Trinidad e Tobago
Princes Town police sergeant’s home firebombed
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Moderate response to covid19 paediatric, second booster shots
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Fired safety officer wins in Industrial Court
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Magistrates’ errors lead to retrials for two men
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Browne: CCJ debate to continue
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Soldiers, police hold three for robbing Arima salesmen
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Keshorn captures javelin silver in Germany
TRINIDAD AND Tobago’s double Olympic medallist Keshorn Walcott captured silver in the men’s javelin at the Internationales Leichtathletik Meeting at the Paul-Greifzu Stadium, Dessau, Germany on Wednesday.
Walcott, who got gold at the 2012 Olympics in London and bronze at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, launched the spear 84.69 metres, his best for the 2022 season thus far.
Winning gold on Wednesday was German Julian Weber with his 85.02m throw while Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch earned bronze with an 83.39m attempt.
Prior to his silver medal performance, Walcott won gold at the Yellow Jacket Invitational in Atlanta, USA, in March. There, he threw 84.68m.
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Tobago has 503 active covid19 cases
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Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana can help each other grow



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The ownership myth and its complications


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High-income digital skills to consider learning

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Growing momentum for agriculture
It's clear from the attendance alone at Guyana’s three-day Agri-Investment Forum and Expo earlier this month that regional leaders believe it’s a do-or-die scenario when it comes to boosting agricultural production amid ongoing global supply uncertainties.
Countries represented at the event included Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Jamaica, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.
Also a sign of serious intent was the convening of a series of bilateral meetings and events surrounding the forum. One such instance was the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on renewed and enhanced co-operation signed by this country's Prime Minister and Guyana’s president Dr Irfaan Ali.
The problem, however, is we’ve seen such grand events and carefully stage-managed ceremonies before.
What has changed now to inspire confidence that this time around real change is going to happen?
The entire region will be looking, in the coming months, for the details of agreements signed and evidence of such agreements being meaningfully implemented.
One place to start might be for each regional actor to secure national consensus across the political spectrum on the issues surrounding trade and agricultural production. Too often, leaders sign documents and pose for photographs, but then there is a change of administration, and the new government must do the same thing again, the same project appears in that year's budget speech, almost as a copy-and-paste, and then we repeat the cycle, while nothing gets done.
Caricom, as a key co-ordinating agency, must play a role in steering us in the right direction. Equally, leaders must supply the political will needed not only to take advantage of areas of co-operation but to also ensure continuity of policy regardless of who is in power.
We are talking about the region’s ability to feed itself, after all.
Attention should also be paid to the barriers that have hindered co-operation in the past.
In welcoming the signing of the MOU between TT and Guyana, the Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers’ Association noted its belief that “the continued relationship between both governments is promising as we seek to resolve trade barriers.”
Such barriers include those which led the Georgetown Chamber of Industry and Commerce to warn the Guyanese government against signing the MOU, pending the removal of these trade obstacles.
According to the Georgetown Chamber, Guyanese businesses are hindered by non-tariff barriers that impose limitations on how a product may be manufactured, handled or advertised, and quotas of products that may be sold in a market. For example, a 1930s law seemingly limits the transport of honey within one mile of TT and this law was invoked in 2015 in one action brought by customs officials against a freight company, resulting in a US$3,000 fine.
Until such finer issues are ironed out, this month’s proceedings will be grandstanding.
And concomitant with addressing these things is the need for shifts in consumer habits.
Removing trade barriers is important, but so too is getting people to eat local, to change their diets and also to embrace small-scale food production.
With a regional food import bill in excess of US$6 billion, we have little choice.
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Gopee-Scoon: Guyana/Trinidad and Tobago MOU can help fix food security issues
Trade and Industry Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon said the memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana for renewed and enhanced co-operation will provide a sustainable solution to issues of food prices, security and availability.
She made the statement after the signing of another MOU between the Ministry of Tourism and the Royal Caribbean at the Trinidad Hilton, Port of Spain on Monday.
“The major concern is prices, but what is also becoming more intriguing is the issue of availability,” Gopee-Scoon said.
She described the signing of the MOU between Guyana and TT as “fortuitous” because an enhanced relationship between the two countries in the area of agriculture could provide the inputs to produce basic food items at a price that could be better controlled.
“Guyana has a vast land mass and therefore countries like Guyana and Belize can produce these items (wheat). Once we get the production of these basic items going there will be no concerns over availability. Then, of course the price could be settled within the region.”
“If we get into growing soya bean then that means that you are going to be able to supply soya bean oil. After that there will be the mash which is an input in the production of animal feed. All round, it is going to benefit. These are the kind of sustainable initiatives.”
She said outside of these initiatives, there is very little that can be done on a policy level to control the prices or offset any price increases.
“We have already taken off value-added tax (VAT) and suspended the common external tariff (CET). We are having discussions with NFM and we are concerned about the pricing, but it is the consumer that we are most concerned about. What we are looking at it actual production. That is where we will be able to have more control over price and availability.”
Last week, Agricultural Society president Darryl Rampersad told Newsday price increases in products that come out of grains like flour and feed were impending because of worldwide shocks such as India's ban on the export of wheat.
He said although TT does not buy directly from India, the country could still be affected by the lack of availability as it gets its wheat from a third-party dealer.
“When people highlighted the problems in Ukraine and people said it would not affect us because we don’t buy from Ukraine, the truth is we don’t buy directly from Ukraine. The same way, we don’t buy directly from India, but we buy from someone who is purchasing from them and every time the hands change the prices go up as well. So there is going to be a significant increase,” he said.
The World Bank said in its commodity markets outlook report in April that the war in Ukraine has sent shockwaves through worldwide markets, significantly altering global trade, production and consumption patterns that would keep prices historically high through the end of 2024.
The World Bank said agriculture and meals are expected to increase over 20 per cent in 2022.
On May 14, India, the world’s second largest wheat producer, announced a ban on its exports. The government said it chose to protect food security for its population which is about 1.4 billion. India also announced on Wednesday that it will limit its sugar exports to 10 million tonnes for the marketing season that runs through September. The Narendra Modi government said it took the decision to maintain stocks in India after a large growth in exports last year and during the current financial year, from October last year to September.
India is the largest producer of sugar in the world and the second largest exporter behind Brazil.
Sugar mills in India have signed contracts for about nine million tonnes, so far, for the current financial year. Over the last year, India shipped over seven million tonnes of sugar overseas.
After a three-day agriculture forum and expo in Guyana, both the TT and Guyana governments signed the MOU which seeks to address partnerships in trade and investment, including non-tariff barriers, agriculture and food security, energy, infrastructure, education, tourism, sports and culture.
TT and Guyana already have trade relationships with parboiled brown rice, cane sugar, wholly milled parboiled rice, husked brown rice and frozen fillets among the top products imported from Guyana.
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Unit Trust, Grace Kennedy join to serve Jamaica
The Unit Trust Corporation (UTC) has signed a joint venture agreement with GK Capita Management – a subsidiary of Grace Kennedy Ltd – to offer investment options to Jamaican investors.
In a release on Wednesday, UTC said the partnership will leverage each entity’s strengths to create value for individual and institutional investors.
“The Jamaican market can be characterised by a vibrant money market, a dynamic stock exchange, and close affiliations with US financial markets via money transfers. Within this environment, UTC will leverage its expertise and replicate what was accomplished in Trinidad and Tobago to provide financial hope and create wealth, but now also for Jamaican investors,” the release said.
UTC executive director Nigel Edwards said it will continue to focus on delivering value, even as uncertainty continues to affect global economies, financial markets and industries.
“This initiative is a significant milestone for the UTC and adds to our 40-year legacy of trust and significant contribution to the success of the financial services sector,” he said.
The UTC is TT’s largest mutual fund service provider with assets under management as of the end of 2021 amounting to $25.5 billion. GK, one of the Caribbean’s largest conglomerates involved in food manufacturing, distribution and financial services, is celebrating its centennial year and operates in the Caribbean, North and Central America and the UK.
Don Wehby, Grace Kennedy Group CEO, said that Jamaicans maintained their confidence in Grace Kennedy’s ability to innovate.
“These new investment options from GK Capital in partnership with UTC, will serve as another great example of our company’s commitment to delivering world class investment products to our customers,” he said.
Steven Whittingham, deputy CEO, GraceKennedy Financial Group and the head of GK’s Investment and Insurance Divisions, said, “The initial funds will diversify the sphere of investment opportunities for GK Capital’s clients and expand our product reach. While we are entering a competitive collective investment scheme market, the design of the funds and the planned novel approaches to distribution, will deliver a unique customer experience and drive client acquisition and the accumulation of assets under management.”
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Pride hold advantage after Red Force's batting meltdown
A DISMAL start from Trinidad and Tobago Red Force put Barbados Pride in control after day-one of the West Indies Championship fourth round, which bowled off at Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Tarouba on Wednesday.
Coming off a poor batting performance in their previous match against Leeward Islands Hurricanes, Red Force continued to struggle and were dismissed for a meagre 133 after 54.2 overs, just before tea.
At the close of play, defending champions Barbados Pride finished on 87/2 and trail by 46 runs, with Raymon Reifer (32 not out) and Jonathan Carter (19 not out) the overnight batsmen.
Having won the toss and opting to bat first, Red Force openers Keagan Simmons (duck) and Jeremy Solozano (six) perished within the first seven overs.
In the second over, Simmons was bowled by pacer Akeem Jordan after facing just two balls. Solozano followed in the first ball of the fifth over caught in second slip by Jonathan Carter off fast bowler Miguel Cummins to send TT reeling at 11/2.
The experienced pair of Darren Bravo and Jason Mohammed tried to bring some stability to the Red Force innings as they built a 19-run third-wicket partnership. Mohammed scored 12 but was sent packing after, caught by Raymon Reifer, attempting a big shot off left-arm pacer Ramon Simmonds.
At 30/3, Bravo and Yannic Cariah added 17 before the former was bowled behind his back courtesy another swinging Jordan delivery. Cariah (13) hit two fours but edged to wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich to sink TT further.
With skipper Imran Khan and his deputy Joshua Da Silva in the middle, Red Force entered the lunch break on 56-5.
At the resumption, Khan opened up on the Bajan bowlers as he flicked Greaves for a six and then edged Cummins for consecutive fours past gully and through extra cover respectively.
Khan’s theatrics with the bat forced Bajan captain Kraigg Brathwaite to introduce off-spinner Roston Chase to the attack. Although Da Silva scored slowly, he played patiently and sought to build a middle-order stance with his captain.
Khan however, tried to play an unorthodox shot off Simmonds’ pace but was caught by Cummins to send TT to 91/6. Before he was dismissed, the pair constructed the Red Force’s biggest partnership of 41 runs.
Terrance Hinds showed clear intent on his arrival to the middle as he slashed Cummins for four off his second delivery faced. Hinds went on to punish the Bajan bowlers, hitting one six and three fours in his knock of 25 from 31 deliveries to ignite a slow recovery for TT.
Hinds and Da Silva accumulated 31 more runs to the tally before the former was caught by Cummins (129/7). Bryan Charles entered, faced 17 balls and was bowled by Jordan without scoring.
Left-arm spinner Warrican cleaned up the final two wickets as he had DaSilva (23) trapped leg-before and Uthman Muhammed (duck) bowled
Topping the bowling for the Pride was Warrican (3/21) while Jordan (2/17), Ramon Simmonds (2/24) and Justin Greaves 2/26 also had good contributions.
In their turn at the crease, the Pride opened with skipper Brathwaite and Sheyne Moseley up against pacers Shannon Gabriel and Muhammad.
Gabriel bowled well in his first four overs but was replaced in the attack by brisk medium pacer Hinds. Moseley showed intent with the bat and hit Muhammad for a six and a four and another two fours off Gabriel.
In Hinds’ second over, he got the crucial scalp of Brathwaite (four), caught behind by Da Silva. Four overs later, Hinds struck again and sent Moseley (24) back to the pavilion out caught by Khan to send Barbados to 34/2 after 14.2 overs.
The left-handed pair of Reifer and Carter played smartly against a mixture of Red Force pace and spin. Reifer hit Charles for four fours while Carter smashed Khan for back-to-back boundaries in the remaining overs.
Summarised Scores: TT RED FORCE 133 - Imran Khan 29, Terrance Hinds 25, Joshua Da Silva 23; Jomel Warrican 3-21, Akeem Jordan 2-17 vs BARBADOS PRIDE 87-2 - Raymon Reifer 32 not out, Shayne Moseley 24; Terrance Hinds 2-14.
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Trade and business information portal launched
The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) celebrated the launch of its trade and business portal – a one-stop hub for accurate and up-to-date business and investment information – at the Trinidad Hilton, Port of Spain, on Wednesday.
Trade Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon in her feature address assured that the ministry is committed to closely coordinating with both the public and private sector as well as international organisations to ensure that the portal will be continuously updated.
“The business community and other stakeholders will now have a useful tool that would help them find information to facilitate and accelerate trade and business decisions and activities,” she said.
Gopee-Scoon said the portal will treat with issues that have resulted in Trinidad and Tobago being ranked 79th on global competitiveness out of 140 countries.
“A major requisite to improve our ranking lies in the need to enhance the effectiveness of our institutions through digital transformation,” she said. “In light of this, digital transformation is a critical pillar in our national policies.”
The minister added that the MTI is also pursuing initiatives that would improve trade and business environments which include electronic payments, which will soon be available through TTBizLink and DevelopTT; business process re-engineering, which would simplify business processes and align current major regulatory trade processes with international best practices and implementation of the WTO facilitation agreement, entered into force globally on 2017 and cites predictability and transparency as cornerstones to the agreement.
TTMA president Tricia Coosal said the portal will also give businesses and other stakeholders access to information on prerequisites for importing and exporting goods, which in the past was difficult to access.
“This opens the world of possibilities with regard to how trade data can be viewed and analysed,” she said. “It therefore enables better business decisions about what product is needed for a particular market at any given time.”
The portal, Coosal said, has the potential to help TT realise one of its long-term business and trade objectives – gaining a competitive advantage in the international arena in the area of ease of doing business.
“If the time taken to send documents and receive approvals from various agencies is reduced significantly, this allows for containers to be cleared at the port in a shorter time frame. This in turn will reduce overhead costs leading to increased competitiveness.”
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The skills challenge
LIZ FISHER
Building on ACCA’s 2021 report, Professional accountants at the heart of sustainable organisations – which identified the core capabilities that professional accountants will need – a new report, Developing the skills of the sustainable business and finance professional, looks at what needs to happen to ensure these capabilities are developed successfully.
The new report addresses this question from the perspective of educators, learners and employers. It talks of "the educator’s problem that we should all care about": since we have all experienced learning and development in one form or another, we should each have a view on the outcomes from learning because they can have an impact for generations to come.
One of the key questions that educators face, it points out, is how to develop the sustainable business and finance professional’s capabilities, particularly when many roles of the future are yet to be defined, and in circumstances where different roles may require different combinations of capabilities.
The report stresses that developing sustainable business and finance professionals is a collaborative exercise. Educators are having to respond to changing learning needs as the capabilities that professional accountants need become more varied.
However, the report points out that there is no single learning and development solution – and the expectation of longer working lives is increasing the lifelong learner population and the diversity of learning needs. "Learning ecosystems present a way forward to host and deliver a variety of learning and development interventions, creating flexibility for learners on when, how and what kind of learning happens," it concludes.
The human touch
The report, which draws on engagement with more than 800 learners, employers and educators around the world, argues that professional accountants need specific human capabilities in order to be effective. These include:
Capabilities needed to be effective
• collaboration – engaging effectively with stakeholders, communicating clearly, being inclusive and influencing with impact
• digital – proficiently and ethically using existing and emerging data technologies, capabilities, practices and strategies
• drive – being determined, motivating and developing oneself and others to achieve stretching goals, being curious and open to new approaches and acting with integrity
• ethics – acting in accordance with fundamental principles of professional and personal ethical behaviour; ensuring the use of appropriate ethical frameworks and compliance with laws and regulations
• expertise – drawing on knowledge and experience, applying technical expertise
• insight – how one thinks and operates at the individual level in the organisation: accurately analysing information, generating new ideas, making clear decisions, organising work, focusing on key priorities and achieving timely results
• sustainability – drawing on knowledge and experience, applying technical expertise
Research by McKinsey corroborates ACCA's own findings and suggests that employers believe that some important skills – notably resilience, the ability to manage across cultures and a global mindset – are not widely available. It is also clear that employers themselves are increasingly focused on developing social, emotional and advanced cognitive skills in their reskilling efforts.
The embedding challenge
The report highlights the difficulty of incorporating development of key capabilities into traditional learning programmes. Developing uniquely human capabilities, such as relevance and reliability, are seen as crucial to being an effective professional accountant but are complex both to teach and to measure.
The report suggests potential next steps that could be taken to encourage development of these essential capabilities. These include greater collaboration between educators, HR functions and employers to define precise development needs and implement solutions.
One educator participant pointed out: "Learning must run alongside the continuous career journey. During the qualification process, we set the expectation that qualification is only the starting point of the learning journey."
The report argues that a combination of approaches is needed to develop the right capabilities, and that work experience or simulations are essential to developing some key skills, especially expertise, collaboration and ethical behaviour.
"The 70:20:10 learning model is very much alive," it says. "Good learning and development approaches all have learners, the workplace, communities as part of a varied and integrated methodology."
70:20:10 learning
• 70 per cent learn and develop through experience
• 20 per cent learn and develop through others
• 10 per cent learn and develop through structured courses and programmes
The report acknowledges that the education sector is dramatically transforming itself in response to the drivers of new learning trends and factors changing the education business model. Data-informed learning is "paving the way for continual improvement," it says, at all stages of the education process, from design to evaluation.
Digital technology has also brought innovation to the way that learning and development is delivered. "This will become more than a learning and development hosting tool, for instance in the form of gamification, enabling learners to develop in realistic and sometimes extreme workplace simulations," it says.
The report identifies six "dimensions" that underpin quality learning and development, which will leave educators well placed to manage risk and thrive in a fast-changing environment. But this is very much a team effort. The report stresses that educators should seek to co-create and co-deliver with employers, HR specialists, learners, trade associations and professional bodies. They need to share data and develop gap analysis to understand the skills required by organisations and the supply of skills available among learners, and then define and deliver interventions that will make a difference.
Source: ACCA Accounting and Business
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200 recycling bins to be placed around PoS

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Stepping up to the plate for domestic violence
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TT women cricketers end Barbados tour perfect
THE TRINIDAD and Tobago women’s cricketers ended their tour of Barbados with an unblemished record.
On Wednesday, TT won a T20 match by eight wickets at Police Sports Club in Weymouth, St Michael to end the tour with five wins in as many matches.
Prior to Wednesday’s match, TT won two T20 matches and two 50-over contests.
The tour bowled off on May 19.
Batting first in the final match, Barbados posted 123/4 in 20 overs with Knight sisters Kycia and Kyshona scoring the bulk of the runs.
Kycia struck 40 not out, Kyshona pitched in with 32 and Aaliyah Alleyne contributed 24.
Leandra Ramdeen was the chief destroyer for TT with 2/17 and Kirbyina Alexander snatched 1/11.
TT were ruthless in their run chase getting to 127/2 in 16 overs with Rachel Vincent cracking 40 not out. Captain Reniece Boyce contributed 33 and Mikaela Jodhan chipped in with 29.
NaiJanni Cumberbatch tried to contain the TT batters with 2/20.
SUMMARISED SCORES
BARBADOS 123/4 (20 overs) – Kycia Knight 40 not out, Kyshona Knight 32, Aaliyah Alleyne 24; Leandra Ramdeen 2/17, Kirbyina Alexander 1/11 vs TT 127/2 (16 overs) – Rachel Vincent 40 not out, Reniece Boyce 33, Mikaela Jodhan 29; NaiJanni Cumberbatch 2/20. TT won by eight wickets.
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