NEWS

Pollonais kidnap accused tries for bail again

Shain Steven will try tomorrow yet again to obtain bail before a High Court judge. He is one of four accused in the September kidnapping of businesswoman Natalie Pollonais, of Palmiste, at C-3 Mall. Steven has already been refused bail by Justice Gillian Lucky in the San Fernando High Court. He goes before Justice Lisa Ramsumair-Hinds based on an application attorneys filed on his behalf last week. Read more here

Ailing lawyer claims radiation poisoning

An at­tor­ney is claim­ing she suf­fered ra­di­a­tion poi­son­ing at a pop­u­lar pri­vate nurs­ing home in San Fer­nan­do af­ter un­der­go­ing a CT scan. Cher­ry-Ann Ra­jku­mar, 42, ac­com­pa­nied by her hus­band Mar­vin Ram­nar­ine held a sec­ond protest in three days call­ing for the nurs­ing home, which has not ac­cept­ed li­a­bil­i­ty, to re­lease the ma­chine’s logs. Ra­jku­mar said the logs will as­sist her doc­tors in de­ter­min­ing the ex­act lev­el of the ra­di­a­tion she was ex­posed to so they could ad­min­is­ter the ap­pro­pri­ate treat­ment. Last Fri­day, she protest­ed in front of the nurs­ing home and yes­ter­day she protest­ed in front of a com­mer­cial build­ing at In­de­pen­dence Av­enue, San Fer­nan­do. Read more here

POLITICS

Al-Rawi: PP govt stayed quiet on JLSC

Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi has questioned why former AG Anand Ramlogan, Devant Maharaj and Gerald Ramdeen were mum about the composition of the Judicial and Legal Services Commission (JLSC) during the tenure of the former People's Partnership government from 2010-2015 and through the sittings of former presidents George Maxwell Richards and Anthony Carmona. Al-Rawi said at a press conference at the Ministry of Legal Affairs yesterday,"Yesterday (Monday) you would have heard Senator Ramdeen make a very remarkable statement that since 2008, the constitution of the Judicial and Legal Services Commission has been unlawful. I want to point you to the fact that the claim brought by Devant Maharaj, concerning the Constitution of the JLSC, was a matter that began on June 6, 2017." Read more here

We must stop hate, fear

Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress leader Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar has ac­cused Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley and his Gov­ern­ment of us­ing race bait­ing in their po­lit­i­cal cam­paign in or­der to paint her po­lit­i­cal par­ty as a threat to Afro-Trinida­di­ans. “Over the past few months, I have seen the PNM re­vert­ing to the use of race to cam­paign. The PNM Gov­ern­ment has not built one house since en­ter­ing of­fice in 2015,” Per­sad-Bisses­sar said at the par­ty’s Mon­day Night Fo­rum at the Brazil High School. Like the colo­nial mas­ters, Per­sad-Bisses­sar said Row­ley was now us­ing race to di­vide the Afro and In­do-Trinida­di­ans. Read more here

BUSINESS

FilmTT launches production tools

Filmmakers and film industry professionals will benefit from a series of tools to improve the film production process. FilmTT in collaboration with The Ministry of Trade and Industry last week showed off the benefits of these tools for a small gathering of film industry professionals at Nicholas Towers, Independence Square in Port of Spain. Read more here

REGIONAL

$4m More - Former Petrojam HR Boss’ Separation Package Larger Than PM Disclosed

Former Petrojam human resource manager Yolande Ramharrack received a gross separation payment that was nearly $4 million more than the figure disclosed by Prime Minister Andrew Holness and permanent secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), Sancia Bennett Templer, details of the arrangement have revealed. The complete settlement brokered between Ramharrack and the state-owned oil refinery last November was made public yesterday amid mounting criticisms of the decision to include a non-disclosure clause. The agreement showed that the total payment to the former human resource manager before taxes and deductions was $13.3 million. Read more here

INTERNATIONAL

Venezuela crisis: Juan Guaidó vows to bring in aid

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó has vowed at a rally in the capital Caracas to ensure humanitarian aid blocked by President Nicolás Maduro is brought in to the country. Mr Guaidó said new collection points and routes into the country would allow volunteers to bring the aid in. Mr Maduro told the BBC he would not allow aid in, claiming it was a means for the US to intervene in Venezuela. Venezuelans are facing drastic food shortages amid an economic crisis. "We have almost 300,000 Venezuelans who will die if the aid doesn't enter. There are almost two million at health risk," said Mr Guaidó at the rally on Tuesday. Read more here

Chinese couples can't afford a second child, no matter what Beijing wants

Before her son was born, Chen Huijuan was happy to splash out on skincare products, clothing and socializing with friends. Now, she even hesitates to buy a new dress. Living in Suzhou in eastern Jiangsu province, Chen earns $730 (5,000 yuan) a month as a high school teacher, while her husband makes $2,500 (16,000 yuan) a month working for the sales department of an American company in neighboring Shanghai. Raising their 2-year-old, Xiyan, swallows at least a third of the family's annual income. Comparatively, in the US it costs a similarly positioned family a fifth of their income to raise a child. Read more here

13th February 2019

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