NEWS
MEDICAL STUDENTS SAFE
THE future of the Government Assistance for Tuition Expenses programme (GATE) is still up in the air, but medical students need not fear cuts to their funding. Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley gave this assurance yesterday as he spoke to students at The University of the West Indies (The UWI) Mona campus in Jamaica. Read more here
Don’t blame ministry for leak, says Garcia
Education Minister Anthony Garcia yesterday defended Ministry of Education employees and members of the Gate Task Force Committee, saying they were not responsible for leaking the 70-page report to the media. Hinting that the leak would have come through high-ranking officials, Garcia yesterday stopped short of confirming it had been leaked by a member of the Cabinet. “Persons who occupy positions of trust must accept the positions in which they find themselves and act with that element of trust at all times,” Garcia said at a press conference at the ministry. Read more here
Education Ministry listing ‘naughty’, ‘nice’ teachers
The Ministry of Education is making a list of teachers who are naughty and nice and will be moving to promote the deserving and discipline the delinquents. Education Minister Anthony Garcia, speaking at a news conference at the Education Ministry’s St Clair office, said a meeting was held yesterday with the Teaching Service Commission (TSC), where discussion centred on filling vacancies, promoting teachers and also dealing with those who are guilty of absenteeism. Read more here
POLITICS
Opposition MP: Make report public
OPPOSITION United National Congress (UNC) Naparima Member of Parliament Rodney Charles has called for the report by a Task Force appointed by government to review the Government Assisted Tertiary Education (GATE) programme, to be made public. In a statement, Charles said, “The Government must publish the full report submitted by the task force. The population must demand the details as this government cannot be trusted.” He said while there is nothing wrong with routine reviews of government initiatives, “we should know if we are getting value for money, these should be done in the context of a wider national development policy.” Charles claimed the mandate given to the task force was to reduce cost not to increase value for money. “These are two fundamentally different outlooks on the programme,” he stated. Read more here
PM: We will be guided
PRIME Minister Dr Keith Rowley said yesterday Government “will be guided” by the decision of the family of former prime minister Patrick Manning to decline a proposal for him to be awarded this country’s highest honour, the Order of the Republic of TT (ORTT), posthumously. The Prime Minister made this comment in response to a statement posted on Manning’s Facebook page, in which his son Brian indicated that the family would be unwilling to accept a national award on his father’s behalf. Read more here
BUSINESS
Colm Imbert to Central Bank: Pay all Clico policyholders
Finance Minister Colm Imbert issued special directions to the Central Bank on July 13, which led to the institution directing Clico to make the final settlement of statutory fund liabilities to the Government, according to a document leaked to the Guardian by the Clico Policyholders Group. Read more...
REGIONAL
8 Ways To Enjoy The Caribbean Like A Local
From the strange and creepy to the strikingly unique, there are certain things in the Caribbean you just have to experience to believe them.Be it the Spice Island of Grenada that has more spices than population; to Jamaica with its 120 cool rivers, you can’t help but be intoxicated by the curious and bizarre things the islands have to offer. Read more...
US will not lift sanctions on St Lucia without credible progress
The United States has made it clear to the new government in Saint Lucia that the ongoing failure to bring to justice those responsible within the local police force for gross violations of human rights prevents the US from reconsidering the sanctions imposed on the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force (RSLPF) under the Leahy Law. Read more...
INTERNATIONAL
The man hired to have sex with children
n some remote southern regions of Malawi, it's traditional for girls to be made to have sex with a paid sex worker known as a "hyena" once they reach puberty. The act is not seen by village elders as rape, but as a form of ritual "cleansing". However, as Ed Butler reports, it has the potential to be the opposite of cleansing - a way of spreading disease. Read more...
Scientists turn old plastic bottles into fuel
Millions of tons of plastic garbage pollute our world. What if we could turn them into fuel instead?That's the ambitious plan of a team of scientists from the University of California, Irvine (UCI), and the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry (SIOC) in China.The technique involves breaking down the plastic to a molecular level to turn it into a readily usable fuel similar to diesel. Read more...
21st July 2016