Reuters) - New Zealand fought bravely to move to 157 for four in their second innings, following on and still 247 runs behind South Africa, at the close of the third day’s play in the second test on Sunday.

Unbeaten pair BJ Watling (41) and Dean Brownlie (44) provided stern resistance and the duo looked relatively untroubled as they added an unbroken fifth-wicket partnership of 73 off 27.2 overs to steer their team to the close of play.

Opener Martin Guptill contributed 48 before being bowled by seamer Rory Kleinveldt who went on to have Daniel Flynn (0) caught behind with his next delivery. Kleinveldt ended the day with two for 31 while left-arm spinner Robin Peterson, who accounted for Brendon McCullum (11) and Kane Williamson (11), claimed two for 29.

The tourists showed far more determination with the bat than they had in their first innings when they subsided to 121 all out in reply to the top-ranked hosts’s 5258 declared.

Watling said that while the pitch was providing some variable bounce it was still good for batting which would aid New Zealand’s seemingly impossible task of at least forcing South Africa to bat again.

“It is a little bit variable and there are a few balls staying quite low. It’s still a reasonable track and we need to keep fighting away tomorrow morning and keep wearing them out,” Watling told a news conference.

The morning session had belonged to speedster Dale Steyn, the world’s top-ranked bowler, who claimed five for 17 off 13 overs to bundle New Zealand out 30 minutes before lunch, at that stage trailing South Africa by 404 runs.

Watling provided the one shining light for the tourists in their first dig as his battling 63

Sri Lanka beat Australia by eight wickets (Reuters) - Lahiru Thirimanne struck his first one-day century as Sri Lanka levelled the one-day series against Australia with a convincing eight-wicket win on Sunday.

Sri Lanka put the hosts in to bat after rain delayed the start at the Adelaide Oval and the bowlers capitalised on cloud cover and moisture in the pitch to restrict Australia to 170 all out from 46.5 overs.

The tourists’ reply started poorly when Upal Thuranga was caught behind off Clint McKay without scoring but Thirimanne (102 not out) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (51) dug in to help Sri Lanka reach 172-2 with almost 10 overs remaining.

The series is level at 1-1 after two of the five matches, with the teams next meeting in Brisbane on Friday.

The outcome hinged largely on the toss, with Sri Lanka able to tie down the Australian batsmen with the swinging ball before batting conditions improved.

The tourists reduced Australia to 83-6 at one stage though Brad Haddin (50) and Ben Cutting (27) rallied for the hosts with 57 runs for the seventh wicket. Paceman Lasith Malinga, the pick of Sri Lanka’s bowlers with 3-32 from nine overs, halted the recovery by dismissing debutants Cutting and Kane Richardson with successive deliveries.

Earlier in the innings George Bailey (26) and David Hussey (29) were the only recognised batsmen to reach double figures

Lahiru Thirimanne drives behind square. (Getty Images) and it was left to Haddin to make the score respectable with his 16th one-day half century.

But Haddin, playing impressively in place of

Monday January 14, 2013

the rested Matthew Wade, hurt his hamstring while batting and had to hand over the wicketkeeper’s gloves to Phil Hughes after 20 overs.

Sri Lanka began the run chase conservatively after Thuranga’s dismissal as Thirimanne and Dilshan inched their way to 66-1 from 20 overs. From that point, they struck out with greater freedom to up the run rate and ease their side to victory under the floodlights.

Thirimanne surpassed his previous oneday best score of 77, set against India last August, with a four to the fine leg boundary.

He played with far greater fluency than Dilshan, who holed out off Cutting to Glenn Maxwell at point.

Kushal Perera had hit 14 from 12 deliveries before he resisted the temptation to hit the winning runs with Thirimanne on 98.

Perera faced four balls without attempting to score, giving Thirimanne the chance to reach his century and win the match with his 12th boundary as Sri Lanka avenged Friday’s 107-run defeat in Melbourne.

Australia will look forward to the return of rested captain Michael Clarke and opener David Warner, with several issues to address ahead of Friday’s third game in Brisbane.

Scores: Sri Lanka 2 for 172 (Thirimanne 102*, Dilshan 51) beat Australia 170 (Haddin 50, Malinga 3-32) by 8 wickets.

BJ Watling punches off the back foot. (Associated Press) off 87 balls with 13 fours added some gloss to the innings.

ATTACK OR DEFEND? Steyn, while expressing some sympathy for the situation that New Zealand find themselves in, said that the introduction of the second new ball soon after the start of play on day four could settle the test.

“It’s a difficult situation when you have been asked to follow on and you are so many runs behind. How do you go about batting?

Do you attack or do you defend? It is a tough one for them,” he said.

“We are 13 overs away from the second new ball so if we can knock one over tomorrow with the older ball then get the new ball to talk a bit and get some swing then that would help,” he added.

New Zealand began the day on a parlous 47 for six and the pair of Watling and Doug Bracewell (7) added 14 runs to the overnight total before the righthanded Bracewell prodded at a Steyn delivery to send an outside edge through to keeper De Villiers.

Steyn struck again one run later when he trapped the left-handed Neil Wagner (0) legbefore with an in-swinging delivery. The 29year-old Steyn was not done yet and in his next over he bowled Jeetan Patel (0) after the batsman backed away from a good length delivery.

Steyn enjoyed a wonderful morning as he claimed his 19th five-wicket haul in tests as he sent down a spell that produced figures of 5-3-3-3.

Watling and Trent Boult (17 not out) then provided some late resistance with a lastwicket stand that produced 59 runs, a New Zealand record 10th-wicket partnership against South Africa beating the 57 scored

by Simon Doull and Richard de Groen scored in Johannesburg during the 1994/95 season.

The aggressive Watling was the last man out, caught at first slip off the bowling of paceman Morne Morkel.

South Africa hold a 1-0 series lead.

Scores: New Zealand 157 for 4 (Brownlie 44*, Watling 41*) and 121 (Watling 63, Steyn 5-17) trail South Africa 525 for 8 dec by 247 runs.

Monday January 14, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 31

Dominant United and City beat pretend pretenders LONDON (Reuters) Premier League leaders Manchester United and second-placed champions Manchester City put former English heavyweights Liverpool and Arsenal firmly in their place on Sunday with United’s Robin van Persie again on song.

United sealed a needlessly nervy 2-1 home win over eighth-placed Liverpool to maintain their seven-point lead after Van Persie with a goal and Patrice Evra with two assists put rival Luis Suarez in the shade.

In contrast, the game in London was never in doubt with City winning 2-0 for their first league win at Arsenal in 38 years.

City were given a helping hand by the 10th-minute dismissal of Arsenal’s Laurent Koscielny for wrestling Edin Dzeko to the ground before James Milner and Dzeko netted before the break.

Liverpool have had to watch with horror over the last two decades as big rivals United undisputedly crowned themselves kings of the English game, trampling over the Anfield side’s legacy after they had shone the brightest in the 1970s and 80s.

The first half at Old Trafford, which followed United’s 2-1 win at Liverpool in September, suggested talk of the balance of power should be replaced by whisperings of the huge gulf in class such was the ineptitude of Brendan Rodgers’ side.

Dutchman Van Persie, English football’s in-form striker along with Liverpool’s Suarez, grabbed a 19th minute opener when he swept in Evra’s cross in inimitable style.

“Robin van Persie is different class.

He produces moments in the game others can’t do and we are glad he is on our side,” man of the match Danny Welbeck told Sky. “We had our gameplan and it worked really well in the first half. They came into it more in the second half but we got the three points and showed our character.”

Forward We l b e c k , preferred to the in-form Javier Hernandez in the absence of the injured Wayne Rooney, justified his start with some good play although he should have done better twice in the first half when almost clean through.

Van Persie, who now has 17 goals as the league top scorer, had another chance just before the break as United

overran their toothless north west neighbours but he oddly chose a cheeky flick which Martin Skrtel cleared just before the line.

FORGETTABLE PERFORMANCE Uruguay’s Suarez, with 15 league goals this term, was often jeered by the home crowd in a forgettable performance where nothing went right but he took the sting out of any more vocal taunts by shaking Evra’s hand before kick off.

Suarez failed to do so last season at Old Trafford after serving an eight-game ban for racially abusing the Frenchman.

The arrival of the lively Daniel Sturridge at halftime for his Premier League debut after joining from Chelsea and the fact they somehow went into the break just 1-0 down boosted Liverpool’s confidence in the second half.

It was soon dampened when Van Persie’s free kick was headed goalwards by Evra, prolific for a left back with four goals this term, and the ball deflected off team mate Vidic before bulging the net. No Liverpool players appealed for offside but replays showed the Serbian was just ahead of their backline.

L i v e r p o o l ’s d e f e n c e and especially Johnson had been found wanting for the goal but Sturridge dug them half out of a hole when he struck after 57 minutes when Gerrard’s piledriver could only be palmed into his path by

Nemanja Vidic claimed the decisive goal after the ball brushed off his head before finding the net (Getty Images) goalkeeper David De Gea. E n g l a n d ’s St u r r i d g e then missed three decent chances as United boss Alex Ferguson fretted in the dugout and visiting Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho, scouting United ahead of their Champions League clash, raised an eyebrow beneath the hood he used to shield himself from the cold and the cameras.

As it was, United closed out the win without further alarm.

City were hardly ever in danger at sixth-placed Arsenal and despite the angry response from the famously placid home fans, referee Mike Dean had little choice but to

Letter to the Sports Editor

Let’s hope football progress now that the dust has settled DEAR EDITOR, FIFA has come and gone and Guyana’s football is back to normal, at least for the near future. As someone who has followed the sport for decades I would urge all, the older heads, the younger heads and those without heads to use this new found opportunity not to create strife, mud sling nor bicker but rather to create an atmosphere in which football can develop to its full potential. Colin Klass is gone and we should say thank you to him for whatever he has done and even what he has failed to do, even though the latter is far more than the former.

We need also to thank the Georgetown Football Association for standing up

to the GFF’s Goliath. For too long the GFF has been running football like a cake shop business and it is now clear that the writing is on the wall for its chosen few.

We must also not forget to extend gratitude to Odinga Lumumba whose tenacity and refusal to bow not only forced Kashif and Shanghai and other promoters of football to increase compensation to players, but also served as a catalyst for FIFA sending a team to clean up the mess created by the GFF. It is now time for new blood, new vision and new modus operandi. Collective and organized work will yield nationwide benefits. All aboard? Safe sailing!

Yours in sport, Mark Arthur

dismiss defender Koscielny for the offending bear hug and award a penalty.

Dzeko’s spot kick hit keeper Wojciech Szczesny, rebounded off the post and ran along the line into the Pole’s grateful arms.

Arsenal fans, held up coming into the ground

because of a suspect package, could have been forgiven for thinking it might be their day after all but it soon turned into another painful game for a team who have not won a trophy since 2005.

City have usurped Arsenal as continual title challengers and their class

against 10 men soon told when Milner rifled in a smart effort in the 21st minute after a good Carlos Tevez pass following a quick free kick.

Arsenal supporters also outraged by the free kick award sang “1-0 to the referee” but that was disingenuous given the foothold of Roberto Mancini’s side and it was soon 2-0.

England midfielder Milner whipped in a cross and though the keeper s t o p p e d Te v e z ’s c l o s e range effort, Dzeko could not miss.

Arsene Wenger’s team barely threatened with the inconsistent Theo Walcott isolated up front and proving again that he is not the finished article by blasting one good chance woefully wide.

C i t y ’s Vi n c e n t Kompany was harshly sent off for a robust challenge with 15 minutes to go but the second half was largely a non-event in the cold, somewhere Liverpool and Arsenal could be for quite some time given United and City’s dominance.

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Suns scorch Bulls to end road drought (Reuters) - Luis Scola and the fast-paced Phoenix Suns heaved a collective sigh of relief after snapping a 12game road losing streak with a rousing 97-81 win over the Chicago Bulls on Saturday.

Argentine forward Scola scored 22 points and bench player Michael Beasley weighed in with 20 as the Suns stunned the Bulls at the United Center to improve to 13-26 for the season.

Phoenix outshot Chicago by 49 percent to 36 from the field and out-rebounded their opponents 46-42 with a welcome return to form after being beaten in their five previous games.

“It was a much, much, much-needed win for us,”

Suns head coach Alvin Gentry told reporters after his team recorded a 2,000th victory for the franchise in their 3,599th game.

“And it was against a quality team, so that made it even better. For the first time in a long time, I thought we played well for four quarters, where we executed.”

Forward Carlos Boozer led the way with 15 points on six-of14 shooting for the Bulls, who slipped to 20-15 just three days after a 104-96 upset by the lowly Milwaukee Bucks.

“I have to get more out of our team,” Chicago head coach Tom Thibodeau said.

“Everyone has to do it, starting with me. It’s my job to have them ready. Right

Rain ruins Women’s chances of drawing level ROSEAU, Dominica – West Indies Women and South Africa Women played to a no-result after rain ruined the fourth One-Day International of the five-match series at Windsor Park here Sunday.

Scores: SOUTH AFRICA 139 all out off 43 overs (Crizelda Brits 36, Dane van Niekerk 25; Shanel Daley 3-19, Shakera Selman 2-24); WEST INDIES eight for two off two overs.

now we’re not doing as well as we should.

“We have to play with more intensity, more of an edge. We are not doing that.

We have to correct it.”

With guard Richard Hamilton getting the stroke going early on to score eight points, the Bulls made a promising start to lead 21-20 after a closely contested opening quarter.

However, the Suns took control as the red-hot Beasley drained 14 points on sevenof-eight shooting to help his team forge ahead 49-42 by halftime. A Sebastian Telfair three-pointer stretched the Phoenix lead to 77-63 after the third quarter and they outscored Chicago 20-18 in the fourth to remain in charge.

“I stayed ready,” said Beasley after his most productive game since he scored 21 points against the Los Angeles Clippers on December 8.

“It felt good to have the ball finally drop my way. I’m going to build on this personally and just get better throughout the season.”

Monday January 14, 2013

HISTORY! Jacobs receives K&S/ Beharry sponsored MVP car

THIS IS MINE! Dwayne Jacobs in a happy mood as he receives the keys to his new ride.

For the first time in the history of Guyana’s football, a player drove away with a brand new car as his prize for being adjudged the Most Valuable Player of a competition.

This took place on Saturday evening at the Buxton Community Centre Ground when Buxton United Sports Club forward Dwayne Jacobs won a brand Toyota Allex 2200CC

motor car donated by the Edward B. Beharry and Company Ltd. An elated Jacobs received the keys to his vehicle from the Beharry representative on hand watched on by his teammates, fans and the Co-Directors of the Kashif and Shanghai Organisation, Aubrey Major and Kashif Muhammad.

Monday January 14, 2013

Kaieteur News

Page 33

Guyana hoping for better fortunes after Darren Bravo barrage wins it for T&T Shiv Chanderpaul plays during his half-century.

(WICB)

Guyana will hope for better fortunes tomorrow when they face Jamaica at the Beausejour Cricket Ground in St Lucia in the first game of two following Darren Bravo’s explosive innings that led Trinidad and Tobago to a comfortable victory on Saturday. The second match tomorrow pits Windward Islands vs Trinidad & Tobago.

Darren Bravo hit his highest Twenty20 score as Trinidad & Tobago crushed Guyana in Port of Spain to move to the top of the table.

Guyana asked T&T to bat and removed their openers Lendl Simmons and William Perkins cheaply.

They even managed to restrict Dwayne Bravo to a run-a-ball 19 but Darren Bravo kept the runs coming for T&T. Guyana hadn’t allowed T&T to blaze away, though, and when Denesh Ramdin became the fourth wicket to fall, the score was 127 in the 16th over.

Kieron Pollard came in, and took the game further

away from Guyana. Pollard blitzed five sixes in making an unbeaten 44 off just 17 deliveries. Darren Bravo himself swung four sixes in his 51-ball stay, which also brought him eight fours.

An asking rate in the region of ten runs an over much was to prove much beyond Guyana, who failed to build any momentum during the chase. Most of the T&T bowlers were among the wickets, with Rayad Emrit taking two, and Sunil Narine returning 1 for 12 from four overs.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul played a lone hand with a half-century at the top of the order, but the next highest score was 14 by Narsingh Deonarine. Guyana were left to reflect upon a heavy defeat, which hurt their net run-rate and sent T&T’s soaring.

Scores: Trinidad & Tobago 191 for 4 (Darren Bravo 82*, Pollard 44*) beat Guyana 111 for 6 (Chanderpaul 53, Emrit 218) by 80 runs.

(ESPNcricinfo)

Darren Bravo hit 82 not out (WICB)