John, TUCO noted, was a distinguished journalist and a hard-working publications and features editor of the Trinidad Express Newspapers.

The release also stated that during John’s journey in the media world, she always extended her work to provide publicity support for events and activities in the arts and entertainment industry.

Lutalo Masimba, President of TUCO said, “Her commitment to the support of Calypso and Calypsonians as well as to the work of our organisation was acknowledged when she was awarded at the Calypso History Month Gala a few years ago.

“Deborah John was always there for us, sharing her wealth of knowledge and advice over the years as we built our relationship with the media.” He added, “The Trinbago Unified Calypsonians’ Organisation is extremely distressed by her passing and we will continue to celebrate her life with song. To her family, colleagues and close friends we urge you to stay strong during this time of bereavement.” Deborah John’s funeral will be held on Tuesday at the St Joseph RC Church, St Joseph, at 8 am.

Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh welcomed this initiative because the growing impact of NCDs on the economy and society is expected to intensify as the population gets older.

Deyalsingh said these projects have already resulted in the screening of more than 5,000 people by doctors. He said the addition of these clinics, “will significantly extend this reach even more into our communities where more work is needed.” NCRHA chairman Steve De Las said the Authority has been networking with religious organisations and other institutions to provide on site screening. De Las said the NCRHA’s “In Touch” outreach programme, takes the service home to critical patients. NCRHA general manager (primary care services) Dr Abdul Hamid said these clinics make it easier for doctors to spend more time with their patients, as they will be closer to the communities that they serve. Hamid said over time, the clinic at the EW MSC will be able to focus on tertiary level critically-ill patients who can receive more specialised attention from doctors.

The new clinics will simultaneously reduce the volume of patients being treated at the EW MSC’s clinic. The World Health Organisation said NCDs accounted for 80 per cent of deaths in TT in 2014. The schedule for the clinics are as follows- St Joseph Enhanced Centre, Mondays, 8 am to noon; Chaguanas District Health Facility, Tuesdays, 8 am to noon and Arima District Facility, 8 am to noon.

Police said shortly before lunch yesterday, they received information that a strange car was seen in the Piparo area with three men acting suspiciously.

Sgt. Ramlogan and Cpl. Richardson of the Princes Town Police Station responded and saw the car driving slowly through the area.

The driver of the car, according to the police, began to speed in an attempt to elude them. A chase ensued. As the car came to a stop, the driver allegedly pulled out a gun and was immediately shot by one of the officers in his left foot.

He escaped in nearby bushes with a loaded gun. Police arrested the other two suspects, ages 63 and 56.

Upon searching the vehicle they found the three guns, a ski mask and a quantity of ammunition.

The vehicle was impounded for tracing. Police later received a call that a man was seen bleeding at the side of the road. They returned and took him to hospital where he remains warded under police guard. When questioned by police he allegedly gave three different names. He was later recognised by police as a wanted man who was being sought in connection with shootings, robberies and rape. Supt Zamsheed Mohammed commended Ramlogan and Richardson.

Roach and fellow fast bowler Shannon Gabriel took four for 71 and four for 51 respectively to dismiss England for 258 on day one yesterday. At the close West Indies were 19/1 after 12 overs in reply with Kraigg Brathwaite and Devendra Bishoo at the crease.

Roach is hoping the West Indies can put the regional team in a strong position today after surviving a tricky period under lights yesterday. “It could have been more (wickets) obviously.

Batting under lights is never easy, but I will say well played to Kraigg and nightwatchman Bishoo and I think that once these guys can stick out there and put up a fight against the English we can get a lead and try to win this Test match,” he said.

Roach, who was proud of his effort, said it was also great to see Gabriel playing again after recovering from injury. “It is really good to see Shannon fit and raring to go. He has been our best bowler for the last year and I will say well bowled to him for his four-for. For me I felt really good as well today (yesterday) and I just want to continue doing what I am doing, working hard and getting more wickets for the West Indies.” Roach said team meetings over the last few days helped the West Indies.

“We had a very strong team meeting, a very open team meeting so the guys know what we are about for the rest of this tour. It is all about going out there putting your best foot forward, working hard and performing for the West Indies.”

He said this yesterday after meeting with principals of all secondary schools in Trinidad. A meeting with teachers and principals in Tobago is to be scheduled.

He said, “The meeting was called to address the concerns expressed by principals with respect to the fiasco of the late release of results.” Garcia said schools had been encountering various issues with CXC over the past few months.

He added that the intention of the ministry was not to degrade the regional body, however, “It is our responsibility to ensure that the integrity of the examination is maintained and we must ensure that the public confidence in the body is regained.” “We are going to make a request with officials of CXC to visit Trinidad and Tobago so they can give us a first-hand view of the causes of the difficulties we have been experiencing,” Garcia said.

He added that their visit could reassure all stakeholders that the regional body was taking the necessary actions to ensure the same problems did not occur in the future.

Garcia said the problems stated by principals were to be relayed to CXC so that it could work with the ministry to avoid similar occurrences in the future.

He added that principals were happy to be given the opportunity to voice their concerns.

“As the practising professionals in the field, we wanted to dialogue with them and use their advice as we move forward in our pursuit of delivering quality education.” Chief Education Officer Harrilal Seecharan said, “Some issues principals highlighted were the lateness of results; concerns about the e-marking process; recruitment of markers for that process and the monitoring of quality assurance; issues related to proposed online testing and the readiness of schools for online testing.” He added that timely communication from CXC to schools was also a concern and one principal believed that multiple choice questions should be more readily available.

Seecharan said the ministry also took the opportunity to address other issues as the opening of the school term nears. Matters involving increasing the efficiency of the school feeding and the school transport programmes as well as promoting discipline in schools were discussed.

Twenty-five-year-old Venesh Boodram, from Granville in south Trinidad is thanking God for sparing his life. He said in an instant his whole life changed when he was diagnosed with Leptospirosis. “My life as I knew it just slipped before my eyes all because of rat poisoning, “ he said tearfully According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) Leptospirosis is an infection in rodents and other wild and domesticated species. Rodents are implicated most often in human cases. The infection in man is contracted through skin abrasions and the mucosa of the nose, mouth and eyes. Exposure through water contaminated by urine from infected animals is the most common route of infection.

Human-to-human transmission is rare. It is caused by bacteria of the genus Leptospira.

In humans, it can cause a wide range of symptoms, some of which may be mistaken for other diseases. Some infected persons, however, may have no symptoms at all. Without treatment, Leptospirosis can lead to kidney damage, meningitis (inflammation of the membrane around the brain and spinal cord), liver failure, respiratory distress, and even death.

Speaking with Newsday recently , Boodram said he wanted his experience to be a wake-up call to all citizens that you should never take life for granted. The young construction worker recalled that he went for a swim in pond in his village with some friends on July 16 . “I just went out to lime with my friends and have a good time “ he said. The next morning he fell ill. “It felt like a normal virus, I was taking Panadol, it was only when I started to cough up blood that I went to the health centre.” According to Boodram, he was told he was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH) and awoke seven days after.

“I am thankful to the Lord that I opened my eyes to see another day.” he said.

Lecturer Anaesthetics and Intensive Care, Department of Clinical Surgical Sciences, UWI and consultant in intensive care, Dr Keevan Singh ,explained that severe leptospirosis, also known as Weil’s disease, can cause kidney failure and bleeding in the lungs. The mortality rate for this condition is very high. These patients are usually admitted to the ICU, placed on mechanical ventilation and in most cases would need some form of dialysis (kidney support) as well as treatment for the underlying condition which may have already started. When asked about the survival rate from leptospirosis, Singh said that this usually depends on the age and the underlying condition.

He stated that older patients will generally not do as well as a young person and if the underlying condition is curable, the outcome is usually good.Generally, the more organs affected by the disease condition (e.g heart, lungs, kidney, brain, liver) the worse the outcome – this is referred to as multi-organ failure.” When asked what are some challenges for recovering patients from the Intensive Care Unit, Singh said, “ Even if a patient survives and is discharged from the ICU, there are still many challenges to face. Most ICU patients will be extremely weak, a condition referred to as ICU acquired weakness, this means they will need help with most of their basic activities.”Singh also explained that in most cases leptospirosis is mild and uneventful.

Boodram expressed thanks to all the doctors and nurses at the SFGH, who helped him recover from this illness. In a final message to citizens, he said, “This has been a very traumatic experience for me , I am still recovering. My family ,friends and villagers have supported me a lot, I would like to tell everyone to be very careful about where you go and what you eat.”

TKR will face Jamaica Tallawahs at 8 pm tonight TT time at Sabina Park in Jamaica.

TKR have already booked a place in the knock-out phase with two matches left, and are almost guaranteed a top two finish after the preliminary stage.

It is beneficial to finish in the top two, as the top two teams have two chances of qualifying for the final on September 9.

TKR lead the standings with 14 points after earning seven wins and one loss. Despite a stellar run of form, Borde said there is no time to relax.

“The tournament has a long way to go in it. We are not even close to (achieving) anything yet. We are still focused and taking each game at a time,” Borde said.

Borde said the team would not experiment much with the line up, although the Knight Riders have already booked a place in the next round “We have a squad that all players are ready.

We expect that we will play like we have played the last couple games with intent to win the match.

There is no plan to experiment.

The team is focused on what we have to do and our job here is to win matches.” Brendon McCullum (40 not out) and Darren Bravo (38 not out) were the top TKR batsmen in the last game, leading the team to an eight-wicket win over second placed St Kitts and Nevis Patriots on Wednesday.

Borde said a number of players are stepping up for TKR which has led to the team’s success.

“It is a game that batsmen will take risks, so you are not going to expect that each game a player will fire.

That is why it is important for us from a team perspective that various players step up.” Pakistani Shadab Khan, who has been an instrumental player for TKR, will rejoin the team in Barbados when they face the Barbados Tridents on September 2. Khan played the first six matches for TKR before he and the other Pakistani players were called by the Pakistan Cricket Board to complete fitness and medical tests ahead of national and domestic commitments.

More innocent blood continues to be shed as the senseless gang war continues. Those who have been appointed to protect us seem overwhelmed by the enormous task.

They don’t have an effective strategy to deal with the criminal elements.

We need to consider investing more heavily in the area of surveillance so that law-abiding citizens can feel safe knowing someone is watching us. The Government and large corporations must make it their top priority to install cameras, microphones and other tracking devices across the country and they also need to make it their duty to develop the capacity to store and process surveillance data in real time. We should start preparing this nation and not just by wringing our hands and playing politics or mounting attempts to defeat surveillance. We ought to do some hard thinking about its positive aspects and its ability to defeat the criminals. Cataloguing the downsides of mass surveillance is essential, but we have a whole lot of literature and information devoted to that. Instead, let’s explore its potential benefits and make full use of this incredible technology.

The most obvious advantage of mass surveillance is a drastic reduction in crime and lawlessness.

Indeed, this is the advantage most often put forward by surveillance proponents today. The evidence as to whether current surveillance achieves this is ambiguous; cameras, for instance, seem to have an effect on property crime, but not on incidences of violence.

If calibrated properly, total surveillance might eradicate certain types of crime. People respond well to inevitable consequences, especially those that follow swiftly on the heels of their law-breaking. Few would commit easily monitored crimes, such as assault or breaking and entering, if it meant being arrested within a matter of minutes. If surveillance recordings were stored for later analysis, other types of crimes could be eradicated as well, because perpetrators would fear later discovery and ultimately punishment for their deeds.

SIMON WRIGHT Chaguanas

The samples taken from Aleena Babwah and Surendra Harrylal would confirm via Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) testing if the charred unrecognisable remains is that of Harrylal.

Harrylal, 26, her common- law husband Michael Applewaithe, 35, and another male were believed to have been tied up and the house set ablaze. At about 8 am, a villager in a car was alerted to the tragedy when she saw Harrylal’s four year old son wandering barefoot along the roadway.

The villager said the boy appeared to be traumatised. The crying child told the woman his mother was burnt in a fire and is in heaven.

The villager, who knew the boy, drove to the family’s home and saw the house burnt to the ground.

The house is located miles off the Carlsen Field Road in a forested area and there are no houses in close proximity to the structure.

Members of the Police and Fire Services were contacted and when they arrived, police said a trail of blood was found near the ruins. Investigators are working on the theory that the occupants were killed and their bodies set on fire in the house. Residents said they had seen smoke earlier that day but many assumed it may have been a bush fire in the area.

Yesterday Harrylal’s step father Errol Babwah told Newsday was still struggling to come to terms with the tragedy.

“We know it is Michelle. This is really hard and I don’t know if we will ever be able to get over this. My step daughter did not deserve this.” Police are asking members of the public to assist them with any information they may have with respect to the unidentified person believed to be an adult male. Homicide Region Three members are investigating.

In passing sentence on Donnie James, Magistrate Alicia Chankar scolded him for selling the stolen phone.

“I know times are hard and people are struggling, but that in no way means you can take something that is not yours.” James pleaded guilty to stealing the Samsung J7 valued at $2,000 from Daniel Johnson on Tuesday in the parking lot of Jing’s Supermarket at Southern Main Road, Marabella.

Prosecutor PC Cleyon Seedan said, Johnson parked his car and went into the supermarket at about 6.30pm. He returned about 15 minutes later and discovered his phone missing from the front passenger seat.

A report was made to the Marabella Police Station and PC Ramlal conducted investigations. The court heard police viewed surveillance footage provided by the supermarket. On Thursday police arrested James who admitted to stealing the phone.

Unrepresented by an attorney yesterday, he told Chankar he sold the phone to get cash to make a down payment on a place to rent. The unemployed man said he is on welfare but did not get his cheque on time. He said he has a disability which renders him unable to work.

Last year on March 11, a San Fernando magistrate had sentenced him to serve two years in prison with hard labour for marijuana possession.

Six days earlier, another magistrate reprimanded and discharged him for stealing clothing off a clothesline.