NEWS
President tells students: Make teachers part of your family
Speaking about the importance of family, the President Christine Kangaloo warned students about peer pressure from "friends" and social media as they transition from primary to secondary school. Kangaloo delivered the feature address at the San Fernando TML primary school graduation ceremony held at Achievor's Banquet Hall, at Duncan Village, San Fernando. The theme was "All that I can be." She said she was "extremely happy" to be there because, as President, she was dedicated to reaching out to and chatting with young people. Read more here
CFO Bristo: NiQuan didn’t report fire to TTFS
Chief Fire Officer Arnold Bristo has confirmed that NiQuan Energy Trinidad Ltd (NiQuan) never reported the fire which took the life of Allanlane Ramkissoon to the Trinidad and Tobago Fire Service (TTFS). And Bristo says it is quite concerning that the TTFS was not apprised by the energy company over what transpired at its Pointe-a-Pierre plant last Thursday. “It is of concern for the T&T Fire Service, as all fire-related incidents, including death by fire, must be reported to the Fire Services,” Bristo said yesterday. Speaking to Guardian Media via text messages, Bristo said the failure of NiQuan to alert the Fire Service when the accident occured makes it harder for them to assist in a probe the matter going forward. In any event, he said from here, it will mean a little more than just Fire Service involvement. Read more here
POLITICS
50th Caricom anniversary to be celebrated in Trinidad and Tobago
The 50th anniversary of the founding Caricom and 45th conference of heads of governments will be celebrated in Port of Spain from July 3-5 with a prelude to the celebration on July 1-2. Foreign and Caricom Affairs Minister Dr Amery Browne made the announcement at a media conference on Thursday. He was joined by Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh. On July 1, there will be a 5km Caricom street race followed by a 10km race which ends at Chaguaramas the next day. Chaguaramas is significant in the celebration because it is where the Treaty of Chaguaramas was signed establishing Caricom. It was signed on July 4, 1973. Read more here
Farley, PM feud over Chief Administrator thickens ... Augustine accuses Rowley of protecting 'friends' named in THA audit
Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Chief Secretary Farley Augustine said yesterday that Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has been spouting “hogwash” in his account to the nation for the delay in appointing a Chief Administrator. In a near 40-minute address during a sitting of the THA at the Assembly Chamber in Scarborough, Augustine said he is confident that criminal proceedings will be brought against “friends of the Prime Minister” based on the findings of a THA financial audit. “I brought to this House an audit report and did not call the names of any contractors involved in the audit. In fact, those contractors called themselves out,” he said, revealing that the full report was now in the hands of the Commissioner of Police, Fraud Squad, Financial Intelligence Unit, Anti-Corruption Bureau and Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. He told the THA that having learnt historical lessons from the Scott Drug Report, he will not make the report public or lay it in the THA, nor will he give it to the THA Minority Leader and the Prime Minister. Read more here
BUSINESS
Sagicor renews share buyback programme
Sagicor Financial announced yesterday that the Toronto Stock Exchange has accepted the regional insurance company’s renewal of its share buyback programme. Through the programme, Sagicor may purchase up to 8,840,727 of its common shares during the 12-month period commencing June 24, 2023 and ending June 23, 2024. The company had 142,564,230 issued and outstanding common shares as of June 14, 2023, the company said in a news release issued to the Toronto Stock Exchange, where Sagicor has been listed since 2019. Under the share buyback programme, Sagicor may purchase its own shares on the open market through the facilities of the Toronto Stock Exchange and/or alternative Canadian trading systems at the market price at the time of acquisition, as well as by other means as may be permitted by TSX rules and applicable securities laws. Read more here
ECCB asked to print special EC$50
The Monetary Council of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) will in July approve or deny Grenada’s request to print commemorative EC$50 notes as part of activities to observe the island’s 50th Independence celebrations in February 2024. “As part of our Golden Jubilee, I am happy to report that cabinet has approved and made a request of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, or ECCB, to issue a special celebratory, commemorative EC$50 note to mark Grenada’s 50th year of independence. We anticipate that the ECCB Council, which will be meeting in July, will agree and approve the request,” Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell disclosed during a national address to mark the first anniversary of his administration governing the affairs of the island. Read more here
REGIONAL
$11B more to be ‘pumped’ into education sector
President, Dr. Irfaan Ali, on Thursday, announced that more funds will be injected into the education sector to enhance more institutions and make room for more advancements in this area. The President revealed the government’s plan during a commission ceremony for the newly constructed state-of-the-art multimillion-dollar Abram Zuil Secondary School, in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam). In his featured address to the gathering at the ceremony, President Ali said that his government considered a “very important” presentation during their recent Cabinet meeting; this included a review of the condition survey that was done in every facility that is related to education across the country, such as dorms, teachers living quarters, hostels, nursery, primary and secondary schools. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Ukraine war: Living without water in a town devastated by dam breach
In a shrinking, brackish pool of water, within earshot of Ukraine's front lines, two small fish gasped and flopped in the midday heat. Around them, vast expanses of mud and rock - covered, for the past three quarters of a century, by metres of water - were exposed to the sun. A huge grain barge lay sprawled across a nearby sandbank. Water snakes and frogs slithered through the dwindling shallows as if in search of shade. Two weeks after a suspected Russian sabotage operation destroyed the dam that holds back the Dnipro River to form the giant Kakhovka reservoir, some 18 cubic kilometres of water - enough to fill a shallow paddling pool the size of England - have surged south to vanish into the Black Sea. "It's a catastrophe. Everything was washed away. Deer, wild pigs, fish and so many endangered species. And about half a million people are now left without water," said Anatolii Derkach, 37, secretary of the town council in Marhanets, on the western shore of the former reservoir. Read more here
23rd June 2023