NEWS

Archbishop: Lent a chance to show hospitality

RC Archbishop Jason Gordon said, as the country begins its 40 days of praying and fasting, it was a wonderful opportunity for the faithful to reach out and help those in need, as it would bring the nation and people closer to God. As he delivered the midday mass at Our Lady of Perpetual Help RC Church, San Fernando, to start the period of fasting and repentance, the archbishop told the packed congregation to observe the three H’s – hymns, homily and hospitality. He also encouraged them to practise the good habits of praying, fasting and alms-giving. Gordon said it was a wonderful time in the nation to show hospitality to so many people who had come here because their nation was in turmoil, referring to the political instability in nearby Venezuela that had forced tens of thousands of citizens to flee to this country. Read more here

Parent of teen slain by cops after jewellery heist

Con­vinced that his teenaged son Kevon Sim­mons was not a ban­dit, De­von Sim­mons yes­ter­day called for a de­tailed in­ves­ti­ga­tion in­to his child’s death, say­ing there were too many unan­swered ques­tions. De­von, who turned 16 in Jan­u­ary, was with 23-year-old Cur­tis “Dumb Dumb” James when they were cor­nered by po­lice in­side Tiana’s Jew­ellery along the South­ern Main Road, Cou­va, yes­ter­day morn­ing. Po­lice said af­ter be­ing cor­nered with the stolen jew­ellery they fired shots at of­fi­cers who re­tal­i­at­ed with dead­ly force. A pho­to of Sim­mons wear­ing a red T-shirt crouched un­der a sink was sub­se­quent­ly cir­cu­lat­ed on so­cial me­dia. His body bore a gun­shot wound to the chest. Read more here

POLITICS

PM, AG respond to call for inquiry into TTCB

A petition by an ex-national cricketer for the TT Cricket Board of Control (Incorporation) Act to be revisited has been sent to the Sport Minister by the Prime Minister and the Attorney General. Zaheer Ali, a former nominated member of the local cricketing body, in January repeatedly called for the TTCB’s constitution to be amended to address what he said were conflicts of interest. Read more here

CoP, Young label 2019 safest Carnival ever

Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty Min­is­ter Stu­art Young and Po­lice Com­mis­sion­er Gary Grif­fith yes­ter­day boast­ed that this year’s Car­ni­val cel­e­bra­tions were the safest in re­cent his­to­ry. Speak­ing at press con­fer­ence at the Min­istry of Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty’ in Port-of-Spain yes­ter­day, how­ev­er, both ad­mit­ted that it had be­come a cliche as it is fre­quent­ly used at the con­clu­sion of each an­nu­al cel­e­bra­tion. How­ev­er, the sta­tis­tics pre­sent­ed by them ap­peared to prove their most re­cent claim. They re­vealed that be­tween last Fri­day and Tues­day night, there were 12 se­ri­ous re­port­ed crimes across T&T- the low­est for a Car­ni­val week­end since 2014. Of the crimes, there were two wound­ings with in­tent in the North East­ern Di­vi­sion; two rob­beries and one mar­i­jua­na traf­fick­ing in the East­ern Di­vi­sion; a rob­bery with vi­o­lence and ma­li­cious dam­age in To­ba­go and two rob­beries, one lar­ce­ny and two wound­ings in Port-of-Spain. Read more here

BUSINESS

As corporate culture evolves, it’s a woman’s world.

As four of the most powerful executives in TT, BPTT’s regional president Claire Fitzpatrick, vice president for corporate operations Giselle Thompson, regional director for procurement and supply chain management Camille Boodhai-Kangal and managing counsel Wendy Fae Thompson, epitomise the changing dynamics of corporate culture as it evolves from a place dominated by men to be more diverse and inclusive. Read more here

Eastern Caribbean to launch first-ever digital currency

The is­suance of the world’s first blockchain-based dig­i­tal cur­ren­cy is be­ing launched in the Caribbean. The East­ern Caribbean Cen­tral Bank (EC­CB) and the Bar­ba­dos-based fin­tech com­pa­ny, Bitt Inc. (Bitt) have signed a con­tract to part­ner in this ven­ture and roll out this pi­lot project with­in the East­ern Caribbean Cur­ren­cy Union (EC­CU). The con­tract was signed on Feb­ru­ary 21 and EC­CB’s Cen­tral Bank Dig­i­tal Cur­ren­cy (CB­DC) pi­lot, which is the first of its kind, will in­volve a se­cure­ly mint­ed and is­sued dig­i­tal ver­sion of the EC dol­lar. Pe­ter George, Chair­man of Bitt said: “The sig­nif­i­cance of this for the Caribbean re­gion and through­out the world is that, once this ex­er­cise is com­plet­ed and that first se­cure­ly mint­ed dig­i­tal ver­sion of the EC dol­lar is is­sued and the first trans­ac­tion is done, it will be akin to when the first email was ever sent.” Read more here

REGIONAL

A Matter Of The Heart - Kemoy Campbell’s Date With Destiny

Twenty-six days ago, Kemoy Campbell’s heart stopped. Today, the Jamaican Olympian, who holds the national record in the 3,000m, 5,000m, and 10,000m, is as determined as ever to keep on going. February 9, 2019, started like any other day for the 28-year-old Jamaican athlete. However, at close to 5 p.m., Campbell collapsed while setting the pace in the men’s 3,000m at the Millrose Games in New York City. Read more here

INTERNATIONAL

Brexit: UK urged to submit 'acceptable' backstop remedies

The UK has been urged to submit fresh proposals within the next 48 hours to break the Brexit impasse. EU officials said they would work non-stop over the weekend if "acceptable" ideas were received by Friday to break the deadlock over the Irish backstop. The UK has said "reasonable" proposals to satisfy MPs' concerns about being tied to EU rules had already been made. Chancellor Philip Hammond has warned Brexiteers to vote for the PM's deal or face a delay to Brexit. The PM is seeking legally-enforceable changes to the backstop - an insurance policy designed to prevent physical checks on the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, but there have been few visible signs of progress. Read more here

The message to China behind Singapore's US F-35 jet plan

They are at the cutting-edge of America's elite stealth jet technology, capable of seamlessly connecting pilots for co-ordinated missions. And now Singapore wants to become the fourth country to enmesh US F-35 warplanes above and around the South China Sea -- a move likely to be greeted with trepidation in Beijing. In a speech before Parliament last week, Singaporean Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen announced a plan to buy up to 12 F-35 warplanes from the US. If the deal goes through, Singapore will become the fourth American ally in the Pacific to own them. Read more here

7th March 2019

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