NEWS
Mayaro villagers tell of neglect
Villagers of Kernaham and Cascadoux in Mayaro say they are yet to get any flood relief since last November’s disaster even though hundreds of mattresses and supplies were found stacked under the home of former MP Winston “Gypsy” Peters. Residents say they have been experiencing perennial flooding for years and are in need of help, proper drainage facilities and maintenance of the waterways as water from Rio Claro, Plum Mitan, Biche and the Nariva Swamp passes through their community before reaching the sea. Read more...
Chopped, Throat Slit
A gruesome double-murder, in which the bodies of a 73-year-old English-born lawyer who was chopped to death and his 67-year-old wife, whose throat was slit from ear to ear, were found at their Carnbee home yesterday rocked the sister- isle as investigators confirmed no arrest has been made. Dead are Richard Wheeler, a partner in the law firm LEX Caribbean who headed the firm’s Tobago office and who was also a member of the Tobago Chamber of Commerce and his wife Grace Wheeler who Newsday was told, worked as a real estate agent with Tobago company, Island Investments. Their murders are the sixth and seventh committed in Tobago for this year. Read more...
6 armoured vehicles
Six light armoured personnel carriers (LAPCs) were ordered from an Israeli company by a former minister of National Security without the knowledge of the permanent secretary or the Procurement and Legal units of the Ministry. This is according to a release from the Ministry of National Security issued yesterday. The process for the purchase of the LAPCs started in 2014, the release said. Gary Griffith was the Minister of National Security at the time. Read more...
POLITICS
Pensioners to be exempted
Government will “likely” exempt pensioners and people living on fixed incomes from the property tax, Finance Minister Colm Imbert said yesterday. He did so in the Senate debate of the 2016 budget while again outlining budget areas. The budget was passed in the House of Representatives on Monday night. Imbert said the last waiver, which had been in place for the last five years, on the property tax would end on December 31. He said the tax would be reinstituted from next year at the old rates. Read more...
$116M debt for unused office-space
Some $116 million was incurred as debt by the former People’s Partnership (PP) government for an office building that was never put to use as headquarters for the then Ministry of Local Government, according to Minister of Rural Development and Local Government, Franklin Khan, speaking in yesterday’s Senate Budget debate. The building is at #1 Alexandra Place, St Clair, formerly subject of controversy for being leased out under the former Patrick Manning Government, virtually on the eve of the 2010 General Election. Khan said the lease was $600,000 per month ($9.6 million per year), amounting to $45 million over five years.Khan related that under the PP government the then Ministry of Local Government had agreed on a payment in the range of $18 million to $23 million to outfit the building, but eventually on a virtual ‘sole selective tender’ basis a firm named COSL had bid $73 million. Read more...
Coudray ‘wanted ministry relieved’ of St Clair property
Former local government minister Marlene Coudray yesterday distanced herself from any spending relating to One Alexandra Place, St Clair. In fact, Coudray said it was she who made a request last year for the ministry to “be relieved of One Alexandra Place”, as she found that it made no sense for the ministry to be paying millions of dollars for a building it could not use. “I went in there (the ministry) for two years, and no contracts were awarded under my time for that building,” she said. Coudray said when the controversial matter was raised in Parliament last year, she requested the rental arrangement for the seven-storey building be stopped. Read more...
BUSINESS
Tewarie defends $40m ACF bill
A war of words continues to be waged between Planning and Development Minister Camille Robinson-Regis and former People’s Partnership minister Dr Bhoe Tewarie over the $40 million spent to host the Americas Competitiveness Forum (ACF) in T&T. The three-day event was held October 8 - 10, 2014 in Port-of-Spain when Tewarie was Planning Minister. Hours after a terse exchange with Robinson-Regis over the issue during a sitting of the Standing Committee of Finance in the House of Representatives on Monday, Tewarie, now the MP for Caroni Central, took to Facebook yesterday to defend the expenditure of $40 million on the event. He did so after Robinson-Regis said an investigation has been launched into the matter. Read more...
Eat more local food
As the global community celebrated World Food Day last Friday, the Tableland Pineapple Farmers Association (TPFA) yesterday reiterated its call for the observance of an “Eat Local Day” to boost the nation’s appreciation for locally grown foods especially against the backdrop of a billion- dollar annual food import bill. In a media statement yesterday titled, “Give us this day, Our daily breadfruit”, agricultural economist Omardath Maharaj pointed out that agriculture not only possessed the potential to feed the nation but also break the “cycle of poverty”. Read more...
REGIONAL
Venezuela president wants economic zone for Caribbean and Latin America
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has called for the setting up of an economic zone for the Caribbean and Latin American. Maduro said the economic zone should be part of a production and economic plan aimed at curbing the region’s high import bill. During a bilateral meeting with Grenada’s Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell on Saturday, the Venezuelan leader suggested the establishment of a commerce and purchase agreement with Caribbean countries. Read more...
PNP SURGE - Parties Locked In Dead Heat But Comrades Have The Momentum
With the country on election watch, the latest Gleaner-commissioned Bill Johnson polls have found the opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) treading water, while the governing People's National Party (PNP) has built a positive momentum that could see it retaining state power. The PNP's push is being fuelled mainly by people from households that have traditionally supported the party and want to see it re-elected. In the latest test of the pulse of the nation, Johnson found that the PNP has gained 12 percentage points since the last polls, when Jamaicans were asked which party they would vote for if a general election were called now. Read more...
INTERNATIONAL
Syrian President Assad makes surprise visit to Moscow for talks with Putin
Embattled Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has flown to Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is now his chief sponsor. The talks, held Tuesday night, centered on coordinating military action in Syria, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Peskov said the talks concerned the fight against "terrorist extremist groups," a phrase the Assad regime regularly uses to describe all elements of the disparate opposition. Read more...
US Army IT system 'down' during Afghan hospital strike
21st October 2015