NEWS
State witness shot dead in Claxton Bay
A Claxton Bay father who was a state witness in an attempted-murder case has been shot dead. The body of Kevin Bhukal was found in his car near to the Forres Park landfill at Cedar Hill Road, Claxton Bay, on Sunday afternoon. Bhukal had been shot in the head. He was found in the driver's seat. A police report said at about 5 pm a passerby saw Bhukal’s car, a Nissan B12, parked in front of the entrance of the landfill. Gran Couva police were contacted and he was pronounced dead on the scene by a district medical officer. Read more here
Coast Guard conned out of $375,000
Close to half a million dollars is missing from the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard (TTCG) senior mess rates account and a senior enlisted Coast Guard officer with intimate knowledge about the financial runnings is now the subject of an internal investigation by the TTCG and has now widened to include the police. Guardian Media (GM) during a three week investigation found out about the possible misappropriation of funds that allegedly occurred over the last year in which $375,000 went missing from the TTCG senior mess rates account at Republic Bank in West Mall. Senior Coast Guard sources explained to GM that close to 370 officers of the senior mess rates contribute $200 monthly to the mess account. Of that $150 is their contribution to the annual Christmas dinner, while the other $50 goes towards the mess quarters upkeep. Read more here
POLITICS
Kamla: No bail for the innocent under new bill
UNC political leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar warned of opportunities for abuse of the Bail Amendment Bill when she spoke at a local government campaign meeting at Paul Street, Sangre Grande on Monday night. Persad-Bissessar said if the bill were passed, people could be wrongly arrested or framed, and would have to stay in jail without bail. She said government is planning to go to Parliament on Wednesday in a rush to have the bill amended, and although the UNC has its own amendments to the bill, she doubted the government would heed the suggestions. Read more here
Kamla: UNC not supporting gun law in current form
Leader of the United National Congress (UNC) Kamla Persad-Bissessar said her party will not support the new gun legislation in its present form. Speaking at a UNC local government meeting in Sangre Grande on Monday night, Persad-Bissessar called for amendments to protect innocent citizens before she would support the proposed law. Persad-Bissessar also took time to pay her respects to Wayne Chance who passed away early on Monday morning. She said that Chance sought reform for prisoners, unlike the PNM who was seeking to lock up people and throw away the key on the Anti-gun legislation. “If your child travelling in a maxi, a taxi and there is a gun in that vehicle, your child getting locked up, we saying that cannot be right,” she said. Read more here
BUSINESS
JMMB gets good credit raiting from CariCRIS
Caribbean Information and Credit Rating Services Limited (CariCRIS) has assigned initial issuer/corporate credit ratings of jmA+ (Local Currency Rating) and jmA (Foreign Currency Rating) on the Jamaica national scale to JMMB Group Limited (JMMBGL). These national scale ratings indicate that the level of creditworthiness of this obligor, adjudged in relation to other obligors in Jamaica is good. A media release from the JMMB Group yesterday said that the ratings are supported by the Group’s strong brand and long history in the Jamaican securities industry as well as its emergence as a regional financial services player. JMMBGL is a financial services Group incorporated and domiciled in Jamaica and listed on the Stock Exchanges of Jamaica and T&T. Read more here
Imbert defends decision against entering into IMF programme
Finance Minister Colm Imbert said yesterday that the Trinidad and Tobago government was being urged to adopt a structural adjustment programme more than two decades after the oil-rich twin island republic ended a similar programme with the Washington-based International Monetary Fund (IMF). Read more here
REGIONAL
PM says coalition government ramping up development in Rupununi
The Coalition Government is delivering to the Rupununi hinterland region, the better quality of life that it has promised. This is according to Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, who visited the Upper Takutu-Upper Rupununi (Region 9) over the weekend to commission the new $473 million Barrack Retreat Corridor, which is the name for the four-lane concrete and asphalted road in the Lethem township. Writing in his weekly My Turn column under the caption, “Way Down South”, the Prime Minister noted that the Coalition Government has pushed unprecedented development in this frontier region. Apart from central government spending, the regional allocation during 2015-2018 amounted to some $950 million for roads, bridges and other capital works in the Rupununi region. Read more here
Dengue Crisis At ‘Busta’ - Deaths From Mosquito-Borne Disease Spike At Children’s Hospital
Dengue mortality at the Bustamante Hospital for Children has jumped by more than 30 per cent this month, with five deaths being recorded compared to 15 over the previous 22 months. There were 20 dengue deaths confirmed, suspected or under investigation at Bustamante between January 1, 2018 and November 7 this year, the children’s hospital racking up the highest number of fatalities among public health facilities. St James’ Cornwall Regional Hospital is second with 15 deaths; followed by Mandeville Regional, with 11, and St Ann’s Bay Hospital, 10. Victoria Jubilee, a maternity hospital, is the only secondary or tertiary public medical facility that has not recorded a single dengue death. The private Andrews Memorial has had one case and the quasi-public University Hospital of the West Indies, one. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Judge tells Trump he's not a king -- the President is not so sure
Donald Trump is not going to like his Constitution 101 lesson: "Presidents are not kings." A federal judge's stunning rebuke of the White House on Monday came as the result of a case by House Democrats to force former White House counsel Don McGahn to testify. But it serves as a thematic frame for an entire presidency that has never played by the rules. All of Trump's scandals are fusing together into a momentous fight over his staggeringly broad claims of expansive presidential power. How it turns out will shape his personal political legacy, the nature of the office he has held for nearly three years and potentially the American political system itself. Read more here
Thirteen French troops killed in helicopter crash in Mali
26th November 2019