NEWS
Schoolboys Shot Dead
Two teenaged boys left their school, Success Laventille Secondary following classes yesterday afternoon, but never made it home to their families. Instead, Denilson Smith, 17, and Mark Richards, 15, were shot dead by an unknown gunman a short distance from their homes at Mulrain Trace and Soogren Trace, in Picton, respectively. They were pulled out of the private-hire (PH) car in which they were travelling and murdered by the gunman on the roadway. They were still in their uniforms when they were slaughtered. The killings brought the murder toll for the year to 33. Newsday was told the teens were travelling in a PH taxi in the company of two other school children along Picton Road, at about 2.55 pm, minutes after school was let out. Just then, the vehicle was intercepted by a gunman. Read more…
Tobago couple killed in crash
The tiny village of Parlatuvier, Tobago, reacted in shock yesterday after two villagers — a husband and wife — were killed after their pickup van plunged off a precipice on the winding North Side Road, near Castara. The couple was identified as Maurice “Brown Boy” Lewis, 65, and his wife, Verna, of Rock Top, Parlatuvier. Read more…
Bank account set up for chess champ
An account has been opened at Republic Bank Ltd to receive donations for 14-year-old former chess champion Della-Marie Walcott. The account number is 180801224831, in the name of “Friends of Della-Marie Walcott”. A “gofundme” online account created by Walcott's cousin, Leyyah Basanta, on Monday has been able to raise more than US$25,000 in donations from 339 people up to Wednesday night. The initial goal was US$10,000. The “gofundme” account can be accessed at https://www.gofundme.com/hyjvc2rr. Walcott is in a coma and her medical expenses are said to be more than $600,000. On December 22, Walcott underwent surgery to have a tumour removed from her brain. The tumour was later tested and found to be benign. Read more…
POLITICS
PM: I have no horse in this race
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley declared the Government does not have a candidate to become this country’s next Commissioner of Police (CoP), and the Police Service Commission (PSC) now has more power to select a permanent CoP. The Prime Minister raised the point when he spoke in the debate in the House of Representatives on Wednesday night. One of two Opposition motions designed to annul legal notices to appoint a new CoP and Deputy Police Commissioner (DPC) were defeated in the House before it adjourned early yesterday morning. The Opposition debated both of these motions in the Senate yesterday from 1.30 pm. Read more…
Public servants back pay come September—Colm
Finance Minister Colm Imbert says public servants will receive back pay long before the end of fiscal 2016. He said so during yesterday’s post-Cabinet media briefing while responding to questions from reporters. “That will be done long before September 2016. I don’t want to give a precise date at this time but I will say in a month or two, I will be able to give a precise date as to when we will be settling the arrears,” he said. Read more…
Ministry: There’s enough; health centres not sure
Even as citizens are being assured there are sufficient H1N1 (swine flu) vaccines available at public health centres nationwide, health centres are reporting otherwise. On Wednesday, chief medical officer Dr Clive Tilluckdharry said there were approximately 46,000 doses of the vaccine available in the country. Read more…
BUSINESS
New NP chairman: Time for change
Fuels distributor National Petroleum (NP) has installed a new board of directors led by chairman Sahid Hosein. Hosein is a former member of Parliament for Siparia and current president of the Penal/Debe Chamber of Commerce. Read more…
REGIONAL
Study finds fish stocks in Caribbean declining even faster; urgent reversal needed
A major new study has revealed that the global seafood catch is much larger and declining much faster than previously known. The study, by the University of British Columbia near Vancouver, reconstructed the global catch between 1950 and 2010 and found that it was 30 per cent higher than what countries have been reporting to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome since 1950.In the Caribbean islands, the catch was more than twice as large as previously reported and declining at a rate 60 per cent faster than the official rate, the Canadian study found. Read more…
Antigua-Barbuda abolishes personal income tax
The people of Antigua and Barbuda will from April receive tax relief when the government plans to abolish personal income tax (PIT). PIT, introduced by the now opposition United Progressive Party upon coming into office in 2004, imposes a tax of 8% on residents earning an income above $3,500 and 15% on those earning an income above $25,000. Read more…
INTERNATIONAL
Snowstorm threatens Washington with blizzard, Mid-Atlantic with freeze-over
The next government shutdown is coming soon -- compliments of a snowstorm. Around noon, federal agencies will shutter ahead of a blizzard headed for Washington. But that's a minor moment in the massive winter storm raking over at least a dozen states with 75 million people in its path. It will dump two feet or more on the capital. It has begun paving an icy blotch of freezing rain, sleet or snow from Little Rock, Arkansas, through the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast while stirring trouble as far south as Florida. Read more…
Migrant crisis: EU at grave risk, warns France PM Valls
22nd January 2016