THE EDUCATION Minster has approved two controversial Science textbooks for use in secondary schools – “Hodder Science  A Pupil’s Book” by Nigel Hessop, David Brodie and James Williams and “The New Lower Secondary Science Book” by Tho Lai Hoong and Ho Peck Leng. The Ministry said both books had been evaluated and approved by the Textbook Evaluation Com-mittee, and principals of secondary schools were free to choose between the two. The Ministry said the Committee had been impressed with the editorial quality of both books and found they integrated well with the school curriculum, in addition to reflecting good methodology.

While one of the illustrations in the Hodder Science book may create a measure of controversy, the Com-mittee found the texts, which are widely used in Asia and the United Kingdom, could not be faulted on sound scientific principles. The Ministry said the books contain convenient information and well developed concepts, while stimulating and motivating pupils by relating science to real life.

Nalini Lalla of the law firm KR Lalla and Co has filed a writ in the Registry of the Port-of-Spain High Court on behalf of five-year-old Tamara Jackson who through her father Franklin Jackson, is claiming damages against the Bermudez Biscuit Co after she allegedly found a metal nut in a cookie made by the company. The statement of claim relates that on November 27, 2002, Tamara received two packets of the cookie as part of a sale promotion at a pizza outlet. Her father opened one of the packet and Tamara extracted one and was about to place it in her mouth when her father observed the nut lodged in the cookie.

A NINE-MEMBER jury yesterday found a Chaguanas mechanic not guilty of attempting to rob a mini-mart owner with a toy pistol. Marlon Phillip aka Melvin Phillip and “Smallboy” appeared in the Port-of-Spain Third Criminal Court before Justice Alice Yorke Soo-Hon charged with using an imitation firearm with intent to rob Ramdassie Balkaran at Main Road, Longdeville, Chaguanas, on November 27, 1998. After the verdict was given, Phillip told reporters he intended to sue the State for damages for being incarcerated for three years. Phillip also intends to sue for compensation for false arrest since he claims the police wrongfully identified him as the perpetrator of the crime.

The court heard that Phillip, 24, of Tobago Road, Lendore Village, Chaguanas, allegedly entered M & K Mini-Mart armed with a toy gun and attempted to rob Balkaran. Balkaran made a report to the Chaguanas Police Station and later that day she was called to the Chaguanas CID where she saw the accused and his twin brother. She said she knew Phillip by his rasta hairstyle, while his brother had a shorter haircut. However, in his defence Phillip said the police arrested both him and his twin-brother, Melvin, and took them to the Chaguanas CID. He said they were not placed on an ID parade. He said when Balkaran came to the station she had initially pointed out his brother as the man who tried to rob her then changed her mind after her employee told her his brother was the wrong man.

Phillip said she then told the police that it was he who attempted to rob her. Phillip’s brother also gave evidence stating that he had gone to the victim’s mini-mart on the day of the incident and asked that she pay him money owed to him for painting her house. He said after Balkaran refused, he argued with her and left. Attorney Dinanath Ramkissoon appeared on behalf of the State while attorney Ulric Skerritt represented Phillip. Justice Yorke Soon-Hon discharged Phillip after the jury deliberated for 20 minutes and returned with a not guilty verdict.

FOR A sexual offence that occur-red some 12 years ago, a Gasparillo man was jailed for three years in the San Fernando High Court. Kelvin Malayana, 39, was found guilty by a jury on Wednesday after they heard evidence that he had sex with a six-year-old relative in her grandmother’s bedroom. Although Malayana’s attorney Learie Alleyne Forte said his client had no previous convictions and was a father of two, Justice Malcolm Holdip sentenced him to jail with hard labour.

The offence was kept secret until nearly three years ago, when, during a family gathering, the victim blurted out what Malayana had done to her. State attorney Narissa Ramsun-dar led evidence that the offence occurred between July 31 and August 31 in 1989, while the girl was spending her summer vacation at her grandmother’s house at Gasparillo. Malayana, a distant relative, was also staying at the house. The jury heard that one day while the grandmother was out, Malayana went into a bedroom where the girl was and forced her to have sex with him.

When her grandmother returned nearly two hours later, the victim reported what Malayana had done, but the elderly woman told no one. Some nine years after the incident, the jury heard, during a family gathering Malayana was boasting how much he had done for the victim’s family and that they should be grateful. The girl, then 15 years old, fired back: “Grateful for what you did when I was six years-old?”  At that point the victim’s mother began to inquire about the incident and learned about the offence. The next day the victim and her mother went to the police station and made a report.

NEW SECURITY measures, including additional guards, will be instituted at the National Library, Aber-cromby Street, to cope with vandalism and indiscipline which has been taking place since the facility opened to the public two months ago. In an advertisement yesterday the National Library and Information Systems Authority (NALIS) acknowledged several reports of thefts and vandalism affecting the library’s computers, furniture and equipment. A few persons were also found to be selling user’s cards. NALIS said it will “not tolerate behaviour that is destructive of public property or which hampers the ability of bona fide users of the facility to use it as intended.”

It noted that due to the increasing number of people seeking to access the library there have been “teething problems.” It said the Young Adult Library has seating capacity for 150, but the daily average of users has been 500. The number of youths passing through the facility has also increased three fold causing significant overcrowding bet-ween 2 pm and 5 pm daily. NALIS said the increased security presence will deal with crowd control and enforcement of rules. To ease congestion at the main entrance alternative accommodation has been found for lockers and bag storage areas. More librarians, library assistants and extra staff at the registration desk will be hired in response to the increase in users. NALIS said it will contact users who have not collected their cards and other measures are to be implemented “as necessary.”  

Debbie Goodman, NALIS Public Relations and Marketing Manager could not say how much theft and vandalism has cost the library because it is still being assessed. She also could not comment on how many more guards will be hired. Goodman said the authority will tour schools to sensitise students about the need to maintain the library facility for their own gain. In the past NALIS has invited principals of primary and secondary schools to the library “to talk to students about how to behave and the role of the facility.”

DR Austin Trinidade resumed work yesterday as Medical Chief of Staff of the San Fernando General Hospital and immediately began “remedial work to put the hospital back on track.” Trinidade, who was reinstated two weeks after he objected to a Ministry of Health decision to send him on long leave, took back duties from Dr Anand Chatoorgoon who was appointed to act in his place. His first task yesterday morning was to deal with a letter written on last Friday by Chatoorgoon to Dr Jehan Ali, Head of the hospital’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. The letter accused Ali of submitting a sick leave certificate for 14 days during the six week impasse, yet working in private practice during his sick leave period.

Chatoorgoon copied the letter to the Permanent Secretary, Ag Chief Medical Officer of Health, Ag Principal Medical Officer, Public Service Commission and Chief Executive Officer (SWRHA). Ali, who received the letter yesterday, immediately passed it on to Trinidade. Trinidade read the letter but declined comment, except to say that he was not bounded by any decision Chatoorgoon may have taken during his tenure. Ali told Newsday yesterday he regarded the letter as a personal attack against him. Ali said he was contemplating legal action against the writer and publisher of the letter. Ali, one of the senior doctors who lobbied for Trinidade’s re-instatement, was present yesterday to welcome him at the office of the medical chief of staff.

THE ENVIRONMENTAL Ma-nagement Authority (EMA) is at an advanced stage of drafting Air Pollution Rules to regulate emissions from local industries, including dioxins and furans. This was revealed yesterday by Corporate Communications Specialist in the Ministry of Public Utilities and the Environment, Peter Campbell, at the formal opening of the UNEP – Chemicals Sub-Regional Workshop of National Inventory of Dioxin and Furan Releases, at the Cascadia Hotel. Campbell delivered the feature address on behalf of Public Utilities Minister Rennie Dumas, who was attending a Finance and General Purpose Committee Meeting.

Dioxins and furans are continually adding chemicals into the global environment, which never stop accumulating because they’re non-degradable, Campbell explained. He said the World Health Organisation (WHO) had upgraded dioxin from a “probable” to a “known  human carcinogen” in February 1997. “It’s a deadly legacy to leave to future generations,” he said.Within the Latin American and Caribbean there are three Basel Convention Regional Centres for Training and Technology Transfer, including the locally based Caribbean Industrial Research Institute (CARIRI). The role and function of this Regional Centre include gathering, assessing and disseminating data and information in the field of hazards, in addition to collecting information on new or proven environmentally sound management.

Campbell commended CARIRI for their part in this thrust towards development and said sessions such as the workshop contributed to the information and insights available to policy makers and managers in the public and private sectors. Participants at the four-day workshop are from Antigua and Barbuda; Barbados; Belize; Dominica; Grenada; Jamaica; St Kitts/Nevis; St Lucia; St Vincent and the Grenadines; Suriname; the Bahamas and Trinidad and Tobago.

TRINIDAD AND Tobago will chair the 17th meeting of the Technical Group of the Intergovernmental Group of 24 (G-24) in Geneva, Switzerland later this year.  This is the second meeting for 2003 and it will be held ahead of the Annual Meeting of the IMF and World Bank.  The venue is the Headquarters of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Geneva because of the historic and on-going collaboration between the UNCTAD and the G-24 particularly with respect to the Research programmes of the G-24.  Preparations for the meeting are in their initial stages.

Trinidad and Tobago was highly congratulated at the 69th meeting of the G-24 Ministers, held April 11 in Washington DC, for its hosting of the 16th Technical Group Meeting in February 2003.  The meeting was considered to be a success in terms of its relevance and quality of the presentations, for the interest they evoked and the animated discussions that followed. That technical meeting was held at the Central Bank, Port-of-Spain. The G-24 was established in 1971. Its main objective is to concert the position of the developing countries on monetary and development finance issues. 
In this regard, for the past three decades the G-24 has been actively pursuing a proactive agenda, which seeks to ensure that developing countries have a voice and influence in the decision-making processes of the international financial institutions, in particular, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.

The 69th Meeting of G-24 Ministers was held in Washington DC to coincide with the Spring meetings of the IMF and the World Bank.  At that meeting the G-24 Ministers observed that global economic recovery had become much weaker than they had anticipated at their September 2002 meeting and that the outlook remained highly uncertain.  The Ministers urged the international community to be vigilant and stand ready to provide special financing to countries that face significant burdens on their balance of payments and to mitigate risks associated with commodity shocks, declines in tourism receipts and private transfers.  They noted that small states were often severely affected by such negative developments.

The Ministers urged the international financial institutions to implement, in conjunction with official financial institutions in industrial countries, measures aimed at promoting larger and more stable capital flows to developing economies and restoring confidence in international capital markets. They called for progress toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals, the advancement of the multilateral trade negotiations under the Doha Round, placing special attention on the elimination of trade-distorting agricultural subsidies and domestic support schemes in advanced countries.  They also noted with concern the continuing downward trend in official development assistance flows.

The Ministers were concerned that the Heavily Indebted Poor Country Initiative (HIPC) was falling short of the objectives for which it was established and called for consideration to be given to addressing the debt sustainability of non-HIPC low-income countries and middle-income heavily indebted countries. The G-24 Ministers emphasised that IMF surveillance should focus on core macroeconomic issues and be applied in a more even-handed manner in order to enhance the legitimacy of the IMF and the World Bank; and that there should be significant strengthening of the voice, participation and voting power of developing countries in the decision-making processes of the two institutions. Trinidad and Tobago holds the position of First Vice Chairman of the G-24 Ministers until September when this country will assume Chairmanship of the Group.