NEWS

ILO sends 3 UWI students to Italy

Matthue Prescott, 24, a student of the University of the West Indies' (UWI) Open Campus in San Fernando, copped the top prize in the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Future of Work Essay Competition, recently contested by a number of students from all regional universities. The local boy, who is a student in the Bachelor of Science Programme in International Management, beat St Lucia’s Omari Obaseki Joseph, an international tourism student at UWI, St Augustine, into second place. Third-place winner, Trinidadian De Andre Albert, is studying statistics at UWI, St Augustine. Read more here

Marlene, husband, contractors in court today on corruption charges

Af­ter four days of be­ing in po­lice cus­tody, the rul­ing PNM’s deputy leader Mar­lene Mc­Don­ald and her com­mon-law hus­band Michael Carew were charged last night. And Gov­ern­ment is­sued a state­ment at 12.40 am, say­ing Prime Min­is­ter Kei­th Row­ley will be ad­vis­ing Pres­i­dent Paula- Mae Weekes to re­voke Mc­Don­ald’s ap­point­ment as Pub­lic Ad­min­is­tra­tion Min­is­ter. A new min­is­ter will be an­nounced, the Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Min­istry stat­ed. Read more here

POLITICS

Dookie ready to run in Pointe-a-Pierre

Seven years after the constituency of Pointe-a-Pierre rejected him as a candidate, government senator Daniel Dookie, is taking a second leap of fate. Dookie who was selected by the People’s National Movement (PNM) as the candidate to contest the seat in the 2020 general elections, is confident he can make the transition from Senator to MP. In 2002 Dookie fought and lost the seat to Gillian Lucky before she was elevated to the judiciary. Pointe-a-Pierre, which is currently represented in the Parliament by David Lee of the UNC, is considered one of five marginals the PNM is hoping to secure in the 2020 general elections, hence the reason it has started to identify candidates alongside those contesting the local elections. Read more here

BUSINESS

US $500 million for energy project in T&T

Australian-based mining company BHP Billiton has approved an investment of US$283 million to develop the Ruby oil and gas project in Trinidad and Tobago. The company made the announcement on its website yesterday. First production from the Ruby project is expected in the 2021 calendar year and is estimated to increase T&T’s oil production by 16,000 barrels and 80 million standard cubic feet of natural gas per day, at its peak. Located in the in the Block 3(a) development area, northeast coast of Trinidad, the project has an estimated recoverable 2C resources of 13.2 million barrels of oil and 274 billion cubic feet of gas. Read more here

REGIONAL

Taken By Terror - Friends Mourn Jamaican Among UN Personnel Killed In Libyan Bomb Blast

“Regardless of the threat from terrorism, the government is very serious about fighting terrorists and other criminals,” were the words written by Clive Peck to one of his friends in Montego Bay, St James, in April this year. Peck was commenting on the beauty of Tunisia in North Africa, a place from which he received inspiration in writing his music. Little did the former Jamaica Constabulary Force Special Branch policeman know that less than three months later, he would become a casualty of terrorists. Peck, who was assigned to the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), was killed, along with two of his colleagues, Hussen Elhadar and Seniloli Tabuatausole, by a car bomb in Benghazi, Libya, on Saturday. Read more here

INTERNATIONAL

Hong Kong protests: Airport cancels flights as thousands occupy

Hong Kong International Airport cancelled all departures on Monday, as thousands of anti-government protesters occupied and caused disruption. Passengers have been told not to travel to the airport, which is one of the world's busiest transport hubs. In a statement, officials blamed "seriously disrupted" operations. Many of those protesting are critical of the actions of police, who on Sunday were filmed firing tear gas and non-lethal ammunition at close range. Some protesters wore bandages over their eyes in response to images of a woman bleeding heavily from her eye on Sunday, having reportedly been shot by a police projectile. In a statement on Monday afternoon, Hong Kong's Airport Authority said they were cancelling all flights that were not yet checked in. Read more here

Trump is impeaching himself

On Saturday, the President of the United States retweeted a comedian's conspiratorial tweet, suggesting the Clintons may have been involved in the suicide of financier Jeffrey Epstein. That's right, President Donald Trump suggested that former President Bill Clinton was involved in murder. It turns out Speaker Nancy Pelosi might have been onto something when she talked about Trump being "almost self-impeaching" several months ago. This August, Trump seems to be on a path of impeaching himself. Despite the continued skepticism from Democratic leaders, the drive toward impeachment has accelerated. Over 50% of House Democrats, including some legislators from moderate swing districts, have announced their support for impeachment proceedings. Read more here

12th August 2019

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