NEWS

Lake Asphalt to market UWI plastic cement, primer

Building upon its strategic goal of creating an entrepreneurial university with a diversified revenue base, The UWI, St Augustine campus last week signed a licence agreement with Lake Asphalt of Trinidad and Tobago to commercialise two asphalt-based products developed by The UWI – “UWI Plastic Cement” and “UWI Primer.” “For several years, Lake Asphalt has walked this road with us and has now taken the bold step of partnering with us in commercialising technology developed on this Campus,” said St Augustine campus Principal Professor Brian Copeland as he commended Lake Asphalt on their strengthened partnership with The UWI. Read more here

Mother begs for justice for murdered sons

“Who kill my chil­dren?” wailed Gee­ta See­bran, 64, out­side the San Fer­nan­do High Court on Mon­day short­ly af­ter a Point Fortin man was found not guilty of the 2005 mur­ders of her two sons, Neil and Nigel See­bran. The pros­e­cu­tion’s case was that four years af­ter the mur­ders Ka­reem Guade­loupe con­fessed to the po­lice the role he played in the mur­ders. At his tri­al, he claimed the po­lice tricked him in­to sign­ing a con­fes­sion state­ment on the be­lief that he would be al­lowed to go home to his fam­i­ly. Read more here

POLITICS

‘Progressives’ to go after all viable seats

Nikolai Edwards, political leader of the country’s newest political party, the Progressive Party, says they will contest every viable constituency in the 2020 General Election. “The Progressives shall contest the 2020 general election in each and every constituency that is viable. We are not here to play games and that has been our reality for far too long. This is a serious party with serious supporters that is serious about the people of our country,” he said at the party’s launch at the Harris Promenade Amphitheatre, San Fernando on Sunday. Read more here

Paula-Mae to get $1.4m pension

T&T Pres­i­dent Paula-Mae Weekes will stand to col­lect a pen­sion of $1.4m an­nu­al­ly un­der Gov­ern­ment’s pro­posed pen­sion amend­ments, UNC Sen­a­tor Wade Mark said yes­ter­day. He said the Op­po­si­tion had cal­cu­lat­ed the ben­e­fits to be ac­crued un­der the pen­sion amend­ment pro­posed by Gov­ern­ment for in­creased pen­sions for the Prime Min­is­ter, Pres­i­dent, judges and leg­is­la­tors. This was part of the pack­age of amend­ments pre­sent­ed in the Sen­ate yes­ter­day. It in­volved the Tax amnesty along with amend­ments to laws on pen­sions NIS, Free­dom of In­for­ma­tion, Cen­tral Bank and Non-Prof­it or­gan­i­sa­tions. It was passed in the Low­er House last week. Read more here

BUSINESS

The time for social justice is now

On the eve of Labour Day the Gen­er­al Sec­re­tary of the Na­tion­al Trade Union Cen­tre (NATUC) Michael An­nisette has said the time for so­cial jus­tice is now. An­nisette is cur­rent­ly rep­re­sent­ing “Labour” at the 108th Ses­sion of the In­ter­na­tion­al Labour Con­fer­ence be­ing held in Gene­va, Switzer­land, from June 10 – 21, 2019. He forms part of the Trinidad and To­ba­go del­e­ga­tion, com­pris­ing the Gov­ern­ment, Em­ploy­er and Labour. Read more here

Withdraw Clause 7 amendment of FOIA

Review the pensions of all public officers.  And withdraw the Clause 7 amendment of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). These calls were made by Independent Senator Charisse Seepersad on the Government yesterday as she contributed to the debate on the Miscellaneous Provisions Amendment Act in the Senate. Read more here

REGIONAL

$32b Demand - Venezuelans Seek Hefty Compensation For Petrojam Takeover

Venezuelan oil subsidiary PDV Caribe is demanding that the Government of Jamaica (GOJ) pay a minimum of US$50 million (J$6.5 billion) in core share value as compensation for the forcible takeover of its 49 per cent stake in the local refinery, Petrojam. But The Gleaner understands that the claim includes supplementary add-ons in relation to dividends and prospective value that could bring the total compensation package sought to US$250 million (J$32.5 billion). The Jamaican Government’s initial offer of US$40 million was rejected by Venezuela and a later proposal of US$50 million also refused. Read more here

INTERNATIONAL

They wanted a son so much they made their daughter live as a boy

At first glance, 13-year-old Mangal Karimy could be any boy living in a small village in western Afghanistan, hauling firewood and feeding cattle on his father's farm. Silently he hurries between chores -- a slight figure in luminous white trainers, lugging jerry cans of water across barren fields. Until the age of two, Mangal was Madina, one of seven daughters chosen by her parents to live as a boy under an Afghan tradition called "bacha posh," a Dari term that translates to "dressed as a boy." For as long as Mangal can remember, he tucks his long hair under a woolen cap, pulls on his jacket and trousers and helps his father tend their wheat and dairy farm in the snow-capped village of Sanjoor, in Herat province. Read more here

Hong Kong protests: Carrie Lam sorry for extradition controversy

Hong Kong's leader Carrie Lam has apologised for an extradition bill that sparked mass protests, acknowledging it is now "unlikely" it will pass. Millions have taken to the streets against the proposals, which would allow extradition to mainland China. Protesters have been calling for the bill to be withdrawn and for Mrs Lam to resign. Her speech did not promise either, but she said the bill would not be revived until people's fears were addressed. Hong Kong has been part of China since 1997 under the "one country, two systems" principle, which allows it freedoms not seen on mainland China. Read more here

18th June 2019

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