Daily Brief - Monday 7th October, 2019

NEWS

More 400 Trinis benefited from India's ITEC programme

Indian High Commissioner to TT Arun Kumar Sahu says India is the world's fastest growing economy, even surpassing China. He says his country’s annual average growth in Gross Domestic Product has been six to seven per cent from 2014 to 2019. Sahu was speaking on Saturday at the 55th annual Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Day celebration at the Passage to Asia restaurant in Chaguanas. "As a young nation, India started at zero and is now leading in information technology." India is a young nation at just 71 years old, he said, as compared to the United States being 400 years old. Read more here

Prison hunger strike ends

The five-day hunger strike at the Gold­en Grove Prison was called off yes­ter­day af­ter prison of­fi­cials met with the in­mates to dis­cuss de­plorable prison con­di­tions, lengthy de­lays in court cas­es and lim­it­ed re­ha­bil­i­ta­tive pro­grammes. In a record­ing sent to Guardian Me­dia, in­mates were heard vent­ing about the con­di­tions. One asked why they con­tin­ued to be housed in a prison and not a cor­rec­tion­al fa­cil­i­ty. “This is slav­ery in full ef­fect. The peo­ple locked up are peo­ple with chil­dren. We fed up, moth­ers can­not see about their chil­dren. They de­pend­ing on the gang to grow up their chil­dren. We are say­ing give us a speedy tri­al. Con­vict them, let them plead and make their time,” the fe­male in­mate said. She added that scores of peo­ple on Re­mand are wait­ing for years for their tri­als to start. Read more here

Wild meat warning

Wild meat consumers are being warned by Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat to exercise caution when purchasing their meats as they could be possibly buying decaying carcasses from Venezuela that, when consumed, could result in illness or even death. Read more here

 

POLITICS

What’s in Colm’s bag?

All eyes will be on Finance Minister Colm Imbert today as he presents the budget at 1.30 pm in the House of Representatives, amid speculation of pre-election sweeteners. Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar will reply on Friday, after which the House Standing Finance Committee debates it line by line. It then goes to the Senate. The last budget was titled Turnaround, yet Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar had accused Finance Minister Colm Imbert of “statistical conmanship.” Since then, the Government has had successes and failures in effecting those measures, with the Central Bank economic bulletin in July saying, “The spillovers from the positive developments in the domestic energy sector coupled with the acceleration of government capital expenditure projects are expected to provide the impetus for a modest revival of the non-energy sector.” Read more here

No chance for Partap, Gypsy in UNC areas

For­mer UNC MPs Collin Par­tap and Win­ston “Gyp­sy” Pe­ters don’t stand a chance if they go up for the PNM in UNC held seats. That’s the view of UNC deputy leader David Lee. He was com­ment­ing on a Sun­day Guardian re­port that Par­tap is now of­fi­cial­ly with the PNM and is work­ing with rul­ing par­ty’s Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment cam­paign in the San­gre Grande area. PNM and UNC tied for that area in 2016. There has al­so been spec­u­la­tion that Par­tap will be the PNM’s gen­er­al elec­tion can­di­date for the Cu­mu­to/Man­zanil­la seat he held with the UNC. How­ev­er, he has not con­firmed or de­nied those re­ports, on­ly say­ing that he will see “what hap­pens.” Par­tap was fired from the Peo­ple’s Part­ner­ship gov­ern­ment by Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar in 2012 af­ter he re­fused po­lice at­tempts to take a breathal­yser test and was lat­er found guilty of dri­ving un­der the in­flu­ence. Read more here

  

BUSINESS

Q3 2019 review: Stock market climb continues

This week, we at Bourse recap the performance of local and international equity markets for the first nine months of 2019. Despite signs of decelerating global growth, escalating trade tension between the US and China and major market events, international stocks continue to rally. At home, market performance has been significantly supported by cross-listed stocks. Will these trends continue into the final stages of 2019? We consider below. Read more here

 

REGIONAL

Jamaica Blazes New Trail In Field Events In Doha

With sprint legend Usain Bolt now retired and many of his contemporaries at the back end of their careers, there have been concerns that Jamaica’s track and field could be sinking into a dark phase again. Fears were heightened in 2017 after the country registered its lowest medal tally at the World Championships since 1987 when it won only four medals at the London World Championships – one gold and three bronze. But the 2019 championships have proven otherwise, as not only has the black, green and gold maintained a presence on the track, but the island’s athletes have also ventured into uncharted waters in the field events, securing 12 medals – 3 gold, 5 silver and 4 bronze. Read more here

 

INTERNATIONAL

Disturbing video shows hundreds of blindfolded prisoners in Xinjiang

A drone video appearing to show hundreds of blindfolded men being led from a train in China has raised new concerns over the ongoing crackdown on Muslim Uyghurs in the far western region of Xinjiang. The video -- which was posted online anonymously last week -- shows hundreds of men, most of whom are dressed in purple and orange vests with the words "Kashgar Detention Center" printed on them, seated in rows on the ground of what appears to be a large courtyard outside a train station. Their heads are shaved and their hands bound behind their backs. All of the men are wearing black blindfolds over their eyes and they are being watched over by dozens of police officers in SWAT uniforms. Read more here

Trump makes way for Turkey operation against Kurds in Syria

The US says it is stepping aside for an imminent Turkish operation against Kurdish-led forces within Syria that have until now been a key US ally. Kurdish militias played a major role in defeating the Islamic State (IS) group, but Turkey regards them as terrorists. The US - which has hundreds of troops in north-eastern Syria - has begun to withdraw them from a border area where Turkey seeks to set up a "safe zone". Syria's main Kurdish-led group called the US move a "stab in the back". In January, President Trump threatened to "devastate Turkey economically" if it attacked Kurdish forces. Read more here

7th October 2019

Back

Copyright © . Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers' Association All Rights Reserved.