NEWS
Lady Killers
A lime with two women turned deadly for a Petit Valley man as his “lady friends” stabbed him during a fight in a car as they drove along Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain on Sunday night. Homicide detectives are now searching for the two women who are persons of interest in the murder of 23-year-old Kareem St Rose. Relatives told Newsday yesterday they believe the young man was set up by the two women who reportedly got away with $6,000 and jewellery St Rose had on him. “Those two women who did this, they have money in their pockets right now because they put (set) him up,” said a relative, who wished to remain anonymous, during an interview near his home in Petit Valley. “I cannot believe that is what they did to him, because he accustomed to liming with them. They come and pick him up normal normal, and lime with him good. Then when they were ready, they deal with his matter (kill him).” Newsday understands that at about 9.40 pm on Sunday, St Rose was in a white car with the two women, travelling along Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain, when he got into an altercation with them. Sources told Newsday during the fracas, the car crashed into another vehicle. When the driver of the second car got out of his vehicle he saw St Rose and the two women scuffling. The women were reportedly stabbing St Rose multiple times about the body as he tried to defend himself. Read more...
Potential investor queries liquidation process
The sole investor to have expressed an interest in purchasing the now defunct ArcelorMittal steel plant at Point Lisas may be on the verge of pulling out. In March, management shuttered the plant, as steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal announced a pullout and sent home more than 600 workers. The prospective buyers are being represented by an entity called New Era Business Services. They told the T&T Guardian that they were willing to spend as much as $100 million in acquiring the facility. In an interview with the T&T Guardian, the representative disclosed that the firm is based in Charlieville, Chagauanas, while “the investors are regional, with an international reach.”Even as their identity remains unknown, they have maintained their interest and rapport with the Steel Workers Union of Trinidad and Tobago (SWUTT) since the start of the ArcelorMittal fallout. Read more...
Don’t Blame Us
One of the victims of the nearly 200 women whose nude and semi-nude photographs were leaked online has issued a heartfelt appeal for people to stop harassing the young women and blaming them for the nightmare they are facing. Read more...
POLITICS
Labour Minister: Govt can’t stop layoffs
In the face of criticisms from JTUM leader, Ancel Roget, that Government had failed to stop the mass retrenchment of workers currently occurring in the industrial sector, Labour Minister Jennifer Baptiste-Primus has pointed out that Government could only use “moral suasion” to implore employers to use retrenchment as a “final option” in the present economic climate. Addressing Labour Day observances at Charlie King Junction, Fyzabad on Sunday, Roget, speaking on the theme, “We demand Job Security and Protection for all Workers”, said the present PNM Administration has “so far failed to stop the mass retrenchments currently taking place.” “Workers from ArcelorMittal, Tube City, Centrin, OAS and so many others are today unjustly and unevenly yoked with this massive burden of adjustment,” Roget said, adding, “In addition to this, many other workers suffer in silence as they are being quietly sent home on a daily basis without announcement.” However, in an interview yesterday, Baptiste-Primus said Government “has no control over a business person remaining in business or taking a decision to discontinue business.” “The Government can merely use moral suasion in requesting employers to look at other alternatives before identifying retrenchment as an option, that must be a last option,” she said. Read more...
Tobago tourism officials open to Sandals all-inclusive
The Tobago House of Assembly (THA) last week held preliminary talks with Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart—founder and chairman of Sandals Resorts—about the proposed construction of a 750-room hotel on the island. Confirmation came of progress towards the project from secretary of Tourism and Transportation in the THA Tracy Davidson-Celestine. She said construction of the hotel was in keeping with the THA’s tourism thrust. “There are benefits to be derived with Sandals coming to Tobago. We expect more flights, recognition and tourists for Tobago. That in itself will bring more business for us.” Read more...
BUSINESS
Western Union lifts forex restrictions
When Western Union—part of Jamaican conglomerate GraceKennedy—announced in February that it was placing restrictions on the amount of foreign exchange it would be able to remit to countries abroad, it was only natural to reason that the money transfer business was now experiencing the adverse effects of a contraction in the available supply of foreign exchange. Read more...
British envoy: Services sector can play big role
The British fashion industry is worth 26 billion pounds and Trinidad and Tobago should encourage the development of its local fashion industry. British High Commissioner Tim Stew offered this advice while delivering the feature address at the Trinidad and Tobago Coalition of Services Industries’ (TTCSI) ninth AGM at Hilton Trinidad, St Ann’s, on Friday. Read more...
REGIONAL
Antigua-Barbuda faces economic citizen passport flaw
In attempting to assert and/or defend the apparently false premise that one of its clients is a citizen of Antigua and Barbuda, a prominent London law firm may have instead opened a proverbial can of worms for the Caribbean country in relation to its passports. According to a copy provided by lawyers Carter-Ruck of the diplomatic passport issued to their client Anthony Bailey, one of Antigua and Barbuda's “special economic envoys”, the document inaccurately states that his nationality is "Antiguan and Barbudan". In actual fact, Bailey is neither a national nor a citizen of Antigua and Barbuda. Under Antigua and Barbuda law, nationality is acquired only by birth, by descent or by naturalisation, the last of which requires seven years continuous residence, public advertisement and no public objections. Bailey is not a national of Antigua and Barbuda on any of these qualifying bases. Read more...
Not Enough - Phillips Wants Holness To Table Records In Parliament For Independent Verification
Peter Phillips, the man who started calls for Prime Minister Andrew Holness to publicly release his finances, has suggested it is not enough that Holness has now done so to select media houses, saying he expected the documents to be tabled in Parliament to facilitate independent scrutiny. The prime minister last Friday released his records to three media houses - The Gleaner, Nationwide News Network and the Jamaica Observer - after missing two self-imposed deadlines to do so. "I'm presuming that there's some public document that's going to be presented [to the Parliament]," he told The Gleaner, pointing to former Prime Minister P.J. Patterson who he said had released similar personal finances in the House of Representatives. "That was my expectation - that there would be something that members of the public, generally, who have an interest in this, would be able to see and form a judgement as to the issues implied and raised." Holness has not indicated whether he would table the documents in the House of Representatives, which meets today for the first time since the release. Read more...
INTERNATIONAL
Egypt court quashes Red Sea islands' transfer to Saudis
Safer in or out of EU? Why security is key to Brexit vote
UK citizens are poised to vote on a crucial decision about whether to stay or leave the European Union (EU) -- but the debate has been stalked by the fear that one big terror attack in the UK before Thursday's poll could influence the outcome. So far in the referendum campaign, Britain -- although traumatized by the brutal murder of British lawmaker Jo Cox -- has fortunately only been a spectator to the terrorist scourge of radical Islam. In Paris the brutal stabbing of a police officer and his partner (also a policewoman) in their house left their three-year-old son orphaned. Terrible enough, but the knife-wielding attacker also broadcast his actions live. As Europe awoke to this new level of terror -- the potential of mass execution being streamed live -- the U.S. was experiencing its own horror with dozens slaughtered in the Orlando club shooting. Read more...
21st June 2016