TTMA IN THE NEWS

Manufacturers: Brace for job cuts if NGC hikes gas price

Thou­sands of jobs may be lost if the Na­tion­al Gas Com­pa­ny (NGC) goes ahead with its plan to sig­nif­i­cant­ly in­crease nat­ur­al gas prices to man­u­fac­tur­ers. The State En­ter­prise is al­ready de­mand­ing that the man­u­fac­tur­ing sec­tor pay 13 per cent more for nat­ur­al gas this year, mov­ing to as high as a 100 per cent in­crease by 2023. The Sun­day Guardian has learnt that at present man­u­fac­tur­ers pay be­tween US $2 to US $2.50 per mil­lion British Ther­mal Unit (mmb­tu) and the NGC wants this price to es­ca­late over time to US $4 per mmb­tu. The NGC has been em­broiled in dif­fi­cult ne­go­ti­a­tions with all its cus­tomers as it tries to sig­nif­i­cant­ly in­crease prices be­cause of its new deal with the oil and gas ma­jors that have seen sig­nif­i­cant price in­creas­es for the ag­gre­ga­tor. Read more here

NEWS

Totally Out of Control

A parent whose child attends Tablepiece Government Primary School has described a Standard Five boy at the school as "totally out of control" after he allegedly sexually assaulted students and a teacher and placed a toy gun to the head of the school's Principal. The latest incident took place on Wednesday and resulted in a five-day suspension of the student. Shortly after lunchtime on Wednesday, parents were called in to remove their children from the school, situated along Arnos Vale Road, Les Coteaux, as the boy, 12, went on a rampage. Newsday visited the school when classes ended on Friday and one parent, speaking on the condition of anonymity, recounted what happened on Wednesday. Read more here

Guaico pupils to cel­e­brate pan vic­to­ry at school to­day Bish­ops Anstey,Trin­i­ty Col­lege cel­e­brate too

Guaico Pres­by­ter­ian Pri­ma­ry School over­came the chal­lenge of 11 oth­er schools from around the coun­try to re­tain its ti­tle as the 2020 Na­tion­al Schools Panora­ma cham­pi­ons in the pri­ma­ry school cat­e­go­ry. The com­pe­ti­tion was held at the Queen’s Park Sa­van­nah yes­ter­day. Guaico led from the front with a ren­di­tion of “Sa­van­nah Grass” by Kees Di­ef­fen­thaller. The boys from the East played in po­si­tion 10 and gained loud cheers from the Grand Stand crowd. When it was all said and done Guaico emerged with 283 points, four away from sec­ond place St Mar­garet’s Boys’ AC Pri­ma­ry School. Read more here

POLITICS

Deyalsingh: We’ll not cancel Carnival over coronavirus

Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh scotched any idea of cancelling Carnival 2020 because of the coronavirus. Several commentators on social media have recently called for Carnival to be cancelled to prevent an influx of visitors and assembly of people, and so try to curb the import and spread of the virus from Wuhan, China. As of Sunday, 56 people had died in China where 2,000 more are infected. Three cases have been detected in the US, with cases also found in France, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Nepal, Macao, Malaysia, South Korea and Taiwan. Chinese scientists had said an infected person can transmit the virus before they even show any symptoms of being ill, so possibly evading thermal detection at entry points at airports. Read more here

PNM gears up for election: Nomination speculation abuzz

Let­ters are ex­pect­ed to be is­sued this week to PNM con­stituen­cies of­fi­cial­ly in­struct­ing them to open nom­i­na­tions for gen­er­al elec­tions— and the par­ty’s al­ready abuzz with spec­u­la­tion on which in­cum­bents won’t be re­turn­ing. Par­ty chair­man Colm Im­bert last Sat­ur­day an­nounced Prime Min­is­ter Kei­th Row­ley had in­struct­ed the PNM to open nom­i­na­tions for all con­stituen­cies. The cur­rent term ends Sep­tem­ber 7. Elec­tions can be called up to three months af­ter, lat­est. Last year, PNM se­lect­ed three gen­er­al elec­tion can­di­dates : Agri­cul­ture Min­is­ter Clarence Ramb­harat (Ch­agua­nas East), PNM Sen­a­tor Ndale Young (San Juan/Barataria) and PNM as­sis­tant gen­er­al sec­re­tary Daniel Dook­ie (Point a-Pierre.) Read more here

BUSINESS

MASSY Holdings advances

This week, we at Bourse review the financial performance of MASSY Holdings Ltd (MASSY) for the year ended on September 30, 2019. Read more here

REGIONAL

Guyana lauds India’s ‘green energy’ drive

AS India celebrates 70 years since its transition from a British Dominion to a Republic, President David Granger lauded the many achievements that came as a result of Guyana’s collaboration with India. The High Commissioner of India, Dr. K.J. Srinivasa, hosted a Reception at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre on Sunday evening, at which President Granger delivered an address.
The President overtly applauded India for setting the example in alleviating impacts of climate change and promoting solar energy. This, he said, is what Guyana has to align with in order to achieve the ‘green’ transformation. Read more here

Crime Squad Flop - PM Calls PNP Elite Units Failed; Boasts Bigger Spend On National Security

In his most aggressive defence of his Government’s national security policies, Prime Minister Andrew Holness has asserted that his administration has a more effective long-term strategy in curbing violent crime than the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP). Speaking at a Jamaica House press briefing yesterday after a state of emergency in the Kingston Eastern Police Division was declared by Governor General Sir Patrick Allen, Holness shot back at critics of his expanding use of the security crackdown to curb violent crime. Holness characterised the PNP’s strategy of establishing special squads to battle gunmen and target the kingpins of organised crime as a failure. The Jamaica Labour Party leader later took his message to a partisan audience at the Olympic Gardens Civic Centre in his St Andrew West Central seat, charging that his political rivals were peddling a “false narrative” that his administration did not have an active plan to collar crime. Read more here

INTERNATIONAL

Bolton bombshell raises the stakes as Trump's defense team takes the spotlight

An explosive New York Times report detailing an unpublished draft manuscript by former national security adviser John Bolton has added new uncertainty to this week's crucial vote to determine whether the Senate should subpoena witnesses and documents in President Donald Trump's impeachment trial, several GOP sources said. Citing multiple people's description of the unpublished draft manuscript by Bolton, the Times reported that Bolton claims Trump told him in August that he wanted to continue holding military aid to Ukraine until the country helped with investigations into Democrats -- including former Vice President Joe Biden. A source with direct knowledge of the manuscript told CNN the Times' telling of Bolton's account of the Ukraine aid hold discussion with Trump is accurate. Read more here

Coronavirus: Death toll rises to 81 as China extends holiday

The number of people killed in China by the new coronavirus has risen to 81, with almost 3,000 confirmed ill. The national new year holiday has been extended by three days to Sunday, in an attempt to contain the spread. On Monday, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visited Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province and centre of the outbreak. The number of deaths in Hubei rose from 56 to 76, with five deaths elsewhere. Wuhan is in lockdown and several other cities have imposed travel bans. In Shanghai, the government has stopped businesses from returning to work until 10 February. The ban applies to all companies apart from utilities, medical firms, medical suppliers, and supermarkets. Read more here

27th January 2020

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