NEWS

Admin professionals to be certified

While administrative professionals perform all the roles and functions of organisations they need to have a level of certification. This was announced on Wednesday by Clayton Blackman, president of the National Association of Administrative Professionals of TT (NAAPTT). Speaking at the launch of Administrative Professional Week (APW) 2019, held at nSa House, Fitzblackman Drive, Woodbrook, Blackman said every job spec in TT was recognised by a certificate. Read more here

Facelift for East PoS coming soon

The Prime Min­is­ter’s Of­fice is giv­ing East Port-of-Spain a facelift with a planned new Pic­cadil­ly Street Re­gen­er­a­tion project start­ing month-end. This will cre­ate jobs for peo­ple in the area, Hous­ing Min­is­ter Ed­mund Dil­lon al­so said af­ter Cab­i­net yes­ter­day. He said Cab­i­net ap­proved the project, which falls with­in the PM’s Of­fice and the Ur­ban De­vel­op­ment Com­pa­ny of T&T (Ude­cott). Dil­lon ex­plained, “It’s part of a wider project, the Gov­ern­ment hav­ing recog­nised there’s a need to do some­thing in East Port-of-Spain and the city of Port-of-Spain, as the city, al­so is ex­pe­ri­enc­ing an ur­ban de­cline, un­em­ploy­ment and oth­er is­sues that plague so­ci­ety. Gov­ern­ment has de­cid­ed there must be some mea­sure to in­crease the East Port-of-Spain di­vi­sion, es­pe­cial­ly Pic­cadil­ly Street, which is a ma­jor egress out of the city.” Read more here

POLITICS

Colm: Healthy Rowley returns Tuesday

The Prime Minister is in great health and will return to TT on Tuesday evening from the United States, where he underwent a health check-up, acting Prime Minister Colm Imbert said yesterday. Rowley will arrive from New York on a Caribbean Airlines (CAL) flight. “I’m advised by the Honourable Prime Minister that his test procedures went very well,” Imbert told yesterday's post-Cabinet briefing at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann's. Read more here

Tobago fire recruits given a reprieve

Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty Min­is­ter Stu­art Young says all 50 To­ba­go fire-fight­ing trainees sched­uled to com­mence train­ing to­day (Fri­day) will do so as planned. The an­nounce­ment came on the heels of 26 trainees be­ing told last Tues­day, dur­ing their ori­en­ta­tion ses­sion, that they will not be al­lowed to con­tin­ue, while trainees from Trinidad would be sent to To­ba­go to take their places with­out any valid ex­pla­na­tion. The rev­e­la­tion did not sit well with the dis­grun­tled trainees, who felt they were be­ing dis­en­fran­chised. The group had re­ceived con­fir­ma­tion let­ters as well as the go-ahead to pur­chase ap­prox­i­mate­ly $5,000 in gears in prepa­ra­tion for train­ing be­fore they were told the train­ing was scrapped. Oth­ers in the group were con­cerned about their fu­tures, as some of them had re­signed their jobs and sold valu­ables in or­der to take up their new roles. Read more here

BUSINESS

First Citizens pleased with 2018 performance

First Citizens shareholders had every reason to smile yesterday. At the bank’s annual general meeting, they heard from chief executive officer Karen Darbasie that for the first time in First Citizens’ 25-year existence, its profit before tax reached $1 billion in its 2018 financial year. Read more here

REGIONAL

No SLB Guarantor - Phillips Vows To End Need For Loan Sponsor; Give Contract Workers Full-Time Benefits

A People’s National Party (PNP) government led by Dr Peter Phillips would abolish the requirement for student loan guarantors. Phillips, the opposition leader and PNP president, committed yesterday that the repayment of student loans would only begin when graduates were employed. “The monthly repayments of students’ loan will be capped at a percentage of income,” he explained. Further, an administration led by Phillips would end the contentious and pervasive practice of contract employment. “We will pass legislation requiring employers to treat so-called contract workers as full-time employees,” Phillips announced yesterday as he made his contribution to the 2019-2020 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives. Read more here

INTERNATIONAL

Reputed Gambino crime boss Francesco 'Frank' Cali shot to death outside his home

A reputed New York crime boss was shot and killed outside his home Wednesday night. Francesco Cali, 53, was found with multiple gunshot wounds to the torso in the borough of Staten Island, the NYPD said. A law enforcement official confirmed to CNN that Cali was a high-ranking member of the Gambino organized crime family and is believed to be the acting boss. Read more here

Christchurch shootings: 49 dead in New Zealand mosque attacks

Forty-nine people have been killed and at least 20 wounded in shootings at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern described the incident as a terrorist attack and one of New Zealand's "darkest days". A man in his late twenties was charged with murder and will appear in court on Saturday morning, police confirmed. Two other men and one woman were detained nearby and firearms seized, Police Commissioner Mike Bush said. He said one of those detained was later released, while officers were working to understand if the other two were connected. Police also found multiple explosive devices in a car belonging to one of the suspects. The attack, which came around the time people were attending the mosques for Friday prayers, was the deadliest in the nation's history. Read more here

15th March 2019

Back