NEWS
Caricom fuel contracts with Petrotrin in trouble
The ripple effect of the pending closure of Petrotrin’s refinery is being felt in the Caricom region. President general of the Oilfield Workers Trade Union (OWTU) Ancel Roget said his union has had discussions with some prime ministers in the region and with the source of their supply uncertain, they are all nervous about what is taking place at the refinery. Petrotrin supplies refined products such as gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel to countries in the region and beyond, including Jamaica, Barbados, Grenada and St Lucia. Read more here
Debe Hindu closed after roof caves in
Part of the ceiling at the Debe Hindu School collapsed yesterday, causing a total shutdown of the institution. Since the opening of the school term on Monday, all the students from Infants to Standard Three have been sent home indefinitely because of a leaking sewer. However, the Standards Four and Fives were allowed to have classes in the school despite the infrastructural defects while the ministry did a scope of works for repairs. But in an interview yesterday, public relations officer at the school Vandana Sankaar said the ceiling caved in yesterday. She said following a meeting, the parents decided that the school was no longer safe for the teachers and pupils. A decision was taken for the building to be evacuated. Read more here
Sando mom disappears after gym
Police are asking the public for help to find a 47-year-old mother of three who was reported missing yesterday morning. Read more here
POLITICS
PM attends La Brea signing
The Prime Minister will attend the signing of a co-operation agreement in La Brea today between the National Infrastructure Development Company (Nidco) and China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd for the development of dry-docking facilities at La Brea. Read more here
PM’s arrogance upsets Roget
The Oilfield Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU), backed by the majority of the trade union movement, last night entered a “war room” to discuss its next move on the future of Petrotrin, after Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley reiterated his position that the refinery will be shut down. This was the outcome of an almost three-hour long meeting yesterday between OWTU’s president general Ancel Roget, union leaders and Rowley at the Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair, to discuss the closure of Petrotrin’s refinery among other issues. The meeting was held after National Trade Union Centre president Watson Duke delivered a letter to Rowley on Monday asking for an urgent meeting with him on Petrotrin. Yesterday, Roget summed up the meeting as “not productive. And yet for another time, we saw where decisions were made really leaving out the people that counts. That is a worrying signal.” Read more here
Analysis of the PNM’s major moves in 3 years
As the People’s National Movement marks the third anniversary of its September 7, 2015 general election victory today, the Solution by Simulation poll found 43 per cent of the 435 individuals sampled believe they are worse off today than three years ago. Read more here
BUSINESS
ECA: Employers don’t have to pay absent workers
Any attempt to shut down T&T will further hurt the economy, the Employers’ Consultative Association of T&T (ECA) warned yesterday. In a statement issued ahead of today’s Rest and Reflect protest action by trade unions, the group said: “It is no secret that our nation continues to face tough economic times. It is therefore the responsibility of every citizen to ensure that decisions on the nation’s economic future are made dispassionately and realistically in all instances. “At this time, the ECA urges citizens to remember that a national shutdown of any kind, even for a short period, will further affect Trinidad and Tobago’s ability to survive and compete in the global marketplace. Each day of lost economic earnings will inevitably have ripple effects on citizens across the nation.” Read more here
Rowley to visit Guyana to boost ties
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley will be flying to Guyana next Wednesday to sign an agreement for a working partnership with that country. Read more here
REGIONAL
Verbal Corruption! - NESol Paid Millions To Company Without A Contract, PAAC Told
"Verbal corruption" allowed the state-owned National Energy Solution Limited (NESol) to hire a private firm, Peak Energy Solutions Limited, and pay it millions of dollars for service rendered without a contract in place. That was the charge of Fitz Jackson, an opposition member of Parliament's Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC), at a meeting yesterday. The PAAC was told that Peak Energy Solutions was contracted by NESol, which was then headed by Carolyn Warren, and was paid more than $12 million for work it claimed had been done. This was verified by its then operations engineer, Laurence Pommels, who has since been arrested by the police after he was allegedly found with more than $35 million in cash. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Brett Kavanaugh and the Democrats got what they came for
One of the most vindictive and ill-tempered congressional hearings in memory appeared to do little to shake up the political realities that will likely see President Donald Trump's Supreme Court-reshaping nominee confirmed before the midterm elections. For much of the time, the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing this week added up to exactly the kind of petty, small, negative politics that mourners at Sen. John McCain's funeral on Saturday used their eulogies to decry. But there was a method to the madness unfolding in the Hart Senate Office Building. Read more here
Syria war: Iran, Russia and Turkey meet to discuss Idlib
7th September 2018