NEWS

Martinez holds talks on Chinatown

Port of Spain Mayor Joel Martinez concluded a two-day public consultation at City Hall on Wednesday on the Chinatown Development Initiative. Martinez told Newsday the driving force behind the initiative is Port of Spain’s close relationship with Shanghai which mirrors TT’s diplomatic ties with China over the past 45 years. As such, he said, “We are looking at twinning both the cities of Shanghai and Port of Spain and are now working on the relevant MoUs.” He said the initiative will develop culture, commerce, education and Chinatown in the city. “The consultations were hosted to inform residents and vendors of our plans and to discuss with the business community what this initiative will bring to them,” said Martinez. Read more here

T&T to help Bahamas with US$500,000, soldiers, T&TEC workers

Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley has an­nounced that Trinidad and To­ba­go will as­sist the Ba­hamas with sol­diers, elec­tric­i­ty work­ers and US$500,000. The prime min­is­ter made the an­nounce­ment at Thurs­day's post-Cab­i­net news con­fer­ence. Parts of the Ba­hamas have been dec­i­mat­ed by Hur­ri­cane Do­ri­an which hit the is­lands as a pow­er­ful Cat­e­go­ry 5 hur­ri­cane, re­sult­ing in at least 20 deaths. Dr Row­ley told the me­dia that he has been in touch with the prime min­is­ter of the Ba­hamas, Dr Hurbert Min­nis and that they have dis­cussed what Trinidad and To­ba­go could do for the Caribbean Com­mu­ni­ty (Cari­com) coun­try. He said 100 mem­bers of the De­fence Force are now prepar­ing to go to the Ba­hamas to as­sist in law and or­der. Read more here

POLITICS

PM: HDC ends Chinese contract

The Prime Minister said the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) has scrapped a contract with a Chinese company to build extensive public housing. His remarks are thought to refer to a US$72 million deal announced in June by Housing Minister Edmund Dillon. This envisioned apartments being built for $1.1 million each. The HDC contracted with the China Gezhouba Group International Engineering Co Ltd to build 5,000 housing units across TT, including 235 units at Lady Hailes Avenue in San Fernando, and 204 at South Quay in Port of Spain. Read more here

Young’s ‘former relative’ and 3 others to stand trial

Four peo­ple ac­cused of op­er­at­ing a drug traf­fick­ing op­er­a­tion in West­moor­ings have been com­mit­ted to stand tri­al. Mag­is­trate Re­han­na Ho­sein made the de­ci­sion at the end of the pre­lim­i­nary in­quiry of the case at the Port-of-Spain Mag­is­trates’ Court, yes­ter­day morn­ing. Ho­sein ruled that state pros­e­cu­tors pre­sent­ed a pri­ma fa­cie case against Krys­tiana Sankar, Yan­nis Peb­bles Au­gus­tine, Jer­von Cole, and At­i­ba Eligon, which could pos­si­bly re­sult in their con­vic­tions af­ter an even­tu­al tri­al in the High Court. Af­ter de­liv­er­ing her de­ci­sion, Ho­sein asked each ac­cused in­di­vid­u­al­ly if they planned to present an al­i­bi, tes­ti­fy in their de­fence or call wit­ness­es. Read more here

BUSINESS

One Hundred Steps boost health, physique

From the bot­tom, it looks like an easy walk, but mid­way along San Fer­nan­do’s famed One Hun­dred Steps, you will prob­a­bly be gasp­ing for air. De­spite the ar­du­ous trek, most fit­ness en­thu­si­asts and oc­ca­sion­al jog­gers could tell of the ben­e­fits to their health and physique. Some can even share sto­ries of the ro­man­tic view from atop the stair­case. On the north­ern side, the seren­i­ty of the Gulf of Paria awaits. At night­fall, you can gaze up­on the splen­dour of the city’s lights in the South. While it is named One Hun­dred Steps, the dual stair­case ac­tu­al­ly has 145 steps lead­ing from Mount Mo­ri­ah Road in Vista­bel­la to North Road. Read more here

Moonilal questions Chow’s hiring

Opposition MP Dr Roodal Moonilal says the way in which Arlene Chow, interim chief executive officer at Heritage Petroleum Company Ltd, was hired is suspicious and could be illegal. Read more here

REGIONAL

SOE PRESSURE - Long Hours, Poor Working Conditions Take Toll; Clarendon,St Catherine Operations To Further Stretch Resources

A police constable deployed to hotspot communities blanketed by the Government’s enhanced security measures has warned that long hours, substandard working conditions, and inadequate resources are threatening to undermine their effectiveness. The constable spoke to The Gleaner yesterday on condition of anonymity, hours after Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced that Clarendon and St Catherine were now under a state of public emergency (SOE). The cop admitted that Holness’ announcement immediately caused him some trepidation. “More police and soldiers a go feel the wrath that we a feel,” said the constable, speaking from one of the SOE checkpoints. Read more here

INTERNATIONAL

Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's strongman ex-president, dies aged 95

Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwean independence icon turned authoritarian leader, has died aged 95. Mr Mugabe had been receiving treatment in a hospital in Singapore since April. He was ousted in a military coup in 2017 after 37 years in power. The former president was praised for broadening access to health and education for the black majority. But later years were marked by violent repression of his political opponents and Zimbabwe's economic ruin. Read more here

No one thought a UK Prime Minister could be worse than Theresa May. Until now.

Could someone be worse than Theresa May, the UK Prime Minister widely panned as "the Maybot"? By the end of her inglorious three-year stint in Downing Street, even her most loyal supporters admitted that the robotic May would never be regarded as one of the greatest British leaders. By comparison, Boris Johnson's off-the-cuff, sunny disposition made him a darling of Conservative Party members who chose him for the top job when May finally resigned, defeated by her inability to get a Brexit deal through Parliament. Read more here

6th September 2019

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