NEWS
More Powers For SSA
The State will table legislation to expand sanctioned powers of the Strategic Services Agency (SSA), empowering that drug surveillance body to deal with a wider range of criminal offences, Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi announced yesterday. The SSA is currently authorised to police only drug-related offences. However, its governing statute will be amended to extend the agency’s mandate to operate in relation to, “serious offences”, according to plans outlined by the Government yesterday. If enacted, the move will potentially give the SSA jurisdiction to gather intelligence in relation to an addition 67 serious offences currently on the statute books. The Trinidad and Tobago Police Service defines a serious offence as any member of the group deemed the “most serious indictable offences”. Read more…
Foreign call alerts of rape in caregiver’s home
In the midst of a police investigation into the rape of a 29-year-old autistic woman, her saviour, who rescued her from a home where she was attacked, is also calling for her caregiver to be jailed for failing to report the incident. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Goodwill Industries of the West Indies, Barbara Alleyne, made the call yesterday after relating the story of how the woman, who has the mental capacity of a seven-year-old child, was raped by a man after she was left alone at the Arima home on February 29. The caregiver then kept the incident secret until she was exposed. Alleyne also called on Government and those in authority to do their part to ensure that the disabled are properly protected and that perpetrators face the full brunt of the law. Read more…
Michaeline thanks vet for assistance
Michaeline Wall, the physically challenged woman who was fined $2,500 for having marijuana, said she was happy that someone understood her condition and thanked veterinarian Dr Kriyaan Singh for stepping in to assist. Singh, paralysed from the chest down following a vehicular accident, went to the San Fernando Magistrates' Court and paid Wall's fine yesterday. Wall and her elderly mother, Yvonne Wall, went to the courthouse to meet him. Read more…
POLITICS
Al Rawi: Prime Minister reviewing Camille matter
Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi yesterday said the questions raised in relation to Planning Minister Camille Robinson- Regis and a reported $93,000 cash transaction are under “active review” by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley. “It is under active review and the key is for evidence and information to be brought forward,” Al-Rawi said, speaking with reporters after yesterday’s media briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair. “I have confidence that the Prime Minister has and continues to act properly.” Al-Rawi also said Housing Minister Marlene Mc Donald – who is accused of cronyism in the allocation of housing during a previous tenure under a different portfolio – did not give a house to anyone. “My own perspective, having looked at the Integrity in Public Life Act...is that it isn’t that Minister Mc Donald gave a house to anyone herself,” Al-Rawi said. At the same time, he said when examining matters under the legislation there were two questions: one of the use of public office and “there is the question of how it will look.” He could not offer an opinion on the latter issue. Read more…
Unit to protect children coming
A large Child Protection Unit (CPU) is being set up within the Police Service to deal with crimes against children, National Security Minister Edmund Dillon said yesterday. Announcing this at yesterday’s weekly post-Cabinet media briefing, Dillon said Government had realised that within recent times there had been an increase in incidents of crime against children. He said between January 2010 and December 2014, records showed that 1,575 males and 2,407 females were victims of crime. Statistics also showed there were 1,075 and 1,961 sexual offences against male and female victims respectively. Read more…
PM Mulls Over Marlene
“The Prime Minister is a decisive man and I expect that he will act,” Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi said yesterday, as he responded to questions on the controversies surrounding ministers Marlene McDonald and Camille Robinson-Regis. Speaking with reporters following the post-Cabinet news conference at the Office of the Prime Minister in St Clair, Al-Rawi said the Prime Minister will address both matters and a third issue, (which he did not wish to specify) “with certainty and clarity”. Read more…
BUSINESS
Republic pushes new e-commerce solution
Anthony Wong, General Manager, Electronic Channels and Payments Systems at Republic Bank Limited said on Wednesday at the launch of the bank’s new e-commerce solution, Republic EPay, can boost the business of local merchants in the difficult times being experienced by businesses, as the country faces recession . He said the bank is opening up a whole new market for local business people, by giving the holders of foreign Visa and MasterCards, the opportunity to buy goods from local merchants in the same way as Trinidadians and Tobagonians have caught on to Internet shopping, and become accustomed to using their credit cards to buy goods from foreign merchants over the Internet. “So it is encouraging the e-commerce activity both domestically and attracting purchases from foreign cardholders who may want to acquire some of these goods and services. So its expanding the market (from) which our businesses can attract (buyers), you can attract the e-commerce market locally because one of the attractions of e-commerce is the convenience factor: customers can go on the Internet, they can pay for something, and they get it delivered to their door. Read more…
Energy revenue drops from $21b to $5b Economist: T&T living beyond its means
While the National Gas Company (NGC) contemplates revenue earning from the sale of two offshore platforms, energy economist Gregory McGuire says the company’s balance sheet was severely affected by the depletion of its reserves by the former People’s Partnership government. Speaking at the T&T Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (TTEITI) forum at the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union’s (OWTU) Paramount Building, San Fernando, McGuire said the country was living beyond its means by spending excessively while energy sector revenue dropped from $21 billion to $5 billion in 2014/2015. The government at the time maintained that the economy was stable, but according to McGuire, that was due to non-energy revenue between the periods 2013/14 and 2014/15 increasing from $28 billion to $39 billion. Read more…
Moody’s puts NGC on downgrade review
International ratings agency Moody's Investors Service has placed on review for downgrade the rating of the National Gas Company (NGC). The rating action on Monday followed Moody's decision on March 4 to place Trinidad and Tobago's bond ratings on review for downgrade. “Moody's rating actions were triggered by its decision...to place Trinidad and Tobago's bond ratings on review for downgrade and by the sharp decline in oil prices that put pressure both on the companies' credit profiles and the finances of the governments, hindering their ability to provide extraordinary support to their companies and heightening risks for creditors” said Nymia Almeida, a senior credit officer in Moody's in a statement from the company's New York office. Read more…
REGIONAL
'Put Ja First' - New Parliament Displays Camaraderie As Supporters Hurl Insults On Duke Street
On a day dominated by stark contrasts, Prime Minister Andrew Holness called for parliamentarians on both sides of the aisle to make the nation the priority of all. "This is the time for us to put Jamaica first," Holness said during the first sitting of the new House of Representatives, comprising members of parliament who won the 63 seats in the February 25 general election. As Holness addressed seemingly receptive members on both sides of the divide at Gordon House, there were no signs of the discord that marred the recent political campaign. Instead, there were pats on the back, hugs, and embraces all around the chamber as members took the oath of office, a far cry from the acerbic outpouring from platform speakers on the campaign trail. But outside, on Duke Street, was a completely different matter as the effects of a bitter election cycle still lingered. Read more…
St Kitts-Nevis citizenship fund releases audited financial statements
The St Kitts and Nevis Sugar Industry Diversification Foundation (SIDF) has released audited financial statements for 2012 and 2013. The audited financial statements of the SIDF had become a controversial issue under the former Dr Denzil Douglas-led administration, when it was accused of a lack of transparency and good governance in failing to publish the audited accounts for years. The last audited financial statements of the SIDF to be made public under the previous administration were in 2011. Under the St Kitts and Nevis citizenship-by-investment (CBI) programme, in order to qualify for economic citizenship of St Kitts and Nevis under the SIDF, the government requires non-refundable contributions into the SIDF of US$250,000 for a single applicant; US$300,000 for applicant with up to three family members (one spouse and two children below the age of 18); US$350,000 for applicant with up to five family members (one spouse and four children below the age of 18); and US$450,000 is required for applicant with up to seven family members. Read more…
INTERNATIONAL
Ex-Putin aide Mikhail Lesin died of 'blow to the head'
At GOP debate, Trump flounders, out of his depth
Imagine if every GOP debate had been like the one Thursday night. Policy heavy, insult light and providing voters with a contrast between the candidates over level of knowledge on issues. It was clear that each candidate had shifted tactics from the last dumpster fire of a debate. After Sen. Marco Rubio's mudslinging with Donald Trump hurt his campaign, he decided to return to his above-the-fray, aspirational tone. Sen. Ted Cruz avoided the schoolyard back and forth with Trump as well, but still managed to hit him on specific policy differences. Gov. John Kasich was...well, Kasich. For his part, Trump showed no signs of the thin-skinned, petulant reality show star we've become accustomed to throughout this campaign. No bluster. No insults. But also no energy. And no real policy knowledge. Read more…
11th March 2016