TTMA IN THE NEWS

TTMA follows PM’s lead

The TT Manufacturers Association (TTMA) is building on efforts started by the Prime Minister last month to strengthen trade and investment ties between TT and Guyana. On September 19 , Dr Rowley and Guyana President David Granger signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on energy sector cooperation in Georgetown. Rowley said both governments were laying the ground work and providing the encouragement for the private sector to seize opportunities which are available to both countries at this time. Read more here

NEWS

UWI uproar: Two students detained

An open-air discussion over the state of security at the University of the West Indies (UWI) St Augustine campus descended into chaos this afternoon. Two students were detained as they and others tried to block the campus' south gate to get the attention of administrative officials.Read more here

Met Office: Bad weather to continue until Sunday

Keep those umbrellas, raincoats and boots handy. The heavy rainfall and flooding experienced yesterday is expected to continue until Sunday, according to the Trinidad and Tobago Meteorological Office. Read more here

POLITICS

Zika label removed from Caribbean

Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh says the World Health Organisation's (WHO) removal of the Zika virus country classification scheme, which categorised most of the Caribbean territories as having active Zika virus transmission, shall benefit tourism locally and regionally. "This is a great benefit to the Caribbean for our tourism product." Deyalsingh, speaking in a telephone interview, was responding to a release from the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA ) announcing the move. Read more here

Govt: Open bidding for Petrotrin refinery

The as­sets of Petrotrin’s re­fin­ery will be trans­ferred to a new com­pa­ny—Guaracara Re­fin­ing Com­pa­ny—one of four sub­sidiaries of a new hold­ing com­pa­ny Trinidad Pe­tro­le­um Com­pa­ny Lim­it­ed which re­places the debt-bru­dened State-owned hy­dro­car­bon en­ti­ty. The oth­er com­pa­nies to fall un­der the hold­ing com­pa­ny are Paria Fu­el Trad­ing Com­pa­ny Lim­it­ed, Her­itage Pe­tro­le­um and Petrotrin, which re­mains an en­ti­ty in name, ac­cord­ing to En­er­gy Min­is­ter Franklin Khan “to deal with lega­cy mat­ters on the ta­ble for years to come.” Speak­ing at yes­ter­day’s post-Cab­i­net news con­fer­ence, Khan said a vest­ing or­der was now be­ing worked on to trans­fer the ex­plo­ration and pro­duc­tion as­sets of Petrotrin to Her­itage Pe­tro­le­um. That in­cludes the Off­shore Trin­mar Acreage and all as­sets in­volved in E&P. Read more here

BUSINESS

Sandals deal will be revealed at right time

Gov­ern­ment can­not re­veal de­tails of the deal with the Ja­maican-owned San­dals ho­tel chain be­cause that is not how in­ter­na­tion­al busi­ness deals are done, ac­cord­ing to Stu­art Young, Min­is­ter in the Of­fice of the Prime Min­is­ter. He had a mes­sage for for­mer Joint Con­sul­ta­tive Coun­cil (JCC) Pres­i­dent Afra Ray­mond and oth­ers who be­lieve Gov­ern­ment is be­ing se­cre­tive about the deal:  “If we are a se­ri­ous coun­try and we are go­ing to at­tract so­phis­ti­cat­ed in­vestors to Trinidad and To­ba­go in tourism and oth­er com­pet­i­tive ar­eas, there is some­thing called con­fi­den­tial­i­ty. Oth­er com­peti­tors in oil and gas . . . you do not dis­close what are the gas agree­ments that you have en­tered in­to and San­dals is in a no dif­fer­ent po­si­tion.” Read more here

Republic now owns 54% of bank in Caymans

Republic Bank is now the majority shareholder of Cayman National bank, both banks announced yesterday. Republic Bank now owns 54.15 per cent of the Cayman Islands bank’s parent company’s ordinary shares. Read more here

REGIONAL

‘I need my money’ - HIV-infected nurse still awaiting funds, even after State disburses $10-million interim payment

"I've known only suffering these past few years, and I didn't call it down on myself. I was only doing my job." This is the plight of Lydia James*, a nurse and mother of five who has been living with HIV since September 2007 when she was stuck in her buttocks by an HIV/AIDS patient on a ward at a hospital in central Jamaica. "My health is declining, and I haven't been to my doctor in over two years because I can't afford the fees. The last time I went in 2016, my bill was $16,000, and I could hardly find it to pay her, and she doesn't accept health cards. So I can't buy any medication. I can't do anything. I am suffering at the hands of what happened to me," a heartbroken James stated. Read more here

INTERNATIONAL

Jamal Khashoggi case: Turkish police 'search forest'

Police in Turkey investigating the alleged killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi have expanded their search, reports say. Unnamed Turkish officials say his body may have been disposed of in the nearby Belgrad forest or on farmland. Mr Khashoggi disappeared after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on 2 October, where Turkish officials allege he was murdered. Saudi Arabia denies any knowledge of what happened to him. Read more here

EU leaders prepared to extend UK's Brexit transition period

The European Union said Thursday it was ready to extend the length of the transition period designed to smooth the UK's exit from the 28-nation bloc next year. The original plan is for a 21-month period starting March 30, 2019, as soon as the UK has left. But with the two sides failing to come to an agreement on how the new relationship will work, UK Prime Minister Theresa May has proposed extending this arrangement "for a few months." Speaking at a news conference in Brussels following a summit that was dominated by the Brexit issue, Donald Tusk, President of the EU's intergovernmental body, the European Council, said the bloc's leaders had not discussed the period of transition at the meeting, but said it was unlikely to be opposed. Read more here

19th October 2018

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