NEWS

Digicel shortlisted for international award

Digicel has been shortlisted four times in three categories at the World Communications Awards, which take place in London, England, on October 30. In a release, Digicel said its Dominica CEO Nikima Royer Jno Baptiste was shortlisted in the Women in Telecoms category for her phenomenal work and leadership in the aftermath of category five Hurricane Maria, which ravaged Dominica in 2017. Digicel also scored a shortlisting in the best operator in an emerging market category for its work to connect the unconnected in Papua New Guinea. Read more here

Troubled Life of a Teen Killer

At the weekend, the public was shocked by news that a pregnant mother of three, Alistra Mack-Kampo, had been fatally chopped by a close teenage male relative, with most condemning the alleged offender. However, one person sought to present a different view, posting to Facebook yesterday that the alleged killer, said to be a 19-year-old, had been depressed and frustrated at having to parent his younger siblings. Read more here

POLITICS

Moonilal warns of arrests of religious leaders, political opponents

After the detention of Tobago House of Assembly (THA) minority leader Watson Duke by the police for questioning, Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal is warning that more arrests are to come. “I warn you, watch for arrests of religious leaders, political opponents,” Moonilal told a packed audience at the United National Congress (UNC) Monday night forum at the Debe High School. He said this was a sign of a totalitarian government. “As I speak to you now, trade union leader and minority leader in the THA Watson Duke is being questioned by the police.” Read more here

Kamla warns of possible fuel shortages

Op­po­si­tion Leader Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar says the Prime Min­is­ter's re­cent 'at­tack' on pub­lic ser­vants could be an in­di­ca­tion that he plans to fire them. Speak­ing at the UNC's Mon­day night fo­rum, Per­sad-Bisses­sar said the gov­ern­ment is find­ing it dif­fi­cult to find mon­ey to pay pub­lic ser­vants be­cause Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley had shut down Petrotrin with­out cre­at­ing new av­enues for rev­enue gen­er­a­tion. She pre­dict­ed a dire fu­ture say­ing there will al­so be fu­el short­ages be­cause of the mis­han­dling of T&T's pe­tro­le­um re­sources. "Dr Row­ley says pub­lic ser­vants are lazy. He den­i­grates pub­lic ser­vice. In every crop of peo­ple, there is good, bad and in­dif­fer­ent. Why he comes now to say pub­lic ser­vants lazy? Read more here

BUSINESS

New oil chairmen meet management

Trinidad Petroleum Holdings Ltd’s (TPHL) newly appointed chairman Michael Quamina said the company and its subsidiaries would continue working towards becoming sustainably profitable. Quamina and Newman George met with members of the TPHL management teams to get an overview of the operations and business update. Last week Energy Minister Franklin Khan announced that Quamina is the new chairman of TPHL as well as two of its subsidiaries—Heritage Petroleum Company Ltd and Petrotrin Company of Trinidad and Tobago Ltd (legacy company). Read more here

REGIONAL

Rescue Mission - Papine High Moves To Bring Students Suffering From Trauma Of Violence Back From The Brink

Administrators at the St Andrew-based Papine High School and neighbouring August Town Primary School have been forced to arrange counselling and other interventions for dozens of students afflicted by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental health disorders. The situation is directly linked to gang violence, which has resulted in a majority of the students losing a close relative – many times a father – to warring factions in the communities in which they live. “The situation is compounded in that you have instances where in some classes, you have students on opposing sides. In other words, you have the survivors of the victims’ families and the perpetrators’ families sharing the same classroom,” said a source who alerted The Gleaner to the situation. Read more here

INTERNATIONAL

Amazon fires: Brazil to reject G7 offer of $22m aid

The Brazilian government has said it will reject an offer of aid from G7 countries to help tackle fires in the Amazon rainforest. French President Emmanuel Macron - who hosted a G7 summit that ended on Monday - said $22m (£18m) would be released. But Brazilian ministers say the money is not needed and accuse foreign powers of wanting control of the Amazon. Satellite data shows fires - mostly in the Amazon - are burning at record levels. Commenting on the G7 offer of aid, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's chief of staff, Onyx Lorenzoni, told the Globo news website: "Thanks, but maybe those resources are more relevant to reforest Europe. Read more here

Indonesia's capital city isn't the only one sinking

Indonesia has said the country would be relocating its capital city, in part because it's sinking into the Java Sea. Jakarta is one of the fastest sinking cities in the world, according to the World Economic Forum, due to rising sea levels and the over-extraction of groundwater. But it isn't the only city in trouble. Here's a look at some others that are also at risk. Read more here

27th August 2019

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