NEWS

CEO: Bonds to refinance TSTT $1.5b debt

TSTT has announced that it intends to make an international offering of US dollar denominated bonds and TT dollar denominated bonds, citing the primary purpose for the proceeds of the offering to go towards “refinancing existing indebtedness”. TSTT CEO Dr Ronald Walcott said on Thursday, this is all part of the majority state-owned telecommunications company's strategic plan. “We have always indicated, since we presented our five-year strategic plan, that it was a $3.8 billion plan, and we will be looking for funding on the capital market for $2.7 billion with the rest internally generated. Read more here

Staffing of Student Support Services, a concern

As more is­sues plagu­ing the lo­cal ed­u­ca­tion sys­tem come to the fore, con­cerns have again been raised re­gard­ing staffing of the Stu­dent Sup­port Ser­vices Di­vi­sion. In the most re­cent in­ci­dent, a stu­dent of the St Mary’s Col­lege in Port-of-Spain has been asked to cease to re­port for du­ty af­ter an al­le­ga­tion of mis­con­duct was lev­elled against him by the Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion. The al­leged sex­u­al mis­con­duct was said to have oc­curred be­tween the teacher and a stu­dent back in March. But the ques­tion of whether stu­dents are re­port­ing such in­ci­dents and to who has arisen. The Na­tion­al Par­ent Teacher’s As­so­ci­a­tion (NPTA) be­lieves there may be some un­der-re­port­ing due to un­der-staffing at the Stu­dent Sup­port Ser­vices Di­vi­sion. Read more here

POLITICS

Young: No volcano ‘switch’

There is no switch to turn off the Piparo mud volcano, said National Security Minister Stuart Young, seemingly reacting to critics of the Government at Thursday’s post-Cabinet briefing at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s. He lamented the site continues to attract a large turnout of visitors despite warnings to stay away. “There’s nothing anyone can do to prevent a mud volcano. The Government has done all it can do. It is being monitored. “No person has the ability to switch a volcano on or off.” Read more here

Police mum on Sunshine’s claim of minister’s arrest

Po­lice are nei­ther deny­ing nor con­firm­ing a re­port pub­lished by the Sun­shine news­pa­per that an­oth­er PNM Gov­ern­ment min­is­ter is “about to be charged.” How­ev­er, pub­lish­er Jack Warn­er is stand­ing by the re­port. Warn­er’s news­pa­per head­lined the claim this week, that a min­is­ter from the Man­ning-era PNM Gov­ern­ment was at is­sue. Yes­ter­day Warn­er said, “I’m stand­ing by my sto­ry - sure,” Sources said the mat­ter al­leged­ly in­volv­ing a sum of mon­ey had been un­der probe by po­lice. Yes­ter­day Po­lice Com­mis­sion­er Gary Grif­fith said he didn’t com­ment on any po­lice mat­ter in­volv­ing in­di­vid­u­als - whether min­is­ter or not - be­ing in­ves­ti­gat­ed, or not. Read more here

BUSINESS

Rowley gets to ring Nasdaq bell

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley will ring the iconic bell at the Nasdaq Stock Market in New York City today to signify the start of trading. Read more here

REGIONAL

SHOWTIME - Quarrie Backs Athletes To Impress At World Champs

The 2019 IAAF World Championships, in a sense, represents a crossroads for Jamaica’s track and field programme.

Missing is the star power that personalities such as Usain Bolt, Veronica Campbell-Brown, and Asafa Powell brought for years. Case in point: there was no glitzy introductory ‘Team Jamaica’ event ahead of today’s start of competition as had become the norm over the past few championships. It’s a clear indication that the brand has slipped a bit down the totem pole of international appeal. However, the team boasts the presence of world stars such as Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Elaine Thompson, and Omar McLeod. The still-relevant Yohan Blake and medal candidates Shanieka Ricketts, Natoya Goule, Shericka Jackson, Daniel Thomas-Dodd, and Fedrick Dacres are also part of team Jamaica. Read more here

INTERNATIONAL

Trump says whoever provided whistleblower information is 'close to a spy'

President Donald Trump said Thursday that whoever provided the whistleblower with information about his call with the Ukrainian President is "close to a spy," adding that in the old days spies were dealt with differently. The comments, first reported by The New York Times, were made to an audience of career foreign service officers who work at the United Nations, two sources who were in the room and one person who knew someone in the room said. One source said the remarks were "shocking" and "eerie." Other top US government officials were in the room as well, including the new US Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft. Read more here

Brexit: EU leaders believe new extension is 'likely'

In a Westminster-clad puff of smoke, any residual "maybes" about a new Brexit deal being agreed by mid-October have evaporated in Brussels. The EU's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, is well-known here for having a coffee mug in his office emblazoned with "Keep Calm and Negotiate". But although EU-UK technical talks have been carrying on at a low level this week, a diplomat from a key EU country described as "pretty much nil" the chances of getting a new deal done and dusted by the EU leaders' summit in a couple of weeks' time. Read more here

27th September 2019

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