NEWS
Hours after Cocorite quadruple murder: Man held at airport
A 29-year-old man has been held in connection with the shooting incident on Saturday night in Cocorite, which left four people dead and eight others injured. A senior police source described the man as a person of interest and confirmed he was found at the Piarco International Airport on Sunday night. The Cocorite resident was held by officers from the Homicide Bureau of Investigations while he was waiting to board a plane to the United States. At around 10.30 pm, officers went to the airport, where they found the man with his luggage, passport and boarding pass for a flight bound for JFK International Airport, New York. Read more here
Man initially blamed for turtle nesting destruction says he sold property last year
The landowner initially believed to be at the centre of the recent destruction of a section of the turtle nesting site at Turtle Beach, says he had nothing to do with it as he no longer owns the land. Speaking under condition of anonymity yesterday, the man showed Guardian Media documents to prove he sold the land last November. Now, he is claiming he is being unfairly targeted by authorities. According to the man, 11 years ago the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) used an excavator to cut through the land, which he made clear was private property. He claimed he subsequently approached both the People’s National Movement (PNM) and the current THA administration asking that they redirect a river that was passing through his land, and he eventually spent $109,000 to fill the land back up. Read more here
POLITICS
Smooth sailing so far for CSEC, CAPE examinations
Across TT, 34,490 candidates are registered to write the 2024 May-June Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE) examinations. Minister of Education Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly told Newsday on May 6 via Whatsapp, “The Ministry of Education has ensured that everything was put in place to successfully administer all examinations by the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC).” Exams officially began on April 16, with oral and practical exams, while written exams began on May 2. Read more here
Young: Tobago oil spill clean-up bill could reach US$30M
The estimated costs of the clean-up operation so far for the Tobago oil spill at the central Government level is around US$12 million but by the end of the exercise it could increase to as much as US$30 million, says Energy Minister Stuart Young. He made the comments while speaking at a media conference at the ministry’s offices at Tower C at the International Waterfront Centre, Port-of-Spain, yesterday. Young also confirmed this country had successfully made a submission to the International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds (IOPC) to cover the cost of the clean-up of the spill, which took place off the southwest coast of Tobago on February 7. Read more here
BUSINESS
TTCSI elects new president, directors
Dianne Joseph, CEO of the Co-operative Credit Union League of Trinidad and Tobago, has been elected the sixth president of the Trinidad and Tobago Coalition of Services Industries (TTCSI). She will serve until 2027, along with a new board of directors, comprising Kiran Singh, president of the Greater San Fernando Area Chamber of Commerce; Kimberly Chan-Boodram, president of the Human Resource Management Association of TT; Lorraine Pouchet, president of TT Incoming Tour Operators Association; Ramon Gregorio, president of the Greater Tunapuna Chamber of Industry & Commerce; and lone re-elected member Alvin Morton, TT International Facilities Management Association. Read more here
ArcelorMittal plant to be sold by mid-2024
Chairman of the Point Lisas Industrial Port Development Corporation Ltd (Plipdeco), Dr Daniel Dookie, anticipates that the ArcelorMittal Steel Plant will be sold soon. Dookie made the statement as part of his chairman’s report in the Plipdeco 2023 annual report which was published by the T&T Stock Exchange yesterday. “Towards the end of the year, significant progress was made toward advancing the sale of the ArcelorMittal steel plant that was closed in 2016. Based on the progress made, it is anticipated that a final sale would be executed by the end of the second quarter 2024,” Dookie stated. Read more here
REGIONAL
‘PPP remains champion of the people’
After restoring vision to the people of Guyana and shattering untrue narratives that were being implanted in the minds of Guyanese about them, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) is standing as the champion of the people, President, Dr Irfaan Ali has said. The Head of State highlighted this during his address at the opening ceremony of the PPP’s 32nd Congress at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC), on Saturday.He applauded the party’s General Secretary, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo for dedicating himself towards the betterment of the party. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
The all-female patrol guarding Ecuador's Amazon Rainforest
The Yuturi Warmi, an Ecuadorian patrol group, has vowed to protect their community's land in the Amazon Rainforest from the pollution of extractive industries – and their efforts appear to be working. It is the break of dawn in the Serena community, in the middle of the Ecuadorian Amazon. Along the Jatunyacu River, which later joins the Amazon River in the Napo Province, Elsa Cerda, a 43-year-old indigenous Kichwa woman, brews guayusa leaves – a native plant from the rainforest – in a pot. It marks the start of the Guayusa Upina, a ritual performed by Amazonian indigenous peoples before beginning their daily activities. This tradition is more than a routine; it's a spiritual connection to their ancestral roots. As the first rays of light begin to filter through the tree canopy, a diverse assembly of 35 women, ranging from 23 to 85 years old, arrives one by one at the ceremony. The eldest among them, Corina Andy, who is fondly called "abuela", "the grandmother", leads them in a collective cleansing ritual using medicinal plants. Read more here
7th May 2024