NEWS

V’zuelans: How do we renew TT registration?

Heidi Diquez, PRO of the NGO TTV Solidarity Network, is calling on Government to state clearly what are the conditions for Venezuelans who were registered last June to have their registration renewed. Last year, 16,523 Venezuelans were registered and scheduled to receive registration cards, allowing them to live and work in TT for up to a year. The process is set for review after six months and Diquez said there are many Venezuelans whose cards are about to expire, some as soon as this month. She added, however, that Government has not outlined the criteria or process for renewal. Read more here

Victims in triple murder all strangled

Po­lice have de­tained a sus­pect in the mur­ders of three mem­bers of Chu­niesingh fam­i­ly who were found tied up at a house on Getwell Av­enue, Pin­to Road, Ari­ma, on Mon­day. The man was held at a house in Ari­ma on Mon­day night. Au­top­sies on the bod­ies of Pollyann Chu­niesingh, 31, her broth­er Dami­an, 39, and their un­cle Randy, a Cana­di­an cit­i­zen, showed that they were stran­gled. The bod­ies were found at Pollyann and Dami­an’s home. A cousin, Kim­ber­ly Lewis, con­firmed to Guardian Me­dia that the bod­ies were de­com­posed and stran­gu­la­tion was con­firmed as the cause of death. She added that they were not sure as to whether or not they were beat­en. Lewis said the fam­i­ly is yet to come to terms with the tragedy. Read more here

POLITICS

Young: Plans for even safer Carnival 2020

Minister of National Security Stuart Young hopes to build on the success of a safe Carnival 2019 to ensure a safe Carnival 2020. In a phone interview with Newsday on Monday, he said, “In 2019 the population would have seen quite a successful roll-out of all of all of the various arms of national security, and in particular the police service and Defence Force, in making it one of the safest Carnivals that we have had in a long time. “This was the result of quite a lot of intricate planning and details, which we intend to build upon this year.” His comments came after Newsday spoke to him about the proposed ban on glass bottles for Carnival. Young met with Carnival stakeholders on Friday to discuss this. Read more here

Food card 'caller' comforted by assurance from Griffith

Claudia Moore, the woman who had the recorded telephone conversation with Toco/Sangre Grande MP Glenda Jennings-Smith asking for a food card, said she feels comforted by Police Commissioner Gary Griffith’s assurance that she will not face any police intimi­dation. Read more here

BUSINESS

Delays in public procurement

As far as I know, there has been no response from Finance Minister Imbert to the points raised in the previous article. Of course no response is required, but given the importance of the issue and the highly-engaged communication style of that Minister, I certainly had cause for a pause. Read more here

REGIONAL

SOE Leak - Hundreds Of Vehicles Go Unstopped At Security Checkpoint

For nearly three-quarters of an hour yesterday, nearly 300 vehicles were able to drive freely through a police-military checkpoint mounted at the intersection of Chisholm Avenue and Omara Road as part of the state of emergency (SOE) across the St Andrew South Police Division. This unfolded around midday while police and army personnel deployed there were either seated in a tent erected on Ricketts Avenue or standing at the checkpoint on Chisholm Avenue, a Gleaner team observed. It was not as easy for motorists driving through the checkpoints established on Waltham Park Road, near Hagley Park Road, or on Olympic Way, near Seaward Drive. Over separate 15-minute periods, police and soldiers at both locations searched 70 of the 178 vehicles that went through, in some cases requesting to see vehicle documentation. Read more here

Bartica looking ‘green’

Last September, the Mayor and Town Council of Bartica launched a tree-planting programme dubbed ‘Green Pathway’ which was part of their transformational projects to make Bartica the model ‘green town’ in Guyana. In a recent interview with the Guyana Chronicle, Mayor Gifford Marshall said that the project is moving apace and is evidently transforming the aesthetics of the township. “Our streets are slowly becoming more beautiful with our efforts to replace dilapidated vehicles, scrap iron and bushy parapet with flowering trees. This we believe will be a tremendous boost to our tourism package and a step closer to achieving our “greening” objectives,” Marshall told this publication. Read more here

INTERNATIONAL

Iran plane crash: Ukraine International Airline jet crashes killing 176

A Ukrainian Boeing-737 carrying 176 people has crashed in Iran and officials say there is no chance of finding survivors. Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 to Kyiv went down after taking off from Imam Khomeini airport in Tehran at 06:12 local time (02:42 GMT). The majority of passengers were from Iran and Canada. Ukraine's Tehran embassy initially blamed engine failure but later removed the statement. It said any comment regarding the cause of the accident prior to a commission's inquiry was not official. Iranian media blamed technical problems and quoted an aviation official who said no emergency had been declared. Read more here

Iranian-backed Iraqi militia calls for Iraq to follow Iran and retaliate to US killing of Soleimani

Iran-backed Shiite militia Asaib Ahl al-Haq said it was time for Iraq to respond to the US strike that killed general Qasem Soleimani and the Deputy leader of the Popular Mobilization Forces Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. The media office of Qais al-Khazali, the leader of the militia group, posted the following statement on Twitter on Wednesday: Read more here

8th January 2020

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