NEWS
A Real Indian Trinbagonian
My name is Rashmi Mathur and I am a Trini from Bangalore, India. I was born in India but moved to Tobago when I was nine. Fort King George was like our backyard. We would study or read there after school while eating guavas. On moonlight nights, we would imagine ghosts wandered (there). Secrets, dreams and heartaches were shared there. Read more…
4 MORE MURDERS
A weekend of bloodshed, in which four persons including two fathers and an elderly woman were murdered in four unrelated incidents, has caused the nation’s murder toll to rise to 346 with officers unable to make arrests in any of these murders up to press time. In one case, a 62-year-old woman was bound, gagged and beaten to death inside her Sangre Grande home in what is believed to be a robbery. In another case, a man was riddled with at least ten bullets as he walked along a road in Belmont. In yet another incident, a father of two was shot dead in his own home and another father was killed as he was shot while riding his bicycle along the road. Also this weekend, police shot and killed a man who is said to have opened fire on officers in Laventille. Read more…
Girl, 14, arrested for guns
A 14-year-old schoolgirl is among four persons who were arrested yesterday morning in Sangre Grande on enquiries for possession of illegal firearms. The girl was at a relative’s home at Junction Road, off Goda Avenue, Sangre Grande, along with three other persons, when police executed a search warrant at the premises shortly after midnight and two loaded firearms were found. Police said they seized a Glock .40 calibre pistol with 13 rounds of .40 ammunition, as well as a Beretta .38 pistol with eight rounds of ammunition. Read more…
POLITICS
Minister promises more local content in energy
Local companies operating in the energy sector have been given the assurance by Energy Minister Nicole Olivierre that there will be soon be legislation to ensure local content within the industry. The minister made the disclosure on Saturday while addressing the 25th anniversary and long service awards function of In-Corr-Tech Limited at Petrotrin Staff Club, Pointe-a-Pierre. “I want to assure you that during my tenure as minister, I will be personally championing the cause of local content. I will seek to transform and transition from our local content policy into legislation to ensure that as a nation we receive maximum benefits from our energy sector,” Olivierre told the many guests seated in the hall. Read more…
Rambharat: New locations and focus for agriculture
Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat yesterday announced that staff of his ministry are being relocated to rural areas for easier access to the country’s farming communities. In addition, he said, laws will be amended so that the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) and the National Agricultural Marketing and Development Company (Namdevco) can be moved to Chaguanas. The minister said these major changes with take place within the next few months as he seeks to position his ministry to advance agriculture in the country. Read more…
KAMLA SLAMS PROBE
A probe into the Couva Children’s Hospital is an attempt to tarnish the legacy of former prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, says former health minister Dr Fuad Khan. Both Khan and Persad-Bissessar have defended the $1.6 billion hospital, which Finance Minister Colm Imbert said will be investigated. On Saturday, Imbert said it must be investigated why the former People’s Partnership government allocated some $239 million towards the hospital when there was a government-to-government loan arrangement with the Chinese government, where the funds would have been fully provided and there would be no obligation on the part of this country’s government to finance the hospital’s construction. Read more…
BUSINESS
As T&T faces economic slump, lecturer warns: Borrowing not the answer
The longer the slump in oil and natural gas lasts, the more likely T&T could end up in an economic slump, says lecturer and economist, Dr Anthony Birchwood. If T&T has to borrow from any international financial organisation, he said, this country have to demonstrate that it is working hard to reform the economy. “Right now, we are not taking hard measures to reform the economy, he said in his contribution to a post budget forum hosted by the Department of Economics at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine. Also taking part in the forum, chaired by economics lecturer Dr Daren Conrad, were senior lecturer Dr Roger Hosein, director, tax services at KPMG Nicole Joseph and president of the T&T Contractors Association Mikey Joseph. Read more…
AMCHAM cautions against proposed online shopping tax
The American Chamber of Commerce of Trinidad and Tobago (AMCHAM T&T) has noted the recent comments by the Minister of Finance related to online shopping. With the government seeking to raise an almost further six billion TTD in revenue from tax collection, we urge caution on the measures used to achieve this. AMCHAM TT, in a press release, said it does not think it wise to impose additional taxes on goods which are purchased online. In the current system, when a customer purchases goods online, and it is brought in legally through a properly functioning courier company, VAT is collected as well as all other required taxes. We believe that imposing additional taxes on online shopping, the Amcham TT release said, will not deter it, but instead run it underground and damage a thriving industry. We urge the Government to look at alternatives through more efficient tax collection. We must also be cognizant that businesses use the courier industry to import machinery, medicine and other important production inputs. For many, the courier industry offers them an efficient method of “Just In Time” operations. Read more…
NGL starts trading today, Calypso in November
This week, we at Bourse cover some of the recent developments in the local market space that may be of interest to investors. In particular, we review the results of the NGL IPO and take a closer look at the latest offering on the market, the UTC Calypso Macro Index Fund.
NGL Allocation benefits individuals
The official allocation of the TTNGL IPO, as published on October 14th 2015, suggests that the goal of providing individuals with the opportunity to own part of the country’s energy sector was met. Individual investors subscribing for 2,000 shares or more would have received a minimum guaranteed 2,000 shares, plus 92.3 per cent of the excess balance for which they subscribed. From the final allocation figures, there was healthy interest from individual investors, with over $1bn in subscriptions chasing just over $910m worth of shares. Read more…
REGIONAL
Clean up complete, water supply restored after dead fish found in St. Lucia river
Water supply to residents of the south eastern village of Micoud was restored yesterday, three days after dead fish in a source river prompted a shutdown and tests. The Water & Sewerage Company Inc. (WASCO) said in a statement that it had turned back on the water around midday, following “elaborate cleaning and flushing” and monitoring. WASCO had disclosed last Thursday that dead fish were discovered in the river source within the Micoud watershed area and the water supply had been compromised. It said that the Water Resource Management Agency and the Environmental Health Branch of the Ministry of Health had been informed so they could immediately begin investigations. Read more…
Over 50 kilos of drugs stolen from Cayman Islands police station
The deputy governor of the Cayman Islands has revealed that 24 kilos of cocaine and 33 kilos of ganja were stolen during a break-in at the George Town Police Station earlier this year. Having already created public controversy by initially denying that the thieves had managed to get into the container located in the station yard, Royal Cayman Islands Police Service (RCIPS) management finally admitted that it was not an attempted break-in but an actual burglary. The quantity of drugs stolen was revealed following a parliamentary question asked by opposition leader McKeeva Bush in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday morning. Deputy Governor Franz Manderson admitted that 57 kilos of drugs had been taken but no other items were missing as a result of the break-in. Read more…
INTERNATIONAL
Arctic 'doomsday vault' opens to retrieve vital seeds for Syria
Humanity has had to cash in on its insurance policy earlier than expected. Deep in the side of a mountain in the Arctic archipelago is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Coined the "Doomsday Vault," this bank operated by the Norwegian government is meant to be humanity's back-up in the event of a devastating catastrophe that decimates crops. But that was not what caused scientists to have to dip in and make a withdrawal. Rather, it was because of the most preventable of manmade disasters -- war. Read more…
Amazon targets 1,114 'fake reviewers' in Seattle lawsuit
19th October 2015