NEWS
Mother pleads for justice for 13-year-old footballer
The mother of a 13-year-old boy, who was knocked down near President’s Grounds, St Ann’s, a month ago, has accused police investigators of not doing enough to find the offending drivers. Kasana Prentis said her son Isiah Scoon remained confined to a hospital bed at Mt Hope since the incident. She said wants the police to tell her what is really happening. As far as the family was concerned, she said, there was more to the accident than they were being told. Read more...
2 charged for Tobago murders
Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Roger Gaspard yesterday gave instructions to officers of the Homicide Investigations Bureau to charge two men in their 20s for the murders of British-born attorney Richard Wheeler and his Trinidad- born wife Grace .The couple was found dead last week Tuesday at their Carnbee, Tobago home. Both were chopped and in Richard’s case, his head was bashed in .One suspect is from Tobago while the other is from St Vincent . A Tobago woman, the girlfriend of the Tobago-born male suspect, who was also arrested by police, has since been released . The three were arrested last Wednesday . The trio were arrested after it was discovered that they had allegedly attempted to use a credit card belonging to Mr Wheeler who was a partner in the law firm LEX Caribbean and was in charge of the firm’s Tobago office. Read more...
I was hurt and humiliated, says Ho
Terese Ho said yesterday her victory in a lawsuit against West Indies cricketer Lendl Simmons for breach of confidence regarding the distribution of sex photographs was not just a victory for her but for all women who are at risk for finding themselves in similar circumstances. She said she was hopeful that the landmark judgment, which was handed down by Justice Frank Seepersad at the Hall of Justice in Port of Spain, would be the starting point for Parliament to introduce new legislation to protect the rights and privacy of both women and men. Read more...
POLITICS
Seven UNC MPs backing Kamla
Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar has the support of at least seven of the 16 other UNC MPs, according to party insiders. Persad-Bissessar is likely to face competition for the top party post from deputy political leader Roodal Moonilal and Vasant Bharath. Moonilal is calling on UNC members to give him their opinion on whether he should contest the UNC leadership before he makes a decision by weekend. Read more...
Ramesh: This UNC is not real UNC
Reiterating he was not interested in electoral politics, former UNC deputy political leader Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, yesterday pointed out that the party had been “totally destroyed” by those persons who were now contesting the party’s December 5 internal elections. “This has nothing to do with the UNC,” Maharaj said in a telephone interview adding, “the government was not a UNC government because during its time in government, all of the party’s machinery had been totally destroyed.” “Nothing was done in accordance with UNC policies and I, in no way, would be joining with that bunch of people,” Maharaj said and pointed out that they had to “answer” to the population with its style of governance over the past five years.
“What they have done over the past five years will cause the UNC to not win another general election for the next 15 to 20 years,” he added. Read more...
Tobago self-government a priority, says Rowley
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said the issue of Tobago's self-government will be dealt with as a matter of urgent importance by Central Government. Rowley was speaking at yesterday's special sitting of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) in Scarborough. "I am leading...to ask the Parliament, by way of Joint Select Committee, to very urgently receive Tobago's request, and the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago engage in national discourse, so that this matter could be resolved once and for all," Rowley said. Read more...
BUSINESS
TTNGL offer a success says NGC chairman
The T&T National Gas Ltd (TTNGL) has traded $200,000,000 worth of shares in just one week after the launch of its Initial Public Offering (IPO) on October 19. The IPO, which was launched at a price of $20 per share, is considered to be the largest in T&T’s history. It was traded in a new sector titled the Energy Sector on the first tier market. Describing yesterday’s official launch, as “momentous,” National Gas Company chairman Gerry Brooks said the IPO was oversubscribed by 1.77 times when the shares were offered for sale and that there was an 25 per cent appreciation on the offer price. The official launch was held at the stock exchange headquarters at Nicholas Towers on Independence Square in Port-of-Spain. Read more...
Govt plans, encouraging
Chairman of the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange (TTSE) Peter Clarke yesterday said the exchange was “particularly encouraged” by the statement by Finance Minister Colm Imbert that the Government intended to fill some of its budget gaps by a sale of assets programme among other things and said he hoped the minister would use the stock exchange to put some profitable State companies on the market to allow individuals and institutional investors to participate in the ownership of more State companies in the months and years ahead. He said he would like to visit the minister and brief him about the facilities available at the exchange and assure him that the exchange was ready to facilitate and assist in whatever divestment plans the ministry may have. He made the comment as he welcomed the listing of 75,852,000 Class B shares in TTNGL, which were sold in an Initial Public Offering (IPO) between August 10 and September 9, 2015. Read more...
REGIONAL
St Lucia PM announces details of citizenship by investment programme
Details of Saint Lucia's first citizenship by investment programme was announced on October 7, 2015, at the third annual Global Citizen Forum by the country's Prime Minister Dr Kenny Anthony. The programme will see foreigners for the first time gain citizenship and a Saint Lucian national passport through investment in the country's economy. The legislation was supported by all elected members of parliament, and the country will commence accepting applications for citizenship by investment on January 1, 2016. Applicants will require a net worth of US$3 million to qualify and Saint Lucia has set an initial limit of 500 applications per annum. A citizen of Saint Lucia will hold a passport that allows visa-free travel to 105 countries. Read more...
Kittittian mother thanks Health City for son’s free heart surgery
A relieved mother from St. Kitts and Nevis is grateful for the doctors and staff of Health City Cayman Islands and its partners following the successful cardiac treatment of her son. Shellon McCalmon thanked the Caribbean hospital “for the hospitality you have offered to us. For your patience and time in making me, and my son most of all, safe and well.” The patient, 12 year-old Phesaun McCalmon, was treated for an Atrial Septal Defect (ASD), a “hole” in the wall that separates the top two chambers of the heart. The surgery was performed by Dr. Binoy Chattuparambil, a senior cardiothoracic and vascular surgeon with more than 20 years of experience, and cardiac surgeon Dr. Sumit Modi. Read more...
INTERNATIONAL
Struggle to reach hard hit areas as death toll from South Asia quake tops 300
Noor Wali was sitting inside his shoe shop in northwestern Pakistan when he heard a loud roaring sound and saw cracks appear in the walls. He ran out of the building just before it collapsed into rubble. "I avoided death by inches," he told CNN. His shop in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province was one of thousands of structures flattened by the magnitude-7.5 earthquake that struck South Asia on Monday afternoon, killing at least 306 people and injuring more than 1,800 others. Read more...
NSA warns of growing danger of cyber-attack by nation states
27th October 2015