NEWS
Friend shoots boy, 11
An illegal 12-guage shotgun, bought to protect a garden from wild animals, was instead used yesterday morning to end the life of an 11-year-old boy in the forested hills of Upper Richplain, Diego Martin. Police at the scene of the fatal shooting described it as horrific accident. Some officers said that the possessing of the gun was with good intent but the method in obtaining it was not legal. According to police, Ruben Rocky Reid, died almost immediately after he ran in the pathway of the gun. Police said the Standard Five pupil of Diego Martin Primary School went with a 13-year-old friend to the forested area where the 13-year-old’s brothers—11 and six—were tending to their father’s crops of corn, peas and plantain. Police said around 11.30 am the 13-year-old loaded the shotgun. Moments later his brother, also 11, fired once, hitting the other 11-year-old in the face. He died from that gunshot wound. Another bullet from the shotgun grazed the 13-year-old in the lower back. Dazed, confused and hurt he pushed the bleeding child’s body down a nearby precipice and ran off. Read more...
New salary in Sept, backpay Nov
Nurses will receive their new salaries in September and their backpay by November. The assurance given by Finance Minister Larry Howai who is chair of the Inter-Ministerial Committee in charge of wage negotiations, falls short of the demand by members of the Trinidad and Tobago Registered Nurses Association for the new salaries and arrears in August. However speaking at yesterday's post Cabinet news conference at the Diplomatic Centre in St Ann's, Health Minister Fuad Khan warned the unions about taking any protest action which could lead to “level of violence” as happened when a security guard at the Ministry of Health was injured on Wednesday. He said the matter had been reported to the police who would be taking action. “I want to tell the nurses who have indicated that they will be going on protest action tomorrow that you could continue working without the protest action, tell the PSA you (the PSA) will have to find somewhere else to go and not use....the Ministry of Health and the Regional Health Authorities with the patients (there)”. Read more...
5 pirates killed
Two Trinidadian fishermen, missing at sea since early July, are said to have been at the centre of a gun battle between members of the Venezuelan Coast Guard (Guardia Nacional) and a group of pirates, five of whom were killed in the shootout in Venezuelan waters last Sunday. Reports out of Venezuela indicate that security personnel involved in the action were looking for Trini fishermen Shawn Madoo and Vishal Ramlochan who were kidnapped in Venezuelan waters in early July. The pirates, according to reports in Venezuelan newspaper El Nacional and the La Patilla website, attacked the Guardia Nacional with AK-47 gunfire last Sunday afternoon. The pirates killed were all Venezuelans and have been identified as Junior Alfredo Flores alias ‘Memin’, 31; Joel Angel Zabala nicknamed ‘Yoel’, 24; Javier Brito Cedeno, 26; Yeferson Jesus Rojas,20, and Jose Eduardo Barreto, alias ‘Antonio’ who was 23. All except Cedeno were said to have criminal records ranging from dealing in nuclear waste to possession of arms and illegal trafficking of fuel. Sunday’s shooting, according to the Venezuelan media, arose from efforts by the Guardia Nacional to locate the two Trinis who were kidnapped in early July in Venezuelan maritime waters. The reports did not name the men, but said they remain in captivity yesterday after their five abductors were shot dead by the Guardia Nacional near the coastal village of Mapire. Read more...
POLITICS
Kamla: I have a plan when we win next elections
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar will today launch the People's Partnership manifesto, which will outline and detail her Government's vision for the further development of Trinidad and Tobago. The manifesto launch is scheduled to take place at the Aranjuez North Secondary School, Boundary Ext Road, San Juan, at 1.30 p.m. The Prime Minister has repeatedly boasted the People's Partnership delivered over 90 per cent of its promises in its 2010 manifesto during the past five years in office. With exactly 31 days to go before the general election on September 7, the Persad-Bissessar-led Partnership—comprising the United National Congress (UNC), Congress of the People (COP), National Joint Action Committee (NJAC) and Tobago Organisation of the People (TOP)—has not yet presented its full line-up of candidates to contest the 41 constituencies. Persad-Bissessar hosted an Emancipation luncheon at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann's, yesterday, where she said she did not intend to speak politics but felt compelled to respond to a statement made by chairman of the Emancipation Support Committee Khafra Kambon. Kambon said if he were in politics, he would not want to win the general election, given the plummeting prices of oil and gas. “I am a very non-partisan person, but it's a very important period because people have their decision to make. Read more...
‘21st century campaign strategy’
The phone calls and e-mails sent to citizens on behalf of the United National Congress (UNC) is simply a 21st century campaign strategy and nothing illegal was done to access contact information, UNC campaign manager Rodney Charles has said. Charles made the statement in a telephone call with the Express yesterday in response to concerns raised by citizens about calls to their cellphones and e-mails from the UNC canvassing support for Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar in the upcoming general election. Charles however defended the strategy saying it is one that has been implemented in other countries around the world such as the United States of America and England. “It is 21st century marketing and political campaigning. “I taught marketing in the University of New Brunswick, in the University of Wilfrid Laurier and the University of the West Indies and it is a standard practice in the four Ps and one of the Ps is Promotion and promotion has taken on a different dimension in the 21st century,” Charles said. Charles said back in the day political parties placed documents in mailboxes. This is an upgrade of that strategy, he said. “Thirty years ago when I started in politics we would have delivered something into someone’s mailbox now we do it in e-mails and the standard practice for accessing e-mails accounts is adhered to,” he said.Charles said the information was not provided to the UNC by either TSTT or Digicel as some mobile users who were contacted by the party have feared Read more...
BUSINESS
TSTT: Submarine cable damaged by Kick’em Jenny repaired
While the Kick em' Jenny (KeJ) submarine volcano eruption on July 24 caused panic but no physical harm in Grenada, it did damage the submarine fibre optic cables located on the sea floor between St Vincent and Grenada. The cable is used by the Telecommunications Services Company in Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT) to transmit international data and internet communication. The damage caused has been repaired as of Tuesday. According to the Senior Manager Brand, Public Relations & External Affairs Graeme Suite there were no specific physical indicators as to what caused the damage. Suite said, “It was not stated what specifically caused the damage - ocean floor movement, rocks or extreme heat etcetera so I cannot speculate”. Suite said the cable contained several individual strands of fibre which collectively provide a great deal of bandwidth. He said that some of the fibres were broken and the remaining intact fibres is what resulted in customers having less bandwidth for uploading and downloading. On July 23, TSTT was made aware of the damaged cables on the sea floor near the volcano, which is located eight miles north of the island. It is managed by regional communications company, part of which is being used by TSTT for international data and Internet traffic. TSTT's release stated: “as a result of this damage local customers may experience slow browsing and data speeds for Internet access and mobile data where the content resides outside of Trinidad and Tobago. Read more...
...Groups working with minister to find solution
While there was some improvement in obtaining US currency a few months ago, the problem has resurfaced. “We are seeing some difficulties and some of our members have reported challenges in obtaining foreign currency,” president of the Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers Association (TTMA), Dr Rolph Balgobin, said yesterday. He said “coping mechanisms” have been utilised such as hedge borrowing and use of other currencies. “There is a mismatch in timing between demand and supply,” he said, adding that there have been meetings with the Finance Minister and Central Bank Governor on this. He said there were assurances that the issue would be resolved this month with the release of millions of US dollars into the system and he intends to hold further discussions with the relevant authorities when he returns from the UK in two weeks. Downtown Owners and Merchants Association (DOMA) president, Gregory Aboud, said DOMA has also received complaints. “We are receiving reports of restricted supply of US dollars from the commercial banks. We are, however, not having the same high frequency of complaints that occurred several months ago but there is a waiting period after the application to the commercial banks for foreign bills to be paid,” he said. Read more...
Howai: No report on CLICO firing
Two months after the firing of former CLICO chairman Gerald Yetming and former managing director Carolyn John, the Central Bank is still to submit its report on the issue to Finance Minister Larry Howai. Speaking at yesterday's post-Cabinet news conference at the Diplomatic Centre in St Ann's, Howai conceded the Central Bank was taking a long time to get its report to him. “We have expressed our concern to the Central Bank... We have been pursuing the Central Bank in respect of that. They indicated that they have prepared a report which their attorneys are currently reviewing...before they submit anything. So we have said we expect, if not by the end of this week, early next week (to receive the report),” Howai told the media. “I understand that there may be some potential for legal action arising out of this matter so I myself would also need to consult with our own attorneys before we make a statement, because I would not want to make any statement that could potentially prejudice any action that anyone may be taking arising out of this issue,” he added. The minister said the legal action may be coming from “CLICO's side”. “I haven't seen anything (lawsuit), but that was communicated to me verbally,” he added. Read more...
Howai hints at budget ‘streamlining’
As oil yesterday fell below the US$45 per barrel revised price on which the national budget is predicated, Trinidad and Tobago may see further budget streamlining in the 2015/2016 fiscal year, Finance Minister Larry Howai has said. Given that the country’s basket of crudes, on average, sold for US$59-64 per barrel from October 2014 to June 2015 —better than the US$45 per barrel— Howai was asked by reporters if it would be safe to say there was nothing to worry about. He said: “We’ve been fortunate in that the average has allowed us to come down relatively easily so far, but I know that going into next year, if the oil price continues to remain depressed, and even ends up, on average, below where we are currently, that there are issues that we’re going to have to address.” Howai added: “We’ve stripped our revenue and expenditure accounts down and we’ve identified a number of areas where we think there is a lot of duplication—things that need to be streamlined and done differently and so on, and we’re in the process of taking a look at some of those right now.” Recalling that Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said “she will touch the vulnerable last and therefore we have to look at what are the other options available to us and we have done so,” Howai told reporters outside the launch of the inaugural annual Oxford Business Group (OBG) report at the Hilton Trinidad. Read more...
Govt boost for cocoa
Minister of Food Production Devant Maharaj is optimistic the Trinidad and Tobago Fine Cocoa Company (TTFCC) will contribute to economic growth as fewer costs will be associated with the production and export of cocoa resulting in better earnings for farmers and labourers. Despite increasing international recognition for the quality of Trinidadian cocoa, farmers and estate workers still have little to show for their efforts, Maharaj said at the launch of the TTFCC at Trinidad Hilton, Port-of-Spain on Wednesday. “While our cocoa may continue to win international prizes the fact remains that our local farmers are going home with less and less money each year,” Maharaj said. Maharaj expressed deepening concern over the state of cocoa production in Trinidad and Tobago. “Open any newspaper and you would be able to see cocoa estates for sale at around $5 million, why? Because cocoa cultivation simply isn’t economical,” he said. This is where the TTFCC comes into play, Maharaj said, by faciliting partnerships to boost cocoa production. “This facility renews the hope for farmers and labourers alike and is just one example of how the People’s Partnership Government has continued to deliver promises made in 2010, by eliciting private sector partnership and value added activities by empowering our farmers.” Maharaj said the initiative was another step to economic diversification, citing the $3 increase in the price of cocoa. The estimated price is $22 per kilogramme. Read more...
REGIONAL
Jamaica to promote economic growth with $130 million loan
Jamaica will strengthen its structural program for economic growth with a $130 million loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) that was approved by the IDB’s Executive Board on Wednesday. This is the second operation of a policy-based loan series, providing budget support for the government’s fiscal policy reform. The first operation was approved in February 2014. The Jamaican government has been improving its public finances in recent years in order to set the stage for stronger economic growth. Under its economic reform program, Jamaica approved key tax reforms that aim at broadening the tax base while correcting a distortionary tax system. Among other measures, the program targets strengthening of Jamaica’s pension system, and most specifically, efforts to ensure that the pension fund is financially sustainable. This includes reforming the National Insurance Scheme (NIS). In addition, a fiscal rule has been established. These reforms will contribute to maintaining and enhancing Jamaica’s sound fiscal program. Jamaica’s minister of finance, Dr Peter Phillips, stated: “The IDB has been a consistent partner in this programme of economic reform on which we have embarked and we have made considerable progress because of the support received by the IDB. We don't always agree on everything, but when we don't, we can discuss and emerge with an even stronger bond of collaboration and are better off for having these discussions. Read more...
INTERNATIONAL
HTC shares tumble after weak results
7th August 2015