NEWS
Triple murder leaves family confused
Relatives of the youngsters who became this country's first triple murder victims on Sunday, have told Newsday they remain baffled as to why anyone would want the three dead. Police said that at 4.50 pm, officers received a report of gunshots in Boy's Lane, D'Abadie and later found the three teens dead. Read more here
Customs and Excise officers seize $8m in ganja
Customs and Excise officers have seized some $8 million in marijuana at the Port of Port-of-Spain and at TTPost's Piarco branch. In a release on Monday, the Customs and Excise Division said its officers had seized a large quantity of marijuana at a transit shed on the Port of PoS. The release said around 1 pm, officers were conducting routine examinations on imported cargo when they discovered 28.88 kilogrammes of a plant-like substance resembling high-grade marijuana with an estimated street value of TT$8.664 million. The cargo consisted of 18 packets wrapped in black plastic and had been concealed in a false compartment in a large wooden crate. The cargo wes imported from Ontario, Canada. Read more here
POLITICS
$1.93b suspicious transactions in 2022
Finance Minister Colm Imbert said the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) reported a total of 958 suspicious transaction reports/suspicious activity reports (STRs/SARs) at the end of September 2022, with a total monetary value of $1,937,211,057. The activities related to these reports were tax evasion, fraud, money laundering and drug trafficking. While there was general compliance local with measures to combat money laundering and terrorist financing for this period, there was an increase in requests from foreign law enforcement agencies and FIUs with the local FIU for cooperation on these matters. Read more here
PM: Wind T&T’s best bet in renewable energy sector
While Trinidad and Tobago’s immediate future remains with the hydrocarbon market, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said yesterday that both solar and wind energy were programmes were in the works, with wind being recommended as the better option for this country. Rowley made the comment yesterday as he addressed the Energy Conference at the Hyatt Regency in Port-of-Spain. Rowley said with respect to the discussion on renewables, the Roadmap for a Green Economy in T&T determined that offshore wind was our best bet. And so, he said an assessment will be undertaken to determine the best locations for wind farms. Read more here
BUSINESS
Energy ministers say regional collaboration is key
Guyana is currently experiencing the “most exciting period” in its history with oil production anticipated to reach over one million barrels a day in the next four years, Guyana’s Natural Resources Minister, Vickram Bharrat told the Sunday Business Guardian. “Presently we are producing on average 380,000 barrels per day. Our third FPSO (Floating production storage and offloading) -Prosperity-, should be in Guyana waters in my estimation mid-2023 for start-up and production late third or early fourth quarter this year and with that third FPSO it will take production to a minimum of 560,000 barrels a day,” Bharrat said. “We have already signed a fourth production license that is Yellow Tail, that is under construction and that should be here in 2025 and that will take us up to, in my estimation, close 900,000 a barrel a day in 2025,” Bharrat said. Read more here
Low-cost electricity challenges green transition
The prevailing low cost of electricity in Trinidad and Tobago poses a challenge to the transition to renewable energy sources. So said Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley as he addressed the 2023 Trinidad and Tobago Energy Conference at the Hyatt Regency yesterday. Noting that the country is at an early stage in the development of a renewable energy industry, the Prime Minister challenged the Ministry of Energy to move quickly to bring more renewable energy projects on stream. Read more here
REGIONAL
Aggressive exploration of region’s natural gas potential needed to ensure energy security
PRESIDENT, Dr. Irfaan Ali, on Monday, urged policymakers in the Caribbean to be realistic about renewable energy ambitions and to consider that countries may have to use natural gas to facilitate their energy transition. He was at the time delivering the feature address at the Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) Energy Conference which was held at the Hyatt Regency in Port of Spain. He told the gathering that while there is an energy plan, the gestation period between the development of the plan and the approval of the plan requires a revision since it took some six years to formulate, and a lot has occurred since then. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
North Korea issues 'extreme cold' weather alert
North Korean authorities have warned of extreme weather conditions in the country as a cold wave sweeps the Korean peninsula. Temperatures are likely to dip below -30C in the northern regions, which are also the poorest part of the country, the state radio broadcaster said. Coastal areas are also expected to see high winds, according to state media. South Korea too has issued a cold wave warning and northern China has been experiencing record low temperatures. Temperatures are also expected to drop to their lowest in a decade in Japan this week. While North Korea has been affected by extreme or adverse weather much like other places, little is known about the impact of this on its people. Read more here
24th January 2023