NEWS
My dad’s tough love helped
A beaming Akeem Stewart, double medallist at the 2016 Paralympic Games, says failure is not an option for him and has already set his sights on achieving triple gold at the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo, Japan. Stewart returned home on Tuesday evening alongside national teammates Nyoshia Cain (100m bronze medallist) and Shanntol Ince following their historic performance. They were warmly welcomed via a VIP reception at the Piarco International Airport which included Sports Minister Darryl Smith, Secretary of Division of Education and Youth Affairs for the Tobago House of Assembly Huey Cadette and president of the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee Brian Lewis. Stewart created history for this country on September 9, launching the metal spear 57.32m to secure javelin gold in the F43/F44 category and set a new world record. He closed off his campaign with silver in the discus event having thrown a personal record distance of 61.72m. Speaking to Newsday after Tuesday’s function organised by the Ministry of Sport, the burly 24-year-old is already looking forward to bringing further glory for his country. Read more here
Gang leader erects barricade at Hell Yard
A “mystery” iron barricade has beenerected across the public road at HellYard, Beetham Gardens, and seniorpolice officers have seemingly reacheda dead end in finding out who is responsible for constructing it. Once the person responsible is located,he or she will have to give answers,Snr Supt of the Port-of-Spain Division,McDonald Jacob, said yesterday.When the T&T Guardian went intothe area yesterday, the barricade, paintedin black and white, was fixed acrossthe road, which is located north of HellYard and parallel with the Priority BusRoute. Residing beyond the barricade is saidto be one of Beetham’s notorious gangleaders and rumours have it that he isthe one allegedly responsible for erectingthe barricade. Read more here
Teen cousins slain at farm
The murder toll continued to climb with the deaths of two teenagers in Arima yesterday morning. Around 6.30 a.m., residents of lower Heights of Guanapo, Arima, heard several loud explosions. Upon investigating, they found two boys—16-year-old Osama Washington and 18-year-old Alike Hakeem Charles—lying in a pool of blood. Washington was killed on the scene, while Charles was bleeding from his injuries and was still alive. Residents rushed Charles to hospital, but he was pronounced dead on arrival. Officers of the Northern Division and Homicide Bureau, including Snr Supt Rajkumar, Supt Sankar and Inspector Maraj, visited the scene. Police believe that the assailants jumped a wall to the home where the two teens were sleeping and killed them. The young men, police said, were working at a poultry farm in the area. Speaking to the Express yesterday evening, friends of the two deceased said they were still trying to come to terms with the incident. However, they wondered if the teens were the actual targets. Read more here
POLITICS
Rowley: Nothing new for Opposition to blank FATCA Bill
This country faces dire consequences if it fails to pass laws to enact the United States-imposed Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), but an uncaring Opposition will continue a tradition of obstructionism, alleged Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley. He was addressing a People’s National Movement (PNM) meeting at Mount D’Or on Tuesday. Rowley sought to paint the Opposition as historically obstructionist by listing at least a dozen laws (including anti-kidnapping and anti-terrorism legislation) that the Opposition had not supported from 2002 to 2007. He also alleged that the Opposition had flip-flopped on the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), and recalled the Opposition’s initial rejection of this country’s Independence in 1962 until Dr Suren Capildeo relented to the suasion of Dr Eric Williams during a one-on-one meeting at the Marlborough House talks in England. Read more here
Opposition tells Govt: Bring on FATCA Bill
Bring it on tomorrow. Issuing that call to Government yesterday, Opposition MP Dr Bhoe Tewarie said the Opposition was prepared to work through tomorrow, when the second session of Parliament begins, and the weekend to pass the controversial Tax Information Exchange Agreement Bill. This is necessary to implement the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) between T&T and the US before the September 30 deadline. Tewarie, at a Port-of-Spain media briefing, said the Opposition had no reason to want to delay the Bill since UNC supporters were among the general public who would be affected by the halt of on-line trading, credit card operations and funding transfers, if the it was not passed. He and other Opposition MPs replied to accusations by Prime Minister Keith Rowley at a PNM meeting on Tuesday when Rowley blamed the Opposition for lack of action on the Bill. Government had indicated it would bring the Bill after the 2017 budget debate (in October). Read more here
PM: Is jail they 'fraid
The Opposition United National Congress (UNC) is “mortally afraid” that the money it stole and hid abroad would be discovered once the FATCA legislation is passed, hence its refusal to support the current bill. So said Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley who had all guns firing at the Opposition at a public meeting in Mt D'Or on Tuesday night. “They come and tell you that the reason they not voting for it, is because they defending the public interest. But what they're doing is defending the money they tief and hide abroad. That is what they doing and they don't care if they wreck it for all of us. They don't care if they destroy all of us in the process, once they manage to escape with what they have salted away in the American banking system,” he said. Read more here
BUSINESS
bmobile’s VISA prepaid card launched
Local telecommunications provider, TSTT, Republic Bank Limited, VISA International and Cellmaster on Monday evening launched the BMOBILE VISA Prepaid Card and an accompanying smartphone application. And the companies said the move will “radically change” the way business is done in Trinidad and Tobago, support the wider economy and change the way citizens access financial services in the country. TSTT executives dubbed it “mobile money” and the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Ronald Walcott, said what he called the “domestic digital wallet” was part of the company’s transformation strategy and will help TSTT earn revenue from the delivery of audio, video and other media services over the internet. Read more here
Senior economist at budget forum: ‘The good life done’
“The good life done!” senior economist Hayden Blades said yesterday as he summed up how citizens are likely to be affected by the budget to be presented by Finance Minister Colm Imbert on September 30. Blades, who spoke at a Federation of Independent Trade Unions and NGOs’ (Fitun) pre-budget breakfast forum at Paramount Building, San Fernando, said: “We are in for an unprecedented era of economic contraction and we cannot borrow our way out of it. We have to reduce, reuse, reinvest.” He said because Government has to reduce expenditure, more people are likely to lose their jobs and additional taxes could be introduced. Noting that public servants are about 20 per cent of the labour force, Blades added: “If government cannot spend money to pay salaries, to pay wages, keep Cepep going, to keep URP going, to keep the 60 something state enterprises and statutory authorities going, then people going to lose their work.” Read more here
CDB president issues warning to Barbados
President of the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), Dr Warren Smith, is warning the Barbados government that it needs to deal urgently with the island’s worsening debt situation. In an interview with the online publication, Barbados TODAY, Wednesday, Smith is suggesting that “front end adjustments” were urgently needed to correct the economic slide. He described the island’s overall fiscal position as “unsustainable” and cautioned that if left unchecked, it would do untold damage to the local currency. The Jamaican-born economist said that Barbados should consider privatising a number of state entities including the Grantley Adams International Airport (GAIA) and the Bridgetown Port. Read more here
REGIONAL
LBGT activist calls on UK to end discrimination in the Cayman Islands
A representative from Colours Cayman, the only organisation in the Cayman Islands campaigning for equal rights for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community has called on the UK to end the inequity, discrimination and mounting hostility against them. Billie Bryan, who founded the grassroots organisation, is urging the territory’s Governor Helen Kilpatrick to help pave the way for a legal framework providing rights for LGBT people and for the registration of same-sex relationships. Given the absence of local political support, the activist is asking the British to make an order in council to legitimise same-sex unions. With the mounting hostility and the almost total political discrimination against the gay community, Bryan wants the UK to step in and protect their rights and to ensure that the “power of the church” locally is no longer allowed to fuel the discrimination, which, she said, is such that “no politician” has dared to challenge the “legally enforced discrimination that LGBTQ people suffer in the Cayman Islands”. Read more here
Costly Assistants - MPs Spend $302m Over Four Years For Admin Assistants
Disclosure that taxpayers have paid out approximately $302 million since 2012 for the provision of consultancy services to support the work of elected politicians has reignited questions about the suitability of the Constituency Development Fund (CDF). The CDF was created almost a decade ago as a designated funding mechanism for constituency projects and to improve the effectiveness of members of Parliament (MPs). The Gleaner obtained information through an Access to Information request that shows that between the financial years 2012-2013 and 2015-2016, the CDF has allocated $301.8 million for MPs to get help from administrative assistants. Each MP can access up to $1.5 million for consultancy funding each financial year and under finance ministry guidelines can employ a maximum of two administrative assistants. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Charlotte protests: State of emergency declared after violent clashes
Violent protestsraged in Charlotte for the second night over the police shooting of an African-American man, prompting North Carolina's governor to declare a state of emergency. One person was on life support after being shot Wednesday night by another civilian during the unrest, the city tweeted. Earlier, the city had said that person had died. At least four officers suffered injuries not considered life-threatening during Wednesday night's protests, according to police. Gov. Pat McCrory said he would deploy the state National Guard and Highway Patrol to Charlotte, North Carolina's largest city. "We cannot tolerate violence. We cannot tolerate the destruction of property and will not tolerate the attacks against our police officers that is occurring right now," McCrory told CNN on Wednesday night. Read more here
US boy offers home to Syrian refugee in letter to Obama
22nd September 2016