NEWS
State ordered to grant student's permit to Chinese student
A High Court judge has ordered the Chief Immigration Officer (CIO) to forthwith grant a student’s permit to a Chinese national who is expected to sit the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) examination in 2024. On Thursday, Justice Avason Quinlan-Williams made the order as she ruled on a lawsuit filed by the child’s parents in October. The child, 11, entered TT with her mother in 2015 on an entry visa allowing her to stay in TT for three months, and received a student’s permit in 2022, which was valid for a year. Her father had been in TT since 2007. When the child’s parents attempted to apply for another permit, their application was refused and no reason was given by immigration officials. Read more here
POLITICS
Education Minister acts on bad behaviour: Mandatory MiLAT for expelled students
Unruly students will not be left idle after expulsion, but will instead be enrolled in the Military Led Academic Training (MiLAT) programme through a mandatory policy to cut down on indiscipline while ensuring learning objectives are met. The policy was announced by Minister of Education Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly during a media conference at her ministry on St Vincent Street, Port-of-Spain, yesterday. Dr Gadsby-Dolly said her ministry was committed to not only upgrading the physical infrastructure of schools but also initiating measures to enhance the academic performance of students. She reminded parents/guardians that student indiscipline was a major concern of her ministry and stressed that disruptive, violent students would not be allowed to hamper the learning of others. Read more here
Farley threatens to sue Imbert over THA budget allocation
The Tobago House of Assembly (THA) passed a motion to seek legal redress for the illegal handling of the island’s finances and to make a complaint to the Dispute Resolution Committee (DSR) over its yearly budget allocation. The motion was brought by Chief Secretary Farley Augustine yesterday during a THA plenary sitting to debate the reprioritisation of the $2.585 billion for fiscal 2024 at the Assembly Legislature Chamber. The allocation reflects 4.35 per cent of the national budget and falls below the recommended range of 4.03-6.9 per cent proposed by the DRC in 2001. Tempers flared during the debate as Augustine made several accusations against Central Government, saying there was a financial conspiracy that can cause his administration to fail in their efforts to develop Tobago. Read more here
BUSINESS
CariCRIS improves Jamaican company's credit rating
The Seprod Group, a Jamaican food manufacturing and distribution entity whose origin dates back to 1930, got an upgrade in its ratings from the Caribbean Information and Credit Rating Services Ltd (CariCRIS), the credit rating company said in a media release on Tuesday. Seprod improved its rating by one notch to CariA (local currency rating) and reaffirmed the Jamaican national scale ratings jmAA- (local currency rating) and jmA+ (foreign currency rating). This means that the creditworthiness of Seprod in relation to other companies in the Caribbean is considered good and its creditworthiness is high in comparison to other Jamaican companies. Read more here
Energy Chamber unveils six-point local content development plan
The Energy Chamber has devised a six-point plan aimed at developing local content in this country, its chairman Jerome Dookie has stated. “In Trinidad and Tobago, the energy sector is not only a driver of economic prosperity but also a catalyst for local development and empowerment. We, the Energy Chamber, are aware of the importance of local content in the energy sector and how it contributes not only to the growth of our industry but to the well-being of the communities in which we operate. As such, we remain committed to ensure that we continuously focus on initiatives and activities that promote local content within the industry,” Dookie said. Read more here
REGIONAL
‘Guyana is not taking anything for granted’
President, Dr Irfaan Ali, on Thursday, said that the Government of Guyana is taking nothing for granted in relation to the ongoing Venezuela-Guyana border controversy. r. Ali, during an engagement with residents of Mabaruma, Region One, said that everything that is required is being done and the country remains in a state of preparedness. The Head of State was accompanied on his visit by Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), Brigadier Omar Khan and National Security Advisor, Captain Gerry Gouveia, among others. While addressing the residents, Dr. Ali said that there is a lot of tension based on the rhetoric coming out of Venezuela and the attitude of the Venezuelan authorities leading up to their December 3 referendum. “Now, we are not in any way shape or form taking anything for granted so everything that is required of us as a people, as a government, as a military, we are in a state of preparedness,” he affirmed. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Korean true crime fan murdered stranger 'out of curiosity'
A South Korean court has given a life sentence to a true crime fan who told police she murdered a stranger "out of curiosity". Jung Yoo-jung, 23, had been obsessed with crime shows and novels and scored highly on psychopath tests, police said. Fixated with the idea of "trying out a murder", she used an app to meet an English-language teacher, stabbing her to death at her home in May. The brutal killing shocked South Korea. Prosecutors had asked for the death penalty - a request typically reserved for the gravest of offences. Read more here
24th November 2023