At a news conference at Scotiabank’s headquarters at the corner of Park and Richmond Streets, Port of Spain, they stressed the urgency of passing the legislation by the new deadline __ the end of February 2017. President of the Bankers Association, Anya Schnoor said that the association began discussing this issue with the previous government from 2012 to 2014 when the then government accepted the intergovernmental agreement (IGA) 1 option and entered into an “agreement in substance” with the U.S. Treasury Service, a prelude to the passage of the legislation.

Following the media conference the five groups met the Opposition on Monday to press home their position.

Suryadevara said his optimism sprang from a cordial conversation between the two sides on Monday at the Opposition Leader’s office.

He said the Chairman of the United National Congress (UNC), David Lee, gave the business groups the commitment that the Opposition will be in Parliament when debate on the FATCA legislation resumes on January 6, 2016.

“So we are expectant to see what happens. I believe we had a good conversation, points were exchanged,” Suryadevera told Newsday in a telephone interview.

He said he was also optimistic after speaking with the Attorney General on Wednesday, “Simply because where the legislation has been left there has been a narrowing of differences of opinion in spite of how the process of arriving here has transpired and for national benefit we are hopeful seeing that the positions of review have narrowed significantly.”

Roget made the announcement at a press conference held yesterday outside of the Eric Williams Finance Building, Independence Square .

To media, Roget said, “If the Petrotrin management comes back and says there is nothing for the workers, at the appropriate time legally available to us we will serve and effect strike action on the Petroleum Company of TT without fail.” His statements were made prior to a meeting scheduled to be held today with the Labour Ministry on the negotiations. The company, he said, was asked to go to the Finance Minister and come back with a reasonable response. Pending this response the union would act accordingly .

“Tomorrow afternoon we have a meeting set with the Ministry of Labour in San Fernando where the company was asked to go to the said Minister of Finance and come back with a reasonable response .

We do not want the whole pie. We do not want half of the pie, quarter of the pie but for heaven’s sake, we having contributed to baking that pie we will not accept no pie for us,” Roget declared .

Roget did not want to disclose the exact date of the strike action but he also promised if Finance Minister, Colm Imbert, raised gas prices, “we are going to mobilise for a national shut down in TT.” Roget said that the Chief Personnel Officer’s (CPO) offer of zero, zero, zero-which came from the Finance Minister, would not be accepted by the union .

He recalled Minister Imbert’s statement at the November International Monetary Fund (IMF) forum in which Imbert said the Government was exercising wage restraint and its offer of zero, zero, zero was a starting point for 2017 negotiations .

Imbert, Roget said, was imposing IMF conditionality on the country

The ministry explained this support will be in the form of a prepaid card for the purchase of food up to the value of $400 and will offer families an easy, convenient and efficient way of helping to meet their nutrition requirements this holiday season.

Delivery of these cards began on Tuesday at locations identified by the 41 Members of Parliament in the House of Representatives. The ministry said it was pleased to provide this support to families in need at this time.

Asked how many MPs were taking advantage of this opportunity to help needy persons in their respective constituencies, ministry officials indicated that to date, “ officials of the respective MP Offices have been cooperating with the Ministry’s staff who have been assigned to the identified locations to deliver the cards to the vulnerable persons.” MPs on both sides of the political divide confirmed their awareness of this initiative and that they used it.

Health Minister and St Joseph MP Terrence Deyalsingh said, “Yes I have. I did it today. It went well.” Congress of the People (COP) St Augustine MP Prakash Ramadhar replied “yes” to being aware of the prepaid cards and seeking to have these cards provided to needy persons in his constituency. United National Congress (UNC) Couva North MP Ramona Ramdial also said she took advantage of this opportunity to help needy persons in her constituency over this Christmas season. “Yes I did,” Ramdial stated.

The hampers, each filled with goods costing roughly $1,000, were put together with funds from Newsday, M&M Insurance Services Ltd, the SWWTU, and Ashley Taylor, President of the Point Lisas Industrial Port Development Corporation, and helped along by a discount on goods from National Flour Mills Ltd.

“It was an exercise of the collective will of business and labour which is a good sign for Trinidad and Tobago,” said Annisette. “It speaks volumes to the people of Trinidad and Tobago that when we put aside our egos and our petty differences and put our collective wisdom together to work in the best interest of Trinidad and Tobago, it can benefit the people.” “I must express my thanks to Mr Steve Castagne from M&M insurance, who would have been part of the initiative, who developed the idea, who would have worked out the logistics in our discussions. I also want to take the opportunity to express our thanks to National Four Mills who would have given us a 20 percent discount on the prices of the goods that we would have purchased from National Flour Mill and a donation of $1,500.

Mr Ashley Taylor, the President of PLIPDECO also gave towards this venture. And Newsday too would have made a sterling contribution, and they readily agreed to be part of this whole exercise.” President of the Steel Workers Union of Trinidad and Tobago, Christopher Henry, expressed gratitude on behalf of his union members.

“I do appreciate the gesture and initiative that is taken by Comrade Annisette and his partners in facilitating the process of providing over 100 hampers here today which will go a long way in providing some relief for these workers, some who have not worked for a year, who have been removed from their homes, some of whom cannot even purchase groceries

Bourne did so when she captained the TTS Carli Bay (CG 28) on its maiden voyage from The Netherlands to Staubles Bay, Chaguaramas .

The CG 28 and the TTS Moruga (CG 27) arrived in Trinidad on Monday, having completed a three-week voyage across the Atlantic Ocean from the Port of Gorinchem, Gorinchem, Netherlands where they were built by Dutch shipbuilder, Damen Schelde (Damen) .

These two vessels are the most recent delivery in a 12-vessel order made by the TT Government back in May 2015. The first six vessels were delivered in July 2015 .

In between posing for photos with girls from the TT Cadet Force’s Naval Cadets from the Naval Cadet Unit at Holy Faith Convent, Couva, Bourne answered Newsday’s questions about her historic achievement .

“It’s a great responsibility .

Something that’s not new to me because being the first female officer in the TTCG, I have been breaking a lot of ground in terms of what I have achieved .

Hopefully, one day it will be commonplace; where every woman will be doing it.” Bourne recalled that her first command was of a Fast Patrol Craft (FPC) “in 2012, I believe.” While the Lt Cdr was the first woman to hold certain posts in the TTCG, she happily noted that the “Coast Guard has incorporated all our females in everything we do. So there’s no restrictions and that’s one of the beautiful things about the Coast Guard; there’s no restriction on women other than themselves.” Asked what message she would like to send to her female TTCG colleagues, Bourne replied, “Never limit yourself .

You’re only limited by your own imagination, you’re only limited by your own mind. Expand your knowledge, never say you can’t.”

President of ASATT Wendell Lai Hing, stated on Sunday, “this is the first time in the history of aquatics in Trinidad (and Tobago) that we had two tournaments running side by side.

“Because of the Aquatic Centre capabilities, we were able to host Water Polo and Swimming using two different pools simultaneously.” He went on to explain that this tournament was a test event for the forthcoming CCCAN games carded for June 2017, in addition to the UANA Water Polo Cup Championship which is set for early February 2017, at the same location.

Expressing on the exciting times for aquatics in the country, he detailed, “this can be used as a motivator for the kids to come out and participate in water sports as they get the opportunity to build comradery instead of being at home and watching television on a Sunday evening. We are here to guide these young athletes as we try to help them excel in the sport.” The ASATT president went on give special thanks to their main sponsors Republic Bank along with Caribbean Bottlers for making the event possible.

The event was part of Republic Bank’s ‘Power to Succeed’ initiative under the ‘Power to Make a Difference Programme’ which focus aims on the development of youths and individuals through sport.

The 2016 National Juniors and Marlins Water Polo Club coach Alan Too-A-Foo elaborated on an event that did not go too well for the club but was a major success in terms of the sport. “Anytime you can have a National tournament, it is all for the kids and for the development of the sport as it can go a long way for the future as well as helping them prepare for upcoming tournaments. These facilities are important for the sport but there still needs to be smaller ones to facilitate the growth of aquatic sports throughout the country as there are a lot of young talent in the pool,” he expressed.

Many of athletes were able to register qualifying times for both the CCCAN and CARIFTA events next year where they would be representing they club and country at home.

Kester Scanterberry, coach for the Roylin Seals Water Polo Club, also made special note of the young-stars as he stated, “our Under 14s were a very important category because at this age group, they tell us what our future is going to look like and both our Under-14 (A side and B side) teams did as expected, earning gold and bronze, respectively.

These youth teams are only going to be moving forward as they have a busy 2017 season and they would be hoping to medal in the coming tournaments.”

“We have three title sponsors,” said Creed during a recent interview.

“Shell and First Citizens sponsor the Premier Boys and Championship. They also sponsored the Girls Championship and Intercol.

Coca-Cola sponsored the Boys Intercol.

This season we finished with a Big 4, which was sponsored by Digicel Play, with the Intercol and League winners. It was the new addition for this season. We used to have a Big 4 at the end of the League.” About the season itself, Creed noted, “things on the field went fairly well because, at the end of the day, the referees have their jobs to do, one way or the other.” He continued, “there were a couple issues that we had to iron out, which we have to really improve for the next season, which (are) the credential issues, where principals signed off on certain players without all of the information.

That could cause some changes after the fact.

We already have a meeting set up in January to fully discuss the manner in which credentials are dealt with, because sometimes there are principals that sign off on information (that) they are given.” Asked if there is any plan to implement rules on player availability, Creed replied, “those rules have always been there. We have certain things within our constitution and there are also added stuff in the competition rules. The key to it is making extra checks, to make sure the eligibility of players are in order. But I’m also saying it is the responsibility of the principals to ensure what they’re signing off on is the correct thing, because mistakes can be made.” He went on to state, “we have a meeting on January 11th to actually deal with all those matters, the post-mortem and what have you.

We’re also having our awards function on the 18th of January.”

During the weighin yesterday morning, Lawrence tipped the scale at 77 kilograms, one kilo heavier than the 35-year-old Peralta.

The 29-year-old Lawrence has a record of seven wins and one defeat in eight professional bouts, and he will be fancying his chances against Peralta, who has a 100-percent losing record in his three fights.

And this will be Lawrence’s last fight before he vies for the Regional Commonwealth and WBC FECARBOX light-heavyweight belts on January 28, with the venue tentatively set for Irwin Park in Siparia.

“I would love to bring this title to my home town because we have had numerous champions in the past but none (have) fought for a title in Siparia,” said Lawrence. “That said, I have trained differently for this fight. I have increased my punch stats and my footwork. I want to be able to throw at least 300 punches a round while having my hands, eye and feet coordination at 100 percent.

“I have also improved on my lateral movement so I am ready for anyone who stands before me in the ring,” Lawrence stressed. “I am taking one fight at a time but my main focus is to bring home the FECARBOX and Regional Commonwealth titles, to make my country proud and put Trinidad and Tobago in line for WBC world title around the middle of next year.

That’s my dream and that’s what I will work towards.”

National player Kwan Browne currently plies his trade in England’s Premier League as a player/coach for Hampstead & Westminster and also serves on the technical staff for England’s junior teams.

He will be bringing his coaching expertise back to our shores for this Christmas training camp which began on Tuesday and runs until December 31.

The current training squad is made up of a number of junior players with many earning call-ups from coach Glenn Francis following impressive showings at the Junior Pan American championships held earlier this year.

The Marcano brothers Tariq and Teague, along with the Emmanuel brothers Kwasi, Kristien and Kieron will hope to make the cut as the pool of returning senior players has been vastly reduced.

Goalkeeper Andrey Rocke, Mickell Pierre, Marcus James, Aidan De Gannes, Akim Toussaint and Darren Cowie make up this small pool of players that will be joined by a talented group of junior players

Central FC stayed in top spot after a 2-0 victory over Morvant Caledonia United in the first of back-to-back matches at the Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva.

Johan Peltier put Central ahead in the 64th minute while Jason Marcano put the game beyond reach of the struggling Caledonia outfit when he found the back of the net in the 87th.

At the Mahaica Oval in Point Fortin, Connection consigned their hosts to a 10th defeat in 12 games, courtesy of a 4-0 result. Shackiel Henry netted twice, in the 20th and 22nd, following Daniel Diaz’s opener in the 18th. Dimitri Apai, a pint-sized Surinamese winger, completed the rout in the 80th for Connection, who stayed four points adrift of the league leaders.

San Juan Jabloteh stayed in third place, despite a 1-1 draw against Ma Pau Stars in the second game of a double- header at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo. Ex-Jabloteh forward Jerrel Britto struck for Ma Pau Stars, in the 35th, but national striker Willis Plaza levelled the scores, in the 55th.

Earlier at Mucurapo, Devorn Jorsling maintained his fine goalscoring form, taking his tally to 13 from seven games, as Defence Force brushed aside Club Sando 2-0. Jorsling got his name on the scoresheet in the 32nd and 86th.

In the latter game at Couva, Police and St Ann’s Rangers played to a 1-1 draw. Striker Jameel Perry was on target for the lawmen in the 25th but Lester Durham equalised for Rangers, in the 90th.