NEWS

67,867 flu vaccines administered

As of Friday January 17, the Ministry of Health is reporting, the cumulative number of vaccines administered to the public for this flu season is 67,867. Also the number of suspected influenza casEs for the 2020 calendar year is 29 cases. Last year it was 3,755. The number of confirmed influenza deaths for the current flu season, which runs from October 2019 to May 2020, is 39. The ministry, in a release, reiterated that the influenza virus is serious and is generally more severe than the common cold. As such, the flu vaccine is available, at no cost, at all health centres. Read more here

Chamber: T&T in crime crisis

The Trinidad and To­ba­go Cham­ber of In­dus­try and Com­merce has told the gov­ern­ment that the coun­try is in a “cri­sis of crime,” and does not have the “lux­u­ry of time.” In a state­ment is­sued yes­ter­day, it sug­gest­ed that among oth­er things that the gov­ern­ment should seek in­ter­na­tion­al ex­per­tise to as­sist and that a crime cri­sis team be set up to re­view the de­ploy­ment fo all se­cu­ri­ty re­sources in the coun­try. The Cham­ber sug­gest­ed that clos­er to home the gov­ern­ment should seek as­sis­tance from its CARI­COM part­ners who have been suc­cess­ful in deal­ing with sim­i­lar “crime up­surges.” There have al­ready been 26 mur­ders in the first 20 days of the year. Read more here

POLITICS

Chamber: Young should admit ‘crisis of crime’

The TT Chamber of Industry and Commerce said this country is in a "crisis of crime" and urgent action is needed. In a statement to the media on Monday, the chamber said it is "of the opinion that the Minister of National Security (Stuart Young) in his leadership role must acknowledge that we are not just in a difficult situation, but in fact in a crisis regarding crime, and we do not have the luxury of time to deal with it." The chamber said the present state of affairs dictated that urgent action must be taken now. Read more here

PNM Tobago elections: Charles, Tracy in two weeks

Kelvin Charles and Tra­cy David­son-Ce­les­tine will go head to head in a run-off for the lead­er­ship of the To­ba­go Coun­cil of the PNM. The an­nounce­ment was made around 7:30 pm yes­ter­day. This is the sec­ond time that Charles and David­son-Ce­les­tine would be en­gaged in a run-off vote. They chal­lenged each oth­er in the 2016 in­ter­nal elec­tions when Charles was vic­to­ri­ous. Kelvin Charles re­ceived 1,513 votes, Tra­cy David­son-Ce­les­tine got 1,447, Joel Jack 1066 and Dr Denise Tsoiafatt-An­gus 904. Re­sults of oth­er 16 po­si­tions were ex­pect­ed to be re­leased lat­er last night. How­ev­er, the elec­tion had its set of chal­lenges, as count­ing at the var­i­ous polling sta­tions were sus­pend­ed around 4 am on Mon­day, af­ter polling agents worked through the night count­ing thou­sands of bal­lots. Read more here

BUSINESS

Chamber: Act on crime crisis

The Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Commerce is calling on National Security Minister Stuart Young to “acknowledge” that this country is, in fact, in crisis due to crime. Read more here

REGIONAL

‘Big Coincidence’ - CMU Staff Gave Figure And Asked Me To Beat It, Says Boss Of Company Formed When Bids Were Invited

In early 2018, the Caribbean Maritime University (CMU) was getting ready to engage a company to procure specialised materials for the construction of a new $701-million, three-storey student block at its main campus in east Kingston. Around the same time, a new logistics company was being incorporated in the state of Florida, in the United States (US), according to the findings of a special audit of the scandal-scarred university. Read more here

Presidency condemns Ramsammy

The Ministry of the Presidency (MOTP), on Monday, condemned former Agriculture Minister, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy for deliberately attempting to draw the good name of President David Granger into disrepute by peddling false and misleading information. MOTP is now demanding an apology. Dr. Ramsammy, who served under the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) at a time when Sugar Industry was on the verge of collapse, in an article titled ‘Dishonesty, indecency and no integrity are hallmarks of the Granger-led APNU+AFC,’ chronicled a series of falsehoods about President Granger. These falsehoods were published in the Letter columns in the January 18, 2020 Edition of the Kaieteur News and as an editorial, published in the January 16, 2020 Edition of the Citizens’ Report. Read more here

INTERNATIONAL

Trump's team thought Ukraine was an easy mark. It was a bad miscalculation

It was the worst street corner for a drug deal. US President Donald Trump's acolytes felt perhaps that Ukraine -- whose name means "borderland," and whose loss of the definite article just three decades ago began its post-Soviet nationhood -- was an easy place for a shakedown. Addled by corruption and poverty, it may have seemed accustomed -- even open -- to explicit acts of what some would later call bribery. A pushover. As Trump's impeachment trial begins Tuesday -- launched after a months-long pressure campaign to get Ukraine to investigate a political rival -- it's obvious this was a glaring miscalculation. Read more here

New China virus: Warning against cover-up as number of cases jump

China's top leaders have warned lower-level officials not to cover up the spread of a new coronavirus that has now infected nearly 300 people. Anyone who concealed new cases would "be nailed on the pillar of shame for eternity", the political body responsible for law and order said. The warning came as state media said six people had now died from the virus, which causes a type of pneumonia. It's been confirmed the virus can pass from person to person. The World Health Organization (WHO) will on Wednesday consider declaring an international public health emergency over the virus - as it did with swine flu and Ebola. Such a declaration, if made, will be seen as an urgent call for a co-ordinated international response. Read more here

21st January 2020

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