Daily Brief - Friday 9th August, 2019

NEWS

Jereem qualifies for Pan Am 200m final

TT's Jereem Richards has qualified for the men's 200m final at the Pan Am Games in Lima, Peru. The sprinter placed third in his semi-final heat a while ago with a time of 20.48 seconds, the third fastest time of the three heats. Read more here

Marlene, husband held for misuse of State funds

The res­ur­rec­tion of a six-year-old in­ves­ti­ga­tion in­to the al­leged si­phon­ing of over $1 mil­lion from a gov­ern­ment min­istry to three or­gan­i­sa­tions linked to fam­i­ly and friends cul­mi­nat­ed in the ar­rest of Pub­lic Ad­min­is­tra­tion Min­is­ter Mar­lene Mc­Don­ald and her hus­band on Thursday. Of­fi­cers of the Fraud Squad swooped down on Mc­Don­ald’s home at Val­ley View, Mara­cas, St Joseph, where they ex­e­cut­ed a search war­rant and took away sev­er­al items. Read more here

 

POLITICS

MSJ: Remove sycophants from politics

Political sycophants are part of the reason why the state of the country has regressed, and they must be annihilated from the political arena. Putting forward this perspective on a Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) platform in Marabella on Wednesday night was political newbie Christopher Jackman. Addressing the assertion of naysayers that TT has a two-party political system and a third force has no place in the politics, the former Petrotrin engineer called on citizens to put aside parochial interest and vote according to conscience and heart. He spoke at the launch of the MSJ’s local government campaign. Read more here

PM awaits info from police before acting

Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley said on Thurs­day he was await­ing fur­ther in­for­ma­tion from the po­lice re­gard­ing Pub­lic Ad­min­is­tra­tion Min­is­ter Mar­lene Mc­Don­ald, adding he was sure in the “not too dis­tant fu­ture” he would be told by po­lice what ac­tion they will take. “And at that time, there’ll be no need for any spec­u­la­tion,” Row­ley said in a tele­phone in­ter­view with Guardian Me­dia. Row­ley, who is on va­ca­tion in To­ba­go, said he did not know any­thing oth­er than what was pub­lished in the pub­lic do­main. Read more here

 

BUSINESS

Hundreds of terminated workers helped

Petrotrin Employee Assistance Programme Services Ltd (PEAPSL) has provided counselling to hundreds of terminated employees and their dependants since the closure of the State-owned oil company in November last year, says chief executive officer Neil Parsanlal. Read more here

 

REGIONAL

‘We’ll Publish When We’re Finished’ - No Timeline For Release Of PM’s Statutory Declarations, Says Integrity Commission

The Integrity Commission has indicated that it has set no timeline by which the summary of the statutory declarations for Prime Minister Andrew Holness will be gazetted despite his publicly expressed desire to see a resolution before the end of this week. Yesterday, Colonel Daniel Pryce, executive director of the Integrity Commission, stressed that a summary of the prime minister’s declarations would not be released until all legal requirements were met. “It is the intention of the Integrity Commission, so as soon as it is finished doing what is required of it in law ... we will publish, as required by law, the summary of the statutory declarations of the prime minister. When we are finished, we will do it,” Pryce told The Gleaner. Read more here

 

INTERNATIONAL

Hong Kong protests: China and US feud amid fresh demonstrations

China and the US have traded insults amid fresh demonstrations in Hong Kong. The US on Thursday denounced China as a "thuggish regime" after a state newspaper published the name and photo of a US diplomat talking to activists. China has dismissed the attacks as "gangster logic", and has repeatedly accused the US of interfering in Hong Kong. The accusations come as activists gather at Hong Kong's airport for three days of unauthorised protests. Demonstrators dressed in black sat in the arrivals hall waving banners to raise awareness among international visitors. Hong Kong has seen weeks of demonstrations, beginning with anger at an extradition bill and morphing into demands for greater freedoms. Read more here

State Department foreign service officer resigns in blistering criticism of Trump

A foreign service officer resigned from the State Department effective Thursday, writing in a blistering op-ed in The Washington Post that he could no longer serve in "The Complacent State," particularly in the wake of the El Paso mass shooting. Chuck Park wrote in the op-ed that during his almost 10 years in the foreign service he "worked to spread what (he) believed were American values: freedom, fairness and tolerance." "But more and more I found myself in a defensive stance, struggling to explain to foreign peoples the blatant contradictions at home," he wrote. Read more here

 

9th August 2019

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