NEWS
Tattoo Eyed Rapist
A rapist with the image of an eye tattooed in the middle of his forehead and wearing three gold tooth caps in his mouth is lurking somewhere in Central Trinidad. It is believed he has raped before and will do so again. His latest attacker was abducted and taken to an apartment where she was beaten and raped repeatedly for hours by the human predator, before he later dropped her off along a road. Police said that based on the description given by the woman, they are hopeful the suspect will be arrested soon. The terrified woman told police that at half past seven on Thursday evening, she stood at Busy Corner in Chaguanas awaiting transport to be taken to her home in Central Trinidad. The 28-yearold woman said she boarded a silver-coloured Nissan Wingroad station wagon and asked the male driver to take her to her destination. However, the driver later picked up another passenger who asked to be taken to Montrose. Read more here
Carenage man shot dead
For the second time in just over a year, a Carenage family is dealing with the murder of one of their sons. Shaquille LaVende, 20, of L’Anse Mitan, who shot dead on yesterday, just 13 months after his brother, Shastri, was killed in similar circumstances. Police said LaVende was shot several times about the body. The incident occurred at around 11.35 am, just after LaVende dropped off a woman on the street. Residents who heard several loud explosions immediately called the police. The body was viewed by a district medical officer who ordered its removal to the Forensic Science Centre for an autopsy today. T&T Guardian reporter Jensen LaVende, the victim’s cousin, said he was shocked to see photos of the murder scene on social media. Read more here
‘Wicked act’: couple’s throats slit; wife dead
The Railway Road, Cunupia, neighbourhood was thrown into a state of shock on Saturday night when a couple were ambushed by two men who killed the woman and left her husband clinging to life at hospital. The victims were Jenifer Ragbir, 53, and her husband Dexter Springer, 45. They had two children and had been married for the last eight years. Police said that at 9.40 p.m. two men were seen at a ground-floor apartment where the couple resided. A female relative confronted them, during which one of the men pointed a gun at her, following which the two men ran off, jumping over a wall on the northern side of the house. Police said when the woman entered the apartment she found Ragbir lying on the floor in a room on the northern side of the house with a large slit to her throat. Springer was lying next to her and he, too, had a slit to his throat. Ragbir and Springer were taken to the Chaguanas Health Facility, where she was pronounced dead on arrival. Springer was stabilised and then transferred to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Mt Hope, where he remained in satisfactory condition up to last night. Read more here
POLITICS
Mayor: Take responsibility
San Fernando Mayor Kazim Hosein has urged member of the public to take responsibility for their premises. The Mayor lamented the high number of complaints he has been receiving with regard to overgrown lots. He said this is a result of privately owned lots being left neglected. “The public started with a great effort of voluntarily keeping their surroundings clean, but it is time for a reminder. The law will be applied to those who refuse to maintain their properties and as reluctant as we are to do it, we will appeal to the courts to fine them,” he continued. Once the SFCC is permitted by the courts to cut an overgrown lot, the cost of cutting (usually $800) is applied to the property’s taxes. Read more here
T&T on brink of economic danger PM: These are not hopeless times
Even as he declared that T&T is on the brink of the danger zone economically, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley yesterday sought to assure the nation that "these are not hopeless times." He then proceeded to list out a series of construction projects, mainly in west Trinidad, due to come on stream shortly which are aimed at kick starting the economy. They include construction of a state-of-the-art police station in Carenage, part of a revamping of the Marine Interdiction Branch to combat the narco trade. as well as a first class hospital in Sangre Grande. Rowley said the proposed initiatives would help pull T&T out of its grim economic state, resulting in much needed job opportunities. He said it was the construction industry which had been proven worldwide to stimulate economic growth. Read more here
Cuffie: $272m saved with new software deal
Public Administration Minister Maxie Cuffie said last week a multi-million-dollar software contract, signed by the previous government with Microsoft, is still being paid for even though the software can’t be used. Cuffie, speaking in Parliament on Thursday, said the People’s Partnership spent $331 million on the agreement, which he deemed “a waste of money and mismanagement on the part of the public service”. The three-year software agreement is costing taxpayers US$52.4 million (TT$331,564,596.56) and was signed between the Ministry of Public Administration and Microsoft Corporation, to govern the use of the software in T&T. Read more here
BUSINESS
Scotiabank launches Christmas campaign
Customers now have a chance to win one of two brand new vehicles through Scotiabank’s ‘Holiday Happiness Christmas Campaign.’ From October 10 until January 13, persons who apply for loans and are approved for a ScotiaPlan Loan will automatically receive one entry to win monthly prizes worth $5,000 and the chance to win one of two brand new vehicles which are on offer as the grand prize at the end of the campaign. The vehicles are a Nissan Xtrail and a 2017 Hyundai Elantra. The official launch of the campaign was held last week at Massy Motors, Richmond Street, Portof- Spain. Speaking at the launch, Senior General Manager (Retail and Small Business) at Scotiabank Savon Persad said the Christmas season holds special significance in Trinidad and Tobago and the Holiday Happiness Christmas Campaign will not only provide the added financial support persons may need through the loan and monthly cash prizes, but through a partnership with Massy Motors Limited, customers now have the chance to win one of two vehicles. Read more here
Safe to Work pact renewed
Mark Loquan, president of the National Gas Company of T&T Limited, signed the Safe to Work (STOW) Charter, demonstrating the company’s re-commitment to the original objectives of STOW. Present at the signing, which took place at the executive office of the Energy Chamber of T&T, were Dr Thackwray Driver, president and CEO of the Energy Chamber and NGC officials Maria Thorne, Vice President, Legal & Corporate Management and Heather Moore-Bernard, Manager, Risk Management. NGC joins 25 major operating companies in the oil and gas sector who have signed the charter and agreed to adopt the STOW-TT HSE requirements as a mandatory prerequisite for service providers competing for business within T&T. Additionally, Loquan identified January 1, 2017, as the cut-off date after which STOW certification will become mandatory for all of NGC’s service providers. Read more here
Making the most of your US dollars
This week, we at Bourse consider some of the options available to investors with access to US dollars. With the announcement of several new initiatives to raise revenue and/or curb expenditure in the FY2017 national budget, it would seem that the TT dollar investment landscape is set to undergo some adjustment in the near term. Changes to taxation policies, lower government spending and other factors will increase economic uncertainty, which should filter into both local equity and bond markets. Investors with US dollars, then, may want to consider looking outward to generate positive returns and increase diversification away from the local economy. Read more here
REGIONAL
Lockdown - Curfew Ordered For March Pen After Five Killed In Early Morning Violence
Police yesterday imposed a curfew on sections of the St Catherine North Division late yesterday as they sought to bring a halt to an eruption of violence that resulted in the charred remains of five persons, including three children, being pulled from premises in Africa Settlement on March Pen Road in the parish. The curfew, which began at 6 p.m. yesterday, will remain in effect until tomorrow. During yesterday's deadly incident, a 14-year-old girl and a 25-year-old man were also shot and injured. According to police reports, a patrol team of lawmen was called to respond to heavy gunfire in the area around 1:30 a.m. When the police arrived at the location, a group of heavily armed men, who had been alerted to their presence, engaged them in a shoot-out. Two persons were later found with gunshot wounds and five other persons burnt to death at the 7 March Pen Road premises. Read more here
Grenada PM speaks out on knighthood controversy
Following allegations that British public relations consultant Anthony Bailey used promises of donations and unofficial honours to obtain an unlawful knighthood in Grenada, the prime minister of Grenada has spoken out on the matter. In doing so, Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell flatly rejected earlier denials by Commonwealth secretary general, Baroness Patricia Scotland, that she had any hand in helping her “dear friend” Bailey secure his knighthood, which has since been revoked. Dominica-born Scotland has always insisted she did not arrange for Bailey to meet Mitchell, following which Bailey was awarded the honour in return for charitable donations. But speaking for the first time about the affair, Mitchell insisted it was former UK attorney general Scotland who introduced them – and claimed the baroness was present at the meeting when honours were discussed. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Donald Trump's mission: Make Clinton's life hell for the next month
Donald Trump issued an unmistakable threat to Hillary Clinton Sunday night: I am willing to cross any line to make the next 30 days of your life hell. Capping the most devastating 48 hours of his presidential campaign, Trump stunned the country on Sunday by convening a press conference with women who have accused Bill Clinton of sexual misconduct and calling the former president an abuser of women in a nationally televised debate. The Republican presidential nominee's decision to bring women from Bill Clinton's past into the debate -- both physically into the debate hall and into his verbal attacks against Hillary Clinton -- signaled a remarkably defiant strategy anchored in some of the most electric allegations that have been leveled against the Clintons in their decades in public life. It also guarantees that in the final, ugly month of the 2016 election, the country's first female presidential nominee will be repeatedly subjected to the indignity of confronting the most painful moments of her marriage in public. Read more here
German police detain fugitive terror suspect Al-Bakr
10th October 2016