– Sweden-ChileGNP Seguros Open (Monterrey, 2-Eight March): Elina Svitolina begins off as an important favourite to win the Mexican event title towards gamers resembling Sloane Stephens, Rebecca Peterson, Venus Williams, Viktoria Azarenka, Kim Clijsters and Johanna Konta, and Spain’s Sara Sorribes and Lara Arruabarrena.Open 6ème Sens – Métropole de Lyon (March 2-8): Sofia Kenin, winner of the Australian Open, begins as a favourite to win the title in a event the place Kristina Mladenovic, Caroline Garcia, Alison Van Uytvanck, Alizé Cornet and Spain’s Paula Badosa may also be,Oracle Challenger Collection (Indian Wells, March 2-8): Katerina Siniakova begins as the first favourite on this title earlier than the Indian Mandas Premier Obligatory during which Anna Blinkova, Bernarda Pera, Taylor Townsend, Nao Hibino, Madison Brengle, Laura Siegemund, Jessica Pegula, Monica Puig and Samantha Stosur may also play. The ATP circuit takes a break earlier than the arrival of the 1,000 Masters of Indian Wells and Miami. A few of the most excellent rackets on the circuit search to place their nation amongst the 18 categorized for the last part of the Davis Cup. In the meantime, in the girls’s circuit a number of excellent rackets will play in Monterrey and Lyon and in a event previous to the Indian Wells Premier Obligatory.Davis Cup play-offs (March 6-7): 24 international locations play this weekend for the remaining 12 locations for the last part of the Davis Cup that may happen subsequent November in Madrid. These are the clashes:– Croatia-India– Hungary-Belgium– Colombia-Argentina– United States-Uzbekistan– Australia-Brazil– Italy-South Korea– Germany-Belarus– Kazakhstan-Netherlands– Slovakia-Czech Republic– Austria-Uruguay– Japan-Ecuador read more
Star International Company, which filed a US$1.2 million bond to release seven employees of First International Bank (FIB) has gotten itself into trouble with Criminal Court ‘C’ at the Temple of Justice.The insurance company in early 2014 wrote the Court that it was withdrawing its US$1.2 million bond filed as a surety for co-defendants Angie Brooks, Kebbeh Kulah Clark, Jerimen Telibeli, Beyan Dagzi, Arricanus Freeman, Robert Cummings and Richard Gboyah.They have been charged with the commission of the crimes money laundering, theft of property, criminal conspiracy, facilitation and forgery by the government. They were accused of allegedly stealing US$4 million from the bank.At Thursday, May 15, hearing, Judge Yussif D. Kaba declared that “Star International Company remains obligated under its bond until and unless they can have all of the defendants presented to the court as provided under the law.”Judge Kaba said, however, that surety has the right to ask the court to withdraw its bond file to release an accused from prison, but that “The bond’s surety remains obligated until the order to file a new bond is complied with.”According to Judge Kaba, since the surety to the existing bond declared its inability to continue to provide coverage for the defendants as contracted with the court, the clerk of the court is hereby mandated to cite Star International Company to appear before this court on Tuesday, May 20, at the hour of 2 p.m. along with the living body of all of the defendants for whom they filed the bond.He further instructed, “Their failure will lead the Court without any other alternative but to hold them in contempt of Court.”The case started when the defendants through Star International Company filed a criminal appearance bond in the tune of US$1.2 million to secure their day-to-day appearance before the court for allegedly stealing US$4 million from the bank.Unfortunately, the Company without a new bond wrote the Court that it was withdrawing its bond.However, the prosecution argued that since the Company was no more serving as security for the defendants, the court should re-arrest the defendants before they escaped from the country.Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) read more
Dear Editor,On the arrival of the PPP’s Chief Scrutineer Mr Mustapha at GECOM on Monday 23rd October, 2018, it was decided that the PPP will officially be provided with an official copy of the 7,917 disciplined services personnel names early on the morning of the 23rd. Further, it was agreed that Parties could have teams of scrutineers at intervals. This was a serious anomaly since GECOM wrote to the stake-holders saying only two observers would be permitted. Further, GECOM Officials had notably bungled and flopped again, given that they wrote to all the stakeholders inviting them to start the process on Tuesday at 10 AM, and then called some persons to start on Monday, October 22, 2018.After, a long day’s work the very tired PPP scrutineers decided to stop working at 1.30 AM with process still to completed. Some of the Commissioners agreed that the process cannot continue without any scrutineers, even as tired GECOM staff were forced to work until after 3.30 AM. Some of the staff disappeared, while others made understandably negative comments of the process. There were visible evidence of tiredness and tardiness in the process because the environment made it extremely challenging for people to focus on what they had to do. The PPP Commissioner and Scrutineers stayed on to the very end and partly secured Containers with their lock, leaving GECOM to put on their Seals.There were no work program or check-list and the entire process lacked professionalism. Again, Mr. Lowenfield went missing as the PPP Chief Scrutineer was waiting for him.He failed to turn up. There is much to be done to improve the ethics at GECOM and these issues must not be allowed to transfer into D-Day and E-Day of any elections. It is time GECOM stops this flip-flopping and bungling. And properly account for the Hundreds of millions of tax payers’ dollars that they are claiming to have spent on training.More will be written about the torture and the lousy arrangements they had during the ‘Enveloping’ of the disciplined services ballots.This process and all that is taking place at GECOM is a recipe for serious changes at GECOM.Yours sincerely,Neil Kumar read more
Dear Editor,In reading Bishop Edghill’s letter pertaining to the Cheddi Jagan International Airport Expansion project I was struck by the sentence “This interconnected group of projects was totally misunderstood and incompetently handled by the APNU/AFC Administration when they came to office in May 2015.” It sums up the 3.6 years of poor governance by the APNU+AFC Administration.While Edghill asks the question of completion dates, I beg to ask of APNU+AFC’s conception dates, that is to say, what new ideas or projects have come forth from the Granger Cabinet that demonstrates vision for our nation? Editor, the bastardised version of the Low Carbon Development Strategy relabeled as the “Green State Development Strategy” lacks the innovation of LCDS and is about as practical as the coats of green paint applied to Government buildings en masse. All of the current projects except the plethora of speed bumps, being undertaken, were conceptualised and started under the PPP/C Administration. The Public Infrastructure Minister likes to point out the “little things” that his Ministry accomplishes; he should be reminded that his little fixes come with a hefty price tag and are works that should be carried out by competent city and village councils. Street lights and potholes are not the purview of a Minister of State, it is the work of a city Councillor.Editor, Guyana was moved from a heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPIC) to Upper Middle Income under successive PPP/C Administrations, this was done without the much hyped “Oil money” that has become the focus of this vacuous APNU+AFC Administration. Neglect of the pillars of our economy – Mining and Agriculture – by APNU+AFC is mind boggling, coupled with a belief that Guyanese can be taxed to pay for their excesses of expenditure on the frivolous, non-productive and mismanaged little things with massive price tags led a most expensive and disastrous period in our nation’s economic history. The APNU+AFC have emptied the coffers of the USD$900 million reserves and are driving us further into debt daily.Editor, the APNU+AFC boasts of the largest budgets in our nation’s history, would that they could boast of a completed project that they conceived and executed successfully. Along with this massive increase in expenditure came the curse of unaccountability. The Auditor General’s reports read like a hatchet job of Government politicians, listing unaccounted billions, lack of concern for procurement safe-guards, basics such as receipts and ledgers are a problem in every item of expenditure in every single Ministry. The level of incompetence caused by “the twin sins of ignorance and arrogance” as described by Edghill in an earlier missive is stunning.2019 elections are upon us and Guyanese must face the questions of vision for our nation and ability to deliver good governance. My advice to all is to disregard those who see “oil money” as a panacea, look to those who understand that Guyana has to now rebuild and strengthen her other pillars of economy, engage in a massive education renaissance and restore governance for the benefit of the people and not the few.RespectfullyRobin Singh read more
How does an artist begin to describe the unique individual spirit within every person? How, in fact, does a visual artist represent this “essence” of the human soul on canvas, with the use of what medium and in what colors and shades? These were the challenges facing renowned Liberian visual artist and illustrator Leslie Lumeh when he was invited to participate in an artistic presentation highlighting creative talent from the entire African continent last year.Sponsored mainly by The African Development Bank, the exhibition, titled “Lumieres d’Afriques” (“The Enlightened Africa”), first opened in Europe at the National Theatre of Chaillot in Paris, France last year, and was launched in April for the first time on the African continent during programs held in the Ivorian capital, Abidjan.An historic first of its kind, the exhibition is the brainchild of the African Artists for Development (AAD) organization, under its current co-chairman Gervanne Leridon, and presented 54 African artists displaying works in a wide variety of creative mediums, with one each from the 54 nations on the continent. Lumeh, with an interesting visual painting done in acrylic on canvas and titled “The Light Within”, was the proud representative of Liberia. Twelve of the artists from West Africa were in the Ivory Coast on April 27th for the official opening of the exhibition (www.lumieresdafriques.com), where Leslie joined his colleagues for an exciting series of activities to launch the six week show at the multi-layered halls of the Fondation Donwahi, a well-known center for the creative arts in Abidjan.Leslie Lumeh is no stranger to the art scene, both locally and internationally, and with a solid background of artistic engagements and activities over the last 20 years, he was naturally a prime candidate to be chosen to represent Liberia in such a continental event.Just last March in Monrovia he contributed an important side event to a dinner held at the residence of the French Ambassador to Liberia. At the invitation of His Excellency Joel Gadeaux, Leslie mounted an exhibition of 16 paintings as a compliment to an annual affair celebrating French gastronomy. In remarks at the occasion Ambassador Gadeaux congratulated Leslie for his artistic progress, adding that participation in the Lumieres d’Afriques project makes him a national asset all Liberians should be proud of.On his recent return from Abidjan, Leslie described how exciting it was for him to share the stage with other distinguished African artists from around the continent. He expressed his gratitude to all in his community here in Monrovia and immediate circle, especially his family, friends and close associates, who have motivated him over the years to arrive at this stage in his career.Commenting on the painting he presented, Leslie stated how he believes the real “light” of the African continent can actually be seen through the people of Africa themselves…by the things they do as individuals (whether poet, politician, painter, health worker, peace maker, etc.), as well as the accomplishments they make collectively, as separate independent countries or as regional organizations and associations.He therefore executed the work almost entirely in monochromatic black and white, punctuating it with colored figures to indicate the light in each person, with some of the people done in very bright colors, some in not so bright and others with no light at all. This he said is to show how “some of us have very strong light as opposed to others who have not so strong light and still others who shine no light at all.”.Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) read more
FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. – The Fort St. John Huskies defeated the visiting Dawson Creek Jr. Canucks on Wednesday night.After falling behind midway through the first period, Joel Bourgeois evened the score for the Huskies with a wraparound goal with 5:46 remaining, assisted by Aiden Tegart and Aiden Craig-Steele. The teams skated into the first intermission deadlocked at 1-1.Nolan Legace went bar-down from the right hash mark to make it 2-1, 3:53 into the middle stanza after some crisp passing between Geoff Dick and Jarod Lang. Nearly nine minutes later, Cody Brodhagen got behind the Jr. Canucks defence after accepting a pass from Shawn Wilson and beat the visitor’s netminder low to the blocker side to increase the Huskies’ lead to 3-1. Jared Loewen got the secondary assist on Bordhagen’s goal. The home side finished the period with a 3-1 advantage.- Advertisement -After allowing the visitors to cut the lead to 3-2 early in the final frame, the free-flowing back and forth affair stayed that way until with 3:17 to go in the final frame Craig-Steele stole the puck off the Dawson Creek player, skated in on a breakaway and fired it just over the goalies pad to make it 4-2, assisted by Teagan McMullen. Jonathan Bateman improved his record to 9-1 after making 25 of 27 saves, while the Huskies fired 48 shots on the opposition netminder. Aiden Craig-Steele led the way with a goal and an assist as ten players ended up on the score sheet.“We played a good game defensively, way better than the last time they were here, said assistant coach Todd Alexander. “The third period was a turnover fest in the neutral zone and it was driving us coaches nuts, good fast flowing pace to the fans eye, but something that we can’t allow in the future.”Advertisement “We played our style of game for the full 60 minutes tonight,” added Jonathan Bateman. “It feels great to win especially when you’re playing against Dawson Creek, it makes the victory that much sweeter.”“Coach preached good defensive hockey, which I feel I played,” said Aiden Craig-Steele. “Obviously the pace and size of the players are different than in Midget, but I wasn’t phased.”The Huskies are next in action on Friday night when they travel to Sexsmith for a tilt against the Vipers at 8:00 p.m. read more
Map: The development area for Station 44 has been put up for sale.A proposed project that would have included residential complexes, retail stores and hotels is no more.- Advertisement -Station 44 has been put up for sale, with an asking price of $26 million. The 220 acre plot of land is located off the Alaska Highway at the 72 St. bypass, in the southeast area of Fort St. John.Construction was expected to begin in the spring of 2009 but was delayed several times. One of the reasons previously given was because the property management company was having problems finding retailers to commit to the space.The area has been zoned for residential and various types of commercial space.For the $26 million price, one can purchase the irregular shaped piece of land, which does not have municipal water or sewer service.Advertisement read more
While Lantz says the City hasn’t suffered any particular physical damage, the rain has strained the City’s resources since it had to pay for equipment and employee overtime.The City has been working to replace its aging sewer systems. However, he says it cannot be replaced all at once since it would create a massive burden on taxpayers.The City does have plans to upgrade the sewer system on 95 Ave., west of 100 St. in August, which may help prevent further problems in that area. City crews worked overtime to mitigate some of the flood damage caused by Friday’s rainfall event in Fort St. John.The rain came down in a short amount of time, says Mayor Bruce Lantz. Lantz says crews and vac trucks were out until 3 a.m. Saturday trying to clear up any trouble areas and again over the rest of the weekend trying to ensure more problems didn’t creep up.- Advertisement -Although he says he knows of at least six residents who experienced damage after Friday’s flooding, he expects more to come forward and the City will be helping them to apply to the Provincial Emergency Program.Fort St. John experienced similar flooding on July 29, 2010 after a storm appeared to centre directly over the city.During both events, residents and business owners around the Matthews Park and Totem Mall area experienced the majority of flooding problems, but Lantz says Friday’s flood damage could have been worse. [asset|aid=3612|format=mp3player|formatter=asset_bonus|title=4b6d3964f0923f599a7302970fdfbce4-Lantz flooding 1_2_Pub.mp3] Advertisement read more
SAN JOSE – Taxpayers who couldn’t electronically file 11th-hour returns using Intuit Inc.’s TurboTax, ProSeries and other software won’t be penalized for delays caused by the company’s overtaxed servers, the Internal Revenue Service said Wednesday. “We will do everything we can to assist taxpayers affected by the situation,” said IRS spokesman Bruce Friedland. “If people couldn’t e-file last night, we encourage them to file as soon as they can.” A record number of returns from individual taxpayers and accountants on Tuesday choked the Mountain View-based company’s computers, leading to delays in customers receiving confirmation that their returns had been submitted successfully, Intuit spokeswoman Julie Miller said. As the midnight filing deadline approached, the problem got worse. Usually, it takes only a few minutes after hitting the submit button for TurboTax users to get a confirmation. By Tuesday evening, it was taking hours. Returns are not transmitted to the government until Intuit processes them and sends a notice to the taxpayer. The company’s server farm near San Diego processed more than a million returns Tuesday alone, twice the amount during the peak filing day last year, Miller said. And once the system reached its capacity, many filers were simply turned away. The company said it does not yet know how many people were affected, and it has not received reports of users mistakenly paying multiple e-filing fees as they tried to resubmit their returns. Penalties for late filing start at 5 percent of the unpaid taxes per month, and max out at a total of 25 percent. The IRS said it would extend the deadline to midnight April 19 for people who encountered problems. Customers lit up Intuit’s online customer support forums with complaints, with some angrily swearing off Intuit’s software altogether for future returns and others threatening to sue the company if they were penalized by the IRS. Beyond Intuit’s consumer products, the delays also hampered professional tax preparers who use the company’s Lacerte brand software. Wesley Fachner, a certified public accountant in Campbell, Calif., said the slowdowns started Monday and got worse Tuesday, with backups cropping up for nearly all of the 20 returns he filed those days. The system would alert him that the files were having trouble transferring, or were sitting in a queue behind other returns and weren’t being processed. “I just kept sending it until it got through – it was stopping my work process and I wanted those things out of my hair,” he said. “Eventually there must have been a little gap and it would get through.” Technology experts were flabbergasted that Intuit was caught off guard by a surge in activity on its busiest day of the year. “The irony is that most servers are just at 18 to 20 percent of their capacity. This was probably not a capacity issue but a configuration issue,” said Bruce Milne, vice president of products and marketing for HyPerformix Inc., which makes IT capacity planning software. “They probably could have avoided this whole thing altogether without a lot of extra expense” by performing more capacity analysis beforehand, he said. 160Want local news?Sign up for the Localist and stay informed Something went wrong. Please try again.subscribeCongratulations! You’re all set! read more
But Arsenal hit back in stunning style with three goals in five minutes from Alexis Sanchez, Granit Xhaka and Mesut Ozil.There was one last plot twist as Firmino bagged Liverpool’s equaliser to cap a breath-taking clash that was almost as memorable as the Reds’ 4-3 victory over Arsenal in the corresponding fixture last season.Fourth placed Liverpool remain one point above fifth placed Arsenal after a Christmas cracker that underlined the qualities and problems with two teams who harboured title ambitions in August, but now trail way behind runaway leaders Manchester City.Liverpool are unbeaten in their last 10 league games, but boss Jurgen Klopp will be kicking himself after his team’s defensive and goalkeeping flaws were exposed again.Liverpool’s midfielder Philippe Coutinho (L) heads the first goal past Arsenal’s goalkeeper Petr Cech © AFP / Adrian DENNISArsenal have now won just one of last five league matches and despite their spirited comeback, manager Arsene Wenger was left to rue age-old problems in his attacking game-plan.Liverpool, in their lurid orange away kit, suffered an early blow when captain Jordan Henderson limped off injured.Despite that setback, Klopp could still call on his ‘fab four’ of Coutinho, Salah, Firmino and Sadio Mane.In sublime form this season, two of that group conjured Liverpool’s 26th minute opener as Arsenal, with Xhaka and Jack Wilshere offering scant protection for their back four, paid the price for a lacklustre start.James Milner sent Salah surging away down the right flank and when the Egyptian’s cross deflected off Laurent Koscielny, it fell perfectly for Coutinho, who finished his lung-bursting run with a deft header over Petr Cech for his 11th club goal this season.Klopp’s side should have been two up by half-time, but Firmino curled over and Salah shot too close to Cech.Salah’s air-kick wasted another Liverpool opportunity and it was no surprise to hear Arsenal booed off at the interval.– Epic collapse –Wenger sent on centre-back Shkodran Mustafi for Nacho Monreal, but the fault-lines in Arsenal’s defence were still being exposed.Salah finally got the goal his enterprising display deserved in the 52nd minute, advancing in the area as Arsenal backed off before slotting a fine finish into the far corner.Liverpool’s midfielder Mohamed Salah (L) scores the second goal past Arsenal’s goalkeeper Petr Cech © AFP / Adrian DENNISSalah’s 21st Liverpool goal this season should have been the knockout blow, but incredibly it was the signal for an epic collapse from the visitors.Sanchez had been totally anonymous up to that point, but the Arsenal forward sprang to life to reduce the deficit 60 seconds after they fell two behind.Hector Bellerin swung a cross to the far post and with Liverpool defender Joe Gomez losing concentration, Sanchez nipped in to head home.It was the spark that Arsenal needed and they were level three minutes later thanks to a Simon Mignolet howler.When Xhaka took aim from 35 yards, the Arsenal midfielder’s powerful effort appeared to move in the air, but it was still straight at Mignolet, who tried to make a fisted save but instead diverted the ball into the net.Suddenly, Liverpool were in disarray and Wenger’s men struck again with a majestic move in the 58th minute.Ozil played the ball into Alexandre Lacazette, then took the French forward’s audacious back-heel in his stride before clipping a sweet finish past Mignolet.The drama wasn’t over and Liverpool recovered their composure to equalise in the 71st minute.This time it was Firmino who did the damage, beating Cech from the edge of the area with a stinging shot that the keeper palmed weakly into his own net.As if that wasn’t enough to scramble the senses, Klopp’s exuberant celebration took him near enough to the Arsenal bench to have irked the hosts, who almost had the last laugh when Ozil’s cross nearly caught out Mignolet.0Shares0000(Visited 1 times, 1 visits today) 0Shares0000Mesut Ozil celebrating his goal. Photo/COURTESYLONDON, United Kingdom, Dec 22 – Liverpool survived an incredible Arsenal fightback as Roberto Firmino rescued a thrilling 3-3 draw in a strong contender for the Premier League’s game of the season on Friday.Philippe Coutinho’s first half opener and Mohamed Salah’s strike after the interval appeared to have put Liverpool on course for an early Christmas present at the Emirates Stadium. read more