NEWS
TTADA: Exemptions on hybrid vehicles, pure mamaguy
TT Automotive Dealers’ Association (TTADA) president Visham Babwah has knocked Government’s new policy on hybrid vehicles, saying while it had provided exemptions for hybrid and electric cars, whether new or used, this would not have much effect on the middle or lower class, who are set to be most affected by the increase in the price of fuel. “To start with, the exemptions would not make much of a difference in price because of the three-year limit on foreign used cars. These vehicles are still costly and difficult to get, and that causes the price to be high. We need this age to be adjusted to six years,” Babwah said. Read more here
WASA: Service disruption to customers served by Valsayn Booster Station
Customers served by the Valsayn A Booster Station will experience a disruption in their pipe borne water supply today between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. According to WASA this has become necessary to facilitate emergency repairs to a defective valve at the facility. The areas affected include, Along the Eastern Main Road from St. Joseph to the Aranguez Main Road, San Juan, Champs Fleurs, Mt. Lambert , Upper Santa Cruz and Lower Santa Cruz . Read more here
POLITICS
MSJ plans gas march for April 22
Political leader of the Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) David Abdulah is calling on Government to withdraw its decision to raise the price of fuel. At a meeting on Sunday in the car park of Paria Fuel Trading Co Ltd, in Pointe-a-Pierre, Abdulah described the justifications by Finance Minister Colm Imbert, for raising fuel prices, as rubbish. Read more here
UNC: Govt not using intelligence legislation to its advantage
Opposition MP Saddam Hosein yesterday questioned why Government has been using the Pegasus spyware to mainly “macco” and monitor its political opponents instead of criminals who have been creating a reign of terror in the country. To compound matters, Hosein said, the Government had spent in the last seven years a staggering $1.648 billion on the Strategic Security Agency (SSA) which is responsible for conducting and coordinating intelligence approaches to crime and criminality but had very little to show for it. The SSA is tasked with analysing and reducing identified threats. It also provides surveillance and protection for the country. Read more here
BUSINESS
Roget calls on Rowley to address $4.6b pension deficit
Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) president general Ancel Roget is pleading with Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley to address the $4.6 billion deficit in the Petrotrin’s Employees Pension Plan (PEPP) for “more than 5,000 retirees”. He also called upon Rowley to implement a medical plan comparable to the Petrotrin medical plan for the retirees and former active employees and re-open all the former Petrotrin medical centres and the Augustus Long Hospital to provide the necessary medical care for retirees who are in desperate need of critical medical attention. Read more here
REGIONAL
Surinamese officials ‘pushing back’ on licensing Guyanese fishermen
Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo said Guyana will continue to engage Suriname to ensure that the authorities in the neighbouring country follow through with a promise to license Guyanese fisherfolk. He gave the assurance during a meeting with fishermen at the Classic International Hotel and Resort in Skeldon, Region Six, on Sunday. The fishermen during the meeting complained that the Suriname authorities are yet to grant them the licences promised to ply their trade in Suriname’s waters and that they have been harassing them. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Russia has appointed a new general for Ukraine. Can Moscow reboot its war in time for Putin to claim a victory?
Russian President Vladimir Putin has a new general overseeing his war in Ukraine, and his military commanders are signaling a new phase in the war: an all-out effort to take and hold the portions of Ukraine's Donbas region still under Ukrainian control. Ukrainians seem to be taking that threat at face value. In the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, local officials have been urging many communities to evacuate, opening up humanitarian corridors for civilians to leave for safer parts of Ukraine. In northeastern Kharkiv region, authorities are evacuating the towns of Barvinkove and Lozova. In Dnipro, a regional capital in east-central Ukraine, the mayor, Borys Filatov, has requested that women, children and the elderly leave. Read more here
French elections: Macron targets Le Pen as run-off campaign begins
Emmanuel Macron is firing up his campaign for re-election, directly taking on far-right rival Marine Le Pen in France's presidential run-off. He made his first trip to a Le Pen stronghold at Denain, one of France's poorest towns in the industrial north. President Macron won the first round of the election, but opinion polls suggest the second round will be a close race on 24 April. "Make no mistake: nothing is decided," he told supporters after the vote. Both candidates polled better than the first round in 2017, but Le Pen officials were in far more buoyant mood the morning after the result, even though she trailed the president by four points. Read more here
11th April 2022