NEWS

Kidnappers wanted $1m

Maria Dass-Supersad was kept in a makeshift camp deep in the Caura forests by two kidnappers, who used a sedative to drug her while they kept her under close watch. In the camp, the two made contact with Dass-Supersad’s loved ones and demanded $1m for her safe release. The men were arrested on Wednesday night and Dass-Supersad rescued by police. Two men, both in their 20s, and both from Diego Martin were arrested. Police seized two guns from the kidnappers. Read more here

Rescued kidnap victim now under police guard

Al­though kid­nap vic­tim Maria Dass-Su­per­sad was suc­cess­ful­ly res­cued un­harmed from her kid­nap­pers on Wednes­day night and two sus­pects were held, in­ves­ti­ga­tors are ex­pect­ed to in­ter­view a close male rel­a­tive as their in­ves­ti­ga­tions con­tin­ue. Dass-Su­per­sad was too trau­ma­tised when Guardian Me­dia at­tempt­ed to speak to her yes­ter­day. Her hus­band Vikash Su­per­sad, when con­tact­ed, said the fam­i­ly was al­so not ready to com­ment yes­ter­day but promised that a state­ment was be­ing pre­pared for dis­tri­b­u­tion to the me­dia by to­day (Fri­day). Read more here

POLITICS

MP: We want Sandals cost, environmental impact

Opposition MP Ramona Ramdial says despite the release of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Government and Sandals Resorts on the proposed Tobago project, a number of questions remained, including the overall cost, tax concessions and the impact on the environment. She said there was: “Nothing in the MOU to say, ‘Yes we have got the answers we’ve been asking (for).’” On Wednesday Communication Minister Stuart Young announced the MOU was being made public, partly to quell the “distractions” of the Opposition calling it a secret deal. Read more here

Fraudsters stole $45m in flood relief - PM

More than $45 mil­lion that was sup­posed to go to flood vic­tims in por­tions of North East Trinidad last month was in­stead ob­tained by fraud­sters, Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley says. This amount of mon­ey lost to fraud was al­most dou­ble what the Gov­ern­ment orig­i­nal­ly in­tend­ed to give to vic­tims of the flood­ing. Ini­tial­ly, Row­ley had ear­marked $25 mil­lion to be al­lo­cat­ed to flood vic­tims, with the pos­si­bil­i­ty of the flood re­lief fig­ure "go­ing a lit­tle above it" if nec­es­sary. How­ev­er, he said a to­tal of $118 mil­lion was even­tu­al­ly spent. But forty per cent was tak­en by fraud­sters, an au­dit from the Min­istry of Fi­nance has stat­ed. Read more here

BUSINESS

$50-ham sales rake in big $$ for Massy

In just a few hours, Massy Stores raked in around $1 million in ham sales. The supermarket chain held its one-day sale on Great Foods picnic hams yesterday. Read more here

Trade Minister: Angel investors unlocking innovation

An­gel in­vestors, an al­ter­na­tive to tra­di­tion­al banks for new en­tre­pre­neurs, are of­ten over­looked al­though their vi­sion is im­por­tant in un­lock­ing in­no­va­tion and in­sight, Trade Min­is­ter Paula Gopee-Scoon said yes­ter­day. “It is no se­cret that ac­cess to ad­e­quate fi­nance to launch, de­vel­op and grow is a crit­i­cal chal­lenge for SME’s in the re­gion,” she told par­tic­i­pants at a Caribbean An­gel In­vestor Fo­rum at the Hy­att Re­gency Ho­tel, Port-of-Spain, yes­ter­day. “Lim­it­ed op­tions with­in the tra­di­tion­al bank­ing sys­tem are dif­fi­cult to se­cure due to col­lat­er­al re­quire­ments and ven­ture cap­i­tal. There­fore, if our busi­ness­es are to com­pete glob­al­ly, the sup­port of di­verse in­vest­ment modal­i­ties is cru­cial. I must ap­plaud the an­gel in­vestors in­vest­ment ecosys­tem in Trinidad and To­ba­go which has helped to cre­ate a pro­gramme which pro­vides a fo­rum for bud­ding en­tre­pre­neurs to re­ceive much-need­ed ven­tur­ing and cap­i­tal.” Read more here

REGIONAL

She Was Going To Impact The World - St Hugh's High Devastated By Loss Of Honour Roll Student In House Bombing

Fifteen-year-old St Hugh's High School student Tashi Munda had several great moments that highlighted her young life. However, the one that stood out the most for her principal was when Tashi stood tall at her school's last awards ceremony to receive numerous awards and was presented with her certificate summa cum laude(with the highest distinction), becoming a distinguished member of the school's honour roll. But Tashi will never realise her dream of one day making a significant contribution to society. On Wednesday, the teen succumbed to injuries she received on Sunday when the house she shared with her mother and other family members on Race Course Road in Salisbury Plain, St Andrew, was fire-bombed, allegedly by her stepfather. Read more here

INTERNATIONAL

Ukraine bars Russian men aged 16-60 from entry

Ukraine will not allow Russian men aged 16-60 into the country following the imposition of martial law, Kiev says. An exception would be made for "humanitarian cases" such as those travelling to funerals. Russia says it is not planning retaliatory measures. Martial law has been imposed in 10 Ukrainian regions until 26 December. The move came amid fears of a Russian invasion after Russian forces seized three Ukrainian vessels and 24 sailors in the Black Sea last Sunday. Ukraine said the incident was a flagrant violation of international law, while Russia says the vessels violated its territorial waters. It is the most dangerous clash at sea off Crimea since Russia annexed the Ukrainian peninsula in March 2014. Read more here

'I'm scared for the future of my baby here': French Jews live in fear amid rising anti-Semitic acts

In a Parisian suburb, Myriam sits at her parents' dinner table, the Shabbat candles flickering before her. Together with her husband and newborn son she takes stock of the painful week she's had. It's a regular conversation for many French Jews. Myriam, who did not want to give her last name over fears for her own safety, questions whether France is a country where her family can prosper, a place they can still call home. According to the Jewish Agency for Israel, 55,000 French Jews have left the country since the year 2000. "I'm scared of the future of my baby here," Myriam told CNN. "I hope that he will have a future here, and you know Jewish communities are a part of the history of France." Read more here

30th November 2018

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