NEWS
Prisons officer on $250,000 bail
Prisons officer Roger Miguel, 40, yesterday pleaded “not guilty” to charges of theft of $56,000 from Golden Grove Prison in Arouca and was granted $250,000 bail by Magistrate Indrani Cedeno, in the First Arima Magistrate’s Court. The case was adjourned to February 16. Miguel of 71 Church Street, Penal, was defended by attorney Kern Saney while Police Sgt Valerie Leon, prosecuted. A reputed accomplice — a prison inmate — did not appear in court. Read more…
Bakr in court on summons charge
Attorneys representing the commission of enquiry (COE) into the 1990 attempted coup yesterday began prosecuting Jamaat-al-Muslimeen leader Yasin Abu Bakr for refusing to answer its summons to testify before it. During yesterday’s hearing in the Port-of-Spain Eight Magistrates’ Court, Chief Magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar heard evidence from the commission’s sole witness, Cpl Terrance Ramsepaul, who served Bakr with the summons which he is accused of ignoring. Read more…
Boy, 5, drowns near home
A five-year-old boy drowned in the sea near his home in Claxton Bay yesterday. The body of little Tafari Mackenzie was found floating near a sea wall opposite his home at Old Train Line, St Margaret’s. It is believed that a bamboo rod which Tafari was playing with fell into the water and he fell in as he tried to retrieve it. Read more…
POLITICS
Finance Bill passed — Imbert: PNM will save TT
Finance Minister Colm Imbert vowed that the ruling People’s National Movement (PNM) will save this country from the problems it is facing. Imbert made this vow as he concluded debate on the Finance Bill 2016 in the House of Representatives on Monday night.The bill was passed with amendments, and will be debated in the Senate on Friday. Imbert praised the Parliament’s staff for drafting a document which clearly outlined to members the pertinent facts about the bill, its intent and the various pieces of legislation that would be amended to facilitate the measures in the bill. Read more…
Rowley during debate on Finance Bill: $400,000 in alcohol at PM’s residence
Alcohol valued at more than $400,000 have been discovered at the official residence of the Prime Minister, St Ann’s. This was revealed by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley during his contribution to the debate on the Finance Bill 2016, which was approved in the House of Representatives yesterday morning. Read more…
Change Your Diet
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley says the silver lining behind the cloud of value added tax (VAT) being added to hundreds of food items is that it will push Trinidadians and Tobagonians to eat healthier food. He said yesterday the list of food items to be removed from the zero-rated list on February 1 were non-essential products. Rowley made the comment yesterday as he addressed reporters following a meeting with Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Chief Secretary Orville London and Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Ayanna Webster-Roy at the office of the Chief Secretary in Scarborough. Read more…
BUSINESS
ExporTT CEO: Faster growth needed
Chief executive officer of ExporTT Adrian Theodore is arguing that the country needs to urgently move out of its “incremental” approach to development and begin seeking “exponential answers.” Theodore’s remarks came as the University of the West Indies’ (UWI) Centre for Language Learning (CLL) launched its Language and Competitiveness website Monday and discussions followed on the value of foreign language competencies in the conduct of business and trade. Read more…
Laid-off workers not returning to jobs on Monday
Workers at steel giant ArcelorMittal will not be returning to work on January 18, the company said yesterday. In a published statement today, the company sought to correct what it described as misleading reports about the steel workers. On Monday the Steel Workers Union of Trinidad and Tobago (SWUTT) announced that following a meeting at the Ministry of Labour, St James Street, San Fernando, the workers sent home by ArcelorMittal last month would return to work next week. Read more…
REGIONAL
US embassy calls on St Lucia to uphold the rule of law
In an unusually forthright public statement on Tuesday, the United States Embassy in Bridgetown, Barbados, called on the government of Saint Lucia to ensure the rule of law is upheld. The embassy noted that in 2014 the government of Saint Lucia invited CARICOM’s Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS) to conduct an investigation into allegations that members of the Royal St Lucia Police Force (RSLPF) committed extra-judicial killings from 2010 to 2011. Read more…
Educated Beggars - Warmington Says Graduates Turning To Mendicancy Due To Joblessness
South West St Catherine Member of Parliament (MP) Everald Warmington is urging the Government to immediately establish a special programme geared specifically at providing employment and support for the thousands of students leaving educational institutions annually, many of whom he said have become beggars. "You find that many of these young persons on the street corners are educated young people. They are begging, asking for assistance here and there, cannot find not even food," Warmington said as he opened debate on a private member's motion he brought to the House of Representatives. Read more…
INTERNATIONAL
Iran frees US sailors held in Gulf after incursion
State of the Union: Barack Obama sells optimism to nervous nation
Putting aside a sudden crisis with Iran, President Barack Obama on Tuesday urged Americans in his final State of the Union address to reject the politics of tribalism and fear that have rocked the campaign to find his successor and to build a "clear-eyed, big-hearted" and "optimistic" nation. Delivering his annual report to the nation, Obama did not name Republican 2016 candidates. But he took clear, implied shots at them nevertheless, particularly front-runner Donald Trump, as well as Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz. America's destiny, the President said, was imperiled by a political system festering in malice, gridlock and in the grip of the rich and the powerful. Read more…
13th January 2016