NEWS
Sinanan: New traffic light technology will ease traffic
From Monday morning, drivers can expect some reprieve from peak-hour traffic jams around the Golden Grove Road, Churchill Roosevelt highway intersection – one of the nation’s busiest. Works Minister Rohan Sinanan, on Sunday, presented the ministry’s latest measure to alleviate traffic, which involves a monitoring and management system that controls traffic lights based on traffic flow rather than on a timed rotation. Sinanan spoke with the media at the intersection – one of seven currently in operation from a total of 14 the ministry intends to implement. The system covers the stretch from the University of the West Indies (UWI), St Augustine, up to the Golden Grove Road traffic lights. Read more here
Harpe Place residents erect barriers in, out of area after deadly shooting
Despite a police post being nearby, Harpe Place residents are not confident that will be enough to ensure their safety and have taken matters into their own hands to prevent a repeat of Saturday’s bloodbath. Yesterday, residents set up makeshift barricades at the main entry and exit points of the community. The move came one day after five men were gunned down in a brazen daylight shooting. Police said the men identified as Rudolph Donnie James, Randy Greaves, Sgt Larry Phillip, Pete Noray and Devon Jack were killed in the attack when a white Nissan Tiida drove onto Harpe Place and opened fire on the men who were liming. Less than 24 hours after the murders, the residents have erected makeshift barricades at the four entrances to the Harpe Place Housing Development on Observatory Street. Read more here
POLITICS
Hinds knocks East PoS residents: Where is outrage against gangs?
National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds, in the wake of Saturday’s deadly gang attack at Harpe Place in Port of Spain, says there appears to be no community desire to stop gang warfare in the area. In a lengthy post on Facebook, Hinds also asked the residents of Charford Court, Basilon Street and environs whether they would go through the rituals and be back to life and business as normal by Monday. He also asked whether these deaths would prompt “a call to sincerity and determined action from them.” Hinds was addressing the murderous incident in which five people, including police sergeant Larry Phillip, were killed on Saturday. Rudolph James, Randy Graves, Pete Noray, and Devon Jack were also murdered. Three others - Richard Pierre, Wendell Primus, and Akina Thomas - were injured and hospitalized. In the aftermath of the murders, police and soldiers were deployed to the scene as angry residents hurled abuses at the officers. Read more here
PM vows: No giving up fight to end ‘evil gun culture’
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has assured the population that the State agencies will not give up the fight to rid the nation of the widespread “gun culture” in T&T. The Prime Minister’s statement, which came through the Office of the Prime Minister’s Facebook page on Saturday evening, was in response to the deadly shooting at Harpe Place in east Port-of-Spain. Rowley said the incident in which five people lost their lives at one location and where three others were killed elsewhere, “brings home the depth of the problem that the Government is grappling with”. Read more here
BUSINESS
New IT labs for 4 more panyards
Curepe Scherzando Steel Orchestra, T&T Tropical Angel Harps, NGC Couva Joylanders and NLCB Fonclaire are now among eight steelbands to have air-conditioned computer labs, constructed by a partnership between the Digicel Foundation’s Technology in Education (TIE) programme and PanTrinbago. The labs are equipped with five computers, printers and furniture and supplied with a year of free high-speed internet from Digicel Plus. They were launched jointly on March 6. Digicel Foundation has invested $540,000 in the programme since its launch last year. PanTrinbago president Beverley Ramsey-Moore said the partnership with Digicel Foundation aligned with PanTrinbago’s vision. Read more here
Tighten holes in parallel economy
While agreeing that an ageing population and a low birth rate were major contributors to the low contribution rate at the National Insurance Board (NIB), other factors need to be considered for the predicament to be adequately addressed. So said general secretary of the Public Services Association (PSA), Kellon Wallace, in response to questions posed to him by the Express about the informal or parallel economy not being harnessed and the impact it had on the fiscal imbalance at the NIB. Read more here
REGIONAL
AI, digitisation could be an immense threat to security
President Dr. Irfaan Ali has highlighted the need for the training of security personnel in the areas of artificial intelligence (AI) and digitisation. The Head of State during an address at an event held last week at the University of Guyana said that the advancement of both AI and digitisation can pose “immense threats” to the country’s “security apparatus.” “A sophisticated criminal or criminal network can build the same capacity and capability on a digitised platform or an AI platform as a government and give you the same level of service as a government. Now that is scary and that is where the world is going,” the President said. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Putin's fifth term as Russian president was predictable, but what comes next?
As predictions go, a Putin landslide was the easy one. No crystal ball or tea leaves required there. After all, in Russia the Kremlin tightly controls the political system, including elections. But what will Vladimir Putin do with his 87%? What will a fifth Putin term look like? Putin 5.0 may not be so different from Putin 4.0 Don't expect an "Abracadabra moment" where, with a wave of a magic wand, the hawk suddenly turns into a dove. Chances are that President Putin will continue along his current path of conflict abroad and crackdown at home. Read more here
18th March 2024