NEWS
Dillon tells citizens, remain calm
Yesterday Whatsapp users awoke to find an ominous voice note of a man advising persons to steer clear of malls and other major shopping centres this weekend as they are being targeted for a terrorist attack. The recording, which is one minute and five seconds long, has been circulating on social media for the past 48 hours and claims that militant Islamic group ISIS, intends to carry out the attacks. The origin of the recording remains unclear and features a man of unknown identity who says that he first received word of the threat from his “boys inside”. “Try your best to stay out of the malls for the whole week, weekend and probably next week too. This could just go crazy. Read more…
Suppliers on food bail out for Venezuela: Forex issue can pose a problem
The on going unavailability of foreign exchange could hamper Venezuela’s chances of being supplied with food items from T&T. So said president of the Supermarkets Association of T&T, Dr Yunus Ibraham, and CEO of Arima Discount Mart (ADM), Balliram Maharaj. Faced with a food crisis, Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro, who held bi-lateral talks with Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley on Monday, offered to purchase from T&T US$50 million in food for its citizens. Among the items the neighbouring country were interested in were butter, chicken, pork, ketchup, rice and black beans. While the food would bring much relief to thousands of Venezuelan citizens, Ibrahim said his primary concern was how this new arrangement would affect domestic supply. Read more…
Cop, Soldier Shot Dead
Three bandits escaped with a box of costume jewelry and a car after they robbed a Wallerfield family and shot dead a soldier who was relatives said was a devoted father and husband who swore he would always protect them. Last night, one of the suspects was arrested and was assisting police in their investigation. The step-daughter of Regiment soldier Cpl Jerry Leacock recalled yesterday he was an officer in the Regiment's Engineering Battalion. Read more…
POLITICS
UNC loses La Horquetta/Talparo...again
There can be no contest of the result of last September’s general election in the constituency of La Horquetta/ Talparo which was won by the People’s National Movement’s Maxie Cuffie. A ruling of the Court of Appeal yesterday struck down an appeal by Bonafacio Mahabir, who filed an election petition challenging results in that constituency. s there is no right of appeal to London’s Privy Council yesterday’s determination by the appellate court is final. In a majority ruling, Chief Justice Ivor Archie and Justice of Appeal Judith Jones held that in election law, time lines were to be strictly adhered to by persons presenting such petitions. In their oral ruling, the two appellate judges dismissed Mahabir’s appeal, and ordered that he pay two thirds of costs assessed by the High Court, which also threw out his petition on the basis that the notice of security had been served out of time. Justice of Appeal Rajendra Narine dissented. Read more…
Ramdeen to face Privileges body over attack on Independent
Temporary Opposition Senator Gerald Ramdeen has been referred to the Senate’s Privileges Committee over remarks he made about temporary Independent Senator Justin Junkere recently. Leader of the Government Senate bench, Franklin Khan, at yesterday’s Senate session asked for Ramdeen to be sent before the Privileges team. He noted Ramdeen’s remarks of May 11 about Junkere, who had voted with Government in support of the controversial Strategic Services Amendment Bill. Khan claimed Ramdeen committed contempt of the Senate by making statements which were intended to intimidate and may have intimidated Junkere in the conduct of his work as a senator. He also said Ramdeen’s remarks reflected on the character and conduct of Junkere “in such a manner that brought this Senate into ridicule and odium.” Read more…
PNM women, Fixin’ T&T protest
President Anthony Carmona is being severely criticised for the appointment of Kriyann Singh as an Independent senator. The People’s National Movement (PNM) Women’s League yesterday registered “its strong objection” to the decision of the President to appoint, “even temporarily”, Singh. And activist group Fixin’ T&T said the appointment raised “even more questions about the President’s competence”. This is the second time in less than three weeks a temporary appointment to the Independent bench of the Senate by Carmona is the source of controversy. The first arose from the allegations from the United National Congress (UNC) that temporary senator Justin Junkere had a conflict of interest arising from a State brief (given during the tenure of UNC attorney general Garvin Nicholas) and that the exercise of his vote in the Strategic Services Agency (SSA) Amendment Bill was not done freely. Read more…
BUSINESS
Western Union links TT with Cuba
Cubans in Trinidad and Tobago can use Western Union services to move money into Cuba for the first time...within minutes. Western Union Company, a leader in global payments services, announced yesterday the activation of Western Union Money Transfer services to Cuba from Trinidad and Tobago at GraceKennedy Agent locations nationwide. GraceKennedy is the Western Union Agent in 11 Caribbean countries. “As the first US com- pany with scale to move money from across the world to Cuba in minutes, we are pleased to extend the service from Trinidad and Tobago to Cuba, as we continue our phased roll-out from additional countries throughout the year,” said Sean Mason, Vice President and General Manager for Western Union in the Caribbean. “Our current movement of remittances from the U.S. to Cuba funds regular expenses and micro businesses, driving entrepreneurism, innovation and employment opportunities. We are excited to be able to gradually offer our services to the Cuban Diaspora across the Caribbean,” Mason added. Read more…
Panama Canal challenges for PoS Port
The Port of Port-of-Spain does not have the level of productivity to accommodate business from the expanded Panama Canal which is due to be inaugurated on June 26. Acting general manager of the Port Authority Charmaine Lewis, who admitted this yesterday, said serious consideration is being given to partnering with a foreign investor to address issues facing the port. “We feel they would bring their knowledge, their expertise, their systems and their market, because we are looking at the big players. We feel there is an opportunity to partner and we can leverage from their position in the market,” she said when she spoke at the conference, Panchayat on the Panama Canal: Business Opportunities and Challenges for T&T, at the Arthur Lok jack Graduate School of Business, Mt Hope yesterday. Lewis said among the challenges facing the port is its high overtime bill. She said the Port Authority is working with the representative union to implement new work practices. Read more…
Gas, trade deals with Venezuela welcomed
Trinidad and Tobago’s trade with Venezuela has been declining for a number of reasons, including Venezuela’s non-tariff barriers, which have “been increasingly trade-distorting”, The University of the West Indies (UWI) senior economics lecturer Roger Hosein said in response to Express queries yesterday. He praised the plans to boost Trinidad and Tobago exports to eastern Venezuela and to monetise Venezuelan natural gas here, however. Read more…
REGIONAL
Anti-LGBT remarks cause furore ahead of general elections in St Lucia
Derogatory remarks made by Saint Lucia’s minister of tourism, heritage and creative industries Lorne Theophilus in a video that has been widely disseminated on social media have prompted calls for political leaders to be held accountable for statements and/or actions that discriminate against a particular segment of the electorate. In the video in question, Theophilus used a derogatory term with a long history of being used to insult and denigrate lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual (LGBT) people to describe the political leader of the opposition United Workers Party (UWP) Allen Chastanet. Theophilus later apologized for his remarks. “I do apologize to all that were and may be offended by the comment which on my reflection was careless and ill advised,” he said. Read more…
Housing Stimulus - Holness Announces New NHT Policy Targeting Low-Income Earners
Low-income earners will, effective July 1, have the opportunity to borrow up to $4.89 million per contributor, or $9.8 million jointly, from the National Housing Trust (NHT) to purchase a house, while paying no interest, based on a dramatic shift in housing policy that was announced yesterday by Prime Minister Andrew Holness. In his contribution to the Budget Debate in Gordon House yesterday, Holness said his administration would use housing and related construction activity as an engine of economic growth. With income bands being a determining factor in terms of interest rates charged on mortgages, Holness, who has direct responsibility for the NHT, has announced that persons in the income band of between $7,500 per week and $12,000 per week will now be able to access loans from the Trust at zero per cent per annum. Read more…
INTERNATIONAL
Obama: 'Things are going to be OK' after 2016 election
President Barack Obama told an audience of young Vietnamese leaders Wednesday that he knows people in other countries think the U.S. electoral system is a "mess," but he said things would turn out OK in the end because "the American people are good people." Obama made the remarks at his last public event during his Vietnam trip -- a town hall event hosting approximately 800 young Vietnamese people from the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative in Ho Chi Minh City. "I think sometimes other countries look at our election system and people think 'wow what a mess,' but usually we end up doing OK because the American people are good people, as I hope I've gotten to know," Obama said in response to a question from the audience. "The American people are generous, and decent, and hardworking, and sometimes our politics doesn't express all the goodness of the people, but usually the voters make good decisions and democracy works, so I'm optimistic we'll get through this period." Read more…
Afghan Taliban announce successor to Mullah Mansour
The Afghan Taliban have announced a new leader to replace Mullah Akhtar Mansour who was killed in a US drone strike. In a statement, the Taliban acknowledged Mansour's death for the first time and named his successor as Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada. Analysts say it is unlikely the group will change direction under hardline religious scholar Akhundzada. Last year the Taliban were plunged into turmoil when Mansour replaced the group's founder Mullah Mohammad Omar. Mansour was killed in a strike on his car in Pakistan's Balochistan province on Saturday. Under his stewardship, the Taliban refused to take part in peace talks. Instead, militant attacks escalated and became more daring. Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada, a former head of the Taliban courts, was a deputy leader to Mansour. Read more…
25th May 2016