The order was made by the Registrar of the Supreme Court last week at the San Fernando High Court after the PTSC failed to file an appearance in a lawsuit filed by Trinidad Tent Rentals, which was owed $202,838.20 for the supply of portable toilets.

Trinidad Tent Rentals Ltd, of Fyzabad, was represented by attorneys Abdel and Shabaana Mohammed.

The company had entered an agreement with PTSC for the supply of the portable toilets at a rate of $2,576 every two weeks. The toilets were supplied until March 2014.

During the course of that contract in July 2011, the company entered into another agreement for the provision of hygienic washroom maintenance services at PTSC locations in Port of Spain, San Fernando and Sangre Grande.

Payment was provided for some of the invoices submitted but the remainder of the money owed was not forthcoming for the other invoices.

Invoices were submitted to PTSC, and after receiving no word on payment, in Feburary, 2014 the company issued a pre-action protocol letter to PTSC warning of intended high court action as well as numerous letters threatening legal action.

The only response from the PTSC was in July 2015 once the Ministry of Finance released the relevant funding, however, the company was never paid.

It was the second time in recent months that the motion, presented to the Parliament under the Standing Orders dealing with definite matters of urgent public importance, was not granted by Speaker of the Parliament Brigid Annisette-George.

“There is a misconception.

People say I bring these motions under the wrong standing order. No. It is my respectful view that it is the right standing order because I am bringing them as definite matters of urgent public importance,” she told the media.

Murders committed in 2017, she said, were more than the days in the year already. What was taking place in Central Trinidad where the majority were killed, was massacre, she said.

Even National Security Minister Edmund Dillon, she said, saw it fit to go out to the rally and address the gathering, and the Opposition will support any initiative that would help in the fight against crime.

Calling on civil society to hold the government to ransom to make the policies and take decisions to help fight crime, Persad-Bissessar said, It was all well and good to rally, march, hold hands and say “we are fighting crime,” but she said, Government must be held accountable.

She said Government has not paid compensation to one family of police and protective services officers killed in the line of duty.

“Sixteen months later and you have not paid one, and you want to talk about the police and the morale of the police?” She said she sent a draft of a Cabinet note to show Government how it could be done.

This week, she said, she intends to take a matter to court as a test case, for a family of the protective services who was killed in the line of duty.

“It is a next public interest matter that I should be taking on behalf of one family, but it will be a test case for all protective officers,” she said.

The youth NGO is hosting the 2017 edition of the Trinidad and Tobago Next Superstar Competition.

Auditions are scheduled to begin on January 14 from 10am to 1pm at Tranquility Primary School, Stanmore Avenue, Port-of-Spain.

The competition’s ultimate aim is to “provide a platform for amateur calypso and soca artiste to showcase their talents in a friendly, competitive environment while at the same time being exposed to training by industry professionals allowing them to develop their craft in preparation for careers within the music industry,” a release from the NGO said.

The competition, in its second year, was the brainchild of president of Trinidad and Tobago Youth Ambassadors, Kendel Vincent.

It is his hope that the competitions leads to the development and growth of some the country’s young talent.

Last year, Michela Williams from Tobago was the organisation’s superstar.

For the group, promoting and developing homegrown talent is important.

The group was started in 2014 by Vincent following his involvement in several youth projects. The 25-yearold told Newsday while there were always youth projects around there were never sustained efforts at keeping the youth actively engaged.

“I have been involved in different projects-part of the National Youth Assembly.

But it was always one off and I wanted a more sustained effort. The Government tried to start the National Youth Council but that too was not sustained. I wanted to create a sustained effort…” Throughout TT, there are 16 ‘trained and certified’ youth ambassadors promoting the causes of and advocating on behalf of the nation’s youth.

The group has also a number of projects under its belt, among them Project Smile- a national social outreach project geared toward providing aid and relief to low income, underprivileged children and youth and families across TT, The National Youth Ambassadors Programme, Camp Excel-which targets children from ages five to 17 during the vacation programme and National Youth Aids Awareness Programme, which raises awareness about the importance of engaging youth in the prevention and treatment of HIV/Aids. The group has received sponsorship from the Ministry of Community Development, Culture and the Arts for this year’s competition.

If interested, the registration process for the competition can be started online at www.facebook.

com/ttnextsuperstar or by emailing ttnextsuperstar@ gmail.com.

Interested parties can also pre-register by contacting 349-2529, 764-7030 or 732- 7630. Applications are to be submitted by January 12 with an application fee of $75. The final competition is expected to take place February 18.

Watership Down is the story of a colony of rabbits that suddenly decide to flee their peaceful warren in Berkshire Downs after Hazel, a rabbit known for his visions, foresees impending doom.

Somehow, the rabbits trust Hazel’s visions and believe them to be true.

They can’t read the sign that heralds a housing development in the area. They simply have faith in Hazel.

The rabbits’ journey to find a new home takes them to unfamiliar territory filled with terror as they encounter bad dogs, frightening humans, giant rabbits and other problems.

Through it all, Hazel offers visions that perplex the rabbits while propelling them forward. Together, the rabbits function as a community trying desperately to find a peaceful place to live.

Long before environmental issues became the fashion, Adams penned this profoundly heartbreaking novel that shows just how animals — and indeed all of us — suffer when we don’t take care of the environment.

Like the rabbits in his novel, Adams crossed many boundaries. In his case, they happened to be literary boundaries. Because it is a fable, Watership Down can be considered a children’s novel as well as a Young Adult (YA) novel. Fables cross boundaries quite easily.

Watership Down’s success turned out to be both extraordinary and surprising.

The glowing tributes that poured in after his death pointed out that Adams’ was an unknown civil servant in London before the publication of this novel.

Adams wrote government reports on the environment and spun children’s stories for his children whenever they went on long rides through the countryside.

At 50, he turned the stories from those rides and his love for the countryside into Watership Down, which he set in Berkshire Downs, the place where he grew up.

Publishing houses did not leap at the chance to publish Adams’ novel.

Only a small publishing house Rex Collings Ltd, took a chance on printing a paltry 2,500 copies in 1971.

British critics loved Watership Down, comparing it George Orwell’s Animal Farm; JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit and AA Milne’s Winnie the Pooh.

Like The Hobbit, Watership Down often features its own language.

A year after its release, Penguin issued the novel in its Puffin Books children’s series.

Watership Down won the Carnegie Medal in Literature in 1972 and the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize in 1973.

Watership Down has a special place in my heart because it was one of the first books I read to my 11-year-old students in their library class.

My students loved this novel so much, they rushed to the library for me to read to them during their break and most lunch periods.

I had a difficult time getting them to leave the library to go to class. Many students also re-read the chapters I read to them in class with their parents.

Watership Down is truly a remarkable piece of literature.

It’s one of those books that makes you think about the world around you in a whole new light. It’s an unforgettable read – the kind that makes you feel like there’s a hole in your life if you never had the opportunity to experience this novel.

Taylor, American- born and raised to Jamaican immigrants in Florida, had been spending his off-seasons from the Florida club calendar to play club cricket in Jamaica for the last two years in a bid to improve of chances for Jamaica selection, and it has finally paid off. The 23-year-old, who is contracted with Barbados Tridents in the Caribbean Premier League, had been named as vice-captain last month for the ICC Americas squad due to play in the Nagico Super50.

Taylor was in the ICC Americas squad last year for the Nagico Super50 competition and was expected to be an integral part as a returning member of this year’s team, especially after scoring a blistering 124 not out off 95 balls against Oman during USA’s run to the ICC WCL Division Four title in November. However, a pair of batting spots opened up in the Jamaica squad after Chris Gayle was ruled out due to injury and Marlon Samuels reportedly took up an offer to play with Leewards Islands, paving the way for Taylor’s inclusion.

The move from the ICC Americas squad to Jamaica leaves a hole at the top of the batting order for the combined USA-Bermuda-Canada squad. Canada’s Srimantha Wijeyratne, who was the leading scorer for ICC Americas last year at the Nagico Super50, is expected to fill one opening spot while the other may be contested between USA’s Fahad Babar and Bermuda’s Kamau Leverock. Babar has been playing firstclass cricket during the winter with Kalutara Physical Culture Club in Sri Lanka while Leverock struck an impressive 137 off 111 balls opening the batting against Jersey in Division Four.

No replacement has been announced yet for Taylor in the ICC Americas squad.

He is the second player who has been plucked away from the combined squad after Bermuda’s Delray Rawlins withdrew from consideration to commit to the England U-19s’ tour of India in January-February 2017.

A potential showdown between Taylor and his several of his USA teammates looms on February 1 and again on February 11 when Jamaica is scheduled to play ICC Americas. The ICC Americas squad opens up Group B against Combined Campuses and Colleges on January 26 while Jamaica’s first match is against CCC on January 24. Barbados and Guyana round out Group B while Group A is comprised of Leeward Islands, Windward Islands, West Indies U-19, English county side Kent and defending champions Trinidad & Tobago.

This after a 4-3 victory, in extra time, over hosts Trinidad and Tobago in the last Fifth Round Playoffs fixture at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva.

Fils Belfort Kervens scored twice for Haiti, while Derrick Etienne and Andrew Jean Baptiste contributed one apiece. Enigmatic striker Shahdon Winchester responded with a valiant hat-trick for TT .

Trinidad and Tobago made four changes from the team that lost 2-1 to Suriname on Wednesday, with Winchester, Aikim Andrews, Andre Boucaud and Maurice Ford replacing Akeem Roach, Hashim Arcia, Hughtun Hector and Carlyle Mitchell.

Haiti, on the other hand, fielded an unchanged starting 11 from the squad that whipped Suriname 4-2 on Friday.

Winchester opened his, and his team’s account, in the first minute, slotting a right-footer past goalkeeper Guerry Romondt after good work inside the penalty box, on the right, by winger Nathan Lewis.

Haiti forward Ajonel Desire came close to levelling the scores in the 10th minute, controlling a deep ball from Mardoenee Pompe Samuel but he struck his left-footed effort overbar. Moments later, TT central defender Radanfah Abu Bakr leapt high to meet a corner from Tyrone Charles but his header was tipped overbar by an alert Romondt.

However, Haiti tied the scores, albeit in debatable circumstances.

In the 20th, referee Ricangel De Luca awarded a foul against Ford after a tangle with Belfort Kervens, to the dismay of the TT centre-back.

The TT team’s mood worsened when Belfort Kervens took the freekick quickly and found an alert Etienne who curled his right-footed shot past the left of TT keeper Adrian Foncette.

Another quickly taken freekick, this time on the opposite end, revitalised TT ’s fortunes five minutes later.

De Luca blew for an infringement on Romondt, for holding a deliberate back pass from Wilguens Aristilde and Andrews fed Winchester who directed his right-footed effort into the vacant net.

Haiti shook off that setback to knot the scores once again, in the 39th, with Belfort Kervens getting ahead of Abu Bakr to head home a corner from Herold Charles.

TT captain Carlos Edwards had to be taken off in the 20th due to injury but his replacement Alvin Jones’ freekick, early in the second half, was partially cleared by Romondt and Andrews’ long-range rebound sailed inches overbar.

Etienne and Alex Christian came close later in the second half while, in the first session of extra time, Romondt did well to save point-blank efforts from substitute Cornell Glen and stand-in captain Abu Bakr and, on the opposite end, Desire and Jean Baptiste came close to putting the Haitians ahead for the first time.

Nathan Lewis struck the crossbar with an opportunistic cross in the 108th minute but Belfort Kervens notched Haiti_s third goal two minutes later. Substitute Hector tried in vain but assistant referee Raidel Toledo of Cuba ruled that Belfort Kervens’ header, from Herold Charles’ corner, had crossed the line.

With fans leaving the venue, Winchester completed his treble in the 112th, taking Abu Bakr’s headed feed to slot home past Romondt.

However, Jean Baptiste put the result beyond doubt in the 117th, as he capitalised on a mix-up between Foncette and Jones and headed home a cross from the left by Herold Charles.

Up to press time yesterday it was yet to be determined which teams advanced to the quarterfinals from Group C as Moosai and Demerara (Guyana) were battling in the final match of the group.

In the first match yesterday Sookdeosingh slammed 102 not out off 55 deliveries to guide Duncan-Buggy Haynes United to 229 for two batting first.

Another out of favour national batsman William Perkins scored 58, while national four-day captain Yannick Ottley made an unbeaten 37.

In reply Moosai limped to 127/8 with Lyndell Nelson top scoring with 27. National bowler Uthman Mohammed was the pick of the bowlers for Duncan-Buggy Haynes United snatching 4/25, while Stephon Solomon (2/10) and Dillon Mungal (2/29) grabbed two wickets.

In the second match Demerara got the better of Duncan-Buggy Haynes United by six wickets. Perkins led the way cracking 56 to lead Duncan- Buggy Haynes United to 158/8 batting first.

Ottley scored 31, while Shurfane Rutherford (2/19), Keemo Paul (2/31) and Cohen Ismond (2/26) all took two wickets. Demerara raced to 162/4 off 16.5 overs as Gajanand Singh top scored with 64 not out and Kemol Savory posted 58. Uthman Mohammed was the best bowler taking 2/29.

Group action concluded yesterday with quarterfinal action being contested tomorrow and Wednesday.

Semifinal matches will be played on Friday and Saturday, before the final is played on Sunday.

SUMMARISED SCORES Yesterday Duncan-Buggy Haynes United 229/2 (Nicholas Sookdeosingh 102 not out, William Perkins 58, Yannick Ottley 37 not out) vs Moosai 127/8 (Lyndell Nelson 27, Ryan Inniss 20, Uthman Mohammed 4/25, Stephon Solomon 2/10, Dillon Mungal 2/29) Duncan- Buggy Haynes won by 102 runs Duncan-Buggy Haynes United 158/8 (William Perkins 56, Yannick Ottley 31, Shurfane Rutherford 2/19, Keemo Paul 2/31, Cohen Ismond 2/26) vs Demerara 162/4 (16.5 overs) (Gajanand Singh 64 not out, Kemol Savory 58, Uthman Mohammed 2/29) Demerara won by six wickets Saturday Club Crusoe 185/7 (Navin Stewart 66, Jason Persaud 32, Teshawn Castro 3/25, Narindra Bridgelal 2/43) vs Munroe Road 183/9 (Akeem Alvarez 48, Kieron Joseph 41, Rachad Forde 2/22, Ancil Nedd 2/22, Navin Stewart 2/39) Club Crusoe won by two runs

Perry found the back of the net in the 32nd, 65th and 69th minutes, while Elijah Belgrave (sixth) and Kareem Freitas (43rd) were the other goal-getters for the lawmen, who moved up to sixth place with 16 points, while Point Fortin (who fielded only four substitutes on the day) are last with two points.

Round Two Match Day Four action will end tomorrow with a double-header at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo.

Club Sando will tackle W Connection at 6 pm while leaders Central FC will meet Defence Force two hours later

In a release, the Association said it notes the progress made during Friday’s Parliament sitting and it pleased that a middle ground has been reached.

“BATT is pleased to see a middle ground has been reached between the Government and Opposition and the TIEA Bill is now before a Joint Select Committee (JSC).” “However, we wish to remind the Government and the Opposition that time is not on our side.

It is our hope and expectation that the Joint Select Committee will meet its February 3rd reporting deadline in order to have the Bill passed to meet the country’s FATCA obligations.” BATT said it will continue to monitor the discussions on FATCA and is available to participate in providing the JSC with any information required to assist the committee in their deliberations.

On Friday, Finance Minister Colm Imbert announced that a Joint Select Committee (JSC) would be established to discuss the bill, which is critical in securing compliance with the USA’s Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).

Imbert added that the action was done in response to attempts by Opposition to “blackmail” the country, and said the reasons offered by Opposition for its insistence on a JSC were “tenuous and spurious”.

THE on-going pressures and challenges of daily living are sufficient to weaken the strongest, if their wheel of resilience is in itself weak.

There are many, who depend on the world for strength which, though not necessarily a bad thing is not the ideal for one’s co-existence, as survival begins and ends with you. Resilience is the process of adapting well when faced with untimely circumstances such as trauma and/or significant incidents of stress such as family/ relationship/health issues. Being resilient does not mean that one is devoid of difficulty or distress, it means that with a resilient cap, you are more equipped to handle such situations effectively, because we are all human and therefore cannot always be at our best when challenges knock at our door.

Understand that resilience is not a characteristic that a person has or do not have, but rather, particular behaviours and attitudes that can be learnt and developed over time.

Developing resilience is a special skill which should always be part of one’s survival toolkit. The “how” is personal to each individual as the reaction and/ or response to various situations differs based on orientation and mindset. Start by making connections with people (including family members who can add value to your vision, as well strengthen your personal capacity). Avoid viewing crises and traumatic situations as unconquerable because in life nothing is impossible! Whilst you may be unable to change and/or control the occurrence of stressful events, you can definitely control and manage the way you respond.

Many are afraid of change, but keep in mind that change is inevitable and a part of life. Learning to accept things that can’t be change is a good place to start in assisting you to focus on circumstances that you’re able to change.

Focus on achieving your goals – short, medium and longterm; this helps to concentrate more on yourself, and less on the distractions that affect your resilience levels. Once you’re confronted with a problem, attempt to find solutions as opposed to hoping that it would disappear; being decisive and assertive is critical in challenging times.

Always maintain a positive outlook as you and only you can effect the change that you want in your life; be confident in your ability and also nurture a positive mindset.

Building resilience as a platform to enhance one’s self-esteem, is one of the many social issues which will be addressed at the Conference – “The Power Within: Love your body, love you” on January 26. Book your space now – call us at 638-1083, 268- 6078 and 684-6982.

To obtain a copy of the book With Women in Mind call 283- 0318 or 795-9531.

Sandrine Rattan is a Communications/ Branding Consultant/ Author and President of the International Women’s Resource Network (IWRN) Contact: thecorporatesuitett@ gmail.

com or intlwomensresourcenetwork@ gmail.com