NEWS
Police, PCA probe police killing of prison officer
The police and the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) have launched investigations into a police shooting in Chaguanas last week in which two people, one of them a prison officer, were killed. Newsday understands prison officer Joel Ramsundar and Venezuelan Alejandro Gonzales were at a house on John Street, at around 4.30 am last Wednesday when police from the Central Division's Gang Intelligence Unit went to the house to search for guns and ammunition. Read more here
Ex-Children’s Authority head wants end to corporal punishment
As the stresses of COVID-19 continue to bear on many, former Children’s Authority chairman Hanif Benjamin is making a demand for corporal punishment, even at the hands of parents, to be made illegal in this country. During an interview with Guardian Media, Benjamin said the beating of children, or licks as we see in local parlance, was something T&T must eradicate. Read more here
POLITICS
Rambharat: First Peoples may build their own school
Minister of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries Clarence Rambharat says the creation of a school by and for TT’s First Peoples is possible. He said the group has already said its 25 acres of land will include education programmes. Rambharat announced this at UWI’s virtual symposium Our First Peoples – Leading us Toward Environmentally Sound and Sustainable Communities, on Monday morning. Read more here
Hosein: Illegal procedures used for property valuations
Government’s Valuation Division is using illegal procedures to assess people’s properties such as use of stamp duty and also having assessors standing outside properties on the curb taking pictures to assess the property’s fixtures and facets, UNC MP Barataria San Juan MP Saddam Hosein said yesterday. Hosein, an attorney stressed the point during yesterday’s Parliament debate of the 2021 Budget. He slammed the division’s modus operandi of doing property tax valuation. Government has said the tax will be collected this fiscal year. Read more here
BUSINESS
Republic Bank signs onto UN Principles for Responsible Banking
Republic Financial Holdings Limited (RFHL) has become an official signatory of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Banking—a single framework for a sustainable banking industry developed through a partnership with banks worldwide and the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI). In a statement, RFHL explained the Principles for Responsible Banking set out the banking industry’s role and responsibility in shaping a sustainable future and aligns the banking sector with the objectives of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. Read more here
Bar operators want Covid restrictions lifted
The Barkeepers and Operators Association (BOATT) wants Government to lift restrictions on bars and restaurants. Read more here
REGIONAL
$25,000 COVID-19 relief rolls out in Reg. Six
The Government yesterday commenced distribution of its $25,000 COVID-19 relief grant to residents of five Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) and one Municipality in Region Six, East Berbice Corentyne. Residents in the Municipality of Corriverton along with those in the communities of Crabwood Creek, 52/74, 51/Good Hope, Macedonia/Joppa and Maida/ Tarlogie benefitted from the grant while residents of the remaining communities will receive theirs during the course of the week. Read more here
Education Ministry To Use New 1spotEXTRA Platforms To Transmit Classes
The Education Ministry has engaged the RJRGLEANER Communications Group to help students access classes. The lessons will be transmitted through the new platforms 1spotEXTRA1 and 1spotEXTRA2, which will be called School Time and School Time Maths while they are being used by the Education Ministry. RJRGLEANER Communications Group said the channels will each deliver 24 hours of content for students in live and recorded formats. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Trump mocks virus as he launches potential superspreader sprint to win reelection
Donald Trump on Monday launched a three-week quest to save his presidency, behaving as though the pandemic that has killed 215,000 Americans was already a memory in front of a packed-in crowd -- even amid chilling new warnings about the resurgent virus. In his first rally since his own bout with Covid-19, Trump painted a deeply dishonest picture of the nation's battle with the disease, mocked former Vice President Joe Biden over social distancing and vowed victory on November 3 as he began a frantic push to Election Day, marked by multiple rallies a day that could act as superspreader events. Read more here
Covid reinfection: Man gets Covid twice and second hit 'more severe'
A man in the United States has caught Covid twice, with the second infection becoming far more dangerous than the first, doctors report. The 25-year-old needed hospital treatment after his lungs could not get enough oxygen into his body. Reinfections remain rare and he has now recovered. But the study in the Lancet Infectious Diseases raises questions about how much immunity can be built up to the virus. The man from Nevada had no known health problems or immune defects that would make him particularly vulnerable to Covid. Read more here
13th October 2020