NEWS

Cancer Society, CIBC tackle prostate cancer

September will not only be recognised as the month of prostate cancer awareness. It will also mark the eighth Walk for the Cure event held by the CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank (CIBC). The event, held in partnership with the Cancer Society, is a 5k run and walk geared towards the awareness and education of prostate cancer in TT and will be held on September 14 at 4 pm at the Queen’s Park Savannah. Read more here

Mom chopped to death while son, 8, sleeps

Weary and fed up of the re­la­tion­ship she had en­tered in­to as a child, Re­pub­lic Bank teller Neisha Cyleane Sankar pon­dered the start a new life. How­ev­er, this was not to be as she was sav­age­ly hacked to death by her hus­band Har­richa­ran Ram­sun­dar while their eight-year-old son slept in an­oth­er room ear­ly Monday. By 3 pm yes­ter­day, hours af­ter a man­hunt was ini­ti­at­ed for his cap­ture, un­der­tak­ers were re­mov­ing Ram­sun­dar’s corpse af­ter South West­ern Di­vi­sion po­lice found him hang­ing in a gar­den, sev­er­al hun­dred me­tres be­hind their home along Phu­lo Dri­ve, Siparia. A rel­a­tive said Sankar, 29, and Ram­sun­dar, 45, a labour­er, had been hav­ing mar­i­tal prob­lems and she had not been home since Fri­day. Neigh­bours told po­lice that around 6.10 am, they heard Sankar scream­ing and saw Ram­sun­dar chop­ping her with a cut­lass. They told po­lice that af­ter his sav­age at­tack on Sankar, Ram­sum­dar then ran in­to the bush­es with a piece of rope in his hand. Read more here

POLITICS

‘My people in Tobago need me’

From November 30, Watson Duke will no longer be president of the Public Services Association (PSA). An emotional Duke made the announcement while fighting tears yesterday at his Abercromby Street, Port of Spain, office days after facing sedition charges. Although he did not say who would be replacing him come the end of November, he said he would be stepping down to focus on leading the Progressive Democratic Patriots political party, and would become a full-time representative in the Tobago House of Assembly (THA). “My people in Tobago need me. I have been short-changing them,” Duke said. “I need to do more for them. I need to represent them wherever they are struggling in life.” Read more here

Kamla wants sedition law revoked, immediately

Op­po­si­tion Leader Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar is call­ing for the sedi­tion law to be im­me­di­ate­ly re­pealed. She made the call while speak­ing at a Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress Mon­day Night Fo­rum at the Preysal High School. Last Thurs­day Mi­nor­i­ty Leader of the To­ba­go House of As­sem­bly and PSA leader Wat­son Duke was charged with one count of sedi­tion for state­ments he made re­gard­ing any pro­posed re­trench­ment at WASA. Ad­dress­ing the crowd Per­sad-Bisses­sar said free­dom of speech is one of the great­est free­doms we have as a peo­ple. She said it is not that the law is old but it was cre­at­ed by colo­nial mas­ters to si­lence peo­ple of colour dur­ing slav­ery. Read more here

BUSINESS

Heritage gets new interim CEO

The Heritage board yesterday announced the appointment of an interim chief executive officer (CEO), pending the recruitment of a permanent CEO to replace Mike Wylie. She is oil industry veteran Arlene Chow, who assumed responsibilities at the State-owned oil company yesterday. Read more here

REGIONAL

‘Like A Monster’ - Fate Of Hundreds Of J’cans Uncertain As Hurricane Dorian Pummels The Bahamas; Florida Battens Down

As Hurricane Dorian battered The Bahamas yesterday, leaving a trail of death and devastation in its wake, there was uncertainty about the fate of roughly 1,000 Jamaicans living in the badly devastated Abaco Islands. Bahamian Prime Minister Hubert Minnis yesterday confirmed at least five deaths as the weather system slowly moved across the archipelago, drenching neighbourhoods and pummelling them with wind, leaving some neighbourhoods under several feet of water. The Abaco Islands, which has sustained the most damage, is the third most popular area of residence by Jamaicans in the country – behind Nassau and Freeport – with approximately 1,000 Jamaicans living there. Read more here

INTERNATIONAL

Eastbound lanes of Georgia's Interstate 16 shut down for Hurricane Dorian evacuations

Eastbound lanes of Interstate 16 are closed for Hurricane Dorian evacuations, Georgia's Department of Transportation tweeted Tuesday. "No go eastbound on I-16 past Exit 39," the tweet read. "You must get off and find another route. #HurricaneDorian #evacuation #TrafficUpdate" The westbound lanes are open ahead of Hurricane Dorian.  Read more here

Brexit: Boris Johnson faces showdown in Parliament

The PM faces a showdown in Parliament later as MPs aim to take control of the agenda to stop a no-deal Brexit. Ex-chancellor and Tory rebel Philip Hammond said he thought there was enough support for the bill, seeking to delay the UK's exit date, to pass. No 10 officials warned the prime minister would push for an election on 14 October if the government lost. Boris Johnson said he did not want an election, but progress with the EU would be "impossible" if MPs won. To call an election under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act, Mr Johnson would need support from Labour as he requires the backing of two-thirds of the UK's 650 MPs to trigger a poll. Read more here

3rd September 2019

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