NEWS

South African captain rescued at sea

A South African captain who was rescued at sea on Saturday is expected to arrive in Trinidad on Friday. Members of the shipping company, Intermarine, were near the coast of the Dominican Republic on Saturday when the captain received a distress call. Line manager for TT Andrea Inniss said Intermarine’s captain and the crew received the emergency call from the stranded captain of a yacht named Ayisha. Read more here

3 moms get New Year's Day joy

Eleven years ago when she gave birth to her sec­ond child, Ca­paro moth­er Rox­anne Ri­ley-Web­ster thought that her fam­i­ly was com­plet­ed. Ri­ley-Web­ster was gift­ed with the first ba­by to be born at the San Fer­nan­do Gen­er­al Hos­pi­tal on New Year's Day. At 8 lbs 2 ounces, Re­bec­ca Web­ster's cry at 12.09 am was her first song to the world, kick­ing off four births at hos­pi­tal by noon. De­spite her ex­pe­ri­ence in child­birth, Ri­ley-Web­ster said labour was still hard and she was just hap­py that it was over and her daugh­ter safe. She said it was an ex­cit­ing time for her fam­i­ly. Read more here

POLITICS

Blood on demand, this year

Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh has outlined four ambitious policy interventions for the country over the next two years including the “decentralisation” of mental health and the attainment of a UN AIDS goal to help end the AIDS epidemic. Speaking to reporters following a visit to the San Fernando General Hospital’s maternity ward yesterday, Deyalsingh said the initiatives would also focus on eliminating the “chit system” of blood donations to a “100 per cent voluntary altruistic non remunerable blood donation system.” Read more here

McLeod: Unions in T&T too political

For­mer trade union leader and min­is­ter of labour Er­rol McLeod is now blast­ing the trade union move­ment for be­ing too in­volved in pol­i­tics. In a brief in­ter­view yes­ter­day, McLeod said the sur­vival of the trade union move­ment was now de­pen­dent on a co­he­sive but po­lit­i­cal­ly neu­tral stance. "Many of them in the lead­er­ship of trade unions to­day, have to deal with the per­cep­tion that they are in the pock­ets of par­tic­u­lar politic el­e­ments," McLeod said. He did not want to ex­pand or name names. "Let's just say that the protests have not been gen­uine protests. I don't know if I want to put it any clear­er than that," he said. Read more here

BUSINESS

Challenges continue

Business groups, owners and economists all agree: 2018 was indeed a tough year. And they expect that 2019 will present its owns challenges. Last week, they shared with Express Business their goals, hopes and expectations for the year ahead. Read more here

REGIONAL

'Too Short Notice' - Phillips Says Meeting PM On SOE's Today Not Possible, Proposes Next Week For Discussions

The Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) has expressed surprise and scepticism that Opposition Leader Dr Peter Phillips won't be able to meet with Prime Minister Andrew Holness any earlier than January 7 to discuss issues surrounding the extension of the states of public emergency (SOEs) in sections of the island. Prime Minister Andrew Holness on Monday issued a formal invitation for a meeting to be held with Phillips and his team today, but in a statement yesterday afternoon, Phillips contended that "given the short notice", a meeting today would not be possible. Phillips further suggested that a preparatory group headed by his party's general secretary, Julian Robinson, meet immediately to settle arrangements for the meeting, to include the date, time, list of invitees, agenda for discussion, and other relevant matters. Read more here

INTERNATIONAL

Mitt Romney: Trump has caused worldwide dismay

The former Republican US presidential candidate and incoming senator for Utah Mitt Romney has launched a scathing attack on Donald Trump, saying he has caused dismay around the world. Writing in the Washington Post, he said Mr Trump had not "risen to the mantle" of the presidency. Mr Romney has been fiercely critical of Mr Trump before but won his backing for his run in Utah. There has been no response yet from the US president. Read more here

Xi warns Taiwan independence is 'a dead end'

Xi Jinping called on Taiwan to reject independence and embrace "peaceful reunification" with China, in a conciliatory speech that nevertheless took a hard line on the self-governing island's political sovereignty and freedoms. The Chinese President's Wednesday address was a far cry from one he gave in March last year, in which he said "not a single inch of our land" could be ceded from China, adding the country was prepared to "fight the bloody battle against our enemies." Read more here

2nd January 2019

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