Daily Brief - Friday 21st June, 2019

NEWS

Met Office warns of high concentration of Sahara Dust

There is a high concentration of Sahara dust present over the region and the TT Met Office has advised to take necessary precautions. Since the beginning of the dry season, the country has experienced several waves of the dust. Nearly all islands across the Lesser Antilles are experiencing reduced air qualities as dense Sahara dust continues to move across the Atlantic and Caribbean, stretching as far as Florida in the US. Across TT, air quality is at moderate levels. Read more here

Drive-by shooting in Cocorite

 26-year-old Co­corite man was shot sev­er­al times while dri­ving his car along the West­ern Main Road in Co­corite. In­ves­ti­ga­tors told Guardian Me­dia that the man was dri­ving west along the West­ern Main Road in his Nis­san Note ve­hi­cle around 10:45 am when a car pulled along­side him and a gun­man opened fire. Read more here

 

POLITICS

Duke: Govt to employ V'zuelans through agencies

President of the National Trade Union Centre (NATUC) Watson Duke Wednesday claimed the Government is seeking to amend the Recruiting of Workers Act to allow Venezuelan migrants to access jobs through recruitment agencies in TT. "There is a law they are going to amend just now called Recruiting of Workers Act. It is an important act. The act will see our Venezuelan brothers and sisters choreographed and placed into groups under recruitment agencies," Duke said at a Labour Day rally, hosted by NATUC, on the Scarborough Esplanade. Read more here

New type of labour leaders needed, says PM

The 21st cen­tu­ry de­mands a new type of labour leader, Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley has said. Row­ley made the state­ment in his Labour Day mes­sage to the na­tion as he out­lined some of the chal­lenges faced by work­ers in the 21st cen­tu­ry, while al­so pay­ing homage to the labour lead­ers of the 20th cen­tu­ry. Read more here

 

BUSINESS

The green age

Agriculture is an industry that is being explored as a way to diversify our economy here in TT and the list of companies that supply innovative goods and services for this sector is certainly growing. One such firm is Green Age Farms, based in Freeport, which provides everything needed to start a farm, regardless of size, while using the latest agri-technology. Green Age Farms’ main expertise falls within the area of vertical hydroponic farming, which is highly space and water efficient. The combination of hydroponics, which is the process of growing plants in sand, gravel, or liquid, with added nutrients but without soil, and vertical farming, which is growing produce in vertically stacked layers, results in an innovative solution for the home gardener all the way to the large commercial farmer. Read more here

Atlantic an option to monetise Russian gas in Venezuela waters

International business news website, Bloomberg, yesterday speculated that Russian energy giant, Rosneft, may explore the possibility of using the Atlantic LNG facility in Point Fortin to monetise natural gas resources in two fields located to the north of the Dragon field, which is the subject of continued negotiations between Venezuela and T&T. Read more here

 

REGIONAL

Child Abuse Alarm - 11-Year-Old Manchester Girl Latest Victim Of Sex Assault

Child welfare officials in Jamaica are expressing increasing concern over skyrocketing reports of sexual and other forms of abuse of minors, with approximately 15,000 cases referred to the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA) in 2018 alone. This represents an 8.5 per cent rise on the 13,820 reports made in 2017. Using the 2011 census, this means that there are 1,730 reports per 100,000 minors aged 0-17. The latest case is that of an 11-year-old girl in south Manchester, who was found traumatised in bushes after being sexually assaulted on her way from school midday on Tuesday. Read more here

 

INTERNATIONAL

US-Iran: Trump 'pulls back after approving strikes' after drone downing

President Donald Trump approved retaliatory military strikes against Iran on Thursday before changing his mind, US media report. The New York Times, citing senior White House officials, says strikes were planned against a "handful" of targets. They say the operation was allegedly under way "in its early stages" when Mr Trump stood the US military down. The White House has so far made no comment. This comes after Iran shot down a US spy drone. Tehran says the unmanned US aircraft entered Iranian airspace early on Thursday morning. The US maintains it was shot down in international airspace. Read more here

UK politician filmed grabbing Greenpeace protester

A senior British politician is under investigation after video emerged of him grabbing and manhandling a protester at an event in London Thursday. According to CNN affiliate ITV News, Foreign Office minister Mark Field has apologized for grabbing a protester by the neck, saying he "instinctively reacted" after guests felt threatened by the woman, who was acting peacefully at the time and was not armed. Read more here

21st June 2019

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