NEWS
Ceron suspended
President of the Prison Officers Association (POA), Ceron Richards, is expected to be served with a suspension notice today, arising out of an alleged breakin at his Don Miguel, San Juan home earlier this year between March 10 and 11, in which a vault containing a service firearm and other valuables was stolen. Richards, who is serving his second term as POA president, confirmed to Newsday yesterday that he has been told that a suspension letter is waiting for him at the Prison’s Administration Building, Phillip Street, Port-of-Spain and he intends to collect that letter today. Based on the completion of a police investigation, as well as an internal Prison Service investigation, into the break-in, a recommendation was made to the Prison Service Commission to suspend Richards. The service weapon belonging to Richards was never recovered. Read more…
No money for school due to fish kill scare: Help pours in for fisherman’s son
Facing the possibility of missing out on his first week of school, Josiah Gay spent the last hours of his school vacation praying for a miracle. His parents, Alpha Ramdass and father Lyndon Gay, a fisherman, had been struggling to find money to acquire everything he needed to go to his first choice school, St Benedict’s College, after the fishing industry was thrown into chaos because of oil spills and fish kill scare last month. With the new term fast approaching, Josiah was worried that despite working hard and scoring excellent marks in the SEA exams, he would be unable to attend school. As they looked at their son’s sad face, Josiah’s parents begged friends and relatives for support. Read more…
$500m project will continue
After sinking close to $100 million in developing a water park in Chaguaramas, chairman of Fouraime Enterprises, John Aboud, says he has no intention of abandoning the project. Aboud’s view is that his lease is legal and conforms to the land use specified in the 1974 Chaguaramas Development Plan. But if the Government wants it, they’ll just have to write a $100 million cheque to him for that amount and whatever expenses were incurred during the venture. Read more…
POLITICS
Tough time
Senior reporter COREY CONNELLY speaks to analysts about Dr Keith Rowley and his PNM government’s first year in office which it observed on Wednesday, September 7, a year after its election to power. The economy and crime were the bane of the Dr Keith Rowley-led People’s National Movement (PNM) Government’s first year in office. And, with the administration still grappling to streamline both issues amidst a turbulent global climate, there are fears that a stagnant economy, increased joblessness and rising crime could persist if steps are not taken to mitigate the problems. Moreover, there is a prevailing view, in some quarters, that the Government needed to be more forthcoming with citizens on matters of national interest. Read more…
PNM secretary defends first term in office
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley was able to keep his cool and still manage the country in such a way that there were no scandals every day, general secretary of the People's National Movement (PNM), Ashton Ford, said yesterday. He made the comment in response to a poll in yesterday’s Sunday Guardian which showed a majority of voters were dissatisfied with the Government’s performance in its first year. Speaking with the T&T Guardian, Ford questioned what the people expected when the PNM came into Government meeting the price of oil down to US$26 a barrel as compared to US$120 a barrel when the last administration went into office in 2010. “We had difficulty in managing the affairs of the county and had to make some adjustments, which entailed holding back on a number of things we would have liked to do as stated in our manifesto,” Ford said. Read more…
Garcia: All schools will open today
Education Minister Anthony Garcia gave Trinidad and Tobago the assurance “all schools will be opened today”. But he admitted there were some challenges such as non-payment and ineffective contractors. Garcia also identified bugbear schools such as Granville Roman Catholic, New Grant Anglican School, Arima Boys' Government and Five Rivers Secondary School, which had to be given special attention. Garcia also said 3,000 new desks and chairs were brought in to furnish schools. Via a telephone interview yesterday, Garcia said: “I am optimistic all our schools will be in a state of readiness to accept our students. I have been in contact with Education CEO Harrilal Seecharan and Minister in the Ministry of Education Dr Lovell Francis. I have been touching base with principals, PTA presidents and officials. Read more…
BUSINESS
Scotiabank: Gradual recovery for TT in 2017
Trinidad and Tobago’s (TT) economic outlook “remains weak” for the remainder of 2016 but a gradual recovery is expected to materialise in 2017, according to Scotiabank Economics’ (SE) latest Executive Briefing (EB) on this country. “Real GDP (gross domestic product) is forecast to decline for a third consecutive year in 2016, weighed down by subdued energy prices and declines in energy output from depleting oil fields, natural gas shortages, and production/ construction delays in major petrochemical projects.” “The non-energy sector will also continue to shrink,” SE said, “due to spillovers from energy sector job losses and fiscal consolidation. Economic activity will likely be further constrained by foreign exchange shortages, which has hindered local businesses’ ability to pay suppliers and procure key imports.” Read more…
Diamond launches CNG trucks in T&T
Ansa Motors’ dominance in the local commercial vehicle sector got another boost recently with the introduction of the Freightliner brand. So said Rishi Basdeo, general manager at Diamond Motors, when dealership unveiled its newest line of automobiles at its Richmond Street headquarters in collaboration with international partner Daimler Latina. Powered by compressed natural gas (CNG), the units were brought into market as part of ongoing efforts to move the transport sector away from diesel and gasoline based fuels to cleaner, cost-effective alternative. “In the local commercial sector, in our heavy commercial sector for trucks, we have over 55 per cent market share, primarily with our Fuso brand. Read more…
NEL: poised for recovery?
This week, we at Bourse review the most recent financial results of National Enterprises Limited (NEL). The company’s share price has slipped from $16.39 to $10.49 (down 36.0 per cent) year-to-date, which may in part reflect investor expectations in a much changed landscape for several of NEL’s investee companies. Read more…
REGIONAL
'PNP Needs Structure’ - Former General Secretary Disappointed With How Party Affairs Being Handled
The growing consensus among Comrades appears to be that the People's National Party (PNP) is in need of renewal, with the latest to add a voice to the call being former general secretary, Maxine Henry-Wilson. The party has been hit with one challenge after another since losing the February 25 general election, including imminent leadership and vice-presidency contests and accusations of misappropriation of funds donated for the election campaign. "There are some people who think that the party can't go on without them. They would be surprised," Henry-Wilson told The Gleaner. Borrowing a line from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Henry-Wilson said she believed "there is a tide in the affairs of men" and, therefore, everyone has to evaluate the current situation and determine if it presents an opportunity or is an indication they need to step aside. Read more…
Thousands of computers possibly infected after visiting Cuban government website
After several weeks of analysis, it has been determined that the Cuban government information website (acn.cu) is dispensing a dangerous clipboard virus that aims to steal information from the computers of unsuspecting visitors to that site. The analysis of the infection was done by the Guyana-based cyber security firm and regional anti-virus producer Computer Care, with some assistance from the international cyber security community. Their analysis revealed that the virus launches a permission pop up (on the ACN website) that seemingly gives users an option to either allow it to control their computer clipboard data or to refuse permission. However, it is hoped that most users would instinctively click the “Don’t allow” option button. Read more…
INTERNATIONAL
Hong Kong election: Youth protest leaders win LegCo seats
First on CNN: ISIS planned for more operatives, targets during Paris attacks
The sophisticated ISIS network that plots foreign strikes had planned for the carnage in the November 2015 Paris attacks to be far worse, to occur in other European countries as well and, investigators believe, had planned to follow them up with strikes in several locations, CNN has learned. CNN has obtained thousands of pages of documents and photos from internal European investigations and gathered information from sources close to the Paris investigation that together provide new details about the highly organized terror group intent on attacking overseas targets. Read more…
5th September 2016