NEWS
Petit Valley family slain
Hours after Marlon Lee, his common-law wife and his son were murdered in their Petit Valley home on September 9, Marlon's sister was struggling to understand who would want the family dead. Lee, 41, Maleek Lee, 17, and Salina Rodriguez, 34, were all gunned down on Monday night at their home at Sita Trace off Pioneer Drive, Petit Valley. The trio, along with Lee's other son, who was not home at the time, lived in a 20-by-20-foot wooden structure. Read more here
T&T nationals will soon need electronic authorisation to visit UK
Trinidad and Tobago passport holders will soon need an electronic travel authorisation (ETA) to visit the United Kingdom. Beginning January 8, 2025, T&T passport holders, along with those from 48 other countries and territories, must obtain an ETA before travelling to the UK. Applications will open on November 27, 2024, and can be submitted online or via the UK ETA app. The UK Home Office explained that ETAs, introduced in 2023, are digitally linked to a traveller’s passport and enhance security checks before departure. This measure aims to prevent misuse of the immigration system. An ETA costs £10 and allows for multiple visits to the UK for stays of up to 6 months at a time, valid for two years or until the passport expires, whichever comes first. Everyone travelling needs to get an ETA, including babies and children. Read more here
POLITICS
Lee: No 'UNC B team' in Parliament
Opposition Whip David Lee has flatly denied any schism in the the recent rearranging of seating on the opposition benches in Parliament. Speaking to Newsday on September 10, he said there was no UNC "B team" in the House of Representatives. The day before, in the House, the five MPs supporting the UP slate in the recent UNC internal elections took their seats at the far end of the UNC front bench, away from the seats of the opposition leader and the whip. Read more here
BUSINESS
Clico policyholders want their residual balances now
The Clico Policyholders Group (CPG) yesterday called on the Minister of Finance and Corporation Sole, Colm Imbert to honour the residual balances owed to policyholders of the insurance company, following his admission in the Senate on Monday that Clico completed repaying its debt to the Government last year. In the Senate on Monday, Opposition Senator Wade Mark posed the question, “Can the minister provide the details and status of the sale of Clico’s 56.53 per cent shareholding in MHIL to the Proman Group in late December, 2023?” In response the Finance Minister said, “The information and answer to this question has been in the public domain for almost one year, and the matter has already been extensively addressed inside and outside of the Parliament. It is therefore curious that Senator Mark continues to beat this dead horse. The facts already in the public domain are as follows—as of April 2023, Clico’s remaining liability to the government for the Clico bailout was $1 billion. Read more here
Pushing for improved support and standards for services sector
Newly appointed chief executive officer of the Trinidad and Tobago Coalition of Services Industries (TTCSI), Daren Lee Sing, believes that if properly harnessed and guided, the services sector can play a significant and independent role in the country’s development. As such, Lee Sing hopes that Finance Minister Colm Imbert will give the services sector the consideration it deserves when the upcoming budget is presented. Read more here
REGIONAL
Guyana’s LCDS sets benchmark for driving global climate change action
Birthed to give cognisance to the importance of tropical forests in the equation of climate change, Guyana’s Low- Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) has evolved from a vision to a global policy that has set the benchmark for driving action. This is according to the country’s President, Dr. Irfaan Ali, who, on Tuesday at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC), opened the dialogue on a high-level discussion on “Restoring Ambition for International Climate and Development: Learning from Guyana’s Low-Carbon Development Strategy and Its Global Model for Forest Finance”. The LCDS was first launched in 2009 with the intention of mapping out the path of a new growth trajectory in a non-polluting way. The first draft of the policy had set out an initial view on how this might be done, and outlined insights on how to stimulate the creation of a low-deforestation, low-carbon, climate-resilient economy in Guyana. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Satellite images show how Israel is paving key Gaza road
Israeli forces have been laying tarmac on a key road in Gaza along its southern border - in what some commentators see as a signal that they're not prepared to fully withdraw from the territory any time soon. The road has become a major sticking point in the negotiations for a new ceasefire and hostage release deal. BBC Verify has analysed satellite imagery, photos and video that show the surfacing of a road along the narrow but strategically important strip of land running the length of Gaza's border with Egypt, long known by its Israeli military codename: the Philadelphi Corridor. Read more here
11th September 2024