NEWS
PAHO: Indian covid19 situation will affect Covax
Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) assistant director Dr Jarbas Barbosa said the escalating covid19 infection rate in India will affect the number of vaccines which will be available through the Covax facility. He said the second delivery of Covax vaccines has begun, but PAHO will need to confirm the amounts available. The shortfall from AstraZeneca vaccines produced in India, he said, will be made up for by sharing the vaccines from other manufacturers among the countries which would have been receiving vaccines specifically from the Serum Institute of India. He said negotiations were ongoing with the Indian government about exporting vaccines from that country to fulfil Covax contracts. Read more here
Alexander appointed to head SORT, warns criminals
Superintendent Roger Alexander has been appointed new head of the Special Operations Response Team (SORT) and has promised to “bring a difference.” Alexander’s appointment was announced during yesterday’s T&T Police Service (TTPS) weekly media briefing by Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith. Griffith also revealed former head Mark Hernandez was immediately sent on suspension leave given the charges laid against him. Read more here
POLITICS
Senator slammed by CoP explains: 'Griffith didn't listen properly'
After Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith took Senator Paul Richards to task for comments on the under-reporting of gender-based violence, Richards has said the commissioner must not have been listening to him properly. Richards said contrary to the commissioner’s assertions, he at no time identified the police in their current state as complicit in the phenomenon of not following up on reports of gender-based violence. In fact, he praised the police for their new approach. Read more here
PM returns to Trinidad next week
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley plans to be back in Trinidad after the weekend. While the PM has had two negative COVID-19 tests and has been released from isolation, he said he is still in recovery mode and would remain in Tobago for the rest of this week. Dr Rowley told Guardian Media that he plans to take the time to “feel like himself again.” He said he planned to spend some time “recovering my balance and wild spaces”. Read more here
BUSINESS
No economic recovery without enough covid19 jabs
By now it should be clear – but it is worth repeating – that without an adequate supply of covid19 vaccinations, there is little hope of the economy reopening. Even with bodies such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicting a stronger economic recovery globally this year, recoveries are diverging dangerously between countries. As noted by the IMF’s chief economist Gita Gopinath, unlike this time last year, there is now a clear way out of the health and economic crisis: vaccinations. These, she believes, are likely to power recoveries in many countries in 2021. Read more here
Venture Credit Union’s Massive debt write off
Over $70 million of bad debt is set to be written off by Venture Credit Union as it attempts to be fully compliant with the international accounting standards for financial institutions. President of the Credit Union’s board of directors Hayden Ferreira explained that the debt had been accumulated on Venture Credit Union’s books for some time but it finally put measures in place to address it. “It’s really because a lot this debt is historic debt. Not two or three years ago, several years ago,” said Ferreira in a brief phone conversation with the Business Guardian. Read more here
REGIONAL
Blair, Persaud removed from GuyOil
As investigations continue into the alleged attempts by officials of the Guyana Oil Company Ltd. (GuyOil) to improperly engage a fuel supplier and solicit his services, President, Dr. Irfaan Ali, has ordered the removal of a Director of GuyOil, Akanni Blair and Company Secretary, Shawn Persaud. The Auditor General’s Office was called upon, on April 21, to conduct an urgent investigation of an issue related to GuyOil’s purchase of fuel from a company called Aaron Realty Inc. (ARI). According to reports, the proprietor of ARI, a fuel dealer, had claimed that he is now left with a large quantity of fuel on hand after alleged commitments from senior GuyOil officials that the company would buy it. The dealer had claimed that he has evidence of the commitments by officials of the company to purchase his fuel. Read more here
Kids, wife watch as dad slain
Johnross Morgan had been investing in a partner plan for weeks with dreams of starting a business to offer his family “a decent life”. But the very thing that was to be the route to the 29-year-old security guard’s independence cost him his life...Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
India's Covid-19 crisis is a problem for the world
There is a split scenario unfolding as the world battles the pandemic. In countries like the United States and the United Kingdom, jubilant, newly-vaccinated people hug their loved ones after a long period of separation. In India, distraught families count their dead. Sick people are being turned away from hospitals that have run out of beds and oxygen, as the number of new cases rises to record levels each day, creating a national crisis with global repercussions. The more the virus spreads, the more chances it has to mutate and create variants that could eventually resist current vaccines, threatening to undermine other countries' progress in containing the pandemic, experts warn. Read more here
Biden pitches 'once in a generation investment' to Congress
US President Joe Biden has laid out a sweeping investment plan for jobs, education and social care in his first speech to a joint session of Congress. Delivered on the eve of his 100th day in office, the Democrat pitched some $4 trillion (£2.9tn) in spending - the largest overhaul of US benefits since the 1960s, analysts say. He called it a "once in a generation investment in America itself". But the plans face a battle in Congress before they can become law. There has been widespread opposition to the proposals from the Republican Party, which is unlikely to back tax increases and more government spending. Read more here
29th April 2021