NEWS

Kidnap Call From Prison

The man who is believed to have orchestrated the daring, daylight kidnapping last week of UWI manager Maria Dass-Supersad, at the St Augustine campus, did so from behind prison walls. National Security intelligence sources said this prisoner is suspected of running an illegal operation from his prison cell and has a group of people on the outside carrying out illegal activities on his behalf, in return for cold, hard cash. Investigators used technology to get information about the prisoner’s involvement in last week’s kidnapping and he and four other prisoners are expected to be investigated. Read more here

Missing boy, 13, found dead near home

Homi­cide and se­nior Cen­tral Di­vi­sion of­fi­cers were at Cashew Gar­dens, Long­denville, late last night where the body of miss­ing 13-year-old Joash Pan­tin was found. Pan­tin’s body was found in some bush­es a few me­tres away from his home in an area known as “Cashew on the Hill” around 8 pm. Speak­ing with the T&T Guardian last night a res­i­dent, who wished not to be named, said she knew Pan­tin well. She said the chil­dren in the com­mu­ni­ty said they last saw him on Sat­ur­day when he went to the com­mu­ni­ty cen­tre to play foot­ball, a rou­tine for him. The res­i­dent said Pan­tin came from a hum­ble home. Read more here

POLITICS

Govt waiting for new DCP list early next year

None of the six senior police officers whose names appear in an order of merit list for the post of Deputy Commissioner will be selected for the three vacant positions. Sources said Government is waiting until the list is exhausted in January next year and the post will be advertised and a new selection process held. Well-placed sources said the government is keen on simplifying the selection process to avoid a lengthy timeframe for appointing a commissioner and deputies. Read more here

Senate debates Tax Bill today

The In­come Tax (Amend­ment) Bill is head­ing for de­bate in the Sen­ate on Tues­day with Op­po­si­tion con­cerns still loom­ing, par­tic­u­lar­ly over the way it was passed in the Low­er House last Fri­day. “The way the Bill was passed shows that Prime Min­is­ter Kei­th Row­ley was right last Fri­day when he told the Op­po­si­tion Leader that day there was no dead­line for the Bill. “But Gov­ern­ment knew this all along and their ap­proach on this made us waste a lot of time re­cent­ly when we could have com­plet­ed every­thing and passed the en­tire Bill,” Op­po­si­tion Sen­a­tor Sad­dam Ho­sein said yes­ter­day. Read more here

BUSINESS

Heritage CEO surveys start-up from ground

Her­itage Pe­tro­le­um Com­pa­ny CEO Mike Wi­ley was “on the ground” yes­ter­day vis­it­ing San­ta Flo­ra lo­ca­tions to en­sure the se­cu­ri­ty of in­stal­la­tions as the com­pa­ny be­gan work. Trinidad Pe­tro­le­um Hold­ings Com­pa­ny (TPHC) chair­man Wil­fred Es­pinet con­firmed the sit­u­a­tion to the T&T Guardian fol­low­ing Wi­ley’s first of­fi­cial day of op­er­a­tions. On yes­ter­day’s over­all start-up of op­er­a­tions of the re­struc­tured en­ti­ty, fol­low­ing the of­fi­cial shut­down of Petrotrin last Fri­day, Es­pinet said, “There was no in­ter­rup­tion of op­er­a­tions and the tran­si­tion went off with­out event. The re­spec­tive planned ac­tiv­i­ty of all the new com­pa­nies went off with­out hitch and we’re now con­cen­trat­ing on en­sur­ing that these op­er­a­tions are at the lev­el of ef­fi­cien­cy they were de­signed for.” Read more here

PM: Hard decisions needed on CSME

Prime Minister Keith Rowley has implored Caricom members to make a firm decision on the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME). Read more here

REGIONAL

Social Media Divide - Experts Disagree Over Role Of Online Posts In Job Placement

The jury seems to still be out as to whether social-media postings can affect an individual's prospects for employment. Although experts locally and internationally continue to warn young people to be careful about what they post on their social-media platforms, as this could harm their chances of getting a job, there are opposing views on its actual impact. David Wan, president of the Jamaica Employers' Federation (JEF), is of the view that, based on his interactions with some employers islandwide, an individual's qualifications and experience are still the core deciding factors for employment. Read more here

INTERNATIONAL

Mueller may be poised to lift the lid of his investigation

America may get its most intimate look yet inside Robert Mueller's secretive Russia investigation in the next four days, with a series of disclosures that have the potential to be greatly damaging for President Donald Trump. Court filings focusing on Trump's first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, on Tuesday and his ex-campaign chairman Paul Manafort on Friday could offer tantalizing new details of Mueller's deep dive into the 2016 campaign. Read more here

France fuel protests: PM Philippe 'to halt fuel tax rise'

The French government will suspend a fuel tax rise which has led to weeks of violent protests, local media report. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said he would present "gestures of appeasement" in a TV address to prevent the situation from deteriorating. The protests have hit major French cities, causing considerable damage for the past three weekends. The "gilets jaunes" (yellow vests) protests have now grown to reflect more widespread anger at the government. Three people have died since the unrest began and the resulting violence and vandalism - notably when statues were smashed at the Arc de Triomphe last Saturday - have been widely condemned. Read more here

4th December 2018

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