NEWS
Heritage Petroleum cleans oil spill near Vessigny
An open valve on a Heritage Petroleum Company Ltd crude oil tank led to approximately 318 liters of oil spilling into nearby watercourses, a release to the media said. Heritage said they are now in the process of cleaning the watercourse. The release said it was alerted to the leak by a video circulating on social media, showing oil in a watercourse near its AV106 well site in Vessigny, La Brea. Read more here
Hero firefighter drowns while saving relatives
After his brother drowned as a child, fire officer Stephen Marcano never liked bathing in the sea and didn’t know how to swim. But when he saw his niece being swept away by strong currents at Mayaro on Sunday, he ran into the water to save her and drowned. Marcano, 39, who was last attached to the Savonetta Fire Station, was celebrating his wife’s 31st birthday with family and friends at the beach at Vicks Avenue, Guayaguayare. Read more here
POLITICS
AG denies hiring wife's law firm
Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi has denied hiring his wife’s law firm to file a formal response on behalf of the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) to the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha which recently sent a pre-action protocol letter to the Cabinet. Maha Sabha attorneys wrote to the Cabinet complaining of the cut in the number of national scholarships and the implementation of a new bursary system. Read more here
PM, Deyalsingh among first to get COVID vaccines today
The long-awaited COVID-19 vaccine roll-out programme will begin across T&T today, with Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh being among those who will receive the first jabs of the two-dose AstraZeneca vaccine. Rowley is due to receive his vaccine in Tobago, while Deyalsingh is scheduled to receive his around 3 pm at the St Joseph Enhanced Health Centre in Champ Fleurs. Read more here
BUSINESS
T&T’s newest bank gets going today
T&T’s newest bank, ANSA Bank, will today unveil its new brand at the former Bank of Baroda’s branches in Port-of-Spain, Chaguanas and San Fernando. Commenting on the opening of ANSA Bank, Chairman David Dulal-Whiteway in a statement said, “Our goal is to create a highly-responsive retail bank where our customers find innovative financial solutions suited to their lives in an easy and seamless manner. Read more here
Easter boost is no quick fix
Six to ten days of domestic travel to Tobago for the Easter vacation cannot fix the economic challenges that are being experienced for the past 13 years. Read more here
REGIONAL
Guyana to remain among fastest growing economies
Guyana remains the fastest growing economy in the world and will remain among the fastest growing economies over the next few years, Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, has said. Driven by the country’s nascent but lucrative petroleum sector and other critical investments in productive economic activities, Guyana is anticipated to lead global growth, even in the face of challenges related to climate change, COVID-19 and general internal bottlenecks. Read more here
Daycare outrage
One month and five days after an alleged severe beating of a two-year-old infant at a daycare centre in Falmouth, Trelawny, the accused perpetrator remained on the job without sanction from childcare watchdogs or other state...Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
The moment of truth is here for the Iran nuclear deal
It is the moment that all the grunting and yelling has been leading up to. Few doubted the United States and Iran deep-down preferred diplomacy -- even a new deal -- to escalating tensions, and possibly military confrontation. Now the moment of truth is here, in a Vienna conference room, where the E3+2 of the nuclear deal (UK, France, Germany, Russia and China) and Iran will sit down and talk about what comes next. Read more here
Tokyo Olympics: North Korea to skip Games over Covid-19 fears
North Korea has announced it will not take part in the Tokyo Olympics this year, saying the decision is to protect its athletes from Covid-19. The decision puts an end to South Korea's hopes of using the Games to engage with the North amid stalled cross-border talks. In 2018, both sides entered a joint team at the Winter Olympics which led to a series of historic summits. Pyongyang says it has no cases of the virus but experts say this is unlikely. The country's health system is thought to be completely inadequate for dealing with the Covid pandemic, the BBC's Tokyo Correspondent Rupert Wingfield-Hayes reports. Read more here
6th April 2021