NEWS

Energy company directors named

Directors have been named for the boards Heritage Petroleum Company Ltd, Paria Fuel Trading Company and Guaracara Refining Company Ltd. These three companies were formed as part of the restructuring of state oil company Petrotrin last year. A government source said former Petrotrin chairman Wilfred Espinet will chair the boards of Heritage and Paria. Other members of the board of Heritage are Reynold Ajodhasingh, Selwyn Lashley, Joel Harding, Claire Gomez-Miller and George Leonard-Lewis. Read more here

Suspension of 5 QRC students engages LGBTQI community

The video de­pict­ing stu­dents of Queen’s Roy­al Col­lege hav­ing a heat­ed ver­bal stand­off over the sex­u­al ori­en­ta­tion and pref­er­ences of stu­dents has prompt­ed a de­bate about ac­com­mo­da­tion for the LGBTQI com­mu­ni­ty in sec­ondary schools. Five QRC stu­dents were sus­pend­ed for sev­en days af­ter the video sur­faced on so­cial me­dia, while the stu­dent who filmed and up­loaded the clip may be deemed to have “brought the col­lege in­to dis­re­pute.” As a re­sult, he may be barred from rep­re­sent­ing the school in sport­ing ac­tiv­i­ties, at­tend­ing grad­u­a­tion or be­ing rec­om­mend­ed for Sixth Form. Read more here

POLITICS

Gopee-Scoon: TT preparing for Brexit

Trade and Industry Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon on Wednesday said TT was doing what it could to deal with the outcome of the Brexit process in the UK. On Tuesday the House of Commons rejected British Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit plan for Britain to leave the European Union. The defeat was said to be the biggest for a government in the House of Commons for over a century. Gopee-Scoon said, "We continue to work together, doing the necessary legal scrubbing to ensure that we are ready for a UK agreement should that be the outcome." Read more here

Mayor: Don’t urinate around the Red House

Don’t uri­nate on the Red House, there are open and clean pub­lic wash­rooms in Port-of-Spain. This was a call made by Port-of-Spain May­or Joel Mar­tinez at City Hall yes­ter­day as he lament­ed the pub­lic’s lack of con­cern for clean­li­ness in the city. “To­day I was dri­ving here, and I saw a gen­tle­man uri­nat­ing on the fence by the Red House. Took a pic­ture of him and passed it on to the coun­cil. Now our in­fra­struc­ture, which is our pub­lic con­ve­nience, is in Wood­ford Square. Just across the road, it’s clean,” lament­ed the may­or dur­ing a press con­fer­ence. The may­or stressed that the City Cor­po­ra­tion had start­ed a pro­gramme to en­sure all pub­lic wash­rooms are clean and open to the pub­lic. Read more here

BUSINESS

Duke: I am responsible for Sandals pullout

Minority Leader of the Tobago House of Assembly Watson Duke says THA chief secretary Kelvin Charles is right, he (Duke) was responsible for Sandals’ withdrawal from Tobago. Read more here

REGIONAL

US$738 Million Corruption Cost - Metry Seaga Demands Action To Cure Disease Eating Away Heart Of Jamaica

Jamaica continues to pay dearly for corruption, with an estimated five per cent of the gross domestic product lost each year to the practice, amounting to millions of dollars. This is a serious indication of the failure of successive administrations to do more than talk about this most egregious of crimes, according to president of the Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association (JMEA) Metry Seaga. "This is US$$738 million of our hard-earned money," the businessman told yesterday's weekly meeting of the Rotary Club of Kingston at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston. Read more here

INTERNATIONAL

Australia swelters through record-breaking heatwave

Australia has just sweltered through at least five of its 10 warmest days on record, authorities estimate. An extreme heatwave has afflicted the nation since Saturday, causing wildlife deaths, bushfires and an increase in hospital admissions. Australia's Bureau of Meteorology said preliminary readings showed daily national temperature highs of 40C. The town of Noona in New South Wales meanwhile recorded a night-time temperature of 35.9C. It was the highest minimum temperature ever recorded anywhere in Australia, the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said. Read more here

BuzzFeed: Sources say Trump directed Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about proposed Moscow project

President Donald Trump personally directed his longtime former attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about the Moscow Trump Tower project, two federal law enforcement officials involved in an investigation of the matter told BuzzFeed. The law enforcement officials told BuzzFeed that Trump directed Cohen to claim negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow ended months earlier than they actually did. The law enforcement sources told BuzzFeed that Cohen confirmed to special counsel Robert Mueller's team that Trump issued the order to lie to Congress. CNN has not corroborated the BuzzFeed report. Read more here

18th January 2019

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