NEWS
Earth Shake
The land on which the Housing Development Corporation (HDC)’s million-dollar Morvant housing project is built is still moving, the Inquiry into the project heard yesterday, as the possibility that the entire project may have to be condemned emerged at the proceedings. The inquiry, led by retired Justice of Appeal Mustapha Ibrahim, visited the site of the development, located at Lady Young Road. The project includes two towers which are currently unoccupied, surrounded by several blocks which house 60 apartment units and are occupied. Gordon Redon, the HDC’s senior manager for project development and oversight, said tests which continue to be conducted at the site show movement continues to date at the project which has seen many different phases since 2003. Read more…
Manhunt for 3 gang rapists
A pregnant woman was robbed and then gang raped while a nine-year-old schoolgirl escaped a man she believed was about to abduct her on Tuesday evening. The schoolgirl was forced to jump through the window of a moving red-band maxi-taxi on Tuesday after the driver left the route in Mt Lambert. The Standard Three student told police she ended up being the only passenger in the maxi-taxi at one stage as it was heading west from the east shortly before 4 pm. The girl said she became frightened when she realised the driver had turned the maxi onto a “strange” road. Read more…
Police Service spending cut in 2016, says top cop
The Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) is strapped for cash. Acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams admitted yesterday he does not have money to spend in 2016 that he had last year to aid some of his officers’ crime-fighting efforts. “In 2016, we feel the freeze in relation to dollars,” he told journalists and media executives at an appreciation luncheon at the Police Administration Building in Port of Spain. “While I would have had a few (dollars) in 2015, in 2016, I have none.” Read more…
POLITICS
PM at ANSA McAL breakfast meeting
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley attended a breakfast meeting with top executives of the ANSA McAL Group of Companies yesterday at the company’s offices on Maraval Road, Port-of-Spain. On addressing the gathering, Prime Minister Rowley articulated that Government has accepted that revenue from oil and gas will continue to be weak for some time and that Government intends to bring expenditure in line with revenue. He informed that his Administration has inherited contracted commitments in the vicinity of $63B, but that Government is committed to meeting its contractual obligations despite the serious challenges being faced. Dr Rowley went on to express his confidence that we, the people of Trinidad and Tobago, have it within us to overcome our trials, especially since Government intends to preserve acquired gains and cease the opportunity to do better. Read more…
Integrity body to probe Marlene
The Integrity Commission (IC) has confirmed it is examining Opposition allegations against Housing Minister Marlene Mc Donald that she allegedly abused her ministerial power in 2008 to facilitate an HDC house for her partner. Confirmation of the situation came via letter from the commission to Fixin’ T&T’s Kirk Waithe. Waithe had asked the commission if it was investigating the most recent allegations against Mc Donald made by Opposition Senator Wayne Sturge and if the commission would be launching investigations into it. Sturge last December asked the commission to investigate Mc Donald for allegedly breaching the Integrity in Public Life Act. Read more…
Holy Moses!
In a surprise move yesterday, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley placed Foreign Affairs Minister Dennis Moses in the Ministry of National Security. Moses, whose credentials lie in the area of international affairs and diplomacy, has maintained a low profile since his Cabinet appointment in September 2015. He retains his Foreign Affairs portfolio. Read more…
BUSINESS
Republic records $306.4M profit
Republic Financial Holdings Limited (RFHL), formerly Republic Bank Limited, has recorded a $306.4 million profit attributable to shareholders for the quarter ending December 31, 2015. In a statement issued yesterday, the bank said this represents “an increase of 3.1 percent over the corresponding period in 2014”. Total assets stood at $65.7 billion at December 31, 2015, which, when compared to the same period in 2014, reflectes an increase of 9.4 percent. RFHL Chairman, Ronald Harford, said “excluding the contributions of the Suriname and Ghana operations, which were not subsidiaries in the comparative period, net interest income grew by $97 million or 13 percent, driven by an 11 percent increase in the loan portfolio.” “However,” he added, “this was off-set by increased operating expenses of $25 million, excluding Suriname and Ghana, and higher loan impairment expenses of $70 million across the group.” Noting that the significant fall in commodity prices will adversely impact Trinidad and Tobago’s economy, Harrford said, “However, we expect improved performance in the tourism economies in which we operate and from our recent acquisitions in Ghana and Suriname.” Read more…
T&T’s $34.4b petroleum subsidy bill
Over the last 15 years, petroleum subsidies have cost T&T $34.4 billion. That figure was revealed yesterday by former Energy Minister Kevin Ramnarine when he spoke at a breakfast seminar on The Future of Renewable Energy In a Recession Economy at the Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business, Mt Hope. “By petroleum products we mean diesel which is the major component of the subsidy and super and premium gasoline,” he said. “That subsidy did not come about yesterday, it was there since 1974 when the Petroleum Production Levy and Subsidy Act was introduced.” Read more…
350 leases a month
Minister of Agriculture Clarence Rambharat is promising that at least 350 former Caroni (1975) Ltd workers will receive lands owed to them by the Government every month. And by the end of February, Caroni should be responsible for all administrative requirements in the lease distribution process. Rambharat was speaking during a lease distribution ceremony for the former Caroni Voluntary Separation of Employment Programme (VSEP) workers at the Couva/Point Lisas Chamber of Commerce building yesterday. Read more…
REGIONAL
Antigua-Barbuda PM warns of correspondent banking crisis
During a plenary debate on Wednesday at the fourth summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in Ecuador, Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne highlighted to his colleague heads of government the clear and present danger associated with the decline in correspondent banking relations among Caribbean countries. “The system is pernicious, destructive and callous,” Browne said. “If Caribbean financial institutions lose correspondent banking relations, the following will take place: first, remittances from our diaspora, which are important to the foreign exchange earnings and the welfare of the poor in our society, will be adversely affected. Second, businesses will not be able to pay for goods and services they import, which are necessary for human existence. Read more…
Portia Promises Happy Easter ... - PM Expected To Announce Election Date At Half-Way Tree Meeting Sunday
Having confirmed on Tuesday that she had been "touched" by her Master, People's National Party (PNP) president Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller has hinted that Jamaicans will be going to the polls by Easter, promising one of the happiest holidays ever. This undertaking comes days ahead of Sunday's Half-Way Tree public meeting where the general election is expected to be announced. The PNP president, who will celebrate 10 years at the helm of the party on February 25, said she was waiting for the Master's touch to call the election for which the country was put on alert in the latter half of 2015 by the party's national campaign director, Dr Peter Phillips - a former leadership rival, turned finance minister in her administration. Read more…
INTERNATIONAL
Refugee trail: Postcards from the mud, misery, anger and hope
Refugees are still striving to reach Europe. Young men, families and the elderly are trekking through snow, seeking shelter and local aid or perhaps beginning to think of a new, brighter future. But the Europe so many have reached is now fractured in its reaction -- some as open and welcoming as at the height of compassion last year after the drowning of Syrian toddler Alan Kurdi, but many not. With migrants blamed for New Year's Eve harassment and rape and even now a killing, some communities and governments are taking a tougher line. Sweden may expel thousands of migrants over this year -- up to 80,000, according to some media reports. And British Prime Minister David Cameron came under fire Wednesday for his own comments about "a bunch of migrants" during a session of Parliament. Read more…
Japanese economy minister Akira Amari quits over bribery claims
28th January 2016