A 20-year-old man and a 15-year-old boy remain detained as the police also seized imitation firearms at the man’s home. A search of the teen’s home yielded no illegal items. Police said yesterday that more arrests are expected as they have received information from both suspects.

At about 2.30 pm on Saturday, two men entered Artie’s Meats at Four Roads and announced a hold-up. Comedienne Nikki Crosby was among shoppers in the store who were robbed by the two.

According to police, at about 4.40 pm, passers-by spotted the body and contacted police. Officers from Besson Street Police station and Port of Spain CID responded.

Sources said that the woman, known only as Emma, was seen at 3 pm in the company of a man and they were walking along Duncan Street.

Emma’s last known address was said to be in Siparia. Police believe the woman was sexually assaulted, beaten to death and her body thrown into the dry river.

The body was removed to the Forensic Science Centre in St James for autopsy.

Police confirmed that visible marks of violence were found on the woman’s body. Several people were interviewed by police although no arrest has been made.

Port of Spain CID officers and detectives from the Homicide Investigations Bureau (Region I) are continuing investigations.

He made the comments in his inaugural speech as the ninth principal of the campus during his induction ceremony held on Saturday night at the Daaga Auditorium, UWI, St Augustine.

Copeland said that he accepted the challenge to nurture their students to spot commercial opportunities and derive novel, ingenious and workable solutions to economic, societal and ecological challenges.

He said that two major initiatives of UWI’s five year strategic plan is to reform the core education processes and increase access to a broader base of students and secondly innovation where they move from concepts to commercial reality. On innovation Copeland explained that they want to create spin off companies, with the first before the end of the year and one new company every two years.

Copeland said that this country needs thousands of export oriented small and micro enterprise companies. Copeland, an engineer and academic by profession and the first winner of the Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago for being part of the G-Pan development team, succeeds previous St Augustine Principal Professor Clement Sankat.

Copeland, also co-creator of the steelpan “synthesiser” called the percussive harmonic instrument (PHI), said that while Government’s interest in the steelpan initiatives project was solely focused on the now decade old G-Pan he saw the project as part of a greater strategy to entrench Trinidad and Tobago “as the unquestionable leader in the global steel pan industry through aggressive research, development and innovation of steelpan technology.” He explained that he the steelpan as the cornerstone of a new culture of innovation-led entrepreneurship.

He said that neither the steelpan nor the PHI had realised their full market potential. He expressed hope that with this Government’s renewed focus on innovation as an element of the national development strategy “some consideration would be given to the steelpan industry as an opportunity for economic diversification.” On his appointment as principal Copeland thanked everyone who enabled him on his journey including his lecturers at UWI, his family and late former Prime Minister Patrick Manning for his encouragement.

Copeland, whose mother was Barbadian, said he always considered himself a Caribbean man born on Trinidad. He added that he is “fiercely Caribbean at heart” and he felt anguish at the collapse of the West Indian Federation.

He expressed hope that “one day Caribbean nations will unite under one flag” and he dubbed this one nation “Caribia.” Copeland said that as principal he looked forward to supporting Caribbean development which was the only reason he accepted the appointment

Assang and Koylass met in the final of the girls Under-16 category at the Lease Operators Junior Tennis tournament earlier this month. Assang prevailed 6-2, 6-2 in the final at the Trinidad Country Club.

Assang continued her form yesterday, easing to a 4-0, 4-0 win over Rhyse Houllier in a girls Under-16 group stage contest.

Koylass also won her opening match comfortably, defeating Kelsey Leitch 4-1, 4-0, while Kimberly Sabga got past Sarika Seenath 4-0, 4-1.

In the girls Under-14 category, Cameron Wong, Shauna Valentine and Isabel Abraham all won in straight sets.

Wong outlasted Kryshelle Cudjoe 4-0, 4-0, Valentine eased past Keesa Lee Young 4-1, 4-1 and Abraham got past Haleigh Fabres 4-1, 4-0.

Kyle Kerry and Sebastian Sylvester were unstoppable in the boys Under-14 category. Kerry, who won the boys Under-14 singles title at Lease, breezed past Joel Augustine 4-0, 4-0.

Sylvester recorded an identical win over Ryan Conyers showing the field that he plans to compete for the title. In other results, Charles Devaux was a 4-2, 4-0 winner over Saqiv Williams, Josh Gonzalves outclassed Andre Augustine 4-1, 4-0 and Ethan Wong defeated Levi Hinkson 4-1, 4-2.

The tournament continues today from 9 am.

OTHER RESULTS – Boys Under-10 Group Stage: Kyle Dalla Costa def Isaiah Boxhill 6-3; James Hadden def Dylan Boocock 6-3; Logan Hamel-Smith def Yeshwah Smith 7-5; Alexander Merry def Kaydon Siewrattan 6-0.

Boys Under-12 Group Stage: Nicholas Ready def Lorcan Chan Pak 4-1, 4-1; Ethan-Jude Trestrail def Sebastien Byng 4-5 retired; Jace Quashie def Alex Chin 5-3, 5-3; Jamal Alexis def Sebastian Ali 4-1, 4-0; Thomas Chung def Zachery Byng 4-0, 4-0; Beckham Sylvester def Tyler Hart 4-1, 4-1; Dominic D’Arcy def Zechariah Permell 1-4, 4-1, 10-8.

Girls Under-12 Group Stage: Charlotte Ready def Sydney Doyle 4-0, 4-2; Ella Carrington def Joy Augustine 4-0, 4-0; Sanjili Seenath def Gabrielle Mackenzie 4-0, 4-1; Zara Ghuran def Jordane Dookie 4-1, 4-1.

Speaking yesterday at the St Joseph Presbyterian Church’s Holy Communion Service and Tree Planting ceremony in commemorating the church 150th year’s anniversary, located on the Eastern Main Road, St Joseph, Teelucksingh implored the audience to be their brother’s keepers and remain true to the teachings of the Bible.

He asked the congregation if they were a grass-roots church or grass-roots Christians, and if they were giving more priority to serving on boards rather than serving God. “Have we strayed from the real lessons of the Bible? Do we generally come to church to worship Christ? Or do we have some hidden agenda? “If you forget this sermon today, remember the spirituality of every church is its dedication.

Why have we allowed this poor community of Bangladesh on Farm Road to exist? Christ wants us to plant trees of hope in every oppressed community of Trinidad and Tobago.” He praised those, especially non Presbyterians who contributed to the church over the decades. “I want us to always remember that on our anniversary, there are many non-Presbyterian Christians who felt that what John Morton and the missionaries were doing was good and something they needed to support.” “Reaching the milestone of 150 years is indeed a great achievement, but the church is a young branch when compared to older branch of Protestantism which is celebrating 500 years. We are connected through the mighty tree of Christianity which has been growing for 2,000 years and is watered with the blood of Christ.” Among those in attendance were Canada’s High Commissioner to TT Carla Hogan Rufelds and India’s High Commission to TT, Aniruddha Das

The motivational programme is geared towards inspiring the pupils who are getting ready to enter secondary school. The career day targets primary schools within eTecK’s fenceline communities as part of the company’s corporate philanthropy programme. The pupils were engaged in a career segment with five members of e TecK’s staff and ended with them refreshments and the animated children’s movie Captain Underpants.

During the career segment eTecK’s civil engineer Samantha Roberts encouraged pupils to acquire knowledge of something new every day, while accountant Kristal Khan emphasised the importance of pupils seeking a career in a field that they love, said a media release.

Neil Willis shared his story of his passion for art and technical drawing as a youth and how it shaped his career path to being one of eTecK’s property officers. The love of reading was strongly encouraged by Deedra Maharaj as it contributed towards her success in becoming a lawyer. eTecK’s ICT Manager, Dwayne Farrell advised pupils to live their dreams, be persistent at their goals and have fun whilst in their pursuit.

The La Horquetta North pupils had lots to say about the career segment. Dominique Joseph stated: “What I liked about the field trip was that we were encouraged to do our best even if you may not pass for your first choice school. It is not where you go but how you finish.” Tiana Joseph added: “I really liked that the speakers went to different schools and still became very successful.” The career segment was further endorsed by student Daneque Daniel who stated: “I also liked the speeches where e TecK staff shared their memories.

It inspired me to never give up, no matter what.” Standard five teacher, Clayton Manick, said “The various presenters did an excellent job at not only sharing but connecting one on one with students. I think that was most impacting.

Thanks e TecK for choosing our school to be part of this Career Day. The effects would truly last a life-time.”

In a brief address, Smith congratulated the TTOC on the decision to focus attention on inviting children to the Olympic Day event.

National athletes from various sporting disciplines turned out to support the local Olympic Day celebrations at Lord Harris Square, Port of Spain.

Keron “Sunny Bling” Sealy – Master of Ceremonies – ensured a vibrant, interactive and entertaining experience notwithstanding the inclement weather.

An exciting highlight at the event, which started at 10am and ended at 2pm, was the opportunity for the children and members of the public to see – some for the first time – Hasely Crawford’s 1976 Olympic gold medal.

Many pictures and selfies were taken with TT’s Olympic hero and his historic gold medal.

Children from several primary schools and kindergartens were in attendance where various national sporting organisations, including the National Association of Athletic Administrators (NAAA), Trinidad and Tobago Volleyball Federation (TTVF), Trinidad and Tobago Hockey Board (TTHB), Trinidad and Tobago Rugby Football Union (TTRFU) among others, set up booths, gave demonstrations and exhibited skills, drills and exercises to the young children.

The children hailed from Rosary Boys, St Rose’s Girls, Belmont Boys RC, SERVOL, Gail Cabral, La Seiva RC and Movant Police Youth.

Olympic Day is commemorated annually by over 200 National Olympic Committees worldwide.

The aim is to educate children on the role of sport in society and the values espoused by the Olympic Movement. In keeping with these objectives, the activities strive to encourage the nation’s youth to Strive for Excellence, to celebrate Friendship and to demonstrate Respect.

There is nothing wrong with proudly celebrating academic successes, but what does the continued focus of those deemed to be successful do for those who may have tried their very best but simply do not have the cognitive capacity or motivation for academic studies or even have the same long-term aspirations. In case you have forgotten let me remind you of the newspaper headline of June 8 – “Over 400 students are on suicide watch across primary and secondary schools”. This news story sparked a lot of shock and concern amongst the population, and though there are a myriad of reasons for the increase in depression and suicide in young people, the point is that the importance placed on exam success and doing well academically is a contributor to their diminishing emotional and mental health which should not be ignored.

There have been many studies done on the matter of stress and anxiety in academic studies starting as far back as 1914 and research estimates that approximately 20 per cent of under-18s have experienced depression or anxiety (Costello et al 2003) and that suicidal thoughts are common amongst young people. Yet the unhealthy social phenomenon which perpetrates the notion that exam success defines you as a person continues.

Even the terminology used in discussing the SEA results has the potential to contribute to students’ stress, for example the emphasis on “passing” for their first choice which alludes that not doing so somehow equates to “failing”.

But, the reality is that there is so much more to the nation’s youngsters and they need to be reassured that the SEA results are not everything. There is no denying the importance of a well-rounded secondary school education that focuses on academics as well as life skills, and all youngsters should be encouraged to excel to the best of their ability. However, a one-dimensional approach that ignores the impact of variables and life consequences such as health, socio-economics, environment, parental education, geographic location is a problematic one that does more harm than good. Subliminally, the message received by many youngsters – whether intentional or not, is that a perceived lack of success at SEA means that friends and family are not proud of them and that they are doomed to a second- rate life.

Many youngsters are faced with an overwhelming plethora of challenges which can affect their academic achievements such as bullying, death and loss, physical or mental illnesses or both, abuse, addiction, fears/ phobias, problems at school. In addition which, during adolescent they begin to produce hormones that causes the changes of puberty and the onset of sexual and relationship desires so when those are compounded by the worry about exams, parental pressures, and unrealistic expectations it is no surprise that there is such a high number of them on suicide watch. Another point in relation to the SEA results is around safeguarding, and I question the necessity for publishing the results in the newspapers in an era when most people have smart phones and communication is much easier.

I was made aware of a survivor of domestic violence who is currently living in a refuge and has a restraining order against her estranged husband who feels that her safety and that of her child have been compromised because he is now able to figure out their general whereabouts using the information published. Maybe it’s about time for this practice to be reconsidered.

Finally, I’d like to share a situation that has always stayed with me. During a class discussion, one of my fellow students was asked about his career aspirations and he replied that he wanted to be a refuse collector.

The entire class including the teacher erupted into raucous laughter, however, truth be told, he was aware of his limitations and had set himself an achievable personal goal. Needless to say he has had the last laugh because he went on to become the owner of a lucrative cleaning company.

Dr Yansie Rolston FRSA is a UK-based disability and mental health specialist advisor. She is a social strategist and trainer who works internationally at various levels of government, business and civil society. Contact her at yr@ efficacyeva.com

He said that already, Muslims are “seeing signs” of this dependency from government. “We have to rise to that challenge. I do hope Ramadan would have provided us with that kind of commitment to carry through for the rest of this Islamic year. I ask you to consider that in all sincerity. I did not come here to offend anyone and if I did, I sincerely apologise,” Mohammed said.

He proposed that to prevent society from further collapse, certain Islamic values should be examined and followed. “I say this in the name of Allah, the only thing that is left for this society to consider before collapsing further is Islamic values,” Mohammed noted.

Mohammed, a former Member of Parliament for Tabaquite, under the NAR administration, is also an attorney.

Addressing the gathering, which comprised mainly of Muslims, Mohammed said that Eid is a time for stock taking for Muslims especially in a time like this when there is so much social upheaval all over the world.

“Look at what is happening here in Trinidad and Tobago. We are numbed, perplexed, confused and yet as a society we pretend that the reality does not exist in our society.

It is reasonable to conclude that the values that we have tried to cultivate over the years and which we have cherished, have not worked the way we would have liked them to work, Mohammed charged.

Mohammed noted that Muslims are plagued with “spiritual diseases” such as back biting, envy, jealousy, hatred to one another and selfishness. To remove those spiritual diseases and purify one’s heart, he/she must perform the five principles of Islam, Mohammed said.

At the dinner, ASJA members celebrated the achievements of Secondary Entrance Assessment (SE A) outstanding students among them Lexi Balchan, 12.

Balchan, formerly of the Point Fortin ASJA Primary School, topped 18,000 other students in this year’s SE A examination.

Mohammed congratulated Bachan and reminisced that 58 years ago, on April 19, 1958, Haji Yacoob Ali handed him his letter of appointment to go and open the Point Fortin ASJA School. Together with other Muslims, Mohammed opened the school which started in a shed that was blocked around with boxing boards from Immortelle trees. He also saluted the late Hamza Mohammed, first principal of that school.

Delivering the opening remarks, Minister Gopee-Scoon indicated that the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) is the most comprehensive agreement negotiated by the CARIFORUM countries and creates the best opportunity for export expansion and economic development to aid the region’s trade and investment thrust with the European Union.

building the relationship with the EU, new partnerships will be developed which would allow the private sector to better understand the process in entering the European Union Market.” Minister Gopee-Scoon stressed that “a more aggressive approach is required in the utilisation of the EPA.” She encouraged the private sector to use the opportunities negotiated under the Agreement to discover new customers, form new partnerships and constantly pursue new growth prospects to diversify exports and build competitiveness.

Arend Biesebroek, Head of Delegation of the European Union to TT, stated that “we must reinforce the public private dialogue and the private-private dialogue to promote a more effective enabling business environment for Caribbean countries.” The EU Ambassador underscored the importance of creating a business link with Europe. He expressed the willingness of the EU Delegation to assist the private sector in getting their products into Europe.

Robertha Reid, Senior Adviser at CEDA, indicated that the intention of the workshop was to help the private sector understand the opportunities under the EPA and increase the number of companies exporting to the EU. She explained the initiatives being undertaken by Caribbean Export to provide trade and business intelligence and build capacity to conduct market research to optimize the EPA.

The workshop consisted of two very informative presentations.

The first presentation delivered by Mr. Adam Wisniewski from the European Union provided participants with a comprehensive overview of the details of the EPA.

This was followed by Dr. Noel Watson’s presentation on the ways in which exporters can utilize the EPA to increase their market presence in the European Union.