NEW

MSJ supports legal marijuana

The Movement for Social Justice (MSJ), will be very involved with the mobilisation and with solidarity with organisations that have been calling for the legalisation of marijuana. Speaking at the MSJ headquarters on Lord Street, San Fernando, yesterday, MSJ leader David Abdulah said it was through public pressure that government was going to move on the issue of legalising marijuana. “Medical marijuana can be effective in treating ailments such as asthma and epilepsy.” He pointed out that MSJ activist Daniel George began a walk a few days ago symbolically from his home in Point Fortin to San Fernando in order to highlight the need for the country to have available medical marijuana. Read more here

Police seek help identifying man in money video

The Po­lice Ser­vice is look­ing for a man who was pic­tured in a video among sev­er­al per­sons sift­ing through thou­sands of dol­lars of lo­cal cur­ren­cy. The video which was shared ex­ten­sive­ly on so­cial me­dia on Mon­day. The video de­picts men shift­ing stacks of mon­ey scat­tered on the floor of a room, while some­one records video of their ac­tions as one of the men states, “Lewwe start to check like mon­ey ma­chine right now.” Sev­er­al of the bills were bun­dled to­geth­er with rub­ber bands and pa­per straps. While sev­er­al voic­es in the video can be heard, on­ly one man’s face is briefly seen in the video. One man is heard re­fer­ring to an­oth­er as “Top dog”. Read more here

POLITICS

Charles: Successes not highlighted enough

Although the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) election is constitutionally due in 2021, Chief Secretary Kelvin Charles believes the work that has been undertaken by the PNM-led assembly since it assumed office in 2017, resonates with objective-minded Tobagonians. However, he believes the media has erred in not presenting as often as it should, the positive developments of his administration. "What needs to be said more forcefully and I have said it may times, when dog bites man, that eh news but when man bites dog, that is news," he said last Wednesday during a news conference at Mt Irvine Bay Resort. Read more here

Manning urges women to empower others

For­mer ed­u­ca­tion min­is­ter Hazel Man­ning has urged women to de­vel­op high moral stan­dards by im­prov­ing their spir­i­tu­al­i­ty as a means of un­lock­ing self-em­pow­er­ment. Speak­ing at a Women’s Break­fast sem­i­nar held by The Lead­er­ship Firm ti­tled When Women Roar, Man­ning said it was im­por­tant for women to ex­am­ine their per­son­al­i­ty traits, find their weak­ness­es and work on achiev­ing their full po­ten­tial. She said women should eval­u­ate their per­son­al­i­ty type, find their pas­sion, em­brace their pur­pose and make spir­i­tu­al­i­ty the foun­da­tion of their lives as they jug­gle nu­mer­ous re­spon­si­bil­i­ties as­so­ci­at­ed with dai­ly life. “I was born shy and in hind­sight, I re­alised that my moth­er un­der­stood I was nat­u­ral­ly shy and she took mea­sures to em­pow­er me to build con­fi­dence in my­self. She coached me through many chal­lenges. As I ma­tured I be­came ex­posed and read more on the top­ic of lead­er­ship,” Man­ning re­called. Read more here

BUSINESS

Budgeted money not being paid out

Independent Senator Sophia Chote has raised alarm over the monies allocated in national budgets that are not being paid out to departments of the Government. She cited examples noting that millions were allocated to the police service and the judiciary yet they are still suffering from lack of resources because while the monies were allocated, the amounts were not being paid to them to run their operations. Read more here

REGIONAL

Truck Tragedy - Out-Of-Control Unit Crushes 7-Y-O To Death In Freak Accident At School

Gwenda Griffiths was sweeping the schoolyard on what she thought would have been just another ordinary Monday afternoon. But in a flash, she watched as Seymour Benjamin, a seven-year-old student of Clan Carthy Primary, was mowed down by a garbage truck in a bizarre series of events that plunged the school into shock and grief. Griffiths recalled as she saw the garbage truck that had come to retrieve refuse suddenly set into motion, killing young Seymour and injuring others. The truck, which The Gleaner understands is owned by a private contractor, overturned shortly after slamming into a taxi that was parked on the school grounds, pinning the boy down while he waited for a ride home. One of his hands was severed. Read more here

INTERNATIONAL

Labour to back early general election

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn says his party will support an early general election as the government makes its pitch for a poll on 12 December. Mr Corbyn said his condition of taking a no-deal Brexit off the table had "now been met" after the EU agreed to extend the deadline to 31 January 2020. Shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon said Labour wanted Boris Johnson "out before Christmas", but did not confirm his party's preferred poll date. MPs will vote on timings later. The SNP and Liberal Democrats want a 9 December poll, saying it would prevent the prime minister from pushing his Brexit deal through Parliament. The government bill published ahead of the Commons debate is for an early election on 12 December. But No 10 sources have told the BBC they would accept 11 December to get opposition parties on-board. Read more here

Photos highlight stark differences in Trump and Obama approaches

The execution and aftermath of the raids that took down Osama bin Laden and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi were as different as the presidents overseeing them. But in one area they converged: Barack Obama and Donald Trump both wanted to watch. How each leader handled the defining moment says as much about their mindset as it does their foreign policy. Before, during and after the raids that took down two highly sought terrorists, Obama and Trump adopted divergent approaches and were met with different reactions from the American public. Both recognized, however, the weight the moments carried for their legacy. And both wanted to see it happen. Read more here

29th October 2019

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