NEWS

Social media can lead to mental health problems

In keeping with World Mental Health Day Wednesday, the South-West Regional Health Authority (SWRHA) held a symposium at Naparima Bowl in San Fernando. The SWRHA focused on youths under the theme Young People and Mental Health in a Changing World. Clinical psychologist Giselle Dumas said, “The more time you spend on social media, the more likely you are to suffer from mental health issues.This is especially true in children and teens.’ Read more here

Petrotrin resumes terminations

Hours af­ter the Court of Ap­peal grant­ed Petrotrin a stay of an in­junc­tion award­ed to the Oil­fields Work­ers’ Trade Union (OW­TU) which had pre­vi­ous­ly barred the com­pa­ny from re­trench­ing work­ers, the dis­tri­b­u­tion of ter­mi­na­tion let­ters re­sumed. Guardian Me­dia ob­tained a copy of the in­ter­nal memo that was ad­dressed to all em­ploy­ees yes­ter­day, which stat­ed that the dis­tri­b­u­tion of let­ters had re­sumed and will con­tin­ue to­day. Em­ploy­ees were asked to “please make every ef­fort to at­tend” the dis­tri­b­u­tion at the Pointe-a-Pierre Staff Club at the Pointe-a-Pierre Re­fin­ery. It stat­ed that yes­ter­day’s let­ters were on­ly for per­ma­nent em­ploy­ees. Read more here

POLITICS

Le Hunte: Desalcott repairs ahead of schedule

Minister of Public Utilities Robert Le Hunte yesterday told WASA customers in Central and South, affected by the four-day shutdown of the Desalcott plant, that they should have their supply restored by tomorrow night. He said repairs were completed yesterday, hours ahead of schedule, though it would take at least 48 hours before the water supply is restored. Le Hunte said engineers at Desalcott worked tirelessly from the shutdown on Monday to speed up the repairs. Read more here

Pieces of puzzle coming together—Moonilal

That’s how Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress MP Roodal Mooni­lal said he felt yes­ter­day af­ter he claimed sev­er­al “pieces of the puz­zle start­ed com­ing to­geth­er” con­cern­ing the re­cent al­le­ga­tions he’s made against Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley. “Forty-eight hours af­ter the al­le­ga­tions and with­out one in­ves­ti­ga­tion be­ing launched, I feel vin­di­cat­ed that at least I was on a path—I’m in­spired by the At­tor­ney Gen­er­al, you re­al­ly do have to ‘fol­low the mon­ey.’” Mooni­lal spoke to re­porters dur­ing a break in yes­ter­day’s Stand­ing Fi­nance Com­mit­tee meet­ing in Par­lia­ment. He was com­ment­ing on var­i­ous re­ports about the al­le­ga­tions he made dur­ing Tues­day’s 2019 Bud­get de­bate. Read more here

BUSINESS

The way forward

In 2008, T&T record­ed a debt/GDP ra­tio of 14 per cent (a record low), just one decade lat­er this im­por­tant ra­tio stands at a shock­ing 61 per cent. The Gov­ern­ment should be com­mend­ed for an­nounc­ing in this week’s bud­get its strength­en­ing of the so­cial safe­ty net; with in­creas­es in al­lo­ca­tions to­wards food cards, dis­abil­i­ty grants, pub­lic as­sis­tance grants, se­nior cit­i­zens pen­sions, and tax al­lowances for ter­tiary ed­u­ca­tion. The eco­nom­ic wave ap­proach­ing T&T may call for fur­ther strength­en­ing of this safe­ty net in the fu­ture. The dig­i­tal econ­o­my, with its im­pe­tus on mech­a­ni­sa­tion and the me­an­der­ing but cer­tain death of brick and mor­tar re­tail, are sure to have sig­nif­i­cant neg­a­tive im­pact. Read more here

REGIONAL

Shelton Tackles Biggest Challenge - Striker Battles Chronic Disease

One of Jamaica's most prolific goalscorers, Luton Shelton has been battling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), more commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease. At 32 years old, Shelton could still play football at the highest level, however, not much was seen of him since his return to his boyhood club Harbour View FC in the 2016-17 season of the Red Stripe Premier League. His second stint at the club was a short-lived one owing to constant ailments and niggling injuries. The Gleaner was invited into his upper St Andrew home where he resides with his wife Bobbette. The couple, who has been together for 13 years, will celebrate their fifth year of marriage in December. They have three young children aged nine, eight, and three. Read more here

INTERNATIONAL

Hurricane Michael leaves 'unimaginable destruction'

Hurricane Michael left "unimaginable destruction" as it ploughed into coastal areas of Florida, the state's governor, Rick Scott says. "So many lives have been changed forever," he said. "So many families have lost everything." The worst hit areas of Florida's northwest coast saw houses ripped from their foundations, trees felled, and power lines strewn across streets. Hurricane Michael struck on Wednesday with winds of 155mph (250km/h). It weakened to a storm as it moved inland towards the north-east, but at least six people have died, most of them in Florida. Read more here

Turkey has 'shocking' audio and visual evidence of Saudi journalist's murder

Turkish authorities have audio and visual evidence that shows journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul just over a week ago, a source familiar with the ongoing investigation told CNN. The source, who was briefed by a Western intelligence agency, says the evidence showed there had been an assault and a struggle inside the consulate. There is also evidence of the moment that Khashoggi was killed, the source said. Read more here

12th October 2018

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