NEWS
Kidnapped by Facebook friend
Missing for more than two weeks, 15-year-old Melissa Samlal has contacted her mother, telling a scary story of being taken to an unknown location by a woman she met on Facebook who now refuses to let her go home. The 15-year-old school dropout told her mother she was picked up, on January 30, by a woman she met on Facebook. Samlal said she was being kept in a house at an unknown location and wanted to return home. Read more here
State witness slain hours before court appearance
State witness Samuel Rampersad was supposed to attend court yesterday, but hours before this appearance three armed men stormed his home and shot him dead in front of his family. Rampersad, 44, a taxi driver, lived with his family at Coconut Drive, Green Acres, San Fernando, near the banks of the Cipero River. He was accustomed to working the grave yard shift and was the victim of a kidnapping and robbery in December 2012. Read more here
Sexually transmitted diseases in schools
Over 300 children of school age have been infected with Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) including HIV, gonorrhoea and syphilis between 2012 and 2015. In 2016, five primary school children were diagnosed with HIV, Health Ministry and Education Ministry officials stated yesterday at a sitting of the Joint Select Committee inquiring into the prevalence of STDs among school children. Read more here
POLITICS
AG: No removal of special majority
Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi yesterday said allegations from the Opposition United National Congress (UNC) and other commentators that Government intends to remove the need for three-fifths legislation coming to Parliament, have no substance. Al-Rawi said his comments on this issue during a conference with members of the Association of Real Estate Agents at Government Campus Plaza on Tuesday, were taken completely out of context. Read more here
Padarath wants Camille to explain her source of $$
“Explain your wealth, Madame Minister.” That’s the challenge to Planning Minister Camille Robinson-Regis from Opposition MP Barry Padarath, who has also slammed the Government for not leading by example on its proposed “Explain Your Wealth” legislation, which will be presented in Parliament ahead. Read more here
BUSINESS
Intech Park’s critical role in diversification thrust
The civil engineering work on 21 lots (over 74 acres) of the Tamana Intech Park (TIP), a fibre optic network and electrification of the park have been completed all within budget, Trade and Industry Minister Paula Gopee- Scoon announced recently during a tour of the park in Wallerfield. She assured, “the Park which spans 1,100 acres is guaranteed to increase Trinidad and Tobago’s visibility on the global map as a commercial centre primarily for technology and innovation. Read more here
REGIONAL
Jamaica Implements One-Stop Economic Data Portal
Jamaica became the first Caribbean country and the second in the Western Hemisphere to implement the recommendations of the Enhanced General Data Dissemination System (e-GDDS) when it launched the National Summary Data Page (NSDP) earlier today. The page serves as a as a one-stop publication for essential macroeconomic data from the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ), the Ministry of Finance and Public Service and the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN). Read more here
Panama Papers law firm partners arrested
PANAMA CITY, Panama -- Jurgen Mossack and Ramón Fonseca, the founding partners of the law firm at the epicenter of the Panama Papers documents leak scandal, have been arrested by Panamanian authorities on suspicion of money laundering. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Kim Jong-nam: More arrests over airport poisoning
Two more suspects have been arrested in connection with the death of Kim Jong-nam, the brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, in Malaysia. A female Indonesian suspect and a Malaysian man thought to be her boyfriend were both detained on Thursday. A woman travelling on a Vietnamese passport has also been detained. Read more here
Trump backs off two-state framework for Israeli-Palestinian deal
Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump rejected the long-established US framework for Middle East peacemaking at a White House visit with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Wednesday as he announced his desire to reach "the ultimate deal." In staking his claim to a prize that has eluded many a leader before him, Trump previewed the nascent outlines of an approach that -- if he sticks with it -- ditches bipartisan orthodoxy, borrows some old ideas and, Middle East experts say, will be no easier to pull off now than in the past. Read more here
16th February 2017