TTMA IN THE NEWS

Imbert: Eximbank US$100M facility available by month’s end

Finance Minister Colm Imbert said yesterday he was “reasonably confident” that the US$100 million facility available to manufacturers through the Export Import Bank (Eximbank) by the end of the month. Manufacturers, on the other hand, are sceptical. Imbert told reporters at the post-Cabinet media briefing at the Diplomatic Centre in St Ann’s that Central Bank Governor, Alvin Hillaire, had assured him that the Eximbank’s licence to trade foreign exchange would be granted, at the latest, early next week. But while the TT Manufacturers’ Association (TTMA) “most definitely” welcomes the announcement, its chief executive officer Ramesh Ramdeen told Newsday yesterday, the group’s concern is if the promise will materialise in the time frame the government says it will. Read more here

NEWS

Rohan: Ferry fixed within 30 minutes

Minister of Works and Transport Rohan Sinanan yesterday described as “not a major mishap” the hydraulics leak that had earlier caused an hour’s delay in the arrival in Trinidad from Tobago of the ferry the TT Spirit. He was speaking at yesterday’s post- Cabinet news briefing at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s. “One of the hydraulic lines sprung a leak as the vessel was about to berth at the Port of Port of Spain. It took close to half an hour to have it repaired. “It was repaired on board by the crew on board and that would have caused a delay of just about one hour.” Read more here

‘Drowned’ man stops own wake

While the T&T Coast Guard searched for him and villagers prepared for his wake, Arnold Buxo, who was feared drowned at Mosquito Creek on Wednesday, turned up alive yesterday. Buxo, 49, of Bamboo Village, South Oropouche, had gone with his friend Errol Ramsaran to catch conch on Wednesday at the creek, near the tunnel where the Gordineau River meets the Gulf of Paria. Around 11 am, Buxo shed his clothes and dived in but when an hour passed and he never resurfaced, Ramsaran got worried. He picked up Buxo's clothes from the rock and began searching the shoreline for him. He asked other crab catchers if they saw him. Nobody did. He then went home, praying that Buxo had reached home. Read more here

Mom chopped in school-work argument with son

After a scolding from his mother about his school work, a 15-year-old Freeport schoolboy was arrested on Thursday after he allegedly chopped his mother with a cutlass. The woman is in critical condition at hospital, being treated for multiple chop wounds to her head, chest and arms. So severe were some of the wounds, police said, that one of the woman’s arms was almost severed. Police were called around 7.30 a.m. to the home at Butler Village, Waterloo. Read more here

POLITICS

Tabaquite residents bracing for more locusts

Farmers in the remote village of Brasso Venado, Tabaquite are breathing a sigh of relief as the locust invasion that destroyed thousands of dollars’ worth of their crops seems to be coming to an end. However, with the prediction that the tiny plant-eating critters will swarm again in November, farmer Rudranath Ramrattan is preparing for the worse. Ramrattan, 44, told Newsday that about five months ago, he began noticing swarms of locusts in the community. The tiny insects, which resemble grasshoppers, quickly moved in on the many agriculture fields on which the community makes its living. Read more here

PM gets India help for Couva hospital

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has invited India to participate in a new model for T&T healthcare training at the Couva Hospital, which could include the teaching of traditional Indian medicine. This was among the latest initiatives taken during the Prime Minister's London trip. A statement from the Prime Minister's Office (OPM) yesterday confirmed the plan, among meetings Rowley held with various Commonwealth leaders at yesterday's Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) conference. Read more here

Imbert: Rowley made right decision

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley made the right decision to meet with BP and Shell executives while having Trinidad and Tobago “ably represented” by Foreign Affairs Minister Dennis Moses and High Commissioner Orville London at the meeting between Caricom and British Prime Minister Theresa May. Read more here

BUSINESS

New business degree launched at ALJGSB

David Dulal-Whiteway, CEO of the Arthur Lok Jack Global School of Business (ALJGSB), expects the tertiary level institution’s new undergraduate degree to add to business education and transform the country. “This represents the most significant event of the school since it was founded. I say that because of the impact that this undergraduate programme can have on the future development of our country. This programme is about training leaders who are willing to compete at an international level and who are willing to take on the world,” he said yesterday at the official launch of ALJGSB’s first undergraduate degree, a Bachelors Programme in International and Sustainable Business. Read more here

Barrels of Love for Dominican school

Some 1,500 pounds of goods in several “Barrels of Love” was sent to the Convent High School in Roseau, Dominica earlier this week thanks to the Power Generation Company of Trinidad and Tobago Ltd (PowerGen). Read more here

REGIONAL

Vindicated - Supreme Court Orders Reinstatement Of Career Civil Servant Who Was 'Retired'

The Supreme Court has ordered the reinstatement of a career public servant who was "retired" as head of the state-run Court Management Services (CMS) by Governor General Sir Patrick Allen after she was given permission to pursue further studies. The Full Court, in a unanimous decision handed down yesterday, declared that Deborah Patrick-Gardner had been unlawfully "retired" as principal executive officer of the CMS. "This court has found that the manner in which the claimant was purportedly retired was unlawful in that it was contrary to Section 125 (3) of the Constitution, Regulation 26 of the Public Service. Read more here

INTERNATIONAL

North and South Korea set up hotline ahead of summit

North and South Korea have set up a telephone hotline between their two leaders - the first time such a direct line of communication has been set up. Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in are due to meet later this month for the first inter-Korean summit in over a decade. Officials from both sides conducted a successful test call. "It was as if we were talking to a neighbour right next door," a South Korean official told local media after the call lasting 4 minutes 17 seconds. The hotline was established between the South's presidential Blue House and the North's state affairs commission, which is headed by Mr Kim. Blue House officials had earlier said Mr Moon and Mr Kim were likely to hold a telephone conversation before their face-to-face meeting. Read more here

Comey memos detail Trump's comments on Russia, reservations about Flynn

In his memos documenting conversations with President Donald Trump, former FBI Director James Comey recounts Trump's "serious reservations" about then-national security adviser Michael Flynn as well as the President's concerns about media leaks and Trump's recollection of Russian President Vladimir Putin telling him that Russia had the "most beautiful hookers in the world." Read more here

20th April 2018

Back