NEWS
Perverts at Large
An 80 year-old grandfather who raped three children in his family remains unpunished and free to roam, bemoaned Children’s Authority director Sharifa Ali-Abdullah. At a media workshop yesterday at the Hyatt Regency, Port-of-Spain, she lamented that even when child victims are taken into protective care, the Authority’s hands are tied in pursuing the abusers, who can only be held if police take action. “I was reading one of the horrific stories. Sometimes I just ask, ‘Give me five horrific stories, because I can’t ‘deal’ with more than five at one time. There was one with an eighty-something year old grandfather who sexually- abused three step-grandchildren, aged nine, ten and eleven, in some very severe ways.” She said he violated the Children’s Act’s prohibition of sexual penetration of minors. “Using instruments, using his person and having instruments placed in various orifices. And that person is still at large,” she related. “So we have the three children receiving care but the alleged perpetrator is still out there...and there is evidence. Read more...
Woman describes attacker before death
Police have launched a manhunt for a second suspect in the attempted rape and murder of a 24-year-old Eastern Regional Health Authority employee yesterday. Nerissa Nickey Goora, 24, a clerk at Sangre Grande Health Centre at River Road, died at hospital after she was stabbed by one of two men who attacked her as she was walking to her Tamana Hill home on Wednesday evening.Relatives said she gave a description of at least one of the suspects before she was taken away to hospital and police used this description to detain a man yesterday. The detained man was assisting police in apprehending the second suspect up to last night. Goora died of a stab wound she received just above her navel while undergoing emergency surgery at the Sangre Grande Hospital. Read more...
TTPBA supports purpose of bill, concerned over term 'cybercrime'
The Trinidad and Tobago Publishers and Broadcasters Association (TTPBA) says it supports the “theoretical purpose” of the Strategic Services Agency (Amendment) Bill, but it remains concerned about the inclusion of the term “cybercrime” in the bill currently before the Senate. In a statement yesterday, the TTPBA said it was clarifying its position on the draft SSA (Amendment) Bill. TTPBA president Daren Lee Sing on Wednesday evening called for consultation on the bill. The association further explained yesterday that while it was widely reported that the president of the TTPBA expressed reservations and called for consultation, it is to be noted that the full text of (his) statement read as follows:
“...My mobile phone was bombarded with calls and texts not to discuss (on Wednesday) World Press Freedom Day, but instead to ask for comments on the latest bill, the SSA (Amendment) Bill, which seems to have now included cybercrimes [as] serious crimes, and tenets of the now defunct Cybercrime Bill.
“It is evident that tonight your TTPBA has some reading to do. But while we support the theoretical purpose of the bill, its subjectivity can and may infringe on press freedoms.” Read more...
POLITICS
Hinds: speed guns for Tobago too
Minister of Works and Transport Fitzgerald Hinds yesterday warned that the new speed guns are intended for use in Tobago, too, and not just Trinidad. “Certainly not,” Hinds said when asked if the new measures – implemented last Friday – will only apply to Trinidad. “This law is not ad hominem to Trinidad, it is applicable to all of Trinidad and Tobago.” However, the Minister also made clear that, “As to the use of resources and the allocation of resources, that is a matter for the Commissioner of Police.” Hinds expressed satisfaction with the deterrent effect of the new measures. Read more...
AG: No threat to press freedom
Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Faris Al-Rawi says the Strategic Services Agency (SSA) cannot intercept calls and spy on citizens as was being claimed by the Opposition. Speaking during the weekly post-Cabinet press briefing, at the Office of the Prime Minster, yesterday Al-Rawi dismissed concerns that the proposed legislation threatened freedom of the press. During debate on a bill to expand the mandate of the SSA, Opposition and Independent Senators expressed serious concerns about the legislation, saying it spy on citizens and even the media would be under threat. President of the T&T Publishers and Broadcasters Association Daren Lee Sing was also quoted as expressing concern over the SSA bill as there were perceived threats to media workers. Read more...
PM tries to woo investors
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley on Wednesday told a Washington summit this country’s economy has been adversely affected by low energy prices and urged investors to look toward the Caribbean region to pump financial resources. Rowley was speaking at the US-Caribbean-Central America Energy Summit hosted by US Vice-President Joe Biden. Read more...
BUSINESS
NGL looking to land Africa deals
The Trinidad and Tobago NGL Ltd (TTNGL) is looking to expand into other territories including Africa, chairman Gerry Brooks told shareholders yesterday. TTNGL is a subsidiary of the National Gas Company and its underlying asset is the Phoenix Park Gas Processors Ltd (PPGPL). Read more...
REGIONAL
Extreme Measures To Control ZIKV - Jamaica Part Of Pilot Project To Use Genetically Modified Mosquitoes
The extreme difficulty in controlling the disease-carrying Aedes aegypti mosquito population has forced countries around the world to employ creative means in the ongoing fight against the vector. One such method is the sterile insect technique: using genetically modified mosquitoes as a control method. Jamaica is now one of several countries that will participate in a pilot project to look at using this control measure. According to Sherine Huntley-Jones, medical entomologist at the Ministry of Health, the International Atomic Energy Agency will be looking to include the sterile insect technique as part of the overall integrated vector-management programme for Latin America and the Caribbean. The first meeting is scheduled to be held in Mexico in July to discuss the full implementation of the project. "The sterile insect technique is not new, and, in fact, has been used for a number of years as a biological control of insects of medical or agricultural importance, as well as part of integrated vector-management programmes," she told The Gleaner. Read more...
Puerto Ricans protest against proposed US financial oversight board
On Sunday, May 1, which is International Workers’ Day, various civic, trade union and political groups organized a massive march against a proposal by the United States Congress to impose a federal Financial Control Board with extensive powers over Puerto Rico. The island, which is an unincorporated territory of the US, is facing a severe financial crisis. The same day, Puerto Rico's Governor Alejandro García Padilla announced he had blocked a $422 million debt payment that was due on Monday, May 2. The next payment deadline is July 1. The total public debt of the country is about $72 billion. Critics argue, among other things, that the federal Financial Control Board will focus on paying bondholders instead of creating measures to stimulate the national economy, and that it is another instrument of colonial intervention and control. It also won't allow Puerto Rico to restructure its debt or change the fact that the island can't benefit from US bankruptcy law. Read more...
INTERNATIONAL
How Ted Cruz was out-outsidered by Donald Trump
Ted Cruz was always the Washington outsider. He just wasn't the Washington outsider Republicans wanted. From the outset, Cruz staked his claim as the "true conservative" in the race, a brand built on standing up to the corruption of the nation's capital. He talked about building a coalition of young people, evangelicals, libertarians, minorities and Reagan Democrats. "Republicans are uniting and coming together behind our campaign," he said as part of his regular stump speech, at press conferences, at quick stops in small towns across the country. The plan was simple: do well in Iowa, build on that momentum in South Carolina, then go on to win the so-called "SEC primary" in the South, and build a dominant delegate lead. Read more...
North Korea: Kim seeks to cement power at rare congress
6th May 2016