A ministry release said that the meeting is to discuss improved facilities to enable the institution to effectively carry out its mandate to provide quality education for its students. Garcia and Minister of Public Administration and Communications Maxie Cuffie and officials from the Property and Real Estate Service Division (PRESD) will meet with the QRC principal.

The PRESD has the responsibility for the allocation of all Government properties, in keeping with Cabinet directives. Garcia noted that since the Ministry’s relocation in August of this year, the return of the premises has been the subject of much discussion.

“We will take into account all the factors concerning the occupation of the land and a decision will be subsequently made,” he said

According to a police report, at about 1.30 pm, the security officer was driving a Ford Ranger pick-up van proceeding west along the Rivulet Road while the female driver was heading in the opposite direction.

There was a head on collision which resulted in both vehicles veering off the roadway. Fire officers of the Couva Fire Station responded and the victims were rushed to the Couva Health Facility where they were treated and transferred to the San Fernando General Hospital.

In April of this year, Benjamin, a father of five who was assigned to the St Madeleine Police Station, and a colleague responded to a call from the owner of Chao Yong Supermarket. Benjamin was shot in the head by one of two bandits and succumbed to the injury after spending four nights in the Intensive Care Unit of the San Fernando General Hospital.

Yesterday, two bandits robbed the supermarket once again.

CCTV cameras inside the business located at Naparima/Mayaro Rd in St Clement’s, captured images of two men of African descent robbing the supermarket of cash at about 2.40pm. One of the robbers, wearing a white vest, blue three-quarter pants and a hat, was of slim built.

He was seen brandishing a gun while ordering the frantic cashiers to fill a black plastic bag with cash. The other stockily built bandit wore a yellow jersey, a white cap, and blue three quarter pants. They made off with $2000.

Police said the men escaped in a white station wagon of unknown model and registration number

Asked to comment on the stance taken by Fr Martin Sirju on Thursday, Harris said the Feast of the Holy Innocents calls for a more “dignified” ceremony than one which is focused on toys.

“The Feast of the Holy Innocents is not about toys,” said Harris in a telephone interview with Newsday. “The innocents were killed by Herod because he hated Jesus Christ. He had heard that a new King was born and therefore he wanted to get rid of that King or anybody else who could be a threat to his throne. So Herod went out and killed these children of two years old and under. He killed all who were a threat to his throne.” Harris continued, “In Trinidad and Tobago, the kids who have been killed are no threat to anybody. They are innocent, so that for me, Holy Innocents is about innocent lives that are lost.” For many years, some Roman Catholic and Anglican priests have marked the occasion with the blessing of toys that children received as Christmas presents. Harris said he has only ever seen the tradition practised in Trinidad and Tobago and he does not know when it originated.

However, he did not practise the tradition even when he was a priest. “As a priest, before I was Archbishop, I always found it irreverent. It was always plenty noise and all kinds of things going on in church, children fighting over this toy and that toy, so it was never something that I fostered.” Anglican Interim Rector for the Holy Trinity Cathedral, Fr Carl Williams, on the other hand, donned a Santa hat for the ceremony, defending his practice of the tradition by saying he could not bring himself to disappoint children by turning them away.

Giving a brief wish for the New Year, Harris said, “I want a new year that is without the violence and the anger that we have seen in the past year. I would like a new year in which family life gets stronger in Trinidad and Tobago.”

Newsday asked if PriceSmart has therefore switched to more affordable brands, thereby requiring less forex.

Mahabir said the company continues “to work with our relationship banks to source tradeable currency that we can use to maintain a level of imported merchandise and stock the range of imported products most frequently purchased by our members.” Newsday also spoke to President of the Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers Association (TTMA), Dr Rolph Balgobin who pointed out that because “manufacturers are net earners of foreign exchange, many of our members actually have sufficient forex.

Several however, do not, and many of these have been exporting at thin margins to earn the foreign currency, trying to tighten collections, buy forex upfront, hedge, et cetera.” Regarding the start of the US dollar shortage, Balgobin said manufacturers “would have seen the oncoming recession and attendant foreign exchange challenges early. Our sensitivity to forex availability for raw material, and the attendant impact it has on our businesses, means that we would have seen this trend accelerating in 2014 and 2015.” Asked how long after that did the TTMA first notice a serious issue with supplies of the other currencies, he told Newsday, “at least a year but the issue was building for just over a year.” Balgobin added that the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of TT have been “very open in dealing with the problem.”

“Government must act now” to ensure Cable and Wireless Communications (CWC) divests its 49 percent shareholding in the Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (TSTT), since CWC has a conflict of interest thanks to its ownership of Columbus Communications; Flow Trinidad and Tobago’s (Flow) parent company.

“CWC have had opportunities to sell those shares on the market but they have not. They have failed and they are holding our country to ransom, we believe, by existing in this state of a conflict of interest for more than two years.” “Government shouldn’t give CWC any further extension. It (Government) should act based on the provisions of the Shareholders Agreement; through National Enterprise Limited (NEL), and take control of those shares and dispose of them in the best interest of the country.” Remy said through NEL, Government has the authority, through NEL, as 51 percent shareholder in TSTT, to execute a force majeure and take control of CWC’s shareholding in TSTT “and have it disposed of to the employees of TSTT, local institutional investors inclusive of Pension Funds, the Unit Trust, Credit Unions, and citizens of TT.” In a statement issued yesterday, Remy noted that in 2014 CWC began the acquisition process of Columbus Communications, parent body of Flow, a direct competitor to TSTT in the telecommunications market.

“In the process they applied for a change of control for the concession that Columbus has as mandated under the provisions of the Telecommunications Act of TT. The CWU immediately raised objections to this process as we felt that CWC did engage in anti-competitive practices and was now guilty of a major conflict of interest.” “Despite our strenuous and legitimate objections,” Remy stated, “the Telecommunications Authority of TT (TATT) did grant the change of control to Cable and Wireless under certain conditions, the major one being that they should dispose of their 49 percent Shareholding in TSTT within 12 months of the approval date of February 2015, with a provision for a 6 months extension.” Remy pointed out that it was only after the union “went public” in August 2016, 18 months after the concession was granted, that CWC still had not disposed of its TSTT shares as mandated, that TATT then gave a further extension to CWC. “(TATT) indicated that CWC now had until December 31, 2016 to dispose of the shareholding, failing which the TATT would use the powers enshrined in the Act to act in the best interest of the country. All this time, Cable and Wireless continued to benefit from dividends from both companies,” Remy said.

Hence the union’s criticism of both TATT and NEL “for their abject and somewhat disrespectful silence on the status of the sale of the 49 percent Shareholding that Cable and Wireless/Liberty Global still holds in TSTT, which is supposed to be completed by December 31, 2016.” Remy told Newsday the CWU has written multiple letters to TATT and NEL about the issue “to shed some light on this development but they both failed and/or refused to do so.” “In the face of this gross disrespect by both State Agencies,” the CWU is demanding that the Minister with responsibility for TATT; Minister of Public Administration and Communications, Maxie Cuffie, “make an immediate intervention, consistent with his powers under the Telecommunications Act.” Newsday attempted to speak with TATT Chairman, Gilbert Peterson, yesterday but calls to his mobile phone went to voice mail.

In a telephone interview with Newsday yesterday, Sinanan said,”We have to wait for Cabinet’s decision as to what is the speed limit.

Only then would be able to say what the speed limit would be.” With the implementation, in May, of the use of the speed gun as a means of enforcing the 80 kilometres per hour (km/h) speed limit on major highways in Trinidad, a robust public discussion about the speed limit followed with Government announcing that it was considering increasing the speed limit to 100 km/h An online petition was subsequently started by a group called Safe Drivers for Efficiency, calling for the speed limit to be increased to 120 km/h and enforced.

NGO, Arrive Alive, said in a May 4 Newsday report that while it was not opposed to a review of the speed limit, to simply revise it to “legitimise” the nation’s speed habits without a thorough examination was a recipe for disaster.

Indicating in a release that these negotiations will continue next year, Lambert said he has written Labour Minister Jennifer Baptiste-Primus on this matter.

He also said the union was, “very thankful that throughout 2016, there were no major loss of jobs, although new ones were not created.” However, Lambert continued, “The union is concerned about vacancies that are not being filled, resulting in a depletion of the establishment.” Lambert said while President General also stated that while NUGFW is very much aware of and concerned about the state of the economy, “it is pertinent that the Government meet with NUGFW to discuss the social aspect of the Union’s proposals.” He claimed the Government met twice with the National Trade Union Centre (Natuc) to hear its proposals.

Lambert stated, “At the forefront of the negotiations are the pension plan for daily-rated workers of Central and Local Government and the Tobago House of Assembly, and the reverting of the retirement age for daily-rated workers from 60 to 65.” He added the NUGFW remains optimistic and expects a favourable outcome in 2017 and called on the Government to engage in discussions.

The advice is contained in a statement issued by the division advising consumers to be responsible in the coming year.

“If the items have a defect, you are entitled to redress,” according to the statement.

A spokesman at the division said that the Adverse Trade Practice Order 2000 outlaws all such clauses on receipts and under the law it is illegal to have such statements either displayed in the store or printed on receipts and bills.

The spokesman said where instances of violations of the law are brought to the attention of the division, the offending merchant is asked to remove the notice and most of the time they comply.

Failure to comply constitutes an offence for which the vendor can be charged.

On summary conviction the merchant can be fined $5,000 and imprisoned for four months while if the offender is found guilty of an indictable offence they can be fined $10,000 and imprisoned for two years.

With over ten consecutive years of market leadership in home audio and video technology, and with active investments in R&D, Samsung’s new home audio and video product line-up for 2017 features innovative devices that reflect a total paradigm shift for both the company and the industry. In particular, the new line-up centers around sleek, simplistic designs and enhanced integration across multiple devices. “Delivering clear, crisp, immersive sound is very important to Samsung, and we always strive to create new products that further complement the user experience,” said Jurak Choi, Senior Vice President of Samsung Electronics.

“This year, we focused on the audiophile who wants a single, simple solution that not only fits their lifestyle, but that simultaneously delivers an unparalleled home audio experience.” Samsung’s Proprietary UHQ 32bit Audio Technology Delivers Ultra-high Quality Sound Highlighted across Samsung’s new line-up is UHQ (Ultra High Quality) audio – Samsung’s proprietary technology that enables 32bits of rich, detailed sound from any source that provides 8 to 24bit sound.

UHQ audio has the ability to upscale audio sources to a 32bit output, for both wired and wireless connections.

32bit sound creates audio which is much closer in quality to the original recording than existing HD audio, delivering rich sound that brings each note to life with incredible clarity.

Samsung has also developed its own audio algorithms to perfect ultra-high quality sound by leveraging the intelligence of existing proprietary technology, and tapping the expertise of its U.S.-based, state-ofthe- art audio lab.

Samsung audio has applied ‘Distortion Cancelling’ technology which reduces sound alterations by predicting the movement of internal speaker units in advance, and controlling the units to deliver the perfect sound.

This effect works well on a woofer, which tends to output a powerful low-pitched sound with a movement bigger and more unpredictable than other speaker units.

The ‘Distortion Cancelling’ algorithm can intelligently predict a woofer’s movement, control it, and play more solid and stable sounds at a low pitch.

Samsung’s new sound profile also includes a ‘Wide-band Tweeter’, which expands and broadens the “sweet spot” in any room, widening the area where optimal sound can be heard.

The new profile also includes a ‘Crystal Amplifier’ that removes noise so consumers can enjoy the most accurate and precise sound across the widest range