NEWS
Death Stalks The Land
Death stalks the land. Between Tuesday and yesterday, five persons were killed in three unrelated accidents including a horrendous accident that Naparima/ Mayaro Road which claimed the lives of an elderly man, a single-mother of five and another man. In addition, a teenaged cancer survivor was gunned down outside his Chaguanas home and in another incident, a burglar bled to death in the house he broke into after a scuffle with the homeowner. (See stories on Page 5) A mother returning home after visiting her daughter’s school; a Jehovah Witness returning home from preaching and a private hire (PH) taxi driver making “a hustle”, all lost their lives yesterday when the car they were in, crashed into a ten-tonned truck in Mayaro. The victims have been identified as single mother of five Saliesha Ali, 41, of Union Food Crop Road, Mayaro; Anthony “PG” Marcano, 60, and Sherwin Constantine, 64, both of Pierreville, Mayaro. Read more…
$.3m bail for cops on bribery charge
Two police officers were granted bail totalling $300,000 yesterday after appearing in court charged with misbehaviour in public office. Inspector Jerry Hosein was granted $200,000 bail by Senior Magistrate Nanette Forde-John after he appeared before her in the Port-of-Spain Magistrates’ Court charged with three offences. It is alleged that on November 11 and 16, Hosein corruptly sought to solicit a total of $50,000 from Marlon Dyette at the Chaguanas Police Station. Read more…
Police: 10% fewer road deaths than last year
Fourteen fewer people have been killed in road traffic accidents this year when compared to last year. This statistic was given yesterday by Trinidad and Tobago Police Service public information officer acting Assistant Supt Michael Pierre. It represents an almost ten per cent decrease in road traffic deaths when compared to last year, Pierre added. According to statistics from the Police Service, some 132 road deaths have occurred for this year so far. Three more died yesterday, which now brings the toll to 135. For the same period last year, the figure was 146, Pierre said. Read more…
POLITICS
Go ahead and kill TT’s wildlife
Minister of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries, Clarence Rambharat yesterday flatly denied there was any plan to reinstitute the ban on hunting, implemented for a period of two years by the previous People’s Partnership government. The minister’s assurance came at a sometimes heated roundtable discussion at the Caroni Swamp Visitor Centre where some farmers charged that the session was nothing but a sham to reinstitute the ban on hunting which ended on September 30, 2015. Since the hunting season reopened there has been an outcry on Facebook and other social media against what some are calling a “wanton slaughter” of animals. Read more…
95,000 eligible to vote in UNC polls
Copies of a final list of potential voters, numbering 95,244, were distributed yesterday to the three different slates and independent candidates contesting the December 5 internal elections of the United National Congress (UNC). The three slates—Team Reconnect led by Vasant Bharath, Team UNC led by Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar and UNC Loyalists led by Dr Roodal Moonilal—spent the day yesterday going through the list. Bharath and Moonilal earlier had concerns about the list, claiming their names and those of people on their slates were omitted. There were also concerns about people who were not UNC members applying for membership. Bharath yesterday said his name had since been reinstated. Read more…
BUSINESS
Massy launches Absolut Elyx vodka
Massy Distributors on Monday launched high-end Swedish vodka. “Absolut Elyx”. onto the local market before a gathering of their distributors and media at Prime Restaurant, Invaders Bay. Guests sampled the spirit, served alongside finger food including steak and Portobello mushrooms, crab and chocolate mousse. Described as a single- estate, handcrafted. luxury vodka, Absolute Elyx was once named Best Vodka, Double Gold, at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. Hosting the local launch were Absolut Elyx’s brand ambassador for Mexico and the Caribbean, Ireland- born Lisa-Marie Mulligan, and Massy’s senior brand manager for Absolut, Ria Baboolal. “This launch has been in the works for quite some time and I am pleased that it has finally come to fruition,” said Baboolal. Mulligan explained the intricacies of the distillation process. Read more…
S&P downgrades Petrotrin
Financially troubled state energy company Petrotrin suffered another blow to its fortunes this week after it was downgraded by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (S&P) from BB+ (Stable) to BB (Weak). This comes six months after another international ratings agency, Moody's Investors Service, downgraded the company to Ba1 from Baa3 and changed its outlook to negative from stable and just weeks after Petrotrin’s new chairman warned that the energy company is in danger of going out of business. Read more…
REGIONAL
Guyana can raise border controversy with Islamic bloc as relations expand
Guyana, a member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the second largest multilateral organisation after the United Nations that consists of 57 members, can raise the Guyana-Venezuela territorial controversy to win solidarity at the next OIC foreign ministers meeting and the heads of state summit in 2016, according to Dr Odeen Ishmael, former Ambassador of Guyana to Kuwait and Qatar. Read more…
Come Sit With Me Dawes - Dalley
Health Minister Horace Dalley has invited immediate past president of the Jamaica Medical Doctors Association (JMDA), Dr Alfred Dawes, to sit with him after the outspoken medical practitioner called on Jamaicans to rescue the "soul of the country". "I am hoping that [after] all the concerns expressed by Dr Alfred Dawes at the function yesterday (Tuesday), he will accept my invitation to come sit with me and outline all the issues. I am hoping that he will feel free to bring to my attention all the concerns and a proposal to remedy those issues as of early next week," he declared. Read more…
INTERNATIONAL
David Cameron says Syria action would be in the UK's national interest
David Cameron says air strikes against Islamic State militants in Syria would be in the UK's "national interest". The prime minister denied claims it would make the UK a bigger target for terror attacks, as he made the case for military action, in the Commons. He told MPs the UK was already a target for IS - and the only way to deal with that was to "take action" now. The UK could not "outsource our security to allies" and it had to stand by France, he added. Read more…
After Turkey downs jet, Russia says it's deploying anti-aircraft missiles to Syria
Tensions in the Middle East have escalated afterTurkey shot down a Russian warplane, with the Turkish President accusing Russia of deceit and Moscow announcing it will deploy anti-aircraft missiles to Syria. There has been bellicose rhetoric on both sides, missiles are being deployed, and Russia and Turkey have each accused the other of supporting terrorism. Read more…
26th November 2015