NEWS
Signal Hill Sec student wins tourism debate competition
Signal Hill Secondary’s J’Nae Brathwaite is the 2022 Tobago Tourism Youth Congress Junior Secretary. The annual debate competition featured eight participants discussing innovative ideas on improving the tourism industry. Brathwaite, who earned 375 points, will represent Tobago at the 2022 Caribbean Tourism Youth Congress, in the Cayman Islands, from September 12-15. Read more here
T&T reels from another bloody weekend
A 51-year-old man was stabbed to death by a close male relative in Laventille and two men were killed and one wounded in a shooting in Cocorite between Saturday night and yesterday morning. These latest three killings and two more in south Trinidad raised the number of citizens killed over the weekend, including police-involved shootings, to 18, as the country continued to reel from the latest spate of violent crimes. The latest series of killings began with the murder of Dexter Benjamin on Saturday night. According to reports, around 7.50 pm, Benjamin was at his Chocolate Alley, Sogren Trace, Laventille home, when he had an argument which quickly became violent with his 35-year-old relative. Read more here
POLITICS
Energy, agriculture high on Caricom agenda in Suriname
Caricom is optimistic about making headway on energy and food security issues when its leaders meet in Suriname on for their 43rd regular meeting from Sunday to Tuesday. TT is expected to play a pivotal role in both of these matters which feature prominently within the broader agenda for the three day meeting. Addressing a news conference in Paramaribo on the upcoming meeting, Caricom-Secretary General Dr Carla Barnett said ongoing Russian military action in the Ukraine is having a negative impact on global energy supplies and contributing to fuel price increases in many countries. Read more here
Opposition MP accuses Prime Minister of attacking legal fraternity
The Member of Parliament for Chaguanas West says Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley should know better than to attack the Law Association. That’s the assessment of Dinesh Rambally MP, who has issued a media statement on the matter. “This unwarranted attack by Prime Minister Rowley on the entire legal fraternity was no less than an attempt to intimidate the Legal Profession into abandoning the request of its members to hold a special general meeting to discuss the misconduct of Attorney General Reginald Armour S.C.,” the MP wrote in the release, which he issued shortly after the Prime Minister’s media conference on Saturday. The Chaguanas West MP also fielded questions from reporters on Sunday in his constituency, while he attended the opening of a cricket coaching camp at the Invaders Recreation Ground, Felicity. Read more here
BUSINESS
First Citizens eyes Jamaica/Guyana to set up bank
Having failed to acquire Scotiabank’s assets in Guyana, state-owned First Citizens now says it is open to applying for banking licenses in both Guyana and Jamaica and opening brick and mortar banks there, as it tries to grow beyond T&T. The bank’s chief executive officer Karen Darbasie held a presentation on Thursday for the business editors of the three daily newspapers in which she made the disclosure. She was asked specifically if First Citizens was prepared to apply for a license and start from scratch a new bank in those countries. Read more here
Young: T&T to boost LNG, fertiliser output
Energy Minister Stuart Young told a conference in Suriname last week that Trinidad and Tobago will be able to increase its production of LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) and fertilisers if the United States were to ease its sanctions on Venezuela. Speaking at the second Suriname Energy, Oil and Gas Summit & Exhibition (SEOGS) in Paramaribo on Tuesday, Young did not mention either the US or Venezuela by name, but he was clearly referring to the Dragon field between that is located in Venezuelan waters to the north of Trinidad. Read more here
REGIONAL
Guyana to assist T&T in aromatic rice production, Barbados in aquaculture
The Government of Guyana will soon send a team of technical agricultural personnel to Trinidad and Tobago to assist in that country’s production of aromatic rice, Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha has said. Minister Mustapha in an exclusive interview with the Guyana Chronicle, said that there are currently several ongoing collaborations among Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Barbados. He said before the end of July, Guyana’s Chief Scientist/Plant Breeder at the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB), Dr Mahendra Persaud, will travel to the twin-island republic and lead the technical team from Guyana. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Copenhagen shooting: Gunman charged in court with murder
A 22-year-old man suspected of killing three people at a shopping centre in Denmark's capital Copenhagen has been charged with murder. Two Danish citizens, both aged 17, and a 47-year-old Russian citizen were killed in Sunday's attack. Police said the suspect had mental health issues and there is no indication of a terror motive. He had a rifle and a knife and his shooting was random - "not motivated by gender or anything else" - they said. The suspect appeared in front of a court in a blue T-shirt accompanied by three heavily armed officers, Danish media report. Read more here
4th July 2022