NEWS

WOW prepares 100 for employment

The Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Division of Sport and Youth Affairs has celebrated the successful end to its 2019 World of Work (WOW) Programme. One hundred trainees received their certificates for participation in the tenth cycle of the programme on Thursday, at the Ann Mitchell-Gift Auditorium of the Scarborough Library. The programme is designed to help students between the ages of 16 and 18 prepare for employment opportunities, and comprised of a week of skills training, a day of interviews and a month of hands-on work experience. Read more here

Tassa Association unhappy with Carifesta recognition

The Min­istry of Cul­ture has been crit­i­cised by the Tas­sa As­so­ci­a­tion of T&T (TATT) over the treat­ment of tas­sa mu­sic at the re­cent­ly held Car­ifes­ta XIV fes­ti­val in Port-of-Spain. Speak­ing on Sat­ur­day night when the as­so­ci­a­tion held its an­nu­al Na­tion­al Tas­sara­ma Com­pe­ti­tion at the Gilbert Park, Cou­va, vice-pres­i­dent Wen­dell Ever­s­ley, said he was un­hap­py at the small use of tas­sa. He told the hun­dreds pack­ing the venue that tas­sa was be­ing treat­ed like a ‘bas­tard child’ by the gov­ern­ment. Ever­s­ley said tas­sa was blanked at the re­cent­ly held Car­ifes­ta be­cause of what he called, the fail­ings of the Min­is­ter and Min­istry of Cul­ture. “I call on shame of the Min­is­ter of Cul­ture to­day be­cause you can­not say you are the Min­is­ter of Cul­ture and just as you have steel­pan as the na­tion­al in­stru­ment, tas­sa is the sec­ond na­tion­al in­stru­ment of T&T. We can­not con­tin­ue be­ing dis­re­spect­ed,” Ever­s­ley said. Read more here

POLITICS

No hope for TT

There is no hope on the horizon for TT with the present Government. This was the view of president general of the Oilfield Workers Trade Union (OWTU) Ancel Roget as he spoke on the state of the country, while condemning the arrest and laying of a sedition charge against Public Services Association president Watson Duke. Speaking at the Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) headquarters at Lord Street, San Fernando, on Saturday, Roget said after 57 years of independence there was now a “creeping dictatorship” where no one can speak out against the mal-performance, corruption and nepotism of the Government. Read more here

Moonilal: Claims of arrest an act of terror

Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Mooni­lal says he has com­mu­ni­cat­ed to the po­lice, an “act of ter­ror” against him in the form of a so­cial me­dia post stat­ing the im­mi­nent ar­rest of him­self and for­mer HDC man­ag­ing di­rec­tor Jear­lean John. Ac­cord­ing to Mooni­lal, the post by the site, 4TT news, was drawn to his at­ten­tion by a col­league, ear­ly on In­de­pen­dence Day. It read: “Break­ing: Im­mi­nent ar­rests of for­mer Hous­ing Min­is­ter Roodal Mooni­lal and for­mer HDC Man­ag­ing Di­rec­tor Jear­lean John.”
In a re­sponse yes­ter­day, Mooni­lal said this caused im­mea­sur­able trau­ma to his fam­i­ly, friends and con­stituents. Read more here

BUSINESS

NGL earnings lower

This week, we at Bourse take a look at the financial performance of Trinidad and Tobago NGL Limited (NGL) for the six-month period ended June 30th, 2019. NGL is the only stock listed on the local exchange’s Energy sector. The overall financial performance of PPGPL and by extension, NGL has been a function of not only global commodity prices but also its production and export levels. We review the performance of NGL and consider the outlook for the company below. Read more here

REGIONAL

‘A True Gentleman’ - Politicians Salute Ken Baugh As Former Deputy PM Passes

Colleagues across the political divide yesterday saluted Dr Kenneth Baugh as a man whose stature transcended politics and who dedicated his life to uplifting his countrymen. The 78-year-old former deputy prime minister, member of parliament (MP) and medical doctor passed away at 10:05 a.m. yesterday following a period of illness. He represented the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) for 35 years before retiring from representational politics in 2016 because of ill-health. Prime Minister Andrew Holness hailed his former Cabinet colleague as a “true gentleman of Jamaican politics” who contributed tremendously to the development of Jamaica. Read more here

INTERNATIONAL

UK minister refuses to rule out ignoring law preventing no-deal Brexit

A British Cabinet minister has refused to confirm that the government would abide by any law preventing a no-deal Brexit if one is forced through Parliament this week. Questioned on Sunday about what the government would do if attempts in Parliament by the opposition were successful to prevent the UK exiting the European Union without a deal, Michael Gove told the BBC's Andrew Marr: "You're asking me about a pig in a poke and I will wait to see what legislation the opposition may try to bring forward. "For me, the most important thing is to bear in mind actually, we already have legislation in place which an overwhelming majority of MPs voted for." Read more here

Hong Kong protests: Students boycott class on first day back

Thousands of secondary school and university students have boycotted classes in Hong Kong, in the latest pro-democracy protests. Organisers say 10,000 pupils from 200 secondary schools did not turn up for the first day for the new school year. The student action comes on the same day as a call for a broad two-day strike and large rally. Protests over the weekend saw some of the worst violence in weeks between protesters and police. On Saturday, protesters three petrol bombs, lit fires and attacked the city's parliament building while police used tear gas, rubber bullets, water cannons and fired live warning shots. Read more here

2nd September 2019

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