NEWS
Driver: Victim hid in taxi on day before murder
On Wednesday, the day the 24-year-old Ellen Krishana Mohammed was hacked to death at the family’s home in Guayaguayare, an evangelist was waiting for her in San Fernando to give her stationery supplies for her children. Mohammed never showed up, and all calls to her cellphone went unanswered. David Moyne, of the Upper Claxton Bay Pentecostal Church in Pranz Gardens, later learnt of the murder on social media. Mohammed and a male relative, 40, had an argument, and he chopped her several times, almost severing her neck. He surrendered to police. Read more here
Abused women mocked by cops: ‘When it sweet allyuh don’t come here’
After Ellen Mohammed’s murder in Guayaguayare on Wednesday, relatives blamed the police for their lack of response to her reports of abuse. These claims were refuted by the police but two women who made domestic violence reports to the St Joseph and Scarborough Police Stations said yesterday that they had similar experiences. Domestic violence victim Aretha Clarke said she made her first report in January 2014 but the trial started two years later. Read more here
POLITICS
Prime Minister: Treat crime as a public-health issue
Saying crime was now "unusually horrendous," the Prime Minister said it should be viewed as a public health issue as much as typhoid or malaria, speaking at the post-Cabinet briefing at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann's on Thursday. Saying he couldn't recall such viciousness in crime and such frequency of crime among family members, Dr Rowley said he wondered what were such perpetrators thinking. Read more here
CARICOM still discussing Summit attendance, PM says
CARICOM members are still discussing the possibility of boycotting the upcoming Summit of the Americas that’s set to take place in Los Angeles, California, from June 6, according to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley. At yesterday’s post-Cabinet media briefing, Rowley said some regional leaders have raised the possibility of boycotting the event if Cuba and Venezuela are not invited, but no final decision has been taken yet. “It is being discussed and it has been discussed. Before I came here, there was a Caricom heads meeting at midday and we discussed this matter and we are still discussing it. People have different views and we are trying to come to a consensus position because we would love to have a Caricom position but sometimes it’s difficult for all of us to see eye-to-eye on everything all the time,” Dr Rowley said. Read more here
BUSINESS
Guardian Holdings, Massy announce new appointments
Samanta Saugh has been appointed as the acting Group Chief Financial Officer of Guardian Holdings Limited (GHL). In a post to the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange, the company confirmed that David Maraj had resigned as Group Chief Financial Officer, and confirmed Saugh had been appointed in an acting capacity as Group Chief Financial Officer. Saugh’s appointment will take effect from May 15, 2022. In the posting, the Guardian Group thanked Maraj “for his invaluable contribution and wishes him well in the future.” Read more here
OCM’s profit before tax up 3%
One Caribbean Media Ltd (OCM) has recorded a profit before tax of TT$5.1 million, a three-per cent increase when compared with its first-quarter performance last year. The Express newspaper and CCN TV6 are part of the OCM group. In its consolidated financial statements for the period ended March 31, 2022, published today, OCM chairman Faarees Hosein said recovery was seen in the group’s markets as restrictions were lifted. Read more here
REGIONAL
Oil revenues increase with receipt of $4.3B in royalties
The revenue-generating potential of Guyana’s oil and gas sector continues to be displayed, with the latest indication of this being the receipt of $4.3B in oil-and-gas royalties. Specifically, according to the Bank of Guyana, some $4,390,903,000 was, in April, deposited into the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) – an account at the US Federal Reserve Bank which stores direct returns from the oil and gas sector. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Ukraine conflict: Russian soldiers seen shooting dead unarmed civilians
When Leonid Pliats and his boss were shot in the back by Russian soldiers, the killing was captured on CCTV cameras in clear and terrible detail. The footage, which was obtained by the BBC, is now being investigated by Ukrainian prosecutors as a suspected war crime. It was the height of the fighting around Kyiv and the main roads into the capital were a battlefield, including around the bicycle shop where Leonid worked as a security guard. But this was no firefight: the video clearly shows heavily armed Russian soldiers shooting the two unarmed Ukrainians and then looting the business. Read more here
13th May 2022