NEWS
Grande man shot dead — 20th murder for 2016
A Sangre Grande man was shot dead at his home on Wednesday night, bringing the murder toll for the year to 20. The murder victim has been identified as Felix Ramsaroop, 59. According to a police report, at about ten o’clock Wednesday night, Ramsaroop was sitting outside his Toco Road, Vega de Oropouche house when a man entered the yard, pulled out a gun and opened fire. As shots continued to be fired, Ramsaroop got up and ran towards his car in an attempt to drive off. Read more…
6 cops jailed
Sighs of vexation and disappointment filled the Port-of-Spain Eighth Magistrate’s Court yesterday after court prosecutor Inspector Winston Dillon objected to bail for six of his junior officers charged with misbehaviour in public office and attempting to pervert the course of public justice. At least 15 police officers, not assigned to the court or to the Court and Process Branch, flocked to the courtroom before Chief Magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar to listen to the case of six constables from the Northern Division Task Force (NEDTF). Read more…
5 T&T Muslims still in Venezuelan prison
A small group of protesters picketed the Venezuelan Embassy in Port of Spain yesterday as they called for the release of five Muslims who have been detained in a Venezuelan prison for almost two years. The group, comprising mainly family members of the detained men, also delivered a letter addressed to the head of the general assembly in Venezuela, asking for the men to be returned to their families. Read more…
POLITICS
Sturge queries HDC loan to Garcia
Opposition Senator Wayne Sturge wants the Integrity Commission to probe the propriety of a $447,000 (35,000 pounds sterling) loan made in 2007 to the then Housing Development Corporation (HDC) managing director Noel Garcia, by a HDC board of which a key member was current Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi. However, both Garcia and Al-Rawi told Newsday that matter has long been settled with Al-Rawi saying he had acted with full propriety. The loan was reportedly for urgent medical treatment for Garcia’s son, Christian, who had suffered a heart attack, and was paid directly to a London hospital, and eventually fully repaid said a March 2012 news story, quoting Garcia and Al- Rawi. Read more…
Two civil trials set for hearing
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley may be required to attend court twice within a three month period as two defamation cases brought by former Attorney General Anand Ramlogan are set to go to trial in July and November. Attorneys representing the political foes on Wednesday agreed to defer one of the trials which was scheduled to take place over three days next week to between November 15 and 17. Read more…
Opposition wants to strike down top cop bill
The Opposition has filed a private motion seeking to strike down two Orders aimed at changing the method of appointment of a Police Commissioner and deputy Police Commissioner. The motion seeking to annul the Orders has been filed in the name of Chaguanas West MP Ganga Singh and must be debated at the earliest possible time, and before January 25. Read more…
BUSINESS
Pineapple farmers back Vat
The new Value Added Tax (VAT) regime will encourage healthy eating and compel citizens to buy local. Furthermore, it will force citizens to do their own gardening which will make them less dependent on vendors. These are the views of the Tableland Pineapple Farmers Association expressed in a press release issued earlier in the week. In it, agricultural economist and President of the Tableland Pineapple Farmers Association Omardath Maharaj expressed his delight with the decision of the Government regarding which food items should be taxed and which should not. Read more…
Workers cry victimisation
Trinidad Offshore Fabricators (TOFCO) workers employed on the bpTT Juniper rig at Labdico Industrial Estate, La Brea, engaged in protest action yesterday, claiming victimisation. Workers called on Minister of Labour Jennifer Baptiste-Primus and La Brea Member of Parliament Nicole Olivierre to intervene. Read more…
REGIONAL
St Kitts-Nevis government wants to discuss CCJ accession
While not exactly on the front burner, accession to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) appellate jurisdiction is under discussion by the St Kitts and Nevis government. CCJ president, Sir Dennis Byron, said that’s the view he came away with following a recent courtesy call on Prime Minister Dr Timothy Harris. Byron has been giving an update on the various efforts being undertaken by countries that have not yet made the CCJ their final court of appeal to do so. Read more…
Law changed in Guyana to make credit reporting more effective
In a move to give financial institutions better access to information contained in financial transactions, the National Assembly has passed a more enabling legal framework, to allow for mandatory participation, with regards to the delivery of credit reporting services. The Credit Reporting (Amendment) Bill 2015 which was given the full nod by the National Assembly yesterday, is expected to strengthen and ensure the Credit Bureau functions effectively. Minister of Finance Winston Jordan, who brought the bill to the House, noted that there has been no impact nor benefit to the lenders, borrowers and economy as a whole, since the passage of the original bill and the subsequent establishment of the Credit Bureau. Read more…
INTERNATIONAL
One in coma after clinical trial in France
Starvation in Syria 'a war crime,' U.N. chief says
li was 16 years old and badly malnourished. Workers for UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, met him in a makeshift hospital in the Syrian city of Madaya. The city is controlled by rebels and under siege by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Its people are starving. The UNICEF team screened the children they found in the hospital. They found 22 children under the age of 5 suffering from malnutrition, according to a statement Friday from Hanaa Singer, the organization's representative in Syria. They also found six children between the ages of 6 and 18 suffering from severe malnutrition. Read more…
15th January 2016