NEWS

Expert: Not if, but when Piparo volcano erupts

There is no doubt that the mud volcano in Piparo will erupt. It may not be today or next week, but it will happen, a team of seismologists from the University of the West Indies said after they conducted tests at the site of the volcano on the weekend. Senior geoscientist at Touchstone Exploration, Xavier Moonan, said the current activity of the volcano was similar to that which they saw in 1997, when it last erupted. “The fractures are continuing to open and these fractures were very close to resembling what happened back on February 3rd, 1997,” he said. Read more here

Beetham trio charged with being gang leaders

Three men have been for­mal­ly charged un­der the An­ti-Gang Leg­is­la­tion fol­low­ing ad­vice from the Di­rec­tor of Pub­lic Pros­e­cu­tions, Roger Gas­pard, to­day. The ac­cused are An­cil Shawn Vil­lafana, aka ‘Chemist’ and ‘Pre­si’ Kevon Isa­iah Franklyn, aka ‘Fat Joe’, all of Beetham Gar­dens, Port of Spain are charged for be­ing lead­ers of a gang con­trary to sec­tion 6(1) (a) of the Act No.1 of 2018. Ad­di­tion­al­ly, An­cil Shawn Vil­lafana, aka ‘Chemist’ and ‘Pre­si’, Kevon Isa­iah Franklyn, aka ‘Fat Joe’ and Keedel Fabi­an Mon­trose, aka ‘Feedel’, have been charged for coun­selling a gang con­trary to sec­tion 9(d) of the Act. The charges were laid by Ag. In­sp. Ram­dass of the Spe­cial In­ves­ti­ga­tions Unit. Read more here

POLITICS

MSJ: We’re no better off under PNM

Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) leader David Abdulah says expect short-term "goodies" in next month's national budget. Speaking to the media at the MSJ's office in San Fernando, yesterday, Abdulah said he did not want to speculate on what to expect on October 7, when Finance Minister presents the 2019/2020 fiscal package. “With Local Government elections due this year, and general elections due next year, it is likely that the Government will use this opportunity to offer increases in various categories of social benefits purely to win votes,” he said. Read more here

Govt moves further on national plan for floods, climate change

While en­dors­ing the need for a "na­tion­al con­ver­sa­tion" on peren­ni­al flood­ing, a re­lease from the Min­istry of Plan­ning and De­vel­op­ment has in­di­cat­ed that the Town and Coun­try Plan­ning Di­vi­sion (TCPD) has tak­en fur­ther steps to cre­ate Spa­tial Plan­ning Guide­lines to guide na­tion­al de­vel­op­ment ac­tiv­i­ties for Cli­mate Change Adap­ta­tion and Flood-prone ar­eas. "These pol­i­cy mea­sures will en­sure ad­e­quate adap­ta­tion to cli­mate change and safe­guard­ing of en­vi­ron­men­tal and com­mu­ni­ty re­sources while em­pha­siz­ing the im­por­tance of pre­serv­ing agri­cul­tur­al lands," the re­lease read. The re­lease ex­plained that this was part of the TCPD's re­view of its guide­lines, stan­dards and poli­cies, in­clud­ing rec­om­mend­ing no-build zones, "to en­sure that de­vel­op­ment takes place with ad­e­quate ref­er­ence to dis­as­ter risk re­duc­tion." Read more here

BUSINESS

TTSEC launches virtual stock market game

The Trinidad and Tobago Securities and Exchange Commission (TTSEC) has developed a virtual stock market game where young adults can practise investing. The game is called Investor Quest TT and was officially launched yesterday, at the Commission’s office, International Waterfront Centre, Port of Spain. Read more here

REGIONAL

DACRES DELIVERS - Nat’l Record Holder Holds Nerve To Bag World Champs Discus Silver

At the 2017 World Championships, Fedrick Dacres entered the ring at the London Olympic Stadium as the second best discus thrower on the planet and a huge favourite for a historic first Jamaican medal in the event. An underwhelming 65.83m best on the day left him back in fourth position and off the podium. History would have to wait. Two years later, the 25-year-old lived up to the expectations of another massively impressive campaign, in which he threw a national record 70.78m earlier this year, to yesterday deliver the country’s first global senior medal in the discus, a silver at the World Championships in Doha. Read more here

INTERNATIONAL

China anniversary: Hong Kong protester shot by live round

An activist involved in anti-Chinese protests in Hong Kong has been shot in the chest, police say. The incident came as thousands of people demonstrated in defiance of a protest ban for the 70th anniversary of Communist rule in China. Though people have been shot by rubber bullets in previous protests, this is the first injury from a live round. Nearly four months of protests in Hong Kong have challenged Chinese President Xi Jinping's vision of national unity. Earlier, the Chinese flag was raised at a special ceremony in the territory. Security was tight and the 12,000 invited guests watched the event on a live video feed from inside a conference centre. Read more here

Trump floundering with impeachment defense

Democrats aimed a fresh dagger at Donald Trump's inner circle by subpoenaing documents from his lawyer Rudy Giuliani, as the President struggled to parry an aggressive impeachment gambit on a day of rapid developments. The President seems to be reeling, waiting for the next blow to fall, defended only by his increasingly unhinged tirades, his tweets quoting supporters on cable news and confrontational and conspiracy-laden appearances by aides on TV. The President's unaccustomed struggle to control the narrative and to get his opponents to respond to his moves bodes ill for any hopes he has of avoiding a full House impeachment vote. There is no sign of the organized, disciplined political and legal strategy that for instance helped Bill Clinton emerge from his impeachment trial as a viable President. Read more here

1st October 2019

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