NEWS

4 charged for bank fraud

Four people including a 19-year-old woman will appear before an Arima Magistrate today charged with larceny after they deposited blank envelopes into a commercial bank’s ATM and then withdrew cash. Newsday has learnt that since May 18, an estimated 4,000 empty envelopes were deposited in the bank’s ATMs across the country. It is a scheme which takes advantage of a glitch in that bank’s system which allows customers to withdraw money from cheques immediately after they make deposits. Read more here

T&T poets for top UK awards

Two local poets will be heading to London in September having been short-listed to receive major international literary awards by the Forward Prizes for Poetry. They are Vahni Capildeo, a Trinidadian poet based in the UK and Shivanee Ramlochan who lives in Trinidad. Capildeo is a previous winner of a Forward Prize in 2016 and has now achieved the rare feat of being short-listed again for the award just two years later with her book, Venus as a Bear. Read more here

Judge on Drunk Driving Charge

Charged with driving under the influence: A HIGH Court judge is expected to appear before a Port of Spain magistrate today charged with driving under the influence of alcohol. Read more here

POLITICS

Indarsingh: Imbert deceiving Couva

Couva South MP Rudy Indarsingh has accused Finance Minister Colm Imbert of deceiving the people of Couva with his announcement that Cabinet has approved construction of a new industrial park for Pt Lisas and a concessional loan from the Chinese government to finance it. He said with the number of companies shutting down at Point Lisas in the past two and a half years, any decision to create job opportunities would be welcomed. Read more here

Ministry teams up with US to block dangerous pests

There is a high risk of diseases such as Foot and Mouth crossing the border from Venezuela and entering T&T, said Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat. He said such a scenario was “very worrisome and if it gets here it will decimate our livestock sector,” as he referred to the influx of Venezuelans along the southwestern peninsula bringing goods to trade for food. Rambharat was speaking at the launch of the “Don’t Pack a Pest Programme” at the VIP Lounge, Piarco International Airport last Friday. Read more here

Kamla refrains from tit-for-tat with Sat

“I will not be drawn into a tit-for-tat. I will not be drawn into a lockjaw. I do not believe anyone should engage in boycott.” That was the response of Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar to Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha general secretary Sat Maharaj over Maharaj’s criticism of her support for on-the-job trainee Nafisah Nakhid over the hijab issue. Read more here

BUSINESS

Promoter sues beauty queen over prize money

Beauty Pageant promoter Elite Productions and its director Patrice Valentine, has sued one of its pageant winners for $50,990.46 for breach of contract. Breige Wilson won the 2013 Miss Jamzone International pageant in Guyana with a US$10,000 prize. In a claim for breach of contract, Elite Productions, through attorney Rondell Donawa, accused Wilson of ending the contract prematurely by refusing to participate in Miss Caribe Hibiscus and the Miss International Carnival Queen pageants. Read more here

$35m ice cream factory brings jobs, forex

The newest company in the Hadco Group is a $35 million factory, Creamery Novelties Limited, located on the eTecK Diamond Vale Industrial Estate in Diego Martin. It is the result of an initiative launched three years ago when businessman Paul Gabriel approached the Hadco Group with a plan to distribute local ice cream. Following discussions and research, a partnership was born. Hadco is the largest importer and distributor of ice cream products in T&T, responsible for premium brands such as Häagen-Dazs, Breyers, Nestlé, and Ben and Jerry’s. Read more here

REGIONAL

Deliberately Deceitful! - Disciplinary Committee Disbars Minette Lawrence And Issues Strong Warning To Other Lawyers

The Disciplinary Committee of the General Legal Council has thrown the book at attorney-at-law Minette Lawrence in what is being described in legal circles "as a strong message to members of profession". The committee found that Lawrence was guilty of professional misconduct following a complaint brought against her five years ago by information technology specialist, businessman Kaon Northover. Read more here

INTERNATIONAL

Italy's populists are blocked as 'political referee' waves the red card

The occupant of the Quirinale, the presidential palace in Rome, is meant to be above the daily cut and thrust of politics. Sergio Mattarella has been the model of restraint in his three years as President -- until now. Mattarella, a 75-year-old Sicilian and veteran politician, is known as a man of few words. But those he spoke Sunday night have sparked a constitutional crisis and populist outrage. He rejected a key appointment in the Cabinet of Prime Minister-designate Giuseppe Conte: that of euroskeptic Paolo Savona as finance minister. Read more here

Mamoudou Gassama: Mali 'Spiderman' to be made French citizen

A Malian migrant, hailed as a hero after mounting a daring rescue to save a small boy dangling from a balcony in Paris, is to be made a French citizen. Mamoudou Gassama won widespread praise after climbing the outside of the building to save the four-year-old. Video showed him being cheered on by spectators as he pulled himself from balcony to balcony to the fourth floor. After meeting him at the Elysee Palace, President Emmanuel Macron said he would be made a naturalised citizen. He personally thanked Mr Gassama, gave him a medal for courage and said he would also be offered a role in the fire service. Mr Gassama is said to have arrived in France last year, taking the long and dangerous journey to Europe via a boat over the Mediterranean to Italy. Read more here

28th May 2018

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