NEWS
Doctor urges women to get tested to combat cervical cancer
Dr Vanessa Harry, senior lecturer and head of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Unit at the Faculty of Medical Sciences at UWI, St Augustine, says TT has about 200 cases of cervical cancer a year, and most of those cases present at stage 2 or 3 because there are no symptoms during stage 1. She said many of those women either skipped their Pap smears or never had one and only went to the doctor when they noticed something was wrong. Harry believed that TT needed a national screening programme. The programme would invite women to have their first Pap smear at 20 and remind them, either electronically or through the post, when their next one was due. Read more here
Cops probe threats against prison officers
Police are investigating threats made against prison officers. Yesterday, ACP Criminal Division Curt Simon said police officers are probing the threats as the Prison Officers’ Association placed its members on high alert. The association’s executive is expected to meet today on the matter. Association president Gerard Gordon said that on January 10 he briefly spoke with acting Prison Commissioner Carlos Corraspe who confirmed the latest threat. On Friday, the association posted on its Facebook page, “All members, please be on high alert. Information coming is that a hefty bounty may have been placed on ANY member of the Trinidad & Tobago Prison Service.” Read more here
POLITICS
Hinds: People becoming more enlightened on public matters
National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds says the majority of the population understands there is no controversy connected to the Prime Minister's decision to resign his post and as PNM political leader. He attributed this to people becoming better educated on public affairs and less likely to fall for the attempts of others to mislead them. Hinds spoke in a radio interview on i95.5FM on January 12, the day after the PNM General Council met to discuss Dr Rowley's intention to resign as prime minister and party leader. Read more here
Kamla calls PNM's backing of Stuart as future PM vulgar and obscene charade
Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar has described the PNM’s general council meeting as a “vulgar and obscene charade aimed at hoodwinking a desperate, traumatised nation into believing that unity was achieved among the lazy, greedy, incompetent warring members of Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley’s Government.” The UNC leader said the “coronation” of Energy Minister Stuart Young has been a “nail in the cross for democracy in the party’s ongoing soap opera of chaos and incompetence.” In a press release issued yesterday, Persad-Bissessar said the fact that Rowley had to call his “warring ministers” to a general council meeting on Saturday “to heel over” his highly questionable coronation of Young, showed his PNM Government had “virtually collapsed under the weight of an internal power struggle.” Read more here
BUSINESS
UWI refinances debt
THE University of the West Indies, Mona, has successfully refinanced its high-cost debt, saving roughly $120 million in debt servicing costs annually, and is now turning its sight on investing in new revenue-generating projects and infrastructure development. Read more here
REGIONAL
Investments geared towards economic expansion – President Ali
President Dr Irfaan Ali has said that his government’s policies, programmes and investments are all aimed at economic expansion and have further reinvigorated the local private sector, with expansion visible in almost every sector. The Head of State made these remarks during a live broadcast during which he discussed the investments and jobs created over the past four years. “Jobs and investment are critical for the expansion of the private sector, for a healthy economy, for a sustainable economy, and it’s a litmus test in relation to government’s policies and programmes and investment,” he said. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Biden and Netanyahu discuss Gaza ceasefire talks as momentum builds
US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have spoken by phone - in Biden's final week in office - as momentum builds towards a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal. Israel and Hamas are understood to be making progress but uncertainty remains over key aspects of the potential agreement. The White House said Biden discussed the "fundamentally changed regional circumstances" following Israel's ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon, the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, and the weakening of Iran's power in the region. Netanyahu's office said he had updated Biden on instructions he had given to senior negotiators in Doha "in order to advance the release of the hostages". Read more here
13th January 2025