Daily Brief - Thursday 15th March, 2018

NEWS

‘Let world see crime out of control in TT’

“I am glad the video has gone viral and is now being viewed by an international audience. Now the world can see what is happening in this country. It is frightening!” so said Ranjit Thackor, owner of RT Jewellers Ltd, High Street San Fernando. Thieves staged a daring mid-morning robbery at the store on Tuesday, stealing an undisclosed amount of jewelry. Read more here

Sobo horror

Abuser kills ex-lover, daughter, 2 friends. Although T&T joined the world in celebrating the immense value of women last week, the issue of domestic violence rose to the forefront once again as La Brea mother Abigail Jones-Chapman, her daughter Olivia Chapman and friend Micheala Mason were murdered, allegedly by a rejected lover. It is believed Jones-Chapman’s courageous landlord Michael Scott, 69, attempted to rescue them from their killer, but he too was beaten to death. Read more here

Archie withdraws sabbatical leave

Chief Justice Ivor Archie has retreated.He will not be proceeding on the six-month sabbatical which was shrouded in controversy and uncertainty. ­Instead he will take his normal vacation leave that he earned in the position as chief justice, and which he said now amounts to 35 weeks—the equivalent of almost nine months. Read more here

 

POLITICS

PNM has failed miserably

Chaguanas East MP and former Tertiary Education and Skills Training minister Fazal Karim, says that after two and a half years in power, the People’s National Movement (PNM) government, “has failed miserably” on every front. Karim stressed that the PNM remains disconnected from the plight of the citizenry and is directly responsible for the cloak of hopelessness covering the land. Read more here

‘Men must seek help for emotional stress’

La Brea MP Nicole Olivierre yesterday suggested that men who face rejection from females when a relationship or marriage goes sour ought to seek help to combat their emotional stress. She made the comment as she responded to news of the murders of four of her constituents on Tuesday. Michael Scott, 69, school teacher Abigail Jones-Chapman, her 16-year-old daughter Olivia and Olivia’s friend Micheala Mason were killed Tuesday. Read more here

Govt goes after billions in revenue leaks

Government yesterday gathered the country’s major oil and gas industry players into one room to tell them that Trinidad and Tobago intends to increase its re­venue from the four liquefied natural gas (LNG) trains in South Trinidad. Read more here

 

BUSINESS

A new era at Petrotrin

Petrotrin is not competitive. The State oil company’s fundamental inability to match its competition on cost of production in a commodity market where price is largely fixed has hindered its profitability. “We as a Board are dealing with how we make Petrotrin competitive,” company chairman Wilfred Espinet said. Espinet spoke to Business Day on Tuesday at the company’s Port of Spain office, candidly articulating the board’s hopeful intentions of getting the Petrotrin back to profitability. Read more here

Govt to deal with offenders

This was how Energy Minister Franklin Khan described this country’s current situation with the LNG marketing arrangements, noting large amounts of monies continue to flow out of T&T with no benefit to our citizens. He said it was the right of the State to extract a fair economic rent on behalf of citizens, but noted it has been estimated the country lost up to US$6 billion annually from transfer pricing practices for the period 2010 to 2014. Khan’s comment came as he delivered the feature address at the “Spotlight on Energy – “our Oil, Our Gas, Our Future” conference at Hyatt Regency Hotel, Port-of-Spain, yesterday. Read more here

NGC, CNC agree on key terms

Prime Minister Keith Rowley yesterday signalled that the seven-week closure of the Caribbean Nitrogen Company (CNC) is about to come to an end. Read more here

 

REGIONAL

Fisher Pushed - EOJ Head Cites Political Pressure

The nation's election boss, Orrette Fisher, has resigned from the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ), highlighting "the growing level of political influence affecting the organisation". Fisher's decision to walk away from his position as acting director of elections comes as the Supreme Court contemplates a legal challenge he filed against the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ) over its decision to terminate his services. The other objective, he said, was to determine the legitimacy of the one-year contract handed to him last year. Read more here

 

INTERNATIONAL

Assad may win Syria's war, but he will preside over a broken country

In the summer of 2015, President Bashar al-Assad was in trouble. His army -- fighting on multiple fronts amid desertion and exhaustion -- was losing ground. Islamist rebel groups were threatening to cut key routes connecting regime strongholds. And then an Iranian general went to Moscow, and the tide of Syria's conflict began to change, gradually but remorselessly, in the regime's favor. That general was Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force. Read more here

Russian spy: Moscow 'will expel British diplomats soon'

Russia will expel UK diplomats "soon", its foreign minister has said, in response to the expulsion of 23 of its diplomats by Britain. Sergei Lavrov told Russian media the expulsions would "definitely" happen. The UK took its action after Moscow refused to explain how a Russian-made nerve agent was used on a former spy and his daughter in the UK. Russia denies it was involved. Its foreign ministry called the allegations by Prime Minister Theresa May "insane". Russia described the UK's position as irresponsible and not backed up by evidence. When asked when the expulsions would happen, Mr Lavrov was quoted as saying: "Soon. I promise you that." Read more here

15th March 2018

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