NEWS
Tobago mom dies after C-Section delivery
Rose Gordon, 35, delivered her baby girl at the Scarborough General Hospital, in Tobago, on Old Year’s Day. A mother of a teenage girl, Gordon was hoping to welcome her new daughter home for the new year. But, described as a “high risk” patient, the principal of a Charlotteville Early Childhood Care Centre, who had undergone a Caesarian section, began to haemorrhage. She died on Friday (New Year’s Day). After her delivery the mother was rushed to have an emergency hysterectomy done, but she never recovered. Gordon was 35 weeks and five days into her pregnancy. Read more…
Week after saving mom from cutlass attacker: Teen Hero Dies
Nathan Barcoo-Campo, 13, who was severely chopped by a cutlass-wielding bandit at his Las Lomas No.3 home on December 27, yesterday succumbed to his injuries. Barcoo-Campo was attacked by the bandit as he heroically attempted to protect his three-year-old sister, Rebecca, from the intruder, who had viciously attacked his mother Claudia, 41, moments before, and was severely chopped on the head and body during the ordeal. Read more…
We were supposed to get married
Abigail Sanderson, 18, was supposed to get married to her fiancé Nathanael Kent this month. She left her family’s home in Grenada, resigned from her job, sold most of her possessions and migrated to Trinidad to start her life here with her future husband. Kent, 18, died at the Port of Spain General Hospital on Friday night. And so did Sanderson’s dream of happiness here. Read more…
POLITICS
PNM looks at one-man, one-vote for Tobago leader
People’s National Movement (PNM’s) Lady Vice-Chairman Camille Robinson-Regis yesterday said discussions have begun within the party with respect to calls to implement the one-man, one-vote system in the election of a new political leader of the Tobago Council. However, Robinson-Regis told Sunday Newsday in a brief interview that she did not want “to make too much of the issue,” at this time. She said the matter must be raised during a special convention of the party, the date of which is yet to be set. “There is a process in the party, which may involve making changes to the PNM’s constitution,” she said Robinson-Regis, who is also the Planning and Sustainable Development Minister and Arouca/Maloney MP, said resolutions would also have to be passed before the issue could be put before the Special Convention of Delegates. “Only then will a decision be taken,” she said. Read more…
PP must take some blame for recession
While Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar has blamed the Government for T&T’s economic crisis, the Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) says the People Partnership must take responsibility for the mismanagement of public funds and its failure to minimise the effects of falling oil and gas prices. In their first media conference for 2016, MSJ leader David Abdulah yesterday focused on the rebuilding of the economy, saying that increased hydrocarbon production and diversification was needed if the country is to climb out of the recession. Read more…
Big problem for Khan, Deyalsingh
Maternal deaths proved to be a major issue for both former health minister Dr Fuad Khan and his successor/St Joseph MP Terrence Deyalsingh. The population continued to recoil in shock and horror and empathise as mothers and babies died at Trinidad and Tobago’s hospitals. Read more…
BUSINESS
New VAT regime now Feb 1
The Government has targetted February 1 as the new implementation date for the revised Value-Added Tax (VAT) regime, which involves the reduction in VAT from 15 to 12.5 per cent, and the broadening of the range of items that are subject to VAT, according to a statement on the Web site of the Ministry of Finance, which was released at the end of last year. The Minister of Finance advised that the changes to the VAT regime, as well as the increase in the Personal Allowance for individual taxpayers, the increase in the Green Fund Levy and the Business Levy, and the implementation of the Property Tax, all require legislative amendments. Read more…
Equities in 2016: uncertainty or opportunity?
This week, we at Bourse consider the global equity market outlook for the upcoming year, amidst an array of factors which could influence in either direction. With the US Federal Reserve initiating its interest rate hike cycle (increasing its benchmark rate by 25 basis points for the first time in nine years), depressed commodity prices and mixed global growth, the year 2016 will undoubtedly offer opportunities and present some uncertainty to equity investors. Read more…
REGIONAL
Puerto Rico reports first case of zika virus
Puerto Rico has reported its first case of zika, a mosquito-borne virus that has been spreading across South America and the Caribbean and has been linked by Brazilian authorities to a serious birth defect, a US congressman said Thursday. Pedro Pierluisi, Puerto Rico's representative in Congress, said in a statement his office had been in touch with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which had confirmed the single case of zika on the island, Reuters reported. Read more…
Public-Sector Workers To Start Contributing To Pension In April, JTA President Brands The Move As Dangerous
With the Government pushing to institute legislation for the new public-sector pension system by April, the Jamaica Civil Service Association (JCSA), the union which represents some public-sector workers, says it is uncomfortable with the unwillingness of the State to match the five per cent pension payment to be made by workers. At the same time, the proposal for public-sector workers to contribute five per cent of their gross salary towards their pension has been branded as "dangerous" and "unbearable" by Norman Allen, president of the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA). Read more…
INTERNATIONAL
Saudi Arabia-Iran row: Bahrain cuts diplomatic ties with Tehran
Oregon occupation? Call it a 'Y'all Qaeda' attack, say Internet users
Dozens of heavily armed white people have taken over a federal government building in Oregon, so why aren't they being called — you know, terrorists? That's the question Internet users are asking after anti-government protesters, some armed with semi-automatic weapons, seized control over a wildlife refuge center near Burns, Oregon amid a land dispute. Read more…
4th January 2016