NEWS
From Condo To Jail
She was jailed after appearing before Magistrate Christine Charles in the Port-of-Spain First Court on 40 fresh charges, brought against her in relation to activities spanning the years 2012 to present. The new charges – involving transactions at districts in Port-of- Spain, San Fernando, Chaguanas, Tunapuna and Siparia – added to 138 pending charges brings to 178, the total amount of charges Boodram is facing in various courts. Those 138 previous charges are from activities alleged to have occurred between 2009 to 2012, according to information given in court. The Magistrate denied bail due to the fact that the fresh charges were similar to matters for which Boodram had previously been granted $2 million bail. The accused was also remanded because of uncertainty over just where exactly, is her fixed place of abode. Boodram appeared in court yesterday at 11.34 am, in handcuffs. Throughout her entire appearance in court, she did not look back at the public gallery behind her. No member of her family attended. Read more...
Man killed after 2 failed attempts
After two failed attempts at his life, gunmen from his Pitman Lane, Gonzales, neighbourhood yesterday pounced on 21-year-old Kyle Williams and fatally shot him. Last December, gunmen shot him in the mouth leaving him with bullet fragments in his jaw. In September last year, Williams was shot in the back after a “strange jeep” was seen in the area. Speaking with the media yesterday, Williams’ aunt, Sherry Ann Trotman, said she was forced to raise him after his parents died. Read more...
Out Of Order
The Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (ORTT) medal awarded posthumously to trade union leader Adrian Cola Rienzi has been put up for sale on the international e-commerce website, eBay. The sale is troubling the Office of the President, with an official questioning why the nation's highest award was being peddled online. Prof Brinsley Samaroo also said he was saddened by the sale, and suggested the medal be given to a local museum. Read more...
POLITICS
PM to speak at Anti-Corruption conference
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley is scheduled to speak today at the opening of the Anti-Corruption Conference 2016, being hosted by the TT Transparency Institute (TTTI) at the Hilton Trinidad. The conference begins at 8 am and ends at 4 pm. Also scheduled to address the conference are Transparency International chairman Jose Carlos Ugaz and TTTI chairman Deryck Murray. Read more...
PM: Better to come
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley says his Government has performed “reasonably well” during its first six months in office and the foundation has been laid for better to come. The two main challenges facing his administration are the financial crisis and “explosive criminal conduct”, he said. Energy Minister Nicole Olivierre has rated her performance as “fairly well”. Read more...
BUSINESS
Special attention must be paid to unusual large transactions
Under the Financial Obligations Regulations, financial institutions and “listed business” must pay special attention to complex, unusual large transactions, according to head of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) Susan Francois. A “large transaction”, she stated, means a transaction, the value of which is $90,000 or more, so a large transaction which triggers the enhanced scrutiny need not be in cash. Read more...
REGIONAL
Regional officials gather in Guyana for electoral workshop
Senior electoral officials, experts from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and representatives of other regional organisations have gathered in Guyana for a three-day discussion aimed at facilitating the sharing of experiences and good practices on election observation. About 40 participants from CARICOM member states, CARICOM Secretariat, United Nations, as well as some other regional and intergovernmental organisations are attending this electoral event co-organised by the CARICOM Secretariat and the UN. Hosted on the theme “Building Resources in Democracy, Governance and Elections” (BRIDGE), the workshop opened on Monday morning in Georgetown. Delivering remarks were UN resident coordinator and UNDP resident representative, Khadija Musa, and deputy secretary-general, CARICOM Secretariat, Manorma Soeknandan. Read more...
Cabinet Warning - Holness Declares Zero Tolerance Approach To Corruption Among Ministers
Prime Minister Andrew Holness yesterday sounded a warning to his new Cabinet that he would be taking a zero-tolerance approach to corruption among members of his administration. The caution came only two hours after he revealed the team that would make up the Cabinet of the new Jamaica Labour Party Government. "I should not have the need to remind ministers that they must at all times conduct the affairs of the country with the highest level of integrity,"declared Holness. "But it is important that I repeat it. Corruption will not be tolerated in this Government." Noting that the Government is made up of 14 full ministries, headed by 18 Cabinet-level ministers, Holness declared that he was leading a smaller Government. He said this was the first signal that his administration intended to be efficient and prudent. Read more...
INTERNATIONAL
Migrant crisis: EU and Turkey plan one-in, one-out deal
MH370: Did the pilots do it?
Two years after MH370 went missing and key questions remain unanswered: Where is the plane and what happened in the cockpit in the early hours of March 8, 2014? Amid the conspiracy theories, there are two main views on what might have happened. The first suggests that the captain hijacked the plane and flew it with all 238 other people on board to their deaths by crashing in the southern Indian Ocean. The second view, and the one to which I subscribe, is that there was some form of mechanical fault. Read more...
8th March 2016