NEWS

Venezuela can’t determine TT policy

Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) leader David Abdulah said Venezuelans cannot determine what this country’s foreign policy should be. And that is a matter for the government of this country to deal with. His comments came in light of a march held in Port-of -Spain by a group of Venezuelan nationals living in TT to show their solidarity and support for Vanezuela’s Opposition leader Juan Guaido who has declared himself interim President of that country. Read more here

Tourists robbed, assaulted while sunbathing

To­ba­go po­lice are prob­ing the cir­cum­stances sur­round­ing the rob­bery and as­sault of a va­ca­tion­ing Cana­di­an cou­ple in Black Rock last Sat­ur­day. Ac­cord­ing to re­ports, Ian Rod­er­ick Mc Mullin, 63, and Neena Mc Mullin, 65, of New Brunswick, were sun­bathing at Grafton Beach when the in­ci­dent oc­curred. The cou­ple told po­lice they saw two men sit­ting a short dis­tance away but they lat­er fell asleep. How­ev­er, Mc Mullin said he was awok­en by his wife's screams and he saw a masked man, dressed in a hood­ie stand­ing over her. He was then hit in the face by an­oth­er man and the at­tack­ers both ran off. The ban­dits re­port­ed­ly stole the woman’s wal­let which con­tained US$15, Visa and Mas­ter cards and a cell­phone. Fol­low­ing the in­ci­dent, the Mc Mullins told po­lice they sub­se­quent­ly saw their at­tack­ers walk­ing away from them down the beach. Read more here

POLITICS

Stop the Privileges Committee

Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal will tomorrow seek an injunction stopping the Parliament's privileges committee from meeting also tomorrow to hear allegations that he committed a contempt of the House in October, last year. The injunction application will be heard in the San Fernando High Court by Justice Avason Quinlan. Moonilal is arguing that the committee is not properly constituted and is infected by bias. He says any hearing of the allegation against him would be illegal and any finding it makes against him, in its present constitution, would cause serious and irreparable damage to him. Read more here

PM hurt by Dragon Gas link to Maduro support

Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley has ac­cused the me­dia of in­sult­ing him by in­sin­u­at­ing that the Drag­on Gas deal is some­thing per­son­al be­tween him­self and Venezue­lan Pres­i­dent Nico­las Muduro. He made the com­ment yes­ter­day as he field­ed ques­tions from the me­dia dur­ing the first day of the En­er­gy Con­fer­ence at the Hy­att Re­gency ho­tel in Port-of-Spain. “You peo­ple in the me­dia and some ne’er-do-wells in Trinidad and To­ba­go have been mak­ing this ap­pear as if it is some­thing per­son­al be­tween Maduro and me and I think you all are in­sult­ing me as Prime Min­is­ter of Trinidad and To­ba­go and in­sult­ing your coun­try,” Row­ley said. Read more here

BUSINESS

50 interested in Petrotrin refinery

The Pointe-a-Pierre oil refinery could reopen in the coming months. This is according to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley. Rowley said yesterday that a request for proposal (RFP) was being finalised for release to the international energy industry. Read more here

REGIONAL

MP Stabbed 20 Times - Investigators Still Piecing Together Bloomfield Murder Clues

Senior detectives probing the killing of two-term member of parliament (MP) for Eastern Portland, Dr Lynvale Bloomfield, are reportedly following strong leads. A bloodied black vest was recovered along a pathway about 200 metres from the MP’s home, where his body was discovered on Saturday, was sent to the forensic lab for testing. Additionally, investigators are trying to locate Bloomfield’s main cell phone, which has also been reported missing. Another phone belonging to the MP was recovered at the house, along with items of jewellery. Read more here

INTERNATIONAL

Paris fire: Ten dead and many injured at apartment block

Ten people including a baby have died in a fire at an eight-storey building in south-western Paris, fire service officials say. More than 30 people - including six firefighters - were injured. One person is in a serious condition. Fifty people were evacuated by ladders from the blaze in the upmarket 16th arrondissement. The Paris prosecutor says it may have been deliberately started. Police have detained a female suspect. French President Emmanuel Macron said that the country "had woken up to tragedy", and praised the fire services for their courage. Rue Erlanger is a popular street close to the Parc des Princes soccer stadium. Read more here

Sold to An Ally, Lost to an Enemy

Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners have transferred American-made weapons to al Qaeda-linked fighters, hardline Salafi militias, and other factions waging war in Yemen, in violation of their agreements with the United States, a CNN investigation has found. The weapons have also made their way into the hands of Iranian-backed rebels battling the coalition for control of the country, exposing some of America's sensitive military technology to Tehran and potentially endangering the lives of US troops in other conflict zones. Read more here

5th February 2019

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