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ARCHIVES FOR SEPTEMBER 21, 2009

Mabura receives telecommunications boost

Prime Minister Samuel Hinds (at left) and Chief Executive Officer of GT&T, Major General Joe Singh unveil the plaque for the new GT&T GSM cell site at Mabura.

Residents of Mabura in Region Ten can now enjoy the full benefits of mobile cellular service following the commissioning of the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph’s (GT&T’s) Global System for Mobile (GSM) cell site.

The new site was officially inaugurated after Prime Minister Samuel Hinds and GT&T’s Chief Executive Officer of GT&T Major General (rtd) Joe Singh unveiled the plaque at the site location Saturday.

Among those witnessing the ceremony were GT&T Director of Marketing and Sales Wystan Robertson, Chairman of Region Ten Mortimer Mingo, representatives of the Demerara Timber Limited and villagers.

Mabura, located 165 miles up the Demerara River, is a village built around the logging and saw milling company, Demerara Timbers Limited. It has a population of approximately 400, many of whom are employees of the company

The new GT&T GSM cell site at Mabura.

With the new GSM cell site, a wide array of services are offered to residents of the town, including local and international calls, the dollar talk promotion where calls after ten minutes are reduced to one dollar per minute, mobile data communication, which allows all subscribers to chat with Internet messenger clients such as “Yahoo Chat,” “Google Talk,” “MSN Messenger,” and several others.

Moreover, many community residents are already making full use of the electronic top-up service commonly known as C-Point.

The company’s Chief Executive Officer said the establishment of public phone booths in the community was GT&T’s first undertaking that served as an interim telecommunications arrangement.

In October 2008, the GSM facility at Ituni was commissioned and since then additional phone booths were installed at 58 Miles, while surveys were completed for similar phone booths using remote radio. These will be installed at Kurupukari, Iwokrama, Fair View and Siparuni.

GT&T’s Marketing Manager said the commissioning is a demonstration of the company’s commitment to the slogan “Best Network, Strongest Signal.”

The Demerara Timbers Limited is appreciative of the new service which they say will coincide with Mabura developing as an important transit point. Demerara Timbers held this view more than 20 years ago and was looking forward to assistance in its bid to bring further development to Mabura.

The commissioning was described by Prime Minister Hinds as an expansion of Guyana’s frontiers, noting that it is a step in extending infrastructure in Guyana.

During the official inauguration of the bridge across the Takutu River, Brazilian President Lula Inacio Lula Da Silva pledged his government’s support to pave the Linden to Lethem road.

Mabura, which is situated along the trail, stands to benefit from such an initiative and Prime Minister Hinds expressed hope that the paving of the road will be accomplished in the not too distant future for the benefit of Mabura and several other communities.

Government has always had a vested interest in the paving of the Linden/ Lethem road which is a main access point to Guyana’s hinterland. Prime Minister Hinds said government, over the years, has invested over $200M to improve the infrastructure.

The Prime Minister was also proud of the transformation which has taken place in Mabura over the years, noting that upon his first visit to the community in 1978 nothing much was evident.

“I’m pleased to see the developments and the progress that have been taking place here at Mabura,” Prime Minister Hinds said.

He however encouraged the residents not to be dismayed by the fact that the community is far away from Georgetown.

The plan to develop Mabura beyond a company town was in the making since 1993 when discussions and ideas were raised about diversifying into agriculture, wood handicraft and other areas.

Prime Minister Hinds called for a review of the plan and made reference to Linden which started out as a company town and today has grown beyond bauxite. He said the same can be accomplished for Mabura.

The commissioning of the GSM cell site was seen by the Region Ten Chairman as an initiative that fits directly into the region’s development strategy which has identified telecommunications as important to development.

He explained that the benefits of GT&T’s interventions in communities such as the Berbice River area, 58 Miles, 47 Miles and Kurupukari, have been evident and have made the administration of the region much easier. (GINA)

Several interventions to propel Amerindian development
- Amerindian Affairs Minister tells Rupununi communities

Students and residents of Yurong Paru, Region Nine.

The development of Amerindian communities continues to engage the attention of the administration as strident efforts are being made to implement special programmes to address the needs and ensure that its indigenous people are treated fairly as well as being integrated into the mainstream of Guyanese society.

Minister of Amerindian Affairs Pauline Sukhai, accompanied by PPP/C General-Secretary Donald Ramotar, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry Nigel Dharamlall, and Hinterland Affairs Coordinator Harripersaud Nokta over the period September 15 to 19 journeyed to several inland communities, including Pipang, Tiger Pond, Karasabai, Tipuru, Rukumuta and Yurong Paru in Region Nine (South Rupununi), Monkey Mountain, Tuseneng, Bamboo Creek, Paramakatoi and Kato in Region Eight (North Rupununi), to update residents about government’s plans for the areas and address the residents’ immediate concerns.

On September 14, President Bharrat Jagdeo had told hinterland residents about his government’s intention of bridging the gap in the level of services offered on the coastland and in the hinterland.

Paramakatoi students and residents greet Amerindian Affairs Minister and team during their visit to the community.

The Ministry’s new secure livelihood programme will advance Amerindians’ village economies. This includes working with individuals and farmers’ group in developing certain aspects such as technical training of farmers to be more skilled in terms of market realities.

Minister Sukhai told the communities that her Ministry recognises that government has done much in the social sector, and while there is need to improve much more in the health system and provide quality education to the people, this secure livelihood programme will be looking at the development of indigenous communities.

“We are embarking on a new focus for the Amerindian Affairs Ministry. While we like to see new infrastructure…we want to talk about economic activities that will bring income to your communities,” Minister Sukhai said.

Through a supplementary provision for the period July 16 to December 31, 2009, which was approved by the National Assembly, $88.4M was allocated towards the programme where monies will go towards capital expenditure inclusive of an Amerindian Development Fund and office furniture and equipment, current expenditures including transport, travel, and postage, and training (scholarships).

“We will be taking a strong position towards those communities which are lagging behind and need some support for improving their governance and management of their communities,” she added.

Residents were further informed about Presidential grants which are distributed by the Amerindian Affairs Ministry.

They were told by the Minister that residents of the Pipang community for the first time will receive a Presidential grant of $500,000 before December. She said the grant will help the community with projects aimed at providing services while assisting the community to develop.

A grant will also be provided to the Tipuru community in which an additional sum will be allocated as soon as the grant is available to the Ministry, she said.

Other communities to benefit include Kamwatta, Hotoquai, Tobago, Hobodia, Kariako, Arukamai and Barima (Region One), Capoey (Region Two), Phillipai and Karamarang (Region Seven), Kumu, Katu’ur, Mariwau, Katoonarib, Tiger Pond, Taushida and Annai (Region Nine) and Muritaro (Region Ten).

Each year a Presidential grant of $150M is made available for the development of hinterland communities. These grants provide communities with financial resources necessary to fund projects to assist communities to become more economically viable. The programme includes productive and economic projects ranging from expansion of village farms, eco-lodges, building dams, clearing drains, cattle-rearing and providing kitchen facilities for school feeding programmes.

“The Amerindian Affairs Ministry is pursuing development for its constituency across the country. Our role is to ensure that these services are delivered to you”, Minister Sukhai said.

As for electricity supply, Minister Sukhai informed residents of the administration’s interest in providing a cleaner and cheaper source of energy.

The Minister said her Ministry has acquired 1,000 solar lighting units which will provide electricity to some villages.

She said some communities in the North Rupununi have already benefitted from solar lighting units and other villages, including the Karasabai sub-district, Pipang, Taushida, Tipuru are slated to benefit, while communities such as Tiger Pond, Rukumuta, Yurong Paru will be provided with solar lighting units in the near future.

“We want to focus on small and distant communities first…we are not going to leave any community out, but it is the first phase since there are only 1,000 solar units…the second phase will address the bigger communities,” she said.

The Minister told residents that while the units do not have the capacity to provide power to appliances, they will help in providing lights to assist children when they have to study.

The Minister further updated residents about road projects which will be undertaken to ease their transportation woes and improve the transport of their goods and services.

On September 3, President Jagdeo had announced that approximately $2B will be spent on developing access roads in hinterland communities.

The fund will be spent on the upgrading of the Karasabai to Lethem road and the Lethem to Ishalton road.

The $95M student dormitory that is being built at Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara, will allow hinterland communities to further their education on the coastland.

She encouraged parents to make use of the opportunity.

“If you have ambition, it will encourage you and propel you to work and achieve your goals…it doesn’t matter where you come from, once you have big dreams and ambition, you can create opportunities for yourself and your communities,” she encouraged residents.

The dormitory is expected to be completed by September 2010.

While addressing the prolonged dry season affecting the hinterland farming activities, the Minister and team addressed the immediate needs and concerns in terms of support for the various villages affected by the long dry spells.

She apprised residents at the various communities to assist drought-hit hinterland communities.

In this regard, she told the residents to provide the team with a feedback on their situation on where interventions are most needed.

The outreach also saw discussions by PPP/C General-Secretary Donald Ramotar on the political and economic history of the country under the current administration. The team commissioned several schools, administrative offices, bridges and student dormitories which were constructed over recent months.

The PPP/C administration over the years has been reversing the neglect of Amerindians by addressing their needs. There has been tangible progress in each of the sectors (village democracy, education, health care, cultural development) resulting in increased prosperity in various Amerindian communities. (GINA)

UNASUR Defence and Foreign Policy Ministers discuss issues of grave concern
A meeting of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) Defence and Foreign Policy Ministers was held in Quito, Ecuador last Tuesday, to discuss security issues including cooperation in areas of defence and foreign policy and the agreement signed between Columbia and the United States of America for the building of several military bases in Columbia.

Minister of Labour Manzoor Nadir, Guyana’s representative at the meeting, said the discussion of the Columbian/American agreement had taken place at an earlier meeting with the heads, but was inconclusive. The discussion was unable to conclude at this meeting since many countries still had concerns about the possible build up of arms in South America.

Minister Nadir said while many countries have their peculiarities, many saw the Columbian/American agreement as a serious form of aggression.

Efforts will be made at hammering out an agreement where there could be a sharing of information or an exchange between the armies and security officials of the different South American countries. This agreement will see a formal depositing of agreements between countries dealing with arms notifying each other of planned military exercises.

Minister Nadir said UNASUR had demonstrated willingness to cooperate in the area of letting each other know what is happening in terms of the military and related exercises.

The Heads of Government had earlier agreed to declare South America an area of peace and one of the mechanisms to ensure that is the issue of monitoring the build-up of arms and armies in the UNASUR grouping.

Peru’s President Alan Garcia had raised the issue of the US$135B South American countries had been spending on arms and what it could do to reduce poverty among the peoples of South America.

That was another issue on the table at the meeting, the possibility of capping the spending on arms, and using those resources towards the fight against poverty, educating the people and providing basic amenities to many persons who desperately need it.

During his presentation at the meeting, Minister Nadir pointed out that countries cannot expect to see monumental changes and achievements in terms of cooperating and building the UNASUR group. This would have to be gradual and there would have to be a respect of the peculiarities from which many countries are now emerging.

UNASUR has been in existence for five years and what had been put on the table is the realisation that too much should not be expected from the meeting, except the continued cooperation and dialogue of gradually achieving the goal of making South America an area of peace.

The Ministers were unable to conclude on the sharing of military information and the formality of the particular mandate they have from the Heads.

Another effort will be made again at the extraordinary meeting in New York later in the month when most of the Heads will attend the UN General Assembly meeting. It is expected that at that meeting, efforts will be made to hammer out an agreement dealing with the issue of foreign policy and security.

In 2010, Guyana will take over the Chairmanship for UNASUR and as a matter of foreign policy, Guyana has decided it will seek greater cooperation with the countries of South America.

Minister Nadir said it is an honour for Guyana to hold the pro-tempore Secretariat for UNASUR. The seat is currently held by Ecuador and will be rotated among the twelve member countries which include Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela. (GINA)

Minister Lall corrects Stabroek News distortions
on President’s comment on IMC at City Hall
The Government of Guyana has noted the Editorial carried in yesterday’s Sunday Stabroek under the caption “Blackmail” and feels constrained to correct the misrepresentations and distortions contained therein, according to a statement issued by Minister of Local Government and Regional development Mr. Kellawan Lall.

The statement reads:
Firstly, the editorial makes a deliberate attempt to distort the President’s comment on the option of an interim management committee (IMC) being installed by stating that “the President called a sudden press conference in which he said that if PNCR Leader Robert Corbin agreed, an IMC could be in place tomorrow”. In fact, the comment made by the President on the IMC option was offered in response to a question asked by a reporter at the press conference. Instead, the editorial attempts to suggest that purpose of the press conference was somehow to announce a desire to have an IMC installed.

“Secondly, the editorial seeks to suggest that “Freedom House and the Office of the President want an excuse to impose an IMC” and that the Government somehow wishes to demonstrate “that the City Council can’t manage the city”. In this regard, the City Council needs absolutely no assistance in demonstrating that they are woefully incapable of managing the City. Practically every resident of Georgetown and every right minded Guyanese know of the City Council’s ineptitude in collecting rates and taxes due, and of its incompetence and lack of accountability in managing its expenditure.

“Thirdly, the editorial seeks to suggest that the Council does not have enough revenue to discharge its mandate, and argues that even if the Council was the most efficient body in the hemisphere that it would still not have enough funds to run the city. This most astonishing assertion is made without absolutely any empirical evidence, without data on revenue or potential revenue, and without any analysis of the council’s expenditure. In fact, when the records are examined, the fact of the matter is that the council has billions of dollars that are not being collected from ratepayers in default, including the likes of Congress Place which owes City Hall over $100 million in outstanding rates and taxes and has thus far blatantly refused to discharge this liability.

“Indeed, it borders on the unbelievable that, instead of calling for more efficient management of existing resources at City Hall, including by stepping up collection of currently outstanding rates and taxes and by reducing expenditure in non-critical areas, Stabroek News chooses to call for a broadening of the revenue base of City Hall. The latter call, were it to be granted, would inevitably and obviously lead to more local government rates and taxes having to be paid by the private sector and households in Georgetown. This call reflects, more clearly than ever before, that the authors and editorial teams at Stabroek News are completely out of touch with reality and with the sentiments of the average Georgetown resident. There is absolutely no appetite for higher rates and taxes to be paid, especially knowing that the resources that are currently collected by City Hall are so woefully mismanaged.

“Fourthly, it is striking and revealing that the editorial steers clear of the real issue, this being the fact that the City Council has failed continuously to collect its potential revenue, has mismatched and mismanaged its expenditure, and has therefore failed to deliver on its mandate over the years since 1994. This fact, however, has failed to meet the attention, or serve the agenda, of the Editor of Stabroek News,” Minister Lall concludes.

What the drug war needs
A debate, not a disingenuous battle plan
by Research Associate Steve Schaffer
In what was to become a growing trend throughout much of Latin America, the Mexican government unleashed its security forces against the drug cartels several years ago in what ended up being a failed effort at interdiction. The strategy was then to change: On August 23, 2009, Mexico City announced that it would be eliminating jail time for possession of small amounts of heroin, cocaine, and marijuana. President Felipe Calderón said that the new law would free up law enforcement resources. Now, Mexican officials can focus on the larger and more lethal drug cartels, rather than cluttering Mexico’s criminal justice system with cases dealing with petty drug dealers and small-time addicts.

While many Mexicans were indifferent about the new law, Washington could not conceal its disappointment with its neighbor. In addition to Mexico, both Brazil and Uruguay later announced the elimination of measures harshly penalizing citizens carrying small amounts of drugs. Likewise, Argentina is planning to enact a decree exempting drug users from the criminal justice system. On September 8, 2009, the Mexican president asked his Attorney General, Eduardo Medina Mora, a key figure and hard-liner in the government’s war on drugs, to step down. This occurred after criticism of the government further escalated when drug lords executed 18 people outside a rehab center in Juarez.

So the question provoked by this series of events is, when it comes to an effective drug strategy, what is the world waiting for? More directly, what will it take for the White House to act? Since the current strategy is clearly not working, why not open up the hemispheric drug policy to public debate for the very first time. The dialogue would want to stress one fundamental point: the anti-drug war quarterbacked by Washington is not working and that a new plan must not focus on the pre-existing and ineffective strategies of interdiction, eradication and prohibition of cocaine, marijuana and heroin.

A clear-cut division between the petty drug dealer, addict, and drug lord in the drug chain may not exist since they all feed on, as well as merge, into one another. If petty drug use is tolerated, it likely means that clients will be buying and shooting up, and that drug lords still will be pushing and profiting. On the other hand, we learned from Prohibition that while alcohol consumption may have slackened, illegal trafficking and associated violence escalated making the situation worse than before it was outlawed. The same can be said about today’s current legislation on drugs.

But failed drug policies are not something exclusive to Mexico. In a television segment produced by CBC news in 2007, the long list of failures of U.S. drug policies were cited. For example, from 2000-2006, the US spent $4.7 billion on Plan Colombia which indirectly forced the relocation of Colombia’s main cocaine producers to more remote areas of the country. Later, another change of methodology in 2005 was introduced due to the fact that levels of cocaine production and consumption ended up being more or less the same as in 2000. Neighboring countries like Peru also saw their drug related statutes return to familiar locations and patterns on the trafficking chart.

Solving the drug problem of course requires humility, given its persistent nature. A still largely untested portal to possibly solving the issue would be to open up constructive debate between the nays and the yeas, involving the U.S. and Mexican authorities and their critics. Rather than scoffing at the idea of opening up communication between those determined to hue to a conventional line like the Obama administration appears to be doing, or, President Calderón’s search for a new policy, why not break the current barriers by opening up dialogue. Let there be discussion with the understanding that more of the same legislation and strategies that failed in the past could not provide the profound resolution for the hemisphere.

Between orthodox viewpoints and their challengers, in which the old principles no longer axiomatically have paramountcy, holding debates would allow partisans to be heard freely, as well as spotlight approaches that could potentially yield a cut in costs. They might offer a more humane strategy for those who require treatment, but not necessarily be candidates for jail time.

Shifting blame on government for city woes is counterproductive
Every year around this time in recent times the city of Georgetown becomes a nightmare as garbage keeps piling up everywhere creating a most unsightly and insanitary situation and a stench almost unbearable in some locations.

This situation results from a failure of City Hall to meet financial obligations to contractors hired to dispose of garbage in Georgetown and the explanation by the Mayor is the ever so familiar mantra of not having a wide enough revenue base and laying blame solely on the government for the situation. On the contrary he never blames, the mismanagement, corruption, inefficiencies, lack of planning and foresight and failure of City Hall to effectively collect rates and taxes. It is interesting to note that the Burrowes Inquiry into City Hall operations has highlighted these issues and the Mayor has endorsed these findings.

However, if the Mayor feels so strongly that the government is responsible for the mess Georgetown finds itself in then he should do the honourable thing and resign because according to his line of reasoning the government is usurping his functions or to use the street language “is controlling things.”

The question we need to ask is since when is the government responsible for the disposal of garbage in the city?

If the government is fixing roads, drainage systems, markets and buying pumps etc., and now it should be responsible for the disposal of garbage then clearly the citizens of Georgetown do not need a City Council do not need a City Council to manage their affairs. Let the central government take over the management.

But from a point of view of democracy that would be retrograde step because the essence of the democratic framework is to deepen and broaden its content by getting people to be more involved in managing their own affairs and moving away from the central command style of government.

One of the famous lines of the Mayor is that the government is starving City Hall of finances, but what is the reality?

The government and its ministries/agencies have been one of the largest contributors to the coffers of City Hall and have been making its payment promptly. According to Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh between 2005 and 2009 the government has paid over $700M in rates and taxes to City Hall and for this year has already paid for the first two quarters.

And recent negotiations have resulted in the government agreeing to pay in advance some $41M for the third quarter which is expected to be paid today and see the contractors return to work. If the government was playing a political game as the Mayor and some of his sympathisers claim would they have done this? On the contrary it is the mayor and City Hall who try to hold the government to ransom by allowing the situation to get out of hand through their imprudence and mismanagement of the affairs of the city.

Nowhere else in the world bodies which are responsible for managing cities seek to blame their respective central government when things go haywire. They either get their acts together or resign when they fail in carrying out their duties and responsibilities in an effective and efficient manner. And in more extreme cases the people force them out of office.

On this issue of starving of funds, it is interesting to note that Congress Place the headquarters of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) has some $100M outstanding in rates and taxes but the Mayor, who is a veteran and leading member of that party, is very silent on this issue and no effort is being made to garner this huge outstanding sum.

What has happened to Georgetown is a microcosm of what his party did to this country when it was in government.

For those who do not remember, when that party demitted office it left this country a US$2.5 billion debt, an infrastructure in ruins and the economy in tatters. Yet this present administration was still able to forge significant development. It found creative and innovative ways combined with prudent management to overcome developmental hurdles, rather than keeping complaining all the time and shifting blame. City Hall and the Mayor should take a lesson from the central government.

What is very clear is that the garbage problem has resulted from poor management and shifting the blame on the government will not help the situation. In fact, it will only make it worse.

What is needed is prudent and efficient management of the city coupled with a commitment by City Hall to work in a spirit of cooperation with central government for the betterment of the citizens of Georgetown. Any consideration will spell disaster for our capital city.

Kaieteur News should develop a minimum standard for reporting
I know all is foul and fair in politics, but even so a major publication like Kaieteur News must begin to develop a minimum standard for fair reporting. The columnists can write what they write but when it comes to reporting ‘hard news’ your newspaper must not toy with the facts. Remember acts of omission are also acts of commission.

Your headline yesterday - “Jagdeo defends contracts” (KN 9.19.09) was off the mark. I watched the interview and I thought the President explained the process of awarding contracts. The difference should be obvious to any average reader. Given the insinuations of fraud pushed by Kaieteur News, the word ‘defends’ in your headline is nothing short of intended mischief. Incidentally, is it accidental that there is a huge pile of trash immediately below the President’s name? There is more.

The inset that KN has on page three where the story is carried also does injustice to the totality of the interview. What is the point of highlighting that particular quotation when, in fact, the point about the interview was to demonstrate the integrity of the contract process.

Kaieteur News also did two other things that warrant comment. One of your Peeping Toms wrote a long rambling story and at the end concluded “[i]t is a dread situation” (KN 9.19.09). This peeping tom wasted an entire column beating up on the commissioning of number of landmark projects which she/he sees as signs of no progress. This particular peeper needs help because she/he may be suffering from transient alteration.

Finally, it is obvious that you are letting Hamilton Green off the hook, even though he is a high ranking member of the PNCR. Green is the Mayor of Georgetown and he has the responsibility for the management of the city. The trash is his to clean up.

I understand there was a recent conference in Guyana at which the Guyana Press Association was crying tears about unfairness. I ask the Canadian sponsors to take a look at Kaieteur News’ daily mischief and then decide who needs to be reformed.
Dr. RANDY PERSAUD

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Do our journalists truly love what they do?
WE would be having better quality of newscasts in Guyana had the standards for accepting and recruiting media operatives in Guyana been higher. Just the other day, Berbice played host to a media training workshop and saw the attendance of dozens of media practitioners from all across Guyana and especially here in Berbice. This event, I am sure, cost the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) thousands of dollars during its three- day duration for accommodation, getting the right personnel to deliver the right on- hand training to the practitioners, among other fiscal costs. One would have expected a better quality of delivery of newscasts and reporting not to mention news editing, graphics and even presentation (posture, enunciation, congeniality of presenter) among other valuable criteria for packaging a wholesome newscast.

I was shocked and flabbergasted last Friday evening just after seven o’ clock when a Berbice newscaster started laughing in the midst of presenting the news, not once but twice. After what had appeared to be a fly or some other insect landing upon her forehead, the newscaster began laughing, stopped, started to read a few words, and then covered her face with her hand and began laughing again—on live TV, viewable from distances that reach as far as Mahaica and Suriname—or so they say. The cast was immediately cut off for a few seconds then the young lady apologized and continued. Can you imagine this barefacedness and insult to Berbicians and the viewing public, Editor? At this point I would like to point out that I am writing here on behalf of no organization or group but myself, a person who has been playing an active part in journalism over the past years in Guyana and am therefore saddened at this new low of newscasts and journalism in our country.

Shabby reporting, mispronunciations (like the news presenter who said ‘Queen Elizabeth the Eleventh [II]’ and not ‘Second’ a few years ago), mixed- up tapes causing mixed- up stories, poor video quality and sound of video, sensationalized reporting, among other journalistic sins which are committed day in and day out by Guyana media operatives are as a result of poor academic qualifications by journalists. I was in Georgetown and saw an advertisement on the TV for reporters. Each applicant was required to have at least a Diploma in Communications and nothing less! That applicant, now, entering journalism and who would’ve had the base of journalism academically covered might have been expected to read for his or her Degree; anything else would be unacceptable!

Media houses must also play vital roles in ensuring that their journalists always keep upgrading their academic skills. Governments can also invest in these persons through training which would not only benefit the person themselves or their media entity but also the people of the country and journalism as a whole.

Journalists today are covering the news only where it is ‘comfortable’ for them to do so. Many of them have developed a lazy attitude with regards to covering and reporting what matters the most. Many Editors need to share the blame here, as the Editor of the situation described above in Berbice recently. News editors know that it is their duty as the more senior ones in journalism to give proper direction to their methods of bringing information out to the public. But sadly anyone can become a news editor these days. Sadly also we have lost so many veteran and well- qualified journalists through the years. The current cabal of journalists (especially on TV) these days leave much to be desired, if one were to put it lightly. While a few (which I can count with my fingers) show much hope, others give journalism a bad name. Many of the journalists I grew up to know and respect have either migrated or have pursued other jobs. They have sought better remuneration packages. Who could blame them?

Mr. Anand Persaud of the Stabroek News spoke at length about voice poverty at a United Nations- sponsored workshop in July in Georgetown. That workshop was not attended by many persons due to the Ministry of Health’s fire that same day in the city. But surely attendance was not the fault since the Berbice workshop was heavily attended and yet there seems to be no improvement as in the case of the ‘laughing-on-live-TV’ newscaster.

That is why today many stories are ‘hidden’ from the eyes of many Guyanese. What Guyanese will ultimately watch every evening would be the same set of stories from various (political) angles by the various media houses in Guyana, and this goes also for most of the newspapers in our midst today—most. Nobody is trying to go that extra mile; no reporter wants to go into the sidelines, to ground zero; where no other has traveled; where they know their reporting skills are hungered for, where they know that a man, woman, boy or girl is waiting to be heard; waiting for someone to hear their plight. That a situation which has been like a festering cancer upon the people of a particular area, miles away from towns and populated villages, is waiting for the eyes and ears of a nation (our reporters and editors). Those are people whose only sins are the locations which they have chosen to live. But maybe they have nowhere else to settle. News and views and issues are waiting to be brought to light from the far- flung communities across Berbice and Guyana.

Would our journalists dare to care? Are they bold enough to answer that call? Can they ever proudly, courageously and nobly wear that name or say ‘I am a journalist’? Do they truly love what they do?
LEON JAMESON SUSERAN

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It is no fun in a crowded New York subway
BEING in a crowded New York subway car is no fun. You are literally pushed up against hundreds of cultures from the around world, all with its nauseating odours and its alien, even irritating mannerisms. Coupled this with the fact that almost half the people on the train don’t speak English and everyone has a New York attitude which basically says, “It’s all about me. I come first” and you have your daily commute to and from work.

But this story is not about common New York rudeness which residents excuse as being “hard-nosed” in a large tough city. It’s about women, specifically brown immigrant women and their attitude and expectations of the opposite sex.

The woman standing in front of my seat looked to be in her late twenties or early thirties. She was maybe Vietnamese, Philippino, or some sort of darkish Asian blend and her handbag, or pocket-book as they say, was slung over her shoulder but it was so large that it ended up resting its weight on my $300 ipod touch which was on my lap. I gently moved it away from the screen. She glared at me and angrily said: “You could have said excuse me.”

Surprised and irritated I responded: “You could have said sorry. Weren’t you aware that your bag was resting on my lap?”

“Don’t you touch my bag,” she hissed.

“Look, just keep it off my lap,” I replied.

“Oh shut-up,” she retorted, “you’re not looking good and you’re spoiling my day.”

My irritation was getting the better of me (which I must say is something that should be controlled in the NY subway).

“I don’t want to look good to you and anyway, with a face like yours you can’t avoid having a bad day,” I snapped back. At this point my wife rested a restraining hand on my knee and tried to refocus my attention on the news I was reading on the ipod. The woman continued to mutter something under her breath but I ignored it. The situation returned to normal as if nothing happened and she got off at the next stop.

“That’s your girl?” The black gentleman, perhaps in his early fifties pointed to my wife.

“Yeah,” I said, with inward sigh of ‘here we go again.’

“She didn’t know that,” he said about the girl using the suitcase sized handbag. He smiled a bit and I knew he had more to say. “She wanted you to see her as an attractive woman. She was watching you since she got on the train. She didn’t realise your girl was already next to you.”

I was surprised. I was so busy reading the news that I did not pay attention to anyone around me.

“That’s funny,” I said, a bit embarrassed. Growing up in a home with many older sisters, knowing my wife as my high school sweet heart, and having a woman boss for a number of years have perhaps conditioned me to see women first as people, rather than mere sex objects. Being happily married for 18 years, I thought, has long taken me off playing those games. And living in the western world where feminists rightly insists on equality makes me see a human first and gender second.

“Oh boy, you know all I could think of at that moment was how rude this person is to rest a bag on my lap. I didn’t see it as a man/woman thing. I saw this only as a lack of manners from a person who is not aware of their surroundings,” I said. “This kind of thing happens all the time in the subway.”

“It’s a bit deeper than that,” he said gently, “our minority women are being taught to see themselves first and foremost as sexual objects, they are being taught to focus on their sexiness first because this is mostly what they want to be used for. That girl would have said ‘sorry’ to any woman, but not to you. As a man she expected you to see her as a sexy woman first, rather than a person.”

“Strange,” I said, “Actually, if she had first said ‘sorry about my bag’ I would have paid her more gracious attention because I would have found her awareness to be an endearing, smart and classy quality.”

“You’re like Eddie Murphy is coming to America,” he said. “Remember when he said ‘I want a woman who stimulates my intellect as well as my loins’?”

I smiled and thought, could he have a point about women of color? My friend’s daughter, a dark Indian girl had taken up with a white boy. She told us proudly that he told his parents that he was going out with an “exotic” girl. They were later married and then divorced two years later. She still only goes out with white guys. She likes how that they makes her feel special, she says. Her relationships last an average three months. She appears to be more of a fetish for these guys who use her and when sated, dump her.

One of my work colleagues was seeing a girl who he told us was “oriental”. I explained to him that she was Asian, that oriental is a word that applies only to objects, “you know, like an oriental rug?”

“Whatever man,” was his reply. “I like tapping Chinese chicks. They're easy.” The girl was Korean.

So, is there any truth to the claim that minority women get giddy if told they are exotic? Could it be the new colonial mentality among brown women in the diaspora?

Are women of colour being singled out for their sexiness first? Will their brain become less useful and so atrophy because they think being a “bodacious babe” is what it’s all about? Will their intelligence undergo an arrested development?
JUSTIN de FREITAS

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Why Freddie keeps attacking PPP’s presidential hopefuls?
IT is with great concern that I have decided to pen this letter to your newspaper. I wonder why Freddie Kissoon keeps attacking the hierarchy of the presidential hopefuls of the PPP among whom Ralph Ramkarran is the leading contender according to the Bisram poll. It is clearly that Freddie knew that one of these will be the next presidential candidate of the PPP for the next election. While deep down in his heart Freddie is a supporter of the PPP but that the presidential candidate does not find his favour because he has his own choice so that he can have authority or his own way.

Imagine someone like Freddie is questioning Vishnu Bisram and Anand Boodram. Freddie knew that every poll conducted by Vishnu Bisram is about 90 per cent accurate. The mere idea is that PPP will emerge victorious at the next election and that the party choice of presidential candidates does not suit Freddie Kissoon, he will continue to harp about it.

Why has he not commented on the PNCR elections and the way forward for that party? What about the rumbling between Raphael Trotman and Khemraj Ramjattan. Freddie Kissoon should form his own party and contest the next general election.

The mere idea of all these attacks on Ralph Ramkarran means that he has some knowledge that Ralph Ramkarran may be the choice of the PPP and that he is trying to include others.

Freddie has been attacking Ramkarran for the longest while but is getting nowhere. Why doesn’t he attack the others? Come on Freddie wake and get a grip of yourself.
CLINTON JARVIS

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Dismissal letter breached rules of natural justice
I was employed as a driver/supervisor with a leading security provider over the last five years and I attended many leadership and management training programmes facilitated by lecturers from universities in the developed world. As a result I have been moulded into an immensely competent proactive individual with the fortitude to challenge the status quo.

In an effort to address the intolerable decline which is taking this country down the vortex of destruction. I wrote a plethora of correspondence giving management a true impression of issues which affect the morale of employees. Instead of looking objectively at the recommendations they attacked the messenger rather than the message and I raised the threat level (continuum) by synergising effective people. I wrote a letter printed in Guyana Chronicle, Re: “Poor management of security company.”

The undemocratic practices continued and I dispatched a letter to the company’s overseas executives.

Weeks later, I received a very interesting letter of dismissal in which management breached the rules of natural justice and acted ultra vires which they failed to provide me with a reason for the dismissal. They also denied me an opportunity to be heard.

I intend to adequately illustrate the manifestation of Dr Stephen R. Covey’s the seven habits of highly effective people by means of the power of proactive people.
ANDREW PADMORE

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Three-month ban for Jamaican athletes a slap on the wrist
A three-month ban handed down to the four Jamaican athletes found guilty of doping is a slap on the wrist by the sporting body that overlooked the hearings.

This is a clear indication to others that it's no longer a big deal when you digest banned substances in competition.

Since the Marion Jones case which was highlighted globally, I was hoping that cheaters in sports would face the same gun as she did, but fortunately for some, it seems that life lines are handed to them hand in hand with the slap of the wrist penalty.

I reiterate, coming from this end of the globe where high tech training facilities are lacking, major and global sponsors are difficult to come by etc.

I continue to encourage the athletic ambassadors of the Golden Arrowhead to execute your performances being dope and drug free during competition at all times.
T. PEMBERTON

WEST INDIES Innings
D Richards b Malinga 59

A Fletcher b Kulasekara 8

D Smith c wkp Sangakkara b Malinga 67

T Dowlin lbw Muralitharan 9

*F Reifer c Jayawardene b Muralitharan 2

K Powell lbw Muralitharan 0

D Bernard b Mendis 6

+C Walton lbw Mendis 0

D Sammy c Samaraweera b Mendis 20

R Crandon c Mendis b Thushara 6

N Miller not out 1

Extras (b4, lb1, w16, nb2) 23

TOTAL (all out – 45.1 overs) 201

Did not bat: G Tonge, T Best

Fall of wickets: 1-9 (Fletcher, 2.4 overs), 2-89 (Richards, 16.5), 3-121, Dowlin (26.2), 4-127 (Reifer, 30.1), 5-127 (Powell, 30.4), 6-158 (Bernard, 35.4), 7-158 (Walton, 35.6), 8-190 (Smith, 42.4), 9-196 (D Sammy, 43.5), 10-201 (Crandon, 45.1)

Bowling: Kulasekara 5-1-33-1; Thushara 8.1-1-26-1 (2w); Malinga 8-0-45-2 (2nb, 6w); Mendis 10-1-31-3 (1w); Muralitharan 6-0-17-3; Mathews 4-0-16-0 (2w); Dilshan 4-0-28-0

SRI LANKA Innings

T Dilshan b Sammy 2

S Jayasuriya c Tonge b Sammy 21

*+K Sangakkara c wkp Walton b Best 35

M Jayawardene hit wicket b Tonge 67

T Samaraweera c wkp Walton b Bernard 9

T Kandamby not out 44

A Mathews not out 9

Extras (b1, lb2, w12) 15

TOTAL (for 5 wickets – 47.3 overs) 202

Did not Bat: N Kulasekara, T Thushara, A Mendis, L Malinga, C Kapugedera, M Muralitharan

Fall of wickets: 1-3 (Dilshan, 1.2 overs), 2-39 (Jayasuriya, 9.2), 3-83 (Sangakkara, 18.1), 4-109 (Samaraweera, 26.1), 5-172 (Jayawardene, 40.6).

Bowling: Tonge 10-0-38-1; Sammy 8.3-0-34-2 (1w); Best 6-1-28-1 (2w); Bernard 10-2-41-1 (9w); Miller 10-0-45-0; Dowlin 3-0-13-0

Deo wins COURTS Guyana Inc. Medal Play golf tourney
TEENAGE medical student Joann Deo emerged winner of the COURTS Guyana Inc. Medal Play Golf tournament as youths dominated the two-day event at the Lusignan Golf course over the weekend.

Deo, a third year student of the University of Guyana (UG) ended with the Best Net score of 133 in the fiercely fought competition that attracted over 38 golfers.

Playing off a handicap 29 Deo started the first day Saturday on a high finishing on a net 66 from a gross 95 and returned yesterday to finish with a net 67.

Deo said she only returned to golf recently following a break in her studies from UG.

Another teenager Manuf Arjune finished second with a two-day net score of 135 while third place was taken by National ladies champion Christine Sukhram who secured a net score of 139.

Day one action saw Alfred Mentore securing the lowest gross score of 77 while Bholaram Deo won the prize for Nearest to the Pin (NTP).

Mike Mangal won on a countback from Arjune to win the best net score on Sunday after both players ended on scores of 66.

Mangal also had the best gross of 74, while the NTP went to Mentore.

Sukhram also recorded the lowest gross for female players of 153 while Arjune was the winner among the men with 139.

Captain of the Lusignan Golf Club, Jerome Khan said the tournament was well attended and very competitive and he thanked Courts for upping their sponsorship this year making it a two-day event.

Courts Inc. Director of Purchasing and Customer Services Clyde De Haas said that his company was pleased once again to sponsor the tournament and will continue to do so in the future.

He noted that according to Courts motto “Bringing Value Home”, the company was keen in being part of success and the contribution to golf was making the game successful.

Courts Country Manager Lester Alvis who was on vacation returned to Guyana to compete in the tournament, as the furniture giants are celebrating 16 years of operations in Guyana.

Also present at the presentation ceremony were President of the LGC Mel Sankies and Courts Public Relations Officer Pernell Cummings.

Meanwhile, the Annual General Meeting of the Lusignan Golf Club will take place on October 10, at the Club House at Lusignan, East Bank Demerara starting at 17:00 h..

High on the agenda will be reports by the Club Captain, Financial Report and the Election of officer bearers.

Walker, Foster-Hylton in winners’ row at Shanghai GP
…Gay runs second fastest time ever

SHANGHAI, China, (CMC) – Jamaican World Champions Melaine Walker and Brigitte Foster-Hylton were in winners’ row but the return of local hurdles hero Liu Xiang and blistering 100-metre wins by Americans Tyson Gay and Carmelita Jeter grabbed the main headlines at yesterday’s Shanghai Grand Prix track and field meet.

Gay won the men’s race in 9.69 seconds, the second fastest time ever – behind Usain Bolt’s world record 9.58 – and Jeter became No.2 on the women’s all-time list with a superb 10.64 win.

There were three Jamaican wins at the meet with Shericka Williams landing the women’s 400 in 49.83 seconds and Foster-Hylton and Walker winning the 100-metre hurdles (12.56) and 400-metre hurdles (54.68), respectively.

Liu returned to competition for the first time in over a year and delivered a superb performance for second in a photo-finish in the 110-metre hurdles behind American Terrence Trammell.

In another stirring duel between IAAF World Champion and Olympic champion, Foster-Hylton powered to a photo-finish victory over the American Dawn Harper in the women’s sprint hurdles.

Both athletes clocked 12.56 seconds with Foster-Hylton given the edge for her sixth consecutive victory, stretching from her World Championship gold medal in Berlin last month.

Foster-Hylton had also narrowly beaten Harper at last weekend’s World Athletics Final (WAF) in Greece.

Canada’s Perdita Felicien was third in 12.73 followed by Jamaicans Nickeisha Wilson (12.92) and Lacena Golding-Clarke (13.10) fourth and fifth, respectively.

Walker was virtually unchallenged in her 400-metre hurdles win 54.68 seconds, topping Romania’s Angela Morosanu (55.11). Trinidad and Tobago’s Josanne Lucas was fourth in 55.31.

Williams led a Jamaica one-two finish in the women’s 400, scoring in 49.83 seconds ahead of Novlene Williams-Mills (49.85).

Gay delivered on his pre-race comments about sending a message to Bolt that his time at the top of world sprinting would not go uncontested.

The 27-year-old American equalled Bolt’s 2008 Beijing world record with his superb win that was aided by a wind of 2.0 metres per second, the maximum allowable following wind.

Gay flew past early leader Asafa Powell, the former world record holder, and sliced 0.02 seconds off his previous personal best and American record 9.71 seconds which he posted behind Bolt’s astounding world record 9.58 in Berlin last month.

Jamaica’s Powell was second in 9.85 and the American Darvis Patton equalled his personal best 9.89 seconds for third.

Nesta Carter, of Jamaica, ran a career-best 9.91 for fourth, while the St Kitts and Nevis 33-year-old Kim Collins, who is quitting international athletics at the end of the season, placed sixth in 10.22. T&T’s Marc Burns was seventh in 10.25 seconds.

In the women’s 100, Jeter, who ran 10.67 last weekend at the WAF in Thessaloniki last weekend, chopped a further 0.03 seconds off her personal best and displaced Marion Jones (10.65) as the second fastest on the all-time list. Only world record holder Florence Griffith-Joyner (10.49) has gone faster.

Jamaica’s Olympic 200-metre champion Veronica Campbell-Brown clocked a season’s best 10.89 for second and Bahamian veteran Chandra Sturrup (11.03) was third. Jamaica’s Olympic silver medallist Sherone Simpson was fifth in 11.30.

Americans also landed the 200-metre races with Wallace Spearmon (20.57) beating Collins (20.90), American Shawn Crawford (21.04) and Jamaican Omar Brown (21.06) in the men’s race, and Allyson Felix taking the women’s race in 22.37.

The Cayman Islands’ Cydonie Mothersill clocked a season’s best 22.45 for second and Bahamian Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie (22.45) was third in the women’s half-lap sprint.

The US Virgin Islands’ LaVerne Jones-Ferrette (22.75), Jamaicans Anastasia Leroy (23.29) and Simone Facey (23.41) placed fourth, sixth and seventh, respectively.

No event on the programme generated as much excitement as the 110-metre hurdles as the Shanghai native Liu, the Athens Olympic champion, and Trammell hit the finish together in 13.15.

It was the first race for Liu since his devastatingly emotional withdrawal from the Beijing Olympics last year with a foot injury and he ran superbly, even surprising himself with the result.

"I never thought I'd have such a great result," Liu said after his run.

Liu, who had surgery in December, had taken a year off from competition to heal an injured right achilles tendon, and was not expected to record such a fast time.

He recovered well from a sluggish start, collared Trammell in mid-race and engaged the World Championship silver medallist in a stirring duel over the last 40 metres.

China's Shi Dongpeng placing third in 13.34.

Jamaica’s 2005 World Champion Trecia Smith, at 13.41 metres, was seventh in the triple jump won by Russian Tatyana Lebedeva (14.72m

Trumpet beats Murray but wins for three other Guyanese
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, (CMC) – The experienced Trinidad and Tobago boxer Floyd Trumpet easily defeated Mark Murray but three of Murray's Guyanese colleagues scored three wins on the Cosmic Promotions’ five-fight card on Saturday night.

Trumpet stopped Murray at two minutes, 57 seconds of the second round to win by technical knockout (TKO) in the main event on the card at the Cosmic Boxing Gym in Marabella.

The win improved Trumpet’s log to 16 wins (8 knockouts) against eight losses and two draws.

The result was also the third consecutive win for Trumpet, who unsuccessfully challenged American Grady Brewer for the International Boxing Association (IBA) light middleweight title in North Carolina, USA, in January 2005.

Former T&T amateur standout Kevin Diaz made an impressive pro debut while visiting Guyanese Dexter Gonzalez, Leon Dover and the undefeated Joe McCrae all registered wins on the competitive card.

The impressive middleweight McCrae stretched his record to 6-0 (3 knockouts) when he stopped Barbadian Kevin Neverson in the first round.

Diaz pounded Guyana’s John Henry to score a third-round TKO win in a light middleweight contest.

In two lightweight bouts, Gonzalez earned a stirring split decision win over Prince Lee Isadore over four rounds and Dover stopped local boxer Mark Alexander at 2:30 of the second round.

Classy Mayweather returns with dominant win
By Mark Lamport-Stokes
LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Floyd Mayweather Jr celebrated his return to the ring after a 21-month retirement with a unanimous points victory over Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez in a non-title welterweight bout on Saturday.

Widely regarded as the best defensive fighter of his generation, the American dominated all 12 rounds against his smaller opponent with his left jab and agile movement to improve his career record to 40-0 with 25 knockouts.

Mayweather, who held a significant weight and reach advantage over five-times world champion Marquez, was a heavy favorite going into the bout at the MGM Grand Garden Arena and knocked down Marquez in the second round.

The 32-year-old showed no sign of rust after his lengthy stint away and controlled the pace of the fight with his lightning hand and foot speed, rock-solid defense and a series of telling combinations.

"I've been off for almost two years but it felt really good to be back," Mayweather said in a ringside interview. "I was happy with the victory but I know can get better."

The flamboyant American was back in the ring for the first time since his 10th round stoppage of Britain's Ricky Hatton at the same venue in December 2007.

"That guy is tough as nails," added Mayweather, who gained one-sided verdicts from all three judges -- by 118-109, 120-107 and 119-108.

"He was a great little big man. I threw a hell of a shot that dropped him, and then he got back up and kept fighting. He's a tough guy."

The 36-year-old Marquez, who moved up two weight classes to challenge the American, slipped to 50-5-1 with 37 knockouts.

"It was a very hard fight," said the Mexican who had never fought above 135 pounds. "He surprised me with the knockdown. He hurt me in that round but not at any other time.

TOO FAST
"I don't want to make excuses but the weight was the problem," added Marquez, who was four pounds lighter at Friday's weigh-in.

"He's too fast. When I hit him he laughed but I knew he felt my punches. I did the best I could do."

Watched by a crowd of 13,000 that included basketball great Magic Johnson and boxers Oscar De La Hoya and Bernard Hopkins, Mayweather belied his lengthy absence from the ring by making a strong start.

He landed a couple of left jabs early on, drawing blood on his opponent's forehead before Marquez ended a fast-paced opening round by pinning the American against the rope

Although Marquez forced Mayweather to back-peddle in the early exchanges in round two, the confident American put the Mexican on the canvas with a stinging left hook.

Mayweather, moving nimbly and frequently leaning back to avoid head punches by Marquez, took advantage of his longer reach to dominate the next three rounds.

While the aggressive Marquez frequently drove Mayweather on to the ropes, the ever-smiling American repeatedly landed telling left jabs to remain in overall control.

Mayweather ended the 11th round by landing a crunching right hook and maintained control until the final bell sounded to end the 12th.

The American dominated the official statistics, connecting with 290 of 493 punches thrown to 69 of 583 for Marquez. He also landed 105 power punches compared to the Mexican's 48.

Celebrating Colombian players die in car crash
…teenage striker Cordoba was third leading scorer in the championship
BOGOTA, (Reuters) - Two players from Colombian first division side Atletico Huila and a woman travelling with them were killed in a car crash yesterday, police said.

Teenage striker Herman Cordoba, midfielder Mario Beltran, 23, and the unnamed woman were killed when the car in which they had gone out to celebrate Saturday’s 2-1 win over Pereira was involved in a collision with a bus and caught fire.

A third player, whom police identified as Juan Restrepo, was badly hurt in the crash on the highway between Rivera and Neiva, where Huila are based in southwestern Colombia.

Club sources said the players had gone out to celebrate Saturday’s result, including a 79th-minute equaliser by Cordoba, which took the team back to the top of the first division Clausura championship.

Cordoba, 19, was the championship’s third highest scorer with seven goals from 10 games.

Pereira took a shock lead after less than a minute with a header from defender Andres Ramirez. Right back Lewis Ochoa scored Huila’s winner in the final minute.

Huila, who had not won in three matches and lost the lead to Independiente Medellin, have 20 points from 10 matches. Independiente Medellin can go top again if they win their home game against La Equidad later yesterday.

Owen settles epic derby, Chelsea see off Spurs
… Chelsea make it six in a row
By Mitch Phillips
LONDON, (Reuters) - Substitute Michael Owen struck in the sixth minute of stoppage-time to earn Manchester United a 4-3 Premier League win over Manchester City in one of the all-time great derby matches yesterday.

United led three times through Wayne Rooney and two Darren Fletcher headers and City fought back on each occasion with a goal from Gareth Barry and two from Craig Bellamy, the second coming in the final minute of normal time.

The day’s big London derby was not quite so dramatic as Chelsea made it six league wins out of six with a 3-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur who have lost two in a row after winning their first four.

Louis Saha scored twice as Everton beat Blackburn Rovers 3-0 and Wolverhampton Wanderers defeated Fulham 2-1.

The results left Chelsea clear at the top with a maximum 18 points. Manchester United have 15 with City, who had won their first four league games, on 12 alongside Liverpool, Spurs and Aston Villa.

The Old Trafford clash between the champions and a big-spending City side with great expectations was one of the most eagerly awaited for years and more than lived up to its billing.

QUICK FEET
United got off to a flyer when Rooney made room cleverly to score after two minutes but City equalised when former United striker Carlos Tevez, roundly barracked by the home fans, robbed United goalkeeper Ben Foster and set up Barry to score with a crisp finish.

Fletcher headed in a Ryan Giggs cross in the 49th minute but the lead lasted only three minutes as City broke and Bellamy cut in to unleash a superb rising shot into the top corner.

Shay Given produced three good saves to deny Dimitar Berbatov and Giggs, who was on mesmerising form in his 30th Manchester derby, but he was beaten by another Fletcher header after 80 minutes.

A dreadful blunder by Rio Ferdinand then let in Bellamy, who rounded Foster to score from a tight angle in the 90th minute.

United were not done, though. With City manager Mark Hughes screaming for the final whistle, Giggs split the visiting defence with a perfectly-weighted pass for former Liverpool striker Owen to toe in the winner.

“We won one of the best Manchester derbies,” United manager Alex Ferguson told reporters. “We have a neighbour and sometimes neighbours are noisy, but what can you do?

“Our players showed their playing power and that’s the best answer of all.”

Tottenham, without a win at Stamford Bridge for almost 20 years, started well but fell behind after 32 minutes to a rare goal by fullback Ashley Cole.

Spurs had a strong penalty claim turned down and Michael Ballack bundled in the second before Didier Drogba killed the game with the third goal after 63 minutes.

AUSTRALIA innings

S. Watson c Swann b Anderson 0

T. Paine c wkpr) Prior b Onions 4

R. Ponting c Collingwood b Swann 53

M. Clarke run out (Morgan/Collingwood) c Shah b Rashid 38

M. Hussey c Denly b Bresnan 49

C. White b Swann 1

J. Hopes c&b Swann 11

M. Johnson c Swann b Anderson 10

B. Lee b Swann 0

N.Hauritz c&b Shah 3

B. Hilfenhaus not out 2

Extras: (lb-1, w-4) 5

Total: (all out; 45.5 overs) 176

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-17, 3-96, 4-110, 5-112,6-138, 7-158, 8-158, 9-163, 10-176.

Bowling: Anderson 7-0-36-1, Onions 9-1-28-1 (3w), Bresnan 6.5-0-25-1 ( 1w), Collingwood 7-0-37-0, Swann 10-1-28-5, Bopara 1-0-70, Shah 5-1-14-1.

ENGLAND innings

A. Strauss c Hilfenhaus b Hauritz 47

J. Denly run out (Paine/Ponting) 53

R. Bopara lbw b Watson 13

O. Shah c wkpr Paine b Hopes 7

P. Collingwood not out 13

E. Morgan c Paine b Lee 2

M. Prior c Ponting b Hilfenhaus 11

T. Bresnan not out 10

Extras: (b-4 lb-2, w-6, nb-9) 21

Total: (for six wickets; 40 overs 177

Fall of wickets: 1-106, 2-129, 3-133, 4-137, 5-141 6-162

Bowling: Lee 10-3-33-1 (1nb, 3w) Hilfenhaus 6-1-38-1 (6nb, 1w) Johnson 5-0-29-0 (2w), Hauritz 8-0-30-1 (1nb) Hopes 6-1-29-1, Watson 5-012-1

England win to avoid whitewash
GRAEME Swann took five wickets as England avoided a series whitewash with a four-wicket win over Australia at the Riverside

England would have suffered the indignity of becoming the first international side to lose a one-day series 7-0 but spared their blushes with victory at Chester-le-Street.

Spinner Swann proved the match-winner, taking five wickets for 28 runs from his 10 overs as England, who won the toss and chose to field, dismissed the tourists for just 176.

Swann took the key wicket of captain Ricky Ponting (53), who chipped a catch to Paul Collingwood at mid-wicket, sparking an Australian collapse as they lost their last eight wickets for 80 runs.

England began their chase brightly with captain Andrew Strauss (47) and Joe Denly (53) putting on 106 for the first wicket and the hosts appeared to be cruising to the modest total.

However, Australia rallied with three wickets in 13 balls as England wobbled on 141 for five and 162 for six, before Tim Bresnan (10 not out) and Collingwood (13 not out) steered the hosts home with more than nine overs to spare.

The teams now travel to South Africa for the Champions Trophy with England playing Sri Lanka in Johannesburg and Australia facing West Indies.

Gebrselassie wins fourth Berlin marathon
HAILE Gebrselassie won the Berlin marathon for the fourth straight year but the Ethiopian failed to break his own world record after fading in the warm weather towards the end of the race

Gebrselassie, inside world record pace for more than two thirds of the race, clocked a time of two hours, six minutes and 8 seconds, well outside the blistering record of 2:03:59s he set in the same city in 2008.

Kenyan Francis Kiprop was second, almost a minute later, and Ethiopian Negari Terfa came in third.

"My pace was perfect. I was in record breaking pace until kilometre 33," said Gebrselassie, who set an unofficial world record for the 30km with 1:27:49s. "I felt good but then it got warmer and then I don't know, I went to unknown (territory)."

"If you accept the 30km world record, it's not bad. it's good for my collection," the Ethiopian said with a grin.

Gebrselassie, who also broke the then world record here in 2007, and challenger Duncan Kibet, the second fastest man over the distance, set off at a quick pace.

With a group of high quality pacemakers including Luke Kibet, who won the marathon gold medal at the Osaka 2007 World athletics championships, Gebrselassie shook off Kibet at the 20km mark before the Kenyan dropped out.

But as the temperature climbed to around 20 degrees Celsius, the 36-year-old, who ran sub-three-minute times for all but one kilometre until the 35th, started to struggle.

"This was not marathon weather. I am OK but in the last few kilometres I was very tired," he said.

"The problem started after 33 km. Maybe I pushed too much. I was trying to push but the last five kilometres I was tired and I could not push any more," added Gebrselassie, who wants to run the marathon at the 2012 London Olympics.

"What I learned today is to break the marathon world record the temperature must be under or up to 17 degrees."

"After 33, my mind told my body, 'This is bad'. I learned today the marathon really starts after 35 kilometres."

Gebrselassie has twice won Olympic gold over 10,000m and won four consecutive world athletics championships gold medals over the distance.

Fellow Ethiopian Atsede Habtamu Besuye won the women's race in a time of 2:24:47s.

South Africa aim to end trophy drought
IT’'s difficult to believe that the team ranked No. 1 in one-day internationals has not won an ICC event in 11 years.

The one tournament they did win under the auspices of cricket's governing body was in 1998, when South Africa beat West Indies in the final of the ICC knock-out tournament in Bangladesh.

Since then, South Africa haven't even managed to make the final of an ICC tournament. Their World Cup woes have earned them the tag of 'chokers' and their Champions Trophy record has done nothing to erase that label.

Their subsequent campaigns, following the 1998 victory, were derailed by defeats to India in the 2000 and 2002 semi-finals, and losses to West Indies in the 2004 and 2006 competitions.

AB de Villiers, though, believes the silverware dearth is about to end. "I think, in the next two years, we will be bringing home the trophies.

It will be our time," he said during a training camp in Potchefstroom a week ago. South Africa chose the small town as their preparation pond, perhaps hoping some of the magic that rubbed off on Australia, when they trained there ahead of the 2003 World Cup, will sprinkle itself on them too.

After a three month break from the game, following the World Twenty20 in June, the South African team reconvened last week for a seven-day camp and will have another week-long session at the same venue.

The training has involved warm-up matches against the Lions franchise as well as general fitness and net sessions. Despite the intensity with which the team is preparing for the competition, coach Mickey Arthur says this year's Champions Trophy is "not the be all and end all" of the team's limited-over ambitions.

"We are a process-driven side and as long as we keep working as a team I am happy," Arthur told Cricinfo. "The team has enjoyed successes together for some time now and as long as they all produce in their roles, we will do well. Whichever team strings five good performances together during the event will win."

This isn't the first time South Africa go into a competition as one of the favourites. But this time they're banking on home advantage to give them an extra edge over the other teams, even though it didn't work at the 2003 World Cup or the 2007 World Twenty20.

"We are extremely comfortable with the two venues the tournament will be played at (Supersport Park, Centurion and The Wanderers, Johannesburg)," said Arthur. "We've had some good results at both stadiums in the past and we receive lots of local support there as well."

Shaun Pollock, who was part of both those home campaigns, believes it might be "third time lucky" for South Africa. "They know the conditions better than anyone else and, given their performances of late, they will have a lot of crowd support.

" In fact, Pollock thinks the benefit of playing at home will even counteract the lack of match practice in the past few months. "They would have probably have wanted to play two or three one-day games to be really firing, especially since almost all the other teams have been in action recently. While I would have said that would work in favour of other teams, I think its negated by the fact that South Africa are at home."

The other danger for the team will be going into the tournament complacent, as they appeared to be at the World Twenty20 in June. South Africa went into their semi-final against Pakistan determined that they were ready to reach a final - Arthur said they were "very strong and ready to go to another level".

Needless to say, the chokers tag was stuck onto the team even more firmly than before after they lost by seven runs.

This time, Arthur hasn't talked up his team's chances. "I think there are seven out of the eight teams who could stand a chance of winning (He did not want to make public which team he thought was not going to be in contention.). But I do think the four semi-finalists will be South Africa, Australia, India and Sri Lanka. Then again you underestimate New Zealand at your peril and depending on which Pakistan team shows up, they could be dangerous as well."

Although Arthur and his team appear to have realised the importance of finally winning an ICC event, they are not letting on that this will be any more important than any other competition. Maybe it's just a clever way of disguising the pressure.

"It will definitely mean something for them to win and it certainly counts more than any normal series," Pollock said. Of course South Africa, ever the diplomats, could just see the Champions Trophy as yet another stepping stone on their road to something else, as they so often do with series that they lose.

"Doing well in the competition will certainly give them confidence ahead of the 2011 World Cup," said Pollock. But somehow, one doubts they'll be willing to spend another two years as the best team never to have won a trophy.(Cricinfo)