NEWS
20 new covid19 cases
The Ministry of Health recorded 20 new covid19 cases on Thursday. There are now 343 active cases. The new cases reflect samples taken between January 18 and 20. Read more here
BHP confirms exploration failure off Trinidad’s East Coast
Australian outfit BHP has confirmed that it’s recent search for oil in Trinidad and Tobago’ deep water ended in failure with the Broadside-1 well being a dry hole. In its quarterly operational review, the company said it has abandoned the well after the failure to encounter hydrocarbons. It said: “In Trinidad and Tobago, the Broadside-1 exploration well in the Southern Licence reached the main reservoir on 22 October 2020 and did not encounter hydrocarbons. The well was a dry hole and was plugged and abandoned on 8 November 2020. The results are under evaluation to determine next steps on the Southern Licences.” Read more here
POLITICS
PM worried about covid19 variant
The Prime Minister says he is worried TT now has its first case of the UK covid19 variant. In a statement on Thursday, the Ministry of Health advised that TT recorded its first such case. It said the patient travelled from the UK. The ministry said the presence of the variant was confirmed via a gene sequencing study of the Faculty of Medical Sciences, UWI, which has been testing covid19 positive samples collected since September 2020. Read more here
PM grateful to be back at work
“I am surviving!” That’s the response given by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley when asked to give an update on his health yesterday, following his recent treatment for a cardiac complaint. Speaking to members of the media after touring the APT James, the Prime Minister said his doctors had told him he has been responding well. Read more here
BUSINESS
An inclusive and diverse year for accountancy
Shelly Ann Mohammed, head of ACCA Caribbean January is a time for us all to look ahead to the coming months of 2021 and think about what the year holds for the accountancy profession, society and the economy here in the Caribbean. It’s also a chance to rethink our values and approaches – especially in the light of the covid19. The rebuilding of our lives and our economies can, and should, be done in ways that challenge our accepted norms. Read more here
Khan: Deep water Bid round before year end
A deep water bid round is expected to take place before the end of this year, Energy Minister Franklin Khan has said. And the prolonged negotiation with bpTT and Shell on the blocks they bid on in last year’s shallow water bid round may soon come to an end, he said. Khan made the statements yesterday as the results of the annual audit of the non-associated natural gas reserves and resources of Trinidad and Tobago for the year ended 2019 was released. Read more here
REGIONAL
Patterson, Ferguson and others under scrutiny
The Guyana Police Force has been called in to investigate the circumstances surrounding Government agencies gifting expensive items to the former Ministers of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson and Annette Ferguson. This was confirmed by Minister within the Ministry of Public Works Deodat Indar, who said that neither of the two ministers has indicated their intentions to repay the State for the exorbitant gifts. “They have been defending themselves,” Indar posited. Read more here
COVID Bailout Cry - Robinson Calls For Stimulus Amid Economic Downturn
Another stimulus package is needed to give Jamaica’s tanking economy a fighting chance, Opposition Spokesman on Finance Julian Robinson has asserted. Robinson said the bailout funds should be channelled into the productive sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing and to those most vulnerable. “We need a stimulus that will jump-start our economy, incentivise production, boost job creation, and unleash spending so that we can break through poverty and the strangling stagnation and get on a path of real and meaningful recovery,” Robinson said. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Trump impeachment: Republicans seek delay until February
Republicans in the US Senate are asking Democrats to delay the start of former President Donald Trump's impeachment trial until February. They argue that this will give Mr Trump time to prepare a defence. The House of Representatives last week charged Mr Trump with inciting a deadly riot at the US Capitol, paving the way for a Senate trial. If convicted, he could be barred from future office. Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer is reviewing the Republicans' request. Read more here
Putin presents a Russia-sized foreign-policy headache for Biden
With the departure of Donald Trump from the White House, Russia-watchers can be forgiven for breathing a sigh of relief: From the moment Russian President Vladimir Putin called Trump the front-runner for the 2016 Republican nomination, it's been near-impossible to look at Moscow through anything but the lens of Washington politics and scandal. Read more here
22nd January 2021