NEWS
‘I am sorry’
A Diego Martin man who was to face trial for murder, will instead spend the next year and a half in jail, after he pleaded guilty to killing a man and wounding another in 2009. High Court judge Justice Norton Jack yesterday sentenced Kerwin Charles, 25, for the unlawful killing of Zaffar Khan, 19, and the wounding of Nigel ‘Buck’ Herbert, 22, and Nigel Benjamin on July 5, 2009, at Jean Avenue, in Diego Martin. Although Charles was sentenced to 12 years hard labour, he has spent the last six years awaiting trial so this period was deducted and he was given a discount for his guilty plea. His attorney, Shontel Hinds in a further plea in mitigation, presented to the courts an apology letter penned by Charles addressed to Khan’s mother who was present at the hearing. In the letter, Charles said, “If I could have traded my life for his, I would, just not to put you through all this stress, pain and hurt. Read more…
3 shot dead, burnt body found
Three men were shot dead in separate instances and the handless body of a man was found under a burning heap of tyres as the murder toll galloped to 29 in just 18 days. For the comparable period last year the murder toll stood at 24. In Chaguanas, within a space of six hours, two families were left grieving after gunmen struck in unrelated shootings. One of the victims was mentally ill, police said. According to police reports, around 12.20 am yesterday, Lisimba Daniel, 34, was walking along Mc Carthy Street, Chaguanas, when neighbours heard gunshots and called the police. Residents later found Daniel's bullet-riddled body. Read more…
Former Kiss employee awarded $.6m
A former employee at Kiss Baking Company Ltd was yesterday awarded $600,000 in compensation for injuries he suffered to his lower back while employed as a machine operator at the company. The matter was scheduled to go to trial before Justice Frank Seepersad, at the Hall of Justice in Port of Spain, with three medical experts expected to testify, but before the matter could begin, a consent order was presented and judgment was entered in favour of the ex-employee, Parass Poon, 43. Poon had filed a civil lawsuit against the company in October 2014, alleging that it “failed to devise, institute and maintain a safe and proper system of work and a safe place of work and has subjected the claimant to unnecessary risk and danger and has further failed in its duty of care to the claimant”. Read more…
POLITICS
Govt and Opposition must work together
President of the Police Social Welfare Association (PSWA) Insp Anand Ramesar yesterday called on the Government and Opposition to work together on reforming the process by which a Police Commissioner is chosen. “Both sides ought to recognise there is need for a Commissioner of Police to be appointed,” Ramesar told Newsday. “That has to have overriding importance if we want to be serious about improving national security and public safety. A lot of our members are concerned that several years have elapsed and nothing substantive has changed on this issue.”He said the two new orders outlining a proposed new process — which are due to be debated in Parliament today — present, “a clear opportunity to move the process forward.” Ramesar endorsed the two orders published last year by Cabinet. He said his Association met with Minister of National Security Major General Edmund Dillon last November and impressed upon the need for a local top cop. Read more…
Focus on reviving economy
Communications Minister Maxie Cuffie says the Government is not overly concerned about international reports on the state of the local economy. He said instead the focus would be on reviving the economy and raising revenue. Cuffie said this while speaking to the media after a tour of the Government Printery in Frederick Settlement, Caroni, yesterday. “We are not unique in this situation. Read more…
BUSINESS
Let Central Bank manage exchange rate
Economist Dr Terrence Farrell is advising that the exchange rate be allowed to fall and the Central Bank to manage the rate to ensure it does not discourage exports and “effective import substitution.” He said that over the last 20 years, there had been real effective appreciation of the TT currency, “and that is part of the predicament we are experiencing now. So when we have all this talk about ‘buy local’, people all of a sudden are waking up and realising we have all kinds of goods in our supermarkets which are cheap.” Dr Farrell was one of the panellist on the subject “Energy Development in Trinidad and Tobago” during the afternoon session of the first day of the Energy Conference which ends today at the Hyatt Regency, Portof- Spain. He said one of his friends recently pointed out that local tomatoes cost more than imported ones, and this happened because the country has allowed the exchange rate to appreciate. Read more…
Baptiste-Primus tells credit unions: Be more entrepreneurial
Labour Minister Jennifer Baptiste-Primus yesterday challenged credit unions to be more entrepreneurial in their operations. She told them they could make strong contributions in the areas of poverty reduction, economic diversification and reducing youth crime. Baptiste-Primus, who spoke at the launch of the Co-operative Credit Union League of T&T’s 2016 calendar of event at the Radisson Hotel in Port-of-Spain, said the sector comprises 560,000 persons—38 per cent of the population—and controls more than $11.5 billion in assets. Read more…
Chamber: VAT on books, computers a backward step
The return of Value Added Tax (VAT) to books and computers is a backward step for the people of Trinidad and Tobago. This is according to the Chaguanas Chamber of Industry and Commerce. Chamber members have expressed concern by the Government’s decision to impose VAT on the price of books and computers. The Chamber noted that the move would impact negatively on the country’s literacy, including technological literacy. “We certainly appreciate the need for belt tightening and cost cutting in a number of areas so that we can help our economy to get through the difficult economic times we are dealing with currently. However, we cannot condone a measure that will impact negatively on the country’s literacy, inclusive of technological literacy,” the Chamber stated in a release signed by its president Richie Sookhai. Read more…
REGIONAL
Diplomatic Passports For Sale, Claims Dominica Opposition Leader
Lennox Linton is the leader of the opposition in Dominica, an independent island-state in the Caribbean with just 72,000 inhabitants. A former journalist, the head of the United Workers Party (UWP) is noted for his vocal criticism of the government, which he frequently accuses of corruption. Like several other countries in the region, Dominica runs an economic citizenship programme enabling foreigners to acquire citizenship of the island and the passport to go with it by paying money into a state fund or making a sizeable real estate investment. The country's passport policies have in the past occasionally raised eyebrows abroad – and are currently a hot topic in Dominica's highly polarized domestic politics. Read more…
Barbados accepted into International Atomic Energy Agency
Minister of Health John Boyce has announced that Barbados has been accepted as a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The IAEA, set up in 1957 as the world’s centre for cooperation in the nuclear field, works with member states and multiple partners worldwide to promote the safe, secure and peaceful use of nuclear technologies. Boyce said that as the 167th member state of the IAEA, Barbados will now be involved in protocols which would see safeguards being put in place to verify that nuclear material in Barbados was not diverted from peaceful purposes. “An additional protocol has been developed, significantly increasing the IAEA’s ability to verify, not only that there is no diversion of declared nuclear material, but also that there are no undeclared nuclear material or activities. Read more…
INTERNATIONAL
Donald Trump presidential bid gets Sarah Palin backing
At least 19 killed in attack on Bacha Khan University in Charsadda, Pakistan
Militants raided a university in northwest Pakistan on Wednesday, timing their attack to a ceremony at the school to ensure maximum casualties. After security forces combed the campus block by block after the massacre, Mehmood Khan, provincial home minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said 19 civilians were killed, along with four terrorists. He expects the number of civilian deaths to increase. Earlier, an army spokesman said that 21 civilians had been killed. The attack took place at Bacha Khan University in Charsadda, Peshawar, less than 40 kilometers (25 miles) from where the Pakistan Taliban slayed 145 people, including 132 children, in a school attack in December 2014. Read more…
20th January 2016