NEWS
DUI Task Force suffers ‘hangover’ Cop transferred after businessman’s arrest
The Driving Under the Influence (DUI) of alcohol police task force in San Fernando has suffered a “hangover” with the unceremonial transfer of a corporal last week after his team of officers arrested the son of a millionaire businessman. Corporal Jaipersad Barran who headed the DUI Task Force in San Fernando and its environ up to last week Friday before he was transferred, arrested the businessman’s son, but the action has prompted an unease in the southern policing community in which questions are being asked as to whether “he may have crossed the proverbial line”. Barran was transferred to the Princes Police Station with instructions handed down by a senior police officer at the Police Administration Building in San Fernando, that the police corporal is not to be allowed to conduct DUI exercises. Since the transfer last Friday, there has not been a single DUI exercise in San Fernando and its environs, even with the extended weekend as members of the East Indian community observe Indian Arrival Day yesterday. Read more…
Sagewan Alli: We’re losing more than gaining
Economist Indera Sagewan-Alli says she has a responsibility to her ancestors in India and here at home to do better as that is an East Indian tradition. In an address to dozens of villagers yesterday at an Indian Arrival Day function at Robert Trace in Warrenville, she said: “I remember as young girl when people like Prof Brinsley Samaroo and Trevor Sudama lobbied for this holiday. They didn’t just want a day to sit down and do nothing. What they thought was important was that as a country, we took time to recognise the contribution of East Indians to the development of Trinidad and Tobago.” Sagewan-Alli said while much had been achieved academically, much more has being taken for granted. Also speaking at the function hosted by managing director of Sheik Lisha Limited Churchill Azard Akaloo were Prof Samaroo, Pastor Clive Dottin and visiting lecturer from India at the University of the West Indies, Dr Syed Ejaz Hussain. Read more…
T&T to help supply gas to PetroCaribe
Venezuela’s discounted oil-on-credit, partial bartering programme, known as PetroCaribe, will expand to include natural gas and “all forms of alternative energy”, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro told Caribbean and Central American energy ministers at PetroCaribe’s 16th Ministerial Council meeting in Caracas on Friday. Read more…
POLITICS
Rowley has full confidence in Dillon
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has expressed full confidence in his National Security Minister, retired Brig Edmund Dillon. “He is a very experienced person in security matters and he is working effectively dealing with the crime challenges,” the prime minister told reporters at the People’s National Movement’s Sports and Family day yesterday, at the Mt Pleasant Recreation ground. Dr Rowley, political leader of the PNM, also paid glowing tribute to Chief Secretary Orville London for leading the Tobago Council PNM. “I simply want to thank Mr London for his yeoman service in holding this party together in Tobago and for being a beacon for what is the best in Trinidad and Tobago as a leader in Tobago.” He said London would leave office in Tobago with a long and meritorious service and as an exemplar to the rest of the country. Dr Rowley told party supporters on the sister isle that they can expect to elect a leader in true PNM style and that the party will rally behind whomever they chose to lead the Tobago House of Assembly. Read more…
Ramesh: Anti-Gang Act flawed from day one
The Anti-Gang Act in its current forms can have far-reaching consequences which can result in murder cases being thrown out, says former Attorney General Ramesh Maharaj. He said the legislation was flawed from day one and former Attorney General Anand Ramlogan ignored calls to take a second look at it. “You are going to make it very complicated to charge them (alleged gang members) with being gang members and being involved in other crimes because then you would be compromising the other crimes,” he said. Read more…
Fixin' T&T questions Carmona's judgment
Fixin' T&T has called upon President Anthony Carmona to account for the appointment of Independent Senator Dr Kriyaan Singh and it continues to question Carmona's competence and judgment. It also said Carmona has not assented to the Strategic Services (Amendment) Bill. Read more…
BUSINESS
Sureway wins Quality Award
Businesswoman Dr Surelia Reid, founder of SureWay Weight Loss Clinic, has received the International Star for Leadership in Quality Award in Paris. Paris hosted this year’s Business Initiative Directions (BID) International Star for Leadership in Quality Convention, where professionals and business leaders from around the world gathered to recognise excellence and success. According to BID, award winners demonstrated commitment to the criteria of the QC100 TQM Model, which helps bolster customer satisfaction and cost efficiency across all areas of operation. The ceremony was held earlier this month at the Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile (Concorde La Fayette) Convention Hall. Read more…
Changes at the top in Central Bank
Cabinet will advise President Anthony Carmona who to appoint to the vacant post of deputy Central Bank governor, an e-mailed response from the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago (CBTT) said on Sunday. The vacancy arose after deputy governor Alvin Hilaire was promoted to governor, effective December 23 for a five-year term. Read more…
REGIONAL
St Lucia election 'too close to call'
According to a public opinion poll conducted between May 20 and 23, 2016, by regional pollsters Caribbean Development Research Services (CADRES), the outcome of the general election in Saint Lucia due to be held on June 6, is too close to call. CADRES interviewed 1,000 people across all 17 consistencies and found a statistical dead-heat between the governing St Lucia Labour Party (SLP) and the opposition United Workers Party (UWP), with the SLP recording 34% and the UWP securing 33% of the committed vote share, a difference well within the margin of error for this poll of +/-5%. Some 3% of respondents promised to support independent candidates; however, the survey was conducted one week ago when there was an anticipation of greater independent participation than that which materialised on nomination day. The remaining 30% of respondents have been categorized as “Uncertain Voters”. Read more…
Active Season - Agencies Forecast Heavy Rains, Flooding
The 2016 hurricane season is expected to be very active, with a forecast of increased rainfall and more flash flooding over the next six months. Based on data and predictions from several world-leading weather agencies, it is forecast that there will be approximately 10-16 named storms, four to eight hurricanes, and one to four intense hurricanes. This was announced at the fifth year and the eighth staging of the Caribbean Climate Outlook Forum (CariCOF) being held at the Fort Young Hotel in Roseau, Dominica. The 2016 hurricane season officially starts tomorrow, June 1. "We expect that there will be more extreme wet spells. That means a couple of days in which there will be enormous amounts of rainfall that can come. Because that chance is getting higher and higher as we go on into our wet season, the risk of flash floods that lead on from such wet spells becomes much greater," Cedric Van Meerbeeck, climatologist at the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH), based in Barbados, told The Gleaner. "I'm not saying there will be much more of those wet spells - because they are not very frequent anyway - but you just need one in a specific area to actually cause flash flooding, and correspondingly, depending on the slope, also landslides." The shift from the El NiÒo system into the La NiÒa system is also worrying because of the expected impact and implications. It is expected to increase the chances of a wetter season. Read more…
INTERNATIONAL
Kenya covers up military massacre
On January 15, a massive blast shattered the dawn calm at El Adde military base. A suicide bomber had detonated a truck loaded with explosives, the cue for hundreds of fighters clad in camouflage gear to attack. The raid lasted the entire day; thousands upon thousands of bullets fired by some 300 Al-Shabaab militants in a brutal assault on Kenyan soldiers stationed in Somalia to fight the terrorist group. By the time the sun set, as many as 141 Kenyan soldiers were dead -- some shot at point-blank range. That figure would make what happened at El Adde Kenya's largest military defeat since its independence in 1963. But in the months since, there has been no national day of mourning, no roll call of honor, and no explanation. Read more…
Islamic State group hits back as Iraqi army moves into Falluja
31st May 2016