NEWS
TTPS offers $100k reward but still no arrests in Port of Spain General Hospital bloodbath
Police are offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of people responsible for the shootings on June 2 in Gonzales, Belmont and at the Port of Spain General Hospital (PoSGH) which left four people dead and two others injured. Police reports said a group of men was liming near a school in Gonzales, Belmont after a game of football. Without warning, gunmen arrived in a car and began shooting. One man was killed and several others injured. Read more here
YouTuber: I did nothing wrong
YouTuber Christopher “Chris Must List” Hughes was brought to tears yesterday evening, as he recalled the love and appreciation he received while in the country. However, he maintains he has done nothing wrong by publishing his video interview with local gang members. Hughes spoke with Guardian Media at the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port-of-Spain, as he sought to collect new equipment to continue his vlogging because he will have to remain here to face charges of disseminating a seditious publication. The 45-year-old father of three from Ontario, Canada, was granted $100,000 bail by Master Margaret Sookraj-Goswami and will reappear in court tomorrow. He is accused of publishing the seditious document on May 29. Hughes was released on Monday night after his bail bond was posted. Read more here
POLITICS
PM condemns murders; wants public help to fight crime
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley says the time has come for the entire society to review its relationship with the criminal elements in the country. Speaking out against Sunday’s quadruple murders, which began in Gonzales and ended at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital (PoSGH), Dr Rowley called for the public’s help to fight crime and appealed to people to share pertinent information through anonymous channels available. While offering condolences to the families of the victims via a statement on his social media, Rowley said the Government stands ready to discuss Sunday’s mass shootings and similar initiatives with the Opposition, if only they will see it as their job. He added that expected swift processing in the court system instead of managed automatic delays, will also help to close the revolving doors. Read more here
Hinds on Sedition Act: Laws always under review
Minister of National Security Fitzgerald Hinds told a briefing at his ministry on Tuesday that Cabinet always keeps TT's laws under review, when asked if the Sedition Act needed an overhaul. He was asked if it was time to review the act, whose archaic references include the "Soviet Union" and "Czechoslovakia" and to, among other things, insert a "public interest" defence and a recognition of media freedom. The Sedition Act was used to charge Canadian video blogger Chris "Chris Must List" Hughes after he interviewed various gun-toting youths who had expressed their life disaffections. Those videos were uploaded to the YouTube website. After six days in a police cell, Hughes was granted $100,000 bail on Monday by Master Margaret Sookraj-Goswami. Read more here
BUSINESS
Attzs: CDAP meant for most vulnerable
Global inflationary pressures have likely led to increased cost in health care, and as a result programmes like Chronic Disease Assistance Programme (CDAP) may be due for a review, economist Dr Marlene Attzs said yesterday. On Monday, during a Standing Finance Committee sitting, Finance Minister said in parliament that CDAP is putting a strain on the Health Ministry's budget. During the committee sitting Imbert said, "It is proving quite difficult to finance the purchase of free pharmaceuticals and all the other free services that are available in the health sector. So I just want Members (of Parliament) to understand this. We believe this is important, we have to do it, but to find that $500 million is going to prove to be very difficult.” When asked about the Minister's position, Dr Attzs said it should be contextualised alongside a conversation of healthcare reform. Read more here
T&T investors ‘gun shy’
Investors in Trinidad and Tobago have a deeply entrenched cultural aversion to risk, which has long stymied the evolution and acceptance of capital market activities locally, a recently published research brief by the CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) Caribbean Societies has stated. And this risk aversion stems from citizens witnessing several high-profile financial institutions fail, according to the report. Read more here
REGIONAL
‘Strong measures’ imminent to address profiteering, misuse of land leases
To address profiteering and misuse of land leases, particularly along the Linden-Soesdyke Highway, President Dr. Irfaan Ali on Monday announced that the government will pursue stringent measures to prevent the illegal sale and transfer of land leases. In his address at an event in Timehri, where 435 land leases were handed over to long-term residents, President Ali highlighted the complexities of the highway region, which, he noted, encompasses indigenous lands, private lands, and leased lands, making regulation crucial. “We have allocated nationally close to 4,000 leases… about 4,000 leases nationally all across the country…we have allocated the last four years and 60 per cent of that was on the highway. Close to 60 per cent is on the Linden/Soesdyke highway,” he said. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Mass graves and body bags: al-Shifa hospital after Israel withdrew its forces
After Israeli forces pulled out of Gaza City’s vast al-Shifa hospital complex on 1 April, following their second raid there, stunned Palestinians who pored over the burnt-out ruins said it reeked of death. During the past eight months of war, hospitals have come under repeated attack, with Israel claiming they are used as bases by Hamas; something the group denies. But events at al-Shifa – once the biggest and best equipped medical facility in the Gaza Strip – have arguably been the most dramatic. The two-week surprise raid, launched after Israel said Hamas had regrouped at the site, was described by the Israeli government as "precise and surgical". Its spokesman, Avi Hyman, asserted that it had set "the gold standard of urban warfare". He said: “We took out over 200 terrorists. We apprehended over 900 terrorists with not a single civilian casualty.” With decaying bodies sticking out of the sand piled up by combat bulldozers in the courtyards of al-Shifa, the claim that there had been no civilian casualties was immediately questioned. Read more here
5th June 2024