NEWS
$150 Million fire
An estimated $150 million in damage was incurred, and 45 employees displaced after fire gutted the Trincity Industrial Estate warehouses of JMH Enterprises Sunday night. The blaze gutted four warehouses which contained rice, cooking oil, saltfish and sugar, along with counter tops, and kitchen appliances. In addition, three vans, eight trucks, four cars and containers were also destroyed in the blaze. Read more here
Flight From Hell
The people of Dominica would be surprised to hear that they are the subject of political debate in Trinidad. Pelted far beyond the world in which they lived when Maria came calling on the night of Monday, September 18, they now exist in a hurri-scape where the co-ordinates of life are defined by the longitude of desperation and the latitude of survival. Read more here
POLITICS
Moonilal calls for Sandals update
Member of Parliament for Oropouche East, Dr Roodal Moonilal, yesterday called on Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley to update the country on the status of the “long-mooted Sandals Resort International project.” He said in a statement that “Dr Rowley must come clean and indicate whether or not Sandals Resort is still interested in establishing an all-inclusive vacation service in Tobago. This is particularly essential in light of an earlier statement by Minister Stuart Young that the Government will wrap up negotiations by the end of September.” Read more here
PM turns sod today
The Ministry of Works and Transport will be hosting an official sod-turning ceremony today for the Churchill-Roosevelt Highway Extension to Manzanilla (CRHEM). Scheduled for 10 a.m. at the Forestry Division's Cumuto Pine Nursery, Main Road, Cumuto, the ceremony will be chaired by Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan while Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley will deliver the feature address. Read more here
BUSINESS
Gov’t, labour, private sector resume talks
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has assured the National Tripartite Advisory Committee (NTAC) that he will do everything possible to ensure that Trinidad and Tobago does not end up at the doorsteps of the International Monetary Fund. He was prepared to lose votes, he said, rather than place the nation at the mercy of the IMF. This is according to a release from the NTAC which said it was one of many pointed statements he made when he addressed NTAC members at the first meeting at the resumption of talks between labour, the private sector and the government at La Lune Conference Room, Eric Williams Financial Complex on September 20. Read more here
Elias: Why I resigned from TSTT
Contractor Emile Elias resigned from majority State-owned Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT) last week in a letter addressed to his friend, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley on September 19. Read more here
REGIONAL
Big Gun Bust - Four M16s Among Major Find In Flanker Raid
Four M16 assault rifles, a Glock 40 pistol and a quantity of assorted ammunition were seized in Flanker, St James, yesterday, during a nine-hour police-military operation that targeted the much-feared 'Red Dirt' section of the community that has been under criminal siege in recent weeks. When the Gleaner team arrived in Flanker at approximately 11 a.m., after news broke of the gun find, a large contingent of police and soldiers was seen combing through several yards and searching rooftops with metal detectors. Curious residents were out in large numbers observing the operation. At one point, a senior officer was summoned into a yard. He later emerged with a firearm that was stashed in a black 'lada bag' (plastic bag). Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
After losing everything in Puerto Rico, resident says: 'We have not lost our faith'
Residents in remote parts of Puerto Rico are stranded and some haven't been able to contact their families to tell them they survived Hurricane Maria, which struck last Wednesday. And their food supply is rapidly dwindling. Coffee growers Gaspar Rodriguez and Doris Velez told CNN's Leyla Santiago that the food they had left has spoiled. "You work, work and work, and it's for nothing," Rodriguez said, after losing everything. Read more here
Iraqi Kurd referendum: Erdogan warns of sanctions hunger
26th September 2017