NEWS

CAPE, CSEC results out, scholarships after results analysis

Scholarships for 2019 will be announced when the analysis of the results is completed. Education Minister Anthony Garcia said on Wednesday the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) results were released online on Tuesday and the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate results would be released on Thursday. Read more here

The deplorable state of Caroni Visitor Centre

The wa­ter sup­ply for the state-owned Ca­roni Vis­i­tor Cen­tre, lo­cat­ed at one of this coun­try’s largest tourist at­trac­tions the Ca­roni Bird Sanc­tu­ary, has been cut by the Wa­ter and Sew­er­age Au­thor­i­ty (WASA) for non-pay­ment of ar­rears. Guardian Me­dia was told the out­stand­ing bill for the fa­cil­i­ty has crossed $.5mil­lion and its sup­ply was cut in Oc­to­ber 2018. Dur­ing a vis­it to the cen­tre on Tues­day, tour op­er­a­tor Navin Kalpoo of the Kalpoo Broth­ers said tour op­er­a­tors, se­cu­ri­ty guards and game war­dens from the Forestry Di­vi­sion have been beg­ging for tanks of wa­ter to ser­vice the fa­cil­i­ty from dif­fer­ent agen­cies for the past sev­er­al months. Read more here

‘Pan in Carifesta Super Concert’

Culture Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly has denied ever saying or suggesting the pan was not worthy of the Carifesta Super Concert stage. She was responding to an allegation by Pan Trinbago president Beverly Ramsey-Moore that she was told by Gadsby-Dolly that the national instrument, the pan, is “not good enough” to be featured at the Carifesta XIV Super Concert. Read more here

POLITICS

PNM chooses four more ‘east’ candidates

UP to press time last night, the PNM had chosen four candidates to run in the Sangre Grande and Tunapuna/Piarco Regional Corporations. The screening at Balisier House in Port of Spain, chaired by PNM leader Dr Keith Rowley, began at 5.30 pm and was expected to continue late into the night for other corporations. By 7.30 pm, party officials for constituencies which cover the Port of Spain City Corporation took their seats to screen nominees. A very large contingent from the three Diego Martin constituencies including two chairman, Sigler Jack and Joel Martinez, patiently waited their turn. Newsday got the interim results from several constituency officials and PNM staff. Nominees for all seats on the Diego Martin corporation was due to be screened, but before that the unfilled seats on the other three corporations were screened for in order of Sangre Grande, Tunapuna/Piarco and Port of Spain. Read more here

PM appoints West to head Public Admin Ministry

Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley ap­proached Allyson West to take over the Min­istry of Pub­lic Ad­min­is­tra­tion on Tues­day af­ter the de­ba­cle sur­round­ing his first pick—Garvin Si­mon­ette. West con­firmed this on Wednes­day af­ter it was an­nounced that she had been as­signed to head the Pub­lic Ad­min­is­tra­tion af­ter Mc­Don­ald was fired from the Min­istry ear­ly Mon­day. West, an at­tor­ney and for­mer part­ner of ac­count­ing firm Price­wa­ter­house­C­oop­ers, was sworn in as a Min­is­ter in the Min­istry of Fi­nance, in June 2017 dur­ing a Cab­i­net reshuf­fle and had been put in charge of get­ting the T&T Rev­enue Au­thor­i­ty off the ground among oth­er projects. The Pub­lic Ad­min­is­tra­tion min­is­te­r­i­al port­fo­lio be­came va­cant af­ter po­lice charged Mc­Don­ald, her com­pan­ion and three oth­ers on a to­tal of 56 al­leged cor­rup­tion charges. Mc­Don­ald is on sev­en charges. Read more here

BUSINESS

Social enterprise is good business

Our social problems are evident on every street corner and in every shack, shed, school or shelter. Solving them often seems a painful slog. We have thousands of charities with passionate founders helping everyone from wheelchair users to sick children. They have a sense of purpose. But they are chronically short of cash and resources to organise efficiently. We have a government with huge resources at its disposal. But in such a large organisation its social mission can get lost. It is easy for civil servants to get lost in the cogs, particularly if they feel unable to personally find autonomy or growth. Read more here

Duke to oppose CDA job cuts

President of the Public Services Association (PSA) Watson Duke claims Government is trying to destroy the Chaguaramas Development Authority (CDA) to run Chaguaramas peninsula as “Disney World”. Duke voiced this opinion on his Facebook page yesterday, in response to the CDA’s announcement on Tuesday of impending job cuts at the authority. Read more here

REGIONAL

Mitchell Wants PSOJ Members To Watch Politicians’ Conduct Before Donating To Campaigns

The Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ), seeking to usher in a new style of politics, is moving to ensure that its members examine the conduct of political representatives before making financial donations to their campaigns. PSOJ President Howard Mitchell disclosed yesterday that the lobby group plans to move a resolution at its next annual general meeting that will require members to examine “very closely the background [and] the context in which the political parties operate” before making any donation. The disclosure comes after two senior members of the People’s National Party (PNP) executive, Vice-President Mikael Phillips and Deputy General Secretary Basil Waite were forced to apologise for recent comments made on political platforms. Read more here

INTERNATIONAL

Russian jet crash-lands in field outside Moscow after striking flock of gulls

A Russian passenger jet flew into a flock of birds then crash-landed in a cornfield just outside a Moscow airport Thursday, according to Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency. The Ural Airlines Airbus A321 was carrying 226 passengers and a crew of seven from Moscow's Zhukovsky airport to Simferopol -- a city on the Crimean Peninsula -- when it ran into trouble. Shortly after takeoff, the plane "collided with a flock of gulls," according a statement from the agency. Some of the birds were sucked into its engines, it added. Read more here

Iran tanker row: US requests detention of Grace 1 in Gibraltar

The US Department of Justice has made a last-minute request to the authorities in Gibraltar to halt the release of a seized Iranian supertanker. Grace 1, carrying Iranian oil, was stopped by Royal Marines on 4 July, triggering a standoff with Tehran. The vessel was due to be released, after Gibraltar's attorney general indicated there would be no further order for its detention. But the US request will be considered, with a court hearing set for 15:00 BST. Gibraltar said the US application is based on a "number of allegations which are now being considered". The UK Foreign Office said it was unable to comment on the US request. Read more here

15th August 2019

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