NEWS

Hefty fines for child abusers, a good decision

Yesterday’s gas hike did not go down well with many commuters in San Fernando, but they found solace in the hefty fines slapped on child abusers. “I find it should triple instead of double. I have children and the amount of crimes being committed against children, it is wrong,” said Paula Samuel of Princes Town. Finance Minister Colm Imbert in his 2019 budget presentation, announced a 100 per cent increase in all fines relating to offences under the Children Act. He said 14,581 cases of child abuse were reported to the Children’s Authority over a three-year period. Read more here

Rough seas claim Marabella homes

Rough waves swept an el­der­ly cou­ple's home in­to the sea and dam­aged an­oth­er at the beach-front com­mu­ni­ty of West Bayshore, Mara­bel­la over the week­end. While the el­der­ly cou­ple was forced to seek refuge by their son in Clax­ton Bay, their daugh­ter who lives next door with her four chil­dren is fear­ful that her home might face a sim­i­lar fate. Seema Ho­sein, a do­mes­tic work­er, said it was the first time in the 17 years that she ever ex­pe­ri­enced such tur­bu­lent waves. She re­called that the around 1 pm on Sat­ur­day, large waves be­gan smash­ing against her par­ents' house as well hers. Read more here

Taxi drivers, commuters feel the pinch

“What do you want us to do? Bawl?” This was the reaction yesterday of a Port of Spain-to-Sangre Grande taxi driver, following Finance Minister Colm Imbert’s announcement of a $1 increase in the price per litre of super gasoline. Read more here

POLITICS

Small Man Budget

Finance Minister Colm Imbert titled yesterday’s budget for fiscal year 2019 “a genuine economic turnaround,” signalling a sustained shift from economic stagnation to growth, but drivers faced with an immediate additional $1 per litre for super gasoline might not share his optimism. The fuel price adjustment was expected as he had said as much in last year’s budget, but Imbert attempted to temper the blow maintaining a steady diesel fuel price as government’s attempt to “slow down the complete deregulation of fuel prices in order to ease the burden on taxpayers.” Read more here

Govt penalising the poor, says Bartlett

Say­ing gov­ern­ment is con­tin­u­ing to pe­nal­ize the poor, pres­i­dent of the San Fer­nan­do Busi­ness As­so­ci­a­tion Daphne Bartlett yes­ter­day lament­ed that the 2018/2019 fis­cal bud­get has lit­tle sup­port for farm­ers and small busi­ness own­ers. In an in­ter­view, Bartlett said she ex­pect­ed more to be said on agri­cul­tur­al di­ver­si­fi­ca­tion, not­ing that the $1 in­crease in the price of su­per fu­el, will hit farm­ers and oth­er cit­i­zens hard in their pock­ets. “Who buys pre­mi­um fu­el? The rich who can af­ford it. The poor­er and mid­dle class­es use su­per and once gas prices go up, every­thing goes up. We can ex­pect to see more prob­lems ahead,” Bartlett said. Read more here

Khan makes a case for CNG

The increase in super gasoline had absolutely nothing to do with the closing of the Petrotrin refinery, says Energy Minister Franklin Khan. Read more here

BUSINESS

THA gets $2.229b in budget

Finance Minister Colm Imbert yesterday announced the budgetary allocation to the Tobago House of Assembly for fiscal 2019 is $2.229 billion, of which, $1.979 billion would be for recurrent expenditure, $231.63 million for capital expenditure and $18 million for the Unemployment Relief Programme (URP). Read more here

REGIONAL

Crime Stop Devastated By Cop's Murder

Mellissa Edwards-Whyte would have celebrated her 46th birthday yesterday. "Next week, she would have travelled overseas for her daughter's wedding. She was the mother to the children of other Crime Stop counsellors. She volunteered and could be depended on to provide food for the night-shift workers, especially on Saturday and Sunday nights, whether it was her shift, or those leaving other shifts," is how Prudence Gentles, manager at Crime Stop, remembers Edwards-Whyte. The district constable from Farmbrook Avenue, Patrick City, in St Andrew, was chopped to death on Saturday night, allegedly at the hands of her husband. He is now on the run. Read more here

INTERNATIONAL

Indonesia tsunami: Death toll rises to nearly 1,350

The number of people known to have died in Indonesia in Friday's earthquake and tsunami has risen to 1,347, the country's disaster response agency says. The death toll jumped on Tuesday from a previous confirmed figure of 844. The 7.5-magnitude quake struck just off the central island of Sulawesi, setting off a tsunami that engulfed the coastal city of Palu. People there are growing increasingly desperate for food, fuel and water. Read more here

Donald Trump's DC is a dangerous global distraction

Thousands of miles from Washington, the ugly spectacle of America's body politic writhing in its own divisions is having unexpected consequences. Countries like Poland, whose right-wing leader Andrzej Duda is among Trump's emerging roster of international friends, are paying attention and possibly picking up tips. The US Supreme Court nomination process has put the world's most powerful -- and often emulated -- nation where no stable democracy would want to be. Simmering political tensions erupted in unprecedented, vile and vicious rancor. Read more here

2nd October 2018

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