NEWS

Chamber encourages workplace domestic violence policies

The Chamber of Industry and Commerce is encouraging businesses to adopt domestic violence polices. The chamber, in a release, expressed condolences to the families involved in the murder-suicide on Monday and to to all families of victims of similar deadly acts of domestic violence. The chamber was referring to the murder of Venture Credit Union worker Naiee Singh by her estranged husband Roger Singh. He later killed himself. "It is quite clear that we have a substantial social problem that is becoming a significant crime problem. Domestic violence is not confined to the home; it has spill-over effects to the workplace." Read more here

Student returns to T&T from China: I was screened, cleared

Three days af­ter Health Min­is­ter Ter­rence Deyals­ingh an­nounced a 14-day trav­el re­stric­tion on ar­riv­ing pas­sen­gers from Chi­na, a lo­cal stu­dent has re­turned home and was re­unit­ed with her fam­i­ly af­ter she says she was screened and cleared by im­mi­gra­tion. The stu­dent said she was not "flagged" with any flu-like symp­toms. The 20-year-old woman from east Trinidad, who is a sec­ond-year stu­dent at the New York Uni­ver­si­ty, Shang­hai, ar­rived at the Pi­ar­co In­ter­na­tion­al Air­port close to mid­night on Fri­day. The schol­ar­ship re­cip­i­ent’s re­turn to Shang­hai one week ago co­in­cid­ed with the Chi­nese New Year which was cel­e­brat­ed on Jan­u­ary 25. How­ev­er, hours af­ter land­ing in Chi­na, she was in­formed that class­es had been post­poned in­def­i­nite­ly fol­low­ing the spread of the coro­n­avirus which orig­i­nat­ed in the Wuhan province. Wuhan is ap­prox­i­mate­ly an eight-hour train ride from the stu­dent’s lo­ca­tion in Shang­hai. Read more here

POLITICS

UNC EYES FARIS’ SEAT

UNC Senator Sean Sobers will contest the PNM stronghold seat of San Fernando West against Attorney General, Faris Al-Rawi, at the 2020 general elections. This revelation was made by Opposition Leader, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, during her address to hundreds of UNC loyalists at the party’s National Congress Meeting at Couva South Hall on Sunday afternoon. Having snatched three seats – Less Efforts West/La Romaine, Marabella East and Marabella West/Vistabella – from the PNM at the December 2019 local government elections, Persad-Bissessar believes Sobers is the man to make further inroads into this electoral district. In 2016, all nine electoral districts in the San Fernando City Corporation were won by the PNM. Read more here

Abdulah calls for more aggressive action against flu

Move­ment for So­cial Jus­tice (MSJ) po­lit­i­cal leader David Ab­du­lah says it is not nec­es­sary to post­pone Car­ni­val be­cause of the Wuhan coro­n­avirus which is con­tin­u­ing to spread glob­al­ly. Health Min­is­ter Dr Ter­rance Deyals­ingh an­nounced last week that Car­ni­val will con­tin­ue as planned un­less there is an oc­cur­rence of “some­thing re­al­ly dra­mat­ic.” Gov­ern­ment has re­strict­ed the en­try of pas­sen­gers from Chi­na for a pe­ri­od of 14 days and is screen­ing pas­sen­gers as they ar­rive at the coun­try’s air­port. Com­ment­ing on these de­vel­op­ments at a press con­fer­ence at MSJ’s San Fer­nan­do head­quar­ters yes­ter­day, Ab­du­lah said: “At this point in time I don’t see a ne­ces­si­ty for a ban be­cause as far as we are aware there is no case of the coro­n­avirus in Trinidad and To­ba­go and there­fore if there is no case of the coro­n­avirus here there is no need to have a ban.” Read more here

BUSINESS

Common investor myths

This week we at Bourse address several common investor myths, which can sometimes discourage people from improving their financial position. Read more here

REGIONAL

Orientals Say Racism Hasn’t Raised Ugly Head In Jamaica Over Coronavirus Concerns

Despite global concern surrounding the threat of the novel coronavirus, Chinese nationals working in Jamaica are singing the praises of locals for their support since the December 31 outbreak in the city of Wuhan. That reaction comes amid growing levels of xenophobia against people of Chinese descent worldwide, with some observers saying that the rise of racist stereotypes harks back to the insularity borne from the SARS viral outbreak more than 16 years ago. Chinese nationals in Canada, Germany, France, Malaysia, and South Korea have reported increasing incidents of race-baiting since the emergence of the novel coronavirus, with even children being picked on by fellow students as well as by adults. Read more here

‘We’ll return the sugar industry to profitability’ – Pres. Granger tells Berbicians

President David Granger, on Sunday, assured thousands of Berbicians that the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) Government will return the once ailing sugar industry to profitability, if re-elected for a second term in office. Standing before thousands of supporters, drawn from every nook and cranny within the East Berbice-Corentyne District, the Head of State, in his address at the APNU+AFC Elections Rally at Rose Hall, said his Government is cognizant of the challenges faced by sugar workers. “I know the pain the sugar workers feel, but the sugar industry the PPP gave us could not be sustained,” he said. His Administration, he assured the residents, will do everything in its power to protect and preserve the industry by keeping estates such as Albion fully functional. Read more here

INTERNATIONAL

Candidates make frenetic push to an unpredictable finish in Iowa

Iowans will choose between a crowded field of top candidates on Monday night in the first opportunity for voters to weigh in on who should face President Donald Trump in November. On the eve of the Iowa caucuses, the 2020 hopefuls raced across the Hawkeye state in a final push to rev up enthusiasm and turn out their supporters, making their closing arguments as many voters said they were still weighing their decisions. Four candidates appeared to be locked in a close race for the top position in Iowa in polling leading up to the contest: Former Vice President Joe Biden, Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Read more here

Coronavirus: China accuses US of causing panic and 'spreading fear'

The Chinese government has accused the US of causing "panic" in its response to the deadly coronavirus outbreak. It follows the US decision to declare a public health emergency and deny entry to foreign nationals who had visited China in the past two weeks. There are more than 17,000 confirmed cases of the virus in China. Some 361 people have died in the mainland alone. Outside China, there are more than 150 confirmed cases of the virus - and one death, in the Philippines. The virus causes severe acute respiratory infection and symptoms seem to start with a fever, followed by a dry cough. On Monday, a study by a Chinese virologist said a pneumonia outbreak associated with the coronavirus had likely started in bats. Read more here

3rd February 2020

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