NEWS
Law Association clears junior AG over Piarco comments
The council of the Law Association (LATT) on Thursday cleared Minister in the Office of the Attorney General Renuka Sagramsingh-Sooklal of the Opposition's allegations of possibly trying to influence the future decisions of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) over the Piarco airport corruption case, known as Piarco 1. Last Monday the UK-based Privy Council on Monday quashed the Piarco 1 criminal case by saying then Chief Magistrate, the late Sherman McNicolls, had been “hopelessly compromised” by then attorney general John Jeremie's help to get a Clico company to re-purchase McNicolls’ land for $400,000. It now falls to DPP Roger Gaspard SC to decide whether or not to re-start the case – based on factors such as public interest, cost, likely outcome, and fairness to the accused. Read more here
T&T under YELLOW Level Adverse Weather Alert today
An Adverse Weather Alert/YELLOW Level was activated at 5 am today, and will remain in effect until 5 pm, according to an advisory from the Trinidad and Tobago Meteorological Service (TTMS). Met Service forecasters say there is a high (70%) chance that the passage of a tropical wave will result in heavy showers/thunderstorms, initially favouring Tobago during the morning, and then over Trinidad by late morning into the afternoon. Read more here
POLITICS
Gonzales: WASA restoring water to 200,000 after storm
Public Utilities Minister Marvin Gonzales said some 200,000 people in parts of North Trinidad had their water schedule interrupted with the recent passage of a storm near Trinidad, but WASA has significantly restored supply by repairing about half of the affected water treatment plants. He was addressing Thursday's post-Cabinet briefing at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann's. Gonzales said the plants were fed by surface water that would have been affected by conditions during the storm's passage. Read more here
Cox goes after people receiving grants but living overseas
Further moves will be initiated in about two weeks to weed out possible fraudulent pension and grant receipts - this time targeting perpetrators overseas. This as the Social Development Ministry will be receiving immigration data and accessing the travel information of social welfare grant recipients. “This system is to pick up on who are living abroad and accessing grants and pensions fraudulently,” Social Development Minister Donna Cox said yesterday. Cox spoke after she continued discussions on Wednesday with National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds on information sharing between the ministries. Under the arrangement, the Social Development and Family Services Ministry (MSDFS) will access the travel information of social welfare grant recipients. Read more here
BUSINESS
First Citizens offers almost 11m shares for public purchase
Karen Darbasie CEO of First Citizens Financial Holding Group Ltd said she believed that people would participate in the recently announced additional public offering (APO) for one main reason – the bank has shown steady and consistent growth and is showing a growing potential. “We think our balance sheet is robust, we have shown that our growth has been keeping strong. Our growth has not been at the expense of increasing non-performing loans. We have been growing our capital and loan portfolio, we have been mindful of concentration risk and trying to grow in all segments. Our earnings have been steady, our capital position is strong, our dividend payout is consistent and the share price has shown a demonstrated growth story,” Darbasie said. Read more here
Manning: Winter coming for non-compliant
There are 4,000 employers in Trinidad and Tobago that are fraudulently not making their contributions to the National Insurance Board (NIB), says Government Minister Brian Manning. However, he warned that “winter is coming” and the authorities will be going after people who are non-compliant. He disclosed this during the debate of the National Insurance (Amendment) Bill, 2022 at the Senate sitting yesterday. Read more here
REGIONAL
‘Strong, solid partners’
Guyana and the United States of America have, over the years, taken progressive steps to fortify and advance the bilateral relationship that exists between the two nations, with partnerships and co-operation on social and economic initiatives that will continue and even expand as time progresses. President, Dr. Irfaan Ali, and US Ambassador to Guyana, Sarah-Ann Lynch, underscored the importance of the relationship the nations share during an event which was held on Thursday, at the official residence of US Ambassador to commemorate the United States’ 246th Independence. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Ukraine war: Russian missile strikes kill 19 in Odesa region - emergency service
At least 19 people, including one child, have died in overnight Russian missile strikes on Ukraine's southern Odesa region, Ukrainian officials say. The state emergency service, DSNS, says nearly all of the victims were in a nine-storey building hit by one missile in the village of Serhiyivka. At least two people, including the child, were killed in a separate strike on a holiday resort in the village. Russia has fired dozens of missiles on Ukrainian cities in the past few days. On Friday Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov again denied that Russia was hitting civilian targets. Read more here
1st July 2022