NEWS
Simmons Fired As West Indies Cricket Coach
Philip “Phil” Simmons has been fired as coach of the West Indies team with immediate effect, ahead of the squad’s departure to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to face Pakistan in a two-monthlong tour, comprising of three T20 Internationals, three One- Day Internationals (ODIs) and three Test matches. The 53-year-old former Trinidad and Tobago and West Indies all-rounder, who played 26 Tests and 143 ODIs for the regional team from 1987-1999, was appointed as Windies coach in March 2015, following an eight-year spell as coach of Ireland. But, in a media release issued yesterday, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) commented, “(effective) immediately, (the Board) announced it has separated from the coach Simmons. In a meeting of the Board of Directors (in Dominica) on Saturday, this decision was taken. “In recent times, based on the public pronouncements of the coach and the approach internally, we have identified differences in culture and strategic approach,” the WICB media release continued. Read more here
‘I’m lost for words’
Scores of citizens who were moved yesterday after reading of the plight of 600-pound Marissa Nelson in the T&T Guardian have offered to lend a helping hand. Among those were DEHIX, an international charitable body; the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (EWMSC); CEO of Pillars of Harmony; and members of the public. Within hours of Nelson’s highlighting her battles with a condition known as lymphoedema, which has left her confined to a bed for the past four years at her Valencia home, help from as far as America started pouring in. Her condition also generated a tsunami of sympathetic and disparaging comments on social media. Read more here
Back Home
The mother of a 14-year-old Rio Claro girl who was found in a mall in Chaguanas yesterday, after going missing for almost a week, says she is happy that her daughter has been found. Rehana Persad spoke with the Express while at a police station yesterday evening. She was expected to be reunited with her daughter, Shivanie Persad, after police completed their questioning. Persad said that she expected that her child would be allowed by police to return with her to their home at Mahabalsingh Trace, Ecclesville. Read more here
POLITICS
Moonilal: Fire Noel Garcia!
Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal yesterday called on Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley to fire Udecott chairman, Noel Garcia, over Garcia’s indictment by the Las Alturas Commission of Inquiry and for criticising the commissioners. Moonilal blamed Garcia for wasting $80 million in taxpayers funds on the failed project and for crudely attacking the commissioners. “The Commission of Enquiry found Mr Garcia directly responsible for construction of public housing on highly unsuitable land, and recommended that civil liability action be taken against him,” Moonilal hit. “Mr Garcia’s blatant response has been a vile personal attack on the distinguished Commissioners. The crude and crass verbal assault is an all-time low point in civility toward individuals and institutions.” Saying such behaviour is most unbecoming of State corporation leader, Moonilal hit, “Mr Garcia combines the toxic brew of raw incompetence and barefaced arrogance”. Read more here
Kamla wants action on $$ for killed cops
Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar has sent a Cabinet Note to be considered and passed by Cabinet with respect to the payment of $1 million to the estate of each of the members of the protective services — Police Service, T&T Defence Force, Fire Service and the Prison Service —killed in the line of duty. She made this disclosure during her address at the UNC’s Monday Night Forum at the North Eastern College, Sangre Grande. Persad-Bissessar, who led the budget presentation of 2014, made that commitment in recognition of the risks members of the protective services faced each day to protect the citizens. She said as Prime Minister, Rowley had stated his Government’s commitment to honour that promise. Read more here
Imbert: Opposition mixing up bills
The Tax Exchange Information Bill does not deal with Trinidadians and Tobagonians, Finance Minister Colm Imbert assured yesterday. On Opposition concerns there was a lack of clarity in the bill with respect to persons who had dual citizenship, as well as Trinidad and Tobago citizens resident in the United States, Imbert said the bill had nothing to do with these persons. The Finance Minister was speaking in Parliament, at Tower D, International Waterfront Centre, Port of Spain. He said Opposition MPs were mixing up the bill and the Tax Exchange Agreement, signed between Trinidad and Tobago and the USA. Read more here
BUSINESS
TT poised to break into international fashion market
Trinidad and Tobago can break into the international fashion industry as a producer of fashionable clothing but it will require significant investment to do so, says Deborah Beard, an Associate Chairperson of Technical Design and Professor in Technical Design and Art and Design at the Fashion Institute of Technology at the State University of New York. She was the feature presenter at a workshop on Creativity and Business of Fashion organised by the Trinidad and Tobago Fashion Company Limited (FashionTT), a subsidiary of the Trinidad and Tobago Creative Industries Company Limited (CreativeTT) and held last Friday at the Hyatt Regency, Wrightson Road, Port of Spain. She said local designers should not feel intimidated by the big names in international fashion because they all started with nothing. “They weren’t what they were, so they started at the bottom too. Everybody starts at the bottom.” The workshop, which was attended by a number of well known local designers as well as some who are not yet known to the public, was intended to teach participants about the technical aspects of garment design and give them the knowledge and tools to turn their creativity into solid businesses. Read more here
Manufacturers to benefit
Talks are currently taking place between the Trade Ministry, Finance Ministry and Central Bank to establish a US Dollar credit line specifically for local manufacturers. Trade Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon said this is among short, medium and long-term measures being considered to deal with foreign exchange and other challenges facing the sector. “These may be small steps but they reflect the Government’s undertaking to support the business community,” she said in remarks at a cocktail reception hosted by the West Indies Rum and Spirits Producers’ Association INC. (WIRSPA) at the CL Financial Booth, Queen's Park Oval, Port-of-Spain. Gopee-Scoon said the regional rum industry is the largest agro-based export sector within several CARIFORUM countries with more than US$300 million collected annually in tax revenues in the Caribbean. It is also a significant earner of foreign exchange, with more than 60 per cent of the region’s products exported for approximately US$550 million annually. Read more here
Scotia records net income of $467m
Scotiabank managing director Anya Schnoor says given the slowdown in economic activity, increased Government borrowing and depreciation of the TT dollar against the US dollar, she expects market conditions to remain muted as the end of Government’s fiscal year approaches.
Schnoor, however, assured customers that the bank will continue to support them through this challenging period. Her statements came yesterday as she announced Scotiabank’s financial results for the nine months ended July 31. Read more here
REGIONAL
Deloitte executive says Latin America and Caribbean highly vulnerable to cyber-attacks
Deloitte’s global chief information officer, Larry Quinlan, said that, despite increased improvements in technology in the Caribbean and Latin America, the regions remain highly vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Speaking at the Prime Minister’s Independence Lecture Series at the Nevis Performing Arts Center (NEPAC) on September 12 as part of the activities to celebrate the 33rd anniversary of St Kitts and Nevis’ independence from Great Britain, Quinlan said “there is a price to be paid for all the unfettered computing and it’s called cyber-security.” “It is a concern that will continue to grow worldwide and one that threatens to engulf us in developing countries if we’re not careful,” he emphasized. Read more here
Green Light For New Phone Firm - Holness Rejects OCG Recommendation, Grants Cellular Licence To Holding Company
The true beneficiaries of Jamaica's third cellular licence remain under a cloud as the Government has admitted that in doing its due diligence, it did not go beyond the names submitted on the application by Symbiote Investments Limited. Symbiote is the holding company for Caricel, the firm that will provide the telecoms service. Prime Minister Andrew Holness yesterday announced that his administration will grant the $2.7-billion licence to Symbiote, rejecting Contractor General Dirk Harrison's July recommendation not to do so "pending substantive due diligence checks on the applicants". "After careful consideration and advice, the Government has decided to proceed," Holness said, adding that in arriving at the decision, meetings were held with the Jamaica Constabulary Force, Spectrum Management Authority (SMA), the Office of Utilities Regulation, and Symbiote representatives. "We did our due diligence," he declared. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Powell: Trump is 'an international pariah'
Leaked emails from former Secretary of State Colin Powell show him strongly criticizing Donald Trump, labeling him a "national disgrace and an international pariah." He also called the birther movement, which the Republican presidential nominee helped lead, "racist." "That's what the 99% believe. When Trump couldn't keep that up he said he also wanted to see if the certificate noted that he was a Muslim," Powell wrote in an August email. The messages, the existence of which were first reported by BuzzFeed and The Intercept, were posted to DCleaks, an organization affiliated with other recent hacks of high-profile figures. Peggy Cifrino, an aide to Powell, told CNN: "The emails are accurate. No further comment at this time." Read more here
Juncker proposes EU military headquarters
14th September 2016