Daily Brief - Monday 4th November, 2019

NEWS

44 new caregivers in the health system

Forty-Four men and women received their certificates at the Caregivers Training Programme graduation ceremony on Friday at the ANR Robinson Meeting Room of the International Waterfront, Port of Spain. Hosted by the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), Ayanna Webster-Roy, Minister of State in the OPM, first thanked the TT Registered Nurses Association that partnered with her ministry to “strengthen a critical part of the nation’s child protection machinery.” She then congratulated the graduates for stepping forward in becoming caregivers, especially the men since, she said, prison data show men and boys between 26 and 40 years are the major perpetrators of violence. Read more here

SewaTT Calls for Volunteers

Lo­cal NGO Se­wa TT has re­ceived over­whelm­ing do­na­tions from gen­er­ous mem­bers of the pub­lic for their clothes and book ex­change set for No­vem­ber 16 and 17. How­ev­er, they are now ask­ing for vol­un­teers to as­sist them with sort­ing more than 15,000 pieces of cloth­ing and 1,000 books be­fore they open their doors to the pub­lic in two weeks. “We have about 1,000 man-hours al­ready catered for but I feel like we need at least 5,000 man-hours to get every­thing done prop­er­ly,” head of the or­gan­i­sa­tion Re­van Teelucks­ingh said when Guardian Me­dia vis­it­ed the Di­vali Na­gar au­di­to­ri­um where a few vol­un­teers with the NGO were sort­ing out the do­nat­ed items. Read more here

 

POLITICS

PNM's Dennis slams Watson's call

PNM member, Ancil Dennis, is denying that Tobagonians want secession as claimed by Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP) leader Watson Duke. Dennis, who also holds the portfolio of Assistant Secretary in the Office of the THA Chief Secretary, was at the time addressing reporters during the party’s Tobago Council’s press conference last Thursday at the council’s office in Scarborough. He said: “No consultation, no discussion with Tobagonians…just got up one morning maybe on the wrong side of the bed and decided that Tobago should secede from Trinidad. Where did Watson Duke get this idea? Whom did Watson Duke consult with and meet with to come to the conclusion that those statements now represent the views and aspirations of Tobagonians?” Read more here

Darryl's attorney calls on AG to destroy report

For­mer sport and youth af­fairs min­is­ter Dar­ryl Smith is de­mand­ing that the Gov­ern­ment de­stroy all copies of the re­port in­to the pay­ment of $150,000 to his for­mer per­son­al as­sis­tant af­ter she was fired and al­leged sex­u­al ha­rass­ment. In a let­ter sent to At­tor­ney Gen­er­al Faris Al-Rawi on Fri­day, Smith’s At­tor­ney Annabelle Sook­lal al­so ac­cused Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley of giv­ing the me­dia mis­lead­ing in­for­ma­tion and try­ing to di­min­ish Smith’s claim of a breach of nat­ur­al jus­tice. Read more here

 

BUSINESS

JMMBGL APO a good opportunity?

JMMB Group Ltd (JMMBGL) recently launched an Additional Public Offering (APO) of shares concurrently in both Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica. Read more here

 

REGIONAL

NGO holds rally for child victims of domestic violence

A group of approximately 100 men, women and children, garbed in purple, marched through several streets across central Georgetown on Sunday in the “Purple Angel Walk and Rally” held by the Untied Bridge Builders Mission (UBBM), in observance of Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The rally, which saw Minister of State Dawn Hastings-Williams delivering the feature address, sought to put heightened focus on the effects of gender-based violence not only on men and women in society, but also on how children have been suffering as well. Read more here

Sugar’s Slow Death Sucking Life Out Of St Thomas

The silence was deafening, the emptiness haunting. Almost an hour and a half had passed and not a single shopper had entered through the yawning doors of a modest mart in Duckenfield, St Thomas. Sugar’s slow, torturous death has laid bare a funereal atmosphere that is stifling almost every other sector. Just ask superette owner Everol ‘Fuzzy’ Nicholson about the crippling ripple effects. Ever since work ground to a halt three months ago, he has had to lay off his two staffers – a cashier and a meat-room worker. “This was a lively place and people from various parts of St Thomas come here and get work. It was good for business, as they would stop and buy things. Now, nothing nah go on. The cupboard empty,” Nicholson said. Read more here

 

INTERNATIONAL

Trump signals alarm with Democrats poised to escalate impeachment offensive

Democrats are primed to pivot to a critical new phase of impeachment -- building a public case that President Donald Trump abused his power -- to ensure no shows by administration witnesses don't blunt their momentum. At that point, the process would shift from a closed doors investigation of Trump's covert Ukraine policy into an attempt to convince Americans that he should be removed from office in dramatic televised hearings. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff is also expected to start releasing transcripts of witness testimony delivered in closed door depositions as early as this week. The plan prompted Trump to launch what was, even by his own standards, an extraordinary torrent of personal abuse at the California Democrat. Read more here

Delhi air quality: Severe pollution prompts car rationing

The Indian capital, Delhi, has launched a car rationing system as it battles hazardous levels of pollution. From 4 to 15 November, only cars with either odd or even number plates will be allowed on the roads each day, officials said. Such a system has been used before, but it's not clear if it actually helps bring down pollution. Levels of dangerous particles in the air - known as PM2.5 - are at well over ten times safe limits. However, cars are not believed to be the main cause of Delhi's toxic air, with experts pointing instead to crop burning by farmers in neighbouring states to clear fields. Read more here

4th November 2019

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