NEWS

Bahamas search and rescue begins today

Hurricane Dorian, now a Category 2 Storm, moved away from the Bahamas around 8 pm Tuesday night. This morning, in an interview on CNC3's Morning Brew, Bahamas Minister of Tourism Dionisio D'Aguilar said the devastation in Abaco and Grand Bahama islands was overwhelming. He said on those islands, there was no infrastructure, no light, no water, and no airport. D'Aguilar said the Bahamian Government's first task was search and rescue. He said today is the first day the government will be able to begin assessing the devastation of the islands as the deadly storm moved away from the country around 8 pm Tuesday night. Read more here

TTMA starts relief drive

THE Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers Association (TTMA) is, from today, starting a relief drive to aid the Bahamas, which has been battered by Hurricane Dorian.

TTMA president Franka Costelloe is encouraging members of the public to donate vital relief items such as canned foods, medical supplies, baby supplies, water, clothing, cleaning supplies and tarpaulin. She said the Ministry of Trade and Industry is working with the TTMA to promote the relief drive. Read more here…

POLITICS

Maharaj: DPP abusing court process

Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, SC, on Tuesday accused the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) of abusing the court process by ordering the re-laying of charges against A&V Drilling's Nazim Baksh and his son-in-law Billy Ramsundar. This, as Baksh and Ramsundar re-appeared in Siparia magistrate's court before senior magistrate Wendy Dougdeen-Bally, charged with assaulting Guardian Media photographer Christian De Silva and malicious damage to a camera. Read more here

PM: Let’s show Bahamas our generosity and compassion

Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley has ap­pealed to “all cit­i­zens who are able and will­ing,” to demon­strate Trinidad and To­ba­go’s “usu­al gen­eros­i­ty and com­pas­sion to the peo­ple of the Ba­hamas.” The prime min­is­ter made the call in a state­ment is­sued yeste­day evening. He urged cit­i­zens to come to the aid of the peo­ple of the Ba­hamas who have been dev­as­tat­ed by Hur­ri­cane Do­ri­an. Do­ri­an con­tin­ues to af­fect the Ba­hamas al­though it has been down­grad­ed to a Cat­e­go­ry Two hur­ri­cane. The im­pact to Grand Ba­hama is still ex­pect­ed over the course of the next 24 hours. Sev­en peo­ple are con­firmed dead on Aba­cos Is­lands. The prime min­is­ter’s state­ment came as the Caribbean Dis­as­ter Emer­gency Man­age­ment Agency (CDE­MA), the re­gion­al in­ter-gov­ern­men­tal agency for dis­as­ter man­age­ment for CARI­COM, con­tin­ues to sup­port the Ba­hamas na­tion­al re­sponse. Read more here

BUSINESS

Productivity key to success

ECONOMIC downturn in the Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) market since 2014 and 2015 is driving the agenda of Nestle in the Caribbean region, says the global food giant’s head of market in the Anglo Dutch Caribbean, Patricio Torres. Read more here…

Can PPPs work in T&T?

A working paper, published last month on the Central Bank’s website, looks at the possibility that Public-Private Partnerships could be a means by which T&T can finance infrastructural development in a challenging economic environment. The paper, by Dhanielle Smith of the Central Bank’s research department, suggests that several pre-conditions must be put in place for PPPs to work. An abridged version is published here, but readers are invited to access the entire paper on the Bank’s website. Read more here…

REGIONAL

‘SURREAL DORIAN’ - J’can Family Safe After Dashing To Shelter As Hurricane Kills 7 In The Bahamas

Jamaican Patrice Moore has been living in Freeport, Grand Bahama, since September 2007. The Jack Hayward Junior High School music teacher told The Gleaner that it was her first time experiencing a Category Five hurricane when Dorian slammed The Bahamas this week. It was unlike anything she had experienced before. “My earliest recollection of going through a hurricane was Hurricane Gilbert in Jamaica, and back then, it was a category three. And as a child, that was devastating, but this is a whole different level of devastation,” Moore told The Gleaner yesterday. The fierce weather system, which began pounding The Bahamas late on Sunday, inflicted most of its damage in the Abaco Islands and Grand Bahama, leaving at least seven people dead, with Prime Minister Hubert Minnis telling citizens at a press briefing last night to “expect more deaths”. Read more here

INTERNATIONAL

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam to withdraw extradition bill

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam has said she will withdraw the highly controversial extradition bill which triggered months of protests. The proposal, introduced in April, would have allowed criminal suspects to be extradited to mainland China. The bill was suspended in June when Ms Lam called it "dead", but she stopped short of withdrawing it. Full withdrawal is one of five key demands of protesters, who are also calling for full democratic rights. In a televised address on Wednesday, Ms Lam also announced other measures that appeared to be designed to soothe unrest. She said two senior officials would join an existing inquiry into police conduct during the protests. An independent investigation into alleged police brutality against protesters is another of the activists' key demands. Read more here

Johnson says UK government does not want a no-deal Brexit

"We don't want a no-deal scenario," UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson told lawmakers in Parliament, adding that "the way to avoid it is to not vote for the absurd surrender bill." Johnson, who could be forced to request an extension from the EU if the bill passes on Wednesday night, asked lawmakers to allow the government to instead "get on and negotiate a deal." Read more here

4th September 2019

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