NEWS
Traffic offence points system coming soon
Approximately 3,701 fixed penalty notices have been issued to errant motorists for speeding since speed guns were introduced in April, according to Acting Superintendent Mathura Singh of the Traffic and Highway Patrol Branch of the Police Service (TTPS). Singh made the remarks during yesterday’s police media briefing and urged drivers to think twice before speeding along the roadways, as such errant behaviour could possibly result in the revocation of their driver’s permits. “We’ve noticed that of the 3,701 persons who were issued tickets, several of them were repeat offenders.” Singh said that in order to treat with the issue of repeat offenders, a points system would be implemented by the Ministry of Works and Transport and would be enforced by the police. PC Brent Batson, road safety coordinator of the TTPS, said that under this penalty system, drivers charged repeatedly with offences such as speeding, breaking red lights and driving while intoxicated, among others, may have their permits seized. Singh also called on parents to adhere to child seat laws required under the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act, which states that drivers failing to place children five years and under in child restraints or booster seats in their vehicles face a fixed penalty of $1,000. Read more…
Murder toll hits 308
With Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar set to meet on the rising crime scourge T&T is facing, some 308 people had been murdered as of yesterday, according to figures from the Homicide Bureau of Investigations. Of this number, up to June, 17.3 per cent of the cases had been solved. The number of murders suggests that at least one person has been killed each day and if the current trend continues unabated, there could be a projected 460 killings by the end of the year. For the first six months of this year, 228 people were murdered. Since then, in two months (July-August), 80 people were killed, an average murder of 30 to 35 killings a month. Read more…
Station fires Ian: axes crime show
Crime Watch host Ian Alleyne has been fired by CNC3 and his show is off the air. Following a week of escalating tension between Alleyne and his bosses at CNC3, the media house announced yesterday it will “no longer carry the Crime Watch programme”. Read more…
POLITICS
PM acted as Finance Minister in July
Finance Minister Colm Imbert has acted for Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley on nine occasions. But in July, Rowley returned the favour. The Prime Minister acted as the Finance Minister when Imbert embarked on a fundraising roadshow in the US. Rowley issued an order deeming a $6.3 billion Deutsche Bank Securities loan tax-free. The External Loans (Tax Exemption) Order 2016 was issued on July 28 and published in the Gazette last month. The Minister of Finance has power under the External Loans Act to exempt from all taxes or exchange controls the payments of principal, interest and any other debt charges in respect of any loans raised under the Act. Read more…
We don’t want any talk shop
Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister, Stuart Young, yesterday assured the Government was ready, willing and able to talk with the Opposition on crime but hopes the meeting does not degenerate into a talk shop or play at politics. Young made the comment at the post-Cabinet media briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair. Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley agreed to today’s meeting after Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar called for one in a press release last Thursday. She proposed an urgent meeting with the PM and members of the national security teams to have non-partisan dialogue on a way forward in dealing with the serious crime situation. Read more…
Opposition very concerned
The Opposition intends to engage in a serious discussion with Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley today because it is very concerned about the crime situation, mayhem and murder. Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar and her team members including Roodal Moonilal, Ramona Ramdial, Wade Mark and Gerald Hadeed are to attend the talks today with Rowley and his team at the Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair at 11 a.m. Leader of Opposition Business in the Senate Ganga Singh will not be able to attend the meeting since he is out of the country. Read more…
BUSINESS
Metal-X earns kudos for marriage between industry and education
Chaguanas-based Metal-X Engineering Limited has received kudos from Minister of Trade and Industry, Paula Gopee-Scoon, for its ground-breaking initiative of providing training in trade skills to young adults while delivering high-quality work for the construction industry. “What we see here at Metal-X is a wonderful marriage between industry at the highest professional level and education where our young people receive training in skills which make them highly em- ployable,” said Gopee- Scoon, who made a familiarisation tour of the facilities at Metal- X, located at Biljah Road, Chaguanas, on Tuesday last. Gopee-Scoon said she was heartened by the skills training platform designed by Metal-X through the Afif G Najjar Welding and Fabricating Institute which empowers young men and women to earn top-level employment or start their own businesses through training with accreditation meeting highest industry standards. “You must be congratulated for nurturing so many young men and women at your institute and offering them a life-changing opportunity to be highly employable and lead rewarding lives. Read more…
Oil prices plunge 8% this week
As Finance Minister Colm Imbert and his team of technocrats get ready to make the energy price assumptions on which the 2017 budget will be based, they are digesting news that US oil prices fell by almost 3.5 per cent yesterday, heading for their sharpest weekly loss since January. The decline in oil prices came as investors focused on a growing glut from US crude stockpiles, even as they brushed aside talk that OPEC might freeze production. Energy monitoring service Genscape’s report of a 714,282-barrel drawdown at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery point for US crude futures during the week ended on August 30 did little to bolster sentiment, traders said. Investors focused instead on Wednesday’s government data showing a 2.3 million-barrel build in US crude stocks in the last week, more than double what the market had expected. Inventories of distillates, which include diesel and heating oil, rose nearly 10 times as much as forecast, the data from the US Energy Information Administration showed. Read more…
Republic Bank appoints two to board of directors
Republic Bank Ltd has announced the appointments of Edward Ince and Ian Benjamin to its board of directors, effective August 17. Ince is the founder and joint managing director of PRISM services; specialising in financial services, mail processing, records management and customer loyalty in the Central American and Caribbean regions. He has extensive knowledge of the Caribbean region, coupled with a background in technology, and is the former general manager, Eastern Caribbean, Fujitsu ICL Caribbean, where he had oversight of the company's operations in Barbados, Grenada, St Vincent and Dominica, Republic Bank said in a statement on August 19. Read more…
REGIONAL
'Go Look Work' - PNP Stalwart Lashes Simpson Miller Aids, Labels Them Deterrents
A call is being made for some individuals within the hierarchy of the scandal-stricken People's National Party (PNP) to know when to let go of the wheels of power and allow for renewal within the party. The call is being made against the background of a wave of discord rocking the PNP in recent weeks and earlier revelations that five persons have so far been confirmed as candidates to contest the four-slot vice presidential race, while two will square off for the top job as president.Former South Central St Catherine Member of Parliament Heather Robinson yesterday told The Gleaner that some people within the party "need to be thanked while some need to be welcomed". This, she said, is vital to the overall survival of the PNP. Read more…
Caribbean Corridor Strike Force partners seize $60 million worth of cocaine, marijuana
During a period of one week, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), working jointly with the Caribbean Corridor Strike Force (CCSF), seized $60 million worth of drugs and arrested nine individuals for drug trafficking. From August 23 to 30, HSI special agents and CCSF counterparts seized 2,386 kilograms of cocaine and 1,010 kilograms of marijuana, which represented one the largest seizures since the creation of the strike force. On August 30, CCSF special agents and officers seized 1,000 kilograms of cocaine in the municipality of Loiza, only two days after US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) detected a suspicious vessel about five nautical miles north of Quebradillas on August 28. The boat, occupied by two men, was described as a 20-foot-long yawl sailing without navigation lights. Read more…
INTERNATIONAL
Islam Karimov: Turkey announces Uzbek leader's death
Midway: Why Barack Obama visited a tiny island in the Pacific
It's not every day that there are more people on board Air Force One than in the place it touches down, but Thursday was one of those occasions. Barack Obama landed on the remote Pacific island of Midway less than a week after the US President created the world's largest protected marine reserve in the area surrounding the tiny atoll. It's a big green feather in Obama's cap as he seeks to cement his environmental legacy before he leaves office. Obama has tried to portray himself as the eco-warrior-in-chief over the past eight years. He's pushed the world to act on climate change -- which he calls the greatest threat to future generations -- and he's using his powers as president to turn at-risk areas, like the waters around Midway, into national monuments. Read more…
2nd September 2016