NEWS

Cuba: US wants ‘vast resources’

The “true objectives” of those countries opposed to current Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is to “control the vast resources” of the South American country. The Cuban government, in a media statement issued by its embassy in TT on Saturday, said it also “condemns and energetically rejects the attempt to impose a coup d’etat, a puppet government at the service of the US, in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.” And as countries continue to choose sides between Maduro and president of the Venezuela’s National Assembly Juan Guaido, the Cuban government expressed its “unwavering solidarity with the government of Constitutional President Nicolás Maduro Moros. Read more here

Tension at ganja rally after man arrested

Ras­tas chant­ed for equal rights and jus­tice af­ter po­lice ar­rest­ed a man for pos­ses­sion of cannabis dur­ing the ral­ly or­gan­ised by the All Man­sions of Rasta­fari on Sun­day in San Fer­nan­do. Eye wit­ness­es claimed the ar­rest­ing of­fi­cer was in­tox­i­cat­ed while on du­ty and called for a breathal­yser test to be ad­min­is­tered in him. The in­ci­dent prompt­ed a short-lived clash be­tween po­lice and par­tic­i­pants at the ral­ly held at Skin­ner Park. The crowd’s emo­tions even­tu­al­ly cooled and they re­turned to the space set aside for the event. Ear­li­er, un­der the watch­ful eye of close to 50 uni­formed po­lice of­fi­cers, the group held its sec­ond na­tion­al cannabis ral­ly. Read more here

POLITICS

UNC can stand alone

United National Congress (UNC) political leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar came out swinging at the party’s national assembly yesterday as she declared the UNC was strong enough to stand alone and defeat the ruling People’s National Movement (PNM) in any election. In a fighting mood, she told the pumped-up crowd at the Couva South Hall, Camden road, Couva, that the UNC had made inroads into the marginal constituencies saying the population was fed up with the untruths being spread by the Dr Keith Rowley administration. The Opposition Leader said the latest example of the Government’s deception occurred when they attempted to use the Newsday to spread misinformation that it had helped the two young boys who were trapped in Syria. Read more here

Rowley: PNM, a party for all

Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley told par­ty sup­port­ers that he ditched wear­ing the Bal­isi­er tie, a sym­bol of the PNM, to na­tion­al events to pro­mote an at­ti­tude of in­clu­sion. He was speak­ing at the par­ty’s 63rd-an­niver­sary func­tion, at NA­PA, in Port-of-Spain on Sun­day. Row­ley, who left for New York yes­ter­day to meet with the UN Sec­re­tary-Gen­er­al An­to­nio Guter­res to push for a diplo­mat­ic so­lu­tion over the Venezue­lan cri­sis, told sup­port­ers that the par­ty was “mod­ernising” it­self and had to rep­re­sent every­one, and as a na­tion­al leader he had to ac­cept all re­gard­less of eth­nic­i­ty, re­li­gion, cul­tur­al, po­lit­i­cal and so­cio-eco­nom­ic sit­u­a­tion. Scores of at­ten­dees were left dis­ap­point­ed af­ter they were turned away by ush­ers as the 1,200 seats in the au­di­to­ri­um were al­ready filled. Ap­prox­i­mate­ly 1,500 peo­ple were in­vit­ed to the func­tion, some com­ing from as far as Tabaquite and Pleas­antville. Read more here

REGIONAL

WANTED! - American Hunter Seeks Permission To Hunt White-Tailed Deer On The Island

Big-game hunters from the United States are trying to get permission to head to Jamaica to hunt the white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), which is reportedly breeding at an alarming rate and emerging as a major threat to the natural environment and agriculture, especially in the eastern parish of Portland. American Thomas McIntyre is seeking permission to take the hunters to Jamaica as a new tourism attraction while creating a lucrative income-generating stream for locals. “I write for several hunting-and-fishing magazines here in the United States and have, for more than 40 years, and I can assure you that my readers would be very interested in a new deer-hunting location on the map, especially one as exotic, to them, as Jamaica,” McIntyre said in an email toThe Sunday Gleaner. Read more here

INTERNATIONAL

Venezuela crisis: White House 'will respond to threats against diplomats'

The US has warned Venezuela that any threats against American diplomats or opposition leader Juan Guaidó will be met with "a significant response". National Security Adviser John Bolton said any such "intimidation" would be "a grave assault on the rule of law". His warning comes days after the US and more than 20 other countries recognised Mr Guaidó as interim president. Meanwhile, Mr Guaidó has called for anti-government protests on Wednesday and Saturday. Mr Guaidó, the elected leader of the opposition-held National Assembly, declared himself the interim president on 23 January. The political crisis in Venezuela now appears to be reaching boiling point amid growing efforts by the opposition to unseat President Nicolás Maduro. He was sworn in for a second term earlier this month after an election marred by an opposition boycott and allegations of vote-rigging, triggering large protests. Read more here

Shutdown debacle leaves Trump with stark choices

It's as if President Donald Trump's humiliation over the government shutdown and his failed push to honor his core campaign promise never happened. "Does anybody really think I won't build the WALL? Done more in first two years than any President! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!," Trump tweeted on Sunday night, hitting back at the overwhelming media consensus that he had been outplayed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Read more here

28th January 2019

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