NEWS
Trinidad and Tobago back online after internet service break
Many people in Trinidad and Tobago awoke on Monday morning to find they were unable to get online. Internet connectivity to several service providers was affected by the disruption of an international cable link on Monday morning. But by afternoon, the companies said they had been able to restore full connectivity to their customers. Read more here
Preschoolers continue to be left behind as online classes continue
President of the Private Childcare Providers Nisha Hoyte says there is one group of students who will be left behind as schools continue online whether they have access to devices and internet or not. That is preschoolers - children between the ages three and five. According to Hoyte, who was speaking on CNC3’s The Morning Brew, these children have been out of school since March and cannot manipulate devices to join virtual classes. “This age group for preschoolers it’s very difficult for them to sit on Zoom for 40 minutes even for 20 minutes, their attention spans are very short normally in a face to face setting we have centres and they can move in-between and we can keep them engaged,” Hoyte said. Read more here
POLITICS
Election done, time for healing
After six bruising weeks of campaign for leadership of the United National Congress (UNC), one of the three deputies, Dr Lackram Bodoe, says it is time for healing to take place within the party. “At the end of the day we are all UNC and there is one leader, Kamla Persad-Bissessar. The party remains strong and for those who want to come back and support the party, a place can be found,” Bodoe said on Monday. Read more here
Panday: UNC is going to die
The UNC has lost its base and can never get back into the government under its current leadership, says the party’s founder Basdeo Panday. He was speaking after results of the UNC’s internal polls showed only 17,066 people had turned up to vote, out of a pool of 115,000 financial members. Read more here
BUSINESS
Critics out of sync with global best practices
Minister of Finance, Colm Imbert, yesterday dismissed commentaries that argue government-to-government contracts should fall under the ambit of the Office of the Procurement Regulator (OPR) by stating that such thinking “is not based on reasoned argument or international best practice.” Read more here
REGIONAL
Easier market access, better prices
The Governments of Guyana and Suriname have taken yet another step towards strengthening bilateral relations and increasing physical connectivity between the two nations and their people, with the signing of an “open skies” air services agreement, which paves the way for easier market access for airline operators, and reduced costs for air travel. Guyana and Suriname are both on the cusp of economic transformation and advancement, because of their new-found oil wealth. But those countries, instead of being competitors, have chosen to work collaboratively to achieve common goals. Read more here
Electricity Thieves Plunder JPS
Despite aggressive disconnection drives and a vigorous campaign to leverage moral suasion, Jamaica’s electricity distributor has revealed that power theft for all of 2019 was billed at US$178 million. That amounts to J$26 billion at today’s rate. The disclosure was made in response to queries by The Gleaner on Monday after the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) said that more than 90 per cent of households in Riverton City, a largely poor community in the St Andrew Western constituency, stole power. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Florida police raid home of former state Covid-19 data scientist
Florida police raided the home of a former state coronavirus data scientist on Monday, escalating a feud between the state government and a data expert who has accused officials of trying to cover up the extent of the pandemic. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement executed a search warrant Monday morning at the home of data scientist Rebekah Jones, who was fired by the state Department of Health in May. The agency is investigating whether Jones accessed a state government messaging system without authorization to urge employees to speak out about coronavirus deaths, according to an affidavit by an agent working on the case. Read more here
Covid-19 vaccine: First person receives Pfizer jab in UK
A 90-year-old woman has become the first person to be given a Covid jab as part of the mass vaccination programme being rolled out across the UK. Margaret Keenan, who turns 91 next week, said it was the "best early birthday present". She was given the injection at 06:31 GMT - the first of 800,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine that will be given in the coming weeks. Up to four million more are expected by the end of the month. Read more here
8th December 2020