NEWS
PAY $M COMPENSATION
The mother of a policeman, who was slain almost five months ago while in the line of duty during a daring jailbreak at the Port-of-Spain prisons, is pleading with the People’s National Movement (PNM) government to honour a commitment of the previous People’s Partnership administration to pay her $1 million as compensation for her son’s murder. Octavia Abraham yesterday told Newsday, she is still in deep grief over the murder of her son Sherman Maynard, 27, a Police Constable, who was fatally shot while on duty in a parked police vehicle outside the city prison during a jailbreak by three high-risk prisoners on Friday July 24. Abraham said that in addition to grieving for her son, she is also struggling to make ends meet. Read more…
Mom who had contracted swine flu dies at Mt Hope
More than two weeks after being admitted to the Eric Williams Sciences Complex in Mt Hope for pains related to her pregnancy, 28-year-old Stacy Ramkissoon has died. Ramkissoon had contracted the H1N1 (swine flu) virus, but the cause of her death hasn’t yet been determined. An autopsy is scheduled for later today. Ramkissoon’s relatives received news of her death on Saturday night, in the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Family members suspect swine flu, but Medical Chief of Staff of the North Central regional Authority Dr Andy Bhagwandass said the hospital would await the post-mortem report before making any statement. Read more…
Cops to review CCTV footage in deadly bar brawl
Police are expected to view closed-circuit television footage to assist them in the investigations into a vehicular crash that led to the death of a security guard and the injury of two police officers in Charlieville on Saturday. The footage is expected to be obtained from businesses along Caroni Savannah Road which may have captured a motorist wilfully crashing his vehicle into a group of police and security officers. Read more…
POLITICS
Rambarath: Forestry wages by Thursday
Forestry workers should all get their back-pay by Thursday for the latest, assured Agriculture Minister, Clarence Rambarath, speaking with Newsday yesterday. Last week, irate and emotional workers had protested to get their money by blocking access to San Fernando Hill, after which Ministry staff worked late-hours to process the paperwork for the cheques, which the Ministry began dispatching last Wednesday. Read more…
Imbert urges cautious spending as Rowley to give nation ‘reality check’
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley is expected to present a reality check to citizens when he addresses the nation on Tuesday. That is according to Finance Minister Colm Imbert. Rowley told a function hosted by the Women’s Institute for Alternative Development (WINAD) last week that he was scheduled to address the nation shortly. He said then that the quality of life of citizens were in danger, adding that his Government would be brutally honest about it to save them from what was pending. Rowley had expressed concern about the reducing price of oil on the international market in the past several weeks. He said citizens must behave properly if there were to maintain their existing quality of life. Read more…
Kamla urges caution on the nation’s roads
Former prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has advised citizens to be careful while driving and called for greater law enforcement on the roadways. Persad-Bissessar was speaking on Friday during a toy drive in Penal. She added that she continued to be concerned about the high murder rate. The Opposition Leader also wished citizens a safe and peaceful Christmas season. “I really wish a holy and blessed Christmas...for the New Year may better times for everyone as we go forward.” Read more…
BUSINESS
Foreign reserves plunge
T&T’s net official foreign reserves plunged by 14.7 per cent between the start of 2015 and the end of October, which is the lowest foreign reserve figure recorded by the Central Bank since November 2013, according to the latest data on the institution’s website. The country’s net official foreign reserves at the end of October totalled US$9.64 billion, which is a decline of US$1.67 billion, since the start of 2015, a year in which the country’s inflows of foreign exchange have declined because of the sharp fall in the prices of T&T’s commodity exports. Read more…
How a rise in US interest rates affects you
This week, we at Bourse discuss the recent and widely expected policy interest rate increase announced by the US Federal Reserve (Fed) on Wednesday last, which saw an increase in the benchmark rate by 0.25 per cent. We review market performance in the lead up to the announcement, in addition to initial market reactions. Of course, we look ahead into 2016 as to what the Fed’s communications could signal to the global markets and what it means for individual as well as institutional investors in Trinidad and Tobago. Read more…
REGIONAL
Tropical Storm Erika delays geothermal project in Dominica
Minister for Energy Ian Douglas says government has had to put the island’s geothermal project on the back burner because of the new priorities that resulted from the devastating Tropical Storm Erika, but he says it will not be abandoned. The project has gone through the phase of exploration and testing and the next phase involves the generation of electricity from a small plant for local consumption. Liburd said the shifting of Government’s focus to finding housing for those displaced by the storm that hit the island in late August has delayed that phase. But he assured that the storm has not in any way affected the project’s infrastructure which is currently undergoing routine maintenance. Read more…
Curacao Lottery Boss Made His Own Lottery Tickets, No One Could Win
Curacao lottery boss Robbie Dos Santos was arraigned on Friday morning on 16 alleged offences, according to the Public Prosecutor (OM). The OM indicated that the lottery boss would fabricate his own lottery tickets and sold these. No one could then win the lottery. The prosecution also accused Dos Santos of large scale money laundering and tax fraud. He allegedly did this with three other lotteries. Read more…
INTERNATIONAL
Blatter defiant over FIFA ban: 'Suspended eight years for what?'
Sepp Blatter came out fighting Monday after FIFA's Ethics Committee banned the Swiss and Michel Platini from all football-related activities for eight years. Blatter said he was being treated like a "punching ball" and maintained he was still the FIFA President and "a man of principles." "I'm really sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I am still somewhere a punching ball," Blatter said at a press conference at FIFA's former headquarters at Sonnenberg, Zurich. Read more…
Spain election: Tough talks ahead after historic result
21st December 2015