The remaining 2018 World Cup qualifiers are of academic importance, possibly a good lime, because the Road to Russia has been bombed.

Already the argument of local coach versus foreign coach has reared its ugly head and the long knives have been drawn.

My view is that we need to stay local with coach Dennis “Tallest” Lawrence. He could at least tweak his coaching staff.

Frankly, the fluctuating quality of play, the individual defensive errors, the gun-shy approach outside the box and lack of fitness by some players were key factors in derailing our campaign.

We also did not make use of our opportunities.

I hold the view that every player must bring his A-game and agonise over poor performances. The team lacked the killer instinct moving as a force to demolish opponents.

At the end of the campaign moving forward, I would like to see football jefe David John Williams put on an “ideas shop” where all stakeholders and fans can have an input in the way forward. After sifting through the noise, he and the Football Association will have a clear idea on the pathway to Qatar.

KEITH ANDERSON via email

Approximately 80 people comprising of staff members, family and friends from these organisations, alongside hundreds of other local enthusiasts (at different locations) and millions throughout the globe, helped promote ocean conservation on this day.

Vice president of marketing at TSTT , Camille Campbell, commended those who came out in their numbers to assist in the ICC activity.

Brand ambassador, Dwayne Bravo, was on hand to support the beach clean-up following his hectic but victorious Trinbago Knight Riders Caribbean Premier League T20 campaign.

“Both locals and tourists come to this beach and it’s good to see that bmobile has taken the lead when it comes to the upliftment of the country. For me personally, I saw it fit to come and support these volunteers, who took time out to help make this country a cleaner place, for all of us to enjoy. I’m also happy to see many kids out here today assisting in this effort to preserve our environment,” he stated.

The ICC initiative, held annually on the third Saturday in September, was coordinated on a worldwide scale by Ocean Conservancy Office of Pollution Prevention and Monitoring, and presented—in its 13th year locally— through the Caribbean Network for Integrated Rural Development (CNIRD)

Illegal structures can be seen in cemeteries, on the roadsides and on lands that do not belong to persons building on the lands. Compounding the situation, some of these illegal structures have electrical and water connections.

The situation has prompted engineer Dr Myron Chin to speak out on the subject. Writing in the latest issue of Caribbean Construction Digest (CCD), he said, “The need for a national building code (NBC) for Trinidad and Tobago has long been recognised and various attempts have been made to develop one over the past four decades, but so far, it remains an elusive dream.

He said, “The development and enforcement of a national building code is indispensable to the orderly and safe development of a country’s built environment and therefore, its sustainable development.”

The destruction caused by earthquakes in recent years, including in Haiti in 2010; in Chile also in 2010, in New Zealand in 2011, and most recently, in Mexico this week, show that tremors, in any part of the world, should be taken seriously.

“Main objectives of such a code”, Dr Chin said, “is the establishment of minimum requirements for design, construction and occupancy of building structures with the aim of protecting public health, safety and general welfare.”

He said while it was common knowledge that Caribbean islands were situated near a “seismically active zone”, he added “the long return interval between devastating regional events and other prevailing factors have combined to make it difficult for most countries of the region to establish and sustain effective earthquake risk reduction programmes.”

Dr Chin pointed out that in the absence of earthquake risk management programmes locally, population increase and economic development over the last five decades have taken place in such a way that earthquake risk was currently at levels that were unacceptable.

“The cost, in terms of human and property losses, that a large to great earthquake could inflict on any Caribbean island can be extremely high and is expected to continue to rise in the future, unless concerted efforts are made to address the multi-dimensional causes of earthquake risk by means of new, effective initiatives.”

Thirteen years ago (2004) the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) convened a meeting of key regional stakeholders to assess the regional readiness to withstand natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes.

Resulting from that findings of that meeting, the bank agreed to fund the development of a new Regional Building Standard (RBS) based on the International Building Code (IBC) with Caribbean Application Documents (CADs) for the various Caribbean islands.

This was to be executed by the CARICOM Regional Organisation for Standards and Quality (CROSQ). However, the organisation has to this day been unable to complete the RBS, the deadline for which was April 2010.

Because of this, deadline for the RBS had been extended by 18 months, but there is skepticism and wariness among local stakeholders with regard to the ability of CROSQ to keep the extended deadline. Consequently, the Trinidad and Tobago Bureau of Standards (TTBS) submitted to the Ministry of Works and Transport a proposal for developing an NBC for Trinidad and Tobago along similar lines as the RBS proposal. This was done in early 2011, but to date it has not had any positive response from the Ministry.

Past initiatives in this regard included, inter alia, the development of the Caribbean Uniform Building Code (CUBiC) in 1986, a proposal for the development of a Regional Building Standard (RBS) since 2004 and more recently, a proposal for developing an NBC for Trinidad and Tobago.

Recent initiatives such as the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) and the Global Earthquake Model (GEM) have served as catalysts for regional disaster management efforts.

The father of four and another man were killed after both were caught in the middle of a shootout between rival gang members on Tuesday.

Jack, 47, was a Standard Three teacher based at the Escalier Government Primary School in Gonzales.

He lived in Coconut Drive, Morvant.

At about 7.30 pm, while heading to a parlour to purchase bread, Jack was shot by gunmen who fired from a car which sped along Lady Young Avenue. Persons along the road returned fire at the gunmen in the car.

When the shooting ended, Jack and James Julian, 24, lay dead on the road.

A third bystander, Jhamali Haywood remains warded at hospital after he too was shot.

Several people who were interviewed yesterday in Morvant all said that Jack was a selfless, giving and well-loved member of the Morvant community.

“He gave lessons to every child on this street, free of charge,” a Coconut Drive resident said.

“It didn’t matter whether the parent had money or not. He viewed every child as a jem worth investing his time and energy in.

They have taken a good person.

A good man has died senselessly,” said the resident.

Others said that Jack was active in police youth clubs and community groups.

He was even making plans to extend the front yard of his house so that he could better accommodate the children to whom he gave lessons. An autopsy yesterday showed that Jack was shot in the back.

Relatives of Julian said that he had gone to the local drug block to purchase marijuana when he was shot dead.

“He loved the block. He was always on the block. I tired talk to him about going on the block and being in that lifestyle.

He liked to follow company too much. This is very sad, but only God knows why these things happen,” said a relative of Julian who asked not to be identified.

No arrest has been made.

PC Gabriel Merrique, who is on vacation, owns the maxi taxi.

He was transporting five passengers but two of them were bandits who announced a holdup.

While Merrique kept driving the bandits robbed him and the other three passengers of cash, jewellery and cellphones. Merrique was ordered to stop and as the gunmen were getting out, one of them fired a shot at the constable.

Merrique had hidden a personal, licensed firearm which he pulled out and fired at the gunmen shooting them and killing one.

Merrique alerted maxi drivers passing by, and the police was contacted.

Senior Superintendent Michael Daniel and Superintendent Glen Dillon were among the officers who responded and the area was cordoned off. The injured bandit was taken to hospital and is warded under police guard.

His accomplice’s body was taken to the Forensic Science Centre, St James.

He remains unidentified. Police recovered the stolen items.

PC Merrique and the passengers were taken to Arouca police station where they gave statements.

Struck several times with a Taser, you become comatose. No need for a gun. With our history of rampant domestic violence, Tasers could provide another form of giving “loving chastisement.” They do not want you dead, just in a lot of pain.

Do I need to walk down the road of naughty teenagers running about with cans of pepper spray? Bullying in school will reach a new dimension.

Who is going to provide legislation to prevent misuse of these deterrents? Who would sell them? A doomsday scenario shows more women injured and beaten with their own Tasers. There might well be an increase in blind young people in all communities because bullies do not know when to stop.

Shops selling Tasers and pepper spray could outdo the Chinese restaurants that are often raided.

LYNETTE JOSEPH Diego Martin

Development of the field was expected to dramatically improve the supply picture for both countries. However, several earlier agreements have failed to see the project progress, and there is continued uncertainty about how the gas will be monetised. In July 2017, both countries assured that their bilateral gas sales agreement was still on track for completion by the end of the month. However, that did not materialise and the deal is still pending.

Ultimately, new investment is critical to helping offset high rates of decline at the country’s oil fields. To boost investment and offset the impact of lower global oil prices, State-owned Petrotrin confirmed it had reduced royalty rates levied against oil companies involved in farm-out and work-over exploration programmes.

The start of a long delayed 40,000b/d Ultra Low Sulphur Diesel (ULSD) unit in 2015 allowed the country to produce cleaner diesel with lower sulphur content. This US$503 million project, two years behind schedule, enabled the country to meet more stringent fuel standards in the US and Europe. This formed part of the country’s Clean Fuels Upgrade programme, which, though long delayed, also saw the implementation of the Gasoline Optimisation Programme (GOP) which aims to replace aged equipment, improve plant reliability, produce more value-added products and meet stringent gasoline specifications.

The country’s desire to move into high-value-added refining was likely prompted by the expansion of the Caracas-backed PetroCaribe oil trading scheme. PetroCaribe provides crude and oil products to participating Central American and Caribbean countries on barter and low credit terms. This scheme has had a negative impact on Trinidad and Tobago, which saw our oil product market share in the Caribbean market drop under a deluge of heavily-subsidised Venezuelan oil as late as 2015.

Trinidad and Tobago sells gas on contracts indexed to the price of oil, which has declined since late 2014; and the government has signaled that it has concerns over the structure of existing exports contracts, which were arranged under the assumption that LNG would be sold to the US market. The latter once purchased around four-fifths of our total gas output. Now the US is becoming a major LNG exporter. Trinidad and Tobago will not only lose that market, but may also come into direct competition with the US for Caribbean and Latin American markets. US LNG, linked to the weakened Henry Hub index, can be expected to be competitively priced which can be expected to challenge this country’s dominant position in the Latin American market, where it accounted for 40 per cent of all seaborne imports in 2014.

As a response, the government should consider building on its relationships with other CARICOM countries and expand aggressively into new markets to capture market share. With the reopening of the expanded Panama Canal, which will be able to accommodate 90 per cent of the worlds’ LNG carriers compared to four per cent currently, transport constraints to Pacific markets will be virtually eliminated, and Trinidad and Tobago can focus on expanding exports to higher-priced Asian markets where global demand growth will be concentrated over the coming decade. Cargo from this country will be able to reach East Asia more economically with a 30 per cent reduction in sailing times to Japan. Exports to regional customers such as Chile will also be facilitated by the expansion.

We face increased competition and the challenges attracting foreign investment in the energy sector, we need to determine what our competitive advantage is and create profitable opportunities for ourselves. Where is our economic plan?

Schnoor is also Senior Vice-President and Head of the Caribbean South and East, as well as Chairperson of Scotiabank Caribbean Holdings Limited; Scotia Insurance Caribbean Limited; Scotia Life TT Limited; and Scotia Investments TT Limited.

In addition, Schnoor is the current President of the Bankers Association of Trinidad and Tobago (BATT).

Congratulating its president on her new appointment, BATT yesterday said, “As an accomplished banker, who has made significant contributions to the banking sector, BATT is confident that Schnoor will bring a wealth of expertise to her new position.” BATT also recognised Schnoor for “her sterling accomplishments” as its president for the past year and as a director for more than four years.

“We wish her all the best and continued success in her new endeavour,” BATT stated. In her new role, Schnoor will be responsible for designing and delivering financial solutions that drive growth through Scotiabank’s Canadian branch network, call centres and digital channels.

Schnoor’s appointment was announced late Tuesday afternoon.

Commenting on the news, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Scotiabank TT and Senior Vice President of International Banking at Scotiabank, Brendan King, praised Schnoor’s experience and contribution to the bank’s Caribbean operations.

“Anya is a highly-accomplished banking executive with a wealth of financial management experience.

She has made significant contributions to our business in the Caribbean and instilled a customer-focused mindset with our teams across the 12 islands for which she has held oversight responsibility. Anya is an exceptional leader, and we wish her well in her new role,” King said.

Confirmation of the date came today from the Information Division, Ministry of Public Administration and Communications.

“President Anthony Thomas Aquinas Carmona in accordance with the provisions of the Public Holidays and Festivals Act, has appointed Wednesday October 18, as the date of the public holiday in celebration of the festival of Divali.” This will be the second public holiday in October, coming five days after the one-off holiday granted to the First Peoples of Trinidad and Tobago on Friday, October 13.

In an immediate response, Law Association president Douglas Mendes admitted that he was unaware of a delay in the association’s feedback on the rules but took full responsibility for it. “I know the committee has been working on it and I take full responsibility for the fact that it has not yet been delivered.

The fact that he has mentioned it in his speech has given me the further impetus to go find out right now and ensure our comments are delivered as soon as possible because the Juvenile Court System is extremely important,” Mendes said.

In his address on Monday, Archie spoke of the adoption of international codes to map every offence on the statute books to a numerical code.

This, he said, will enable better record- keeping, management, monitoring and planning. In addressing the recently established Criminal Procedure Rules, Archie said despite initial misgivings in some quarters, the culture change intended by the introduction of the rules was beginning to take root.