NEWS
CoP: Police to monitor reopened restaurants, exercise
Police Commissioner Gary Griffith said the police will be altering their operational plans and strategies to keep up with changes in the public health regulations. As of Monday, the rules now allow the sale of food at restaurants and outdoor exercise in groups of up to five. Speaking with Newsday, Griffith said to meet the changes in activities, the police would focus on foot patrols to monitor and ensure adherence to the regulations. Read more here…
Petrotrin pension plan in deficit
MOST members of the Petrotrin Employees Pension Plan are in danger of not receiving their full pension benefits due to a $1.6 billion deficit in the plan.
President-General of the Oilfield Workers’ Trade Union, Ancel Roget, said those in danger include employees who retired before the closure of Petrotrin in November 2018, those who attained the age of retirement after the closure as well as those who are yet to attain the age of retirement. Read more here…
POLITICS
PNM wants charged councillor to quit
Council members of the Sangre Grande Regional Corporation (SGRC) are calling for the immediate resignation of UNC councillor for Cumuto/Tamana, Anil Maharaj, in light of the criminal charge laid against him.
In the interim, three motions, including one of no confidence, have been filed for Maharaj’s removal at the corporation. Read more here…
Drive-through jabs
The Wallerfield race track in Cumuto has been turned into a drive-through Covid-19 vaccination site for the public and will be operationalised from tomorrow, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh announced yesterday.
The site is being managed by the North Central Regional Health Authority (NCRHA). Read more here…
BUSINESS
KFC opens 60th restaurant in most penetrated market
After an unplanned delay of more than two months, Prestige Holdings finally had the opportunity to open its 60th Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant at Xtra Plaza, Guiaco, Sangre Grande.
CEO Simon Hardy said the restaurant was set to be open in April, but Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley’s announcement that restaurants would be shut down as a COVID-19 precautionary measure put the launch on pause. Read more here…
JMMB’s profits fall for Q1 2021
Jamaica Money Market Brokers (Trinidad and Tobago) Ltd has recorded a profit of $6.7 million for the year ended March 31, 2021. Profit for the comparative period in 2020 was $16.7 million.
“In terms of financial performance, like many others in the industry, JMMB’s 2020/21 performance in T&T has shown a decline compared to prior years on account of lower revenues and higher impairment losses in the commercial and retail banking business line as well as our investment and portfolio management operations,” its chairman Archibald Campbell stated. Read more here…
REGIONAL
New licences for quarrying
WITH an accelerated housing programme, massive highways, and community roads to be developed, Guyana’s quarrying industry will no longer be able to take a backseat among the productive sectors, but rather be efficiently exploited for local consumption and progressive projects. Read more here…
INTERNATIONAL
A day of reckoning shows America's pandemic battle is sliding backward
If Joe Biden's July Fourth fireworks marked a moment to declare the darkest days of the pandemic over, Monday was the day when reality dawned that the nation's fight against Covid-19 is quickly sliding back in the wrong direction. A hybrid version of American life that will pass for normality for the foreseeable future is coming into view, in which most of the vaccinated live and many of those who refuse their shots get sick or die. Read more here…
Covid: Boris Johnson resisted autumn lockdown as only over-80s dying - Dominic Cumming
Boris Johnson was reluctant to tighten Covid restrictions as cases rose last autumn because he thought people dying from it were "essentially all over 80", Dominic Cummings has claimed. He also said the prime minister had messaged him to say: "I no longer buy all this NHS overwhelmed stuff." Read more here…
20th July 2021