Daily Brief - Wednesday 4th January, 2023

NEWS

Covid19 and flu vaxx drive relaunches this Friday

Both covid and flu vaccines will be available at 12 locations in Trinidad on Fridays and Saturdays, between January 6 and February 4, as the Health Ministry relaunches its vaccination drive for the public in 2023. In a release, Health Ministry Terrence Deyalsingh said the relaunch is to ensure the public has access to vaccines to build their defence against covid19 and the Influenza virus. “Protecting the public remains a priority. Further, with the impending Carnival season and the expected influx of visitors, the public is encouraged to get vaccinated. Immunocompromised people and the elderly are also encouraged to get vaccinated and boosted due to pre-existing comorbidities and waning immunity.” Read more here

US reopening visa and consular services at embassy in Cuba

The United States Embassy in Cuba is reopening visa and consular services Wednesday, the first time it has done so since a spate of unexplained health incidents among diplomatic staff in 2017 slashed the American presence in Havana. The Embassy confirmed this week it will begin processing immigrant visas, with a priority placed on permits to reunite Cubans with family in the U.S., and others like the diversity visa lottery. The resumption comes amid the greatest migratory flight from Cuba in decades, which has placed pressure on the Biden administration to open more legal pathways to Cubans and start a dialogue with the Cuban government, despite a historically tense relationship. Read more here

 

POLITICS

THA eyes Bacolet for Scarborough Sec relocation, TTUTA wants action

TT Unified Teacher’s Association (TTUTA) Tobago Officer Bradon Roberts is calling for "concrete data" on relocation plans for the Scarborough Secondary School, even as the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) has reportedly identified a possible site in Bacolet. Roberts spoke to Newsday on Tuesday after a follow-up meeting at the Shaw Park Complex, to further discuss the school’s relocation. “The meeting was more a political one where you would discuss the plans for the school moving forward, without concrete data to work with. To me, a meeting is supposed to have a purpose; the meeting was just to have an image that we’re doing something and the politics of the thing.” Read more here

 

BUSINESS

Real estate sector recovering slowly

With the Government’s property tax collection set to commence this year, the Association of Real Estate Agents (AREA) believes it should never have been suspended until a suitable structure could be established. In an interview, with Express Business last Saturday, AREA’s general manager Peter Corbie, said the state could have benefited from billions of dollars from the collection of taxes under the previous structure since 2009. Read more here

 

REGIONAL

Household incomes will increase consistently

President, Dr Irfaan Ali has said that his government will continue to work towards ensuring that disposable income is improved in all households across Guyana. Dr Ali made this remark during a recent interview with the international news agency, Al Jazeera, during which he gave the reassurance that his administration is ensuring that necessary investments are being made to transform the lives of all Guyanese. He said: “One of the important things that we must do is to improve disposable income in every household, to give people access to basic facilities. We understand what it takes to manage the country without resources. So, we more than understand the responsibility that comes with managing a country with resources, with this opportunity to transform the lives of every single person.” Read more here

 

INTERNATIONAL

Makiivka: Russia blames missile attack on soldiers' mobile phone use

Russia has said a new year missile attack that killed at least 89 Russian soldiers happened because troops were using mobile phones, defying a ban. Turning on the phones and massive use of them allowed the enemy to locate its target, officials said. Ukraine says 400 soldiers were killed - and another 300 wounded - in the attack on a college for conscripts in Makiivka, in the occupied Donetsk area. It is the largest number of deaths Russia has acknowledged in the war. Russia said that at 00:01 Moscow time on New Year's Day, six rockets were fired from a US-made Himars rocket system at a vocational college, two of which were shot down. Moments earlier President Vladimir Putin had given his annual new year address on Russian TV. Read more here

4th January 2023

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