NEWS
Recession Coach
Even local football is feeling the pinch of the recession. This as the TT Football Association (TTFA) head yesterday revealed it could not acquire the services of its first choice coach to replace Stephen Hart and instead had to settle for the cheaper choice of Tom Saintfeit as head coach for the TT men’s national football team. Belgian Saintfeit’s last coaching assignment was with the Bangladesh national team which is ranked 183rd out of 200 footballing nations, by world football governing body FIFA. Saintfeit was officially unveiled as new head coach during a press conference at the Marriott Hotel in Port-of-Spain to replace Hart who was fired on November 24, after almost three and a half years on the job due to a string of disappointing results. The TTFA received applications from around the world but narrowed the list down to four before Saintfeit was chosen. TTFA first choice, Frenchman Philippe Troussier demanded too much money. Read more here
Cops want back seatbelt law too
Trying to find who was at fault in Monday night’s accident that left six people dead is not of great concern to the police service, since both drivers died and no one can be prosecuted. What the lawmen hope to achieve is getting drivers to be more cautious and courteous on the road. Speaking at the weekly police press briefing yesterday, Road Safety Coordinator, Constable Brent Batson, reminded drivers that after you have received the green light you should still wait three to four seconds before proceeding through an intersection. He said a colleague who arrived at the scene and saw “flesh and steel intertwined” was so traumatised he had to leave. Batson said there are now plans to roll out seven traffic light cameras that capture wayward drivers who zoom through stop lights, adding that the necessary legislative backing is expected to be taken to Parliament soon. According to police reports, the Romain brothers, Kwme and Kareem, along with Kareem’s best friend Che Peters and Travis Teague’ were heading east along the Churchill Roosevelt Highway, when on reaching the O’Meara intersection Teague’s Mitsubishi CK Lancer collided with an Isuzu pick-up heading south along O’Meara Road driven by Ramish Narine. Read more here
Wave of fear over fake tsunami warning
A wave of fear swept across Trinidad's east coast on Tuesday evening after social media began sharing a tsunami warning, triggered by the 6.1-magnitude earthquake that shook the island less than an hour before. It turned out the warning was bogus, written and posted by an unknown person then shared by thousands of people terrified by the quake, and what it could mean if monster waves came ashore along the coastline where thousands live. Some residents who panicked over the false alarm spread on social media criticised the authorities for not making the public aware of the situation sooner. A similar concern happened along Trinidad's east coast in 2004 as a result of the Indian Ocean 9.1-magnitude earthquake that set off a tsunami which killed an estimated 280,000 in 14 countries. President of the Guayaguayare/Ortoire/Mayaro Fishing Association Francis Arjoon said on Wednesday afternoon he was yet to hear from the Office of Disaster Preparedness Management (ODPM). Read more here
POLITICS
Rowley: TT getting earthquake ready
In the wake of yesterday’s 6.2 earthquake, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley is assuring that Government is working to ensure that the country is “in a better position to respond to earthquakes.” Responding to a question from new Opposition Chief Whip David Lee, Rowley said, “We have completed work on the Port-of-Spain microzonation.” Rowley added that microzonation works are also scheduled for San Fernando and Scarborough. Seismic microzonation is defined as the process of subdividing a potential seismic or earthquake prone area into zones with respect to some geological and geophysical characteristics of the sites such as ground shaking, liquefaction susceptibility, landslide and rock fall hazard and earthquake-related flooding, so that seismic hazards at different locations within the area can correctly be identified. Microzonation provides the basis for site-specific risk analysis, which can assist in the mitigation of earthquake damage. Read more here
More security for malls, shopping areas
More police security would be visible in business sectors — especially shopping malls—for Christmas. National Security Minister Edmund Dillon confirmed this yesterday in Parliament, replying to Opposition questions. Dillon said there has been an increase in police presence and joint army-police presence throughout T&T, and business sectors including shopping malls. He said the acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams recently held talks with some business owners and there was security visibility and deterrents in such centres to “give them a sense of comfort.” He said priority for any areas would depend on information and intelligence gathering by the CoP who would determine where and when troops would be concentrated. “But the presence will be throughout business sectors especially shopping malls,” he said. Read more here
Colm Swamped
Finance Minister Colm Imbert was relieved of the chairmanship of the critical Cabinet subcommittee—the Finance and General Purposes Committee (F&GP)—two weeks ago. Imbert was replaced by Stuart Young, Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister and Minister in the Office of the Attorney General. Read more here
BUSINESS
ExporTT to Help Local Manufacturers
ExporTT is developing a new strategic plan aimed at helping local manufacturers double their non-energy exports over the next four years. Addressing a forum, “Doing Business in Latin America” at the Hyatt Regency, Wrightson Road, Port of Spain, organised by the American Chamber of Commerce of Trinidad and Tobago (AMCHAM), Acting Chief Executive Officer of ExporTT, Dwight Brown, said 90 percent of this country’s non-energy exports are to Caricom countries and other regional markets. The forum was held on Tuesday. He added that in August this year the ExporTT did a Market Interest Survey of 145 local manufacturers and found that 61 percent of them were selling their products to Caricom markets and another 12 percent to other islands in the Caribbean, meaning that 73 percent of this country’s manufacturers are focussed on Caricom and the Caribbean markets. He said the country has to develop strategies to push manufacturers beyond the Caricom/ Caribbean market. He said that at Government and ministerial level there is significant interest in negotiating trade agreements but wondered what was the point of trade agreements if they were not being used by the local manufacturers. Read more here
Port-of-Spain to get $30m car park
The new $30 million multi-storey car park to be built on Chacon Street, Port-of-Spain by the Nicholas Group comes at an important time, Planning Minister Camille Robinson-Regis said yesterday. “We are heartened by the fact that you are investing $30 million in this and what you have deemed a land mark for Port-of-Spain. We know that parking is an issue for this city and we are happy that you are making this timely investment and we look forward to the day when the car park is completed,” she said yesterday at the launch of the project. The car park is due to be completed in July 2017 and will accommodate 200 vehicles. Robinson-Regis said Port-of-Spain needs to be revitalised and the Nicholas Group has made its contribution in changing the city’s landscape for the better. Read more here
Scotia after-tax profit moves up to $625m
Scotiabank Trinidad and Tobago Ltd has posted income after taxes of $625 million for its year ended October 31, 2016. This is an increase of $59 million or ten per cent over the prior year for the Scotiabank which is part of the similarly-named Canadian multinational bank. Read more here
REGIONAL
Panama Papers leak has 'enormous' financial impact
Over the past eight months, governments have reported using the leaked Panama Papers files to help recoup or seize tens of millions of dollars in unpaid taxes or other assets, including more than $80 million in Colombia, $1 million in Slovenia and 375 pounds of silver bullion in Australia. Billions more are being traced for potential tax evasion. Household-name corporations also have suffered due to the fallout from the media partnership’s reporting. The Panama Papers wiped out $135 billion of the value of nearly 400 publicly traded companies with direct exposure to the Panama Papers, academics found. “The impact is enormous,” said Hannes Wagner, associate professor of finance at Milan’s Bocconi University and one of the study’s authors. According to Wagner, the financial hits to the companies in the wake of Panama Papers represent the largest loss in history following big data leaks or corporate scandals, greater than the combined market cap losses produced by the scandals that hit Enron and Volkswagen. Read more here
Seized! Court Places Clamp On $400m In Property Traced To J'can Couple Jailed In The US
The Supreme Court has placed a freeze on four high-end properties, valued at nearly $400 million, that were traced by local investigators to a Jamaican couple that has pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and money laundering charges in the United States. The multimillion-dollar real estate, according to the Financial Investigations Division (FID), is in the names of Damian Edwards, his wife, Hopie Dawn Edwards, and a company they established as a "front" to hold the properties. Among the properties the FID said were traced to the couple is a 16-unit apartment complex, valued at $180 million, that occupies approximately 20,000 square foot of land in Montego Bay, St James. "This was built with cash ... United States dollars," a law-enforcement source revealed. The other properties traced to the couple by local investigators are a 10-unit apartment complex, valued at US$800,000, or approximately J$103 million; another apartment complex, valued at US$500,000, or approximately J$65 million, both in St James; and a parcel of land being developed in Trelawny. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Trump picks climate sceptic Pruitt for environment chief
Vladimir Putin, and Muscovites, hope Donald Trump will be a friend to Russia
Nine days before the US presidential election, Russian TV anchor Dmitry Kiselev ranted about America's "democracy:" Millions of "dead souls" voting! Voters bused around a city, casting ballots eight to ten times! Biggest scandal in history! This week, Kiselev barely mentioned the US, although he did take a few digs at the "West" for its "boorishness" and "arrogance." Donald Trump's victory stunned Russia's state-controlled media. They had overwhelmingly supported Trump but, for months, insisted the American system was so "fixed," so corrupt, that an outsider simply had no chance of being elected. Read more here
8th December 2016