NEWS
Hoax Caller Arrested
The Strategic Services Agency (SSA) assisted with the apprehension of a man who allegedly made a hoax phone call to police about a threat to Trincity Mall. The hoax brought out the police and intelligence services and spread like wildfire on social media. Sources informed Newsday that the SSA was involved with the suspect being held and up to late yesterday he was being questioned at Special Branch offices in Portof- Spain. The issue was addressed by Acting Minister of National Security Stuart Young during a special news conference at the Police Administration Building, Port-of-Spain. Young said there had been a number of events and “unfortunately” rumours circulating yesterday and they wanted to put the “true facts” out there for the public so public would not be misinformed as had been happening. Read more…
Daycare owner sorry baby died under watch
Chanmattee Deonarinesingh said yesterday that she loved baby Kristiano Aziz and was very sorry he died while under her care. Deonarinesingh, 45, a qualified nurse who has been running a daycare at her Barrackpore home for the past ten years, spoke out about the incident for the first time since the baby’s death. The baby’s mother Lisa Ramjattan, 26, found the child unresponsive when she went to pick him up on Monday. He was lying on his tummy in a bed top pen. The child was later pronounced dead at the Princes Town District Health Centre. An autopsy found his death was caused by positional asphyxia and his death has been ruled as accidental. Several parents went to Deonarinesingh’s home yesterday with their children to lend support. Deonarinesingh, who had to seek medical treatment for high blood pressure at a private nursing following the incident, said as the mother of a 15-year-old boy she felt Ramjattan’s pain. Read more…
Heavy security at Corpus Christi mass
As rumours of planned terrorist attacks in Trinidad continued to spread yesterday, Roman Catholic Archbishop Joseph Harris began his homily at the annual Corpus Christi mass by assuring those in attendance that they would be safe throughout the service and the following procession. Revealing that he had received many calls from persons who were sceptical of attending the mass due to fears for their safety, Harris said there was an increased police presence to ensure the celebrations were secure. Read more…
POLITICS
PoS Mayor on homeless persons in capital
Homelessness in the capital city is “near epidemic stage”, warns Port-of-Spain Mayor, Keron Valentine who also has “serious concerns about unsightly, over-populated, unsanitary conditions” at the Centre for Socially Displaced Persons (CSDP) at Riverside Car Park, east Port-of-Spain. “I really would like to call on the State agencies to get their acts together and assist us in PoS in treating with this situation...It’s very worrisome and I’m concerned for the city.” Valentine said based on information from the PoS Corporation’s (PoSC) Public Health Inspectorate, there are persons at CSDP with communicable diseases, as well as drug addicts and “persons who engage in criminal activity.” Valentine shared his concerns about homelessness in the city while addressing the PoSC’s monthly statutory meeting, held on Wednesday (May 25) at City Hall, Knox Street, PoS. Referring to his appearance before the Joint Select Committee (JSC) of Parliament on Social Services and Public Administration last Wednesday (May 18), Valentine said the PoSC was “given an undertaking by both the Ministry of Health’s Mental Health Unit and the Ministry of Social Development and Family Services that they will do what they can to help rid our city streets of this near epidemic.” The mayor made it clear however that the PoSC would not wait indefinitely to address the situation. Read more…
Mahabir mum on Rowley criticism
There is a long established convention in the Parliament that members of one chamber in general do not comment on the goings-on in another chamber, Independent bench elder Dr Dhanayshar Mahabir has said. He yesterday declined to address criticism by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, who on Wednesday accused Independent senators of “organising themselves as a political party” to obstruct Government progress on the recent Strategic Services Agency (amendment) bill. Seven of the nine Independents vetoed the bill while Independent Hugh Roach and temporary Independent Justin Junkere supported it towards passage. Rowley also took issue with recent statements by Mahabir. Rowley said Government had gone to Parliament to amend the SSA bill to give security agencies a better vantage point to respond to crime and “...we have Independent senators who are free to be independent but organising themselves as a political party in the Parliament to obstruct the Government’s progress.” Read more…
Junkere: Senator’s remarks on special meeting ‘irrelevant’
Former temporary Independent senator and attorney Justin Junkere yesterday described as “odd” and “irrelevant” statements made by Independent Senator Taurel Shrikissoon about his attendance at the May 9 meeting between security heads and senators to dismiss the Strategic Services Agency (SSA) (Amendment) Bill. Junkere, who acted as a temporary senator at the Senate sitting on the following day, voted in support of the legislation. Read more…
BUSINESS
Cash hindering T&T’s growth
MasterCard, the leading technology company in the global payments industry, has unveiled the results of a study, Evaluating the Social Cost of Cash, that demonstrates how the use of cash in T&T slows economic growth because it stimulates informality, increases corruption and limits financial inclusion. The results of the study show that T&T’s economy can grow by 3.5 per cent if the country increased electronic payments by 30 per cent in a four-year period. The study further shows that while in the past cash was an engine for economic development, it now generates direct and indirect costs that limit its ability as an engine of progress. “Contrary to what many people think, there are costs associated with cash. From direct costs, like production and transportation of bills and coins, to indirect costs such as corruption, social insecurity, financial exclusion, timely state aid payments and tax collection complications. These are all absorbed by the Trinidadians,” said Gabriele Zuliani, senior vice president and general manager for MasterCard’s Caribbean Region. Read more…
Trinity exceeds target, reduces operating costs
Premium crude sold by oil and gas company Trinity Exploration and Production plc averaged US$45.50 per barrel and helped Trinity maintain positive cash flows, its preliminary 2015 financial results have shown. While official disclosure of the average price of the Trinidad and Tobago basket of crude—known to be above benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and near Brent crude prices—is itinerant, thanks to the London Stock Exchange (LSE) rules, Trinity plc disclosed in its results Wednesday: “Average realised oil price of US$45.5/bbl for 2015, (down almost 50 per cent) from US$85.8/bbl in 2014.” Read more…
REGIONAL
Ready To Invest - Diaspora Supports Lee Chin But Says It Wants More Than Talk Of Patriotism
A summons from growth tzar Michael Lee Chin to Jamaicans in the diaspora to invest in the country has piqued the interest of diaspora representative of the Southern United States Wayne Golding. Lee Chin has signalled that he will be engaging in a road show to eyeball the diaspora. "I will be telling members what's happening in Jamaica and encouraging them to take some of their long-term savings and put it into Jamaica," he said. In welcoming Lee Chin's overture, Golding said: "For the most part, the diaspora loves Jamaica, but like anything else, if you are investing, it can't be based on your patriotism alone." He said that members of the diaspora would be keen to examine the proposal, helped by the knowledge that it was coming from a man of Lee Chin's stature. Lee Chin stated in a radio interview on Gleaner's Power 106 on Wednesday that he was not expecting Jamaicans in the diaspora to increase their contributions to assist family members. Read more…
Sex and religion dominate St Lucia election campaign
Hard on the heels of controversy over slurs made by a government minister concerning individual sexual orientation, religious doctrine has now also become part of the political landscape ahead of the general election in Saint Lucia on June 6. Recent derogatory remarks made by Saint Lucia’s minister of tourism, heritage and creative industries Lorne Theophilus in a video that has been widely disseminated on social media prompted calls for political leaders to be held accountable for statements and/or actions that discriminate against a particular segment of the electorate. In the video in question, Theophilus used a derogatory term with a long history of being used to insult and denigrate lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual (LGBT) people to describe the political leader of the opposition United Workers Party (UWP) Allen Chastanet. Theophilus later apologized for his remarks. Read more…
INTERNATIONAL
Obama in Hiroshima calls for 'world without nuclear weapons'
Barack Obama on Friday became the first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima, where he called for a "world without nuclear weapons" during his remarks at the city's Peace Memorial Park. Obama said that "71 years ago on a bright, cloudless morning, death fell from the sky and the world was changed." "A flash of light and a wall of fire destroyed a city, and demonstrated that mankind possessed the means to destroy itself," the President added during his address at the site of the first nuclear bombing. Read more…
'Mass rape' video on social media shocks Brazil
27th May 2016