Daily Brief - Monday 26th August, 2019

NEWS

Pregnant woman Chopped

A 39-year-old woman, who was four months pregnant, was chopped to death early Sunday morning by a 19-year-old close male relative. The teen is in police custody assisting with the investigation. The woman’s aunt, Rhoda Mack, was also stabbed in the head, neck and back and was taken to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mt Hope. She is in stable condition. When Newsday visited the home of Alistra Mack-Kampo, also known as Roxanne Mack, at Las Lomas, Chin Chin Road, Cunupia, relatives were sitting under a tent talking about the killing and trying to console each other. Read more here

 

POLITICS

PM expected home today

The Prime Minister is scheduled to return to TT on Monday from talks in Barbados, confirmed Allyson West, Minister of Public Administration and Minister in the Ministry of Finance. She had accompanied Dr Rowley to Barbados, along with Energy Minister Franklin Khan, where both countries signed an energy MOU. “Most of the contingent came back. The Prime Minister is still there,” West told Newsday on Sunday. Asked if the impending tropical storm could affect his return, she said, “I have not heard about any impact on his travel plans. According to his itinerary, he is due back on Monday.” Read more here

 

BUSINESS

MASSY improves, AMCL stumbles

This week, we at Bourse review the financial performance of two major conglomerates listed on the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange, Massy Holdings Ltd (MASSY) and Ansa McAL Ltd (AMCL). Despite a decline in revenue, MASSY’s overall performance improved due to cost containment and one-off gains from the divestment of its security business operations. Conversely, costs associated with AMCL’s acquisition and restructuring efforts would have offset the impact of its top line growth. Read more here

 

REGIONAL

Kids Abused In Special Ed - CISOCA Data Show Disabled Children Face Sexual, Physical Assault In School

Many children with disabilities (CWDs) are being sexually and physically abused by persons inside the special education facilities that they attend, according to the Centre for Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse (CISOCA). The Gleaner has learnt, through CISOCA, that young girls under the age of 16 appear to be particularly vulnerable to sexual abuse by predators, and some children have even been buggered inside these facilities. The level of abuse that is meted out to CWDs is usually lost in the overall statistics that are normally presented by the police and child-services agencies. This in a country where the sexual and physical abuse of children is generally rampant, with thousands of such cases being reported annually. Read more here

 

INTERNATIONAL

'All you can see is death.' The regions reeling from the Amazon rainforest fires

The smoke is so thick, at times the Cessna airplane had to climb to stay out of it. At times your eyes burn and you close the air vents to keep the cabin habitable. Sometimes it is so bad, it is hard to see how bad it actually is on the ground below. Flying above the Amazon's worst afflicted state (during last week), Rondonia, is exhausting mostly because of the endless scale of the devastation. At first, smoke disguised the constant stream of torched fields, and copses; of winding roads that weaved into nothing but ash. Below, the orange specks of a tiny fire might still rage, but much of the land appeared a mausoleum of the forest that once graced it. "This is not just a forest that is burning," said Rosana Villar of Greenpeace, who helped CNN arrange its flight over the damaged and burning areas. "This is almost a cemetery. Because all you can see is death." Read more here

Trump says US and China to resume trade talks

President Donald Trump has said the US and China will "very shortly" resume trade talks after a weekend of escalating tension with Beijing. "China called last night... said let's get back to the table. So we'll be getting back to the table," he said. On Friday Mr Trump sharply hiked tariffs on billions of dollars of Chinese imports in retaliation for fresh duties from Beijing. China has yet to comment but earlier called for "calm" to resolve the row. Mr Trump sent out conflicting messages over the weekend, at first appearing to express regret about the latest tariffs, only for the White House to retract his comments on Sunday. Read more here

26th August 2019

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