NEWS
548 child marriages over last 10 years
There has been an increase in child marriages over the past two decades, with 548 certified marriages of children between the ages of 12 and 16, occurring during a ten-year period, from 2006 to 2016, Attorney General Faris Al Rawi said yesterday. From one under-16 marriage recorded in 1997, the number peaked to 192 in 2011. The number for 2016, now stands at 37, Al Rawi noted. “From 1997, we are not seeing a fall in underage marriages. We are seeing an increase,” he said. Hindus accounted for 328 marriages of children between 12 and 16, from 2006 to 2016. Civil underage marriages in this period numbered 117, and Muslim marriages accounted for 103, Al Rawi yesterday told religious leaders at a meeting at the Office of the Attorney General at Cabildo Chambers, Port-of-Spain. This as he sought to make a case for presenting draft legislation that seeks to increase the legal marriage to 18 years. Read more…
We want real killers caught
We want justice for her too. So said former murder accused Anthony Dwayne Gloster yesterday, hours after he and his two brothers — Shervon and Devon Peters — and five of their neighbours were acquitted of the murder of former Xtra Foods chief executive Vindra Naipaul-Coolman on Tuesday. Speaking with the T&T Guardian in a brief telephone interview yesterday morning, Gloster, who was among the seven accused men who were not immediately released due to an administrative error, said he was happy with the verdict but still disappointed the jury could not come to a unanimous verdict on two of his co-accused — Earl Trimmingham and Lyndon Charles — who were ordered to be retried. “I can really feel it for the victim’s family because us innocent men get charged and the real perpetrators still out there. It is not only about justice for us but for her (Naipaul-Coolman) also. If somebody was to do that to my mother I would want justice as well,” Gloster said. Read more…
Second night in jail for freed 7
Even though they were found not guilty on Tuesday of murdering Chaguanas businesswoman Vindra Naipaul-Coolman, seven of the eight men who were “freed” by a 12-member jury, at the Hall of Justice in Port of Spain, were made to spend a second night in prison custody following the not-guilty verdicts. Up to press time last night, the men were still in custody at the Frederick Street prison in Port of Spain and the Maximum Security Prison in Arouca, despite the capital charge against them being dismissed, the Express was informed. Read more…
POLITICS
Nidco is sustainable
Officials of the National Infrastructure Development Company (Nidco) yesterday assured members of the Public Accounts (Enterprises) Committee that, notwithstanding certain challenges the company is currently facing, Nidco is sustainable. Their assurances came in response to questions posed by committee member Independent Senator David Small, during a public hearing at Tower D of the Port-of-Spain International Waterfront Centre. Small said information provided in Nidco’s submissions to the committee suggested the company did not have sufficient financial resources to take it beyond June. Noting that Nidco has not received fees for services for three consecutive quarters, Small asked, “Does it go under?” In response, Nidco Deputy Chairman Stephen Gardiner said the company has submitted a proposal to its line ministry (Works and Transport) that would deal with its current financial issues, as well as manpower issues. Gardiner disclosed there are several projects at Cabinet level and “five or six have been approved.” He was confident that once these projects actualise, they would help “put Nidco back on a proper operational footing financially.” He was also confident the company would have sufficient financial resources “to take us to the end of this year.” Gardiner also said manpower was a major problem at Nidco in the post-2010 period. He explained part of that problem arose from Nidco being advised of projects coming its way, ramping up its manpower and when those projects failed to materialise, the company did not adjust its staff. Read more…
Dillon: T&T for intel sharing with US
An officer from the T&T Defence Force will be stationed at a US facility, expediting the exchange of intelligence information between T&T and the United States, National Security Minister Edmund Dillon said yesterday. He was replying to queries after yesterday’s Joint Select Committee (JSC) meeting concerning the Energy Ministry at the Parliament. Dillon is a member of that JSC. He was asked about the outcome of his meeting last week with the US Joint Task Force (Southern Command) Unit, part of the US military which deals with the Caribbean /Latin American region. Dillon went to the meeting last Wednesday soon after T&T was plagued by social media voice notes warning of a threat attack on malls by Isis. Another voice note on the weekend warned of an attack on schools yesterday. Dillon said his ministry and the Education Ministry had co-ordinated plans to ensure security alerts against that. He said he had been invited to last week’s US meeting to deal with matters relating to intel sharing and information gathering concerning maritime and aerial security. Read more…
Kamla sues Jack for defamation
Former politician and newspaper publisher Jack Warner has found himself in more hot water after attorneys representing Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar filed a lawsuit against him on Monday for defamation of character. The lawsuit was filed by former attorney general Anand Ramlogan SC, Kent Samlal, Jayanti Lutchmedial and Douglas Bayley, at the San Fernando High Court, and stems from an article which was published in Warner’s Sunshine newspaper last December, entitled “Kamla facing extradition to the US for US$20 million in Japanese Bank”. The article alleged that Persad-Bissessar had received US$20 million from former president of Concacaf Jeffrey Webb. In addition to her claim for damages for libel, she is also seeking to have the court grant an injunction preventing Warner from further publishing the allegations which Persad-Bissessar said seriously harmed her and caused her to suffer considerable hurt, distress and embarrassment. Read more…
BUSINESS
Cuffie: Not enough progress with IFC
Minister of Public Administration and Communication Maxie Cuffie says Government is firmly committed to the continued development of the International Financial Centre (IFC) to ensure that T&T becomes the Caribbean’s major financial hub. In the feature address at the opening of a three-day conference on Exploring Innovation in Transactions and Financing in the Caribbean at the Trinidad Hilton and Conference Centre, Cuffie said insufficient progress has been made in developing the IFC to achieve its mandate. “This (the IFC) was designed with Trinidad and Tobago ready to assume the lead as the financial capital of the region and in so doing, expand the diversification process,” he said. “Nearly a decade and an intervening change in administration later, it pains me to say that we have not come as far as we dreamt when we started.” Read more…
4m Venezuelans benefit
Twelve items have been shortlisted to be shipped to economically depressed Venezuela, to meet the country’s demand for basic food items. The items are expected to bring relief to about four million citizens in the eastern part of the country. The goods to be shipped include chicken, tuna, white rice, mayonnaise, margarine, flour, toilet paper, ketchup, bleach, laundry soap and flour. Read more…
REGIONAL
General Practitioners Say Zika Cases Numerous, Want Change To Reporting Of Virus
Some of Jamaica's general practitioners are urging the Government to review the reporting mechanisms of the Zika virus, a mosquito-borne disease, in light of what they claim is the growing number of cases which outstrip the 15 confirmed so far by the health ministry. The urging comes as Dr Christopher Tufton, Jamaica's second health minister since Dr Fenton Ferguson and the chikungunya (chik-V) foul-up, is scheduled to give an update today on the virus, which is a global public health emergency. Ferguson was accused of underreporting the incidents of chik-V and that placed intense pressure on him as minister. But less than 24 hours before Tufton's update, the Association of General Practitioners (AGP) has issued a call for changes to the reporting and communication systems surrounding the Zika virus. Read more…
St Lucia Labour Party accused of inaccuracies, errors and omissions in response to poll
The ruling St Lucia Labour Party (SLP) has been accused of inaccuracies, and obvious and deliberate errors and omissions in its official response to a public opinion poll conducted between May 20 and 23, 2016, by regional pollsters Caribbean Development Research Services (CADRES), which found that the outcome of the general election in Saint Lucia due to be held on June 6, is too close to call. In a press statement on Tuesday, CADRES challenged the SLP suggestion that the poll confirmed “the lead of the Saint Lucia Labour Party over the United Workers Party (UWP)”. “This was NOT suggested in the poll at any point,” CADRES said, adding, “The CADRES poll stated clearly that as of last weekend there was a statistical dead-heat between the two parties. This means that the SLP interpretation is flawed.” CADRES therefore disagreed with the assessment of the SLP anonymous pollsters who are reported to have said “the SLP is firmly in sight of an election victory”, noting, “Instead, we are persuaded that based on a comparison of this May 2016 poll and the one we conducted in October of 2015, the UWP currently has momentum, while the SLP’s support level has remained static since last year.” Read more…
INTERNATIONAL
German MPs recognise Armenian 'genocide' amid Turkish fury
Meet the man saving Yazidi slaves from ISIS
The bidding opens at $9,000. For sale? A Yazidi girl. She is said to be beautiful, hardworking, and a virgin. She's also just 11 years old. This advertisement -- a screengrab from an online marketplace used by ISIS fighters to barter for sex slaves -- is one of many Abdullah Shrem keeps in his phone. Each offers vital clues -- photographs, locations -- that he hopes will help him save Yazidi girls and young women like this girl from the militants holding them captive. Shrem was a successful businessman with trade connections to Aleppo in Syria when ISIS came and kidnapped more than 50 members of his family from Iraq's Sinjar province, a handful of the thousands of Yazidis seized there in 2014. Tens of thousands of Yazidis fled their homes and clambered up Mount Sinjar in an attempt to escape the fighters; hundreds were massacred, while thousands of women and girls were abducted and sold into slavery. Read more…
2nd June 2016