NEWS
DeNovo makes first gas delivery to NGC
DeNovo Energy Ltd has made the first natural gas delivery from its Iguana Field in the south-western coast of Trinidad, to the National Gas Company, said in a release. DeNovo, part the Swiss-based Proman Group, is now TT’s fifth natural gas producer, and has committed to delivering 80 million standard cubic feet of gas per day for use by petrochemical plants on the Point Lisas Industrial Estate. Iguana is the first west coast natural gas field to be developed in TT, and the first offshore gas development to be completed utilising a local jack up rig. Read more here
2nd illegal Greenvale tenant evicted
Another family living in the Housing Development Corporation’s (HDC) Greenvale Park Development in La Horquetta has been served an eviction notice after being found to be illegally occupying a house there. The eviction comes just two weeks after the Sorzano family was evicted from the development after being found to be living there illegally by an HDC team which had gone to set up a flood relief centre for residents affected by October’s devastating flooding. Yesterday, HDC chairman Newman George said the latest find was now forcing them to do a development to development audit taking stock of their assets. George said the latest family was served with a notice to quit the premises after they failed to produce any documentation proving ownership. Read more here
POLITICS
Fewer psychiatric patients at SFGH
There has been a more than four per cent decrease in the number of patients at the San Fernando General Hospital psychiatric ward and an independent committee has found no need for relocation, says Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh. He was responding to a question in the Senate yesterday from Opposition Senator Wade Mark on reports that the ward needed to be relocated because of an increase in the patient population. Read more here
JSC told high abuse at elderly homes
Hard times for the elderly in some geriatric homes for the aged. Six cases in homes were reported to police to investigate criminal intent, three homes have been closed, 30 others are in “extreme conditions of non-compliance” and out of 217 such homes registered with the Health Ministry, only one is licensed. Worse, out of the unlicensed homes, nine receive state funding. These and other “eye-openers” were provided by Social Development and Health Ministry officials who were grilled yesterday by Parliament’s Joint Select Committee on Social Development and Public Administration. Read more here
BUSINESS
Come together
How can we reform state enterprises with empathy? TSTT has let go of 500 people. Last week, the Central Bank announced the sale of Clico and British American’s insurance assets. This follows the closure of Petrotrin’s refinery and the announced upcoming sale of CL Financial’s Omani methanol plant. Could this be the start of even greater reform of our state enterprises; and of a changed role for the State? Read more here
REGIONAL
'I Punched Him In The Face 4 Times' - Female Pastor Says She Beat Man For Repeatedly Abusing His Wife
There are times when talk is not enough, and strong, maybe even controversial actions, have to be taken. No one knows this better than Reverend Annett Brown, who admitted that she punched a male member of her church in the face several times because he was repeatedly abusing his wife. Brown, who was representing the Jamaica Council of Churches at a public forum on Violence Against Women at the Terra Nova Hotel in St Andrew yesterday, said that while she was not glorifying her actions, she would never condone women she came in contact with staying in abusive relationships. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Sentinelese tribe thought to have killed American 'world's most isolated'
The tribe that appears to have killed American John Allen Chau on remote North Sentinel Island in the Bay of Bengal is one of a number of vanishing peoples sealed off from the rest of the world. The Sentinelese, as they're known, are protected by Indian law to preserve their way of life and protect them from modern illnesses to which they have no immunity. Laws banning outsiders from going within five nautical miles of the island are also there to protect strangers because the tribe, which has lived on the island for tens of thousands of years, has a history of forcefully repelling outsiders. Their numbers have declined in recent years, but accurate counts are hard to obtain because the Sentinelese can only be observed from a distance due to the dangers in approaching the tribe. Read more here
Brexit: Draft agreement on future relationship 'agreed'
22nd November 2018