Daily Brief - Monday 18th June, 2018

NEWS

NATUC celebrating Labour Day in Tobago

This Labour Day, the National Trade Union Centre of Trinidad and Tobago (NATUC) will be celebrating in Tobago. NATUC members include Banking, Insurance and General Workers Union (BGIWU) and the National Union of Domestic Employees among others. Watson Duke, NATUC president, told the media yesterday, at a press conference at the Public Services Association’s Abercromby Street office that NATUC’s central executive took a decision to commemorate Labour Day in Tobago in observance of “142 years of labour struggle” in Tobago. Read more here

UNHCR in T&T looks into plight of asylum seekers

The total number of men, women and children displaced by war, persecution and discrimination around the world in 2016, was approximately 65.6 million. Of this number, 22.5 million were refugees,2.8 million were asylum seekers, 40.3 million were Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs); and ten million were declared stateless people. Confirming the figures last Wednesday, officials at T&T’s United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) painted a grim picture as they said the situation had worsened since then. Read more here

A special day for three dads

For three fathers, it was an extra-special Father’s Day at the San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH) yesterday. The dads welcomed the small new additions to their families, and shared their thoughts on fatherhood. Read more here

 

POLITICS

Roget warns PM on retrenching oil workers

President of the Oilfield Workers Trade Union (OWTU) Ancel Roget is warning the Prime Minister that he will be committing “the greatest political suicide” if he goes ahead with a plan to send home some 2,000 workers from Petrotrin. At a news conference called, last week, to update the country on the failure of the board of Petrotrin to turn around the company and its continuing decline, Roget said Rowley’s plan to save the oil company is by dismissing workers. He said while the government was talking about high wage bills, the board was defending the $63 million consultancy spend. “They would spend $63 million on consultancy, but not to fill vacancies.” Read more here

‘Rowley was not sleeping’

A photograph being widely circulated on social media which claims to show Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley asleep during an Eid-ul-Fitr function in San Fernando, has been described as misleading and disrespectful by head of the Macoon Street Jamaat, Imam Raffaic Mohamed. At a news conference yesterday, Mohamed denied that Rowley was sleeping and said the persons who circulated the photograph should have contacted the masjid authorities before posting it on social media. Read more here

Indarsingh’s Labour Day message: Nothing for T&T to celebrate

The Member of Parliament for Couva South, Rudranath Indarsingh, is asking what is there to celebrate on Labour Day 2018 in Trinidad and Tobago? “What is there for workers to celebrate when, on top of higher taxes across the board, the Government is signalling its intention to increase water and electricity rates. Read more here

 

BUSINESS

PTSC needs $4m in parts

The Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC) has not been efficient in its delivery of service in the last few months, admitted chairman Edwin Gooding, due to the number of buses that have been down. Among them are the 12 buses provided with Wi-Fi service in July 2016. “I am aware we are not servicing our public as well as we could,” he said, adding that there are not enough buses to service the PTSC’s 36 routes across the country. As a result, some routes which were serviced three times a day are now being serviced only once or twice. Read more here

SBTT lower, FCI improves

This week, we at Bourse review the half-year performance of Scotiabank Trinidad and Tobago Ltd (SBTT) and FirstCaribbean International Bank Ltd (FCI). The Canadian-owned banking giants fared quite differently, with SBTT delivering lower earnings despite higher revenue, while FCI recorded strong earnings growth. We take a closer look at their respective performances and provide some perspective on future performance. Read more here

 

REGIONAL

Deadly Momster Spared Prison - Woman Who Beat 2-Y-O To Death Gets Suspended Sentence

The Clarendon woman who used a piece of board to beat her two-year-old daughter to death because the child defecated on herself will likely spend no time in prison. Delreta Smith, 53, was sentenced last Friday to three years in prison, but Justice Courtney Daye ordered that the sentence be suspended for two years. This means that if Smith does not commit a criminal offence over the next 24 months, she won't have to serve the sentence. Read more here

 

INTERNATIONAL

Would-be Indian child bride fights back and helps others

Rajni Devi liked school and had big dreams. She was not going to end up like so many other girls in India: married off as a child bride. Rajni was 14 years old when her mother told her she must get married, but she refused. She was determined to stay in school, and she wasn't ready to be a mother yet. However, for a girl in rural India, it wasn't as simple as just saying no. Read more here

US child migrants: First ladies speak out on Trump separation policy

The former US First Lady Laura Bush has condemned a controversial policy that splits up families who illegally enter the country at the Mexican border. Writing in the Washington Post newspaper, she describes the separation of children from their parents as cruel, immoral and heart-breaking. Her comments follow growing controversy over President Donald Trump's "zero-tolerance" immigration policy. Earlier Melania Trump made a rare statement expressing concern. Read more here

 

18th June 2018

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