NEWS
Not one dollar for kidnappers
Angry, frustrated and depressed over his son’s kidnapping, Port of Spain businessman Farrell Cuffy yesterday sent a strong message to the kidnappers who snatched his son Darrell last Wednesday. “I will not pay one red dollar in ransom for my son’s return home.” Farrell also declared, “I not paying a ransom because if I pay for my son, I will have to pay ransom for my other son and my two daughters also.” Read more here
A&V owner sued by GML photographer
Guardian Media Ltd senior photographer Kristian de Silva is suing A&V Oil and Gas Drilling and Workover owner Hanif Nazim Baksh and his son in law, Cpl Billy Ramsundar, for assault and battery. Through his attorneys, De Silva filed the action yesterday at the San Fernando High Court, seeking damages from the men for allegedly assaulting him during an incident on September 15, 2017. Read more here
Trini wins ‘racial profiling’ case in Canada
A Trinidad-born man who claimed he was discriminated against after being asked to pre-pay for his meal at a Toronto restaurant has scored a legal victory as the restaurant was ordered to pay Can$10,000 to him. According to a report in The Star, the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal ordered Hong Shing Chinese Restaurant to pay Can$10,000 to Emile Wickham after ruling it had discriminated against him by asking the man and his three friends, all black, to pre-pay for their meals. Read more here
POLITICS
Le Hunte: Conserve electrical power
WHILE acknowledging that the population should benefit from the country’s oil and gas resources, Public Utilities Minister Robert Le Hunte has reiterated the need for electricity conservation, saying the country can save over $100 million over a three-year period. “The whole message is, conservation is a win/win situation, and if people reduce their consumption we benefit. In some cases, based on how people utilize electricity, we might be able to reduce more than 15 per cent,” he said. Read more here
Garcia on SEA: Improved security against leaks
Education Minister Anthony Garcia is expected to give details today of the security measures put in place for the 2018 Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) to be written by close to 19,000 pupils on Thursday. Speaking to the T&T Guardian, yesterday, Garcia confirmed that all systems are in place for the examination and improved security measures are in place to safeguard against leaks of the examination paper. While there have been no recent leaks of the examination paper, in 2016, the results of the examination were leaked ahead of the official release date prompting an investigation into the origin of the leak. Read more here
Back to Charlotte Street
Rural Development and Local Government Minister Kazim Hosein was instrumental yesterday in reversing a decision by the Port of Spain City Corporation to prohibit vending on Charlotte Street. As such, from next week Thursday, 126 vendors will be allowed to return to Charlotte Street to ply their trade. Read more here
BUSINESS
Ramnarine tells Khan:Explain wrong gas production data
Kevin Ramnarine, who served as Energy Minister in the People’s Partnership administration, wants the man who currently holds that portfolio, Franklin Khan, to explain how the ministry managed to release inaccurate gas production figures. Ramnarine said he found it strange that the ministry neglected to include the Juniper project in its forecast and he wants Khan to explain what information was supplied to Standard & Poor (S&P) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Read more here
NGC keeps Ba1 rating
Rating agency Moody’s has given State-owned National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Ltd (NGC) a Ba1 stable rating, saying that it reflects the company’s “long track record as a profitable and conservatively-managed company responsible for the aggregation, purchase, sale, transmission and distribution of natural gas from Trinidad and Tobago (T&T)’s offshore gas fields to the domestic petrochemical, electrical power generation, steel and light industrial and commercial sectors.” Read more here
REGIONAL
Monster Moms! - Under-Pressure Mothers Pushing Their Teenage Daughters Into Sex
Some mothers in the central Kingston community of 'Tel Aviv' are being accused of encouraging their young daughters into relationships with older men as a way of coping with the struggles of inner-city life. Several residents of the community, who participated in a Gleaner/RISE Life Management On the Corner with Unattached Youths forum in the tough community last Wednesday, argued that this was one of the social factors negatively impacting the area. "The parents a tell the little girl them, 'Go on go beg a lunch money, go beg this, go beg that.' What do you expect is going to happen? You don't expect that the man them going to beg them back?" argued Kim, a resident of Rum Lane. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Iran calls Netanyahu 'infamous liar' over nuclear documents
South Korea begins dismantling loudspeakers along border with North
South Korea is dismantling a bank of loudspeakers along its border, which for years have been used to blast propaganda and music, including K-Pop, into North Korea. The speakers had been broadcasting on a regular basis since January 2016, they were turned back on as a response to Pyongyang's fourth nuclear test. They can be heard for miles. South Korea turned them off again ahead of Friday's historic inter-Korean summit, during which its President, Moon Jae-in, met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in person for the first time. Read more here
1st May 2018