V If you miss out in the last tour, Take Advantage of this Magical Tour of Europe LOW FARES AIRLINE TICKETS ON SALE GUYANA SURINAME JAMAICA TRINIDAD 917-407-9090 718-291-9292 Also serving other Destinations to the Caribbean, Latin America, The Indian Subcontinent and the world. Enquire about group fair and Senior citizen discount Revised Destinations Now to Include Geneva & Paris TO SECURE YOUR SEAT PLEASE CALL: CALL KT&T 718-291-9292 917-407-9090 2015 Nov. 3rd Nov. 18th At No Extra Cost, the date is now changed to 26th July - 9th August 2015, when school closed so that children can now join now parents on the tour. Call us for further info. 718-291-9292 • 917-407-9090. New Date See More on Page 4 See More on Page 15 GUYANA US-BASED GUYANESE FATALLY SHOT IN BELVEDERE HOME INVASION -COUSIN CHOPPED IN HEAD DURING ATTACK United States-based Guyanese Ramesh Puran, who returned to mark his father’s one- year death anniversary, was fatally shot during a home invasion at Belvedere, Corentyne on Thursday night. WEEKLY NEWSPAPER [email protected]347-759-3934 DISTRIBUTED IN BROOKLYN, QUEENS, BRONX, LONG ISLAND, and MORE! Caribbean Star May 22–28, 2015 Vol.4 #43 See More on Page 36 TRINIDAD TRINIDAD SPORT Coach Simmons opens door for IPL players $1M FOR YOUR SON TEN YEARS after he survived a kid- napping ordeal, businessman Nandlal Singh is now reliving the nightmare of that ordeal all over again after his son, Amit Singh, 22, was himself kidnapped on Sunday. The kidnappers have since demanded $1 million for Singh’s safe release. GUYANA EXXON MOBIL ANNOUNCES SIGNIFICANT OIL FIND OFF GUYANA GUYANA See More on Page 34 THE ZIKA VIRUS: A NEW MOSQUITO DISEASE TO WORRY ABOUT See Page 38 PM, SEVERAL CABINET MEMBERS SWORN IN HIS Excellency Brigadier (rtd) David Granger administered the Oath of Office to 15 Cabinet Members to serve in the Executive Government’s Council of Ministers with appointed Ministerial Portfolios at the helm of a number of the Government Ministries.The modest swearing in ceremony was held at the renamed Ministry of the Presidency, formerly the complex known as Office of the President (OP), where Moses Nagamootoo, was sworn in as Prime Minister and First Vice President of the Coopera- tive Republic of Guyana. More election news on pages 6, 9, 34 See Page 11 PPP/C PROTESTS OUTSIDE GECOM OVER ELECTION RESULT
Transcript
BELGIUM • G AUSTRIA • ITALY • VATICAN • SWITZERLAND • FRANCE
V June 14th - 28th 2015 —
If you miss out in the last tour, Take Advantage of thisMagical Tour of Europe
C
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TO SECURE YOUR SEATPLEASE CALL:
CALL KT&T 718-291-9292917-407-9090
V R J
2015Nov. 3rd Nov. 18th
At No Extra Cost, the date is now changed to 26th July - 9th August 2015,when school closed so that children can now join now parents on the tour. Call us for further info. 718-291-9292 • 917-407-9090.New Date
See More on Page 4
See More on Page 15
GUYANA
US-BASED GUYANESE FATALLY SHOT IN BELVEDERE HOME INVASION-COUSIN CHOPPED IN HEAD DURING ATTACKUnited States-based Guyanese Ramesh Puran, who returned to mark his father’s one- year death anniversary, was fatally shot during a home invasion at Belvedere, Corentyne on Thursday night.
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CaribbeanFirst Interfaith Newspaper, Serving The Community
Star
May 22–28, 2015 Vol.4 #43
See More on Page 36
TRINIDAD
TRINIDAD
SPORT
Coach Simmons opens door for IPL players
$1M FOR YOUR SONTEN YEARS after he survived a kid-napping ordeal, businessman Nandlal Singh is now reliving the nightmare of that ordeal all over again after his son, Amit Singh, 22, was himself kidnapped on Sunday. The kidnappers have since demanded $1 million for Singh’s safe release.
GUYANA
EXXON MOBIL ANNOUNCES SIGNIFICANT OIL FIND OFF GUYANA
GUYANA
See More on Page 34
THE ZIKA VIRUS: A NEW MOSQUITO DISEASE TO WORRY ABOUT
See Page 38
PM, SEVERAL CABINET MEMBERS SWORN IN
HIS Excellency Brigadier (rtd) David Granger administered the Oath of Office to 15 Cabinet Members to serve in the Executive Government’s Council of Ministers with appointed Ministerial Portfolios at the helm of a number of the Government Ministries.The modest swearing in ceremony was held at the renamed Ministry of the Presidency, formerly the complex known as Office of the President (OP), where Moses Nagamootoo, was sworn in as Prime Minister and First Vice President of the Coopera-tive Republic of Guyana. More election news on pages 6, 9, 34
See Page 11
PPP/C PROTESTS OUTSIDE GECOM OVER ELECTION RESULT
2 Caribbean Star NewspaperMay 22–28, 2015
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National Awards are to be given out this yearPRESIDENT David Granger indicated that National Awards will be returned to Guyana. Speaking to members of staff at Office of the President, the Guyanese Head of State declared that every year, National Awards are to be presented without fear.
“Even if it’s one award, two awards, twenty, that is one of the insti-tutions of our country,” he said
during a meeting with the staff.The President added that members of the
National Assembly and the Judiciary must be treated with respect, regardless of party affiliation. Among the National Awards of Guyana are the Order of Excellence, Order of Roraima, Cacique Crown of Honour, Golden Arrow of Achievement, Medal of Service, Cacique Crown of Valor, Golden Arrow of Courage, and President’s Commendation for Brave Conduct, Military Service Star and the Disciplined Services Star.
The last National Awards were given out in October 2011. Over 100 persons then were conferred with awards in recognition of yeoman service to national development.
Cacique Crown of Honor
Golden Arrow of Achievement
4 Caribbean Star NewspaperMay 22–28, 2015
US-based Guyanese fatally shot in Belvedere home invasion-cousin chopped in head during attack
United States-based Guyanese Ra-mesh Puran, who returned to mark his father’s one- year death anni-
versary, was fatally shot during a home invasion at Belvedere, Corentyne on Thursday night.
Puran, 49, of Ozone Park, New York, died on his way to the Port Mourant Hos-pital after the attack, which took place sometime between 9PM and 9:30PM.
Puran was robbed of a quantity of jew-ellery that he was wearing by the robbers, who also terrorised other members of his family during their five-minute-long or-deal. Police spokesman Ivelaw Whittaker said that Devika Ramotar, a cousin of the dead man, was also chopped to her head by the bandits.
The attack occurred at the home of Darmattie Seecharran, Puran’s niece, whom he was visiting when the four rob-bers, armed with a shotgun and three cutlasses, barged in and demanded cash and jewellery.
Seecharran told Stabroek News that she was nursing her 10-month-old daughter when two men entered the room. She said both men were armed with cutlasses and one pounced on her, placed a cutlass to her neck and told her not to scream. The visibly-traumatised mother also said the other man took her
daughter and placed a knife to her neck as well.
According to Seecharran, she followed the men’s instructions and kept quiet. She said the men asked her for the mon-ey and the jewellery and she told them
“the next room have it,” indicating to the room where Puran and his wife, Sandra, were staying. The woman said while the men turned their attention to that room, her aunt had heard the men asking for money and jewellery and she locked the door and then jumped out of the window to escape.
The second storey window from where Sandra Puran jumped on Thursday night, during a home invasion in which her hus-band was killed.
The second storey window from where Sandra Puran jumped on Thursday night, during a home invasion in which her hus-band was killed.
Stabroek News was told that the wom-an removed the louvre panes from the window and jumped some 20 feet to the ground. She did not sustain any serious injuries but was seeking medical atten-tion at a private doctor up to yesterday afternoon.
Seecharran added that she managed to escape and sound an alarm. At that point, she said her husband, Danny Narine, went to her rescue. She told him what happened but when he went upstairs to check no one was in the house.
Narine related that he had left to trans-port some relatives to their homes but while on the way he heard noise coming
from his home. Upon returning, he saw his aunt jumping through a window.
Narine stated that he rushed to her aid. “Thief man a kill them people up stairs deh,” he recalled her saying.
According to Narine, after he did not see any of the perpetrators when he went into the house, he checked on Puran, who was in the living room. He explained that Puran was lying on the floor and when they turned him they noticed a hole in the region of his shoulder.
Seecharran stated that she did not hear any explosion during the robbery and she was unaware of her uncle’s injury until he was being aided by her husband and her aunt. The man was immediately rushed to the hospital by neighbours, who went to the family’s aid but he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Stabroek News was told that police ar-rived promptly at the scene after being alerted about the robbery but they were unable to make any arrests. The bandits fled after they robbed Puran’s of his jew-ellery.
Puran had been in the country since last Friday with his mother, his wife, a sister and a son to perform a shraaddha to mark his father’s one-year death anni-versary. He was due to perform another ritual for his mother-in-law yesterday.
Ramesh Puran with his wife, Sandra. He was killed in Thursday’s home invasion, while his wife jumped through a window to escape.
5Caribbean Star Newspaper May 22–28, 2015
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6 Caribbean Star NewspaperMay 22–28, 2015
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Claudette Singh tipped to be new
SpeakerFormer Justice of Appeal Claudette
Singh has been tipped to replace Raphael Trotman as Speaker of the
National Assembly, according to sources in the APNU+AFC coalition.
Stabroek News understands that Singh was proposed by APNU while former Speaker Ralph Ramkarran was floated by the Alliance For Change.
Under the Cummingsburg Accord for-malizing the alliance between the two parties the Speaker has to come from civil society.
Singh was last year appointed Legal Advisor to the Guyana Police Force by the Office of the President and has since been serving in that capacity. She has previously been proposed by the PNCR for higher judicial positions.
Granger instructs Top Cop to put
reshuffling on hold
Pr e s i -d e n t D a v i d
Granger has i n s t r u c t e d Commission-er of Police Seelall Per-saud to put a high level reshuffling in the Guyana Police Force on hold until a new Minister of Home Affairs is ap-pointed.
Minister of State-designate Joseph Harmon, who is the only other person apart from Granger who is active in the new administration, said the President only learnt of the removal of Crime Chief Leslie James and the transferal of other high level officers through the media.
“The President has instructed the Commissioner that all these high level changes in the force should be put on hold until such time when a new Minister of Home Affairs is appointed,” Harmon told Stabroek News yesterday.
PPP criticizes shift of independence
celebrationsThe opposition PPP today de-
cried the shifting by the AP-NU+AFC government of inde-
pendence celebrations on May 26 from the National Park to the Inde-pendence Arch on Brick dam.
The PPP press release issued today follows.
The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has noted with deep concern attempts by the fraudulently-imposed APNU-AFC administration led by Da-vid Granger to downgrade the signif-icance of our independence struggle by shifting the Independence Day cel-ebrations from the National Park to the Independence Arch, Brick dam to coincide with the inauguration cere-mony of David Granger.
This is not only a retrogressive step but also an affront to all those who struggled for the independence of our country from the yoke of co-lonial rule.
The PPP as the Party that played the lead role in the independence struggle under the then leadership of Dr. Cedi
Japan calls on the Granger led admin-istration to reconsider that decision and hold the Flag Raising celebrations at the National Park in keeping with time honored custom and practice as it relates to the celebration.
Independence Day is the single most important day in our national political life and therefore ought to be full prominence and recognition befitting of the occasion.
Indeed, it was the PPP out of rec-ognition of the significance of the day and the yeoman struggles of our leaders who valiantly fought for our independence that declared May 26 as a National holiday.
The PPP wishes to serve notice to the current administration that it will not sit idly by and allow the true meaning and significance of indepen-dence to be reduced to a national cir-cus with lots of meaningless fanfare and extravagance as during the days of the previous PNC regime when in-dependence day was pushed into the background in favor of Republic Day.
7Caribbean Star Newspaper May 22–28, 2015
My Lord Shiva - Supreme Consciousness!!Jai Sita Ram, my name is Nadi-
ra Persaud and I am a blessed member of the Shaanti Bha-
van Mandir. Choosing a deity to communicate with, create a bond with, or be our guide, as we tra-verse this path in the universe as mortal beings, is not an easy task. We all look for some kind of guid-ance in our daily activities and hope that the decisions we make would be beneficial not only to ourselves, but to our families and the community at large. Many times we do things in a subcon-scious state of mind without even thinking. I will share with you my personal bond with our sweet and ever forgiving God (Deity), my Lord Shiva.
As children growing up, I remembered my parents and grandparents instilling in my-self and siblings the importance of praying every morning be-fore leaving home for school, and also at night. My parents told us that these actions would guarantee that we are blessed with our studies and protect us through our days and nights. My prayer then was and still is, chanting the simple mantra “Om Namah Shivaya”. As a child, I did not understand the true concept of prayers and what it entailed, but as I began to mature and continued to follow a religious way of life, I realized that if our faith and hope is strong, then our beliefs and prayers are in-tensified. Hence, at this point in my life with this conviction, I be-lief I can achieve anything, once I have faith in God.
I will attempt to give you a glimpse of my connection and faith with Lord Shiva and how he has impacted my life spiritually, in a positive and productive way. Lord Shiva has made me more consciousness of my thoughts as well as my actions. He has brought great peace within me by just focusing on his form and reciting the mantras associated with him. In addition, since my faith in Lord Shiva has intensi-fied it gives me contentment and comfort to know, that everything ends up working out for the best. I have come to the realization that God knows what it good for me and my family. If we leave him to be in total control and just be an instrument, the correct strings will be plucked and sweet music will be the outcome. Be-
sides my parents, he has blessed me with great souls/individuals in my life, to help mold and mo-tivate me to be a better person. I have learnt to place my hope and trust in Lord Shiva, with the understanding that everything only happens because of him. Although I may not like some of the events in my life, I know that God has planned it that way, so I learn from it and move on. Go-ing to mandir and listening to his glories and greatness has helped me to have more patience and be a kind, caring and loving person, letting him take control of the reins of my life. Whatever task comes my way I called upon him by chanting “Om Namah Shiva-ya”. Reciting his name helps my vision to be clearer when obsta-cles arrive. When I look at Lord Shiva I feel the peace and se-renity that he possesses. I pray for the guidance and protection of Lord Shiva in everything I do and everything I hope to accom-plish. He has never failed me and I have that implicit faith that he will always be there. He is my source of inspiration, guidance and assurance. He has blessed me with my own wonderful fam-ily and a good job. It is because of Lord Shiva I’m blessed to be a daughter, a wife, a mother of three wonderful children. I’m in-spired by Lord Shiva to continue to work towards being a content-ed person, with hope and faith.
Lord Shiva is one of the par-amount deities of Hinduism that we worship. Shiva is the third god in the Hindu triumvirate. One must remember that Hin-duism is monotheistic. The trin-ity consist of Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesh (Shiva). This holy trinity representing the Creator, the Preserver and the Destroy-er. Thus, Shiva is the destructive form of the almighty who erad-
icates the negative traits that permit us from connecting with God. In Hinduism, Lord Shiva is regarded as the representation of the Supreme Being. As the cycle of destruction and recre-ation is always in a circle, Shiva’s is mostly responsible to main-tain the life cycle. He is also re-sponsible for the form of death and destruction, in the positive sense of destroying the ego, the false identification with the form. This also includes shed-ding of old bad habits and ma-terial attachments, enabling his devotes to deal with reality. He also reproduces that which has been destroyed and dissolved. His symbol of the Lingam rep-resents his reproductive power.
Lord Shiva is often shown with many faces as creator, destroy-er and preserver in total com-mand of the cosmos. He con-tains both good and evil. He is moody, free of inhibitions, easy to please and has the power to change the laws of our destiny. Thus, Lord Shiva is known as the god of mercy and kindness. He protects his devotees from all evil that are always surround-ing them. He blesses his devo-tees with knowledge, grace and peace, and he lies in the core of our hearts. Shiva is considered to be the most unique of all Hin-du gods, keep in mind we are a monotheistic religion. He is the only godhead who is in deep meditation sitting in Kailaasa Mountain in the Himalaya. Lord Shiva is also said to be insepa-rable from Shakti also known as Maa Parvati. We have learned that there is no Shiva without Shakti and vice versa, since he is also described as Ardhana-reeswara: Shiva as half man and half woman.
Lord Shiva is mostly shown ei-ther meditating or in the form of
a Dancing God Nataraj where he dances to the beat and rhythm of creation. He is also shown in sculptures with many hands. One pair of hands, for example, rep-resents the balance between life and death. Shiva is “tri netra” or three eyed, and is neela kantha - blue-necked (having consumed poison to save the world from destruction). However, there are many attributes associated with Lord Shiva. Here is a brief description of some of the sym-bols depicting Lord Shiva. Each depiction signifies a different aspect of his supreme being: His unclad body covered with ash-es, depicts Lord Shiva’s pres-ence, and is much higher than this physical being. According to some, Shiva’s body smeared with cemetery ash points to the philosophy of life and death and the fact that death is the ulti-mate reality of the life. The flow of his Jata (matted hair), pres-ents Shiva as the lord of Wind or Vayu, who is the subtle form of the breath, present in all living beings. Thus, it is Shiva who is the lifeline for all living beings.
Shiva main attributes are: Ganga flows from his matted hair and according to a legend, Shiva granted an outlet so that the great river traversed the earth and brought purifying wa-ter to human beings. Ganga also denotes fertility - one of the cre-ative aspects of the Rudra.
The Third Eye: Lord Shiva is known as the three eyed Lord or Tryambaka Deva. The sun is his right eye, the moon his left, and the third eye on his forehead, is the eye of wisdom. It is this eye that guides his intuition beyond the obvious and can detect evil from anywhere and destroy it completely. Half-Open Eyes: The half-open eyes show that the universe cycle is in process. When the eyes are completely closed it signifies the dissolvent of the universe and when it is completely open, a new cycle of creation begins. Crescent: Shiva bears on his head the crescent of the panchami (fifth day) moon. This is placed near the fiery third eye and shows the power of Soma, the sacrificial offering, which is the representative of moon. It means that Shiva pos-sesses the power of procreation along with the power of destruc-tion. The moon is also a measure
of time, thus Crescent also rep-resent his control over time. The Cobra Necklace: This suggests that Shiva is beyond the powers of death and is often the sole support in case of distress. The snake curled three times around his neck depicts the past, pres-ent and future. With the snake looking in the right direction of Lord Shiva, it signifies that the Lord′s perpetual laws of reason and justice preserve natural or-der in the universe. The trident that represents the three gunas; Sattva - Positive, Pure, Pleasure & Devine; Tamo - Controlling, Selfish Desire, Human and Rajo - Negative, Impure, Pain and Demonic. The sound of Shiva’s two-sided drum maintains the rhythm of the heartbeat and creates the sound AUM in the overtones. The vehicle of Shi-va is the white bull called Nandi (the joyful). Shiva is often seated on a tiger skin or wears a tiger skin, with the tiger representing the mind.
As I continue to pray to Lord Shiva for an understanding heart, equal vision and balance mind, I try not to judge because I know this is not a character that lord Shiva possesses. In the past years, our relatives had some un-foreseen circumstances thrown their way and it made me realize that things change in a blink of an eye. It taught me not to take things for granted and with his mercy, my love and faith for him only strengthened. It is not easy to watch your love one suffer, but he has help me to be posi-tive and be hopeful that the end result is in his hands . I learned to have more self-control and understand that the good we do in life does not go unnoticed. I have also learned that it is bet-ter to give than receive. I con-tinue to pray for this world to be a better place but this can only happen if we collectively come together in one voice, as one people and have faith. We are taught to be good, do good and live good. So if you have to help someone, just do it and don’t look to be rewarded. All these incidents that we encounter are god’s plan. As I looked back and realize Lord Shiva has been an-swering my prayers. I leave you with a quote “Jaisi karni ,waisi bharni”, “As you sow, so shall you reap”. Jai Ho!
8 Caribbean Star NewspaperMay 22–28, 2015
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T&T Opposition Leader not resigning over end to emailgate probe
“I did my job and I am quite satis-fied. I have no plans to step down.”
That was Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley’s response yester-day to calls for him to step down
made by the Prime Minister following the Integrity Commission’s indication on Tuesday that it was terminating its probe into emailgate.
In a letter on Tuesday to Prime Minis-ter Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s lawyer, Is-rael Khan, SC, the Integrity Commission said it was “satisfied that there are no or insufficient grounds for continuing the investigation” into the emailgate affair “and accordingly this investigation is hereby terminated”.
Persad-Bissessar has hailed the de-velopment as a major victory.
Speaking yesterday to reporters at the Hilton Trinidad and Conference Centre, St Ann’s, following a function hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce (Amcham), titled “Beyond the Ballot”, Rowley said he felt he had performed his job very well in asking for an investigation into the matter.
“I came across the documentation. I
asked for an investigation. I did so in the place provided for me and that place is called the Parliament. I did so after con-siderable thought and considerable pa-tience, and if there are those who don’t like that, well then I’m sorry but that is what the circumstances required,” he said.
“Interestingly enough, the investiga-tions have been going on for two years and as I speak to you now they are still inconclusive, so therefore the need for an investigation and a prima facie case has been made, so I don’t know that we need to be sweating much over that,” Rowley added.
Commenting on the Prime Minister’s statement on Tuesday that his leader-ship has again been called into question and that he is unfit to lead the country, the Opposition Leader said: “If someone can point out to me how asking for an investigation into this case makes me unsuitable, I will want to ask whether the investigations I asked for into LifeS-port, into Section 34, into the NEC (Na-
tional Energy Corporation) scam, if any of those investigations also made me unsuitable?”
Rowley went on to accuse the Govern-ment of “spinning” the public away from the context of the e-mails. He stressed that the e-mails were largely about Sec-tion 34 and the Government’s attempt to use the Parliament and other agen-cies of State to afford their financiers an opportunity to evade the courts.
He said, though, every time “Govern-ment spinners” speak about the e-mails, they only make mention of the him mak-ing reference to the murder of a jour-nalist.
“That is spin. The real content of those documents had to do with Section 34 issues and they are not going to steer us away from that. So those persons who may want to look at the envelope and ignore the contents, they are free to do that.”
No breach in LandateMeanwhile, the Opposition Leader
slammed Trade, Industry, Investment and Communications Minister Vasant Bharath for claiming on a television sta-tion yesterday morning the probe into the Landate affair remains inconclusive.
The Landate matter involved the al-
legation that materials were siphoned from the Scarborough Hospital proj-ect to a private housing project-Lan-date-owned by Rowley’s wife, Sha-ron. Rowley maintained yesterday that matter had come to an end before the Integrity Commission and he was fully exonerated.
“I went before the commission of en-quiry and was cross-examined by law-yers, senior counsel. I subjected myself to the Integrity Commission for a year and a half. My wife’s business, my fam-ily business were investigated and at the end of it, this was the statement by the Integrity Commission: ‘Having con-cluded our investigation, we have found no basis to suspect that you have been in breach of the Integrity in Public Life Act. We thank you for your coopera-tion.’ That is a fact.
“That is quite different to what we’re hearing now that we have to await an investigation and that there are more questions than answers (with respect to emailgate). As I speak to you now, I don’t know what the Integrity Commis-sion investigated. What I do know is that whatever they investigated, they have terminated due to insufficient ev-idence.”
9Caribbean Star Newspaper May 22–28, 2015
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PM, several Cabinet members sworn inMay 21, 2015
HIS Excellency Brig-adier (rtd) David Granger yesterday
administered the Oath of Office to 15 Cabinet Mem-bers to serve in the Execu-tive Government’s Council of Ministers with appoint-ed Ministerial Portfolios at the helm of a number of the Government Ministries.The modest swearing in ceremony was held at the renamed Ministry of the Presidency, formerly the complex known as Office of the President (OP), where Moses Nagamootoo, was sworn in as Prime Minister and First Vice President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana.
Head of State, President Granger, as had intimat-ed earlier, also indicated a number of sweeping name changes and a consolida-tion of portfolios coming under the various minis-tries of government.
Former Finance Minister Carl Greenidge was sworn in officially as Minister with responsibility for Foreign Affairs with a special focus on economic diplomacy, according to Head of State Granger, while Economist and Former Budget Direc-tor, Winston Jordon, was sworn in as Finance Min-ister.
Carolyn Rodrigues-Bir-kett held the post with Ministerial responsibility for Foreign Affairs, while Dr. Ashni Singh served as Finance Minister under the previous Administration.
Many speculated that Dr. Rupert Roopnarine would be appointed Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment (MNRE), but this portfolio has been subsumed under Ministry of the Presidency (for-merly OP), with Lieutenant Colonel (rtd), Joseph Har-mon, sworn in as Minister of State.
The Presidential Secre-tariat and its functions will also be subsumed under the Ministry of the Presi-dency, under the political control of the Minister of State.
Dr. Rupert Roopnarine, has since been sworn in as Minister of Education, with Nicolette Odella Henry, be-ing appointed and sworn Minister within the Minis-try of Education.
Among some of the sur-
prise announcements by His Excellency President Granger, Volda Lawrence has been sworn in as Min-ister of Social Protection with the posts of Human Services and Social Secu-rity being incorporated un-der this Ministry.
Internationally rec-ognised Women Miners’ activist, Simona Broomes, has been appointed and sworn to serve as Min-ister within the Minis-try of Social Protection. David Patterson has been sworn in as Minister of Public Infrastructure while Annette Ferguson will serve, having been ap-pointed and sworn as the Minister within the Minis-try of Public Infrastructure.
Dr. George Norton, who has held the post of Shad-ow Minister with responsi-bility for the Health Sector, was yesterday sworn in by His Excellence, President Granger, as the Substan-tive Minister appointed to the post.
Dr. Karen Cummings, has also been appointed to serve as Minister within the now renamed Ministry of Public Health.
Having held the portfolio with Shadow responsibility for Local Government and Regional Development, while in Opposition, Ron-ald Bulkan, was yester-day appointed Minister of Communities.
The Guyana Chronicle understands that the Min-istries of Local Govern-ment and Regional Devel-opment as well as Housing and Water, will all be sub-sumed under the Ministry of Communities.
Former Deputy Speaker, Basil Williams, who would have also held the shadow portfolio for the legal sec-tor for a number of years,
was yesterday sworn in by His Excellency President Granger, as Attorney Gen-eral and Minister of Legal Affairs. He now assumes the portfolio formerly held by Mr. Anil Nandlall. Amna Ally has been ap-pointed and sworn as Min-ister of Social Cohesion.
President Granger fur-ther called on his ministers to work towards ensur-ing Guyana becomes less divided and less a poor country. He added that their main aim should be to deliver on the promises of ‘change’ that were made leading up to the May 11 General and Regional Elec-tions.
Meanwhile, others Mem-bers of the new Cabinet are expected to be sworn in at a later date.
The President told re-porters the other appoin-tees are expected to take their oath of office in the near future.
These posts will include a renamed Ministry of Amerindian Affairs to that of Ministry of Indigenous People, a post to be as-sumed by Sydney Allicock.
Other posts still vacant include the Ministry of Agriculture and two oth-er Vice Presidents, one of which would be Khemraj Ramjattan.
Ramjattan, is also named to be sworn in as Minis-ter of National Security. The Ministry of Commerce & Industry has been re-named to the Ministry of Investment and Busi-ness; this will be headed by AFC’s Dominic Gaskin while Cathy Hughes has been appointed as the Substantive Minister of Tourism, a portfolio held by Irfaan Ali, under the previous Administration.
President David Granger and Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo with newly sworn in Ministers of the APNU+AFC Government (Adrian Narine photos)
Hon. David Anthony Patterson was sworn in as Minister of Public Infrastructure
Hon. Dr. Karen Cummings was sworn in as Minister within the Ministry of Public Health
Hon. Winston Jordan was sworn in as Minister of Finance, yesterday
Hon. Simona Broomes was sworn in as Minister within the Ministry of Social Protection
Hon. Basil Williams was sworn in as Guyana’s Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs by His Excellency President David Granger, yesterday
Hon. Dr. Rupert Roopnarine was sworn in as Minister of Education
Hon. Ronald Bulkan, Minister of Communities (this Ministry brings together Housing, Water and Local Government) during yesterday’s swearing in ceremony
Hon. Carl Barrington Greenidge, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Hon. Catherine Andrea Hughes was sworn in as the new Minister of Tourism
Hon. Volda Ann Lawrence was sworn in as Minister of Social Protection (formerly Ministry of Human Services)
Hon. Dr. George Aubrey Norton was sworn in as Minister of Public Health (formerly Ministry of Health)
Hon. Annette Natasha Ferguson was sworn in as Minister within the Ministry of Public Infrastructure
Hon. Nicolette Odella Henry was sworn in as Minister within the Ministry of Education
Hon. Amna Ally, Minister of Social Cohesion being sworn in
Newly sworn in members of the Cabinet with President David Granger in the compound of the Ministry of the Presidency (formerly Office of the President), yesterday
10 Caribbean Star NewspaperMay 22–28, 2015
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11Caribbean Star Newspaper May 22–28, 2015
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The Zika Virus: A new mosquito disease to worry about
The Ministry of Health onThurs-day issued an advisory, asking that citizens prepare for the mosqui-
to-borne diseases that come with the approaching rainy season, including the Zika virus, which has been detected in Brazil. The following is the Ministry's statement -
The Caribbean, with our tropical cli-mate, has long been susceptible to mos-quito- borne diseases such as Yellow fever, Malaria, Dengue fever and, most recently, Chikungunya. The Caribbean is now on alert for the Zika virus which is new to the region and has been detected in Brazil. There are no cases of Zika virus infection in Trinidad and Tobago.
Zika virus is spread by the bite of an
infected Aedes aegypti mosquito which can also transmit Dengue and Chikun-gunya. Persons with Zika virus infection may have no symptoms, or may suffer mild to moderate symptoms including fe-ver, headache, rash, and muscle and joint pain. No deaths have ever been reported from Zika virus infection and complica-tions are rare.
Since Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are present in Trinidad and Tobago and peo-ple travel in and around the Caribbean, Trinidad and Tobago must prepare for the introduction of the Zika virus. The Minis-try of Health therefore urges citizens to take steps to prevent all mosquito-borne diseases including Dengue, Chikungunya and Zika.
Lusignan man killed in collision with minibus
A Lusignan man was killed on Tues-day evening after a minibus col-lided head on with his motorcycle
just outside his home on the East Coast Demerara.
Ovido Kirton, 58, of Lot 15 Richard-stown, Lusignan, was pronounced dead on arrival at the Georgetown Public Hos-pital.
According to information received, Kirton was headed east along the public road when he turned across the road and collided with the minibus. He was cross-ing to his house, which is located oppo-site the Lusignan Market tarmac.
The driver of the minibus is in police custody assisting with the investigations.
Kirton’s daughter Andrea Kirton told Stabroek News yesterday that her father sustained severe head and chest inju-ries. She stated that around 19:45 hrs on Tuesday she was inside their house with her brother and mother when they heard the impact.
“When we ran out on the verandah we saw it was my father’s motorbike and he was lying on the road,” she said, adding that her brother ran out to help him while she stayed inside the house to comfort her mother.
She said a taxi driver volunteered to carry her father to the hospital but “it was too late.”
Kirton’s 16-year-old son had suffered a similar fate in 2004; he too died in a motorcycle accident.
Ovido Kirton
The aftermath of the accident on Tuesday night
12 Caribbean Star NewspaperMay 22–28, 2015
13Caribbean Star Newspaper May 22–28, 2015
The caved-in mining pit
Two other bodies recovered from collapsed Konawaruk mining pit –three others unaccounted for
THE bodies of two other men were recovered from the collapsed mining pit at
Pepper Creek, Konawaruk, near Mowasi in Region Eight (Pota-ro/Siparuni) yesterday, bringing the total amount recovered to seven in a tragic accident de-scribed as the result of a fatal combination of circumstances.
Three other men are missing; and of the seven bodies recov-ered, only two have been posi-tively identified, in both cases by relatives.
Commander of the Guyana Police Force ‘F’ Division, Se-nior Superintendent Courtney Ramsey, disclosed that the two bodies identified up to late yes-terday afternoon were those of Brian Brittlebank, 46, of Wisroc Housing Scheme, Wismar; and Raymond August, 17, of 229 Bent Street, Dartmouth Village, Essequibo Coast.
Efforts continued yesterday to determine the identities of the five others recovered, and efforts to recover the bodies of the three men unaccounted for also continued into late yester-day afternoon.
All those injured in this trag-edy were said to be recovering satisfactorily.
Mining officials yesterday confirmed that the accident, which left ten people dead and seven injured, was the worst ever in the history of mining in Guyana.
“Quite definitely a national tragedy,” one source opined.
Seventeen miners had been assigned to two dredges work-ing in the pit. As a result of the cave-in, ten were trapped under the mud.
Reports from the GGMC iden-tified the ten trapped miners as: Leyland Jones, Jason Trotman, Vick Bernard, Frank Bernard; Desmond Martins, Raymond August, Brian Banks, Trevon Phillips, Kurt Nanmore, and an-other worker known as Michael. Their ages and addresses were, at the time of reporting, un-known.
Both the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) and the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA) have opined that the tragedy was due to a fatal combination of circumstances.
The GGDMA yesterday dis-closed that the accident was due to “criminal negligence” on the part of the operator. GGD-MA Engineer Colin Sparman disclosed that his determination was that the mining face and pit walls were too high and too steep; were almost vertical, and
that the operation was too close to the face and walls.
He said that with the rains and with water jetting from two dredges, the ground became saturated and the soil became unconsolidated. The surround-ing material became very fluid, “like porridge”, and sudden-ly avalanched into the lowest parts of the pit, where the men were working.
Personnel of the GGMC who visited the scene and investigat-ed the accident concluded that it occurred due to the collapse of two sides of the mine pit. They determined that the oper-ator failed to adhere to standard safety practices when mining is progressing beyond 50 feet in depth. Further, the pit limits were too narrow to allow for safe operation utilising the type of method of mining utilised.
The GGMC also detailed a se-ries of circumstances, starting
from August 8, 2013, when it was reported that the current operator of the mine had been mining on property not owned by himself. The virtual com-plainant was Mr Edward Hop-kinson, who said he was the owner of the mining permit.
The matter ended up in the courts, and one of the conse-quences was that the GGMC was, since August 21, 2013, prohibited from interfering with the mining operation of the de-fendant, Imran Khan.
Commissioner of the GGMC, Mr Rickford Vieira, said yes-terday that it was important to note that when the courts grant such injunctions, the GGMC is prevented from carrying out its lawful functions of monitoring and inspecting mining opera-tions within the sector.
He said that interventions were sought by senior man-agement of the Commission to have this situation reviewed, to allow the Commission to have a hearing before any mining-re-lated injunction is granted; but although this was supported by the Ministry of Natural Re-sources and the Environment and the Board of Directors, nothing substantial was done; and, as such, the situation re-mained unchanged.
On April 1, 2015, a team of of-ficers from the Commission in-spected operations in the Pep-per Creek, Konawaruk area and found that the mine operated by Mr. Khan was unsafe and had breached several aspects of the Mining regulations. Attempts were made by the technical offi-cers to advise/sanction the per-sonnel at the site, but they were reminded of the injunction, and, as such, legally, no further ac-tion could have been taken.
Vieira said this was undoubt-edly a link in the chain of cir-
cumstances which led to the demise of the ten miners. He added that there are several other injunctions outstanding against the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission.
On Monday, May 18, a high level team from the GGDMA, comprising Mr. Patrick Harding, president; Ms. Simona Broomes, president of the Guyana Women Miners Organisation (GWMO); Mr. Kris Ramdas, Senior En-gineer of the GGMC; and Mr. Colin Sparman, Administrative Coordinator of the GGDMA, ac-companied by Dr. Rupert Roo-pnaraine – Deputy Chairman of APNU – visited the Konawaruk area to investigate the tragic accident. After its preliminary investigation, the team con-cluded that the heavy rains in the area, improper mining de-sign, and poor safety practices were among the causes of the accident.
The team also determined that the injunction may have contributed to inadequate mon-itoring of the affected mining operations by the GGMC.
The team recommended that there should be combined ef-forts by the GGMC and the GGDMA to raise awareness and educate miners on unsafe prac-tices, particularly since these types of incidents are occurring too frequently.
The GGDMA said it would of-fer as much assistance as possi-ble to the relatives of the dead miners, if requested.
The GGDMA has advised all miners to take extra precautions during the rainy season, and to seek the support of its mining engineer and qualified environ-mental officers when uncertain about how to address situations which crop up during the course of their operations. Investiga-tions are continuing.
In discussion with Mr Imran Khan, owner of the ill-fated mining operation (right) are, from left: Mr. Patrick Harding, President, Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA); Mr Timothy Junor of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC); Ms Simona Broomes, President of the Guyana Women Miners Organisation (GWMO); and Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine, APNU Deputy Chairman and elected GoG Representative with responsibility for Natural Resources
Onlookers watch as efforts are being carried out to flush away the top surface of the mine by water hoses in order to recover the bodies.
14 Caribbean Star NewspaperMay 22–28, 2015
ISLAM Peace / submission to the will
of our creator.
The Magnificent JourneyMan has taken many jour-
neys throughout time. But there is one journey that
nobody has ever taken.Nobody—except one.On a vehicle no man has ever
ridden, through a path no soul has ever seen. To a place no creation has ever before set foot. It was the journey of one man to meet the Divine. It was the journey of Mu-hammad ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص, prophet of God, to the highest heaven.
It was al Israa wal Miraaj (the magnificent journey).
On that journey Allah took his beloved prophet ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص to the seventh heaven—a place not even angel Gi-breel could enter. In the Prophet’s mission on earth, every instruction, every commandment was sent down through angel Gibreel. But, there was one commandment that was not. There was one command-ment so important, that rather than sending angel Gibreel down with it, Allah brought the Prophet ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص up to Himself.
That commandment was salah (prayer). When the Prophet ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص was first given the command to pray, it was to be fifty times in a day. After asking Allah to make it easier, the commandment was eventually re-duced to five times a day, with the reward of the fifty.
Reflecting upon this incident scholars have explained that the process of going from fifty to five was a deliberate one, intended to teach us the true place salah should hold in our lives. Imagine for a moment actually praying fif-ty times a day. Would we be able to do anything else but pray? No. And that’s the point. What greater way than that to illustrate our life’s true purpose? As if to say,salah is our real life; all the rest that we fill our day with…just motions.
And yet, we live as if it’s exactly the opposite.Salah is something we squeeze into our day, when we find time—if that. Our ‘lives’ don’t revolve around salah. Salah re-volves around our ‘lives.’ If we’re in class, salah is an afterthought. If we’re at the mall, the Macy’s sale is more urgent. Something is se-riously wrong when we put aside the very purpose of our existence in order to watch a basketball game.
And that is for those who even pray at all. There are those who
have not only put aside their life’s purpose, they have abandoned it completely. What we often don’t realize about the abandonment of salah is this: No scholar has ever held the opinion that committing zina (fornication) makes you a dis-believer. No scholar has ever held the opinion that stealing, drink-ing or taking drugs makes you a disbeliever. No scholar has even claimed that murder makes you a non-Muslim. But, about salah, some scholars have said he who abandons it, is no longer Muslim. This is said based on ahadith such as this one: “The covenant be-tween us and them is prayer, so if anyone abandons it, he has be-come a disbeliever.” [Ahmad]
Imagine an act so egregious that the Prophet ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص would speak about it is such a way. Consider for a mo-ment what satan did wrong. He didn’t refuse to believe in Allah. He refused to make one sajdah. Just one. Imagine all the sajdahs we refuse to make.
Consider the seriousness of such a refusal. And yet, think how lightly we take the matter of salah. Salah is the first thing we will be asked about on the Day of Judg-ment, and yet it is the last thing that is on our mind. The Prophet said: “The first thing which will ملسو هيلع هللا ىلصbe judged among a man’s deeds on the Day of Resurrection is the Prayer. If this is in good order then he will succeed and prosper but if it is defective then he will fail and will be a loser.” [Tirmidhi]
On that Day, the people of paradise will ask those who have entered Hell-fire, why they have entered it. And the Qur’an tells us exactly what their first response will be: ”What led you into Hell Fire? They will say: ‘We were not of those who prayed.’” (Qur’an, 74:42-43)
How many of us will be among those who say “we were not of those who prayed, or we were not of those who prayed on time, or we were not of those who made prayer any priority in our lives?” Why is it that if we’re in class or at work or fast asleep at the time of fajr and we need to use the re-stroom, we make time for that? In fact, the question almost sounds absurd. We don’t even consider it an option not to. And even if we were taking the most important
exam of our lives, when we need to go, we will go. Why? Because the potentially mortifying conse-quences of not going, makes it a non-option.
There are many people who say they don’t have time to pray at work or school, or while they’re out. But how many have ever said they don’t have time to go to the bathroom, so while out, at work or school have opted instead to just wear Depends? How many of us just don’t feel like waking up at Fajr time if we need to use the bathroom, and choose instead to wet our bed? The truth is we’ll get out of bed, or leave class, or stop work, to use the bathroom, but not to pray.
It sounds comical, but the truth is we put the needs of our body above the needs of our soul. We feed our bodies, because if we didn’t, we’d die. But so many of us starve our souls, forgetting that if we are not praying our soul is dead. And ironically, the body that we tend to is only temporary, while the soul that we neglect is eternal.
Abdullah bin Umar (Radhiyal-laho anho) narrates that he heard the Prophet (Sallallaho alaihe wasallam) saying:
“Islam is founded on five pil-lars: bearing witness that there is no god but Allah, and Muhammad (Sallallaho alaihe wasallam) is His servant and apostle; establish-ment of salaat; paying of Zakaat; performance of Hajj; and fasting in Ramadhaan.”
The Prophet (Sallallaho alaihe wasallam) has compared Islam to a canopy resting on five supports. The Kali-mah is the central sup-port and the other four pillars of Islam are, so to say, the remaining four supports, one at each corner of the canopy. Without the cen-tral support, the canopy cannot possibly stand, and if any one of the corner supports is missing a collapse will result in the defec-tive corner. Now, let us judge for ourselves how far we have kept up the canopy of Islam. Is there really any pillar that is being held in its proper place?
The five pillars of Islam men-tioned in this Hadith signify the most essential duties of a Muslim. Although a Muslim cannot do with-out any one of them, yet Salaat in Islam occupies a position next only to Imaan. Abdullah bin Mas’ood (Radhiyallaho anho) says:
“Once, I inquired of the Holy Prophet (Sallallaho alaihe wasal-lam), which act (of man) was the dearest to Allah. The Prophet replied, ‘Salaat’. I then inquired which act came next (in order of merit) and the Prophet replied, ‘Kindness to parents’. I again asked what was next and he an-swered ‘Striving for Islaam’.”
Mulla Ali Qari (Rahmatullah alaih) has quoted this Hadith in support of the belief that Salaat is the most important religious duty after Imaan. This is further corroborated by a hadith, in which the Holy Prophet (Sallallaho alaihe wasallam) is reported to have said:
“Salaat is the best of all that has been ordained by Allah.”
Abu Zar (Radhiyallaho anho) narrates that once the Holy Prophet (Sallallaho alaihe wasal-lam) came out of his house. It was autumn and the leaves were falling off the trees. He caught hold of a branch of a tree and its leaves be-gan to drop in large number.
At this he remarked, ‘0, Abu Zar! (Radhiyallaho anho) when a Muslim offers his Salaat to please Allah, his sins are shed away from him just as these leaves are falling off this tree.”
In autumn, usually, the leaves of the trees fall in large numbers, so much so that on some trees not a single leaf is left behind. The same is the effect of Salaat performed with sincerity and devotion. All the sins of the person offering Sa-laat are wiped off.
Abu Uthman (Radhiyallaho anho) says: “I was once sitting un-der a tree with Salmaan (Radhiyal-laho anho). He caught hold of a dry branch of the tree and shook it till all its leaves fell off. He then said to me, “0, Abu Uthman! (Radhi-yallaho anho) Will you not ask me why I am doing this?” “Do tell me,” I entreated. He said, “The Apostle of Allah had done exactly like this before me, while I was with him under a tree.
He caught a dry branch of it and shook it, till all its leaves fell off”. At this he said: 0, Salmaan! (Radhiyallaho anho) will you not ask me why I am doing this?’ I replied: ‘Do tell me why you are doing this?’ He remarked: “Verily when a Muslim takes wudhu prop-erly and then observes his Salaat five times a day, his sins fall off just as these leaves have fallen off. He then recited the following verse of the Holy Qur’an:
“Establish Salaat at the two ends of the day, and at the approaches of the night. Verily, good deeds an-nul ill deeds. This is a reminder for the mindful”
“0, My Lord! I have wronged my soul a great wrong, and none for-giveth sins save Thou alone. Then forgive me and have mercy on me. Verily, Thou art the Forgiving, the Merciful.
In the above Hadith, mention is made of wudhu to be done prop-erly. We should, therefore, be sure of the regulations about wudhu and try to observe all of these.
Jaabir (Radhiyallaho anho) nar-rates that he heard the Prophet (Sallallaho alaihe wasallam) say-
ing:“The likeness of five time’s daily
Salaat is as the likeness of a deep brook running in front of the door of a person who bathes therein five times a day.”
Running water is generally free from dirt, and the deeper it runs the cleaner and purer it is. A bath in such water surely removes dirt from the body and makes it clean. Salaat offered with due regard for its essentials likewise cleanses the soul of all sins. There are sever-al Ahadith of the same meaning, though with slight variations in expression, narrated by differ-ent companions of the Proph-et (Sallallaho alaihe wasallam). Abu Sa’eed Khudri (Radhiyallaho anho] narrates that he heard the Prophet (Sallallaho alaihe wasal-lam) saying:
‘Each of the five Salaat expiates the sins committed since the Sa-laat preceding it. To explain, let us take the case of a person working in a factory. His job is such that his body gets covered with dust. But there are five streams of running water in between the factory and his house and, on his return from the job, he takes a bath in each stream. The effect of five time’s daily Salaat is quite similar. Any sins of omission and commission between two Salaat are forgiven on account of ‘istighfaar and tau-bah in each Salaat.’
The Prophet (Sallallaho alaihe wasallam) through such parables, aims at impressing that salaah has the wonderful power of removing the sins. If we fail to avail of Allah’s mercy, surely we ourselves are the losers.
To err is human. We are like-ly to commit innumerable acts displeasing to Allah and deserve thereby His wrath and punish-ment, but look how relenting our dear Allah is! He has most gra-ciously shown us the way to earn His mercy and forgiveness. It is a great pity if we do not avail of this great favor. Our Allah is al-ways eager to show us His mercy on very small grounds. It is said in a Hadith, that if a person goes to bed with the intention of getting up for Ta-hajjud and perchance does not wake up, he receives the full reward for Tahajjud, although he has been enjoying his sleep at the time of Tahajjud. How bound-less is the grace of Allah and what a tremendous loss and deprivation if we do not receive blessings from such a Giver.
It is vital to our spiritual en-hancement that we ponder over the favors and bounties of our creator, thus realizing that our existence can only be justified by consistently worshiping Allah with absolute dedication and ser-vitude.
15Caribbean Star Newspaper May 22–28, 2015
Exxon Mobil announces significant oil find off Guyana
A decades-long search for oil off-shore Guyana has finally yielded success with Exxon Mobil Corpo-
ration reporting a “significant oil discov-ery”.
The Exxon Mobil press release issued today follows:
Liza-1 well encounters more than 295 feet of high-quality oil-bearing sand-stone reservoirs
Well is first on 6.6-million acre Sta-broek Block and drilled to 17,825 feet
IRVING, Texas, May 20, 2015 – Exxon Mobil Corporation today announced a
significant oil discovery on the Stabroek Block, located approximately 120 miles offshore Guyana.
The well was drilled by ExxonMobil affiliate, Esso Exploration and Produc-tion Guyana Ltd., and encountered more than 295 feet (90 meters) of high-qual-ity oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs. It was safely drilled to 17,825 feet (5,433 meters) in 5,719 feet (1,743 meters) of water. Stabroek Block is 6.6 million acres (26,800 square kilometers).
“I am encouraged by the results of the first well on the Stabroek Block,” said
Stephen M. Greenlee, president of Exx-onMobil Exploration Company. “Over the coming months we will work to de-termine the commercial viability of the discovered resource, as well as evaluate other resource potential on the block.”
The well was spud on March 5, 2015. The well data will be analyzed in the com-ing months to better determine the full resource potential.
Esso Exploration and Production Guy-ana Ltd. holds 45 percent interest. Hess Guyana Exploration Limited holds 30 percent interest and CNOOC Nexen Pe-
troleum Guyana Limited holds 25 percent interest.
The Deep Water Champion Oil Exploration Rig which arrived earlier this year.
Granger instructs Top Cop to put
reshuffling on hold
President Da-vid Granger has instructed
Commissioner of Police Seelall Per-saud to put a high level reshuffling in the Guyana Police Force on hold until a new Minister of Home Affairs is appointed.
Minister of State-designate Joseph Har-mon, who is the only other person apart from Granger who is active in the new ad-ministration, said the President only learnt of the removal of Crime Chief Leslie James and the transferal of other high level offi-cers through the media.
“The President has instructed the Com-missioner that all these high level changes in the force should be put on hold until such time when a new Minister of Home Affairs is appointed,” Harmon told Stabroek News yesterday.
James was reportedly shifted to the of-fice of the Commissioner of Police, where he was said to be working on a special proj-ect. His replacement was touted to be his second-in-command, Senior Superinten-dent Wendell Blanhum.
Harmon said the only transfer that has been made and which the President is aware of is that of the ‘B’ Division Com-mander, Assistant Commissioner Brian Joseph, who will now be head of the Presi-dential Guard Unit. The former head, Rohan Singh, is set to return to active duty in the force as persons serving in those positions are all members of the police force.
Harmon made it clear that the President is not seeking to get involved in the day-to-day operations of the force and the oper-ational transfer of personnel but pointed out that such high level transfers on the heels of a new administration being voted in should be done after a new Minister of Home Affairs is appointed and that per-son is satisfied about “the need for those changes.”
Asked specifically if James would then remain in the Crime Chief post, Harmon said, “We expect all those appointments to be put on hold until the new Home Affairs Minister is appointed.” James has only been in the position for about a year.
16 Caribbean Star NewspaperMay 22–28, 2015
GT&T introduces new data plansGT&T has introduced new
three-day data plans for Smartphone customers
with diverse internet usage needs. According to a press release, the company is offer-ing more data “at competitively lower prices” including a three-day 150MB plan for $499, which is ideally suited for week-end data users. This plan not only provides more data than
the competitor’s closest plan but also an extra day to use it at a lower price, the company said.
GT&T has also revised its tra-ditional data plans to provide more data at lower rates. This allows it “to provide uncapped plans so users are not limited to a daily amount on larger plans.” Customers can select from the new one-day or one-month data plans from a suite of plans
comprising one day (30Mb) for $220; one day (60MB) for $300; three days (150MB) for $499; one week (300MB) for $999; one month (600MB) for $2, 299 or one month (1GB) for $2,999.
More information is avail-able at the company’s website gtt.co.gy or customers can text “gtdata” to 620-4884 for more details.
Bandits steal $32M in Annandale home invasion
Bandits carted off over $32 million in local and US currency after a bra-zen midmorning home invasion at
Courbane Park, Annandale yesterday.According to a police statement on
the attack, two men, one of whom was armed with a gun, entered the three-sto-rey residence and proceeded to tie up the housekeeper, Nandrani Manick, 59, and a handyman, Ulric Fingall, 20. The resi-dence is the property of a businessman who was not identified by the police.
When Stabroek News visited the seem-ingly quiet Courbane Park area last eve-ning, the house appeared to have exten-sive security measures in place, including guard dogs and barbed wire fencing.
However, the level of security appar-ently was not enough as police indicated that the bandits managed to ransack the home before making off with $15 million in local currency as well as US$85,000.
A male relative residing at the house related that family members were still in a state of shock at what took place. He, however, noted that they were not pres-ent at the time of the attack, so they have no idea what actually transpired.
The man further voiced his unwilling-ness to speak to the media but he stated that police are currently conducting in-vestigations into what actually occurred.
Historical monuments to be restored by new Government
AS has been evident, work has al-ready commenced on restoring the Independence Arch to its
former glory, and this is one of many to come, according to Assistant Events co-ordinator for the series of Independence Day events, Bobby Vieira.The arch, he noted, is being restored so that the inde-pendence flag-raising ceremony set for May 26 could be done in a proper envi-ronment.
Apart from the Independence Arch, Vieira disclosed that a number of other monuments, both in and out of George-town, will be restored soon, as he also called on the general public to respect and care for these pieces of history.
Rehabilitation works being done on the Independence Arch prior to Guyana’s 49th Independence Anniversary
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Women allegedly busted with cocaine at CJIA refused bail
TWO women recently busted with cocaine at CJIA were yesterday re-fused bail by Chief Magistrate Pri-
ya Sewnarine-Beharry on separate drug trafficking charges.Vanessa Harper, 30, of Lot 70 Ramos Street, Plaisance, East Coast Demerara, pleaded not guilty to the charge alleging that on May 15, at the Cheddi Ja-gan International Airport (CJIA), Timehri, East Bank Demerara, she had in her pos-session 5.756 kilogrammes of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.
Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) Prosecutor Oswald Massiah said Harp-er had arranged to take the prohibited substance to the Unites States after she had been promised US$5,000. The court heard that the mother of two had already been given Gy$100,000 and US$300 in advance to assist with accommodation.
Massiah contends that, on the day in question, Harper was on her way to the US by way of CJIA when she had in her pos-session two suitcases. Procedural checks were made by CANU officers at the air-port, and the alleged drugs were found concealed in the cover of both suitcases. Harper was subsequently told of the of-fence, and was arrested and charged.
Harper was represented by attor-ney-at-law Mr. Dexter Todd.
And Nanda Ali, 39, of Lot 12 Courbane Park, Annandale, East Coast Demerara, also pleaded not guilty to a charge alleg-ing that on May 15 at CJIA, she had in her possession 6.182 Kg of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.
The CANU Prosecutor informed the court that Ali had also arranged with per-sons unknown to take the illegal substance
to the US. She, too, had been promised US$5,000 for her participation.
The prosecutor said that, whilst at the airport, a search was conducted on Ali’s possession and the illegal substance was unearthed from the cover at the bottom of each suitcase. Attorney-at-law Mr Peter Hugh, representing Ali, told the court that his client is the proprietrix of a beer gar-den and a mother of two with no prior con-victions. In an application for bail, he told the court that Ali would not have an early trial after the matter has been transferred to the Providence Court, since that mag-istrate is on leave. He further added that there is a backlog of cases at that court. Both women were remanded to prison af-ter answering to their separate charges, and their matters were transferred to the Providence Court for May 25.
Defendant Nanda Ali (in front) Defendant Vanessa Harper (standing behind Ali)
Ronald Gajraj back home after
resigning
Former embattled Minister of Home Affairs Ronald Gajraj, who served as Guyana’s High Commissioner to
India and Bangladesh, has resigned the position and is back home.
According to a source, Gajraj tendered his resignation and has told Indian offi-cials that he won’t be returning.
He has since made arrangements to have some of his personal effects shipped to Guyana from his New Delhi home.
Gajraj served as Minister of Home Af-fairs from January, 1999 to May, 2005, when he was forced to resign after local and international pressure was applied to the Bharrat Jagdeo administration due to allegations linking the minister to the ac-tivities of a death squad.
A presidential commission of inqui-ry cleared Gajraj of any involvement in the activities although it raised concern about his associations.
He was shortly after appointed High Commissioner to India by Jagdeo and kept a low profile since. In April of this year, Gajraj was also appointed as High Commissioner to Bangladesh.
The opposition had strongly criticised the government over Gajraj’s appoint-ment as High Commissioner and unan-swered questions surrounding the death squad.
With the change in government, sourc-es say the only option available to Gajraj was to resign.
18 Caribbean Star NewspaperMay 22–28, 2015
Ages 16 and above
19Caribbean Star Newspaper May 22–28, 2015
God infuses His Spirit into our Lives“If ye love me, keep my command-
ments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Fa-ther, and ye in me, and I in you. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.” John 14:15-21
This weekend the Christian world cel-
ebrates Pentecost Sunday. This reminds us of the Coming of the Holy Spirit on the Feast of Pentecost following the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Risen Lord had said to the disciples, “ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be wit-nesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” Acts 1:8. As the nation of Israel celebrated Pente-cost, the disciples were praying together when the Holy Spirit came upon them as Jesus promised. He, the Holy Spirit, be-gan the Church age and will be with us until the Second Coming of Christ. So, what is He supposed to do? How is this good for us and for God’s kingdom? And, how can we receive the Holy Spirit? The Bible teaches us how we can know Him and appreciate His work through the use of symbols. It helps us understand bet-ter. For example, the Holy Spirit is repre-sented by fire in the Bible. The message is He gives energy, warmth and comfort, and He purifies our lives in a similar way as fire functions in the natural. Other symbols are water, oil and wind. Pastors often teach at length on these.
The Holy Spirit came for a special
purpose.We watch TV channels where peo-
ple prepare special dishes. Before they begin cooking, you will notice several little bowls and parcels of ingredients pre-arranged for the event. Once the action starts, everything flows because of preparation. When attending to a job, you have to go prepared and equipped with the right tools and necessary parts, e.g., construction crews. So it is, when Jesus calls us to do a work for Him, He also equips us for the job. The mission is sharing the gospel message with people
so they could find the Savior. The Holy Spirit equips believers to engage spir-itual power to battle demons of dark-ness. He gives inner strength to all who depend upon Him so we can resist temp-tations. He is the Source of wisdom and fortitude to stay the course of Christ. His anointing energizes Christians to deliver the right message from God to people who need to know His love. He implants love in our hearts for lost and suffering people. All of these are pack-aged in the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. All He is looking for are willingness and availability. Other personal development can be useful, but not really necessary to get started on the mission.
The Holy Spirit witnesses that Je-
sus is the Son of God, the Savior of the world.
With a heart in love with the people of India, Mark Buntain, 1923-1989, began Calcutta Mission of Mercy, which pro-vides food, education, medical aid, and hope to India’s poor. Since his death in 1989, his wife, Huldah, and daughter Bonnie, continue this great labor of love. Mark is one who the Holy Spirit used to show Christ’s love to people.
One day a woman called on Mark.
“Oh, Pastor Buntain, something terri-ble has happened. Please meet us at the government hospital. It’s urgent!”
Mark threw on his coat and raced to the hospital. When he entered the hospital room, doctors were scrambling to save the young girl’s life. Suman was a high school student, and when she learned she had failed her final exam, she swal-lowed a lethal dose of pills. Mark was a friend of this family. Two days earlier, a visit with the father had ended abruptly. The business man was proud of his an-cient religion, and became furious that Mark would dare impose Christianity on his family. Shaking his fist in Mark’s face, he spat out, “Don’t try to tell me your Je-sus Christ is the Son of God.”
“Sir, there will come a day,” Mark said, “when God will prove to you that indeed Jesus is the Son of God.” Now they gath-ered around the daughter’s hospital bed. Mark looked down on the beautiful face of the dying girl. By now her eyes were sunken and she grasped for every breath in her unconscious state. Mark said to the weeping father. “Sir, will you believe that Jesus is the Son of God if He heals your daughter?”
“Yes, pastor, I will believe. The doc-tors say she cannot live. If she does, I will know it is because of your Jesus.” Mark left the hospital and returned that afternoon. Suman had been moved to a private room where they were waiting for her to die. Mark stood in the door-way and prayed: “O God, please heal Suman and show this family that Jesus
is your Son.” Mark left the hospital, re-turning two hours later. Suman’s con-dition didn’t improve. It was clear the young girl would die, unless a miracle occurred. Sensing a surge of God’s Spir-it, Mark walked over and spoke to the unconscious girl, “Suman, in the name of Jesus Christ, come out of this un-consciousness.” A tear rolled down her cheek. Suman started to whimper and pull at the straps that tied her to the bed. Within moments she sat up, blinking and squinting.
Immediately, the news spread through the hospital. Suman’s doctors ran in, but they were skeptical. After examining her, they made a grim prediction. “Your daughter is past her crisis, but we must warn you that her mind will be perma-nently damaged.” For the second time Mark felt a surge of faith come over him. Looking at the girl’s father, Mark said: “Sir, you told me if God healed your daughter, you would confess Him as your Savior. Do you still stand by that commitment?” “I will,” the father cried. “Then I’m going to believe God, that by this time tomorrow, your daughter will be absolutely well.” Mark turned and walked out of the room.
Upon visiting the next day, Mark found Suman sitting up in bed combing her hair, with a big smile on her face–com-pletely healed! There was absolutely no brain damage. Her father, true to his word, confessed Jesus Christ as his per-sonal Savior, along with the whole fam-ily. (Story adapted from the book: Mark by Ron Hembree (Logos) 1979.)
We thank God for infusing His Holy Spirit into our lives so we can more deep-ly appreciate the love of Jesus Christ. By His power within, we can live for Him in righteousness and we can take His mes-sage to others.
Take your family to church this week-end.
Pastor Haniff BacchusCalvary Assembly
of God102-07 Rockaway Blvd, Ozone Park, NY 11417
Tel. 718-659-4500www.calvaryozone.org
20 Caribbean Star NewspaperMay 22–28, 2015
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PITBULL KILLS GRANNYBloody attack on 84-year-old woman
at Maraval homeAn 84-year-old great grandmother was yesterday mauled to death by a family pitbull.Lillian Bunsee had never ventured close to the dogs as she had been attacked in the past, but yesterday morning one of the dogs escaped from its kennel and again attacked her, this time killing her.
Neighbours said the dog was one of approximately ten which were bred and being given aggression training in preparation for sale by two of the woman’s relatives.
Never once did the resi-dents hear Bunsee scream for help but only noticed she was being attacked as they walked along the road-way close to her home on La Seiva Road, Maraval.Police said it was shortly af-ter 9 a.m. that the residents saw the woman on the ground with the dog tear-ing away at her body. They tried throwing boulders at the animal in an attempt to stop it but their efforts were unsuccessful, said officers.
Investigators said several police officers who were on patrol nearby went to the scene after receiving a report and was only able to have the dog stop biting the woman after opening fire on the animal, shooting it six times.
Residents in the area said the officers had no other option but to kill the dog. The other dogs were all locked away in their ken-nels, they said.“After the first two shots the dog was still biting the woman, like the shots did nothing to it. The police had to shoot it four more times before it stopped,” said one man.
The resident, who asked that his name not be pub-lished, said regardless of the type, he was always op-posed to people giving ag-gression training to dogs within their own household which is shared with other family members. He said he was also knowl-
edgeable when it came to the training of dogs and disagreed with the deci-sion of the dog’s owner to carry out the training at the house.
“Aggression training within your own environment and training of dogs within your own household where you have ageable people or fam-ily members in your house
is a no no. Aggression is not the type of training to do within that environment. High potency dog food and aggression training in the home environment is cre-ating a time bomb and it is just a matter of time before tragedy strikes,” he said.
Detectives from the Port of Spain Criminal Investiga-tions Department (CID) led by ASP Ajith Persad went to the scene and de-tained the man who owned the dog.
Up to yesterday evening he was in custody at the CID office along St Vincent Street, Port of Spain. Of-ficers said they would be consulting with Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Roger Gaspard SC to deter-mine what charges could be laid against the man.The other owner was not arrested as he did not live on the premises where the
incident occurred.
Dr Azizul Rahaman of Jones Animal Clinic exam-ined the dog and confirmed it was one of the danger-ous dogs referred to in the Dog Control Bill which was passed in Parliament last month but is yet to be pro-claimed, police said.Rahaman removed some of the animals and locked
them away at the clinic yes-terday evening. He told the Express the dogs were be-ing temporarily kept at the animal hospital until the other owner makes a deci-sion “on what he is going to do with them”.
“It was not for any legal rea-son or anything. Relatives and so on would be going to the house to give their condolences and what have you, so we are just keeping the dogs for a little while,” he said.
The other owner said resi-dents no longer wanted the dogs in the area, so he may have to “put them to sleep”.Contacted via phone yes-terday, Attorney General Anand Ramlogan said the Dog Control Bill was passed on the last day of the parliamentary session in order to prevent it from being “lapsed”.With the passing of the bill,
Ramlogan said there was an undertaking within the Parliament that he would accommodate cer-tain amendments based on suggestions from Inde-pendent Senators and also from members of the Op-position.The Independent Senators had already forwarded their suggestions to him, but he was still awaiting the Opposition’s before the Act is proclaimed by Presi-dent Anthony Carmona.
“This bill is clearly needed. I would like those per-sons who argue that there should be no legislation to control these dangerous dogs, I would like them to pay a visit to the relatives of victims to explain their position and to offer some condolence. I am calling upon them to go pay them a visit and to offer them some compensation,” said Ramlogan.
Section 19 of the Dog Control Act:
19. (1) Where a class A dog injures a person, without reasonable cause whether in a public place or on private premises, the owner or keeper of the dog commits an offence and is liable on summary convic-tion to a fine of $100,000 and to imprisonment for five years.
(2) Where a class A dog kills a person or causes the death of a person, with-out reasonable cause, the owner or keeper of the dog commits an offence and is liable on summary convic-tion to a fine of $200,000 and to imprisonment for ten years.
CLASS A dogs are identi-fied in the Bill as:
1. Pitbull Terrier or any dog bred from the Pitbull Terrier.
2. Fila Brasileiro or any dog bred from the Fila Brasileiro.
3. Japanese Tosa or any dog bred from the Japa-nese Tosa.
FAMILY PHOTO: 84-year-old Lillian Bunsee who was mauled to death by a pitbull yesterday in her own
home.
Political spite caused closure of local airline
A former head of the now-defunct state-owned Guy-ana Airways Corporation has blamed government officials for the current aviation woes gripping the country.
Former GAC General Manager, Fazal Khan is adamant that political spite rather than financial or operational problems forced the closure of the airline back in the late nineties, and it is one of the ma-jor reasons G u y a n e s e are paying e x or b i t a nt prices to travel up North.The former aviation of-ficial is con-vinced that Guyana’s current state of affairs is one that could have been avoided, with the continuance of the “prosperous and devel-oping” state-owned car-rier being preserved and prized for its functioning and importance to Guya-nese travelers.
“They didn’t know they were making a mistake because they do not un-derstand aviation,” Khan told Kaieteur News. “They were totally clueless and had they known it was a mistake, they would have never done it, but by the time they realized, it was already too late,” he said in a recent interview at his Queenstown residence.
Khan believes that he was “pushed aside” as head of the GAC for express-ing his reservations about one political appointment. According to Khan, he realized that the lack of forward-thinking man-agement would destroy the GAC and he there-fore gave the then powers some eight months to re-consider their position of removing him.
But he said that “reconsid-eration never occurred; the airline was eventually sold and within less than a year the airline was in total cha-os,” Khan charged.
He said that prior to this, the state-owned entity had been making strides.
“We had about 80 percent of the market shares in
the country, while receiv-ing not a cent from the gov-ernment. Not even when we requested to borrow only half a million dol-lars from the government after running into debt that we could not avoid, did they give it.”
Khan continued that de-spite huge expenditures, GAC was making, “three, four and five million dol-lars pre-tax yearly. We had very good junior and senior staff. People were sent for university educa-tion in marketing, aviation management and diploma courses.” He boasted that as far as he is aware Guy-ana Airways was the first regional airline to offer free headphones and alcohol on board the aircraft.
He continued that Guy-ana Airways grew to fly five flights to New York, and three times to Toron-to, weekly, while trips in-creased during peak sum-mer seasons with North American Airlines having to be chartered to aid the influx of travelers. GAC was able to increase its feet of planes under his stew-ardship.
Khan said for the first time in the country’s history there were local pilots who were captains on jets.
“The first choice for pas-sengers was
...contnue on page 8
Former GAC GM Fazal Khan
15Caribbean Star Newspaper July 11 - 18, 2014
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Constable Christopher Madeira, who had been on suspension from the Trinidad and Tobago Police Ser-vice (TTPS), died after he ingested a quantity of weedicide on Tuesday.
His picture had been posted on the tele-vision programme “Beyond the Tape” co hosted by Inspector Roger Alexander.
The post carried the words “The first member of the protective services to grace the ‘Wall of Shame” is Christopher Madeira. If you see Madeira, do not ap-proach or confront him since he is con-sidered armed and extremely danger-ous…instead call ANY police station, 623-0362/ 4968 or send an e-mail to [email protected] if you have information that could help the po-lice capture this fugitive from the law”. Under his photograph, it stat-ed he was wanted for two charges of misbehaving in public office, and failure to appear in court.
The charges alleged that he and an-other police officer, Corporal Len-nox John, knowingly and wilfully handed over a loaded firearm and a bullet-proof vest belonging to the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service.
Madeira, who was last stationed at the Scarborough Police Station in Tobago, was also charged sep-arately with handing over a load-ed pistol and a bullet-proof vest.
He was released on TT$150,000 (One TT dollar = US$0.16 cents) bail, or-dered to surrender his passport to the court and report to the Scarbor-ough Police Station twice weekly.
Pathologist Dr Valery Alexandrov, who performed the autopsy Tuesday, said that he found approximately 200 cubic centimetres of the substance in his stomach, which amounted to approximately a regular-sized glass.
“The major problem is that there is no antidote. So it doesn’t matter if someone drinks one teaspoon or a bottle. The re-sult is the same,” the pathologist added.
PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad, Wednesday July 9, 2014, CMC – A police officer com-mitted suicide hours after a photo of his appeared on a television programme
hosted by a senior po-lice officer that he was a fugitive from the law.
Wanted Trinidad police officer commits suicide after being placed on ‘Wall of Shame’
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Venezuela’s parliament boss blasts report of drug trafficking
slammed a Wall Street Journal report that U.S. authorities are investigating him and other senior officials for possible cocaine trafficking and money laundering.
“It would never occur to us to get in-volved in something that would hurt young people,” he said in a speech to the Socialist-controlled National Assembly.
“Those who today accuse me today of
drug trafficking should present one piece of evidence, just one,” he told the assem-bly, which chanted “We’re all Diosdado” and pushed a motion to support Cabello, lauding him as a “hero of the fatherland.”
Citing more than 12 people famil-iar with the probes, the newspaper on Monday said federal prosecutors in New York and Miami and a Drug Enforcement Administration unit were gathering ev-idence from former cocaine traffickers, Venezuelan military defectors and people
once close to top Venezuelan govern-ment officials.
Venezuelan opposition leaders and U.S. officials have made accusations for years of money laundering and drug trafficking against the governments of President Nicolas Maduro and his predecessor Hugo Chavez.
The country’s leading opposition fig-ures yesterday pushed for an investiga-tion following the report.
“These are grave accusations which
suggest that our country has become a bridge for drug trafficking,” said opposi-tion leader Henrique Capriles.
Officials from the South American na-tion frame the accusations as part of a wider campaign led by the United States to end the OPEC country’s 16 years of socialism.
“This is not a campaign against me, it’s a campaign against the entire father-land,” stressed Cabello, the second-high-est ranking official in the ruling Socialist Party.
Spanish newspaper ABC reported in January that a former member of Cabel-lo’s security detail had fled Venezuela and had told U.S. authorities that he was in-volved in a drug ring.
Cabello filed a defamation suit last month against 22 people linked to three media outlets for having republished in-formation from that story and hinted on Tuesday more lawsuits will follow.
“I’ve told those who reproduced the stories and all the stories that have come out: see you in the courts,” he said. “I won’t give up, not today, not tomorrow.”
Diosdado Cabello
R.K. Sharma resigns as GT&T CEO
R.K. Sharma who has been Chief Executive Offi-
cer (CEO) of the Guy-ana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T) has tendered his resigna-tion with effect from
June 18th, a release from the phone com-pany said today.
Chief Financial Officer Justin Nedd has as a result been named the interim CEO.
In the release, Sharma said that hav-ing started working with Barclay’s Bank in 1980, he has functioned over the last 22 years as CEO of Demerara Bank Ltd, the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry, Director of the National Competitiveness Strategy Unit and for the past two years at GT&T.
“At this point in my career, I would like to take a hiatus from the corporate world and explore other interests”, he said in the press release.
Nedd, commenting on his elevation, said “I am thrilled to take on this expand-ed role at a truly exciting time at GT&T”.
21Caribbean Star Newspaper May 22–28, 2015
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23Caribbean Star Newspaper May 22–28, 2015
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25Caribbean Star Newspaper May 22–28, 2015
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Having a plan makes all the difference.Would you know what to do if you lost your job?
We all know how important it is to be prepared in case of a fire, flood, or other type of emergency. Well these days, the odds of losing your job could be just as great—if not greater—than any of the events mentioned above.
So what should you do if you are laid off? Here are a few sug-gestions—some critical first steps—that can help minimize the impact and make it easier to move forward:
1. Stay positive: It’s import-ant to remember that the decision was probably based on the economy or other external factors,
not your performance. 2. Be professional: If you
handle yourself with de-corum, your employer may be willing to serve as a reference, recommend you to vendors, and even provide assistance with interviewing and resume building. Plus, if the economic situation im-proves, who’s to say they
won’t hire you back. 3. Account for every penny:
Review your terms of em-ployment and claim any money owed to you from bonuses, commissions—even unused vacation. Also, find out if you are entitled to a severance package. If not, file for unemployment benefits right away since it may take weeks to process.
4. Replace lost benefits: If your spouse works, see if you can add yourself to his or her health care plan. If not, you can ap-ply for COBRA coverage within 60 days of termi-nation and extend your health care benefits an-other 18 months. Sim-ilarly, you may want to
purchase an affordable term life insurance pol-icy to help replace your workplace coverage.
5. Evaluate your retirement plans: While some em-ployers allow you to leave your 401(k) in place, it may not always be the right move. Have a finan-cial expert look the plan over and see if you are better off rolling over the funds into a traditional or Roth IRA.
6. Network-Network-Net-work: You never know where your next job will come from, so take ad-vantage of every net-working opportunity. Also, be sure to use so-cial media platforms like LinkedIn to help connect
with people online and let them know you’re look-ing.
This educational third-party article is being provided as a courtesy by Indra Puran, Agent, New York Life Insurance Com-pany. To learn more about the information or topics discussed, please contact Indra Puran at 646 266 5416.
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New York Life Insurance Company
26 Caribbean Star NewspaperMay 22–28, 2015
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My name is Shaw Ryan Khan. I am the son of Shaw M. Khan and Camille Zeena Khan and I am
the grandson of Haji Ali Akbar Khan and Azeezan Khan from Canegrove, Guyana ,as well as Harry Singh and Lillian Ganpati Singh from Industry, Guyana. My respect to my parents and my grandparents al-ways.
First off, I must apologize for being so quiet lately when it came to responding to all you wonderful individuals. I feel like I need to give you all an explanation, so here it goes; my third year of college is coming to an end and I have one more year to go. It’s amazing and also scary because I am coming closer and clos-er to being able to say I have earned a bachelor’s degree in law. It’s scary be-cause around September of next year, I expect to start Law school! From what I have heard from many others, you prac-tically live in law libraries for your entire 3 years in law school… Regardless, I am slowly getting prepared for that. Anyway, let me get back to why I was very dis-tant. As many of you know beforehand, I am the president of Beacon of Peace, a non-profit organization that was for-mally established in November of last year. I never imagined the amount of work required to maintain and establish a non-profit organization. These past few months, and especially these past few weeks, have been a hectic one in terms of completing legal paperwork and solidify-ing the foundation for this organization. I was also busy studying for finals, which I can say now that I have completed and passed with flying colors! And lastly, I have been busy preparing for a special surprise that I don’t want to talk about at the moment. Rest assured, when the time is right, you all will be the first to know! Okay, maybe not the first because I HAVE to tell mom and dad but definitely after that, you all will know! And lastly, I have been busy keeping myself physically ac-tive and healthy. It is one thing to have a mind and spirit that is active and healthy, but it is also important to be physically active and healthy. Currently, I am work-ing out 5 times per week and I feel awe-some! So, now that you know why I was so distant, I hope you can forgive me!
This week, I want to try something dif-ferent. For the majority of articles, I tend to talk to you about a life experience I have had and reflect upon that. But, I want to start off with a story that I heard a few months back when I went to a sem-inar about life. A guest speaker came up to talk to the crowd about his perspective of life. He began by talking a bit about his accomplishments and his struggles to get those accomplishments. It was pret-ty amazing to learn how much this one person achieved yet how humble he still remained. His trick to being so humble? Always remembering where he came from. Near the end of the seminar, he left us with a story of a mother and her child which went like this; “My mom only had one eye, I hated her… She was such an embarrassment. She cooked for students and teachers to support the family. There was this one day during elementary school where my mom came to say hello
to me. I was so embarrassed. How could she do this to me? I ignored her, threw her a hateful look and ran out. The next day at school one of my classmates said, “Disgusting, your mom only has one eye!” I wanted to bury myself. I also wanted my mom to just disappear. I confronted her that day and said, “If you’re only going to make me a laughing stock, why don’t you just die?” My mom did not respond… I didn’t even stop to think for a second about what I had said, because I was full of anger. I was oblivious to her feel-ings. I wanted out of that house, and have nothing to do with her. So I studied real hard, got a chance to go abroad to study. Then, I got married. I bought a house of my own. I had kids of my own. I was happy with my life, my kids and the com-forts. Then one day, my Mother came to visit me. She hadn’t seen me in years and she didn’t even meet her grandchildren. When she stood by the door, my children laughed at her, and I yelled at her for coming over uninvited. I screamed at her, “How dare you come to my house and scare my children! GET OUT OF HERE! NOW!!!” And to this, my mother quietly answered, “Oh, I’m so sorry. I may have gotten the wrong address,” and she dis-appeared out of sight. One day, a letter regarding a school reunion came to my house. So I lied to my wife that I was go-ing on a business trip. After the reunion, I went to the old shack just out of curiosity. The neighbors said that she died. I did not shed a single tear. They handed me a letter that she wanted me to have. My dearest son, I think of you all the time. I’m sorry that I came to your house and scared your children. I was so glad when I heard you were coming for the reunion. But I may not be able to even get out of bed to see you. I’m sorry that I was a con-stant embarrassment to you when you were growing up. You see……..when you were very little, you got into an accident, and lost your eye. As a mother, I couldn’t stand watching you having to grow up with one eye. So I gave you mine. I was so proud of my son who was seeing a whole new world for me, in my place, with that eye. I was never upset at you for any-thing you did... the couple times that you were angry with me, I thought to myself, ‘it’s because he loves me...’ my son. Oh, my son... I don’t want you to cry for me, because of my death. I love you my son, I love you so much with all my heart- Your mother.”
I know, for the past few articles, I talked a lot about my mothers and mothers in general but I have so much to say and so little room to say it. So I apologize in ad-vance if you feel this is mundane. When I heard this story, tears came to my eye be-cause I know of so many individuals who sacrifice so much for their kids and yet their kids do nothing in return. Don’t get me wrong, there is no amount of money, no amount of items, no amount of any-thing that could repay our parents for all that they do for us. But do we really need to forget where we came from? We may be lawyers, doctors, etc. but we need to remember who brought us to this point! It’s because of our parents that we are as successful as we are today. Their hard
work, their tough love, their determina-tion is what brought us to where we are. I remember watching some interviews on YouTube of athletes after they have won a match/game/tournament/etc., and I found a trend in many of the interviews whereby these individuals are asked if they want to thank anyone. I found, for the majority of videos, individuals forgot to thank their parents. They are too busy thanking their promoters, their train-ers, their sponsors, etc. that they forgot where they came from and who brought them into this world. I don’t like to use the word hate but I will use the word, dis-like. I dislike this trend that is happening. And it doesn’t happen to athletes alone, it happens in our society! The world is apparently moving so fast that people seem to fail to recognize that their par-ents are the reason that they are here to-day and that their parents are where they came from. I remember seeing a photo on Facebook of a boy who graduated college; in this photo, he quoted “My dad may have paid for me to get into college and paid for me to finish it, but I want to take this opportunity to thank my mom who got me through college.” I dislike this as well because this person should be equally thanking his dad as well. Fa-thers have it rough; we have songs about mothers, we have commercials and pic-tures days before Mother’s day that re-minds us to give our mothers a hug and tell her you love her…But when it comes to our fathers, we have little to no songs about fathers, and the majority of com-mercials we do get days before father’s day are those that tell us to gift dad with a tool of some sort. I just have one thing to say, if it wasn’t for our fathers, we would have never had our mothers…
How can I get society to start realizing that we are beginning to forget where we came from? It’s a hard task, almost im-possible for one person to do… But it’s my hope that these words reach out to individuals who are willing to pass on what I have said onto others. I am not the picture perfect child, I make mistakes and have a lot of flaws, I annoy my moth-er and father, but does that mean I forget about my mother and father? Never… Many of you have asked why I always be-gin my articles with my name and who my parents and grandparents are. It’s simply because I want everyone to know where I came from.
I went to a funeral a few weeks ago which was for a very honorable man who I will never forget and who will live in my heart and my memories always…At this funeral, a boy came up to speak about this man who passed away, which happened to be his grandfather. During his speech, he talked about a story his grandfather would tell him. It was a story of a grandfather, a father, and a young son. The grandfather came to an age whereby he was not agile as he once was, and had to rely on his son for so much, from helping him get up out of bed, to getting a cup of water, and the list goes on. One day, the father began to get frustrated and annoyed at the grand-father. He was so angry that he carried his father into a small room that could
only fit a small bed. He put his father on the bed, gave him a bell, and told him that he is an annoying old man and that from now on, if he wants something, he will have to ring this little bell and even-tually he will come to see what he wants. The grandfather did not argue back, but merely nodded and lied down to take a nap. Each day, the grandfather would ring the bell and a few minutes later, the father would come in and see what he wanted. Eventually, the father became even more annoyed and began to ignore the bell that his father was ringing. The young son saw that his father was not going to see what his grandfather need-ed so he decided to go himself. For the next few weeks, the little boy came to his grandfather’s aid. One day, the grand-father rang the bell and the son came inside the room. The grandfather told this little boy that his time to go back to the creator has come. Right before he passed, he gave the bell to this little boy and told him one day he will need this as well… The morale of the story? You may ignore your parents now, you may forget where you came from, you may forget that your parents are your earthly gods, but one day you will become parents as well…I do not wish this onto anyone whatsoever but karma has a unique way of working…Do not ever forget where you came from.
Before I end my article, I just want to say this; may God continue to bless each and every one of you and I wish for you to achieve peace and serenity in your lives!
Lastly my readers, in your journey through life, I hope you heed my advice. I want nothing except peace and serenity. And remember this; “Never forget your parents. They are the reason why you are and who you are.”
God bless you all and see you in two weeks!
(Like my articles? Want to give me feedback? Do you have a topic suggestion for my next article? Let me know! Add me via Facebook @ Facebook.com/ryankhan0721 or give me a call @ 646-269-8227 or 718-849-1006)
Voice Of The Youth
28 Caribbean Star NewspaperMay 22–28, 2015
Integrity Commission discontinues Emailgate probe in Trinidad
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Wednesday May 20, 2015 – Almost exactly two
years after Opposition Leader Dr. Keith Rowley went to Par-liament with emails alleging a murder, wiretapping and bribery conspiracy involving top gov-ernment officials, the Integrity Commission has declared it has terminated the so-called “Email-gate” probe, saying it was sat-isfied there were “no or insuf-ficient grounds” for continuing the investigation.
And while Prime Minister Ka-mla Persad-Bissessar is declar-ing the decision a major victory, the police investigation contin-ues. Rowley, who had called for the Integrity Commission to investigate the matter, is also insisting that body must let the public know what it found.
Attorney-at-law Israel Khan, who represented Persad-Bis-sessar in the aftermath of Row-ley’s allegations, yesterday re-ceived a letter from the Integrity Commission’s registrar Martin Farrell informing of the decision.
No details about the probe were forthcoming, with the May 19 letter stating that, under Sec-tion 35 of the Integrity in Public Life Act, the commission was unable to disclose information pertaining to its investigation. The cited piece of legislation prevents the records of the commission and information revealed by a witness or in doc-uments from being disclosed, except in matters going before a court.
In an immediate reaction to the announcement, Persad-Bis-sessar said she felt vindicated and humbled by the decision.
She contended that the Integ-rity Commission’s letter had effectively cleared her and the Parliament “of any impropriety” with respect to Rowley’s email allegations.
“This is a major victory for the Office of the Prime Minister and the sovereignty of the Par-liament of Trinidad and Tobago. I am pleased the finding of the Integrity Commission has vin-dicated me. Of course, I always knew that I had acted appropri-ately,” she said in a statement.
“Now we can move on to the real issue here – that is, the Opposition Leader’s arrogant actions in misleading the Parlia-ment and impugning members of the Government.”
Dr. Suruj Rambachan calls on Opp Leader Dr. Keith Row-ley to resign now that Integrity Commission “has cleared PM over emailgate.” @CNC3TV — Khamal Ethan Georges (@khamal) May 20, 2015
It is the second time in a week that the Prime Minister declared her name and the name of her Government had been cleared in connection with the scandal which stemmed from 31 emails
Rowley read to Parliament on May 20, 2013, as he opened de-bate on a no-confidence motion against her. The emails which Rowley alleged was passed be-tween Persad-Bissessar, then attorney general Anand Ram-logan, former minister of local government Surujrattan Ram-bachan and then national secu-rity adviser Gary Griffith over a 17-day period in September 2012, suggested that there was a plot to murder a female jour-nalist, bug the office of the then Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Roger Gaspard, bribe the DPP with a job as a judge, and commit other acts of miscon-duct in public office.
Last week, Persad-Bisses-sar made public a letter from her United States attorney that showed the emails were fakes. The correspondence which she posted a letter on Facebook and Twitter stated that Google found that none of the offending emails were found to have been sent from or received by the prime minister’s or Ramlogan’s purported email addresses, and Persad-Bissessar said it proved
Rowley “created fake emails for bogus charges”.
That not only prompted Rowley to warn that he would take legal action against Per-sad-Bissessar, but deputy DPP Joan Honore-Paul released a statement saying that neither the prime minister nor Ramlo-gan had been cleared since the Integrity Commission and the police probes were still ongoing.
Media Release by the Deputy DPP with regards to the Email-Gate Affair http://t.co/Nyfp-p0yhGy — Jack Warner (@jack-warnertt) May 20, 2015
There was some backlash for Honore-Paul who received a strongly-worded letter from At-torney General Garvin Nicholas who accused her of stepping outside her boundaries. Per-sad-Bissessar also suggested that the deputy DPP should re-cuse herself from advising the police on the “Emailgate” matter since her statement had shown she was biased.
Meantime, Rowley and his People’s National Movement (PNM) have made it clear they are not satisfied with the Integ-rity Commission’s letter.
“We don’t know what the commission investigated, what it was told, only that the commis-sion is satisfied that it can go no further,” Rowley told the Trini-dad Express newspaper.
“I would think that given the level of public interest and the complications involved and the currents and counter-currents involved, the commission would be more forthcoming and forth-right with the public, by way of the appropriate statement,” added the Opposition Leader
who was suspended from Par-liament earlier this month, for the remainder of the parliamen-tary term, following a successful no-confidence motion that was based on the emails.
Rowley questioned whether the Integrity Commission inter-viewed people who were poten-tial witnesses, according to the content of the e-mails.
“Or did they just fight with Google for two years on the issue of the addresses of the e-mails?
“It is of lesser significance the medium by which the informa-tion and allegations have come to the public domain. The issue refers to whether or not these things occurred,” Rowley con-tended.
PNM public relations officer Faris Al-Rawi added that the letter had not disclosed the pa-rameters of the Integrity Com-mission’s investigations.
“In any event, this publication must stand opposite to the press statement from the Office of the DPP last week when the pop-ulation was informed that the “Emailgate” saga is far from over because it involves an investiga-tion beyond the four corners of whether actual emails existed or not and poured into whether the substance of the allegations in the “Emailgate” saga were true or not,” he is quoted in the Trin-idad Guardian as saying.
Al-Rawi said the PNM was awaiting the outcome of the police investigations, “as the nation is surely conscious that the office of the DPP would not make statements of the kind published last week, either glibly or capriciously”.
PRIME MINISTER KAMLA PERSAD-BISSESSAR SAYS SHE FEELS VINDICATED.
OPPOSITION LEADER DR. KEITH ROWLEY IS NOT SATISFIED WITH THE INTEGRITY COMMISSION’S LETTER.
Brazil congratulates Granger
on elections win
The Government of Bra-zil has extended con-gratulations to Pres-
ident David Granger on his victory at the May 11 general elections and recommitted to continue deepening bilateral initiatives between the two nations.
According to a press re-lease from the Brazilian em-bassy, international observ-er missions which included a team sent by the Union of South American Nations among which were two rep-resentatives of the electoral supreme tribunal of Brazil, followed the smooth prog-ress of the electoral process.
Granger meets CARICOM SG, envoys from Brazil, Venezuela
President David Granger started off his first official day as Guyana’s 8th Pres-
ident by meeting with the CAR-ICOM Secretary General and the ambassadors for Brazil and Ven-ezuela on Monday, stating that it was high on his agenda to boost infrastructural and economic development with immediate neighbours.
The Government Information Agency (GINA) on Monday stat-ed that Granger held brief meet-ings with the CARICOM Secre-tary General Irwin La Rocque, Brazil’s Ambassador to Guyana Lineu Pupo de Paula and Vene-zuela’s Ambassador to Guyana Reina Margarita Arratia Diaz.
The meetings, the agency, said were focused on building stron-ger ties with neighbouring coun-tries. It stated that Granger said
his meeting with La Rocque was a deliberate decision to meet with important neighbours.
“It was a deliberate decision of mine that we should meet with our most important neighbours first and CARICOM is at the heart of the economic develop-ment of Guyana and in terms of not only courtesy, but also in terms of policy (and) I felt it was my duty to meet with our Carib-bean neighbour first,” the agen-cy quoted Granger as saying.
President Granger said Guy-ana has always shared a cordial relationship with Brazil and that his administration will be work-ing to strengthen those ties.
“…We would like to accelerate the pace of some of the proj-ects, particularly for infrastruc-ture and other economic ones, I’ve already discussed with Carl
Greenidge, who has been iden-tified as the Foreign Minister, to place extraordinary importance on economic relations.”
Granger noted that Brazil is also a member of the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa group and has one of the fastest growing economies in the world.
His meeting with the Vene-zuela Ambassador, GINA said, was centred on the continuation of the Good Officer Process on the border controversy. Granger noted that the Good Officer pro-cess forms part of the menu of measures available.
“As you know, Venezuela is an important neighbour, and in terms of PetroCaribe, the eco-nomic importance of PetroCa-ribe as well as other strategic dimension of Guyana/Venezuela
relations,’ Granger was quoted as stating.
GINA said the meeting with LaRocque was seen as a strong signal of Guyana’s commitment to the CARICOM integration ar-rangement.
La Rocque, GINA said, indi-cated that his discussion with the president was centred on Guyana’s role in CARICOM and about the integration arrange-ment. He also stated that he was looking forward to working with President Granger and his ad-ministration.
Brazil’s Ambassador stated that he is also anticipating work-ing with the new administration on some crucial infrastructural projects, some of which includes the Linden to Lethem road and a proposed hydropower plant in the Mazaruni.
29Caribbean Star Newspaper May 22–28, 2015
World News Highlights
BEIRUT - Islamic State fighters tightened their grip on the his-toric Syrian city of Palmyra on Thursday and overran Iraqi gov-ernment defenses east of Rama-di, the provincial capital that they had seized five days earlier.
BEIRUT - The Islamic State militant group has seized the last border crossing between Syria and Iraq controlled by the Syrian government after security forces withdrew, the Syrian Observato-ry for Human Rights monitoring group said on Thursday.
UNITED NATIONS - The United Nations children’s fund UNICEF is alarmed at reports that some emergency food and other humanitarian aid was not reaching civilians in conflict-torn Syria due to theft by combat-
ants, a U.N. spokesman said on Thursday.
WASHINGTON - U.S. and coalition forces conducted 18 air strikes against Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq since Wednesday, the U.S. military said on Thursday.
ROME - Italy made a fresh at-tempt at tackling rampant cor-ruption on Thursday when the Chamber of Deputies approved a strongly contested law stiffen-ing penalties for various types of graft and balance sheet fraud.
WASHINGTON - Two children were likely killed by a U.S. air strike in Syria in November, the U.S. military said on Thursday, the first time the Pentagon has acknowledged civilian casualties since it began the air campaign against Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq.
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama on Thursday pledged to elevate Tunisia as a major non-NATO ally of the Unit-ed States, a gesture that recogniz-es the country’s democratic prog-ress after the 2011 Arab Spring uprising.
CAIRO/DUBAI - Saudi shells hit an international aid office in Yemen on Thursday killing five Ethiopian refugees, a local official said, while violence across the country put United Nations-led peace talks in doubt.
BAGHDAD - Islamic State mil-itants overran Iraqi government defences east of the city of Ra-madi on Thursday, police and pro-government tribal fighters said.
JAKARTA - China’s land rec-lamation around reefs in the dis-puted South China Sea is under-
mining freedom and stability, and risks provoking tension that could even lead to conflict, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a conference in Jakarta.
MOSCOW - Russia offered vis-iting Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi military and other aid on Thursday to help push back Islamic State militants who have made further sweeping gains in both Iraq and Syria this week.
MOSCOW - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed the situation in Syria and Yemen as well as Ukraine with U.S. Sec-retary of State John Kerry on Thursday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The Chinese navy warned a U.S. surveillance plane flying over artificial islands that Beijing is cre-ating in the disputed South China Sea to leave the area eight times,
according to CNN, which was on board the flight on Wednesday.
KUALA LUMPUR/BANGKOK - Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Thursday he had ordered the navy to rescue thou-sands of migrants adrift at sea, as a Thai official said Myanmar had agreed to attend an emergency conference on the crisis.
RIGA - European Union leaders began a tense summit in Latvia on Thursday with ex-Soviet neigh-bors that was overshadowed by the continuing confrontation with Russia triggered by the last such event 18 months ago.
ADANA, Turkey - Turkey’s state intelligence agency helped deliver arms to parts of Syria un-der Islamist rebel control during late 2013 and early 2014, accord-ing to a prosecutor and court tes-timony from gendarmerie officers seen by Reuters.
Jai Seeta Raam!My name is Hemraj Sobhai, a
proud member of the Shaanti Bhavaan Mandir’s Naujavaan Mandalee. I am honored to be given the privilege to write an article for the Caribbean Star newspaper.
Today I will be sharing an ar-ticle that I read with my mom. I want to share this article be-cause; I think it’s telling the truth. I am sharing this article also because I want our youths of today to be more dependent on their brains rather than technology.
The title of the article is “Has smartphone made hu-mans lazy thinkers?”
According to research, the convenience of a smartphone at your fingertip makes you become a lazy thinker. It also shows that people who are smart thinkers choose to use the smartphone instead of their brain. People research things they already know or can think of because the smartphone is at their finger-tip.
The smartphone has even become the boss of analyti-cal thinkers, as they now tend to second guess themselves, turning to their smartphone instead.
The research also shows our reliance on smartphones
and other electronic devices is likely to rise. I am eight years old and I am very scared that
our brains will become over powered by technology.
Jai Ho!
Ramadi’s fall shows U.S. comments on Iraq too optimistic -analysts
WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – U.S. assurances that Islamic State rebels were
on the defensive even as they drove Iraqi forces from the key city of Ramadi are typical of the often unwarranted optimism that has characterized U.S. public com-ments on the conflict, analysts said yesterday.
In the period before Iraqi troops retreated over the weekend, senior U.S. military officials played down the strategic importance of the city, the capital of the vast western Anbar province, and said advances being trumpeted by Islamic State social media were just short-term gains.
“We firmly believe Daesh (Is-lamic State) is on the defensive throughout Iraq and Syria, at-tempting to hold previous gains while conducting small-scale, localized harassing attacks, oc-casional complex or high-profile attacks, in order to feed their … propaganda apparatus,” Marine Corps General Thomas Weidley told reporters on Friday, two days before Ramadi’s fall.
Retired Army Lieutenant Gener-al David Barno, now at American University, said part of the U.S. portrayal of the conflict was due to the “fog of war, not knowing what’s actually going on on the battlefield, not being able to see what’s occur-ring.”
But he and other analysts not-
ed U.S. military officials may have been pushing too hard to portray events in a positive light instead of preparing the public for a long, hard struggle.
“I think there has probably been an unwarranted amount of optimism about progress against ISIS over the last six months or so,” Barno said, using one of the group’s acronyms.
He said Ramadi was the group’s biggest success since it captured Mosul last year and declared itself an Islamic caliphate.
“So it’s a very big deal and I think it was really unanticipated by the White House and … probably by the Iraqi government as well,” Bar-no said.
Anthony Cordesman, a defense analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said U.S. public comments about the battle against Islamic State had done lit-tle to clarify the deep internal di-visions among Sunnis, Shi’ites and Kurds that underlie the conflict.
“We haven’t learned much since the days of the Vietnam follies,” he said, referring to the much-crit-icized military press briefings during that war.
“There is always this tendency on the part of the PR (public rela-tions) people to spin things, always present the most favorable case, rather than prepare people for the fact that some things are very diffi-cult and uncertain,” he added.
30 Caribbean Star NewspaperMay 22–28, 2015
“It takes good to see good” — Vp premIer
(March 21-April 19)You’re feeling much more do-mestic than usual during the first half of the week, and should
think about family and repair projects before other issues. If you can handle it, you may find it fruitful to have a heart-to-heart with a parent. Exciting en-ergy f loods your senses later in the week, so expect to have a good time out of almost anything then. Push ahead with something totally new! The week-end is better for slowing way down and enjoying the ride -- you don’t need to rush anything just yet!
ARIES(April 20-May 20)Listen carefully and make sure that you’re also speaking in turn through
Wednesday -- communication is far more important than usual, and should be easier for you to achieve. Try to get your peers to see what is most important to you! Don’t overdo it later in the week, though, or you may find that others stop listen-ing when they decide that you’ve said enough. It’s a fine line! Your good energy this weekend makes it far more likely that folks want to hang out with you and follow your lead -- it’s easy to get folks to open up.
TAURUS(May 21-June 20)Watch out for foul moods during the first half of the week, in yourself
as well as those around you. It’s a time that makes disappointment ten times as bitter as usual, and you need to avoid raising expectations too high. See if you can coast through to Thursday, when your intellectual energy starts to rise dramat-ically. You should be able to realign yourself with a plan that is much more reasonable for you. Though your emotional side is a bit stiffer this weekend, you should still be able to understand what those around you are going through.
GEMINI
(June 21-July 22)Go ahead and talk to yourself for the first few days of the week -- if
anyone thinks you’re crazy, they’ll soon learn other-wise! It’s a good time for you to see if you can get your people to commit to something new and important. If you show off a little on Thursday and Friday, it’s for a good reason, and you ought to impress the right peo-ple and put yourself in a good position for the future. Attend to the small details of your life this weekend, if only to get ready for larger things to come.
CANCER(July 23-Aug. 22)Expect big ideas to come your way early this week -- through your own
inspiration or through mundane channels like email. You’re in just the right frame of mind to give them the careful consideration they deserve, so take the time to think them through. At least one leads to some serious recognition on Thursday or Friday, and you should be able to make the most of your great energy then. The weekend is better spent considering your financial situation -- you need to make some tweaks if you want to succeed!
LEO(Aug. 23-Sept. 22)Fall back on your good friends as the week begins -- you know
they’re there for you, and it’s easier than ever to ask them for anything you may need. You are all more or less on the same page, so work together! Try your best to relax on Thursday and Friday -- especially when new ideas or requests come your way. Flexibil-ity should go a long way toward making life sweeter for you. The weekend is as exactly good as you make it, and can be almost perfect if you put a little work into it early on!
VIRGO
LIBRA(Sept. 23-Oct. 22)You need to spend some time during the first half of this week just taking
stock of your life and appreciating all the things (and people) you may not have noticed up until now. It may be hard for you to understand some of the connections, but that just means you need to make time for thinking. Let yourself dive into some big project or idea on Thursday -- you don’t have to worry about how all the pieces fit together as long as you’re doing something you love. The weekend is a little annoying, thanks to an almost-forgotten task that seems to take you forever to get around to doing.
(Oct. 23-Nov. 21)You get word from far away of a friend’s or relative’s big adventure -- and it inspires you to plan your own!
The first half of the week is a good time to think really big, because you can always negotiate down from taking a year off to sail around the world on your own. Work issues loom large on Thursday and Friday -- especially if you aren’t your own boss. Dealing with supervision is tricky business at this time. Your mind is almost perfectly organized this weekend, though, and you should be able to come up with a great plan that covers everything that you need to get done.
SCORPIO SAGITTARIUS(Nov. 22-Dec. 21)You just aren’t so sure about what you need to do next when the week begins
-- but keep asking questions! You’re in the right frame of mind to accept big changes, or sets of small changes that add up to something great. When things start to gel (Thursday or Friday, most likely), your good mood is ineradicable and you should find that those around you are caught up in your excitement. Bills and red tape may consume at least a good chunk of your weekend, so get ready for some detail-heavy drudgery.
PISCES(Dec. 22-Jan. 19)You’re doing quite a bit of eye-roll-ing all the way through Wednesday
evening -- almost everyone you know is overreacting to some bit of news or surprise announcement, and you seem to be the only one who has any kind of per-spective. Good luck sharing it! Things might actually get worse for your people later in the week, as a wave of selfish energy flows over them and it suddenly be-comes dog-eat-dog for almost everyone but you. Focus on your own projects and all will be well. The weekend brings blessed relief, and your mind opens up to new ideas and information.
(Jan. 20-Feb. 18)The first few days of the week are great for committing (or recommit-
ting) yourself to exercise in all its forms. Try yoga, take the stairs instead of the elevator or just swallow your pride and go back to the gym -- you’ll be glad you did! A seeming contradiction turns into an extraordinary new idea for you on Thursday or Friday, and you should be able to work it to your advantage within a few weeks at the most. Try to ease up on your working life this weekend. There’s no great urgent need for you to complete any deals until next week, anyway!
AQUARIUS(Feb. 19-March 20) Your poetic imagination makes the first half of the week seem almost magical -- for you and for those
close enough to consider family. It’s the best time to share your feelings or to try out new artistic proj-ects. Beware of work issues on Thursday and Friday, especially involving your immediate supervisor or closest client. Things could get quite contentious if you don’t de-escalate immediately. A little detective work should clear up any lingering doubts about your friends or family this weekend.
CAPRICORN
The weekly horoscopes are updated on every week to gives you an in-depth insight into your family, your love life, any career opportunities, friends and money issues.WEEKLY HOROSCOPE
31Caribbean Star Newspaper May 22–28, 2015
Entertainment NewsNidhi Subbaiah opposite Riteish Deshmukh in Grand Masti 3
Nidhi Subbaiah opposite Riteish Deshmukh in Grand Masti 3
Welcome To Karachi: Jackky Bhagnani and Lauren Gottlieb’s sweet indul...Jackky Bhagnani
is inspiring youngsters to get fitJack-ky Bhagnani and Arshad Warsi's visit to Sarafa, IndoreWhen Arshad Warsi and Jackky Bhagnani were mistaken as the real Talib...I got only 48 hours to work on my Gujarati dialect: Jackky Bhagnani
Nidhi Subbaiah will soon be joining the cast of Grand Masti 3.
The actress is paired opposite Ritesh Deshmukh in the franchise, which is be-ing directed by Indra Kumar. Though the film is underway, she will begin shooting for her portions from Sunday in the city.
Nidhi, who has been part of Ajab Gaz-abb Love with Jackky Bhagnani and OMG Oh My God! in Bollywood, says, "I play Riteish's wife in the film. Our track will have a lot of humour element, and I'm ex-
cited about starting shoot. I think we will be filming a wedding sequence first."
Anushka Sharma and Priyanka Chopra: Indeed, the ‘Girls like to swing’!
Anushka Sharma and Priyanka Chopra: Indeed, the ‘Girls like to swing’!
The official video of 'Girls like to swing' from Zoya Akhtar's Dil Dha-dakne Do has released and Anush-
ka Sharma is a total surprise in it. The cheerful actress is seen performing on
the stage as she elegantly uses a hand fan as a prop. She not only impresses with her quick dance moves but also takes your heart away with her lovely smile.
Soon, she is joined by Priyanka Chopra and the duo leave no stones unturned to burn the dance floor. While the actresses en-joy shaking a leg together, Ranveer Singh's idea of enjoyment is sitting in the audience with a drink in his hand. The song has been sung by Sunidhi Chauhan who is easily the first choice for songs high on energy. The music has been composed by Shankar-Eh-saan-Loy while the lyrics have been penned by Zoya's lyricist father Javed Akhtar.
Christina Aguilera spoofs Britney Spears
Christina Aguilera on her 'Nashville' roleChristina Aguilera 'excited' about 'The Voice' comebackBrit-
ney Spears teases new Iggy Azalea track-Christina spoofs BritneyChristina Aguil-era says felt 'inexplicably connected' to daughter
Christina Aguilera, who is a judge on an international talent show, was seen spoofing her former rival Britney Spears' 'Baby one more time' music video in the show's preview.
Aguilera was dressed in Britney's fa-mous high school garb, mimicking Spears' voice and acting particularly ditzy.
Cannes’ high heels rule can’t deter the glamour parade
The Cannes Film Festival's second week got off to a rough start as news of women who weren't wear-
ing high heels getting barred from the event caught on like wildfire.
Yet, that didn't stop stars from wow-ing on the red carpet, as they turned up for the screening of Sicario, the story of the FBI taking down a Mexican drug cartel.
32 Caribbean Star NewspaperMay 22–28, 2015
Kylie Jenner Hurt By Nicki Minaj: Trying To Hold Her ‘Head Up’ After Crushing Diss
It must really stink to be on Nicki Mi-naj’s bad side — especially when you happen to be her biggest fan. Kylie
Jenner, who has idolized the rapper for years, is doing her best to keep her ‘head up high’ after Nicki threw shade at her romance with Tyga. Hang in there, girl!
Kylie Jenner, 17, never thought she and her role model, Nicki Minaj, 32, would ever have a problem. However, the rap queen “blindsided” the teen reality star when she attacked her relationship with Tyga, 25. Nicki dissed Kylie’s contro-versial love affair with her older beau by donning a Givenchy jersey that read, “Pervert 17,” in her latest music video for “Feeling Myself.” A source tells Hol-lywoodLife.com EXCLUSIVELY how Kylie is trying to let the insult roll off her back.
Nicki Minaj & Kylie Jenner Feud: ‘KU-WTK’ Star Was Blindsided By Her Insult
“Kylie knows all the words to Nicki’s songs, she’s a huge fan. She was super excited when they got to be in a [Beats by Dre] commercial with Nicki last year. It was all she could talk about!” a source tells HollywoodLife.com EXCLUSIVELY about the 17-year-old’s love for her Mi-najesty.
“Kylie’s met Nicki a few times and she’s always been super cool with her so this is a huge shock. Kylie’s hurt but she’s trying not to get sucked into the negativity,” the insider adds. “Her sisters have all told her the best thing to do is ignore it and hold her head up high.”
If it’s any consolation to Kylie, her idol’s put-down was aimed mostly at Tyga. The hip hop stars have had a contentious relationship ever since Tyga degraded Nicki’s recent smash, “Truffle Butter.” The “Rack City” rapper recorded his own version of the track when he found out Nicki had claimed it for her own album. (He wanted the hit for himself, apparent-ly!) Well, Miss Minaj wasn’t down with his spin on the song.
“I thought that was a little bit disre-
spectful because I had always shown him love,” Nicki said to hotnewhiphop of their beef. So, she’s retaliated via the “Feeling Myself” music video.
Kylie Jenner Wishes She Could Be Just Like Nicki Minaj
Nicki’s clip, blasting Tyga for being eight years his girlfriend’s senior, was re-leased on May 18, just one day after Ky-lie attended the Billboard Music Awards with her big sis, Kendall Jenner, 19.
Backstage at the show, the brunette beauties were asked who they would be if they could be one artist for a day. While Kendall said she’d like to be Beyonce, Ky-lie admitted she’d want to become Nicki. Awkward much?! Watch their responses below:
“I would be Nicki Minaj,” Kylie says — as we all cringe! If she had seen “Feeling Myself” a few days beforehand, the lus-cious-lipped stunner may have (actually, probably most definitely would have) giv-en a different answer.
HollywoodLifers — do YOU think Ky-Ky will continue to worship the “Starships” singer even after she took a cheap shot at Tyga? Let us know!
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan shuts it down in a Ralph and Russo couture gown at Cannes 2015!This is her second red carpet ap-pearance and it is beyond gorgeous!
The wait is over and we have the un-crowned queen of red carpet fash-ion here! Aishwarya Rai Bachchan
is on the red carpet at the 68th Cannes Film Festival wearing an ultra dreamy Ralph and Russo couture gown! She has been styled for Aastha Sharma for all of her Cannes appearances.
Right before this look Ash wore a
Georges Chakra gown and we thought, ‘That’s it! It can’t be topped!” but here is ARB proving us DEAD wrong! She has outdone herself in this stunning gown which can only be called a work of art!
Once on the red carpet, Ash posed with her LO’real Paris BFF Eva Longoria and made us green with envy! ARB celebrated Eva’s 10 years at Cannes by posing with her!
Ash also shot a small video while walk-ing out the hallway of the hotel which led to the red carpet. Just look at this god-dess strutting her stuff and flaunting it because she’s got it!
33Caribbean Star Newspaper May 22–28, 2015
Flouting rules, celebs flaunt selfies
One of the most awaited film cum fashion events of the year, the Cannes Film Festival has a rather
unique, 'no selfie on the red carpet' rule this year. In order to make the event a selfie-free zone, Thierry Fremaux, direc-
tor of the festival, has reportedly said, "You never look as ugly as you do in a selfie." This however has not discouraged our celebs from going ahead and clicking a few anyways. Going by the 'rules are meant to be broken' theory, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was one of the many who
clicked and posed for selfies.Katrina Kaif Katrina Kaif too tried her
hand at getting a selfie with Julianne Moore
Met Gala 2015 The Met gala 2015 held this May in New York had the rule saying, 'The use of phones for photography and social media will not be permitted inside the gala'. The dictum was utterly disre-garded and celebs went click happy as always.
Justin Beiber Music industry's bad boy Bieber clicked
as many selfies as he wished, rule or no rule. Here with pal, supermodel Cara De-levingne
Kanye West Not to be left behind, Kanye too went ahead and a clicked a few
of these bad boy selfies. Selfies that broke the internet Prime Minister Narendra Modi's signed
selfie with his Australian counterpart, Tony Abbott in 2014
Barrack Obama's selfie with Denmark's Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt and Britain's David Cameron, at Nelson Mandela's memorial service in 2013
Beyond the red carpet at Cannes
Over the years, Cannes might have become synonymous with glitz and glamour, but it still happens to
be that time of the year when stars from across the globe gather to celebrate... cinema (thank God!).
Yes, 'the place to be at' may have changed — it's more important to be seen 'outside' the auditorium, than inside — but beyond the red carpet, our celebs (national as well as international) are living it up in a big way. So, even as The Lobster and Carol make their presence felt inside the theatres, midway through the fest, we look at what happened when the stars aligned at the Cote d'Azur.
Selfie ban? What?Okay, so there might be a ban on self-
ies on the red carpet. For the first time at Cannes. Festival director Thierry Fremaux may have not-so-casually mentioned about it (he stated, “It really slows things down if people stop every two metres to take a picture of themselves, with them-selves”). And he also called the practice ‘extremely ridiculous and grotesque’. But our hotties were happy throw caution to the wind and just click away into the Twitters and WhoSays. Last heard, Salma Hayek had apologised.
The diva pose
34 Caribbean Star NewspaperMay 22–28, 2015
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PPP/C protests outside GECOM over election result
The PPP/C today mounted a protest outside the Guyana Elections Commission’s head-
quarters in Kingston calling for the resignation of its Chairman Dr Steve
Surujbally and pressing for a recount of the votes of the 2015 general elec-tions. The PPP/C is insisting that it won the elections.
(Photos by Arian Browne)
From right are former President Donald Ramotar, former Attorney General Anil Nandlall and PPP Secretary Zulfikar Mustapha.
The protest in full swing
Former Prime Minister Sam Hinds with his placard
The PPP protest on High Street
PPP General Secretary Clement Rohee lamenting GECOM’s unwillingness to permit a recount
35Caribbean Star Newspaper May 22–28, 2015
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Cruise ship being inspected in Bermuda after running aground on reef
HAMILTON, Bermuda, Wednesday May 20, 2015 – The Norwegian Dawn cruise ship remained docked
in Bermuda undergoing a full assessment this morning after it ran aground while leaving the island yesterday evening.
The 2,443 passengers and 1,059 crew on the seven-night Boston to Bermuda cruise suffered no injuries in the incident that oc-curred around 5 p.m. According to Norwe-gian Cruise Line, guests were “enjoying all onboard amenities and services” as they awaited the ship’s departure.
In a statement issued yesterday, the com-pany explained that the vessel hit a reef af-ter a temporary malfunction in its steering system forced it slightly off course.
However, the cruise company said the ship’s officers, engineers and an indepen-dent dive team confirmed the structural integrity of the vessel and it was floated, about six hours after running aground, to Heritage Wharf for a complete inspection.
Giving an update around 7 a.m. today, Norwegian Cruise Line said the assessment was still ongoing.
“The ship is fully operational and guests are enjoying all onboard amenities and services. In addition, guests have the op-portunity go ashore to enjoy the island this morning,” it said.
Yesterday, as the ship awaited assistance, passengers posted updates on the situation on social media.
Among them was Rachel Hansen who gave frequent reports via Twitter.
Divers getting ready to go see if there is
any damage from the grounding pic.twitter.com/oTNWEmiusS — Rachel Hansen (@Rachel_Hansen12) May 19, 2015
The boat directly below us is a Bermu-
da police boat come to help us. pic.twitter.com/2ERSdbpYdS — Rachel Hansen (@Rachel_Hansen12) May 20, 2015
An action shot of the tug boat attempting to pull us to freedom, I can see it from my balcony in my cabin. pic.twitter.com/sVui-Zy3APk — Rachel Hansen (@Rachel_Han-sen12) May 20, 2015
She told the Associated Press that she and her family were in the middle of eating dinner when the boat ran aground.
A picture of my family and I in our cabin room waiting for more information from the captain. We are all fine! pic.twitter.com/KglGQXhUo6 — Rachel Hansen (@Rachel_Hansen12) May 20, 2015
“We definitely felt it . . .There was a shud-
der for maybe 30 seconds to a minute and then there was a sudden stop,” she said.
“We had crew members running around in a panic, and we felt like we had to panic,” she said, adding that overall, the majority of crew members reacted calmly and quickly.
Internet cafe full for first time on trip pic.twitter.com/t8eZygoGNR — Rachel Han-sen (@Rachel_Hansen12) May 20, 2015
Lots of people still trying to have good time. pic.twitter.com/MLUkg6Hdnj — Ra-chel Hansen (@Rachel_Hansen12) May 20, 2015
Hansen, who said the incident was “pret-ty unsettling”, reported that the ship’s en-tertainment continued as planned later in the evening.
IN THIS PHOTO, THE NORWEGIAN DAWN CRUISE SHIP LIES AGROUND NEAR BERMUDA’S NORTH CHANNEL.
Earthquake hits south of Trinidad and Tobago capital
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Tuesday May 19, 2015 – Residents report-ed feeling slight tremors yesterday
afternoon as a 3.1 magnitude earthquake occurred just south of the capital.
The University of the West Indies’ Seis-mic Research Centre said the quake hit around 3:59 p.m at a depth of 38 kilome-tres in the Gulf of Paria.
Its location put it 11 kilometres south of Port of Spain, 26 kilometres southwest of Arima, and 34 kilometres north of San Fernando.
The Seismic Centre said the earth-quake was reportedly felt in Maraval, Pe-tit Valley and St. Augustine.
36 Caribbean Star NewspaperMay 22–28, 2015
CEO: Kevin MohabirChief Editor: Rhoda Mohabir
Head Of Distribution: Shevin MohabirDirector/Sales Manager: Kevin Mohabir
Distribution: William Despot, Sham Mohabir, & Shevin Mohabir
Disclaimer: Caribbean Star Newspaper Inc. & Advertisers are not responsible for typographical errors on the published Ads. We accept articles, artwork, and photography which are in accordance with our Mission. We reserve the right to accept, reject, or edit any material we receive but do our best to honor the integrity of the author/artist. We do not endorse any particular writer or advertiser. We simply offer our readers information
on various subject matters. It is expected that all material is submitted in “Good Faith” with no intent to mislead or harm others. It is the readers responsibility to make intuitive decisions that are right for themselves.
United States President Barack Obama
$1M FOR YOUR SON
TEN YEARS after he survived a kid-napping ordeal, businessman Nandlal Singh is now reliving the nightmare
of that ordeal all over again after his son, Amit Singh, 22, was himself kidnapped on Sunday. The kidnappers have since de-manded $1 million for Singh’s safe release.
Singh, who is the joint owner of a super-market in Curepe was kidnapped at about 11 pm while on his way to drop off his wife’s Honda CRV vehicle to his mechanic in Ma-coya. When he failed to return to his Cun-upia home, worried relatives tried reaching him on his cellular phone but were unsuc-cessful. Relatives then contacted police but were told to wait a few hours before mak-ing an official report to the Anti Kidnapping Unit. At 8.30 pm on Monday, Nandlal Singh received a telephone call on his cellular phone with a male caller saying that Amit had been kidnapped and in his (the caller) possession. The caller demanded $1 million for Singh’s safe return...or else.
AKU officers were alerted but up to yesterday Singh remained in the hands of his abductors. Sources revealed that kid-nappers telephoned Singh’s father several times continuing to make their $1 million demand and at one point, they allowed the victim to speak to his father as proof of life.
On Thursday October 20, 2005 Char-lieville businessman Nandlal Singh was snatched while praying in front of a Hin-du temple at his John Peter Road home at about 8.30pm.
Nandlal, who at the time was 47, and whose nickname is “Peppy,” owned the building which housed Apple Recreation
Club in Curepe. He was praying at the tem-ple in front of his home when two men armed with guns jumped out of a car and announced a hold-up. They ordered a fe-male relative to hand over cash and valu-ables worth more than $4,000.
The gunmen then bundled Nandlal into a car and fled the scene. A report was made to the Chaguanas police and a party of officers went to the scene. He was subse-quently released. And now, the nightmare of that kidnapping has revisited Nandlal with the kidnapping of his son. Worried relatives yesterday said they were hoping and praying for the best but are fearing the worst. Speaking on the basis of strict ano-nymity, as AKU officers warned the family not to speak to the media, a relative yes-terday said, “this is too much for us to bear knowing what the crime situation is like in this country and we have had so many kid-nap victims being brutally murdered.
“We just do not know what fate will befall Amit but we are pleading with the kidnappers not to harm him. We are begging the kidnap-pers to send him home to his family. He is a young person with a bright future who does not deserve this. We are not as wealthy as some people would like to believe.”
Newsday understands that several persons in the Macoya area were inter-viewed by AKU officers yesterday and useful information was secured.
Officers of the Northern Division have teamed up with AKU to do intelligence gathering on the case and investigations are continuing. This is the second kidnap-ping committed this year.
Smoke rises as residents protest police killing of 63-y-o
ST THOMAS, Jamaica – Firefighters Wednes-day morning managed to douse the flames of debris that were lit Tuesday night as Bath residents protest-ed against the police kill-ing of a senior citizen of the district.
The fire was put out around 5 o'clock and po-lice from the Bath area and Morant Bay are cur-rently patrolling the area.
There were no reported
clash between residents and the police arising out of the burning incident last night.
Residents had blocked the road from Tuesday morning and had set fire to a section of the block-age as they railed against what they said was the po-lice murder of 63-year-old Alvin Allen.
Reports are that Allen was shot dead in a section of the community about
10:00 Monday morning in an alleged shoot-out with the police. Ammunition was also reportedly seized after the incident.
But Allen’s loved ones and residents are claiming that the elderly man was murdered by the police.
Residents told OBSERV-ER ONLINE that Allen was not a gunman and has never been involved in a conflict in the area. His hand was not fully func-tional because of an injury, they claim.
Resident in Bath, St Thomas lit debris as they protested the police killing of a senior citizen in the community.
Alvin Allen, 63, was shot dead by police in his community during an alleged shoot-out
37Caribbean Star Newspaper May 22–28, 2015
Caribbean lands two of world’s 10 most scenic airport approaches
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Tuesday May 19, 2015 – The Caribbean continues to hold its own in inter-
national travel and tourism surveys, re-cently landing two out of 10 places in the PrivateFly Best Airport Approaches 2015 poll.
PrivateFly, a global booking platform for private jet charters, conducted its latest poll in March and April of this year and received more than 3,000 individual votes, the company said.
A total of 147 global airports, offering views of everything from rugged moun-tainous landscapes to sparkling sky-scrapers, received nominations.
According to Adam Twidell, CEO of PrivateFly and an experienced pilot: “Our poll has become an annual checklist for the well-travelled, and offers a fascinat-ing mix of global descents.
“From iconic city views such as Las Ve-gas and London City; to tiny remote air-strips such as Saba in the Caribbean (the world’s shortest commercial runway); and the unique beach landing at Barra in the Outer Hebrides.”
Saba’s scenic Juancho E Yrausquin Airport, which ranked sixth in this year’s PrivateFly poll, is flanked on one side by
towering hills, with cliffs that drop steep-ly into the sea at both ends. Due to the diminutive 1,299-feet-long runway, it is only accessed by small aircraft and heli-copters.
Also flying the flag for the Caribbean was fifth-placed Princess Juliana Inter-national Airport in St Maarten, which
bagged the top spot in the 2013 poll.Its breathtaking airport approach has
people diving for their cameras every time an aircraft makes its way to the run-way, which starts mere metres from the shoreline.
How many of these have you landed in? The world’s most scenic airport ap-
proaches – http://t.co/c8P2vBTr8A — TheHotelCulture (@TheHotelCulture) May 19, 2015
Other previous winners of the annual poll include Nice Cote D’Azur Airport in France (2014), which ranked third this year, and Barra in Scotland’s Outer Heb-rides (2012), which took fourth place this year.
New Zealand’s Queenstown Airport was 2015’s big winner, followed by Las Vegas McCarran Airport in the United States.
The top 10 scenic airport approaches, according to PrivateFly’s 2015 survey, follow:
1. Queenstown Airport, New Zealand2. Las Vegas McCarran Airport, Unit-
ed States3. Nice Cote D’Azur Airport, France4. Barra Airport, Scotland, UK5. St. Maarten Airport (Princess Juli-
ana International), Caribbean6. Saba Airport (Juancho E
Yrausquin), Caribbean7. Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport,
Canada8. Gibraltar Airport, UK9. London City Airport, UK10. Cape Town Airport, South Africa
DAVID SCOWSILL, PRESIDENT & CEO, WORLD TRAVEL & TOURISM COUNCIL SAID OF SABA IN THE CARIBBEAN: ‘A SIMPLY UNFORGETTABLE AND THRILLING LANDING ON THE WORLD’S SHORTEST RUNWAY, FLANKED BY CLIFFS AND OCEAN WITH A STRIKING VIEW OF ITS ACTIVE VOLCANO, MOUNT SCENERY.’ (PHOTO: MAIL ONLINE)
No Mining... YetNORANDA Jamaica Bauxite
Partnership is in fact work-ing inside the outer bound-
ary of Cockpit Country, but it is not mining. At least not yet.
According to a well-placed source at the company, Noranda is only drilling to determine the feasibility of mining in the future. The source, who asked not to be named, explained that the com-pany is using augers to drill to depths of five metres to test the quantity and quality of the ore in the area. Depending on the find-ings of these preliminary works, it will decide whether to apply to the Government for a mining licence.
The source said Noranda is operating under Special Exclu-sive Prospecting Licence (SEPL), which allows it to "enter and pros-pect on any land for any minerals".
The website of the Mines and Geology Division of the Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy, and Mining does list Noranda as having an active SEPL, which was granted in June 2014 and which will expire next month. The areas identified on the SEPL are Gibral-tar, Bryan Castle and Watt Town in St Ann. There is, however, no specific mention of Caledonia, the community closest to the main road which acts as the proxy to the Cockpit Country outer bound-ary.
When the Jamaica Observer visited the area at the centre of the controversy yesterday, land surveyors and heavy equipment were seen at work on lands across the Madras to Gibraltar main road. Noranda workers on the site de-clined speaking on the subject,
but our source told the newspaper that Noranda is building a road to access the ore deposits on that side of the main road.
The access road is expected to be some 700-feet long.
Director of Windsor Research Centre Mike Schwartz, an engi-neer by profession, knocked the approach.
"We thought they'd use the ex-cuse of the SEPL to justify this, but it does not justify it. You don't need to cut a road to prospect, and you don't need D-9s. You can do it by hand or by augers," he told the Observer. Deep pits on either side of the road leading from Caledonia to the Madras to Gibraltar cross-roads speak to Noranda's mining operations in the area since 2004 when it was granted Special Min-ing Lease (SML) 165. Residents confirmed that they crossed the Cockpit Country border roughly three weeks ago.
Noranda's position, according to the well-placed source, is that the Government of Jamaica prom-ised it 26 years' supply of bauxite under SML 165, but with only 11 years gone out of the contract, there are questions about the re-serves.
Cockpit Country stakeholders raised the alarm about the works inside the boundary area on Mon-day. Noranda noted the concerns and said it would respond, but up to late last evening it had not.
The firm is a partnership be-tween Noranda Bauxite Limited, a Jamaican limited liability com-pany which holds 49 per cent, and the Jamaican Government, which owns the remaining 51 per cent.
38 Caribbean Star NewspaperMay 22–28, 2015
& SportsCRICKET
Coach Simmons opens door for IPL playersWest Indies coach Phil Sim-
mons has opened the door for Dwayne Bravo, Lendl Sim-
mons,Sunil Narine, Andre Russell and Ki-eron Pollard to return to the Test team, stating his intention to meet them on their return from the IPL.
Bravo and Lendl Simmons had an-nounced their Test retirements, while Pollard took an “indefinite break” from first-class cricket earlier this year. Russell indicated he was not physically capable of playing the long form and Narine has been sidelined due to questions about his bowling action.
However Phil Simmons, who was ap-pointed coach in March and had a sturdy result in the home series against England, is eager to see if he can encourage a bet-ter relationship between the West Indies team and the region’s IPL participants.
Before his departure for the IPL, Bravo had suggested he would like to return to the Test team.
“Obviously everybody wants to see those guys playing Test cricket for the West Indies because they are certainly good enough to play that format,” Phil Simmons told Trinidad’s Newsday.
“I’m not aware of Bravo’s statement, but I haven’t spoken to any of them since I became coach. I hope to sit down with them and discuss my, and the selectors, vision for how we want West Indies to play Test cricket going forward and how
they possibly fit into that.“I can’t rule anybody in or out of con-
sideration until I do so.”It remains to be seen whether these
discussions can take place quickly enough to allow any of the quintet to be part of the team to face Australia in two
Test matches next month.Phil Simmons felt that the WICB should
look to the likes of New Zealand for an example of forming a better relationship between IPL-contracted players and the West Indies team. New Zealand have ac-cepted that the financial rewards on offer
to IPL players, relative to their interna-tional income, requires a degree of flex-ibility to allow them to take part in both.
Phil Simmons said he had also dis-cussed the future with Shivnarine Chan-derpaul ahead of the Australia series, though he did not divulge their plans.
Ray Rice has case dismissed with completion of pretrial programA New Jersey judge dismissed do-
mestic violence charges against Ray Rice on Thursday after the
former Baltimore Ravens running back completed his pretrial intervention pro-gram.
Judge Michael Donio had earlier told ABCNews.com in an email that he planned to sign the dismissal.
“I was just presented with a dismissal order from Prosecutor [James] McClain -- which means that Ray Rice has suc-cessfully completed all of his terms and conditions of his PTI -- therefore based on the Prosecutors recommendation I will be signing Mr. Rice’s dismissal of his case today,” Donio wrote in the email.
Rice’s attorney, Michael Diamondstein, told ESPN’s Adam Caplan that his client completed the program Thursday.
Rice has not played in the NFL since being suspended after he knocked out his wife, Janay Rice (his fiancee at the time), in an elevator at an Atlantic City casino in February 2014.
He was required to attend the pretrial intervention program for the minimum
of one year, with the third-degree charge of aggravated assault set to be dismissed upon his successful completion of it.
Ray Rice did not play at all last season but was reinstated from his indefinite suspension in December. Ronald Marti-nez/Getty Images
Under terms of the program, Rice paid $125 in fines and received anger man-
agement counseling. The arrest will re-main on Rice’s record, but there will be no conviction.
Rice was reinstated in December after a neutral arbitrator overturned his NFL suspension on appeal. Commissioner Roger Goodell had initially suspended Rice for two games before increasing the punishment to an indefinite ban after the
video surfaced.Rice has repeatedly apologized for his
actions. He has been free to sign with a team since his reinstatement but so far has received no interest.
Rice, 28, is a three-time Pro Bowler and helped the Ravens win Super Bowl XLVII. He rushed for 6,180 yards and 37 touch-downs in six seasons with Baltimore.
39Caribbean Star Newspaper May 22–28, 2015
39Caribbean Star Newspaper May 8–14, 2015
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Root, Stokes lead England’s entertaining fightback1st Test – Day 1. England 354 for 7
(Root 98, Stokes 92, Buttler 67, Henry 3-93) v New Zealand
After little more than the first hour of the opening day at Lord’s, the new hierar-chy of English cricket will have been
shuffling a little uncomfortably in their seats. At 30 for 4 a horrendous day for the home side, to follow the acrimony of the last couple of weeks, could have unfolded as New Zealand surged out of the blocks but instead England’s middle order fought back in entertaining style.
The recovery was fashioned by Joe Root, continuing the form that had him named En-gland’s player of the year three days ago and, arguably more significantly, Ben Stokes as the pair added 161 in 32 overs for the fifth wick-et. Both fell short of hundreds - for Stokes it would have been his first in England and for Root his fifth since May last year - but their efforts were backed up by half-centuries for Jos Buttler and Moeen Ali as they added 103 for the seventh wicket.
The action continued to the last moment, though, with Buttler lbw to the final ball of the day, playing a horrid shot across the line at Trent Boult. Still, Nos 5 to 8 had provided 306 runs to haul their team out of a position that would only have only fuelled recent fires. The flames are still far from dying out, but a temporary barrier has been formed.
Despite the late pick-me-up wicket, New Zealand will know the day slipped away from them. They have said a disjointed prepara-tion - with four senior players arriving two days before the Test from the IPL - will not be used as an excuse (it is the position they have accepted for themselves out of necessity) but Tim Southee, especially, looked a little short of a gallop.
Matt Henry, making his debut in support of the main two, began with two wickets in his first spell and later found Root’s edge on 98 but he also leaked nearly four an over as the game escaped from New Zealand after lunch. Neither did Mark Craig, who does not mind buying his wickets, offer a defensive option - not that defence generally enters Brendon McCullum’s mind - although much credit in the shift of momentum should go to the way Root and Stokes batted. The reward for a pos-itive mindset.
The day before this Test, Stokes’ father, Gerard, spoke to Fairfax in New Zealand about the dilemma he would face watching his son against the country of his birth. He may have gone through emotional turmoil as the day unfolded with his boy rattling along at close to a run-a-ball only to fall with a hundred in his grasp. For Stokes jnr, promoted back to No. 6 where he scored his maiden Test century in Perth and 79 in Antigua, just getting off the mark was a notable moment after three pre-vious Test innings in England had been ducks.
Root, in a lively manner that is becoming common place, went to fifty shortly after lunch from 53 balls and Stokes skipped to his off 55 as he firstly caught up with his part-ner then accelerated past him as he took 25 off two overs from Henry and Boult. The on side dominated Stokes’ innings and he was especially productive with a powerful whip through midwicket, his timing and placement superb except for a couple of top-edged pulls which landed in space, before an innings of attack ended with him playing no stroke to a
Craig delivery that came down the slope, leav-ing him watching in horror as it clipped the off stump, having struck 15 fours and a pulled six in his 94-ball stay.
It was a day when a rejigged England mid-dle order came together as Buttler, back at No. 7 with Moeen pushed down to No. 8, earned himself a 95-ball fifty - restrained by the standards Buttler is capable off, but highly mature given that there remained work to do when Stokes and Root could not kick on be-yond three figures. Moeen began uncertainly, squirting a first-ball yorker off the back of the bat to third man, but grew in confidence as he slog-swept Craig before the second new-ball. When he had 32 he bunted a firm chance back to Southee who barely had time to react and finished unbeaten on 49 with the tail to come in the morning. Ben Stokes played a fine counter-attack that proved entertaining to watch
40 Caribbean Star NewspaperMay 22–28, 2015
May 0
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015
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We are asking you to vote for Pt Arun Gosain and his slate of Trustees at the forthcoming elections. To ensure that your name is on the Voters’ List, please call Sally Singh 646-407-8672;
Roy Brijlall 917-202-0394 or Ruby Daramdas 917-599-7153
We are pleased to announce that Pt Arun Gosain, son of the legendary Shri Prakash Gossai, founder and spiritual leader of the Bhuvane-shwar Mandir, is one of the three Trustees that have been nominated to serve in that capacity. Pt Arun Gosain has gra-ciously accepted the nomination.
Pt Arun Gosain is highly qualifi ed for that position. He holds a Bach-elor’s Degree from State Uni-versity of Stony Brook (SUNY) and is a graduate of the Sandeep-any Sadhanalaya Ashram in Powai, Mumbai, India, where he studied (between 2011 and 2013) San-skrit and Vedanta Philosophy under the distinguished guidance of Pujya Guruji Swami Tejomayanan-da, Swami Ad-vayananda and Swami Sharad-ananda.
Pt Arun Gosain has been one of the three priests of the Queens Branch of the Bhuvane-shwar Mandir prior to going to India
to further his studies at the Chinmaya Mission. In 2014, Pt Arun Gosain was honored by the New York City Council
for his outstanding contribution to Hin-duism, Humanitarianism, Cultural and Community Work. He was also granted
a citation for his outstanding contri-bution to community development by the Guyana Government through
the Guyana Consul General and the Guyana Perma-nent Mission to the United Nations.
Pt Arun Gosain is the Acharya Chinmaya Mission, New York. This is a great honor that is bestowed upon him. Pt Arun is cur-rently presenting a series of Motiva-tional Talks on Adi ShankarAcharya’s “Bhaja Govindam” at the Shri Lakshmi Narayan Mandir at 128-04 Liberty Avenue, New York. These discourses are designed to help individuals fi nd everlasting happiness and peace. In addition, Pt Arun Gosain runs a Summer Camp that is in-tended to enhance the spiritual de-velopment of our youth.
As the reader may know, the dis-pute at the Queens Branch of the Bhu-
vaneshwar Mandir will be resolved by a Court-ordered election, sched-uled for May 31, 2015.
41Caribbean Star Newspaper May 22–28, 2015
Mumbai Indians in third IPL finalMumbai Indians 187 for 6 (Simmons
65, Pollard 41, Bravo 3-40) beat Chen-nai Super Kings 162 (du Plessis 45, Malinga 3-23) by 25 runs
Mumbai Indians dished out the perfect formulaic fare - win toss, score enough runs and throttle the
opponent in the field - to subdue Chennai Super Kings by 25 runs and march into the final.
After Lendl Simmons and Kieron Pollard took Mumbai’s score to 187, they shad-owed Super Kings throughout their chase, never allowing them to get on top. Harbha-jan Singh’s dismissals of Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni off consecutive deliveries in the 11th over helped Mumbai make the deci-sive surge.
Apart from Faf du Plessis, who consoli-dated after an early wicket, and R Ashwin, who dealt a few powerful blows towards the end, Super Kings’ batting, as Dhoni lat-er put it, was soft. It was only a matter of time before Mumbai clinched their eighth win in nine games.
After a decent start, Super Kings found themselves in the rather unfamiliar terri-tory of a middle-order collapse, and more disturbingly for them they didn’t have the right response. The very next ball after Raina pushed one straight back at Harbha-jan, Dhoni , attempting a sweep, was caught plumb in front. But the lbw that caused much angst to Super Kings was that of Dwayne Smith, ruled out by Richard Illing-worth when a Lasith Malinga low full toss in the first over struck him well outside leg stump.
But du Plessis, who was later dropped on 14 by Malinga, remained Super Kings’ banker. However, his dismissal in the 14th over, which was followed by Parthiv Patel’s sharp run-out of Dwayne Bravo, quelled any late uprising. Ashwin belted out some
elegant hits, but with no recognized bats-man at the other end there was too much for him to do. Super Kings folded up two balls after his dismissal in the 19th over.
Even though Mumbai didn’t go berserk from the beginning, openers Simmons and Parthiv Patel didn’t panic after a slow start.
After negotiating tidy opening spells from Ashwin, who opened the bowling for the second time this year, and Ashish Neh-ra, Simmons blasted a brace of sixes off Ashwin to shrug off the inertia. While he played out 25 dot balls, he compensated with five sixes and three fours during the course of his 51-ball 65. Simmons looked to be hurling everything he had at the ball, and besides hacking the ball down the ground, his fast hands came in handy while guiding the ball late.
Parthiv joined in with his clear-the-front-leg-and-swipe approach soon after, and to-gether they completed their fourth 50-plus partnership of the tournament. After Bravo sent back Parthiv, the incidence of wickets appeared to be a little more frequent, but it didn’t have a palpable impact on the scor-ing-rate: they scored 49 runs from the 10th to 15th overs, and managed 52 in their last five.
Pollard played an influential role in this respect, slamming a 17-ball 41 with five sixes and a four. He largely favored the leg side, besides going straight every once in a while. That he kept going despite wickets falling at the other end hurt Super Kings, whose fielding was uncharacteristically patchy. It rubbed on to their bowling to-wards the end: Bravo bowled three wides in the last over, which cost him 16 runs.
Super Kings were on exactly the same score - 86 - as their opponents at the halfway mark, having lost two wickets to Mumbai’s none. But the loss of four wick-ets in the next five overs saw them slide irreversibly.
Gayle joins Melbourne Renegades
Chris Gayle has signed with the Mel-bourne Renegades
for the 2015-16 Big Bash League. Gayle last played in the BBL during the 2012-13 season, when he turned out for the Sydney Thunder, and he had pre-viously been part of West-ern Australia’s side in the tournament’s previous in-carnation as the Big Bash.
“It’s exciting to be com-ing to the Melbourne Ren-egades in the sporting capital of Australia,” Gayle said. “I’m looking forward to seeing the fans, getting to know the city a little more and helping the team into the finals in BBL 05.”
The Renegades’ coach, David Saker, said Gayle’s experience and ability at the top of the order would be a valuable asset for the
team.“Chris’s abilities and
experience goes without saying,” Saker said. “He has tremendous skills both as an explosive T20 batsman but also as that genuine all-rounder you
need. He’s someone who can inspire the squad, particularly among our batsmen, with his confi-dence and his ability to back himself and flick the switch when the time is right.”
Offspinner Harbhajan Singh has returned to India’s Test squad for the first time in two years after he
was picked for the only Test in Bangla-desh from June 10 to 14. The selection committee, which met in Mumbai on Wednesday, retained the majority of the squad that toured Australia in 2014-15 with the exception of left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja.
Fast bowler Mohammed Shami was not picked because of the knee injury he suffered during the World Cup that also ruled him out of the IPL. No first-choice players had requested rest despite hav-ing played the World Cup and the IPL back to back and so the selectors were able to pick full-strength squads for both formats.
Sandeep Patil, India’s chairman of selectors, said consideration had been given to the number of left-handers in the Bangladesh Test squad before the decision to pick a second offspinner was made. However, Harbhajan played only three first-class matches in last season’s Ranji Trophy - six wickets with a best of 3 for 51 - but has been in impressive form for Mumbai Indians this IPL season, picking up 16 wickets in 14 matches.
“The Bangladesh batting order has six left-handers, keeping that in mind, we discussed with the captain and we felt
it was necessary to have a second off-spinner,” Patil said. “I also want to point out we not only discussed Harbhajan. We also discussed other youngsters and considered them. Ultimately the selec-tion committee and the captain felt this was the right choice for this particular tour.”
Patil said Harbhajan had not been picked in the ODI squad because the se-lection panel felt “chopping and chang-ing or disturbing the combination” of the team that had reached the World Cup semi-finals was unnecessary.
In an interview with PTI, Harbhajan described his recall as “a fresh begin-ning”, and said he was ready to play for another four-five years.
“It feels like a fresh beginning for me,” the offspinner said. “It’s a new innings which I want to start on a confident note and make the best possible use of the chance that I have got.
“For me, there is nothing more pre-cious than the India jersey. For the past two years, I have been working hard for this day. Not for a single day, nor for a single moment, did I have a feeling that I won’t play for India again.
“At this point of time, I am ready to play for another four to five years. I am confident that I can represent India in all formats to the best of my abilities.”
MS Dhoni fined for ‘horrible’ commentMS Dhoni, the Chennai Super
Kings captain, has been fined 10% of his match fee for mak-
ing an inappropriate public comment with respect to an umpire’s decision.
Dhoni had called umpire Richard Il-lingworth’s decision to give Dwayne Smith lbw “horrible” during the post-match presentation, after Chennai Su-per Kings lost the Qualifier to Mumbai Indians by 25 runs at Wankhede Stadi-um.
“I felt we lost too many in the middle,” Dhoni had said when asked about Su-per Kings’ performance. “Not to forget Dwayne Smith got a horrible decision
by any standards, but overall I think we need to blame ourselves, we were not up to the mark.”
Smith was adjudged lbw to a full toss from Lasith Malinga in the first over of the Super Kings chase, but replays in-dicated the ball was missing leg stump by a substantial margin. Dhoni admitted the level 1 offence and accepted the sanction, the IPL said in a release.
Super Kings will travel to Ranchi to play the second Qualifier on Friday. They will play the winner of the Elim-inator between Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore for a berth in the IPL 2015 final, against Mumbai.
42 Caribbean Star NewspaperMay 22–28, 2015
Ain’t no time to hate
There are warnings firing off all over the place. The crick-et world is in a precarious
state, and unless the warnings are heeded, the consequences could be catastrophic.
The hate that abounds in the game is extraordinary. The ECB and Kevin Pietersen fight has split English cricket in half. The lack of respect is startling. Trust is built over time, but respect should be a natural common denominator for acceptable harmony, or both parties are in the wrong game - which they clearly are today. It has become the perfect storm, with Pietersen’sscore-settling book providing the tsunami wave that knocked them both out. That book, and its 300-plus pages of immaturity, sits alongside the 300-plus mature runs he scored in what was probably his last meaningful innings in his adopted estranged country. They are the
ultimate bookend to a career that threatened greatness and ended in tears.
This story is among the most controversial of all the sagas En-gland cricket has endured over its history. The recurring nightmare has set back the natural evolu-tion of their game; it will take more time than one might think to restore. It has led to the ECB taking its eye off its sole purpose: to present an important pastime during the summer months that can lift the spirit of a nation and take their minds off the everyday struggle.
In the last few years the board has forgotten its role of patrio-tism. The ECB aren’t representing their patriotic fans anymore, just their self-serving egos, to match that of Pietersen. If Pietersen is a strong patriot - which one must surely be to qualify to play Test cricket for a country - then I
have seen nothing of it. He is on a personal crusade, and always has been. They are as bad as each other, and therefore there is only one solution.
Forgiveness. Colin Graves needs to tell Andrew Strauss, Pe-ter Moores, KP and Alastair Cook to grow up and go get the Ashes back for the people of England. Put all of the culprits and egos back in the room together, prov-ing once and for all that they do care about the hard-working folk doing the hard yards who need something to cheer. Forgiveness is all that is required. Every sin-gle person must forgive. It’s all useless history to carry. There is an urn to be won, and Joe Root is the man with no fear to lead this team out.
Take a leap of faith, as Nelson Mandela would suggest, and pull off the greatest cricket story ever. You can tell your grandchildren that despite all the odds, you won the urn back, together. Now that is the meaning of sport.
Warning: you are potentially missing the strongest opportuni-ty ever given to boost a nation’s spirit.
Australia have reignited their patriotism under Darren Lehmann. The trouble with that is that he is a “boof”. This means Australia will play ugly and behave immaturely. And if the other teams are self-de-structing then Australia will gladly bully them down and stand glee-fully triumphant.
Warning: the next generations are being fooled into thinking this is the right way, the Australian way. It isn’t. Australia are sim-ply masking their fears of going
down the gurgler again, as they did between the last two 5-0 whitewashes of England. Being boof-headed is no way to enter-tain your nation.
South Africa will continue to not win World Cups or similar events as long as they adopt a ra-cial policy.
Warning: this is not the Mande-la way either.
New Zealand have been to hell and back in two years. They were so bad in late 2012, that every-thing had to be rehabbed. Ev-eryone in the cricket community pulled their head in and pushed in the scrum. We all forgave and be-lieved in the now. The rise to third place in the world in Tests, and a breakthrough final appearance in a World Cup final, spoke of a re-stored soul. Last week, however, one of the best men you could ever wish to have work for you, Bruce Edgar, the national selec-tion manager, was waved off in inexplicable circumstances. He must be reinstated.
Warning: having filled up their fruit bowl recently, NZC have to watch that no apples are starting to rot.
West Indian cricket is the most saddening breakdown of its kind. Petty parochialism and small-time greed, following big-time greed in the form of Allen Stanford, have left the Caribbean desolate. Crick-et was designed for West Indians, and now they can only find de-signs to trip up the man next to them, who they should be broth-ering.
It does no harm to remind our-selves of why we play the game: for the love of entertaining every
fan. We play to satisfy our pride of place, where we live
Warning: As Martin Luther King said once, “We must live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” He then went on to say, “Life at its best is a creative syn-thesis of opposites in fruitful har-mony.”
Pakistan is threatened by ter-rorism, and therefore an inability to play in front of their country-men. It’s an impossible assign-ment. There isn’t a hope in hell their game will reach past glories anytime soon.
No warning: this is a lost cause.India are being proactive and
have a good handle on what they want. They just couldn’t give a shit about anyone else. One day, they might just only play with them-selves.
Warning: this is a general alert.The ICC, as we know, is an oli-
garchy. It’s ruled by a dictator and two mistaken identities. It is in serious trouble, given the present cast on stage.
Warning: we are all very tired of warning this lot.
What we can strive for is to re-store our sport’s lost integrity and loving feeling, so the fans can be lifted once more from their daily grind. International cricket, nation v nation, is about patriotism and a bit of tribalism, but not hate. It does no harm to remind ourselves of why we play the game: for the love of entertaining every fan. We play to satisfy our pride of place, where we live.
Someone wake me when it’s done.
Warning: I’m done on this hate stuff.
The damage caused by the latest Kevin Pietersen imbroglio will take far too long to repair
‘New coach will run show’ - Strauss1Andrew Strauss has in-
sisted he will allow En-gland’s new head coach
the “space to do his job” despite having already made some ma-jor decisions regarding selec-tion and tactics.
Strauss, England’s new direc-tor of cricket, confirmed that he had started talking to candi-dates for the role and suggested he hoped to have someone in place for the start of the Ashes series on July 8.
With Strauss having already confirmed the identity of the Test captain and vice-cap-tain, as well as having decided that there will be no recall for Kevin Pietersen this summer, there have been suggestions that some candidates for the coaching role will fear inter-ference if they take on the job. But Strauss was adamant that, once the appointment is made, he will not be “knocking on the
dressing room door”.“The new coach is going to
be given the opportunity and space to do his job as he should be,” Strauss told the BBC. “He is not going to be a whipping boy for me or anyone else.
“He has to run the show as he sees fit and have a good close working relationship with the captain. I have got to help him to do what he needs to do. I am there to help and support him and look a bit more strategically and long term in our planning. If we have that situation we can co-exist quite happily.
“I am not going to be one of those guys always knocking on the dressing room door telling him he has to do this and that. It has got to be his show to run. I am going to get out of the way, allow him to do his job and the captain to do the job.
“There is a strong case for the coach to have a strong say
in selection. He is there on the ground, knows conditions and how the players are feeling on
the ground and in the dressing room. The coach is a selector at the moment, but I think se-
lection is something we need to look at and not rush into it.”
While acknowledging En-gland’s “difficult” last 18 months - “I don’t think anyone would say that the World Cup had any real positives to take out of it,” he said - Strauss also expressed his belief that the new coach had a wonderful opportunity to build on the im-provements made over the last year and that the job remained “one of the three big jobs in world cricket”.
“We have had a great run,” Strauss said. “The last decade has been phenomenal. Let’s not forget that. There is a lot that is good about England cricket at the moment. But we have to move forward. The game is evolving very quickly and there is a feeling we are behind the curve on some fronts. We need to make sure we are ahead of the curve.
