NEWS
Trauma specialist: The coup was attempted, the trauma happened
Shane Superville, Julien Neaves, Corey Connelly Ria Carrera-Toney and Muhammad Muwakil both slept with knives in their beds for years. Carrera-Toney still does. They have never met, yet are connected by one of the most traumatic experiences in this country’s modern history. Read more here
NGO: COVID causing xenophobia against migrants
With the growing perception that Venezuelans are responsible for T&T's second wave of COVID-19 spread, human rights activists say landlords are now evicting migrants over the fear of prosecution by the State. As a result, TTV Solidarity Network director Heidi Diquez is calling on Government to end the persecution of Venezuelan migrants, whom she said are now fearing their lives. Diquez yesterday said she was currently dealing with one migrant family whose landlord had changed his mind on renting them an apartment following National Security Minister Stuart Young's statements last Saturday. Read more here
POLITICS
UNC concerned over voting guidelines
UNC Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar expressed concern over the August 10 election, saying new public health guidelines suggested the government may use claims of symptoms of covid19 to deny UNC supporters the chance to vote. “There are several things that we are concerned over with the new guidelines, but they are saying, ‘People who are exhibiting symptoms of covid19 should not be allowed entry.’ How are they going to decide that?
“All they will have to do is look at us and know we are UNC and say, ‘Whoops, you are exhibiting covid19 symptoms.’” Read more here
Griffith blasts Deyalsingh as football event shelved
Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith has postponed the Commissioner’s Cup due to the refusal by the Ministry of Health to allow medics, coaches, security or substitutes to participate in the event due to COVID-19 restrictions. Griffith announced the decision in a release yesterday, adding it came after Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh insisted that only 25 people at a time would be allowed to participate in the youth football event. Read more here
BUSINESS
RFHL profits slide by 37.2%
Republic Financial Holdings Limited (RFHL) announced yesterday a profit attributable to shareholders of the parent of $774 million for the nine-month period ended June 30, 2020.This profit represented a decline of $458 million or 37.2 per cent below the corresponding period last year. In release the bank noted: “These results reflect the financial impact so far of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the Group, mainly resulting from decreased economic activity, narrower margins due to reduced lending interest rates, waiver of fees and commissions and the setting aside of additional credit provisions to cover potential future losses.” Read more here
REGIONAL
Auditor general stands by scathing bus company report as JUTC demands retracti
Auditor General Pamela Monroe Ellis says her department has no intention of withdrawing a performance report on the Jamaica Urban Transit Company Limited (JUTC). The JUTC yesterday rejected the Auditor General Department’s (AuGD) report, which unearthed major breaches at the state-owned entity. The management and board of the company want the report to be retracted, claiming that it contained inaccuracies and that points presented needed further elaboration. “The board has written to the auditor general to retract the report because it has factual and inaccurate information,” the JUTC said in a statement to the media issued on Thursday evening. Read more here
Guyana rakes in US$3.6M in royalty
Guyana has received its second payment of oil and gas royalties from gross production at a total of US$3,698,152.63. The sum joins the country’s first payment of US$4.9M received on April 30, 2020 for a total of US$8.6M. In an invited interview with the Guyana Chronicle on Thursday, Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan, confirmed that the payments were received on schedule on July 30 and have been deposited in the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) account opened with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Vietnam records first Covid-19 death
Vietnam has recorded its first Covid-19 fatality, in a devastating blow for a country proud of its zero deaths. The 70-year-old man was from the central city of Hoi An, state media said on Friday. No new infections had been reported for more than three months before an outbreak was reported in the nearby resort of Da Nang earlier this week. Vietnam, which has a population of around 95 million, has reported just several hundred coronavirus cases. Unlike many other countries, Vietnam acted before it even had confirmed cases, closing its borders early to almost all travellers, except returning citizens. Anyone entering the country must quarantine in government facilities for 14 days and undergo testing. Read more here
Hong Kong postpones legislative elections over coronavirus fears
Hong Kong will postpone legislative elections due to be held in September because of the coronavirus outbreak, the city's leader said Friday. In a news conference, Hong Kong's Chief Executive Carrie Lam said the move to postpone the Legislative Council elections, slated for September 6, was the most difficult decision she had made in the last seven months. She added that she had the support of the Chinese central government in making this decision. Read more here
31st July 2020