NEWS
Crash Kills 7
The nation awoke to the news yesterday that seven persons were killed in an accident involving a car and a pick-up van which took place Monday night at the intersection of the Churchill Roosevelt Highway and O’Meara in Arima. While relatives still struggle to come to terms with the death of Travis Teague, Timothy Fraser, Avonelle Thomas, Che Peters, Kareem Romain, Roxanne Johnson and Ramesh Narine, family members and friends of Teague, admitted that the 33-year-old father of one had a habit of driving recklessly and at high speed. Teague’s father Terrence yesterday said that he had frequently warned his son, who was a PH driver about his reckless driving habits. “You could carry the cow to the water, but you cannot make him drink,” said Terrence, a father of six, when asked about his son. “The way young people are driving these days, I do not like to drive with them...that is why I have my own car,” the grieving man said at his Valencia home. Had Teague heeded the warnings of the persons around him, his life, along with six others, may have been spared. Read more here
6.1 quake rocks T&T
A 6.1 magnitude earthquake yesterday rocked T&T, with aftershocks being experienced as far as St Vincent and the Grenadines. The earthquake, which took place at 5.42 pm, was felt by citizens in Arima, Chaguanas, Port-of-Spain, Matelot, Chaguaramas, San Fernando, Penal and even neighbouring Tobago. Although no one was reported injured, nor was there any infrastructural damage, food items on the shelves of several supermarkets across the country, including Xtra Foods and West Bees in Diego Martin, toppled over with the earthquake’s prolonged vibrations. According to a Facebook post on the UWI Seismic Research Centre page, the earthquake’s location was 11.04 north latitude with 60.70 west longitude at a depth of 29 km. Read more here
'Christmas won't be the same'
Five families were in mourning last night as they tried to cope with a two-vehicle highway crash that left six people dead in what and was described by the Police Service as the “deadliest road traffic accident for 2016”. Yesterday, two families from Valencia said they were coming to the reality that their Christmas celebrations this year were not going to be the same. Read more here
POLITICS
Hosein tells new councillors be humble
Rural Development and Local Government Minister Kazim Hosein yesterday advised newly elected councillors of the Port-of-Spain City Corporation to let humility and service to people be the cornerstones during their term in office over the next three years. Speaking at a swearing-in ceremony at the Port-of-Spain City Hall for the 12 new People’s National Movement (PNM) councillors, Hosein said,”I have travelled this road.” Prior to his ministerial appointment on October 31 when Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley reshuffled the Cabinet, Hosein was mayor of San Fernando. Telling the new councillors that he served as an elected councillor for eight years and at several other levels in the San Fernando City Corporation over the last 14 years, Hosein said as a councillor, “the secret in my serving was that I used to visit every household in a district which I represented, Les Efforts East/La Romaine, every three months.” The audience laughed when Hosein told them that he became so well-known in his district that when he visited one day, a child told his parents, “Look the PNM man come back again.” Hosein told the new councillors that while they would like to deliver to their constituents, sometimes they cannot deliver what they would like to deliver. Read more here
Listen more, talk less
Keep close to constituents, don’t get vexed with anybody —and always answer your phone. This was the advice given by Local Government Minister Kazim Hosein to newly-sworn in Port-of-Spain councillors yesterday. “God gives you two ears and one mouth—listen more and talk less and get the job done,” he said. Hosein was speaking briefly at the swearing-in ceremony at the Port-of-Spain City Corporation. Twelve councillors who were elected in the recent local government polls, took the oath of office. Hosein, a former mayor of San Fernando, said he had travelled the road that new councillors are embarking on. “It was a real struggle.” Read more here
BUSINESS
Industrial park approved for Penal Debe
Six years after the Debe Industrial Park was officially commissioned to encourage the development of light manufacturing sector in South Trinidad, Trade and Industry Minister Paula Gopee- Scoon, has revealed that leases for the park would be issued by year’s end. Addressing the Penal/ Debe Chamber annual Christmas dinner at Achievers banquet hall in Duncan village last on Friday, she said government has recently received approved survey plans so that leases can be prepared for tenants of the Debe Industrial Park. “We are conscious of the need for land to facilitate the expansion of your businesses,” she said adding, “the establishment of this Park will facilitate the food processing, furniture manufacturing, auto repairs, printing and packaging and the manufacture of wheelbarrows and roof bolts.” “After being commissioned as far back as 2010, thirty-year (30) leases will be issued by the end of the year,” she said. And in an effort to ensure that local products are able to compete in the regional and international market, she said a National Quality Policy was being developed in collaboration with the Trinidad and Tobago Bureau of Standards while discussions were also taking place on the establishment of a Garment Production Facility, the development of a National Services Policy and the preparation of a National e-Commerce Policy. Read more here
Economists cautious on Dragon deal
Monday brings prospects of a gas supply from Venezuela’s Dragon Field closer to reality, a former energy minister and economists are urging caution on the deal. Economist and head of Bourse Securities Subhas Ramkhelawan said the deal is “a good test case for further agreements between Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela” but economist Indeera Sageewan-Alli expressed concern that the Venzuelan government is unstable with a reputation for “changing its mind and decisions at the drop of a coin.” Sageewan-Alli added Venezuela is currently going through “a difficult economic situation and is grabbing at straws, but if something happens to change their fortunes then they will not give Trinidad and Tobago the time of day.” She said: “We’re being hopeful it will pan out. It is good to have hope but a country’s future needs to be positioned on a very solid footing. I do not feel at this point in time we can celebrate or bring out the champagne. Read more here
Union issues warning as media workers get the axe
The Banking Industrial and General Workers Union (BIGWU) Tuesday threatened to go to the Industrial Court after the Guardian Media Limited (GML) announced plans to lay off at least 16 workers. “We intend to pursue this matter at the Industrial Court as a wrongful dis missal under the Retrenchment and Severance Benefits Act because we have seen several mis-steps on the part of the company. I can’t tell you what those mis-steps are because I don’t want to sell ourselves out,” said BIQWU Labour Relations Officer, Wesley Francis, He said the retrenchment came as a surprise questioning whether the company “has engaged in any discussions with the workers with regards to the proposed retrenchment. “What I know for a fact is that when the company invited discussions there was an indication that they had already made up their minds with regards to surplus labour,” he said. Last month, the union also threatened to take the One Caribbean Media (OCM) group to the industrial court after it too announced layoffs. Read more here
REGIONAL
Bahamas minister backtracks on $2 billion Chinese project
Bahamas minister of agriculture and marine resources, Alfred Gray, said on Monday that his October letter to Bahamas ambassador to China, Paul Andy Gomez, giving him the green light to further pursue a $2.1 billion China-Bahamas agri-fisheries project in Andros has been rescinded. While a guest on local radio, Gray was asked whether he has rescinded the letter. He responded, “Yes, through the foreign ministry, the letter was rescinded and he was advised not to go forward with any proposition or discussions as it relates to the letter.” The action came amid great public uproar over the matter, which was revealed in a Nassau Guardian article on November 1. Gray said the letter was rescinded on the advice of the Cabinet. While on the show, the minister repeatedly accused The Nassau Guardian of having a political agenda, insisting this newspaper was targeting him to advance an agenda. He suggested that is why the story on the proposal was written in the first place. Read more here
Cops Apologise - JCF Expresses Regret To Family For Confusion Over Which Division Should Investigate Teen's Death
A senior member of the police force has apologised on behalf of his colleagues to the Clarendon family that was thrown into grief on Sunday night after waiting more than eight hours for the police from two different stations to decide on which division should investigate the death of their loved one and remove the body from the scene at the border of two parishes. The body of 16-year-old Camaley Moxam was found at a quarry on lands that line the two central parishes of Clarendon and St Catherine. After the cops from both parishes were alerted around 3 o'clock on Sunday afternoon, it took them more than eight hours to determine which division should process the scene, remove the body, and further investigate the teen's death. Head of the Area Three police, which comprises Clarendon, Manchester, and St Elizabeth, Assistant Commissioner Donovan Graham, admitted to The Gleaner that the police took a long time to determine who should investigate the teen's death. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Aleppo battle: Syria rebels 'withdraw from old city'
Trump takes flak for picking Flynn as national security adviser
Donald Trump has pointed to his hiring chops as a key asset, but he is already facing calls to rescind a job offer to one of his top national security picks. Ret. Gen. Michael Flynn, the 57-year-old former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, has been selected as the next US national security adviser. He has also spread false stories and re-tweeted anti-Semitic threats. He's been criticized for dabbling in conspiracy theories and Islamophobia, for his questionable ties to foreign governments and for mishandling classified information while at the DIA, a post he was pushed out of. On Monday, 53 non-profit groups appealed to Trump to reconsider the appointment, as lawmakers publicly questioned Flynn's judgment and demanded that he disavow fabricated conspiracy theories such as the "Pizzagate" story -- which his son Michael Flynn Jr. promoted -- alleging that Democrats ran a child sex ring out of a Washington pizza restaurant. Read more here
7th December 2016