Daily Brief - Wednesday 12th September, 2018

NEWS

Ethical reporting on suicides urged

Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Vishwanath Partapsingh Monday urged the media to respect the families and memories of suicide victims as they report on such instances and be wary of sensational reporting and exaggerated facts. Speaking at the launch of the National Media Guidelines for Responsible Reporting on Suicide at the Trinidad Hilton, La Boucan Room, Partapsingh said the media played a crucial role in informing the public and bringing about much needed societal changes, but lamented the lack of sensitivity of the media in some recent reports of suicide. Read more here

Cedros residents flooded out again

While some parts of the coun­try ex­pe­ri­enced crip­pling wa­ter short­ages over the past 72 hours, over 150 fam­i­lies in Ce­dros were left ma­rooned yes­ter­day when flood wa­ters in­vad­ed the com­mu­ni­ty of Bonasse. A ris­ing tide cou­pled with one hour of heavy rain­fall caused the flood­ing which set­tled in­side res­i­dents’ yards and homes. De­o­dath Toolsie and his wife Eileen tried to put their fur­ni­ture and ap­pli­ances on high­er ground when the floods start­ed to rise. “We have about 18 inch­es of wa­ter in­side the house right now. It was ter­ri­ble, the worst I have seen so far,” Eileen ex­plained be­fore pass­ing the phone to her hus­band. Toolsie said the floods were caused by an in­com­plete flood­gate. Read more here

Lockdown coming soon

Even as three police officers are being questioned in connection with the kidnapping of Natalie Pollonais, Police Commissioner Gary Griffith is appealing to citizens not to disrespect the men and women in blue. Read more here

 

POLITICS

Garcia: Ministry did not deceive public

Education Minister Anthony Garcia Monday said his ministry followed protocol and procedure in gathering information from each school principal through its School Supervision Division in the seven education districts on the attendance of teachers last Friday. The trade union movement had called for Friday to be a “day of rest and reflection” and for workers to stay home. Garcia said the ministry did not deceive the public with its statistics, as claimed by president of the TT Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA) Lynsley Doodhai in an article in Newsday Monday, “Doodhai says Friday was a success: We’ll see if it got Garcia’s attention.” Read more here

Two detained cops assisting in kidnapping probe

Po­lice Com­mis­sion­er Gary Grif­fith yes­ter­day con­firmed that three peo­ple have been ar­rest­ed for the ab­duc­tion of Na­tal­ie Pol­lon­ais, two of whom are po­lice con­sta­bles at­tached to the La Ro­maine Po­lice Post. In a me­dia re­lease yes­ter­day, Grif­fith said the two con­sta­bles were ar­rest­ed around 8 pm Mon­day while on du­ty. The third per­son was ar­rest­ed 30 min­utes lat­er when po­lice in­ter­cept­ed an AD Wag­on along the Churchill Roo­sevelt High­way, San Juan. The ve­hi­cle was be­ing used to trans­port Pol­lon­ais and was dri­ven by a civil­ian who was al­so ar­rest­ed. Read more here

Hopes for normal school today

Education Minister Anthony Garcia says he is keeping his fingers crossed that by the time pupils of schools affected by the water shutdown arrive at school this morning there will be water in the taps. Read more here

 

BUSINESS

Collect outstanding taxes

While Gov­ern­ment has kept the “ship of state steady” thus far, se­nior econ­o­mist Dr Ronald Ramkissoon says to ac­cess much need­ed in­come, more ef­fort must be made in col­lect­ing out­stand­ing monies. He said the Dr Kei­th Row­ley ad­min­is­tra­tion had help in re­main­ing afloat, pri­mar­i­ly due to the in­creas­es in the prices of oil and nat­ur­al gas. “I think there are some pos­i­tive signs in re­spect of the en­er­gy sec­tor first­ly and more im­me­di­ate in re­spect of nat­ur­al gas and then in terms of the pos­si­bil­i­ty for oil,” he said. Read more here

Flavorite returns

Months after it ceased local production, resulting in a complete absence of its products from supermarket shelves, Flavorite Foods Limited has resumed churning out its well-loved ice cream and frozen novelties. Read more here

 

REGIONAL

On Alert! - Utility Companies Ready To Respond Quickly In Case Of Gilbert-Type Disaster

On September 12, 1988, Jamaica was devastated by Hurricane Gilbert, a powerful and deadly Category Three storm. While the name of the hurricane was subsequently retired by the World Meteorological Organisation, because of the widespread damage and loss of lives it caused, the dangers of being hit once again by a monster storm is an ever-present reminder. As a result, the country's four main utility companies, the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS), National Water Commission (NWC), FLOW and Digicel Jamaica, are reporting that they are ready and operationally strong to respond. Gilbert was the most devastating hurricane to hit Jamaica since Charlie in 1951. Still, it was an event not equalled by any subsequent weather events to date. Read more here

 

INTERNATIONAL

Steeling for Hurricane Florence, Trump seeks praise for Maria

As he braces for Hurricane Florence, President Donald Trump is stoking new outrage over his refusal to accept any blame for the relief effort following Puerto Rico's monster storm last year. On Tuesday he insisted the operation had been "incredibly successful," despite shocking new figures putting the death toll at nearly 3,000. Again Wednesday morning, Trump said his administration's work in Puerto Rico was not appreciated. Read more here

Skripal poisoning: Putin says suspects 'civilians, not criminals'

The two suspects in the poisoning of ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter are civilians, not criminals, Russian President Vladimir Putin says. The UK government named them as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, and said they were from Russia's military intelligence service, the GRU. Mr Putin said his government had found the pair and he hoped they would appear soon and tell their story. Mr Skripal and Yulia were poisoned in Salisbury, in the UK, in March. "We know who they are, we have found them," Mr Putin said in the far eastern city of Vladivostok. "I hope they will turn up themselves and tell everything. This would be best for everyone. There is nothing special there, nothing criminal, I assure you. We'll see in the near future," he added. Read more here

12th September 2018

Back

Copyright © . Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers' Association All Rights Reserved.