Daily Brief - Monday 6th November, 2017

NEWS

Faris: Canada sad over stalling of jail upgrade

Two top Canadian diplomats expressed shock at the former People’s Partnership (PP) Government’s failure to take steps to upgrade the operations of local prisons as agreed in an MOU between TT and Canada, said Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi yesterday. He was at the time addressing the Diego Martin West People’s National Movement (PNM) Constituency annual general meeting at the Point Cumana Community Centre in Carenage. Read more here

Anger over baby’s death

Angry over the death of a newborn baby at the San Fernando General hospital last Wednesday, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh has vowed take action against hospital staff if they are found to be negligent. His warning came as the infant’s distraught parents, Wendell Weekes and Chez Gomez, prepare to sue the Ministry of Health and the South West Regional Health Authority (SWRHA) following the death of baby Jeremiah three days after his birth. An autopsy on Friday determined that the infant died after ingesting meconium (stool). Read more here

First private/public HDC project in trouble 

The Government's first public/private partnership (PPP) venture between the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) and NH International (Caribbean) Ltd is in trouble. NH's executive chairman Emile Elias wants what amounts to a Government guarantee for the project while the HDC is threatening to revoke the contract. Read more here

 

POLITICS

PM dismisses UNC’s ‘PNM corruption’ claims

Whoever holds office, Trinidad and Tobago has no easy road ahead at this time, said Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley as he also dismissed the United National Congress’ ‘PNM corruption’ claims. The prime minister was at the time addressing his Diego Martin West People’s National Movement constituency annual general meeting at the Point Cumana Community Centre in Carenage. Read more here

Cabinet approves $.25m grant for investors

Cabinet has approved a grant funding facility to boost productivity in the manufacturing and agro-processing sectors. Speaking at the presentation of the master plan for a light agro and industrial park at the St Mary’s Government Primary School, on Saturday, Trade Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon said the facility offers up to $250,000 to firms not less than two years old earning 50 per cent of their revenue from export sales. The minister urged investors and entrepreneurs to seize opportunities ahead and said the $69.3 million industrial park, which will be completed before January 2019, will be sub-divided into 18 plots of varying sizes to accommodate businesses at all stages of growth. It will also provide commercial space for food and fish processing, she added. Read more here

Rowley: Govt gets back land

The Government has recovered 50 acres of Chaguaramas land that was awarded to a United National Congress (UNC) activist and will now be distributed to farmers on the peninsula, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said yesterday. Read more here

 

BUSINESS

ICATT conference looks beyond oil and gas

Thr role of entrepreneurs in the non-oil and creative sectors of the ecomony will be in the spotlight at the two-day Annual Finance and Accounting Conference to be hosted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Trinidad and Tobago (ICATT) at the Hyatt Regency on November 9 & 10. According to a release, day one of the conference will feature former Miss Universe Wendy Fitzwilliam, an attorney-at-law and Co-Executive Producer, Caribbean Next Top Model, as the moderator of a panel discussion on the topic Beyond Survival. Read more here

PPGPL drives TTNGL, WCO struggles

This week, we at Bourse take a closer look at the performances of Trinidad and Tobago NGL Limited (NGL) and The West Indian Tobacco Company Limited (WCO) for the third quarter ended September 30. Energy commodity prices have steadily improved throughout the year, resulting in an improvement of TTNGL’s share of profit from Phoenix Park Gas Processors Limited (PPGPL). Read more here

 

REGIONAL

Editors' Forum | Voiceless Victims - Perverts Escaping Punishment As Abused Kids Refuse To Talk

Several persons involved in the sexual abuse of Jamaica's children are getting off scot-free as detectives from the Centre for the Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse (CISOCA) struggle to get enough ammunition to put them away. Many times it is the victims themselves who fail to cooperate. "Victims will come and they will sit for hours and they will give very lovely statements. When it comes to a description, they tell us where and describe the house, but when our investigating officer visits the scene, there is no such house," Detective Inspector Pauline Pink told a Gleaner Editors' Forum last week. Read more here

 

INTERNATIONAL

Texas church shooting leaves 26 dead, including 8 members of one family

At least eight members of the same family were among the 26 people killed Sunday when a man armed with a rifle burst into the sanctuary of a church in Texas and began firing. The massacre left about 20 others wounded in the small town of Sutherland Springs, located about 30 miles east of San Antonio. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called the slaughter "the largest mass shooting" in the state's history and ordered flags across the state to fly at half-staff Monday. Read more here

Paradise Papers: Wilbur Ross under pressure over Russia links

Donald Trump's commerce secretary has been accused of misleading senators after leaked documents revealed his business links to Russian figures who are currently under US sanctions. Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal said Wilbur Ross's failure to disclose this information was "inexcusable". The Paradise Papers show he retained an interest in a company shipping oil and gas for a Russian energy firm, Sibur. Two of Sibur's owners are subject to some form of US sanctions. Read more here

6th November 2017

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