NEWS

Grieves to Death

Theresa Liverpool  died of a broken heart. The 52-year-old woman was unable to overcome the grief over her son’s murder two weeks ago and stopped eating. She stopped trying to live. On Monday she collapsed, spitting up blood. She died later at hospital. Liverpool’s death was a double whammy for the family especially her daughter Asha Samlalsingh as they have not yet gotten over the murder of Liverpool’s son and Asha’s brother Keston ‘Pookie’ Jeffery, 23. Liverpool died on Monday at the Point Fortin Area Hospital. A post mortem conducted yesterday at the mortuary of the San Fernando General Hospital revealed her death was due to a “saddle pulmonary embolism” - separation of the main artery of the lung. Jeffery, a Private Hire (PH) driver was beaten and stabbed to death on October 3. Police investigators found his partially nude body in a drain at North Trace in Cap-de- Ville, on the outskirts of Point Fortin. Read more here

Crying Ian begs fans for $upport

Television personality Ian Alleyne yesterday made a public appeal to friends and fans to assist him in helping to cover the $748,000 debt he incurred from defaming businessman Shaun Sammy on his Crime Watch programme last year. In a video posted on his Facebook page hours after High Court marshalls and Sammy’s attorneys Om Lalla and Derrick Balliram served a writ of execution at his home at Rivulet Road, Couva, seizing electronic appliances and furniture, Alleyne appeals to fans for donations. “If we have to raise the $748,000 we will raise it. There are people who will support me, people will give. We will open up the new studio and I will post the bank account number and even with $20 we would come back out,” a teary-eyed Alleyne said. Read more here

Rum Rushes

Trinidadians have been rushing to buy alcohol before the 20 per cent increase announced by Finance Minister Colm Imbert kicks in on locally-produced and imported spirits tomorrow — and some are even stocking up for Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Liquor marts around the country yesterday reported increased sales that started just before the September 30 delivery of the 2016/2017 national budget, where Government’s drive to increase its revenue saw increased taxes on some personal vices. Read more here

POLITICS

Indarsingh bats for ECCE teachers

Couva South MP Rudy Indarsingh asked if a $36 million cut in contract services from the Ministry of Education will harm ECCE teachers, the day after they protested at the Ministry for alleged monies owed? The Ministry’s “contract services” allocation has been cut from $145 million last year to $107 million this fiscal year, according to Budget documents on recurrent costs. Education Minister, Anthony Garcia, said the whole ECCE system is in disarray, with teachers paid by a mix of Government, Servol and private institutes, and that he’d like to bring sanity to it all. Indarsingh asked how much is owed to the ECCE teachers, when will they be paid, and does the Ministry aim to bring them into the Ministry’s decent work agenda? On the latter, Garcia replied yes, saying he wants ECCE teachers brought under the Education Act. “As far as we are aware they are not owed salaries,” Garcia added. Read more here

Retraining coming for social workers

Officers of the Social Development Ministry who may be ill-treating members of the public will be getting training soon in a quality customer care programme. Social Development Minister Cherrie Ann Crichlow-Cockburn on Monday confirmed the programme when she replied to questions from UNC MP Suruj Rambachan in the Standing Finance Committee’s meeting. Rambachan related that some members of the public came to him crying due to ill and rough treatment they got from such ministry officers. Read more here

AG’s Office confirms T&T nationals detained in Venezuela found guilty

The five Trinidad and Tobago nationals who had been detained in Venezuela on suspicion of terrorism were found guilty by a trial judge in that country and had been sentenced, the Ministry of the Attorney General confirmed yesterday. But president of the Islamic Front, Umar Abdullah, who was quoted as saying that the men were found not guilty, said that he stands by those statements. According to the AG’s Office: “The learned trial judge in Venezuela further held that the guilty individuals had served their sentences, having been incarcerated since March 2014. As a result of these occurrences, these nationals are being prepared for release from the Venezuelan prisons and deportation to Trinidad.” This was also earlier stated by Minister of National Security Edmund Dillon. Read more here

BUSINESS

Barbados looking at sugar reactivation

Barbados is going back into the cultivation of sugar but the island’s Finance Minister Christopher Sinckler said on Monday it is going to be producing limited quantities of sugar mainly to meet domestic demand, called “direct consumption” in Barbados, with any excess to be exported to specialised markets. Sinckler dropped the information during a Barbados Investor Forum last Monday at the Hilton Trinidad and Conference Centre, St. 
Ann’s. The forum was hosted by ANSA Merchant Bank, a subsidiary of the ANSA McAL Group and attended by the Governor of the Barbados Central Bank Dr DeLisle Worrell. Read more here

Guardian Group buys Marriott

Publicly listed financial services provider Guardian Group has added another hotel to its $15 billion portfolio of investments, the company confirmed in a notice on the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange (TTSE) yesterday. The notice titled “Guardian Group Investing for Your Future” said: “With over $15 billion in investments in a highly diversified portfolio, Guardian Group helps to drive the Trinidad and Tobago and Caribbean economies, by investing in government paper, as well as, in solid private sector ventures. In this vein we have acquired the property operated as the Courtyard by Marriott at Invaders Bay, adding another solid foreign exchange earner to our investment portfolio. Marriott International has done a stellar job in making this one of the premier hotels in Trinidad, and we are confident that their continued success will translate into superior long-term returns for our customers and shareholders.” Put up for sale Read more here

REGIONAL

Target - 'Scammer' Puts Out Hit On Anti-Lottery Task Force Boss; Cop Says He Is Not Worried

A top-tier leader in the illicit lottery scam who is said to be facing an extradition warrant issued by the United States government has reportedly placed a bounty on the head of Sergeant Kevin Watson, who heads the local Anti-Lottery Scam Task Force. "Based on intelligence that has come to our attention, this man (the unnamed scammer) has paid over a large sum of money to a gang in the western city to kill Sergeant Watson," a high-level police source told The Gleaner yesterday. "We consider this as a credible threat and we are putting the requisite measures in place to ensure the safety of Sergeant Watson." While not giving away important details, the police source told The Gleaner that the scammer was named on a list of alleged perpetrators for whom the US government has issued extradition warrants in recent months. He said eight of the persons on the list have already been apprehended. Read more here

Buyer revealed for Bahamas megaresort

The Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) has confirmed that the new owner of the financially troubled multi-billion dollar Baha Mar resort in The Bahamas is Perfect Luck Holdings Limited. However, the identities of the owners of that company remain shrouded in secrecy. The Christie administration has up to now kept mum about the status of Perfect Luck as anything other than the purchaser of the debt the bankrupt Baha Mar Ltd owed its employees and contractors. However, the OPM said in a statement on Monday, “The assets of Baha Mar have been acquired by Perfect Luck Holdings Limited. Read more here

INTERNATIONAL

Mosul battle: Some 5,000 civilians fled ahead of fighting

Thousands of people have fled the Mosul area and more are expected as Iraqi troops move on the city to liberate it from the so-called Islamic State (IS). Some 5,000 people have crossed the border into Syria in the last 10 days, about 900 of them since the military began in areas around Mosul on Monday. They have arrived at the al-Hol refugee camp where conditions, aid workers say, are already filthy and overcrowded. Up to 1.5 million are thought to be in Mosul, with up to 5,000 IS fighters. The UN is preparing for what it fears could be the biggest man-made humanitarian crisis in recent times. Refugee camps are being built in the south, east and north of Mosul in preparation for a flood of people fleeing the city. The UN says it expects at least 200,000 in the coming days and weeks. Read more here

Presidential debate: What to watch for in the last Clinton-Trump face-off

For Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, it's time to begin the closing arguments. Both nominees enter Wednesday's presidential debate -- the final showdown of the election season -- with historically high unfavorability ratings, and need to convince undecided voters why the country would be worse off with their opponent in the White House. The match-up also comes as Trump is making perhaps his most outlandish argument yet -- that the 2016 election is rigged to help Clinton win. Clinton, meanwhile, will have a fresh set of questions to answer around newly released hacked emails and fresh revelations about her use of a private email server at the State Department. Read more here

19th October 2016

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