NEWS
Mother Snatched
Why would anyone want to abduct Debe hairdresser Ria Sookdeo as she dropped off her two children, aged nine and five, to school at Picton in South Trinidad yesterday morning? This is the question on the lips of shocked and distraught family, friends and neighbours and even the police up to late last night as they all sought to unravel the very disturbing kidnapping incident which took place near the Picton Presbyterian School at 8.15 am. “I can’t say what caused this,” the 34-year-old woman’s worried father told Newsday yesterday. “If is money, they are struggling.” Close relatives and friends of Ria were in tears as they appealed to the abductors to release her unharmed as she has never hurt anyone in her life. Police yesterday confirmed that their investigations so far have revealed that Ria’s abductor was dressed in “police operational gear.” Up to press time, no ransom demand was made and police remain baffled saying they are yet to determine a motive. Read more here
Rats have Rosary Boys’ RC on run
A rat problem, apparently stemming from the unsanitary conditions in and around Port-of-Spain, forced the shutdown of the Rosary Boys’ RC School early yesterday. Next Friday, pupils of the St Rose’s Girls’ RC are also expected to have no school due to the same problem as sanitation workers have had to put down rat bait to deal with a similar problem there. One Rosary Boys’ parent, who collected his child after school was ended early yesterday due to the problem, said he was fed up, adding rat bait was not the answer. He said he believed the rodents not only came from the neighbouring food malls but also from Charlotte Street where vegetables were left to rot in the canals. “We need a permanent solution to this rat problem. Parents cannot be leaving their jobs all the time to pick up their children because the rat problem has been around for quite some time. Something drastic must be done,” he said. Read more here
Mom died of blood clot, baby lacked oxygen
Thirty-one-year-old Shevana Laura Sookram died as a result of a blood clot. Her unborn child also died as a result of a lack of oxygen, as her mother's body was not producing enough of the vital element. Read more here
POLITICS
Minister: WASA workers not on strike
Public Utilities Minister Ancil Antoine yesterday assured the population that workers at the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) are not on strike. Addressing the post-Cabinet news conference at the Office of the Prime Minister in St Clair, Antoine said, “I am not aware of any worker at WASA on strike.” He added that he had discussions with the chairman of WASA prior to the post Cabinet meeting and was assured no WASA workers were on strike. Antoine indicated that on Wednesday night there was a disruption in the water distribution system in certain parts of north and east Trinidad. He said this was the result of concerns raised by WASA workers about occupational health and safety (OSH) issues and security in high-risk areas. The minister said following a meeting between WASA’s chairman and CEO with Public Services Association President Watson Duke, “the plants were restarted and the distribution system is back up and running.” Read more here
Go public with police list
A week after her young daughter was targeted by a suspected paedophile, a Central mother is petitioning Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi to make the police list of sexual predators public. The woman started the petition at around 10 pm on Wednesday as she said the entire experience has left her 11-year-old daughter traumatised. The woman had pretended to be the child when a man began sending messages to the child’s phone last week Thursday. The woman said many sexual predators were repeat offenders and she believed giving the public access to the list of offenders would assist parents in keeping their children safe. Read more here
President’s Office should be clear in $$ spending
The spending of public funds at the President's Office must be subject to accountability and scrutiny, Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister and Minister in the Ministry of the Attorney General, Stuart Young, said yesterday. He also stated that the accounting officer at the Office of the President had to follow public sector rules of procurement. Responding to questions about reports of unusual expenditure allegations at the Office of the President, Young said once there is public expenditure, there must be public accountability. Read more here
BUSINESS
MSJ: Business class too ‘cheap’
Leader of the Movement for Social Progress (MSJ) David Abdulah says that the elite business class in Trinidad and Tobago are too cheap in its approach to doing business. He called on the business class to invest more in the manufacturing sector in order to diversify the economy. “The business class in large measure wants to get as much as possible by doing as little as possible,” Ab- dulah declared. “Their investments are in the malls which are simply spaces where goods are imported for us to consume.” Abdulah spoke at a pre-budget forum put on by the Federation of Independent Trade Unions and NGOs (FITUN) at the Oil Field Worker’s Trade Union Paramount headquarters in San Fernando on Wednesday. After detailing the causes of the country’s current economic demise, Abdulah called on the business class to step up to the plate and transform the economy from one of importation to one of manufacturing and importation. Read more here
CSO: Food prices increase...slightly
The Central Statistical Office yesterday released its Index of Retail Prices for the month of August 2016. The information is based on data collected in a survey of retail prices during August. Read more here
REGIONAL
MoBay Mayhem - Thugs Wreaking Murderous Havoc In St James; 2016 Murder Count Approaching 200
St James, especially the parish capital, Montego Bay, is now gripped by fear and anxiety as gun-toting thugs continue to wreak murderous havoc, killing and maiming with impunity as the parish’s murder count races towards 200 since the start of the year. “I lived through the tribal war of the 1970s and I have never seen anything like this,” a former politician told The Gleaner yesterday shortly after news broke of another murder in the affluent Ironshore community. “This is past madness! Right now, I am feeling so much raw emotion that I feel like just screaming and bawling out. We can’t take any more of this.” In yesterday’s incident in Ironshore, which occurred close to the popular Blue Diamond Complex, shots reportedly barked for several minutes as gangsters armed with rifles and handguns snuffed out the life of a Glendevon man identified only as ‘Bob’. Several persons, who were at the location, suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Read more here
Sanitation initiative in southeastern Haiti shows promising results, says UNICEF
A sanitation initiative in southeastern Haiti has shown encouraging results, with a major reduction in the number of water-borne infections for local residents, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). “Five localities in this region have been declared open defecation free (ODF), which marks progress in the prevention of cholera and other water-borne diseases in the area,” said Marc Vincent, the UNICEF representative in the country. “In the area of sanitation we have come a long way and there is still a long way to go,” he added. “For UNICEF, we are active in 120 communities and, in total, more than 20,000 people in the country now benefit from living in an ODF environment – this is a substantive change and it inspires hope.” Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
South Korea reveals it has a plan to assassinate Kim Jong Un
South Korea has elite troops on standby ready to assassinate Kim Jong Un if the country feels threatened by North Korean nuclear weapons, the country's defense minister revealed this week. Asked in parliament Wednesday if there was a special forces unit already assembled that could eliminate North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, Han Min-koo said: "Yes, we do have such a plan. " "South Korea has a general idea and plan to use precision missile capabilities to target the enemy's facilities in major areas as well as eliminating the enemy's leadership," he added. Read more here
Syria war: New strikes in Aleppo as Syria announces offensive
23rd September 2016