NEWS
‘Open hearts to abused children’
With 60,000 calls from the public reporting child abuse and 15,000 currently engaging the attention of the Children’s Authority, its chairman Hanif Benjamin has appealed to citizens to open their homes and hearts to these children in need of care. Benjamin said they need more people to adopt children, especially the older ones. He said there is an urgent need as well for foster carers, either on a short-term or long-term basis as the perpetrators, most of the times, are people charged with the responsibility to care and protect them. Read more here
Broken excavator blocks watercourse
Penal residents are calling for the urgent removal of a broken amphibious excavator left in the river near the Tulsa picnic site for over a month now. They said the excavator is partly blocking of the watercourse called the Blackwater Channel and can contribute to flooding in the already flood-prone area. The excavator belongs to Kallco contractors which had been awarded a contract by the Ministry of Works Drainage Division to dredge and clear the river. Read more here
Good Samaritan stabbed to death...Police ‘leave man bleeding’
A good Samaritan who tried to defend his relatives in an altercation outside a club in Debe was stabbed to death yesterday. Dillon “Rasta” Lucas, 31, intervened when he saw his wife’s cousin bleeding from stab wounds to the hand. Read more here
POLITICS
Imbert, Nidco: Boat is safe
On the eve of the MV Galleons Passage’s long awaited arrival in TT, Finance Minister Colm Imbert yesterday rejected claims from the Opposition that the vessel was adrift and riddled with some 38 defects. The claims were also rejected by the National Infrastructure Development Company (Nidco) at a news conference at its San Juan offices. Chairman Herbert George said Nidco sent no barge and tug to refuel the Galleons Passage as alleged by former minister Devant Maharaj on social media. Read more here
Cabinet committee meets today on private school fees
The Private Schools Association says it stands ready to meet with Education Minister Anthony Garcia and his team to hear what proposal is on the table on the issue of the fee increase which they have requested for students assigned by the government to private schools. The school year ended last Friday with a virtual stand-off between the Education Ministry and the principals of the private schools, with many of the seven schools not yet in receipt of payments owed to them by the Ministry of Education for the term just ended. Read more here
Drakes under scrutiny again over land deal
Commissioner of State Lands (COSL) Paula Drakes is again under scrutiny for a multi-million-dollar Queen’s Park East, Port of Spain, land deal with indirect family links. Her decision to seek ministerial and Cabinet approval for the grant of State land at Queen’s Park East, valued at between $50 million and $90 million, to an organisation indirectly connected to her sister has been referred to the Public Service Commission (PSC) for investigation. Read more here
BUSINESS
IDB Invest loan support for low income citizens
IDB Invest, the private sector institution of the IDB Group, has disbursed financing of up to US$15 million to Unicomer Trinidad, part of the Unicomer Group. This is a medium-term, local currency loan. The funds are intended to finance the client portfolio of Unicomer Trinidad, with a particular focus on reaching low-income citizens. The loan will allow IDB Invest to support Unicomer Trinidad in strengthening its offer of access to durable goods and financial services, through access to credit, for clients of underserved populations in the country. The participation of IDB Invest also promotes the increase of loans to microentrepreneurs and women. Read more here
REGIONAL
Blaze At MoBay Dump To Be Controlled By Wednesday
Audley Gordon, executive director of the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), says that a fire believed to be set by arsonists at the Retirement dump in St James will be brought under control by Wednesday. Smoke from the fire is said to be causing a nuisance to residents in sections of Montego Bay since Saturday. Despite difficulties accessing a nearby gully where the fire was discovered, responders have been working relentlessly to put out the blaze. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Trump calls the European Union a 'foe' of the United States
President Donald Trump named the European Union, Russia and China as foes to the United States during an interview at his golf club in Scotland. "I think we have a lot of foes," Trump told CBS News in an interview segment that aired Sunday on "Face the Nation." "I think the European Union is a foe, what they do to us in trade. Now you wouldn't think of the European Union, but they're a foe." The President added that "Russia is a foe in certain respects. China is a foe economically, certainly they are a foe. But that doesn't mean they're bad. It doesn't mean anything. It means that they are competitive. They want to do well and we want to do well." Pressed as to why he first listed the EU as a foe, Trump responded, "No, I look at them all. Look, EU is very difficult. ... In a trade sense, they've really taken advantage of us and many of those countries are in NATO and they weren't paying their bills(.)" Read more here
British caver 'could sue' Elon Musk over Twitter attack
16th July 2018