DAILY BRIEF
THURSDAY 2ND JULY, 2015
NEWS
Anusha's No. 1
India-born Anusha Saha, 11, is No 1, placing first among more than 18,000 primary school children in the 2015 Secondary Entrance Assessment Examination (SEA).And becoming a brain surgeon is the goal the Grant Memorial Presbyterian Primary School student has already set her sights on. “I know that hard work really pays off and if you persevere success would really be yours,” Anusha wisely advises those preparing for SEA next year, after learning of her achievement personally from Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar at the school on Carib Street, San Fernando. Anusha heads off to her first choice, Naparima Girls’ High School at the start of the 2015/2016 academic year in September.. Read more...
Guns and drugs found in Morvant
POLICE seized some $40,000 in marijuana and a machine gun and ammunition in an anti-crime exercise in North Trinidad on Tuesday. According to police, between the hours of 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. members of the North Eastern Division Task Force (NEDTF) conducted an exercise in the Mon Repos, Valley Drive and Romain Lands, Morvant. The exercise was spearheaded by Sargeant by Taylor and and coordinated by Corporal Small and constable Antoine, and included constables Duncan, Voisin, Mootoor, Highly, Marshall and Moore, officers of the Morvant C.I.D, Hot Spot & Traffic Staff. The police team received information and searched several houses. . Read more...
Commissioner reads Riot Act: Order must prevail behind prison walls
Prisons Commissioner Sterling Stewart has made it clear that both he and his officers, and not prisoners, are in charge of the T&T Prisons Service. Speaking at the inauguration of the new Vision On Mission board and awards ceremony held at the Central Bank Auditorium on St Vincent Street, Port-of-Spain, on Tuesday, Stewart said he intended to keep order in the system and would not bow to pressure from within. There have been disturbances at both the Golden Grove remand prison and Women’s Prison, in Arouca, over the past weeks in which both prisons officers and inmates were injured. Read more...
POLITICS
Jack denies aiding PNM
Leader of the ILP Jack Warner is denying that he is in cahoots with the PNM to avoid extradition to the United States. Warner, who is wanted on wire fraud, racketeering and money laundering charges in the US, was speaking to reporters after the ILP’s Tuesday night cottage meeting, in Claxton Bay. Asked whether it was true he was on a mission to keep the People’s Partnership out of office by launching scathing attacks on its members for the PNM’s benefit, Warner said the Kamla Persad-Bissessar administration was not fit to hold public office. However, he denied an allegation by Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal that he (Warner) had struck a deal with the PNM to bring down the Government, in return for protection from extradition. Read more...
Rowley: PP seeking to make election about race
Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley has countered claims of racism levelled against him and his party by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and her party, instead accusing her of attempting to make the 2015 election campaign one about race. Speaking on a PNM platform in Cocoyea Village, on Tuesday night, in support of the San Fernando East candidate Randall Mitchell, Rowley warned Persad-Bissessar that she was playing with fire by appealing to the “one-third Indian population” to demonise him and the PNM. Only last week, Persad-Bissessar called on Rowley to apologise for statements made by one of his candidates in the general election, Fitzgerald Hinds, which she viewed as racist. Read more...
BUSINESS
Columbus offers Data Recovery service
Columbus Communications Trinidad Limited on Tuesday unveiled a new service to prospective customers: Columbus Disaster Recovery as a Service (DraaS) which promises that businesses will have a “seamless high availability of their critical systems and applications in times of unexpected failures and disasters.Gartner, Inc. described in a statement issued by Columbus as the world’s leading information technology (IT) research and consulting company, in April this year cited the service, statingt, “By 2018, the number of organisations using DraaS will exceed the number of organisations using traditional, syndicated recovery services.” Read more...
NFM leads in trades and gains
Overall market activity resulted from trading in ten securities of which two advanced, two declined and six traded firm.Trading activity on the First Tier Market registered a volume of 65,875 shares crossing the floor of the Exchange valued at $405,231.09. National Flour Mills Limited was the volume leader with 41,051 shares changing hands for a value of $83,814.10. FirstCaribbean International Bank Limited contributed 6,200 shares with a value of $31,000. National Flour Mills Limited enjoyed the day's largest gain, increasing $0.04 to end the day at $2.04. Conversely, Massy Holdings Limited suffered the day's greatest loss, falling $0.01 to close at $64.29.
FIU: Increase in terrorism financing
THE Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has detected an increase in terrorism financing. FIU director Susan Francois disclosed yesterday that $327,470 were detected as suspected funds channelled to terrorist activities. Francois was speaking at an anti-money laundering/counter financing of terrorism awareness seminar held at the Courtyard by Marriott hotel in Port of Spain to educate members of the media on the FIU. She explained that the figure provided indicated what was caught but there may be more transactions that have gone under the radar. “Now remember with terrorist activity, a technique which is used is not sending large amounts at one time but sending consistently small amounts to get below the radar of financial institutions and other agencies which have to report,” she said. Read more...
CSO official: Statistics important for growth
Statistics are important for economic growth and the overall development of countries, Sterling Chadee, director of Statistics at the Central Statistical Office (CSO), said yesterday. “Official statistics are used both to inform the development of public policy and to monitor their impact. This important linkage between statistics and development is reinforced by the call from the United Nations in 2014 for a data revolution in the production and usage of statistics to support the development process,” he said during the presentation of a National Strategy For the Development of Statistics for T&T at the Trinidad Hilton and Conference Centre. Read more...
REGIONAL
Tourism agency seeks to inject fresh thinking into Caribbean tourism product
The region’s tourism development agency is seeking to stimulate new ideas and fresh thinking aimed at re-inventing the Caribbean tourism product. The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) has organized a regional four-day workshop to provide, among other objectives, opportunities for participants to maximize their knowledge through learning about international/global best practices in tourism product development. “The overall quality of the visitor experience is influenced by the diversity and quality of tourism products and services being offered by the destination. Read more...
INTERNATIONAL
Obama announces re-establishment of U.S.-Cuba diplomatic ties
President Barack Obama said Wednesday that it was past time for the U.S. to re-establish diplomatic relations with Cuba as he announced that the two countries were reopening their embassies after more than 50 years. "When the United States shuttered our embassy in 1961, I don't think anyone thought it would be more than half a century before it reopened," he said in remarks from the White House Rose Garden. Earlier Wednesday in Havana, a U.S. diplomat delivered a note from Obama to Cuban President Raul Castro restoring diplomatic ties. The short ceremony at the Cuban Foreign Ministry in Havana ended 54 years of broken relations that began during the Eisenhower administration. Jeffrey DeLaurentis, the chief of mission at the U.S. Interests Section, delivered the note. Read more...
2nd July 2015