NEWS
Carpha hosts regional health security meeting
Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh has commended the Caribbean Public Health Agency (Carpha) for its initiative in calling a meeting to plan for regional health security (RHS). He said it will assist in developing “muscle memory” in dealing with further public health threats and emergencies in the future. “(Carpha executive director) Dr Joy St John and her team performed magnificently under covid19. We must now learn the lesson as we move forward in this quest to protect our publics. The most important development emerging out of Carpha’s RHS consultations is that of regional consensus. It is important. Members of Caricom and regional health organisations all agreed that a comprehensive, all-encompassing and equitable and realistic plan must be developed.” Read more here
Tears as migrant detainees reunited with their families
Tears of joy flowed outside the Heliport in Chaguaramas late yesterday evening, as some of the detained Venezuelan migrants were released following the High Court order handed down by Justice Ricky Rahim. Relatives of the migrants began gathering outside the Heliport from just after 4 pm in the hope of seeing their loved ones walk out to their freedom. First, there was a little disappointing news for them, as they were initially told that Immigration officers would not be able to process the necessary documents until today. However, with the presence of attorney Nafeesa Mohammed and activist Yesenia Gonzalez, news came that some migrants would be allowed to leave the facility yesterday, since a team of Immigration officers was instructed to go to the Heliport to process the documents. Read more here
POLITICS
EBC agrees to Kamla's call for parties to verify special ballots
Hours after Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar on Tuesday called on the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) to allow political parties to witness the sorting of special ballots, the EBC acquiesced, as indicated in a text message by the commission to Newsday late last evening. The EBC statement suggested that in the time period between a verbal conversation between Persad-Bissessar and the commission, earlier on Tuesday, and the UNC leader's dispatch of a letter to the commission later that day, the EBC had decided to agree to her request. Read more here
Integrity Commission: No merit in Opposition’s allegations against PM
The Integrity Commission says there is no merit in the Opposition’s 2021 allegation against Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley. The commission made the statement in relation to UNC MP Saddam Hosein’s claim that Rowley failed to declare his ownership of a Tobago townhouse in his 2019 Integrity declaration. The commission, noting statements made by Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar about the termination of its investigation into Hosein’s complaint against Rowley, said: “In February 2022, the Commission deliberated upon (Hosein’s) complaint and was then satisfied that there was no merit in an allegation, contained in the said complaint, to the effect that the Honourable Prime Minister had failed to declare, in his Declaration of Income, Assets and Liabilities for the year 2019, contrary to the requirements of section 11 of the Integrity in Public Life Act (“the IPLA”), his ownership in a townhouse in the Inez Gate Development in Tobago. Read more here
BUSINESS
Agostini's completes Health Brands acquisition
Agostini's has announced that it has completed the acquisition of Jamaican-based health company Health Brands ltd. In a notice of material change, Agostini’s said all conditions for the acquisition were met and the sale was completed on August 3. Health Brands is a pharmaceutical and personal care distribution company. Once a subsidiary of GraceKennedy Ltd under the name Medi-Grace, it distributes medical equipment and supplies. Formed in 1975, it was sold in 2006 to Smith Russel and co Ltd. Read more here
Methanex remains mum on restart of mothballed plant
It now appears highly unlikely that the Canadian Methanol behemoth, Methanex, will breathe life back into Titan, their mothballed plant in this country, in the foreseeable future. Despite a glimmer of hope offered by Methanex’s chief executive officer, Rich Sumner, during an investor call in February, the past six months have yielded no encouraging developments, and the company’s latest investor call sheds no light on a potential path ahead. Interestingly, the notion of relocating the plant even surfaced during an investor call in April. Read more here
REGIONAL
‘Oil boom’ takes Guyana to ‘unimaginable’ level
Guyana’s rapid development continues to attract the attention of persons on the world stage, and experts are convinced that the country will continue to grow as the oil and gas sector expands. In a Platts Oil Markets podcast by S&P Global Commodity Insights, three analysts discussed the oil boom in Guyana, what the development means to the Caribbean region as well as the rest of the world, and the pricing trends and flows for Guyana’s top crude grades, Liza and Unity Gold. Laura Huchzermeyer, manager of the Americas crude pricing team at Platts, which is part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, during the podcast, said if ten years ago someone had said Guyana would have been in the big league, one might have called it impossible, but now the country has defied the odds and has become one of the world’s largest oil producers. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Amazon deal lacks concrete measures, say climate activists
The eight countries that share the Amazon basin have fallen short of an agreed goal to end deforestation. Delegates from the countries are meeting in the Brazilian city of Belém for a two-day summit on the issue. A joint declaration on Tuesday created an alliance to combat deforestation, but left each country to pursue its own conservation goals. Climate activists said the deal lacked concrete measures at a time "when the planet is melting". "Temperature records are broken every day, it's not possible that under those circumstances, the eight presidents of the Amazon nations can't include a line in the declaration stating, in bold letters, that deforestation needs to be zero, that it won't be tolerated any more," Márcio Astrini of the Climate Observatory group said. Read more here
9th August 2023