NEWS
Gas station owners: No panic buying before price increase
While there was an increase in gas sales, there was no panic, said gas-station owner Roger Supersad. He is the owner of the Unipet gas station along the Southern Main Road, Marabella. Speaking with Newsday on Tuesday, he said it was surprising that the rush they anticipated and prepared for did not happen. “We were open on Monday but the actual increase in sales was from Thursday morning to Sunday morning. It was an increase in sales but no panic buying. Read more here
T&TEC planned maintenance to affect parts of T&T
T&TEC customers in parts of North, South, East and Central Trinidad, as well as Tobago, will experience a temporary disruption to their supply of electricity, Wednesday 20 April 2022. Read more here
POLITICS
Minister applauds citizens for ignoring calls to protest
Minister of Communications in the Office of the Prime Minister Symon de Nobriga applauded “right thinking” citizens for disregarding calls by the Opposition and other organisations to come out to protest against fuel-price increases. Speaking on the TTT news on Tuesday night, de Nobriga said the vast majority of the public understands the ripple effect on TT’s economy from issues affecting countries around the world. Read more here
PM: T&T still not out of the woods although schools have reopened
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has cautioned that although schools are re-opening for face-to-face classes after two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, “we are still not out of the woods yet.” In a statement posted on his Facebook page yesterday, Rowley, who left for Barbadoson Tuesday, said school children were returning to classrooms after almost two years of experiencing the “worst trauma, stress, and overall deprivation in their development.” “The pandemic has made demands on our young ones that none of the rest of us have ever been called upon to deal with,” he said. “We wish them all God’s blessings and guidance as they retrieve their development pathways. Our country’s future depends on their protection and their success.” Read more here
BUSINESS
Students must be more responsible for their tuition
In order for The University West Indies St Augustine to become less dependent on Government’s subventions, the campus must operate as a business to become profitable and sustainable. That’s the view of The UWI principal Prof Brian Copeland, who said with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, governments across the Caribbean were challenged, so it would have been difficult for them to maintain their usual funding. Read more here
REGIONAL
Qatari investors eye local opportunities
President, Dr. Irfaan Ali, and a team of high-level government officials, on Tuesday, met with a delegation from the Qatari Investment Mission to advance discussions on investment opportunities in Guyana. The Qatari Investment Mission representatives were Group Chairman of Power International Holding, Moutaz Al Khayyat; Group Chief Venture Officer of Power International Holding, Ali Kazma and the company’s Chief Business Development Officer, Mazen Alsbeti. The visiting team was accompanied by Ambassador George Hallaq and Andrew Hallaq. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Ukraine war: Mariupol ultimatum passes as hundreds shelter in steel mill
The deadline of a Russian ultimatum demanding the surrender of Ukrainian forces in Mariupol has passed with no sign that the troops have complied. The final Ukrainian holdouts, reportedly accompanied by 1,000 civilians, have taken shelter in the city's massive Azovstal steel plant. Moscow's ultimatum comes as the local Ukrainian commander warned his troops can hold out for just "days or hours". But Kyiv says there is a tentative deal to rescue some civilians from the city. Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, wrote on Facebook that women, children and the elderly would be allowed to leave Mariupol under the deal. Read more here
20th April 2022