News
Airport inquiry to start over 15 years later
The protracted “Piarco Two” preliminary inquiry into fraud charges arising out of the construction of the $1.6 billion Piarco International Airport has to be restarted.
The decision to restart the inquiry, which is quite possibly the longest-running and largest fraud case in the country’s history, was based on the retirement of former Senior Magistrate Ejenny Espinet, who left the Judiciary last year with the inquiry at an advanced stage, but still incomplete. Read more here…
Barry the victim of $m robbery in Couva
Member of Parliament for Princes Town Barry Padarath was the victim of an armed robbery in Couva on Thursday night. Padarath, who lives in Couva, stopped at a Chinese restaurant on the Southern Main Road, at around 8.15p.m
He was approached by a man with a gun. The man’s face was covered in a white bandana. Padarath handed over his wallet which contained US $100 and TT$200. He handed over his Samsung cell phone worth $7,000. The criminal left in Padarath’s Toyota Prado SUV valued at $1.1million. Read more here…
Political
Moonilal: UNC had no contact with CA
Calling the Cambridge Analytica scandal a hoax and a set of hogwash, Oropouche MP Dr Roodal Moonilal yesterday denied that the UNC had any contract or contact with the company to spy on citizens.
Speaking at the UNC's cottage meeting at Soledad Road, Claxton Bay on Thursday night, Moonilal said Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and Minister of National Security Stuart Young were trying to create mass hysteria by making unfounded allegations. Read more here…
Now AG loses Ayers-Caesar appeal
THE Privy Council has dismissed the Attorney General's appeal against the refusal of the Court of Appeal to remove former president Anthony Carmona from former chief magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar’s lawsuit. Read more here…
UNC slams Government on Yara closure
Naparima of Parliament Rodney Charles, is calling on PM Rowley to stop "manufacturing distractions" and provide plans to address growing uncertainties in the petrochemical industry in light of Wednesday's announcement by Yara Trinidad Ltd to close one of its ammonia production plants at Point Lisas. Read more here…
Business
Riley: BHP gas find ‘not small’
FORMER bpTT president Robert Riley has said BHP may have challenges with its recent gas find.
He was speaking on Thursday at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of TT's annual international finance and accounting conference at Hyatt Regency, Port of Spain. Read more here…
Khan: Service stations important in rural communities
Energy Minister Franklin Khan says that rural service stations serve an important economic function and they are a necessity.
He said, “If you have a fixed margin business, the only way you can make money is to increase volume and keep your operating cost in check. But if you are running Peake’s Gas Station in the West, you can increase volume because thousands of cars pass every day. But if you are running a gas station in Tabaquite in Toco, there is no potential to increase your volume so some due consideration has to be given to rural service stations because rural people are people too. You cannot keep shutting down gas stations in rural areas and say that it is not economic.” Read more here…
Regional
Bolstering capacity for first oil
PRESIDENT David Granger, who also has oversight of the Department of Energy, on Thursday met with a team from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) at State House, to discuss the strengthening and capacity building of the Department of Energy as the country prepares for first oil. Read more here…
BOJ Can Track US$ Sales To End-Users – Source
The Bank of Jamaica can track greenback sales to ensure obedience of its stipulation that the US$70 million it used to intervene in the foreign exchange market so far this week be transacted with end-users or non-financial commercial entities that are funding obligations for goods and services, The Gleaner understands. Read more here…
International
Democrats hope latest witness will detail Trump's abuse of power
Donald Trump called Marie Yovanovitch "bad news." In a televised impeachment hearing Friday, the US ambassador to Ukraine that the President ousted for apparently thwarting his rogue foreign policy scheme, may prove him right.
Democrats called for the foreign service veteran's testimony to lift the lid on what they say is a black diplomatic operation set up to push Trump's political goals rather than America's interests and to churn up dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden. Read more here…
A rubbish story: China's mega-dump full 25 years ahead of schedule
The Jiangcungou landfill in Shaanxi Province, which is the size of around 100 football fields, was designed to take 2,500 tonnes of rubbish per day.
But instead it received 10,000 tonnes of waste per day - the most of any landfill site in China. China is one of the world's biggest polluters, and has been struggling for years with the rubbish its 1.4 billion citizens generate. Read more here…
15th November 2019