NEWS
No $M compensation for slain cops
Government will not be paying the $1 million compensation promised to families of officers who were killed in the line of duty between 2014 to date because no policy was put in place under the last administration to do so. Additionally, legislation is required to amend the Criminal Injuries Compensation Act before this payment could be made. This was disclosed yesterday by National Security Minister Edmund Dillon who said that the last administration failed to put policy in place to ensure the $1 million payout for those officers promised the package, should they be killed in the line of duty. Read more…
Glimmer of hope for steel workers
A glimmer of hope for 644 former workers of ArcelorMittal as Labour Minister Jennifer Baptiste-Primus agreed yesterday to take their suggestions to keep the plant running to the Prime Minister for consideration. Following a four-hour closed-door meeting at the Steel Workers Union of T&T (SWUTT) headquarters in California yesterday, Baptiste-Primus says she will also share the union’s suggestions for the future viability of the plant with company officials at a meeting scheduled for today. “The union has also shared with me suggestions regarding the future, from their perspective, the future viability of the plant,” Baptiste-Primus said. Read more…
Woman, 25, killed: man, 33, stabbed in bed
A 25-year-old woman was killed and a 33-year-old man wounded on Saturday afternoon, taking the murder toll for the year to date to 97. Around 2 p.m., Christina Gabriella Francis, of Munroe Road, La Canoa Road, Santa Cruz, was seen entering the home of a man known to her, along Penguin Crescent, Maloney. The mother of the man came to the house at about 4 p.m. and discovered both Francis and the wounded man lying motionless on a bed which was covered in blood.Both Francis and the man appeared to have “stab injuries” about their bodies, especially around the front of their respective torsos. Read more…
POLITICS
Dillon: Decisive action needed to protect prison officers.
National Security Minister retired Major General Edmund Dillon has described the current murder rate as “intolerable”. He was speaking to reporters on Friday last after the launch of Vision on Mission’s Pre-Release Programme at the Maximum Security Prison, Arouca. He said after the last meeting he had with the acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams and executive, they were developing a different strategy to treat with the issues of crime especially murders in the country. When asked what that strategy would entail, he said, “it would involve a concentrated effort utilising both the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force and the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service. Read more…
Cuffie: Squatters being ‘sold’ cemetery lands
Communications Minister Maxie Cuffie says while the Government recognises the critical and important role housing development plays in stimulating the economy, squatting is a problem every administration face. He was speaking at a meeting with the Moonan Road Land Settlement Agency (LSA) Settlement Group at Moonan Road, Wallerfield, on Saturday. Also present were the CEO of The Land Settlement Agency (LSA) Hazar Hosein and officials from the Ministry of Community Development, Culture and the Arts and Tunapuna/Piarco Regional Corporation. Just last week, the T&T Guardian highlighted several areas in Matura and Valencia where squatters have moved in and began to erect homes within the last eight months. Some have even constructed houses and put them up for sale. Read more…
Kamla: Shutdown a ruse
ArcelorMittal’s reported $1 sale proposal for its plant could be a “cat in bag” trick and the entire shutdown of the company may very well be a ruse for Government to step in and play “saviour”, says former prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar. She was speaking yesterday at the United National Congress (UNC) Women and Youth Congress at the party’s Couva South office. Persad-Bissessar pointed out that Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi was ArcelorMittal’s attorney and he had come to the Senate in March 2015, while he was in Opposition, advocating for lower electricity rates for the company. Read more…
BUSINESS
Olivierre: Energy efficiency a priority
Laws governing T&TEC and the Regulated Industries Commission (RIC) will be amended to facilitate Government’s renewable energy agenda, says Energy Minister Nicole Olivierre. “Despite lower global energy prices, energy efficiency continues to be prioritised. Our government is committed to a development strategy which fosters the promotion of conservation and efficiency in the manner in which they are managed. This will ensure that the life of our resources will be extended to meet the needs of future generations,” she said. “Government has set a target that by the year 2030, ten per cent of our electricity generation will come from renewable sources. Read more…
SBTT and TCL solid, GKC stutters
This week, we at Bourse evaluate the most recently released results of SBTT, GKC and TCL which belong to the banking, conglomerate and manufacturing II sectors respectively. While GKC’s stock price has increased by 26.7 per cent, the stock prices of SBTT and TCL have faltered 3.5 per cent and 7.3 per cent year-to-date. Read more…
REGIONAL
$1.5m Phone Bill - Huge Charges Racked Up On Gov’t-Issued Cell Phone After Former Company Chairman’s Resignation
Though Maurice Henry demitted office as chairman of the state-owned Aeronautical Telecommunications Limited (AEROTEL) in February 2012, $1.5 million in charges were racked up on the same company cell phone issued to him over a 22-month period after his resignation, court and other documents obtained by The Gleanerhave revealed. AEROTEL has since paid the charges in full. A review of the documents shows that the monthly data and telephony charges incurred by the BlackBerry Bold 9700 handset assigned to Henry started out at $48,874.46 in April 2012 and fluctuated in subsequent months before ballooning to $248,872.06 in November 2013, $458,728.21 the following month, and $399,933.81 in January 2014. By comparison, members of the political executive, including the prime minister and finance minister, are entitled to a telephone allowance of $30,000 per annum. Read more…
Serial rapists on the loose in St Lucia, says PM
Speaking on the troubling issue of rape and violence against women in observance of International Women's Day, Saint Lucia Prime Minister Dr Kenny Anthony said at a public meeting in Gros Islet last week he strongly believes that there are serial rapists on Saint Lucia and that everything must be done to bring them to justice. “We need to track them down. We need to find them… to deal collectively with the problem confronting Saint Lucian women,” he said. Read more…
INTERNATIONAL
Clinton and Sanders accuse Trump of inciting violence
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders both accused Donald Trump of inciting violence, with the former secretary of state calling him "bigoted" and alleging he had perpetrated "political arson," while the Vermont senator labeled him a "pathological liar" at a town hall on Sunday night. "It is clear that Donald Trump is running a very cynical campaign pitting groups of Americans against one another. He is trafficking in hate and fear," Clinton said during the event at Ohio State University hosted by CNN and TV One. "He actually incites violence in the way he urges his audience on, talking about punching people, offering to pay legal bills." Read more…
Ankara bombing: Turkey strikes against Kurdish rebel PKK
14th March 2016