NEWS
Bomb threat leads to evacuation at UWI
The Cyber Crime Unit of the Police Service was called in yesterday to investigate a bomb threat which was phoned in at The University of the West Indies’ St Augustine campus, causing an evacuation and classes to be suspended for a while. According to police sources, shortly before 10 a.m., the university received a threat that there was a bomb at the Faculty of Social Sciences. The faculty was evacuated and officials from the T&T Police Service Bomb Unit, the T&T Fire Service, and the campus’s Occupational Health, Safety and the Environment Unit were on scene completing their investigations. Final checks were completed at 11.20 a.m. and the campus has was given the “all clear” to resume operations. A statement from UWI said people in the buildings adjacent to the faculty were also evacuated. Read more here…
Time for T&T to reap LNG profits
T is time for Trinidad and Tobago to take a closer look at the operations of Atlantic and the marketing of approximately 50 per cent of the country’s natural gas output on global markets. Last week, Government, through Finance Minister Colm Imbert and Rural Development and Local Government Minister Franklin Khan, questioned whether it was in the country’s best interests to sell cargoes of LNG to countries where “below-benchmark prices are realised”.
The Ministry of Energy noted, in response to Parliament’s Joint Select Committee on energy affairs, “…Some companies (shareholders in Atlantic) have opted to manipulate the spirit of the contracts and so the original intents of the contracts are not being honoured.” Just so we understand what’s at stake here, when T&T first ventured into LNG back in 1995, with Train 1 coming on stream in 1999, that facility was given a ten-year tax holiday. Read more here…
POLITICS
Sturge wants PM before Privileges body:He ‘attacked’ independents
The Opposition is seeking to have Prime Minister Keith Rowley referred to parliament’s Privileges Committee over remarks he made about Independent senators at a May 25 media briefing. Opposition Senator Wayne Sturge made the request to the Senate President yesterday following the tea break. Senate President Christine Kangaloo was to rule on it. Sturge based his request on remarks by Rowley at a post-Cabinet media briefing when, in replying to media queries, he spoke about the recent passage of the Strategic Services Agency bill and alluded to Independent senators. Taking issue with the PM’s comments, Sturge said: “The question arises whether the Prime Minister’s reflections in his statements of 25th May amount to a breach of the privilege of freedom of speech and/or are contempts of this Senate. I therefore request that the matter be referred to the Committee of Privileges.” Read more here…
Kamla: Say why you dipped into HS Fund
OPPOSITION Leader and political leader of the United National Congress (UNC) Kamla Persad-Bissessar has accused government of “raiding” the Heritage and Stabilisation Fund (HSF) to bankroll its Local Government election campaign. At a media conference at Piarco International Airport on Sunday, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley confirmed a newspaper report that government had withdrawn $2.5 Billion from the HSF but said there was nothing to worry about as the withdrawal was planned since last year as the nation was earning “far less” revenue due to fluctuating oil prices. Read more here…
Business
Scotia nets $308M in profit
SCOTIABANK Trinidad and Tobago has reported net income of $308 million for the six months ended April 30. This represents an increase of $48 million or 19 percent over the same period in 2015. Announcing the second quarter (Q2) results yesterday, the bank’s managing director, Anya Schnoor, said the “very strong interim results... continues to highlight the strength of the bank, especially given the challenging economic environment in which we all operate.” The “strong” Q2 results include a four percent growth or $917 million in total assets which stood at $22.3 billion as at April 30. Read more here…
Regional
Caribbean integration is possible, St Vincent PM tells ACS summit
HAVANA, Cuba (ACN) -- Dr Ralph Gonsalves, prime minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, reaffirmed on Saturday in Havana that integration in Latin America and the Caribbean is a possible, realistic path and that its consolidation will make it possible for countries in the area to face common challenges. Speaking at the seventh summit of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), Gonsalves urged the region to work together and to use honest dialogue to resolve differences, thus promoting genuine friendship. Read more here…
Shell Commits To Ethane Cracker Plant
Shell Chemical Appa-lachia LLC is building a petrochemical plant in northwestern Pennsylvania that will create up to 6,000 construction jobs and 600 permanent jobs once it begins production early next decade, the company announced Tuesday. Construction will begin in the next 18 months, with the goal of bringing the plant online early in the 2020s, the company said. The company had committed tens of millions of dollars acquiring the site, a former zinc- smelting operation in Potter Township, Beaver County, as well as other related improvements, including helping a nearby water authority retool. Still, the company had not formally committed to the project estimated at US$2 billion to US$6 billion by various elected officials and experts until Tuesday, when Shell officials declined to comment on the overall cost. The decision, coupled with recent decisions to build chemical plants in Louisiana and China "demonstrates the growth of Shell in chemicals and strengthens our competitive advantage," the company said in a statement. Read more here…
INTERNATIONAL
Hillary Clinton celebrates victory, wins California
Hillary Clinton claimed her place in history Tuesday as America's first female presumptive presidential nominee but rival Bernie Sanders is refusing to drop his bid despite overwhelming odds. The former secretary of state immediately pivoted from her victory to a full bore assault on the presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump and made a sweeping effort to reach out to Sanders supporters in an attempt to unify Democrats. Read more here…
What an Obama endorsement will mean for Hillary
Barack Obama is about to tell Bernie Sanders that the revolution stops now. On Tuesday evening Mr Obama called Hillary Clinton to congratulate her on securing enough delegates to "clinch" the Democratic nomination. He also called Bernie Sanders to thank him for his hard-fought campaign. At the Vermont senator's request, the two will have a meeting on Thursday to discuss "how to build on the extraordinary work he has done to engage millions of Democratic voters", in the words of a White House press release. Read more here…
9th June 2016