NEWS
Wanted fugitive deported to TT
A 43-year-old man on 23 fraud charges including money laundering, who fled to the US in May 2013, was deported to this country on Monday along with 13 other Trinidadians. US authorities charted a special aircraft which dropped off the 14 deportees at Piarco International Airport shortly after 6 pm. The fugitive was arrested by Sgt Smith and taken to the Fraud Squad office in Port-of-Spain where he was interviewed by a team of officers led by Senior Supt Totaram Dookhie and others. On May 20, 2013, the fugitive, who had secured bail on the fraud charges but had fled to the United Kingdom, was returned to this country by UK police. Read more here
Man sacrifices self to save family
Despite knowing that he could be shot dead, Krishna Maharaj sacrificed his life for his family when he coaxed a gunman into leaving their home together so his wife could have a chance to escape. There was no happy ending to Maharaj’s heroics as he was shot in the head and later died on the surgeon’s table at the San Fernando General Hospital. According to reports, Maharaj, 37, a Cepep contractor, his wife Sabrina Khan, 28, and their nine-year-old son were at their Reform Village home around 8.30 pm Monday, when two men, one armed with a gun, stormed into the family’s home. The family’s workman, Allescott Gaskill, who was in the apartment watching television with Maharaj and Khan, told the Guardian yesterday that the men immediately began shouting, “Where the money is? Where the gold is?” Read more here
This man can solve the kidnapping case
Police are asking for help in putting a name to this face. It is the face of a man they believe can solve the abduction of hairdresser Ria Sookdeo. The sketch has been shown to Sookdeo’s family members, and has been shared among police officers searching for evidence that can lead to Sookdeo’s recovery. The sketch was developed by a police artist based on a description by witnesses. The search also continues for the black Nissan X-Trail SUV police said was used to abduct Sookdeo from near the Picton Presbyterian Primary School last week Thursday. Police have also retrieved closed-circuit camera (CCTV) footage from businesses near the school. And officers are now trying to track the path of the heavily tinted black SUV. Read more here
POLITICS
Kamla threatens protest if children’s hospital not opened
If Government does not commit to opening the Couva Children’s Hospital in the Budget 2016/2017 announcement on Friday, the UNC will stage a massive protest, threatened Kamla Persad-Bissessar. She made her statements during the UNC Monday Night Forum in Tableland High School. “Budget 2016/2017 is on Friday, we await to hear about the Couva Children’s hospital and if we do not hear about the opening of that hospital, I ask you to join me! We will walk, we will march, we will protest for the opening of the Couva Children’s Hospital.” Persad-Bissessar decried the Minister of Health, Terrence Deyalsingh, for “refusing” to open the Couva Children’s Hospital despite being given a $6.09 billion allocation in last year’s budget. Read more here
Kamla: Don’t be distracted by FATCA, Carmona issues
Opposition leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar has urged supporters not to get distracted by controversies surrounding Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) or President Anthony Carmona as their main concern should be Friday’s budget presentation by Finance Minister Colm Imbert. “The budget statement by the Minister of Finance, that is what we have to be afraid off,” the former prime minister told supporters at the party’s Monday Night Forum at Tableland Secondary School. Persad-Bissessar said since the Rowley-led PNM assumed office food prices and crime increased, thousands of jobs have been lost and the Government has not made a single achievement. Read more here
Rowley’s response unbecoming, says Tewarie
It was unbecoming of Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley to use executive power to launch an assault on the Opposition over the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), says Opposition MP Dr Bhoendradatt Tewarie. “It was intemperate of the Prime Minister to use the office of the Prime Minister and the executive authority of the Prime Minister to speak on matters pertaining to a bill which is still for debate in the Parliament,” said Tewarie in a telephone interview with the Express yesterday. “All of these things are pure conjecture on the part of the Prime Minister and I feel that it was unbecoming of prime ministerial intervention,” he added. Read more here
BUSINESS
Call to grow medium-sized businesses
Trade and Industry Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon has underscored the need to grow medium-sized businesses in TT. She made the point following a meeting with members of the TT Chamber of Industry and Commerce last Friday. In a statement, Gopee- Scoon emphasised the need for local financial institutions to be more supportive of local entrepreneurs. She affirmed the ministry’s support through relevant platforms and programmes facilitated by ExporTT given that agency’s mandate to build the export capacity and competitiveness of domestic companies. Incoming Chamber CEO Gabriel Faria said the Chamber intended to utilise the skills bank of its membership to mentor smaller companies and confirmed its willingness to partner with the Government through various initiatives to ensure the growth of local businesses. Read more here
Minister wants faster response to oil spills
Energy Minister Nicole Olivierre said yesterday that she is concerned about the state of T&T’s oil infrastructure in T&T and has mandated state-owned Petrotrin to improve its pipeline inspection regime so oil spills can be more quickly detected. The minister was commenting on the latest deep sea oil leak to be reported in just the past two days. It sprung up in the Soldado Fields on Monday, about four miles from shore. The six inch line near Platform 1 and 3 was isolated and clamped but it is not yet known how much oil had spilled into the sea. The minister, who spoke with reporters following the opening of the refurbished La Brea Museum yesterday, said money will be allocated in the next fiscal year to assist in refurbishing aged energy infrastructure. Read more here
Consider a reward fund to fight crime
Chaguanas Chamber president Richie Sookhai has called on the Government to consider creating a reward fund to be administered by CrimeStoppers to pay people who provide information that could lead to the arrest and conviction of State employees involved in criminal activities. Sookhai said the employees should include the judiciary, police, army and civil service. He said reporting of crime should be made more lucrative than committing crime. Read more here
REGIONAL
Stress On Cops - MoBay Violence A Strain On Lawmen's Families
They are coming under increased pressure to put a lid on crime in Montego Bay, St James, but the men and women on the front line are facing their own battles, which are often ignored by the public. With 21 active gangs in St James and 17 involved in the latest flare-up in violence, members of the police force are fighting to protect lives daily while putting their own lives at risk and placing their family members under daily stress. "It is devastating on the family, especially the wife," said Detective Sergeant Michael 'Bulli' Chisholm, as he spoke with a Gleaner special investigative team in Montego Bay yesterday. "The family members are worried. They are terrified. They are afraid that Daddy might not come home. My little boy, who is age seven, recently said, 'Daddy, I don't want them to kill you,' and I just said, 'Son, me used to it, a long time me a fight it but just pray for me,'" added Chisholm. Read more here
St Lucia PM threatens local journalist with defamation lawsuit
Seemingly determined to prove the accuracy of the well known saying, “Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose” [The more things change, the more they stay the same], lawyers acting for Saint Lucia Prime Minister Allen Chastanet last week embarked on the well trodden path of threatening to sue local media for alleged defamation on grounds that are at best tenuous. The latest blatant abuse of political and economic power in this regard stems from a report by Rehani Isidore, a journalist with HTS Television in Saint Lucia, that Britain’s Prince Harry would be staying at the island’s Coco Palm Resort, which is owned by the Chastanet family and run by the recently elected prime minister’s sister, during a forthcoming Royal tour of the Caribbean. The report in question was based on a press release to that effect issued by the hotel and entitled “Coco Palm rolls out the red carpet for Prince Harry’s visit”, which was featured on the hotel’s website, the Saint Lucia Hotel and Tourism Association (SLHTA) website and reported in local online media. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
MH17 missile 'came from Russia', Dutch-led investigators say
Miss Universe strikes back
Former "Miss Universe" Alicia Machado struck back Tuesday against insults hurled at her by Donald Trump, saying that he was "aggressive" and "really rude." Machado, who represented Venezuela in Trump's 1996 "Miss Universe" competition said that Trump called her "Miss Housekeeping" and "Miss Piggy" when she gained weight after winning the beauty pageant. "I know what I left with him and he knows, too. And he was really aggressive. He was really rude. He was a bad person with me," she told CNN's Anderson Cooper on "AC360." "That is the story that I need to share with my community. We cannot accept no more insults for my Latin community. No more insults for the women. I know very well Mr. Trump and I can see the same person that I met 20 years ago." Read more here
28th September 2016