NEWS

Entrepreneurship can help reduce violence

US Ambassador to TT Joseph Mondello said entrepreneurship, when used properly, played a vital role in reducing violence and extremism. He made the comments at the start of the RISE Woman’s Conference, held at the US Embassy’s American Centre, Briar Place, Sweet Briar Road, Port of Spain. The three-day conference, which began yesterday, brought together female entrepreneurs from countries in the Caribbean and Latin America, including Barbados, Guyana, Suriname and Venezuela. Read more here

Bail for 2 cops charged in sex assault on girl, 16

A San­gre Grande mag­is­trate has al­lowed two po­lice of­fi­cers ac­cused of sex of­fences against a 16-year-old girl to con­tin­ue on sta­tion bail un­til their next court ap­pear­ance. In­spec­tor Christo­pher Fuentes, 55 and Cpl Din­di­al Joseph, 45, were both charged with sex­u­al of­fences against the teenag­er fol­low­ing in­struc­tions from the Di­rec­tor of Pub­lic Pros­e­cu­tion Roger Gas­pard on Wednes­day night. Both of­fi­cers were grant­ed po­lice sta­tion bail by a Jus­tice of the Peace at San­gre Grande Po­lice Sta­tion that same night. Fuentes, who was last at­tached to Arou­ca Homi­cide Bu­reau, Re­gion II, who was charged with three counts of sex­u­al pen­e­tra­tion, ab­duc­tion of a child and false im­pris­on­ment, was grant­ed $500,000 bail. Joseph, who was last sta­tioned at North­ern Di­vi­sion, was charged with sex­u­al touch­ing and was grant­ed $80,000 bail. Read more here

POLITICS

Projects should be completed to benefit citizens

Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan says he will encourage any government that comes into office to complete any projects that will benefit the country and its citizens. Asked if the realisation of the project depended on the PNM winning the next general election which is expected to be held next year, Sinanan said one did not govern a country based on winning an election, but for the improvement of the country. Read more here

Yesenia wants Young with her on visit to cops

Venezue­lan refugees say they have nowhere to turn for re­dress over the in­jus­tices they ex­pe­ri­ence while seek­ing refuge in T&T be­cause both Im­mi­gra­tion Di­vi­sion of­fi­cials and po­lice of­fi­cers are al­so met­ing out un­just treat­ment to them. Venezue­lan-born ac­tivist Yese­nia Gon­za­les made the claim yes­ter­day, as she re­spond­ed to a call by Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty Min­is­ter Stu­art Young for Venezue­lans who have ev­i­dence of such treat­ment to take it to the po­lice. In an in­ter­view with Guardian Me­dia yes­ter­day, Gon­za­les agreed with Young’s call for such mat­ters to be in­ves­ti­gat­ed but said it’s not as straight­for­ward as mak­ing a re­port to the of­fi­cials. She said this was so be­cause in­for­ma­tion reach­ing her from the refugees in­di­cates the po­lice and im­mi­gra­tion of­fi­cials are al­so im­pli­cat­ed in the abuse of refugees. Read more here

BUSINESS

 ‘PM did not negotiate gas prices’

Communications Minister Stuart Young yesterday, said Prime Dr Keith Rowley Young did not negotiate a “bad price” for natural gas supplied by multinational energy companies operating in T&T’s waters when he travelled to Houston in Texas in March 2017. Read more here

REGIONAL

Plane Pain - Legal Action On The Cards As Flight School Tragedy Leaves Students’ Families With Million-Dollar Debts

The mothers of the two student pilots killed in the November 2016 flight school plane crash are reliving nights of anguish, anxiety, and anger following the publication of a 60-page report detailing a litany of regulatory and operations shortfalls that led to the tragedy. To compound the pain, they say they have been left with millions of dollars of debt just over two years after their sons, Danshuvar Gilmore, 19, and Ramone Forbes, 17, were killed when the Caribbean Aviation Training Centre-owned Cessna aircraft went down in Greenwich Town, seconds after take-off from the Tinson Pen Aerodrome in Kingston. Read more here

INTERNATIONAL

The cartoonists who helped take down a Malaysian prime minister

A humongous pink gemstone perches on a woman's finger, matched only in extravagance by her hair, which is half the height of her body. A pendulous necklace and Hermès handbag hang from her other arm. For Malaysians, the figure pictured is instantly recognizable as Rosmah Mansor, wife of disgraced former Prime Minister Najib Razak and -- according to prosecutors in the US and Malaysia -- a modern day Imelda Marcos who accrued luxury goods worth millions of dollars using money embezzled from the state investment fund, 1MDB. Read more here

Brexit: Last chance to guarantee 22 May delay, MPs told

MPs have been told they face their "last opportunity" to ensure the Brexit process is extended to 22 May and bring certainty to people and businesses. The attorney general said any further extension past 12 April would be "subject to the veto" of 27 EU leaders. MPs will be asked to approve only part of the PM's Brexit deal, the withdrawal agreement, covering the terms of exit. Labour said separating that from the political declaration would mean voting on a "blindfold Brexit". Read more here

29th March 2019

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