NEWS
GoFundMe set up to help Venezuelan cancer patient,14
Relatives of 14-year-old Venezuelan cancer patient George Riad Haidar Maican have set up a GoFundMe page to raise funds to pay his medical expenses. George’s uncle Ziad Haidar who lives in Canada set up the page on Sunday. The goal is to raise CAN$100,000 but as of Tuesday afternoon, CAN$6,165 was raised. A few days ago, Newsday highlighted that recently, doctors at San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH) diagnosed George with nodular sclerosis, a type of Hodgkin’s lymphoma. This blood cell disorder can go into remission with the correct treatment, researchers found. Read more here
Judge criticises former Govt as Kublalsingh wins case
A High Court Judge has strongly criticised former Government officials for their handling of opposition to the construction of the controversial Debe to Mon Desir segment of the Point Fortin Highway project. Justice James Aboud gave the criticism in a 62-page judgement on Monday, in which he upheld a lawsuit brought by environmentalist Dr Wayne Kublalsingh and the Highway Reroute Movement (HRM). In the lawsuit, Kublalsingh and his group successfully claimed that they had a legitimate expectation that the Government would have considered their technical concerns before moving ahead with the project. Read more here
POLITICS
Nakhid ruled offside in budget debate
Opposition Senator and former national footballer David Nakhid found himself being ruled offside a few times during his contribution to the budget debate in the Senate. Nakhid's first caution from Senate President Christine Kangaloo came after he alleged the PNM was being supported by drug traffickers. He withdrew the allegation after Kangaloo instructed him to. Kangaloo warned Nahkid again when he claimed Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat was the PNM's new "hatchet man" and was doing things to benefit the party in agriculture. She told him, "Withdraw your last statement and move on." Read more here
Rambharat: T&T can feed itself
Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat says T&T has the capacity to feed itself and enough land to boost food production for export. Delivering his presentation on the Budget in the Senate yesterday, Rambharat said COVID-19 has been a catalyst which resulted in increased local food production. Calling on the entire country to support local farmers, Rambharat said COVID-19 has clearly demonstrated that T&T had enough food to feed the entire country. “We have the farming capacity and land availability to increase our production so T&T could take its place to once again be exporting to our diaspora,” Rambharat said. Read more here
BUSINESS
Unicomer (Trinidad) Ltd seeks ways to help customers
Mindful of the economic constraints many are facing given the fallout from the covid19 pandemic, Unicomer (Trinidad) Ltd has launched a Credi-Care initiative aimed at helping its customers who have lost their jobs or are operating on reduced income or reduced household income to manage their debt repayments. A release issued on Tuesday stated that the Credi-Care initiative is an assistance programme which offers a host of options to customers impacted negatively by covid19 and tailored to their individual needs. Read more here
Hard times in Sangre Grande
With Covid-19 being the global equaliser, residents of Sangre Grande (Spanish for Big Blood) including those at Sangre Chiquito (Little Blood), have not escaped hard times. People lost their jobs, were furloughed, or had to be rotated at workplaces. Read more here
REGIONAL
Ramsaroop: Border areas best suited for free zones
Promoting ‘local’ has been a mantra touted for years, and while there has been more rhetoric than action, movement on this front is expected soon, especially through the creation of free economic zones, which are likely to be placed at border areas. Free economic zones are defined as a class of special economic zones designated by the trade and commerce administrations of various countries. The term is used to designate areas in which companies are taxed very lightly, or not at all, to encourage economic activity. The taxation rules are determined by each country. Read more here
Gully Bank Threat - Holness Talks Tough On No-Build Zones As Flood Bill Nears $3b
Prime Minister Andrew Holness has sounded a warning to Jamaicans who construct houses on gully banks and other areas prone to flooding, saying that his administration will take steps to establish “no-build zones”. He contended that the Government would implement policies that compel Jamaicans to live in environmentally safe locations. “In the face of these significant weather events, houses perched on hillsides which have been denuded, we know those houses are going to be at risk. We know there are going to be landslides,” the prime minister asserted on Tuesday. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Trump makes frenetic election push in states that highlight his Covid denial
President Donald Trump's final sprint to shore up states he won four years ago led him Tuesday into the epicenter of America's quickening viral surge in Wisconsin, as the state's record single day spikes in Covid-19 cases and deaths crystalized his administration's failures that could end his political career. A week from the night when America could learn the identity of its next President -- depending on prolonged mail-in voting counts and possible legal challenges -- Trump greeted a crowd, packed together, with few masks worn. He did so as Badger State hospitals are critically understaffed and facing the threat of being overwhelmed by Covid-19 patients. But on a chill fall night, the President wove an alternative reality he bets will win him reelection. Read more here
Qatar to investigate 'invasive' exams of women at Doha airport
Qatar has said it will investigate allegations that women booked on 10 flights were subjected to invasive examinations at an airport in Doha. The women were checked for whether they had given birth after a baby was found in a bin at Hamad Airport on 2 October. Australian officials said 13 of its citizens and five women from other countries were taken off one plane, but not all were ultimately examined. Qatar's government apologised and said the baby was safe in medical care. It said the girl had been found in a plastic bag, buried under rubbish, prompting an "immediate search for the parents, including on flights in the vicinity of where the newborn was found". Read more here
28th October 2020