NEWS
His Death Hurts Us All
Police Constable Anson Benjamin, 44, took his last breath before his family and a few colleagues at San Fernando General Hospital yesterday, dying three days after a bandit shot him in the head during a robbery at a supermarket in Ste Madeleine, on Monday night. His death has left members of the Police Service in deep grief, with a colleague saying “we are all hurting”. The hope for a miracle which Benjamin’s family had prayed for quickly faded when hospital officials called his family early yesterday morning telling them his condition had worsened and urged them to head to the Intensive Care Unit where he had been warded. Benjamin’s common-law wife Cherry Ann Foster, 33, the mother of three of his five children, his brother, who is also a policeman, and his eldest son Arion, 21, and several officers were at his bedside when doctors pronounced him dead at 11.15 am. Read more…
11 diagnosed with Zika so far
Mosquito eradication has been ramped up in low-lying areas of south Trinidad after the Ministry of Health confirmed two more cases of the Zika virus. The victims, who live in Oropouche and Barataria, are being treated at public health institutions. So far 11 people have been diagnosed with the virus, which causes microcephaly in babies and other neurological disorders. In an interview yesterday, chairman of the Siparia Regional Corporation Leo Doodnath, said a public health meeting was held yesterday, shortly before the ministry issued a statement confirming the new Zika cases. Read more…
Witco: Deal with illegal tobacco products
The West Indian Tobacco Company Ltd (Witco) says it is hoping the Government’s mid-year budget review today will treat with the burgeoning trade of illegal tobacco products. The company’s managing director, Jean-Pierre Du Coudray, is of the view that if the Government were to increase taxes on the commodity, this would not reduce consumption but result in more black market purchases. Speaking to the media following the company’s annual general meeting at the Hyatt Regency (Trinidad) hotel in Port off Spain, Du Coudray said Witco’s expectation for today’s mid-year review is for “good sense to prevail”. Read more…
POLITICS
MSJ says consult before fuel subsidy cut
With the mid-year review of the national budget expected to be presented by Finance Minister, Colm Imbert, today, the Movement for Social Justice, [MSJ], which is headed by David Abdulah has advised government against making any changes to the fuel subsidy until “proper national consultation” had taken place on the issue. In an emailed statement yesterday, the MSJ also pointed out that the mid-year review should not be a “mere academic exercise” but should be used to ‘restore some sense of hope’ in the population. The party also lamented that the promised consultations with the population before the mid-year review had not taken place and once again called for discussions on the fuel subsidy saying a number of questions had to be answered before any adjustment could be made to the subsidy. Read more…
Panama Papers may be focus
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley will join world leaders next month at an anti-corruption conference in London scheduled to discuss the issue of beneficial ownership of trusts and the need for declaration of who really owns the companies in such situations. In announcing Rowley’s trip to the UK yesterday, Minister in the Attorney General’s Office/Legal Affairs, Stuart Young, said those international discussions would fit quite appropriately with the leaked revelations of the “Panama Papers” now making headlines across the world. Leaked documents from Panama’s Mossak Fonseca law firm have caused global waves by spotlighting offshore holdings of past and present world leaders, business people, sports and other personalities in over 200 territories for the past 30 years. Read more…
Budget Jitters
The population is suffering from budget jitters. As Finance Minister Colm Imbert gets ready to deliver the Government's mid-year budget review in the House of Representatives today, indications are that gamblers, property owners, soft and alcoholic beverage drinkers, smokers, foreign-used car dealers and financially able tertiary-level students are likely to be among those most affected.Motorists are also waiting with bated breath to see if the fuel subsidy will be reduced.Various sectors in the society have expressed concern about what to expect today, and trade unions have called on Imbert to postpone his presentation. Read more…
BUSINESS
No agriculture taking place
About 1,400 of the two-acre land parcels distributed by the Government to former workers of Caroni (1975) Ltd have already been transferred to new owners. And little or no agriculture is taking place on the plots given out for agricultural use, Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat said on Wednesday evening. Read more…
REGIONAL
Cabinet Names Members Of 52 Public Boards
The Office of the Prime Minister yesterday revealed the make-up of 52 public boards, including The University Council of Jamaica which Professor Brendan Bain will serve as deputy chairman. Bain will serve under Dr Carolyn Hayle, who will chair the council which functions essentially as an accrediting, awards, and academic development body for degree, diploma, and certificate programmes proposed and developed at approved tertiary institutions. Bain had sued the University of the West Indies for more than $40 million after the institution terminated his two-year contract in May 2014. He was fired by the university on the grounds that his constituents had lost confidence in him after he gave an expert report in a court in Belize. A church group opposed to a court case brought by a gay man who was seeking to challenge the country's Buggery Law had asked him to give the report. Read more…
Call for direct rule of British overseas territories 'absurd', says Cayman Islands minister
Cayman’s financial services minister has dismissed as absurd the suggestion by the UK leader of the opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, that the British government should consider imposing direct rule on its overseas territories and dependencies if they do not comply with UK tax law. Corbyn was reacting to a massive leak from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, which had registered more than 100,000 secret firms in the British Virgin Islands. Lumping all the British overseas territories together, Corbyn argued that the government should tell their governments: “Hang on, you are a government of a British dependent territory, a crown territory, you must obey UK tax law, you must not become a harbour for tax avoidance and tax evasion.” He added that direct rule could be done “almost immediately”. Read more…
INTERNATIONAL
Catholic Church: Pope Francis urges greater family understanding
British PM David Cameron on Panamanian trust: Nothing to hide
David Cameron and his wife, Samantha, profited from shares they had in a Panamanian-based trust set up by his late father, the British Prime Minister told CNN affiliate ITV News in an exclusive interview. Cameron, who told ITV he has nothing to hide, said he and his wife had 5,000 shares of Blairmore Investment Trust that they sold in January 2010 for about £30,000 (about $42,200 in U.S. dollars at current exchange rates). "I paid (UK) income tax on the dividends. There was a profit on it, but it was less than the capital gains tax allowance, so I didn't pay capital gains tax," he told the British broadcaster. Read more…
8th April 2016