NEWS
Swine Flu Scare
NURSES and even patients at the Sangre Grande District Hospital were left in a state of fear, with some patients deciding to discharge themselves when a Mayaro man was admitted to the Eastern Trinidad medical institution on Wednesday night, exhibiting symptoms of the deadly H1N1 (swine flu) virus. Read more…
Board orders audit into HDC
Managing director of the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) Jearlean John is citing “political motivation” as the only reason behind a decision by the new HDC board of directors to send her home yesterday. John and seven other members of senior management were sent on immediate leave. Read more…
‘Bandits kept calling us’
THE university student killed along with a young constable in a police “sting” operation in Aranjuez on Monday morning went through the trauma, hours earlier, of being robbed on the road alongside UWI’s St Augustine campus and of the bandits subsequently calling and threatening his family with death if he did not show up to pay them to get back the items stolen from him.Second year Engineering student Avery Keshwar, 22, and PC Russell Ramnarine, 24, were shot to death in Aranjuez during the operation. Read more…
POLITICS
Ex-PNM MPs appointed to State boards
CABINET has agreed to appoint Neil Parsanlal, a former PNM MP and Minister of Information under the Patrick Manning administration, as chairman of the National Library and Information Systems Authority (NALIS).Communications Minister Maxie Cuffie, made the announcement yesterday at the weekly post Cabinet media briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), St Clair. Read more…
Have faith and patience... backpay next year
LABOUR Minister Jennifer Baptiste-Primus is asking unions to “have patience” because public servants will get their backpay, “sometime in 2016.” “On behalf of the Government, I requested the understanding of the labour movement and requested that they exercise the necessary patience, since it means a deferral in terms of time and not one that signals the Government does not intend to honour the debt.” Read more…
BUSINESS
Quesnel, one of a disappearing breed of businessmen
THE late former president of the Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturing Association, Paul Quesnel, was one of a disappearing breed of gentlemen of business, who was guided by a strict ethical and moral code, according to TTMA former Chief Executive Officer, Natasha Mustapha.Eulogising Quesnel yesterday at his funeral service held at the Church of Assumption, Maraval, Mustapha said he was a pillar of the manufacturing sector, who truly believed in the potential of the Caribbean. Read more…
Chastising Jwala will be backward step
Neither of the two pieces of legislation relevant to Central Bank Governor Jwala Rambarran’s controversial forex revelations, mandates absolute confidentiality, says public interest lobbyist group Disclosure Today (DT).“The legislation recognises disclosure of information in pursuit of the performance of the objects of the Central Bank is permissible...the Governor’s decision to disclose was within the remit of his statutory mandate and also consistent with the evolving recognition of the public’s right to know on all matters of public interest. Read more…
REGIONAL
Paris climate deal gets CARICOM’s thumbs up
he Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Barbados’ Prime Minister Freundel Stuart, has applauded the recent historic adoption of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change by 195 nations.“The Community welcomes this globally-binding commitment to combat climate change. We believe that the actions and investment approved in the Agreement will bring us closer to the goal of maintaining global average temperature rise well below 2 degrees Celsius, and along a clear trajectory downwards towards 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels,” he said in a statement. Read more…
British baroness tells Dominicans to 'suck salt'
Fresh off her victory of having been elected as Commonwealth secretary general designate, Baroness Patricia Scotland of Asthal paid a visit to her country of birth, Dominica, and promptly delivered a message to detractors of Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit: "Suck salt".The baroness was delivering a speech at the dedication of a primary school in her honour. The school, located in the village of Veille Case, which happens to be in the constituency of Prime Minister Skerrit, sits on the picturesque north-east coast of the island. Skerrit was the baroness's lead sponsor at the recently concluded Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Malta and this visit is somewhat of a victory lap of sorts.Read more...
INTERNATIONAL
China smog: Beijing issues second ever pollution red alert
Ignore the headlines: 2015 was a great year
If you spend a lot of time with us here on CNN (and we hope you do), you probably think 2015 was a pretty terrible year: Wars. Refugees. Terrorism. The list goes on.But take a step back from the headlines, and it's clear the year gone by was full of good news for hundreds of millions of people around the world. Read more…
18th December 2015