NEWS
Nude images lead to blackmail
A Government Senator has reported to Fraud Squad that he is being blackmailed by a woman from North American who has posted videos of him in the nude on You Tube. The senator says he has already vast sums of money via wire transfer to the woman in an effort to coerce her into removing the explicit videos from the website. However, after the videos of the senator were removed the woman threatened to repost if he does not pay her more money. In frustration, the man who has several children, went to the Fraud Squad and told senior officers. He expressed his deep shame at what he had done and is no longer willing to be subjected to blackmail, as it is taking a heavy toll on him financially. Newsday understands an official report was made to the Fraud Squad last Friday and a team of officers led by Snr Supt Totaram Dookhie began an official investigation into the report. Other senior officers have been officially informed of the report. According to well placed sources, the Senator who contested and lost a general election, has become depressed over the incident. Read more…
New Grant PTA stages protest
A month after teachers at the New Grant Anglican School stopped attending classes because of health and safety concerns, members of the school’s Parent Teacher’s Association held a massive protest outside the school yesterday. The protest included pupils in uniform and Princes Town MP Barry Padarath who said he had joined in solidarity with the parents. The school’s Parent Teacher Association (PTA) president Clive Barnett said the current school building was some 70 years old. “We have to address the fact that the building is a wooden building over 70 years old, a lot of the masonry done on the building is what they call San Fernando gravel, so it’s not very strong,” Barnett said. “There is plaster falling off of columns right now, there are main beams separating. Read more…
T&T gay society on massacre: Something to worry about
While Trinidad should worry “a little bit” following Sunday’s deadly mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, a local activist for Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender rights said yesterday there no laws in this country to protect persons of those orientations anyway. A gunman on Sunday morning shot and killed 49 patrons at the Pulse nightclub and wounded 53 others, an attack that was geographically closer to home than similar attacks in recent United States history. Read more…
POLITICS
MPs lobby for higher salaries
Government and Opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) were yesterday united in one voice when they met with officials working on behalf of the Salaries Review Commission (SRC) and lobbied them for higher salaries. All of the animosity which erupted during the sitting of the Lower House in Parliament last Friday, were gone as both PNM and UNC MPs effectively united to ask the consultants — who have been hired by the SRC, to review working conditions of officials of the Public Service — for better pay. “We do have consensus on this issue,” said one person who was present at the meeting, which took place at about 4.30 pm at the International Waterfront Centre, Wrightson Road, Portof- Spain. Newsday understands that among those present were Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi and Opposition Whip Ganga Singh. The SRC has often reviewed the working conditions of MPs in the past and has just as often, rejected appeals for greater pay. The SRC is an independent institution. Read more…
Police query who is guarding PM
A statement must be issued from the Office of the Prime Minister clearly indicating who is guarding Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley. Making the call was president of the Police Service Social and Welfare Association Insp Anand Ramesar while speaking on i95.5fm yesterday. Special Branch officers, detailed to guard Rowley, had complained of working long hours. Last Friday, Rowley arrived at Parliament with a security team comprising Defence Force members. Asked whether this was still the case Ramesar said, “I did make a preliminary enquiry into it and I understand members of the Defence Force are currently engaged in some form of duty with the Prime Minister and what we need at this point in time is some clear communication from the prime minister’s officer in relation to what is happening. “We need to have that information so that our officers would know exactly what is their role and function.” Read more…
Ministry moves teacher
Rio Claro Arya Pratinidhi Sabha (APS) Primary School was reopened yesterday after the Ministry of Education removed a member of the teaching staff. The school was closed on June 6, after several complaints about the school’s management. Read more…
BUSINESS
ECLAC welcomes debt relief support
THE Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has welcomed the support it recently received from the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) for its proposed debt relief fund. ECLAC has proposed a Caribbean resilience for the countries that benefit from debt reduction which, among other measures, proposes the creation of a resilience fund as part of a strategy based on a swap proposal for climate change adaptation. In a statement, ECLAC noted that during the VII summit of the ACS, which concluded on June 4 in Cuba, the association’s 25 member countries approved, by consensus, the 44 points of the Havana Declaration. “In point 13 of the document, the summit agreed that it ‘fully supports the consideration of ECLAC Debt Initiative, which takes into consideration the highly indebted nature of many Caribbean nations and recommends an approach that recognises the principles of the Financing for Development, the Sustainable Development Goals and proposes, among other initiatives to be considered, a Caribbean Resilience Fund for the countries benefited by debt relief ’.” ECLAC stated. Read more…
Olivierre: Gas-sharing talks progressing
The Government is in advanced discussions with Venezuela on cross-border gas-sharing arrangements, Energy Minister Nicole Olivierre said yesterday, when she gave the feature address at the opening of the Society of Petroleum Engineers of T&T’s (SPETT) 2016 Energy and Resources Conference and Exhibition at the Hyatt Regency in Port-of-Spain. She said the Government is moving aggressively to boost gas supply to downstream energy companies by attempting to fast-track discussions with the Venezuelan government and many agreements are at the stage of finalisation or near completion. “The functional structure and governance for the operation of the Loran-Manatee unit area has been finalised, and the companies involved are close to finalisation of the unitisation and unit operating agreement. The companies have also been asked to prepare a conceptual development plan for the unitised field,” she said. Read more…
Scotia appoints two to board of directors
Scotiabank Trinidad and Tobago Ltd has named two new members to its board of directors. The bank yesterday in a media release said the appointments of Derek Hudson and Tracy Bryan were effective on June 7. Hudson is the vice-president, Trinidad and Tobago of Royal Dutch Shell. He is a geologist by profession and has worked in the oil and gas industry for almost 30 years. He joined BG Group in 1995 and held previous roles as vice-president of one of BG’s UK upstream businesses from 2000 – 2004; chief of staff in Trinidad and Tobago from 2005 – 2007; president and asset general manager of BG Trinidad and Tobago from 2007 – 2012 and thereafter assumed a similar role for BG in East Africa. Read more…
REGIONAL
Venezuela state governor blames Aruba and Curacao for food shortages
Jose Gregorio Vielma Mora, a former general who is now the governor of the Venezuelan state of Tachira, has accused Curacao and Aruba of contributing to the shortage of food in Venezuela. According to the retired general, tons of illegal products like vegetables, fruits and fish. “…are being exported to some islands in the Caribbean, particularly Curacao and Aruba.” Vielma Mora indicated during an interview that he has instructed the Venezuelan consuls on these islands to explain to the authorities that these contraband exports are harmful for Venezuela. The governor also informed that there are legal exports taking place from his state Tachira to the Curacaoan and Aruban markets. He spoke of products like cheese, coffee, potatoes, carrots and fruits that are being exported by 39 companies that have permits. He did not give more details about the companies with permits to export. Read more…
Hospital Care Crisis - Trauma Patients Suffering Amid Shortage Of ICU Beds, Equipment
Consultant Neurosurgeon at the Cornwall Regional Hospital, Professor Renn Holness, is raising alarm about the poor state of the intensive care unit (ICU), which has limited its ability to provide aid to trauma patients and those in need of neurosurgical operations. "Right now, at this very moment in Montego Bay, we are supposed to have an ICU, but the ICU is closed because of infection and mould," Holness told The Gleaner. He disclosed that a total of three recovery beds, which are now all occupied by trauma patients, currently serve as an ICU of sorts for western Jamaica. "We are stuck when we don't have the staff and equipment and we are overwhelmed with the trauma and with the gunshot wounds and accidents occurring now. Right now, Montego Bay is paralysed. I have people with brain tumours, several cerebral aneurysms, [and] spinal cord compression waiting for surgery because we can't get them in an operating room." Read more…
INTERNATIONAL
Killer of French police officer, woman broadcast scene live on Facebook, source says
The man who killed a French policecommander and a woman broadcast the scene of the attack live on Facebook Monday night, a French source close to the investigation told CNN. Larossi Abballa carried out the deadly knife attack in Magnanville, northwest of Paris, the source told CNN terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank. He stabbed the commander to death before taking the officer's partner and their 3-year-old son hostage at the couple's house, French officials said. A SWAT team then killed Abballa after a standoff. Police found the body of the woman, a civil servant at the Interior Ministry, at the scene, French officials said. During the Facebook broadcast, Abballa said he was not sure what to do with the child. Some time later, French commandos stormed the house and killed him, the source said. Read more…
Orlando killer Omar Mateen 'visited Pulse gay club'
14th June 2016