NEWS
Police, DPP working closely on kidnapped doctors’ case
Police Commissioner Gary Griffith said while no charges have been brought against suspects who allegedly attempted to kidnap Drs Rudradeva Sharma and Prem Naidoo, he confirmed investigators were working closely with the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to explore their options. He was speaking with Newsday after the launch of the police Gender-Based Violence Unit (GBVU) on Tuesday. Griffith reaffirmed statements from the police that there was no confusion over the official course of events leading up to the attempted abduction of both doctors. He said he will hold a briefing with senior police on the investigation. Read more here
Mom pleads for help for ailing son
A Chaguanas mother has quit her teaching job as she desperately tries to raise the US$600,000 needed for medical treatment abroad for her gravely ill son. Dionne Lewis has been keeping up an almost round-the-clock vigil at her son’s hospital bedside at the paediatric ward of the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex. Gordon Lee Chin, 9, has been a patient there for the past seven weeks battling Aplastic anaemia, a rare blood disease. “When I heard the diagnosis I was horrified. I didn’t know what to think. It was the first time I heard about Aplastic anaemia. Some of the things I read really made me horrified,” Lewis said The disease develops when the bone marrow fails to produce enough blood cells because the normal blood-forming cells (stem cells) are replaced by abnormal fat cells. Read more here
POLITICS
$8m for Couva West Secondary: Garcia promises normalcy
Education Minister Anthony Garcia says he understands the frustration stakeholders of the Couva West Secondary School feel, but promised work is being done to return the school to a state of normalcy in the shortest time. He thanked parents and stakeholders for their patience. The education ministry said over $6 million has been spent to repair the troubled school and a further $2 million is to be spent to ensure a comfortable environment for both teaching and learning. The ministry responded to Newsday’s report that frustrated parents were now seeking transfers for their children as the school has been closed since October last year. Read more here
UNC: Govt seeking to arrest MPs ahead of election
United National Congress (UNC) PRO Senator Anita Haynes claims the Peoples National Movement (PNM) Government is moving to have certain Opposition MPs arrested ahead of the 2020 general elections. Haynes was responding to statements by National Security Minister Stuart Young who said in an interview on Monday on CNC3’s The Morning Brew that some sitting MPs are under investigations by the police for ties in the criminal underworld. She described Young’s utterances as “irresponsible and reckless”, adding that such sensitive information should not have entered the public domain. Haynes, an attorney, said Young ought to be aware that matters being investigated by law enforcement officers should not be publicised. Read more here
BUSINESS
Export price decline hits TTNGL profits
Publicly listed TTNGL’s profits declined last year because the international prices of its three products—natural gas liquids propane, butane and natural gasoline—have tumbled, said Dominic Rampersad, president of Phoenix Park Gas Processors Ltd (PPGPL) yesterday. Read more here
REGIONAL
African envoys in Cuba pay courtesy call on President Granger
President David Granger, on Monday, received the ambassadors of the Republic of Ghana, the Republic of Namibia, the Republic of Gambia and the Republic of Zimbabwe, who are based in Havana, Cuba. He took the opportunity to brief them on the present political and economic situation in Guyana and outlined his Decade of Development Program for 2020-2029, explaining that it was based on four pillars: The Green State, the Petroleum State, the Digital State and the Education Nation. Read more here
‘Orgy Of Looting!’ - Bunting Says PM Hiding From Bowling On CMU Scandal
Charging that claims by Karl Samuda, minister with responsibility for education, that the Caribbean Maritime University (CMU) had no challenges in its daily operations at this time, Peter Bunting, the opposition spokesman, said that the school’s reputation was in tatters. Responding to a statement from Samuda on the CMU in Parliament yesterday, Bunting contended that “students are regretting going there. Many persons who have contributed to it are cut up and hurt because of what is happening at the institution”. He said the same players who brought the institution to its knees were still at the helm of the CMU. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Senate passes impeachment trial rules to punt on witnesses in early Wednesday morning vote
The Senate early Wednesday morning approved rules for the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump on a party-line vote that delays the question of whether the Senate should subpoena witnesses and documents until later in the trial. The rules resolution from Senate Majority Mitch McConnell was approved 53-47 after Republicans defeated a series of amendments from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on the opening day of the bitterly fought impeachment trial. Schumer proposed 11 amendments seeking to subpoena a trove of documents from the Trump administration and witnesses like acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and former national security adviser John Bolton, but the amendments were thwarted almost entirely by the same party-line vote, 53-47. Read more here
Coronavirus: Chinese officials advise against travel to Wuhan
22nd January 2020