NEWS

Social media bloggers can be sued for defamation

There are no special favours for social media bloggers who post photos, letters or any kind of defamatory matter as they will face the same disciplinary action as journalists and media houses. Read more here

Special Branch uncovers plot to kill CoP, family

Two no­to­ri­ous crim­i­nal gangs want Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice Gary Grif­fith and his fam­i­ly dead. And the ne­far­i­ous el­e­ments are will­ing to pay top dol­lar to hired con­tract killers to si­lence the CoP and his close fam­i­ly mem­bers for good. The sin­is­ter plot was un­earthed by Spe­cial Branch po­lice of­fi­cers who com­piled an 11-page top-se­cret re­port as­sess­ing the threat against Grif­fith and his fam­i­ly in No­vem­ber last year. Page 10 of the re­port sur­mis­es how se­ri­ous the threat could be, stat­ing, “Re­cent in­for­ma­tion has fur­ther sug­gest­ed a pos­si­ble boun­ty that has been placed on the head of the CoP with part pay­ment in ad­vance and the rest when the job has been com­plet­ed. These ro­bust ap­proach­es com­bined with new ini­tia­tives that are to be un­veiled short­ly have made the CoP the most high-risk in­di­vid­ual in our na­tion.” Read more here

POLITICS

AG: Child sex offenders will have passports marked

The marking of convicted child sex offenders' passports is one of the amendments in new sexual offences legislation, reported Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi. He was piloting the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill in the Senate today. He said borrowing from the Australian and US laws, the passports will say "child sex offender." He added the individual will have the ability to possibly have the record expunged. Read more here

Russia, Lima Group back Caricom position on Venezuela

The Cari­com del­e­ga­tion which left yes­ter­day for the Uruguay con­fer­ence on Venezuela is en­ter­ing the talks as oth­er in­ter­na­tion­al play­ers - in­clud­ing the Li­ma Group and Rus­sia - have al­so mount­ed calls for peace­ful res­o­lu­tion of the Venezue­lan cri­sis and di­a­logue to­wards this. Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley and For­eign Af­fairs Min­is­ter Den­nis Moses left yes­ter­day to join Cari­com’s del­e­ga­tion in Mon­te­v­ideo, Uruguay, where the in­ter­na­tion­al meet­ing on the sit­u­a­tion in Venezuela will be held to­day, a state­ment from the Of­fice of the Prime Min­is­ter said. Row­ley is ex­pect­ed home Fri­day - im­me­di­ate­ly af­ter the meet­ing. Fi­nance Min­is­ter Colm Im­bert is act­ing as Prime Min­is­ter. Read more here

BUSINESS

Karen’s plan for continued growth at First Citizens

First Citizens chief executive, Karen Darbasie, has no intention of resting on her laurels as the majority State-owned bank’s executive team and its board has come up with a conscious strategy for pushing its pre-tax profits beyond the $1 billion it declared in its 2018 financial year. Read more here

REGIONAL

UWI: No Need To Panic - Officials Say Campus Remains Safe Despite Body Found In Pond

The leadership of The University of the West Indies, Mona, is scrambling to reassure students that the campus is still safe, following the discovery of a body on the campus. Panic broke out at the St Andrew-based institution early yesterday morning as word spread that a body was discovered in an irrigation pond close to the University Chapel near the campus’ main gate. The deceased has been identified as 69-year-old medical doctor Judith Rose-Spencer, who lived on Great House Boulevard in Mona, St Andrew. Read more here

INTERNATIONAL

State of the Union: Trump announces second North Korea summit

US President Donald Trump has announced in his State of the Union speech that he will hold a second nuclear summit with North Korea's leader this month. In an address to the nation with the theme "Choosing Greatness", he vowed once again to build a border wall. While appealing for political unity, the Republican president also said "ridiculous partisan investigations" could damage US prosperity. In a rebuttal, Democrats accused Mr Trump of abandoning US values. His primetime address came less than a fortnight after he backed down to end the longest ever US government shutdown when Democrats refused to fund a US-Mexico border wall. Read more here

Russia will exit INF nuclear missile treaty in six months

Russia says it will mirror the United States' withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty between the countries, formally exiting the agreement in six months. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced the move in a report from state news agency RIA-Novosti on Wednesday. It comes after the Trump administration last week said it would be pulling out of the nuclear missile treaty, accusing Russia of violating its terms since 2014. Moscow rejects the accusations. Read more here

6th February 2019

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