NEWS
Imbert claims grey areas over billion$: Forensic audit into CLICO bailout
Finance Minister Colm Imbert has alleged “billion-dollar” discrepancies in the taxpayer-fuelled bailout of CL Financial and Colonial Life and yesterday announced a full forensic audit into the process. Imbert, who made the announcement at yesterday’s post-Cabinet news conference at the Diplomatic Centre in St Ann’s, said the audit will also seek to determine just how much of the public’s money was pumped into the bailout. Read more here…
Policyholders want urgent public update
The Clico Policyholders Group (CPG) wants Government and the Central Bank to update the public on the Clico/CL Financial matter as soon as possible. CPG head, Peter Permell. made the call yesterday, following moves by former chairman of Clico and CLF, Lawrence Duprey, to try to regain control of his former companies by repaying the debt to Government, which had taken control of the situation via bail out in 2009 when CLF collapsed. Duprey had sent a proposal to the Central Bank governor on March 22 and a copy to Finance Minister Colm Imbert on March 23, reportedly exclusive in yesterday’s T&T Guardian, offering an outline proposal to settle the Clico/CL Financial debt to Government. Read more here…
EPA to meet with former employer: Help for 800 jobless WASA guards
The Estate Police Association (EPA) has intervened to find alternative work for 800 security officers whose contract with the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) ended prematurely because of an outstanding debt of over $100 million. Yesterday, vice-president of the EPA, Ancil John-Nicholas, confirmed he requested a meeting with T&T Security Services’ (TTSS) general manager, Towfeek Ali, today to try and absorb some of the workers in other security firms. Read more here…
POLITICS
Probe Houses For Cops
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has called on the relevant authorities to probe the award of State houses by officials of the former government to police officers who were involved in investigating matters involving them. Immediately after Rowley’s call, the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) issued a release stating it has launched an independent investigation into the allegation to determine whether or not the conduct of the officers falls under within the PCA’s remit. Read more here…
...Moonilal: PM should resign over reckless statements *
Former housing minister Dr Roodal Moonilal yesterday said Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley must immediately resign for his “scandalous and reckless allegations” made against hundreds of police officers. “This is an all-time low even for Rowley. I don’t think he will apologise. If the Prime Minister has information or evidence of any wrongdoing or criminal conduct, he has a duty to report such to the police or other relevant authorities—not to publicly scandalise officers and the service while on a political witch hunt. Read more here…
REGIONAL
Guyanese teen accepted at 21 colleges in US – including all 8 Ivy league schools
A Guyanese teen is being hailed as extraordinary, after gaining admission to all eight Ivy league schools in the United States. Kelly Hyles, who moved to the United States in 2009 at the age of 11, has received 21 acceptance letters, including from Harvard, Yale, Brown, Princeton, Columbia, Dartmouth, Cornell and the University of Pennsylvania. Hyles says she’s leaning towards Harvard, but she’s yet to make final decision. She wants to become a neurosurgeon. Read more here…
IMF: Regional Economies To Contract 0.5%
Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) will post an overall 0.5 per cent economic contraction in 2016, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecast in a report issued on Wednesday, capping the region's worst two-year period since the 1982 debt crisis. But the IMF said the region is expected to rebound to 1.5 per cent growth in 2017, avoiding the "lost decade" phenomenon that marked the 1980s. The tourism-dependent segment of the Caribbean is projected to grow by 2.2 per cent in 2016, while the commodity-dependent economies are projected to contract 0.6 per cent. In 2017, both groupings are projected to grow by 2.3 per cent and 2.1 per cent, respectively. Read more here…
INTERNATIONAL
US election 2016: Clashes near Trump rally in California
Hundreds of demonstrators have blocked traffic outside a venue in California where Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump was holding a rally.A police car had its windows smashed as Mr Trump spoke inside a hall in the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa. Some 20 arrests were made. Mr Trump has vowed to deport millions of illegal immigrants if he is elected US president in November. He faces strong opposition in parts of California, particularly among Latinos. Read more here…
Up in smoke: Kenya to torch millions of dollars worth of ivory
On Saturday, the graveyard will turn into a crematorium. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta will light a match to 105 tons of elephant ivory, 1.35 tons of rhino horn, exotic animal skins and other products such as sandalwood and medicinal bark. This destruction of illicit wildlife goods dwarfs anything similar that has been done before. Read more here…
Protests erupt in Venezuela as power crisis deepens
Looting and clashes reported in several cities as queues get longer for food items while power situation looks bleak. Looting and violence have been reported in parts of Venezuela, as the country faces widespread food and power shortages, forcing the government to ration food and electricity. Several towns and cities, including the second-biggest city Maracaibo, were hit by rioting on Tuesday and Wednesday after daily power cuts started from Monday. "The situation is critical," said Norvelis Contreras, a 26-year-old housewife, who had been queueing for five hours to buy rice and oil on Thursday at a supermarket in Maracaibo. Read more here…
29th April 2016