NEWS
Mayor fuming over 45-minute wait for ambulance
San Fernando Mayor Kazim Hosein was left fuming mad and demanding a complete revamp of the local health care system after a man who collapsed mere walking distance from the San Fernando General Hospital, lay on the ground for 45 minutes awaiting the arrival of an ambulance. He was later prounced dead at the hospital. “This is absolutely unacceptable,” Hosein said. “He fell basically at the doorsteps of the general hospital which is just a few footsteps away, yet we waited 45 minutes for an ambulance to come. If I did not order a driver (from the San Fernando City Corporation) to take the man to hospital, he would be still on the ground,” the mayor fumed. Read more…
Aids deaths down by 61% in Caribbean
In the last ten years alone the Caribbean achieved a 61 per cent reduction in Aids-related deaths, according to a report, titled Focus on location and population: Fast track to end Aids by 2030, which was released from UNAids World yesterday. December 1 marks World Aids Day. The report said since 2000, new infections in the region had declined by 50 per cent and additionally, following the success of Cuba, several Caribbean countries have also been on track to be validated as having eliminated HIV transmission from mothers to children by next year. Read more…
POLITICS
PM Rowley arrives in Malta
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and his delegation have arrived in Malta, ahead of the 2015 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) which takes place there from Friday to Sunday. This was indicated in a release issued yesterday by the Communications Ministry. The release was accompanied by images of yesterday’s opening of the Commonwealth Business Forum (CBF) 2015 at the Hilton Hotel, St Julians, Malta. Read more…
Anand under fire in defamation suit
Former attorney general Anand Ramlogan’s professional reputation was called into question as he took the witness stand to defend himself in his defamation lawsuit against current Works and Infrastructure Minister Fitzgerald Hinds yesterday. Hinds’ lawyer, Gregory Delzin, spent several hours criticising Ramlogan over his claims that his reputation was severely damaged by statements made by his client during a political meeting in Sangre Grande in May last year. Read more…
BUSINESS
IGT donates 10 computers
IGT (formerly GTECH) has donated an additional ten new computers through its After School Advantage (ASA) Programme to the computer laboratory at the Morris Marshall Development Foundation. This is IGT’s third contribution to the Foundation, and the computers were officially handed over at a ceremony on November 18. The partnership between the Morris Marshall Development Foundation and IGT was forged in 2006 when IGT helped create Morris Marshall’s computer lab with an initial donation of ten computers. A second contribution of ten new computers was made in 2012 to keep the computer lab functioning with new hardware and technology. The Foundation, established in 1993, serves as a community development vehicle for Laventille. Read more…
eTeck Park brings 245 jobs to Point
Point Fortin was a victim of the last government’s inaction and lack of commitment to the development of the area but, especially with two government ministers from the community, residents will now see a great deal of development in the coming five years. That good news was delivered to members of the Point Fortin business community during the commissioning ceremony of the eTeck Point Fortin Business Park on Monday by Trade and Industry Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon and National Security Minister Edmund Dillon, the MP for the area. Both grew up in the area. Read more…
REGIONAL
St Kitts-Nevis suspends Syrians from citizenship by investment programme
The government of St Kitts and Nevis, in its ongoing efforts to recalibrate its citizenship by investment programme (CBI), announced on Tuesday the immediate suspension of processing of new applications to the programme from citizens and residents of Syria. Since assuming office in February 2015, the new Team Unity government of St Kitts and Nevis, headed by Prime Minister Dr Timothy Harris, has pledged to remain vigilant to protect the security and integrity of the world’s oldest and most respected CBI programme. As a consequence, certain legislative changes were immediately made to give the government maximum flexibility in addressing security and related concerns globally. Read more…
Politics Responsible For Jamaica’s Diseased Health Sector – Dawes
Blaming politics for the reason Jamaica's health sector is in its diseased state, Dr Alfred Dawes, immediate past president of the Jamaica Medical Doctors Association (JMDA), has sounded a defiant call to action for Jamaicans to unite to rescue the "soul of the country". "The recently released controversial audit report of the regional health authorities only provided a glimpse into how bad the state of affairs was in the public health sector. However, the audit revealed no surprises for those who either use the public-health facilities or work in them," Dawes told a gathering yesterday at the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica's (PSOJ) President's Forum at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston. Read more…
INTERNATIONAL
Russia says it is deploying anti-aircraft missiles to Syria
Tensions in the Middle East ratcheted up dangerously Wednesday, a day after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane, with the Turkish President accusing Russia of deceit and Russia announcing it would deploy anti-aircraft missiles to Syria. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu said, according to the ministry's Twitter feed, that the country would deploy S-400 defense missile systems to its Hmeymim airbase near Latakia, Syria, on the Mediterranean coast. The missiles have a range of 250 kilometers, according to the missilethreat.com website, or 155 miles. The Turkish border, at its closest, is less than 30 miles away. Read more…
Migrant crisis: 'EU cannot take any more refugees'
European countries cannot accept any more refugees, the French prime minister has been quoted as saying. Manuel Valls said stricter control of the EU's external borders would determine the bloc's fate, in comments published by the Sueddeutsche Zeitung. Europe's border controls have come under renewed scrutiny since the attacks in Paris on 13 November. European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker has said that the Schengen agreement is "partly comatose". Read more…
25th November 2015