Trinidad e Tobago

A Longdenville couple was arrested after police found a large quantity of "zesser pills" at their home. The pills were found in a room in the couple's home at Longdenville near Chaguanas. A police report on Thursday said members of the Central Division Task Force North and Central Division Gang Unit were searching the house for arms and ammunition. They found a large black plastic bag containing multicoloured pills. The "zesser pill" is a combination of ecstasy and cocaine and is illegal under the Dangerous Drugs Act. In another part of the house, they found two magazines, which they also seized. The woman and man were taken to the Chaguanas Police Station and questioned. They are expected to be charged and taken before a Chaguanas magistrate.

The post ‘Zesser pills’ found in house, Chaguanas couple arrested appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.

WHILE Finance Minister Colm Imbert has said he is looking forward to property tax payments helping TT to survive a $15-billion budget deficit this year, questions arose on Friday as to his ministry’s ability to initiate the tax. Former minister in the Ministry of Finance Allyson West told Newsday that as of last March, insufficient properties were registered to legally trigger the property tax. She was unsure where things stood now. Newsday sent Imbert a WhatsApp message asking what proportion of households had sent in details and how the exercise was proceeding to assess each property’s annual rental value as the basis for the tax, but up to press time he had not replied. Minister in the Ministry of Finance, Brian Manning, told Newsday, “I have no comment at this time.” Newsday got some insights from West, who is Minister of Public Administration, who up until last month had also been minister in the ministry of finance, with a focus on tax matters. Asked how many property details had been submitted and how the valuations were going, West said, “I don’t have that information. I used to track it but I haven’t for some time, so I don’t know what the up-to-date figure is.” Newsday asked if the last time she had checked, the registered properties would have passed 50 per cent of all properties. “It would not have got to 50 per cent of houses up to when I checked it, because that is the common trigger for starting the property tax. “In the legislation it currently says we can start imposing the tax once we have got to that benchmark. And it is not households, it is properties," she noted. “But I don’t know where it is now.” West said she had last checked on it in March. Newsday asked about the calculation of rentable values for each property. “Well, what they are trying to determine is a reasonable market rental for each property.” Newsday asked if there was any standardisation of this process that could speed up valuations “Standardisation depends on the nature of the property. So for example, if you are looking at 1 Woodbrook Place, you can safely value all the one-bedrooms at one rate, the two-bedrooms at another rate and so on. “But if you go into developments where you have different-style houses, you will have to do it on an individual-type basis.” Newsday asked if the ministry could meet its timeline to implement the tax. “I didn’t at that time have a clear sense as to when we would have gotten to the trigger point. I don’t know. They may be in a better position now to assess that, but as I said I don’t have that information.” She said about one to two years ago the ministry had hired a lot of new staff to help in the fieldwork for this exercise. Asked if she would like to express confidence the ministry has the resources to initiate the property tax, she replied, “I would leave that to the minister (Imbert.)”

The post Ex-minister: 50% must register to trigger property tax appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.

A 21-year-old Chaguanas woman narrowly escaped being raped on Thursday night, but neighbours came together to find and restrain the man before the police arrived an hour later. The incident began at 10 pm on Thursday at John Peter Road East in Charlieville, Chaguanas. Resident Glenn Harry Mangroo, also called Rasta, told Newsday he and his family heard loud screams from outside. He then saw a naked woman running towards his home. Initially, he did not recognise her, but soon realised it was his neighbour. “Her hair was loose. She was screaming. It was only when she called out the boy who she with (her partner’s name) I recognised her. We gave her a towel to wrap around her. My sister and my brother came out.” Another resident, Ali, said, “She was screaming, vomiting and saying someone just tried to rape her.” The woman had been on her way home from work. After she got out of a taxi and reached her street, after passing the walkover, the attacker grabbed her and took her to an abandoned house in a dark area. He then began to remove her clothes. “She said she didn’t know what to do, so she pretended to agree so he wouldn’t hurt her, and then she would have tried to run away, because she lives right up the road here,” Ali said. They said she has a mark under one eye, but she did not know if it was caused by a cuff to the face or a bite, as she and the attacker scuffled while she tried to escape. “She told the police when he got aroused, she ran away. Two (passing) cars slowed down, but they didn’t know (what was going on) and probably thought she was mad and didn’t want to get involved.” They said over 30 neighbours came out to try to find the man, who had run off. The victim told them the man had a gun and a knife and had told her, "It have more people coming (to meet me)." Another neighbour, who said his name was Rocky, told Newsday the village did its own "CID operation." The villagers have a WhatsApp group and everyone was being updated with messages. Rocky said, “They started to look. I came back on this side to see if anyone was coming from the bush down here. "Then another neighbour came home and asked what happened and when I told him, he pulled up by the highway with his vehicle to be on the lookout. Then another one came and they said, 'What happen?' and I told them. I sent them on the next side. "We were everywhere." He said it took about 30 minutes to find the man. "He was hiding. People came with their lights and stuff to search, and I have a jeep I was going to drive through the grass…He crossed the highway, and my brother was on top the walkover. Apparently he was hiding in the grass. "He didn’t realise anyone was on top there and got up from the grass and started to run. We chased him.” When the man was cornered, he pointed a gun at the other men, saying, “I go shoot you!” but one of them said, “Shoot who?” and grabbed him. They then tied him up with wire and his own belt. The gun turned out to be a toy, but the man had a knife in his pocket. He also had a change of clothes, a bag of condoms, a bedsheet and a bike. His intended victim had said he was wearing yellow, but when he was found, he was wearing black. Residents believe he might have been stalking the woman to learn her schedule for about two or three days. None of them knew the man, who said he lived in Felicity. He also said he did not know the woman they were talking about. But when someone said, "Let us bring her to see if that’s true,” he fell silent. “We don’t play on this side,” Ali said, “He was very lucky, because it had fellas there who didn’t want to spare him. “The girl is in shock, she is traumatised. The way she was vomiting…” The police arrived an hour after they were called, the residents said. “It’s very embarrassing. We called the police when she was inside there with her towel on. And when we called back, they said, ‘Give us an update, we working on it.’ "We were like the police,” Ali said. When the police finally arrived, they thanked the residents for helping. The woman was taken to hospital and is being treated. She told police the attempted rape was unsuccessful. The man was arrested and is now also being treated at hospital, as he was badly beaten by the residents. Police said the attacker is 61 and is homeless. Councillor for Munroe Road/Caroni Savannah Adrian Ali – who is also in the local WhatsApp group – visited the area on Thursday night. Speaking with Newsday on Friday afternoon, he said the way the residents acted was “heroic.” “It was very commendable to see they responded so quickly. "This WhatsApp chat was started maybe about a year ago by myself, that I created for different villages. And it’s very fortunate the guys were out there and awake. When I saw what was being said in the group, I just dropped what I was doing and went down. “And it was a big risk they took. No one would have known for sure that it was a toy gun the man had. They risked their lives to save someone and they must be commended. "But in terms of what happened, it’s very sad.” Residents had told Newsday the streetlights on the other side of the street do not work. Ali said he and Chaguanas mayor Faaiq Mohammed "are trying to get a little more light in the area to brighten it up, because walking alone at night can be very dangerous." He said he will discuss with the mayor plans to honour those who assisted, which he believes is an excellent idea.

The post Charlieville residents hold, beat alleged rapist appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.

OPPOSITION Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar called on the Government to rethink its position on implementing the property tax at this time, in a statement on Friday. She was responding to Finance Minister Colm Imbert telling the post-Cabinet briefing the day before that property tax is on the cards to help revenue support for the budget, which hs been hit by a $15 billion deficit, largely due to fallout from the covid19 pandemic. Persad-Bissessar said, “People are suffering enough, with the ongoing covid19 pandemic and the accompanying economic fallout. Now is not the time to add to the burden of the citizenry. “As the Opposition has pointed out before, increased taxes will only serve to inhibit growth.” She cited the late UK prime minister Winston Churchill as once saying that trying to tax a nation into prosperity is like standing inside a bucket and trying to lift it over your head. She said, “It will never work. We urge the Government to have a heart and hold on the implementation of the dreaded property tax in the upcoming 2021 budget.” Persad-Bissessar said almost 100,000 citizens had lost their jobs over the past five years, including some becoming unemployed because of the difficult economic environment in the past few months. Individuals who are renting have complained of the slow pace of approvals for rent relief, while others are constrained by mortgage payments. “Citizens have been hanging on by a rapidly thinning thread and if any additional taxes are imposed, it will only result in increased hardship. By allowing citizens to keep more of their own money by not implementing the property tax, people will have more resources to reinvest into the economy. “This Rowley regime under (Finance Minister) Colm Imbert has taken an approach to governance as one of squeezing the most out of the people via taxation." She queried the Government’s tax on all tyres in 2018, plus its plans to form a revenue authority to collect as much tax revenue as possible. Persad-Bissessar said as an alternative to the property tax, the UNC's National Economic Transformation Masterplan had set out many different initiatives for revenue generation, apart from additional taxes. The plan's 12 "prosperity engines" would have had large positive multiplier effects to kick-start economic recovery, foster growth and support transformation, she said. “I am urging the Government to have a heart and spare the people additional hardship of property taxes. Families are now worried about their future if they are forced to scrape together funds to pay property taxes. “I am calling on the Government to listen to the people – those who are left wondering where their next meal is coming from. Listen to the single mothers, the hard-working fathers, the young home-owners, and hear that they cannot afford yet another tax. “There are many other ways to generate revenue and my team and I are willing to share our ideas and proposals with the Government on these new revenue-generating projects.”

The post UNC: Hold hand on property tax appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.

A two-year-old girl drowned at a swimming pool in Cunupia on Thursday. A police report said the child, Safoorah Muhammed, her father Saddiq Muhammed, and other relatives were at a private swimming pool in Munroe Road in Cunupia. Saddiq Muhammed left his daughter at the poolside in the care of relatives. He returned a few minutes later and did not see his daughter. Muhammed and other relatives began searching for the child and found her floating in the pool. She was not breathing. Muhammed pulled her out his of the pool and did CPR but Safoorah remained unresponsive. The father took her to the Chaguanas Health Facility where she was pronounced dead. Chaguanas police are investigating.

The post Toddler drowns in Cunupia swimming pool appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.

The son of a woman who dropped dead outside her home in Rio Claro wants her medical records and also wants to know if an autopsy will be done on her body. Attorneys for Fazal Khan, son of Rohanie Samdai, wrote to Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh and Chief Medical Officer Roshan Parasram on Friday seeking clarity. Khan is represented by attorneys Lemuel Murphy, Joseph Sookoo and Terry Boyer. Their letter said Samdai, who lived alone, went to the Rio Claro Health Facility on September 1 because she was not feeling well. She took a covid19 test and was told to self-isolate for 14 days. Two days later, she was found dead outside her home. The police were called and Samdai’s body was taken to the Rio Claro health facility, where the district medical office prounounced her dead. Her body was then taken to the Mt Hope mortuary for an autopsy. The letter said since then, Samdai’s body has been in the State’s custody. It also said on September 15, Khan received his mother’s covid19 test result, which was negative. Khan was told he would be able to identify her body the next day and he was to make arrangements with the police and a funeral home to take it when the autopsy was done. The letter said after Khan identified the body, a senior doctor chose to do another covid19 test, and he was told he would have to await those results before a decisionwas made on whether the body would be released to him. Boyer said the family was even more distressed since they are Muslims and according to Islam, the body should be buried as soon as possible after death. “This meant that funeral planning and preparations should not be delayed. To date this has not been done,” Boyer wrote. Khan also asked for his mother’s medical records, but was denied them. Boyer said they are concerned about the decision of the doctor to order another covid19 test, since this was contrary to the Health Ministry’s guidelines for hospital staff and funeral agencies. He asked for the minister and CMO to explain and also to provide his client with copies of all Samdai’s medical records. Boyer also said they expected a decision will be made to do an autopsy on Samdai’s body, adding that her family also reserved the right to have an independent one done. “We also expect that having informed you, by this letter, of our intention to consider the result of the second covid19 test and/or any autopsy conducted by the State and or any decision to cremate the body as a result of any positive covid19 result that you will not take such steps until we have concluded our deliberation,” the attorney said. He reminded that a similar concession was granted to the family of Sea Lots businessman Cedric “Burkie” Burke. “We cannot express the current state of mental distress and anxiety our client and his family is undergoing as they cannot grieve in peace and bring closure to the passing of their loved one due to this continued detention of the body of their loved one,” Boyer wrote.

The post Dead Rio Claro woman’s son wants decision on autopsy appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.

CHIEF JUSTICE Ivor Archie will be put in the hot seat next week, when he will be questioned by attorneys for former chief magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar in her legal challenge of her short-lived judicial appointment. In November last year, the Privy Council dismissed a procedural appeal brought by the Judicial and Legal Service Commissioner (JLSC), which Archie chairs. The JLSC was seeking to reverse an order by the Court of Appeal that Archie and several former members of the commission had to testify and be cross-examined in the case. Archie is expected to be questioned on what transpired on April 27, 2017, when Ayers-Caesar says she was forced to resign as a puisne judge, two weeks after being sworn in by former president Anthony Carmona. Ayers-Caesar is represented by Senior Counsel Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, Ronnie Bissessar and Vijaya Maharaj. Monday’s hearing will be heard virtually, in keeping with the CJ’s covid19 practice directions, which ban in-person hearings. A public notice published on the Judiciary’s website on September 12 said the video link for the case will be adjusted daily and made available to those who want to witness the proceedings. In a decision of the Court of Appeal in May 2019, the judges held that the judge who denied Ayers-Caesar’s applications was plainly wrong in his assessment. They said the cross-examination of the CJ and the others may assist the court in resolving issues raised in the former chief magistrate’s claim “as well as in assessing the integrity and credibility of the competing versions of what happened.” Ayers-Caesar’s lawyers will also cross-examine three of the JLSC’s witnesses: its secretary Coomarie Goolabsingh and Archie’s former associates and current High Court Masters Sherlanne Pierre and Jade Rodriguez. Ayers-Caesar will also be questioned by attorneys for the JLSC. Justice David Harris is presiding over Ayers-Caesar’s claim. Four days – Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday – have been set aside for the hearing of the matter. Senior Counsels Russell Martineau, Deborah Peake and Ian Benjamin, along with attorney Ian Roach and Marcelle Ferdinand, represent the JLSC. Senior Counsel Reginald Armour and attorneys Ravi Nanga, Ravi Heffes-Doon and Diane Katwaroo appear for the Attorney General. In her lawsuit, the former chief magistrate is claiming she was pressured by Archie and the JLSC to resign after it was disclosed she left 52 preliminary inquiries unfinished when she took up an appointment as a judge. Ayers-Caesar was appointed on April 12. She resigned 15 days later amid public uproar over the unfinished cases. She is also claiming the JLSC acted unlawfully in seeking her resignation as a judge and that it unlawfully procured her resignation and acted unlawfully in treating as effective her consequent purported resignation. She said she was pressured by the JLSC to resign, in that she was told to sign an already prepared resignation letter or her appointment would be revoked by the President. “I was distraught and felt I had no choice but to sign the letter of resignation and media release and to accede to resigning since it was clear to me that my resignation had already been orchestrated and that this was a done deal,” she has said in her lawsuit, in which she seeks reinstatement as a judge as well as compensation for breaches of her constitutional rights, and loss of earnings. In defence of the claim, the JLSC has argued that it considered the matter sufficiently serious to trigger a disciplinary enquiry and felt Ayers-Caesar should be given the option of withdrawing from the High Court bench and to return to the magistracy to complete her part-heard cases. It also contends that she “nodded” and accepted responsibility to resolve her unfinished matters and, in order to do so, tendered her resignation as a judge to return to the magistracy to finish her work. Ayers-Caesar has asked for declarations that her constitutional rights to protection of the law and from section 137 – which sets out the procedure for the removal of a judge – were contravened by the JLSC and that the commission’s decision to force her resignation was unlawful. She is also seeking compensation for the breach of her rights.

The post CJ Archie on witness stand in Ayers-Caesar case next week appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.

A LOCAL business which was ordered to receive compensation for the unlawful detention of its excavator, will now have to pay the State’s legal costs plus hand over the excavator, whatever condition it is in, to the authorities. In July 2018, Justice Avason Quinlan-Williams ordered the State to pay Caribbean Welding Supplies (CWS) $1,328,320, representing the value or sale price of the excavator. She also ordered that CWS be paid $150,000 in aggravated damages as well as its legal costs. Despite its win in the lower court, CWS appealed the judge’s decision in which she also found that it was not entitled to an award of damages for the loss of use of the excavator. In its decision, Court of Appeal judges, Justices Nolan Bereaux, Mark Mohammed and Charmaine Pemberton held the judge was correct in her assessment that CWS was not entitled to compensation for loss of use since the company did not provide evidence to support its claim on prospective rentals. On the issue of loss of use, Quinlan-Williams said, “To make an award for loss of use, in the circumstance of this case, would not amount to a compensatory award of damages but would cause the claimant to benefit from a windfall which he would not have received had the vehicle not been seized and detained by the police.” On the return of the excavator, which at the trial, was said to have “no or nominal value,” the appeal court held that the judge was wrong to order the State return the excavator whatever its condition. In their ruling, the judges found that CWS could not recover both the value of the excavator and possession of it as it would result in double recovery. In dismissing CWS’s appeal, the court set aside Quinlan-Williams’ judgment and ordered that the company return the excavator to the State, whatever condition it was in. In the matter before Quinlan-Williams, she had to determine the measure of compensation CWS, of San Fernando, was entitled to having had judgement entered in its favour in February 2018 for the unlawful detention of the excavator. The company purchased the excavator in December 2014 for US$124,527. CWS rented excavators for $3,000 and $4,000 a day. At the time of the unlawful detention of the excavator, CWS was renting it out. CWS, in October 2015, entered into an agreement to sell the excavator, which was delivered to a site at Turure Road, Sangre Grande, when it was seized by police on October 21, 2015, one day after it was delivered. In her decision, Quinlan-Williams said two weeks was a reasonable period for the police to conduct and complete their investigations, which resulted in them having to seize the excavator during an investigation for illegal quarrying. The State was represented by Stephan Jaikaran and Savitri Maharaj while Gerald Ramdeen, Umesh Maharaj and Dayadai Harripaul represented CWS.

The post Business ordered to hand over excavator to State appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.

A 27-year-old unemployed man who goes by the nickname "The Resistance" will not be sent to St Ann’s Psychiatric Hospital for evaluation, as he has been deemed to be “of sound mind” by a Port of Spain magistrate. Jean Paul Cooper, 27, of Turquoise Drive, Diamond Vale, appeared before magistrate Indar Jagroo on Friday when his attorney, Ian Brooks, made an application for his client to be sent to the psychiatric hospital for observation. After questioning Cooper, the magistrate said there was no need to send him to St Ann’s. He also granted him $200,000 bail. Cooper’s father was approved as surety for bail. Cooper was charged with maliciously starting a fire at the Ministry of Health at the corner of Park and Edward Street, Port of Spain, on August 8. Reports said firefighters received a report around 1.30 pm of a fire in the basement of the CHIC Building, which houses the Ministry of Health. A man was seen running away. When firefighters responded they saw a message on the wall saying: "Covid-19 is all about the new world order. Stop it now #The Resistance." In a release on Thursday, the police said Cooper was arrested on September 14, and charged after advice from Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard, SC. Cooper will return to court on October 13. Insp Wayne Mohammed and Sgt Azard Ali appeared for the police.

The post ‘The Resistance’ will not be sent to St Ann’s, gets $200,000 bail appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.

THE Ministry of Health, in its Friday morning covid19 update, said 78 new cases have been recorded and were from samples for the period September 4-17. There are 1,866 active cases and the number of deaths is unchanged at 60. Eight more people have been sent home, taking the figure to 822. The number of recovered community cases is 764. The ministry said there are 1,590 people currently home-isolated under monitoring by the county medical officer of health offices. There are 78 covid19 patients in hospital. At Couva there are 49 patients, three of whom are in ICU and three in High Dependency Units; at Caura Hospital there are 25; and at Arima General Hospital there are four. There are 131 covid19 patients at step-down/transition facilities: 72 at Freedom Hall,UWI; 52 at Canada Hall, UWI; and seven at UWI Debe Campus. The number of samples submitted to CARPHA, UWI and other local sites was 28,493. The number of unique patient tests completed is 25,430 and there have been 3,063 repeated tests. The number of samples that have tested positive is 3,512.

The post 78 new covid19 cases recorded appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.

UNITED TTFA has been given another deadline by FIFA to withdraw their case against the world football body. The new deadline is September 23. FIFA, on August 26, gave the United TTFA a deadline of September 16 to withdraw their case from the High Court and have it heard at the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), or face disciplinary action (either a ban or suspension) at the FIFA Congress. FIFA president Gianni Infantino did not mention TT football when he spoke about the suspension or expulsion of a member at the 70th FIFA Congress, on Friday. Infantino in his brief comment on the topic said, "There is nothing that falls into this agenda item which is obviously good news." A letter dated September 18 by FIFA secretary general Fatma Samoura to Robert Hadad, chairman of the FIFA-appointed normalisation committee, said, “Given the seriousness of the matter addressed therein, the FIFA Council has decided to give a final deadline to the relevant parties to withdraw all types of claims against FIFA before the TT courts and comply with all their obligations under the FIFA statutes, in particular arts 57 et seqq of the FIFA statutes by September 23 at 15:00 AST (21:00 CET). Failure to comply with this directive within this revised deadline will result in the matter being brought to the attention of the relevant FIFA bodies to decide on the suspension of the TTFA (TT Football Association).” The letter continued, “Finally, we kindly request the TTFA to communicate the above mentioned to all relevant persons and to keep FIFA closely informed on all further developments regarding the matter.” President of the TT Super League Keith Look Loy, who is a member of the United TTFA, said the new deadline date will not change the minds of the United TTFA members to withdraw the case. “No, we are not going to change,” Look Loy told Newsday. William Wallace is the leader of the United TTFA team that successfully challenged for leadership of the TTFA in November 2019. Wallace and his vice-presidents Clynt Taylor, Susan Joseph-Warrick and Joseph Sam Phillip, are challenging FIFA’s decision, on March 17, to remove the TTFA executive from office and install a normalisation committee. [caption id="attachment_847319" align="alignnone" width="905"] William Wallace -[/caption]  

The post FIFA give new deadline, but United TTFA resolute appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.

THE NATIONAL Energy Corporation recently hosted a virtual internship for six Guyanese students enrolled at the University of the West Indies’ St Augustine campus' MSc Petroleum Engineering programme. A release from National Energy, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the National Gas Company (NGC), said the initiative was driven by National Energy Guyana and demonstrated the NGC Group’s commitment to “shaping the regional energy sector through knowledge transfer and the contribution of technical expertise.” The interns took online what were originally planned to be in-person study tours and the virtual sessions were conducted by subject-matter experts across a wide range of natural gas-related topics, including pipeline engineering; design and measurement; natural gas contracts; information technology and commercial arrangements, employing the expertise resident within the NGC Group. It is also one of several initiatives being developed by the NGC Group to partner with universities in several areas along the gas value chain, including investments in research and development, energy efficiency and renewables, green reporting and climate action, the release said. For the online study tour, the interns worked in smaller groups and developed projects, which focused on the optimisation of natural gas to benefit the citizens of Guyana. Group one focused on the use of natural gas for power generation, while group two concentrated on the use of natural gas for light industrial consumers, the release added. The programme ended on September 4 with a presentation by the students to an online panel, that comprised senior faculty from the UWI’s petroleum studies unit. On 10 March, National Energy and the UWI St Augustine signed a memorandum of understanding, under which National Energy would facilitate study tours in TT for Guyanese Because of covid19 travel restrictions, National Energy, together with the companies of the NGC Group, collaborated on a redesigned internship programme for online delivery for 2020, the release explained.

The post National Energy takes study tours online appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.

THE Ministry of Trade and Industry in collaboration with the International Trade Centre (ITC) will soon launch an initiative aimed at targeting female entrepreneurs trading locally or internationally and give them a greater opportunity to increase trade, market access and business competitiveness. Termed the National SheTrades Hub, the initiative is set to come on stream in October. SheTrades is an initiative of the International Trade Center (ITC), which aims to connect three million women entrepreneurs to market by 2021. It provides a unique platform and one stop shop for women-owned businesses to connect to a diverse range of organisations and SheTrades partner institutions which will facilitate the creation of strong networks. Female entrepreneurs will be able to offer and source products and services; learn new skills through a wide range of free e-learning materials and participate in workshops, trade fairs and other business events. Speaking on the upcoming launch of the initiative, Trade and Industry Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon said, “SheTrades is directly in line with the country’s National Development Strategy (2016- 2030). Goal 2 of theme IV speaks to building a business environment that is conducive to entrepreneurship. "We know that women encounter numerous challenges in starting, growing and managing their businesses. This local hub will increase the visibility of Trinidad and Tobago’s women entrepreneurs globally and facilitate greater participation of females in trade, leading to an increase in exports by female led businesses.” SheTrades has a presence in 25 countries and through in-country projects and national hubs, aims to improve the competitiveness of women entrepreneurs, generate new business opportunities and foster a conducive ecosystem to trade. To unlock the benefits of SheTrades, local female entrepreneurs are encouraged to: - Register their business on the platform. Visit www.shetrades.com - Complete the Needs Assessment Survey. This survey is intended to assist the ITC to better understand the needs of TT’s women in business to design a programme specific to the country.

The post Help coming for female entrepreneurs appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino says under his leadership, the association has “kicked corruption out of football.” He said FIFA was “toxic” and served itself rather than football. Speaking at FIFA’s 70th Congress on Friday morning, Infantino said the association has been reformed. He said it will continue to fight against issues such as corruption, racism and match-fixing in the sport. “We witnessed it (corruption), we saw it, we kicked it out. We will not let it come back. “Match-fixing is eating football in its soul. It’s a crime and it's difficult to catch because of the international environment.” Infantino said the association works at the highest standard of governance and are delivering. “This is the new FIFA and I’m proud and you should be proud. Even if the process to get there was painful and there are still sources who want to drag us back into the darkness of the past because they don’t like reforms or because they want to hide their malpractices. Who knows? “But there is no way back. We introduced good governance reforms. We know where the money comes from and where it goes. Everything is out there and transparent – just look at our financial reports and compare them to the past.” When Infantino visited TT for the opening of the Home of Football in Couva on November 18, 2019, the Prime Minister praised the new team, describing past administrations as "a mafia."

The post Infantino: We kicked corruption out of football appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino did not mention TT football when he spoke about the suspension or expulsion of a member at the 70th FIFA Congress, on Friday. Infantino in his brief comment on the topic said, "There is nothing that falls into this agenda item which is obviously good news." Robert Hadad, head of the FIFA-appointed normalisation committee, which replaced the William Wallace-led TT Football Association (TTFA) in March, told Newsday on Thursday he was not sure if FIFA would decide on Friday whether or not they will suspend TT from all FIFA-organised internationals and competitions. Wallace is the head of the United TTFA team that successfully challenged for leadership of the TTFA in November 2019. Wallace and his vice-presidents Clynt Taylor, Susan Joseph-Warrick and Joseph Sam Phillip, are challenging FIFA’s decision, on March 17, to remove the TTFA executive from office and install a normalisation committee. FIFA, on August 26, gave the United TTFA a deadline of September 16 to withdraw their case from the High Court and have it heard at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), or face disciplinary action (either a ban or suspension) at the FIFA Congress. Wallace, on Tuesday, was adamant that the United TTFA was not backing down from their legal battle against FIFA.

The post No mention of TT football at FIFA Congress appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.

Police are investigating the murder of an Air Guard officer who was shot at the home of a close female friend on Thursday. Sources say at about 11.45 pm Osei Murrain was on the front porch of the house, at Pitman Lane, Belmont, when gunshots were heard. The woman ran inside for cover and when she returned she found he had been shot. He was taken to the Port of Spain General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Police sources say the murder toll for the year to date is now 300.

The post Air Guardsman shot dead in Belmont  appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.