NEWS
Crime-Buster PM
Declaring that he has heard the calls from the population for decisive action to bring runaway crime under control, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley yesterday served notice, “I propose to take a direct interest in overseeing a comprehensive review of the way in which Community Policing functions are introduced within the Police Service.” In serving this notice as he addressed the People’s National Movement’s (PNM) 46th Annual Convention and launch of the partys 2016 Local Government Elections campaign at the Queen’s Park Savannah yesterday, Rowley also announced the launch of a Nationwide Crime Prevention Education and Mobilisation Programme which will involve all sectors of the population in the fight against crime in TT. He said both of these initiatives will be undertaken in consultation with National Security Minister Edmund Dillon. With billions of dollars spent over the last 20 years to outfit and equip the Police Service in the hope of a more secure and peaceful environment for all citizens, the Prime Minister said it was time to be “brutally honest with ourselves.” According to Rowley, “There is too much confusion, too much dysfunctionality and outright failure at the many layers at the top to expect the best in the middle and at the base.” Read more here
Dr George Laquis: Some cancers don’t need treatment
Many women who are diagnosed with breast cancer and made to undergo surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy do not need treatment at all. In such cases, they can actually live with the disease, says Dr George Laquis, former head of the T&T Cancer Society, who has been at the forefront of the cancer battle in T&T for more than four decades. Giving an example, Dr Laquis said women diagnosed with breast carcinoma in situ (BCIS) will die with the cancer but not from it. “I am not sure we should be treating those kinds of cancer. We can leave it alone,” he said, also making the point in reference to the shortage of cancer drugs and the high cost of treatment. Speaking on the topic of cancer misdiagnoses, Dr Laquis said from the time a type of cancer is detected, the usual reaction is to start a process of surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. He said such a misdiagnosis creates physical and psychological distress. Read more here
Cheaper costs for school bus drivers...but not parents
Dropping children to school just got cheaper, for the drivers, and not necessarily the parents. An anticipated drop in fuel costs for school bus drivers, due to a new private-sector partnership between compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicle supplier D Rampersad & Co Ltd and the Private School Transport Association of Trinidad and Tobago (PSTATT), will not necessarily translate to lower prices for parents. So said PSTATT public relations officer Ndale Young on Wednesday at D Rampersad’s office on Chan Ramlal Street in Chaguanas. Read more here
POLITICS
OPM clarifies one-off holiday
The Office of the Prime Minister yesterday indicated that a report in another daily newspaper, which claimed that Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley spoke about granting an annual holiday to the First People’s of this country, was patently wrong. In a brief emailed statement, Press Secretary to the Prime Minister Arlene Goring- George indicated, “The First People have not asked for an annual holiday. They have in fact requested that a day be designated, but as a one off holiday similar to the Chinese Bicentennial celebrated a few years ago in TT.” Rowley spoke about the one-off holiday whem he addressed the People’s National Movement’s (PNM) Divali celebrations in Constantine Park, Macoya last Thursday. Read more here
Khan: PNM ready to reform local government
As sure as night follows day, the PNM government is going to reform local government to bring power to the people. The party is ready to deliver, chairman and Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Franklin Khan declared yesterday afternoon, at the official launch of the PNM’s local government campaign at the Queen’s Park Savannah. “It is real and it will happen. Just as night follows day, local government reform is going to happen this time,” he said. Khan said although local government reform has been bandied around for decades, it is different this time because Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has given his personal commitment to the cause. The new legislation will empower local regional corporations to govern their own regions, like regional governments. Read more here
PNM talks reform; presents 137 candidates
Local government reform is as sure as night follows day, People’s National Movement (PNM) chairman and Local Government Minister Franklin Khan has assured. “Let me throw your minds back to the election campaign of 2015. The PNM latched its wagon on one major transformational issue and that was local government reform. While not new in its own right, because this idea was bandied around for decades, however this time there was one fundamental difference and that fundamental difference is that the commitment to local government reform came right at the very top,” Khan said. Read more here
BUSINESS
Farrell: Private sector must lead diversification
Chairman of the Economic Development Advisory Board (EDAB) Terrence Farrell believes the private sector must lead efforts to diversify the T&T economy. Farrell was the keynote speaker at an event at the UWI St Augustine campus entitled How to Diversify Trinidad and Tobago. The event, the fourth in an ongoing series of public discourses is a collaborative effort between the UWI Trade and Economic Development Unit (TEDU), the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES) and Guardian Media Limited. In his presentation, Farrell said: “I am advocating strongly that it is our local private sector businessmen and women who must lead the diversification effort across a broad front. My argument for the private sector is pragmatic. The local private sector has better management capability, stronger marketing skills, superior discernment of business opportunities, and have access to some amount of capital.” Read more here
World interest rates, the local investor
This week, we at Bourse explore some of the recent and upcoming international monetary policy decisions and their impact on global markets. Read more here
REGIONAL
Tensions mount in Venezuela
Following the Venezuelan government's refusal to hold the recall referendum as requested by the opposition, Venezuelans took to the streets in their thousands in the face of what they see as a dead end in negotiations over the country's political and economic crisis. Protest marches have taken place in parts of the country other than the capital Caracas, such as in the plains region of Barinas, the Andean regions of Mérida and Táchira, the central northern state of Carabobo, and Margarita island in the region of Nueva Esparta. Economic and political instability -- heavily linked to the collapse of the oil price -- has been steadily growing in Venezuela, resulting in acute shortages of food and medicine for ordinary Venezuelans. For many opposition supporters, the exit of President Nicolás Maduro and his administration could help usher in much-needed changes, while Congress, where the opposition now holds a majority, has been pushing in vain to bring impeachment proceedings against Maduro to the Supreme Court he retains control over. Read more here
Billion$ For Water - Massive Investment Needed For Regional Transformation
Caribbean nations need approximately US$5.5 billion over the next 10 years to address water and sanitation issues, a figure that adds support to the growing calls in the region for more public-private partnerships (PPP) or even full privatisation of the water utility. The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), one of the leading global support agencies in the region, has now joined that call, noting that debt-burdened Caribbean economies, by themselves, cannot afford to fund that kind of investment for what's considered a 'human right'. "Coming out of the high-level forum of the Caribbean Water and Wastewater Association that took place [last week], it is estimated that US$5.5 billion is required over the next 10 years to attend to our water and wastewater issues in the Caribbean," Evan Cayetano, a senior specialist for water and sanitation at the IDB, told participants at the Organisation of Utility Regulators Conference that ended last Friday in St James. Cayetano said the identification of the funds needed for investments show that utilities are now able to calculate the problem and put forward solutions to political representatives. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Italy quake: At least 15,000 in temporary shelters
Bracing for the final stretch
The most unpredictable, dumfounding and just plain nasty presidential campaign in modern times is heading into its final full week. Hillary Clinton, who just three days ago seemed on a glide path to a date with history, is suddenly on the defensive. The former secretary of state is again tripped up by her ill-fated decision to use a private email server during her time in office. The FBI review of new emails from longtime Clinton aide Huma Abedin found on the computer of her estranged husband, Anthony Weiner, ensures that an issue that has dogged the Democratic nominee from the beginning of her campaign will be front-and-center through the end. Read more here
31st October 2016