Month: December 2019

The Tradition of Advert

TIMES INT'L

Advent is the period of four Sundays and weeks before Christmas (or sometimes from the 1st December to Christmas Day!). Advent means ‘Coming’ in Latin. This is the coming of Jesus into the world. Christians use the four Sundays and weeks of Advent to prepare and remember the real meaning of Christmas. There are three meanings of ‘coming’ that Christians describe in Advent. The first, and most thought of, happened about 2000 years ago when Jesus came into the world as a baby to live as a man and die…

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“This is critical medicine,” SASOD says ahead of PrEP introduction

TIMES INT'L

By Lakhram Bhagirat Guyana’s premier Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) activist group, the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD) is starting its own movement in the fight against the spread of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in Guyana. SASOD has been advocating for the introduction of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), to the most at-risk group – the LGBT community, for over three years now. However, very little has been done in that time, causing the organisation to start its own movement with the introduction of the critical medicine. SASOD’s Managing Director, Joel…

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World AIDS Day – Ending the HIV/AIDS Epidemic: Community by Community

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The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) targets the immune system weakening the defence system against infections and diseases. As the virus destroys and impairs the function of immune system cells, infected individuals gradually become immunodeficient. Immunodeficiency results in increased susceptibility to a wide range of infections, cancers and other diseases that people with healthy immune systems can fight off. The most advanced stage of HIV infection is Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), which can take from 2 to 15 years to develop depending on the individual. AIDS is defined by the development…

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Elections…

TIMES INT'L

…and the PNC Manifesto Miffed that the PPP were first off the blocks with their Manifesto, the PNC petulantly accused the former of cogging from their playbook!! One isn’t sure why the PPP would want to do that, since the few accomplishments the PNC coalition managed to scrape together were all PPP-conceived projects they inherited. Like the CJIA and ECD/WCD highways. And even then, they managed to screw up the airport by conspiring with the Chinese company to fob off a shoddy makeover, rather than a new, modern structure. Like…

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26-yr-old jailed for 3 years for stealing woman’s underwear, cash

TIMES INT'L

Twenty-six-year-old Yudhister Samjawan of 158 Third Street, Alexander Village, Georgetown, who was accused of breaking and entering a woman’s home and stealing a pair of her underwear, along with a cellphone and cash appeared before Senior Magistrate, Dylon Bess in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts. The charge read that on October 4, 2019, at West Ruimveldt, Georgetown, the taxi driver broke into the dwelling house of Yanti Stephens and stole one phone valued G$35,000, a pair of female underwear valued G$400 and G$50,000, belonging to Yanti Stephens. The Police prosecutor told…

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President says “Iwokrama must change to survive”

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Reflecting on the floods, savannah fires, depleted forests and contaminated waters that presently pervade Guyana, President David Granger has opined that the Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation must change if it was to survive the coming decades. He shared this position during the 30th anniversary of the organisation, which manages one million hectares of Guyana’s rainforest, set aside particularly for preservation. Speaking at the ceremony at the Umana Yana, Georgetown on Saturday evening, Granger stated that Guyana’s biodiversity was more precious than the boon of oil and must be…

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Former SOCU boss being investigated over missing confiscated gold, cash

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Embattled Assistant Police Commissioner Sydney James, the former Head of the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), is now under further Police investigation following instructions from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Chambers. This was confirmed by acting Crime Chief Michael Kingston on Wednesday. Kingston explained that the file pertaining to James had been sent to DPP Senior Counsel Shalimar Ali-Hack by the Police some time ago. Kingston noted that the Police have, as a consequence, been asked to do some more investigations. While Kingston was tight-lipped on the details of…

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Adequate funds at GECOM’s disposal to hold elections – Commissioners

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It seems the Government really has little excuse for not dissolving Parliament as the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) itself has confirmed that it has enough funds for the holding of General and Regional Elections next year. This was related by Commissioners from both the Government and the Opposition side on Tuesday and comes following claims by the Government that it has not dissolved Parliament yet, just in case GECOM needs additional funds. Following the conclusion of the weekly statutory meeting, Opposition-nominated GECOM Commissioner Sase Gunraj was asked whether the Secretariat…

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Respect for the Constitution is utmost

TIMES INT'L

Dear Editor, Constitutional reform is the cause célèbre of new parties; and indeed, given the events since the 21st December 2018 No-confidence vote, I am inclined to agree with them. Where we differ is on how, why, and for the benefit of whom. The PNC and the ‘new’ parties see reform of the Constitution as the work of a special corps of persons who know what is best for all Guyanese. They would have a small, Government-dominated committee suggest changes, and implement these by way of a majority vote in…

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APNU/AFC moving ahead with major shakeup at Foreign Ministry

TIMES INT'L

…3 months before elections   The Government, which in caretaker mode, through the Foreign Affairs Ministry on Monday announced that a number of ambassadors on overseas missions will be recalled, while the Director General was replaced. In a statement to the media, amidst reports of a major fallout, the ministry claimed that this move was decided since some ambassadors had been serving beyond the official years they were permitted to serve. In addition, there are reports that attempts to extend the contracts of these ambassadors started the upheaval at the…

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