NEWS
Girl, 7, raped by relative
A seven-year old school girl who went to a relative’s home to use the bathroom on Tuesday afternoon was gagged and violently raped. The girl told police she was playing outside her Tobago home on Tuesday afternoon when she went to use the bathroom which she was accustomed using. While in the bathroom she was accosted by the male relative who forced her into his bedroom, used duct tape to gag her and then proceeded to undress her. The girl’s screams were muffled by the duct tape and the man proceeded to rape the girl. The rape act ended about 15 minutes later and the attacker then removed the duct tape and allowed the child to return to her home located next door. The girl reported the matter to her parents who contacted the police. WPC Sgt Morton and WPC Clarke of the Child Protection Unit (CPU) were alerted and the girl was taken to a District Medical Officer in Scarborough where she was medically examined. Read more…
One dead, three injured in drive-by shooting
A gunman sprayed bullets into a crowd of limers at a birthday party in Carapichaima on Saturday night, killing a father of two and wounding three other people, including a Form Three student. Kendall “Kit” Boyce, 32, was shot multiple times and was pronounced dead on arrival at the Couva Health Facility on Saturday night. Another victim, Derron Richards is fighting for his life in the intensive care unit at the San Fernando General Hospital. Richards was shot twice in the abdomen and once in each leg. Andrew “Boyo” Anderson, 27, was shot once in each kneecap and in the left eye. He lost his eye as a result. Anderson’s younger brother, Antonio, 16, was shot once in the left thigh. Antonio is a Form Three student at the Carapichaima West Secondary School. Read more…
Pain for Windies as Aussies win final
West Indies suffered disappointment in the final of the Tri-Nation Series when they collapsed to a 58-run defeat to World champions Australia at Kensington Oval in Barbados yesterday. Chasing 271 for victory under lights, West Indies started well with an opening partnership of 49 but then lost wickets steadily to decline to 212 all out off 45.4 overs. Opener Johnson Charles stroked a top score of 45, Denesh Ramdin got 40 and captain Jason Holder, 34, but the remainder of the batting flopped. Fast bowler Josh Hazlewood snatched five for 50 while fellow seamer Mitchell Marsh claimed three for 32, to put the innings in terminal decline. Earlier, Australia were limited to 270 for nine off their 50 overs, after opting to bat first. They were indebted to wicketkeeper Matthew Wade’s unbeaten 57 from 52 after he entered at number seven to steady the innings and see it to the end. Read more…
POLITICS
COE laws under review
Attorney General (AG) Faris Al-Rawi yesterday disclosed that his ministry is seeking to amend the laws governing commissions of enquiries (COEs) in TT. The AG made this disclosure after he dismissed a threat by Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar to launch a COE into the discontinuance of legal action by Petrotrin against its former executive chairman Malcolm Jones, should the United National Congress (UNC) ever form the government again. Persad-Bissessar issued her threat during her contribution to debate on a no-confidence motion against Al-Rawi in relation to that matter, in the House of Representatives last Friday. She declared that inquiry would uncover the truth about the discontinuance of the matter against Jones, “no matter how long it takes.” Al-Rawi told Newsday he was not surprised by Persad-Bissessar’s comments because under Persad-Bissessar’s watch as prime minister, such inquiries served as nothing more than “a feeding frenzy” for lawyers. Read more…
THA ‘speaker’ ahead in poll to replace London
Kelvin Charles, the presiding officer of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA), was out front in voting last night in the election for the position of political leader of the People’s National Movement’s Tobago Council. At the newspaper’s press time, the T&T Guardian’s Tobago correspondent, Casandra Thompson-Forbes, said that Charles was leading with 931 votes, or 36.3 per cent of those who voted, after nine electoral districts had been counted at 9 pm. Charles was ahead of Tracy Davidson-Celestine, who had received 652 votes, or 25.4 per cent of the voters, with Rene Dumas and Denise Tsoiafatt-Angus also receiving electoral support. The constitution of the PNM states that, in the event that no candidate receives 50 per cent of the voters plus 1 vote, there would need to be a run-off election for the position. If it occurs, the run-off election will be held on July 3, according to Ashton Ford, the party’s general secretary. It is estimated that some 4,185 PNM members voted at yesterday’s election out of 8,077 registered voters. That means that 52 of the party’s members voted in the leadership race. Read more…
PM, Nidco, Young all silent on OAS accusations
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has referred all questions on accusations made by OAS Construtora against the National Infrastructure Development Company (Nidco) back to the State enterprise. Rowley had been vocal before about the failings of the Brazil-based company, saying the “management had skipped” the country and that no work was going on at the site of the Solomon Hochoy Highway extension to Point Fortin. Read more…
BUSINESS
Ford Fusion drives in
The Ford Fusion is now available in Trinidad and Tobago. The midsize sedan, whose features include a Front and Rear Parking Assistant and a rear view camera, was formally introduced to the local market on Thursday evening. It was unveiled to Ford customers alongside the latest Ford Ranger (truck) and Ford Everest (SUV) models at McEnearney Motors’ Ford Showroom on Charles Street, Portof- Spain. The Fusion starts at $325,000 inclusive of Value Added Tax (VAT) while the fully-loaded version will cost $369,000; again VAT-inclusive. TT has been going through tough economic times but Newsday understands the June 23 event reflects the confidence which Ford and by extension Ansa Automotive; McEnearney Motors’ parent company, have in the local market. Read more…
T&T taxi start-up in PitchIT finals
T&T’s Reach was among the 25 finalists at the recently held PitchIT event in Montego Bay, Jamaica. They presented their mobile app development ideas in hope of emerging victorious and walking away with the top prize of US$5,000 seed funding to develop their business as well as a spot in PitchIT business accelerators across the Caribbean. The team made it to the top ten in what was an intense, eye-opening session with teams from across the Caribbean, including Jamaica, Barbados and Guyana. PitchIT Caribbean is staged by the Caribbean Mobile Innovation Project (CMIP) which is part of the Entrepreneurship Programme for innovation in the Caribbean, currently being executed by the University of the West Indies Consortium, with funding from the Government of Canada and the World Bank. The event’s aim was to enhance the region’s mobile app development ecosystem. Read more…
Brexit and the international investor
Brexit, a term formed from the merged words ‘Britain’ and ‘Exit’, refers to a referendum or vote to decide whether or not Britain would remain a part of the European Union (EU). Those in favour of leaving the EU have highlighted the negative effects of “uninhibited” immigration, as well as the UK’s major role in supporting the laggards of the Eurozone. Read more…
REGIONAL
St Kitts-Nevis government debunks claims of stem cell project at local hospital
Minister of state with responsibility for health, Wendy Phipps, has dismissed claims made by chief medical officer (CMO) Dr Patrick Martin that he was sent on vacation leave because he objected to a stem cell project presently underway at the Joseph Nathaniel France (JNF) Hospital that had not received the requisite approval from the St Kitts and Nevis Medical Board. Phipps said in a nationalized address broadcast on ZIZ Television on June 23, that there is no stem cell project being carried out at the JNF Hospital and that the research project presently underway at the hospital has received wide-spread support and is part and parcel of two new business ventures in the area of regenerative medicine that were approved by Cabinet within the past six months. Read more…
Transfer Probe - Education Ministry To Decide If Schools Can Continue Charging Request Fees
The Ruel Reid-led Ministry of Education, Youth and Information has launched an investigation into revelations that some secondary schools are collecting fees from parents seeking transfers for their children who sat the Grade Six Achievement Test this year. The Gleaner has learnt that some schools have been collecting transfer-request fees of up to $5,000 from parents. When this was brought to the attention of Dorrett Campbell, deputy chief education officer in charge of school operations, she indicated that a decision on whether the ministry would give its OK to transfer-request fees would be arrived at once the investigation into the circumstances around the charges currently being levied on parents have been completed. "The matter of schools purportedly charging a fee to consider an application for transfer has just been brought to our attention, and we have started to investigate to ascertain whether it is being treated as a user fee for the application form and processing of the application or the regular registration fee," she said in an email response to The Gleaner. Read more…
INTERNATIONAL
Singapore Airlines plane catches fire after emergency landing
A Singapore Airlines plane burst into flames Monday after an emergency landing at the city-state's Changi Airport. Images posted to social media show flames leaping from the plane's wing. "We were so close to death!! I am still in the plane with all passengers. But I think we are safe for now..." passenger Lee Bee Yee posted on Facebook. From her seat, Yee could see the fire from inside the plane, and the aftermath as firefighters doused it with foam. Flight SQ368, a Boeing 777-300ER, took off from Changi Airport around 2:25am on June 27 carrying 222 passengers and 19 crew, Singapore Airlines said. The flight had been expected to arrive in Milan at 8:45 a.m. local time. Instead, just two hours into the flight, an engine oil warning message forced the pilot to turn back for an emergency landing. Read more…
Brexit: Germany rules out informal negotiations
27th June 2016