NEWS

Help load dump trucks

Despite his home and office being flooded out Friday night, Kelly Village/Warrenville councillor Samuel Sankar was out on the field attending to distressed villagers. Yesterday Sankar said he lost a computer, electronic items and important documents in his office while his home was inundated with flood waters. However it did not deter him from attending to the needs of the more than 10,000 people who were severely affected by the devastating floods last weekend. Read more here

Point residents block roads in early morning protest

Scores of res­i­dents from Point Fortin and en­vi­rons who make the dai­ly jour­ney to San Fer­nan­do for work and school were left strand­ed ear­li­er this morn­ing af­ter taxi dri­vers and res­i­dents staged fiery protests that blocked the main road­ways. Point Fortin/San Fer­nan­do Taxi Dri­vers’ As­so­ci­a­tion pres­i­dent John David said around 30 taxi dri­vers turned up at the taxi hub along Main­field Road this morn­ing but re­fused to make the 90-minute long trip to San Fer­nan­do. David said many com­muters re­turned home while some were able to ac­cess oth­er modes of trans­porta­tion. He said the as­so­ci­a­tion al­so got sup­port from PH taxi dri­vers and vil­lagers of Union Vil­lage, La Brea, who cut trees and blocked the road to en­sure that the protest got at­ten­tion. How­ev­er, po­lice re­spond­ed and the road was re­opened. Read more here

Couva Gov't Secondary's amazing success

Seven years ago Ruqayyah Scott stood in the morning assembly at her Couva East Secondary School and listened to national scholarship winner deliver an inspiring speech. In Scott, it left a desire to excel. On Monday, this became a reality when Scott, along with two other schoolmates, stood before their school’s assembly and delivered her own motivational speech. The school held an celebratory function for the national scholars where they each gave inspiring words of thanks and advice to their school. Read more here

POLITICS

No government reaction…

With no response to their protest earlier this month, Point Fortin to San Fernando taxi drivers withheld their services for another day yesterday, to draw attention to their deplorable road conditions. Association president John David said three weeks after they wrote to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, Works Minister Rohan Sinanan, Point Fortin MP, Housing Minister Edmund Dillon, MP for La Brea Nicolle Olivierre and Public Utilities Minister Robert Le Hunt appealing for their road to be fixed, the situation remains the same. “This is disrespectful. The only person who responded was Olivierre. She acknowledged receipt of the letter and said she was working together with the Works Ministry to get the job done, but that is just mamaguy. Read more here

BUSINESS

Banks focus on diversification

The steps banks are tak­ing to gear up for dig­i­tal­i­sa­tion and the sup­port that is be­ing made avail­able to small­er-scale busi­ness­es op­er­at­ing in the non-oil econ­o­my were among the top­ics ex­plored by Nigel M. Bap­tiste, pres­i­dent and CEO of Re­pub­lic Fi­nan­cial Hold­ings Lim­it­ed, in a wide-rang­ing in­ter­view he gave to Ox­ford Busi­ness Group’s on­line broad­cast­ing chan­nel, Glob­al Plat­form. In the in­ter­view, which is now avail­able to view in full at https://ox­ford­busi­ness­group.com/video/nigel-m-bap­tiste-pres­i­dent-and-ceo-re­pub­lic-fi­nan­cial-hold­ings, Bap­tiste high­light­ed the healthy liq­uid­i­ty lev­els of the coun­try’s banks. Read more here

REGIONAL

Firefight - Bunting Blasts Sinclair Over Questions About Issuance Of Licence For Gun Range

Labelling Government Senator Charles Sinclair as "an idiot", former minister of national security Peter Bunting has responded with disdain to a call for him to tell the country what he knows about a firearm dealer's licence issued to the operator of a local gun range in 2015, despite objections from the National Intelligence Bureau. A strident Bunting made it clear that if he had skeletons in his closet, he could not have been "so assertive against the Labourites". "I exposed the Caricel licence, the JCF (Jamaica Constabulary Force) used-car scandal, the FLA (Firearm Licensing Authority) issue, requiring the previous board to resign. I was the first to challenge (Andrew) Wheatley in Parliament on Petroscam. Seriously?" Bunting said, countering Sinclair's assertion. Read more here

INTERNATIONAL

WWF report: Mass wildlife loss caused by human consumption

"Exploding human consumption" has caused a massive drop in the global wildlife population in recent decades, the WWF conservation group says.

In a report, the charity says losses in vertebrate species - mammals, fish, birds, amphibians and reptiles - averaged 60% between 1970 and 2014. "Earth is losing biodiversity at a rate seen only during mass extinctions," the WWF's Living Planet Report adds. It urges policy makers to set new targets for sustainable development. The Living Planet Report, published every two years, aims to assess the state of the world's wildlife. Read more here

Lion Air crash: Indonesia to inspect all Boeing 737 Max 8 planes

Indonesia has ordered an inspection of all Boeing 737 Max 8 planes belonging to national commercial airlines, a day after Lion Air flight 610 crashed into the sea minutes after takeoff from the capital Jakarta, killing all 189 people on board. Speaking to CNN by phone Tuesday, transportation ministry official Capt. Avirianto said Lion Air currently has 11 of the models in its fleet while national carrier Garuda Indonesia has one. "We have inspected Garuda last night while Lion is still in progress," he said, adding that the ministry hopes to inspect at least three of Lion Air's planes Tuesday night and the other eight soon. It is unclear whether the Garuda aircraft passed the inspection. Read more here

30th October 2018

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