NEWS
Police: No tolerance for people ignoring covid19 rules
DCP of operations, Anthony James warned the public that a “no tolerance approach” will be taken to enforce covid19 rules set by government. This approach, James said, will be meted out especially to those who continue to frequent bars despite explicit orders not to. At the weekly police press briefing held at the police administration building in Port of Spain, James said some people did not seem to understand that the regulations were put in place for their own protection. Read more here
Police to start using pepper spray from Monday
Police officers will be equipped with pepper spray, tasers from Monday to deal with people who resist arrests and move to physically assault officers while they are executing their duties. This was disclosed by Police Commissioner Gary Griffith on Tuesday during the police weekly media briefing. Griffith referred to an incident in which police tried to detain migrants who were thought to be without documentation recently in Moruga and also on the video that went viral where a vendor slapped a police officer. Read more here
POLITICS
Mark: Bharath should be grateful he is still in UNC
Instead of trying to fight Kamla Persad-Bissessar for leadership of the (UNC), Vasant Bharath should understand how lucky he is to still be a member of the party. Mark said Bharath is a failed politician, having been unsuccessful in his attempts in 2017, 2018, 2019 to form alternative parties and in 2020 supported former UNC colleague now turned PNM Winston “Gypsy” Peters in his bid for the Moruga seat. “Boy, you must be grateful to Kamla for still having you as a member of this party,” Mark said from a virtual platform on Monday night. Read more here
Govt weighing drive-through COVID testing
The Health Ministry is examining the feasibility of doing drive-through COVID-19 testing since the ministry now has rapid antigen testing ability. Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh indicated this in the Senate yesterday in response to various Opposition United National Congress queries. Deyalsingh said the ministry is now doing training and validation of the rapid antigen tests at the Tobago, Sangre Grande and Trinidad Public Health lab . When the ministry is comfortable the antigen testing matches the currently used PCR testing, these antigen tests will be installed at Accident and Emergency units, including at Couva, Rio Claro and other places. Read more here
BUSINESS
JMMB makes $112M in profits for first half of year
Jamaica Money Market Brokers has recorded a net profit of J$2.42 billion ($112 million) for the six months ended September 30, 2020. This was a drop of J$380 million ($17.6 million) for the same period last year. For the six month period ended September 30, 2019, JMMB recorded a net profit of $2.8 billion. Read more here
Heading down ‘slippery slope’
Please, Prime Minister. Let us open our bars.
The Barkeepers and Operators Association of Trinidad and Tobago (BOATT) has made another appeal to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley to fully reopen bars and to lead the 20,000 employees and 5,000 owners in the bar industry out of a local crisis as a result of. Read more here
REGIONAL
Hyatt, Hilton, Radisson
In anticipation of a rise in visitors and traffic to one of the newest petroleum states, Guyana, renowned players in the international hotel industry have tendered their proposals to be part of the local growth by providing first-class accommodation and other activities/services. Guyana, with its new-found oil wealth, is on the cusp of economic transformation, and has already received the title of “investment capital” of the region and possibly the world. Read more here
Report Cites Nepotism As Cash Channelled To Fund Degrees For Family Connections
A compliance audit of the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) by the Auditor General’s Department (AuGD) has unearthed cases of nepotism within the agency managing the $1.26-billion programme that operates out of the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM). In a report tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, the Auditor General’s Department identified instances of payments to connected parties. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Pfizer and BioNTech say final analysis shows coronavirus vaccine is 95% effective with no safety concerns
A final analysis of the Phase 3 trial of Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine shows it was 95% effective in preventing infections, even in older adults, and caused no serious safety concerns, the company said Wednesday. The company counted 170 cases of coronavirus infection among volunteers who took part in the trial. It said 162 infections were in people who got placebo, or plain saline shots, while eight cases were in participants who got the actual vaccine. That works out to an efficacy of 95%, Pfizer said. Read more here
Trump fires election security official who contradicted him
Donald Trump says he has fired a top election official who contradicted the US president's claims of voter fraud. President Trump said he "terminated" Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (Cisa) chief Chris Krebs for his "highly inaccurate" remarks on vote integrity. Mr Trump has refused to concede the US election, and has made unsubstantiated claims of "massive" voter fraud. Election officials said the vote was the "most secure" in US history. Mr Krebs is the latest official to be dismissed by the US president following his defeat, with Defense Secretary Mark Esper also shown the door amid reports Mr Trump doubted the Pentagon chief's loyalty. Read more here
18th November 2020