Daily Brief - Wednesday 6th November, 2019

NEWS

PCA: Co-operation with Griffith going well

Police Complaints Authority (PCA) director David West has said the police and the PCA are working on a memorandum of understanding which does not require legislative intervention. “We are almost complete with it. Once it is complete will see how it works.” West, speaking to Newsday in a phone interview, said the memorandum should reduce the need for legislative intervention. He also said with the appointment of Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith, the relationship between the police and the PCA has improved. “The co-operation between the TTPS and the PCA is working well.” Read more here

History of Lapeyrouse revealed

“A place where his­to­ry comes alive among the dead.” This is how Ed­u­ca­tion and Out­reach of­fi­cer of the Na­tion­al Trust of Trinidad and To­ba­go, Mar­lon Green de­scribes the Lapey­rouse Ceme­tery in Port-of-Spain. Green led a tour of about thir­ty peo­ple through the ceme­tery yes­ter­day. The ceme­tery is lo­cat­ed on the out­skirts of the cap­i­tal city on 20 acres of land that was once a thriv­ing sug­ar es­tate. Its ar­chi­tec­ture in­cludes graves, tombs and mau­soleums mod­elled af­ter chapels that may bring to mind the set of a hor­ror film at first glance but on clos­er in­spec­tion, one re­alis­es that many of those who helped shape and mould T&T are buried with­in its walls. Read more here

 

POLITICS

City to launch ‘nudge along’ policy for homeless

The Port of Spain City Corporation will try to clear the city of vagrants by introducing a “nudge along” policy. The policy is designed to discourage homeless people sleeping in the city. Port of Spain mayor Joel Martinez, in a phone interview yesterday, said the corporation had been trying to do something about the homeless population. This included building a homeless shelter, but the corporation was unable to get the land designated for the shelter, and will instead encourage them to go to Riverside Plaza. Read more here

 

BUSINESS

MHTL raises $1 billion

Methanol Hold­ings (Trinidad) Lim­it­ed (MHTL), a mem­ber of the Pro­man Group of Com­pa­nies, yes­ter­day an­nounced the com­ple­tion of a TT $1 bil­lion term fa­cil­i­ty. The term fa­cil­i­ty bears in­ter­est at a rate of 5.50 per cent per an­num for the first 18 months, a state­ment from the com­pa­ny said. It added that the term fa­cil­i­ty has a tenure of three years and is un­se­cured with in­ter­est payable se­mi-an­nu­al­ly. The lead arrangers for this TT$1 bil­lion term fa­cil­i­ty are ANSA Mer­chant Bank Ltd, Sco­tia­bank Trinidad and To­ba­go Ltd and Re­pub­lic Bank Ltd. The com­pa­ny said the in­au­gur­al TT$1 bil­lion debt is­suance was over­sub­scribed and based on strong lo­cal re­verse in­quiries from a com­bi­na­tion of lo­cal banks, glob­al banks rep­re­sent­ed do­mes­tic and lo­cal as­set man­agers. Read more here

Digitisation and technology drive Jamaica’s improvement

T&T is eco­nom­i­cal­ly sit­u­at­ed in a place where it should be do­ing much bet­ter than it is cur­rent­ly do­ing when it comes to the ease of do­ing busi­ness. This ac­cord­ing to the ex­ec­u­tive di­rec­tor of the Mona School of Busi­ness and Man­age­ment in Ja­maica, Dr David McBean. Re­spond­ing to ques­tions posit­ed by the Busi­ness Guardian, McBean said: “T&T with a per capi­ta in­come of US$15,000 com­pared to Ja­maica’s US$48,000, should be in a po­si­tion to out­per­form its Caribbean neigh­bour giv­en its re­sources.” He con­tin­ued: “A quick re­view shows that Ja­maica is ranked 71st in the world for ease of do­ing busi­ness, while T&T is ranked at 105. While ta­bles do not of­ten tell the whole sto­ry, it is in­struc­tive to see what fac­tors dri­ve the rank­ings and how rel­e­vant they are to us as de­vel­op­ing economies.” Read more here

 

REGIONAL

Sex Cult? - Cops, Soldiers Storm MoBay Church Compound Amid Claims Of Child Abuse

Security forces battled their way on to the Qahal Yahweh Church compound Tuesday afternoon to remove three children reportedly in need of care and protection at what has been styled as a cultic stronghold of abuse, sexual assault, and wife-swapping. Yesterday’s was the second raid on the facility located at Lot 144 in Norwood, Montego Bay, since last Thursday and brings to six the number of minors, including a pregnant 16-year-old, extracted from the communal setting dotted with tents, huts, and unfinished buildings. Approximately 70 followers reside under the same roof, having reportedly abandoned their homes. Read more here

Brazilian investors showing interest in Guyana

THERE has been a marked increase in the number of Brazilian investors who are showing interest in Guyana. “I have been there for three and a half years and there has been a marked improvement with regards to interest being shown in Guyana as it regards to investing,” said Consul-General of Guyana to Brazil, Shirley Melville, in an invited comment on Saturday. The increase was justified by the number of meetings between the consulate and investors from Brazil. Melville said over the years, she has interacted with investors from Northern Brazil and Sao Paulo. Read more here

 

INTERNATIONAL

Trump's impeachment defense splintered by new revelations

President Donald Trump's impeachment defense is being stripped away plank by plank by some of the administration officials caught up in his scheme to pressure Ukraine for political favors. A dramatic reversal by Republican donor turned diplomat Gordon Sondland, who now says that a quid pro quo was needed from Kiev to free up military aid, rocked Washington Tuesday and undercut GOP strategy. In testimony released by impeachment investigators, the US ambassador to the European Union also testified that he assumed it would be "illegal" for Trump's fixer and personal attorney Rudy Giuliani to push Ukraine to investigate the President's political opponents. Read more here

Mexico ambush: Boy, 13, walked 23km for help after gun attack

A 13-year-old survivor of the attack by suspected Mexican drug cartel gunmen on a convoy of US Mormons hid six siblings in bushes before walking 23km (14 miles) to get help, his family said. Eight children survived Monday's attack in northern Mexico in which three women and six children were killed. Five of the children have bullet wounds, US media report. The victims are members of the LeBaron family, linked to a Mormon community that settled in Mexico decades ago. Read more here

6th November 2019

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