NEWS
NGO gives scholarships to deaf children
The TT Association for the Hearing Impaired (TTAHI) has recognised the need for greater emphasis to be placed on deaf pride in deaf culture. So said one of its directors, Dr Renée Figuera, at a scholarship distribution ceremony yesterday at the RBC Hospitality Suite, Queen's Park Oval. She said there were limited role models from the deaf community in the public domain to whom deaf people can turn and who represent achievements in life, adding that it is difficult to emulate such achievements. Read more here
Ex-FBI agent to lead TTPS’ anti-gang unit
A crack-shot team of anti-crime experts has been hired by a business lobby group to assist the T&T Police Service in dismantling and prosecuting criminal gangs who have been linked to the majority of murders in the country. Leading the charge is former Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) Special Agent Robert Clark, who has been credited with bringing Los Angeles’ burgeoning gang wars to a halt in 2014 with his unique initiatives. Clark was hired by a group of private-sector business people — The T&T Citizens Alliance Against Crime — seven months ago to partner with the TTPS. The T&T Chamber of Commerce, along with several NGOs and private sector companies, are members of this group which was formed in December 2018. Read more here
POLITICS
THA commits to reviving agriculture
Tobago is working assiduously to position its agriculture sector as a major driver within TT’s economy. According to Kelvin Charles, the Chief Secretary of the Tobago House of Assembly, agriculture will present a significant economic opportunity in the education and tourism sectors. He said, “Some of you are unaware that Tobago at one time was the food basket of Trinidad, and the assembly remains committed to reviving the robust and pragmatic industry we once had, whereby to increase our agriculture output.” Read more here
Young sides with CoP: Some firearm offenders get off too easy
Debate on the Firearms (Amendment) Bill will be completed when Parliament resumes in September and it will address part of Police Commissioner Gary Griffith’s concerns about the need for stiffer penalties for firearms offences, says National Security Minister Stuart Young. But Young also says Griffith was right that judicial officers needed to sentence with a degree of conformity. Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi also said on Wednesday, Griffith’s concerns about firearms offences have provided real examples of the rationale which Al-Rawi himself had used in piloting the Firearms Bill recently. Read more here
BUSINESS
Growing the citrus industry
It was once not uncommon to go outside and pick an orange from a tree, peel and suck all of its Vitamin C goodness. Or to see market stalls tumbling over with a range of citrus fruits, from orange to grapefruit to portugal, depending on the season. Read more here
BHP approves $3b Ruby & Delaware T&T project
The board of Australian outfit BHP has approved its more than $3 billion Ruby and Delaware project in T&T. The company today announced the decision to go ahead with the project which it expects will add 16,000 barrels of oil to T&T’s crude production, or at current levels increase the country’s total production by 27 per cent. It noted that its contribution to the project will be $1.92 billion with the other $1.08 billion coming from Stare-owned Heritage Petroleum and National Gas Company. In a release on the company’s website it said: “The project has estimated recoverable 2C resources of 13.2 million barrels of oil and 274 billion cubic feet of natural. First production is expected in the 2021 calendar year and is estimated to increase production by 16,000 barrels of oil per day (bop/d) and 80 million standard cubic feet per day (MMscf/d) gross at its peak.” Read more here
REGIONAL
‘I Was Late’ - Holness Says He Could Release Declarations Himself If Delay Persists; Opposition Threatens Court Action
Prime Minister Andrew Holness has signalled that he could release his 2018 statutory declarations by the end of the week if the Integrity Commission does not publish the documents. The prime minister made the statement amid mounting pressure for the Integrity Commission to provide an explanation for its failure to gazette the declarations as mandated by law. “I am hopeful that before the week is out, the Integrity Commission will make public my declarations. If not, I will have to possibly do it myself,” Holness said yesterday. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
In seeking to control Kashmir, Modi may look to China's actions in Xinjiang and Tibet
The gleaming white bullet train whips through the Chinese countryside, past endless construction sites and new towns. This is Xinjiang, where thousands of kilometers of rail have connected one of China's most remote areas to the country's wealthy center and east coast, bringing with it billions of dollars in investment and hundreds of thousands of tourists. It's also pulled the region closer and closer, increasing government control and cracking down on any suggestion that Xinjiang, which has a history of independent and autonomous rule, could break away from China. That has involved a two-pronged approach of increased investment, along with greater migration by Han Chinese, who have become the majority in some areas, particularly urban centers, and massively skewed the demographics of the region in Beijing's favor. Read more here
Plant-based diet can fight climate change - UN
8th August 2019