NEWS
Green Fund underutilised
The Green Fund is vastly underutilised. This is the contention of Senior Technical Officer, Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI), Anna Cadiz-Hadeed, who was one of the presenters at the recent Tobago Environmental Partnership Conference. Cadiz-Hadeed’s presentation assessed the contributions of civil society organisations in fulfilling the objectives of the Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) to which TT is a signatory. Cadiz-Hadeed, who is also a consultant with the Ministry of Planning and Development, revealed there is over $6 billion in the Green Fund, according to the latest Auditor General’s report in September 2018. She said of that sum, over $373 million has, to date, been allocated to 23 projects. Read more here
Wedding food for socially displaced
“We did not really want to make it a public event that we did for likes or whatever the case may be. We did it from the bottom of our hearts because it is something we do on a regular basis,” said Crystal Paltoo. This is not a story that Paltoo and her new husband Michael Chong-Kiaw wanted to tell, but it is a story that has taken on a life of its own. Just after midnight on Sunday, photographs of Paltoo, still in her wedding dress, and Chong-Kiaw, with his shirt sleeves rolled up, were posted on Facebook showing the newly-wed couple feeding the socially displaced with food from their wedding. Read more here
POLITICS
Imbert congratulates Trinidad Petroleum
Finance Minister Colm Imbert yesterday congratulated Trinidad Petroleum Holdings Ltd (TPHL) for securing conditional commitments to refinance Petrotrin’s US$850 million bond issue. In a tweet, Imbert said the repayment of the bond issue is due in August. “This Petrotrin debt was not guaranteed by the Government.” Imbert also said the refinancing “is also not guaranteed by Government.” Read more here
492 positions available in UNC constituency polls
A total of 492 positions will be up for grabs in the United National Congress’ (UNC) constituency executive elections due this month. Confirmation came from the party’s deputy political leader David Lee, two days after the UNC announced on its website that the party will hold its constituency executive elections, as well as its woman’s arm and youth arm elections, as it prepares for the upcoming local government and general elections. The constituency executive elections will be held on two days — June 23 and 30. Read more here
BUSINESS
BP payments to Govt more than doubled last year
Though still far below 2013 levels, the country’s largest natural gas producer more than doubled its contribution to the Government coffers last year to US$360.5 million from US$148.7 million the year before, London-listed BP plc’s Payment to Governments declaration showed last week. Read more here
REGIONAL
New Visa Hurdle - Social-Media Posts May Doom US Travel Chances, Says Lawyer
A new mandatory requirement for Jamaicans and other citizens across the globe to disclose all the social-media platforms they have visited in the last five years, along with their user names, when they apply for American visas will have a “chilling effect” on free speech, a Jamaica-born immigration attorney based in the United States (US) has said. The assertion by Dahlia Walker Huntington came yesterday after the American Embassy in Kingston confirmed that the application forms for immigrant and non-immigrant visas have been updated by the State Department in Washington to request additional information from most applicants, including what it describes as “social-media identifiers” on popular portals such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Trump's UK state visit: US media's verdict on first day
The pomp and pageantry of the first day of Donald Trump's state visit to the UK stole the headlines in US media, but as many outlets highlighted, it wasn't quite enough to hide the tension around the president's arrival. Read more here
Angela Merkel's best laid plans are falling apart in Germany
Angela Merkel may have been hoping for a smooth exit to her long tenure as German Chancellor. Instead, she could be in for a rough ride, after suffering two major political blows in the past week. First, her chosen successor as Germany's leader, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer -- better known as AKK -- has plunged in the polls after a series of blunders. Second, Merkel's coalition partner, Andrea Nahles of the Social Democrats, resigned after taking a battering in last week's European elections. Read more here
4th June 2019