NEWS
Students go on rampage
Police had to be called in to the Williamsville Secondary School, last Friday morning when a fight broke out between a 17-year-old Form Five student, identified as a bully at the school, and a close male relative of one of his victims. The concerned relative had visited the at about 8.30 am that day to complain to the school’s principal about a 16-year-old Form Three student who was constantly bullied by his older school mate. But Newsday was told that all hell broke loose in the school’s corridor when the alleged bully was making his way to the dean’s office. He is said to have turned his rage on the boy’s relative and a fight ensued with the older man soon having to beat a hasty retreat as the 17-year-old called on his gang who went after the adult. Read more…
Fisherman drowns at Grafton Beach
A 70-year-old fisherman, an experienced swimmer, drowned in Tobago yesterday. Dead is Quilton Callender, also known as “Putus,” of Arnos Vale. Callender was a former principal of the Buccoo Government School and also a priest attached to the Anglican diocese in Tobago. The incident occurred shortly before 9 am at Grafton Beach, Black Rock, yesterday. Eyewitnesses said Callender and another man were using a kayak to get to his pirogue, named Tomorrow, which was anchored approximately 100 metres from the shore when the kayak toppled over. Read more…
Motorists not happy with fuel hike
Mere minutes after Finance Minister Colm Imbert announced an increase in the price of gasoline (super) and diesel, the new prices went into effect at service stations around the country. Motorists will now pay 41 cents more for each litre of super gasoline as the price went from from $2.70 per litre to $3.11 per litre. The diesel price went from $1.50 per litre to $1.73 per litre. Premium gasoline remained at $5.75 per litre. Read more…
POLITICS
NIS rates to go up
Following the announcement by Finance Minister, Colm Imbert during the presentation of the Budget, the National Insurance Board of Trinidad and Tobago (NIBTT) yesterday announced that National Insurance contribution rates and Maximum Insurable Earnings (MIE) are expected to increase with effect from July 4, 2016. Imbert announced the increases in the House of Representatives while presenting the 2016 Budget. He said the increases had to be made now and, unless this was done, the National Insurance System would be unable to pay future pensions. He said this was determined by the ninth Actuarial Review which was conducted on the National Insurance Fund, adding that the review was completed some time ago but was never laid in the House of Representatives. Read more…
Biggest slice for crime control—PM
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley yesterday defended his Government’s allocation of the largest portion of the national Budget to national security, saying the crime problem was a major national concern. He was speaking during an interview with reporters following yesterday’s two-hour 2016 Budget presentation by new Finance Minister Colm Imbert in the House of Representatives, Tower D, Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain. Speaking in the lobby of the Parliament, Rowley said the more than $10 billion allocated to national security “should be a matter of serious concern to the national population.” He said that was because in every Budget since the People’s National Movement (PNM) first assumed office in 1956, education was given the largest allocation. Read more…
Overdraft ‘maxed out’
Finance Minister Colm Imbert didn't say that the treasury was empty. But he revealed the dire state of Government finances. He made the revelation yesterday during his reading of the 2015-2016 budget in Parliament. Imbert said the previous government had "maxed out" its overdraft facility with the Central Bank to 98 per cent of the legal limit, pledging the Green Fund and the Unemployment Levy as security. "In local parlance, we were running on fumes," Imbert stated. Read more…
BUSINESS
Economist: More $$ might not fix crime
National Security may have gotten the biggest chunk of the 2015/2016 budget; $10.81 billion compared to $6.994 billion last year, but senior economist Dr Ronald Ramkissoon is cautioning that “more money is not necessarily linked to improved performance.” Speaking with Newsday after yesterday’s budget presentation, Ramkissoon said “there is need for a more efficient security system. One would hope that we are going to see that in a short space of time — returns for the additional investments that are being made. A better performance, better crime protection and better security must be the results of this increased expenditure, otherwise we are wasting time.” Finance Minister Colm Imbert also announced a reduction of the fuel subsidy on super gasoline and diesel via a 15 percent increase in the cost of both fuels ‘at the pump’. Super went from $2.70 per litre to $3.11 while diesel went from $1.50 to $1.72. Premium gasoline was not mentioned by Imbert. Read more…
No surprise
Finance Minister Colm Imbert’s $63 billion budget which “seeks to re-establish fiscal discipline” came as no surprise to political analysts Dr Bishnu Ragoonath and Dr Maukesh Basdeo. Giving an immediate response to the fiscal package presented in Parliament yesterday, Ragoonath said a lot of what was said by Imbert had been anticipated. “I won’t say it is an unfair budget based on the context of the falling oil price. In fact I think they have done a lot better than I anticipated,” he said. Ragoonath added, however that he did not expect a decrease in Value Added Tax to be implemented so soon: “I expected that to be delayed. Read more…
Imbert: We are losing energy
Finance Minister Colm Imbert has noted that oil and gas production has been on a steady decline since 2010, a stark contrast to the glowing picture of the energy sector painted by the previous Peoples Partnership Government. In his 2015/2016 budget presentation, pegged at an oil price of US$45 a barrel, Imbert said the Government was committed to taking measures to reverse the decline in oil and gas production and to boost exploration. “However there is the harsh reality that even exploration leads to sizable new discoveries production from these new wells will take another five years to be realised. In the interim the budget will need to bear the cost of fiscal incentives including incentives for capital allowances needed to our exploration activity,” he said. He said oil and condensate production had fallen from 100,000 barrels a day in 2010 to 800,000 barrels a day in 2015, a decrease in 20 per cent. Read more…
REGIONAL
Bermuda cleans up after Joaquin
Residents of Bermuda cleaned up on Monday after Hurricane Joaquin brought heavy rain and high winds to the British territory in a near miss on Sunday. All flights to the island's L.F. Wade International Airport were cancelled on Sunday and ferry service was closed due to rough seas. Emergency service agencies were placed on alert and power outages increased by early evening. Utility crews began work first thing on Monday morning to restore service to some 7,500 customers that had lost power. All major roads around the island have been cleared of large debris. Read more…
MPs Accuse SDC Of Delaying CDF Projects
Complaining about inordinate delays in the disbursement of funds from the Social Development Commission (SDC) for the implementation of projects under the Constituency Development Fund (CDF), some members of Parliament have requested and received approval for their CDF projects to be implemented by another agency of government. At last week's sitting of the CDF committee of Parliament, acting chairman Mikael Phillips announced changes in implementing agencies for projects in Western Westmoreland and North East Manchester. The committee approved projects, which will now be implemented by parish councils instead of the SDC to which they were first assigned. Committee member JC Hutchinson accused the SDC office in Mandeville of being responsible for extensive delays in implementing projects. He said, in some instances, it could take months after the agency gets money from the CDF unit before projects are rolled out. Read more…
INTERNATIONAL
Syria conflict: Russia violation of Turkish airspace 'no accident'
U.S. military is on its way to getting its Iron Man
After an American commando died kicking in a door during a raid in Afghanistan, the top commander of U.S. Special Operations vowed to prevent similar tragedies. Two years later, the U.S. military is closer than ever to putting Iron Man on the front lines -- or at least something that closely mirrors the superhero's tech-forward suit of armor. Unlike Hollywood's, the suit won't give its operator the ability to fly, but the real-life body armor may have one leg up on the fictional version: The military's suit will be made of liquid armor that can solidify on command. Read more…
6th October 2015