NEWS
Namdevco postpones farmers’ markets this weekend
The National Agricultural Marketing Development Company (Namdevco) announced on Wednesday that its farmers' markets on Saturday and Sunday will be postponed until next weekend owing to the amended curfew period of 10 am to 5 am on June 19 and 20. In its notice announcing the postponement for this weekend only, Namdevco said the Point Fortin farmers’ market will be open as scheduled on Friday from 10 am to 6 pm. Read more here
Petrotrin Senior Counsel wants A&V ruling set aside
State-owned Petrotrin is being urged by its Senior Counsel Deborah Peake, to move quickly and file an application in the High Court to set aside the results of an arbitration between A&V Oil and Gas and Petrotrin that could cost the state company close to $1 billion. In a confidential 18-page opinion done for Petrotrin on the outcome of a recent arbitration between itself and A&V, Peake argued that the arbitral panel involved in the matter made fundamental errors in coming to their conclusion and that the state-owned company had a good chance of success if it went to the High Court for relief. Read more here
POLITICS
Office of the Attorney General: Public sex offender website will contain names
While people convicted with sexual offences will have the right to apply to the court for their information to be removed from the public sex offenders registry, their names will remain on the website if their challenge is unsuccessful. A media release from the Office of the Attorney General and the Ministry of Legal Affairs on Thursday responded to media reports which claimed that the public register of sex offenders would contain the locations, not the names of convicted sex offenders. Read more here
Government meets with US Embassy on visa help for T&T cultural workers
The Government has met with the United States’ Embassy in Port-of-Spain, seeking to enhance the efforts of cultural workers who need visas to travel to the United States for revenue-earning performances after being negatively impacted by COVID-19 restrictions here. This follows a meeting involving Minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts Randall Mitchell and Minister of Foreign and Caricom Affairs Dr Amery Browne, Chargé d’Affaires of the United States Embassy in Trinidad and Tobago Shante Moore and representatives of the Trinidad and Tobago Promoters’ Association on Wednesday. Read more here
BUSINESS
Supermarkets shut this weekend
The Supermarket Association of Trinidad and Tobago president Rajiv Diptee is urging the public not to rush to the supermarkets today as the curfew hours for this weekend have been adjusted. On Labour Day and Father’s Day, persons are only permitted to be outdoors between the hours of 5.01 – 10.01 a.m. The curfew in effect on these days is 10.02 a.m. to 5 a.m. the following day. The curfew hours of 7 p.m. – 5 a.m. on Friday into Saturday still apply. Diptee told the Express that while his 250 member stores will be closed this weekend, this is not the time to be rushing and causing long lines. Read more here
REGIONAL
Sources cite growing trend as Jamaicans among boaters nabbed
Well-placed Homeland Security sources have revealed that Border Patrol agents have intensified surveillance of travel routes between the Caribbean and the United States in a bid to stem the flow of illegals. The disclosure comes amid the detention of 14 people, several of whom are believed to be Jamaicans, by US Border Patrol agents after they were headed off along the Florida coastline. A young boy and two women are reportedly among those taken into custody. A highly placed official told The Gleaner that the foray by the boaters represented an emerging pattern. Read more here
Shameful, reckless and selfish
Even after becoming fully immunised against the deadly coronavirus, Opposition Leader, Joseph Harmon, has called for a suspension in the administering of the Sputnik V vaccine from Russia. Without evidence, the Member of Parliament on Thursday hosted a press conference to express his belief that the drug could be fake and proceeded to encourage Guyanese not to take it. Harmon’s call has since attracted a myriad of criticisms from various sections of society, including respected doctors and leading private sector groups. More prominently, however, the Opposition Leader’s utterances received a stern response from President, Dr. Irfaan Ali. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
China's about to administer its billionth coronavirus shot. Yes, you read that right
Within days, China will reach a staggering 1 billion doses in its Covid-19 vaccination drive -- a scale and speed unrivaled by any other country in the world. As of Wednesday, China had administered more than 945 million doses -- three times the number delivered in the United States, and almost 40% of the 2.5 billion shots given globally. The number is all the more remarkable given its rollout had a slow start. China only reached its first million doses on March 27 -- two weeks behind the US. But the pace picked up significantly in May, with more than 500 million shots given over the past month, according to data from China's National Health Commission. Read more here
Kim Jong-un prepares for 'dialogue and confrontation' with the US
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has said his country needs to prepare for both "dialogue and confrontation" with the US, and "especially to get fully prepared for confrontation". This marks the first time Mr Kim has directly commented on President Joe Biden's administration. North Korea had earlier snubbed efforts by the new US government to establish diplomatic communication. The US has been calling for North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons. But Pyongyang has repeatedly refused, and the United Nations Security Council has imposed strict economic sanctions on the East Asian state for its nuclear tests. Read more here
18th June 2021