NEWS
No disasters in north, east Trinidad despite days of rain
Regional corporations are reporting a few landslides and mild flooding in east Trinidad after three days of bad weather. Chairman of the Tunapuna/Piarco Regional Corporation Kwesi Robinson told Newsday on Monday morning there had been reports of landslide and flooding between Friday and Sunday. Read more here
MoH waits on autopsy for man who died on repatriation flight
The Ministry of Health is awaiting the autopsy result on the Trinidadian national who died aboard a repatriation flight from New York on Saturday. In response to a question during yesterday’s virtual press conference, Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram said the autopsy was being performed in Puerto Rico, where the flight was diverted after it left New York bound for T&T, to determine the cause of the man’s death. Read more here
POLITICS
Committee to review Patriotic’s proposal
The evaluation committee appointed by Cabinet to evaluate the request for proposals for the sale of the Pointe-a-Pierre refinery has been instructed by the Prime Minister to review the latest position of Patriotic Energies and Technologies Company and the government. The instruction came two days after the October 31 deadline for the OWTU-owned company to submit its final proposal sent on Thursday last week. Government, on Saturday, rejected the proposal. Read more here
PNM party groups ask THA nominee to resign
There was silence yesterday from Tobago People’s National Movement (PNM) hierarchy on the ongoing saga between the party’s Scarborough/Calder Hall group and their nominated candidate Marslyn Melville-Jack, who has been chosen to contest next year’s Tobago House of Assembly (THA) election. Three of the five-party groups in the electoral district have petitioned the island council over the choice of Melville-Jack and copied it to the general council, asking that Melville-Jack’s nomination be revoked and Dr Denise Tsoiafatt-Angus be nominated instead. Read more here
BUSINESS
Nestlé T&T launches paper straws campaign
As part of global efforts to make 100 per cent of packaging either recyclable or reusable by the year 2025, Nestlé T&T Limited has ceased production using plastic straws, and transitioned to the use of sustainably sourced paper straws across its entire range of ready-to-drink juice and dairy products. In a release, Patricio Torres, Nestlé Head of Market for the Anglo Dutch Caribbean Region (ADC) noted that this was not an easy job, especially given the challenges faced in 2020 within the context of COVID-19. He indicated that as a team, Nestlé kept its commitment to deliver the best product not just for consumers, but for the planet. Read more here
Jamaican insurer launches in T&T
General Accident Insurance Trinidad and Tobago (GenAc TT) officially launched its rebranded operations here yesterday, following its acquisition of a local insurance company last year. Read more here
REGIONAL
AG writes SOCU, CID for criminal investigation into land distribution
Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, has written to the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), officially requesting a criminal investigation into the distribution of state lands by the former A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) administration. Read more here
'Untidy'... Yallahs Principal In The Dark After School Selected For Face-To-Face Pilot
Principal of the Yallahs High School in St Thomas, Mark Malabver has described as untidy the government’s approach to the pilot programme for the resumption of face-to-face classes. The school is among 16 in nine parishes that the Education Ministry named on Sunday for the two-week pilot programme set to begin on Monday, November 9. However, Malabver said he remained in the dark, as, up to Monday, he had not been contacted by the ministry about the involvement of his school. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Trump's final campaign pitch is a false warning of 'cheating' in Pennsylvania
President Donald Trump closed out his bid for a second term with a false warning that "cheating" in the key state of Pennsylvania could lead to violence in the streets. It was his latest attempt to tarnish the integrity of an election clash with Democrat Joe Biden that nearly 100 million Americans have already validated by casting early votes in the middle of the pandemic. Trump's inflammatory behavior threatened to exacerbate already fraught national tensions amid fears of civil unrest that prompted businesses in some cities to board up their premises. Trump will spend Election Night behind a high iron fence that is now ringing the White House. Read more here
US election 2020: Three election headlines you could wake up to
So we've finally got here. That bit in an Olympic marathon where the runners enter the stadium for the last 400 metres on the track, straining aching muscles and tired bodies to sprint to the finish. It's been an extraordinary, sometimes unsettling, certainly unimaginable (who had global pandemic on their bingo card?) election campaign and trying to figure out what happens next it is all crystal clear to me. Read more here
3rd November 2020