Police investigators were able to determine that Rodriguez worked at a guest house in Chaguanas and was a frequent visitor to the suspect’s home. Police are working on information that Rodriguez arranged to meet with the suspect at the walkover on Monday night and was robbed of cash.

Police also received a video footage of the suspect and another man walking away from the walkover on Monday with one of the men being in possession of the woman’s handbag. The suspect allegedly told police he and the woman were attacked by two men and Rodriguez robbed of her handbag. Asked why he did not report the matter when the stabbing took place, the man said he became frightened and went to a friend’s home because he was in a confused state. Investigators said yesterday that Rodriguez may have entered this country a few months ago and had overstayed her time.

Yesterday efforts were being made by police to contact her relatives so arrangements could be made for her body to be returned to that country for final rites.

With bmobile’s new e-service portal, it’s now very easy for customers to take control of all their services in one place. As part of the company’s retail transformation programme, this reflects its deep commitment to acting on customer feedback and to making continuous improvements to its services.

Ensuring the satisfaction of customers is critical to bmobile’s continued success. As such, the retail transformation project is a major pillar of the company’s $3.7 billion, five-year strategic plan. The single focus of the retail transformation strategy is to have bmobile serving customers better by acting on their feedback and implementing best practices.

The company has been building public awareness for all the options or channels through which customers can conveniently pay their bills and have the same peace of mind as making the payment in a bmobile store.

Research by the company highlighted that many customers went to its stores mainly to pay bills because they wanted to make sure that payments went to their accounts quickly.

This would result in long lines, which customers disliked, but they wanted to leave the store with peace of mind. It was a significant pain point.

A review of bmobile’s channel partners and bill pay options identified an opportunity for improvements to those options to give customers more of the convenience, safety and peace of mind that they wanted, and that’s what the company did. bmobile’s goal, now, is to make customers aware of the numerous alternative payment methods offered other than at bmobile retail stores. These include over 100 physical payment locations as well as online and over the phone via credit card.

Two key improvements are that, customers can now make payments at channel partners for both mobile and residential services such as landline, Internet, entertainment and security, making it more convenient for customers.

Payments to all channel partners except the commercial banks, are processed on the same day, while payments made at banks are processed within 24 to 36 hours. However, the company is working on making same-day processing a standard for all locations in the future.

The 100-plus places where customers can pay any of their bmobile bills include:

• Channel partners (21 across Trinidad and Tobago)

• All banking institutions

• All Western Union, VIA and Sure Pay payment centers

• TSTT Mobile App for prepaid customers (top up on the go) Customers can also pay their bills via bmobile’s enhanced e-portal called ‘b-online’. bmobile also made a major improvement to what customers can do with their accounts online. The new e-service portal is so modern, comprehensive, user friendly and mobile ready that customers can now do all the following, simply and easily, from any device with an Internet connection:

• pay both mobile and residential bills

• web chat with bmobile agents

• view bills • view payment history

• view usage and check remaining mins/SMS

• if account has multiple users/ subscribers, view information for all users see listing of all payment locations New customers will be able to access and use the portal immediately after signing up – absolutely no waiting period.

Existing e-service customers can use their existing login data to access all the portal’s new features.

Of particular interest is the portal’s new web chat feature that provides real time support for customers. Any online chat query will be channeled to the appropriate department for action, resolution and feedback to customer.

Customers can even raise a query on their account through the online chat feature and it will be addressed.

The phenomenon of natural disaster demonstrates no affinity for discrimination, whilst impacting upon all walks of life, and territory.

The outcome has seen devastation ranging from loss of human life in St Maarten, Cuba, Barbuda and other areas, to 95 per cent infrastructural damage in Barbuda, to untold destruction in many other areas. The impact of these natural disasters is made more challenging as there seems to be no ‘let up’ considering they present one immediately following the next.

This series of disastrous events naturally leads to the outpouring of support and relief efforts aimed at alleviating the hurt, trauma and suffering. The issue remains, as is heard on a number of occasions, people are not clear as to the measures that can be taken to become part of the process to assist. And as a direct result of this, many ‘not for profit’ organisations pop up, that may be utilising the resources collected on administrative and other expenses, with limited getting into the hands that require the support.

The thing is, the majority of people are intrinsically good, and will want to become part of a process to aid their fellow man, particularly in times of great despair.

However, there are those who are intrinsically bad, and may utilise the despair of others toward their own end. As a result, I strongly recommend the compilation of a resource listing that can be tapped into for the consistent co-ordination and channelling of resources for these purposes.

Once the organisation which you will be using to channel your relief has accepted same, it is always useful to be appraised of the distribution channels, and end result of such relief – in other words, how many people were actually reached.

I recall recently, when we in Trinidad and Tobago experienced severe flooding, particularly in the Central district, a particular non-governmental organisation (NGO) called SEWA TT, began a food drive in collaboration with a particular restaurant, and what was particularly noteworthy, is that this organisation reported almost on a daily basis on the number of people who were reached and who received a meal. This measure of accountability is exactly what must be encouraged.

There are many similar distribution organisations operating in Trinidad and Tobago including, the Foundation for the Enhancement and Enrichment of Life (FEEL), Living Water Community, Is There Not a Cause (ITNAC), Network of NGOs among others, as well as hundreds of smaller NGOs that also operate with the best interest of assisting and supporting others in utilising the distribution model. The point is, that giving to and supporting others in their time of need should also be part of a moral mandate measured only by one’s ability and conscience.

I say this as there are those who choose to give with the expectation of getting something in return at some future point.

The protocol of giving includes the measure of being selfless, and not anticipating any favours in return. It also includes a measure of humility in positioning. Another very important factor of giving is doing so without judgement of others. In other words, if you choose to give to a cause, do just that – give. Do not give to be thanked, or recognised, or promoted, or publicised, or favoured. Do not give and then judge what others may have given – you never know the circumstance of others.

Homicide officers received instructions shortly before 7 pm and the two were jointly charged. The two accused, a 34-year-old joiner and his 32-year-old common-law wife of Seales Avenue, Morvant are expected to appear before a Port-of-Spain Magistrate today.

Sources revealed that police received key information from an eyewitness as well as camera footage which assisted them in identifying the two suspects.

Broadbridge was found dead at her Fondes Amandes home with her throat slit on September 2.

Gosine is responding well to medication and has regained consciousness after being placed in a medically induced coma as part of efforts by doctors to stabilise him and stop major internal bleeding near to where he was shot. “I think he would be back with us soon. He is a fighter,” said a relative.

Although the grocery remains opened, Gosine’s relatives said they were living in fear, not knowing if the bandits who attacked Gosine would attempt to rob the supermarket again or if they would come to exact revenge for their accomplice Allen Walker, who was killed during a shootout with Gosine during the robbery.

On Monday at 7.15 am, Gosine was at the front of the grocery preparing to open his gate, when he was ambushed by four men dressed in CEPEP uniforms, one of whom brandished a gun.

Gosine pulled out his licensed firearm and engaged the bandits, shooting Walker dead while the oRELATIVES of Mahadeo Gosine, the 65-year-old grocer who was shot while protecting his Sixth Street, Barataria businessplace, yesterday said he was making good progress as he remains in hospital.
Gosine is responding well to medication and has regained consciousness after being placed in a medically induced coma as part of efforts by doctors to stabilise him and stop major internal bleeding near to where he was shot. “I think he would be back with us soon. He is a fighter,” said a relative.
Although the grocery remains opened, Gosine’s relatives said they were living in fear, not knowing if the bandits who attacked Gosine would attempt to rob the supermarket again or if they would come to exact revenge for their accomplice Allen Walker, who was killed during a shootout with Gosine during the robbery.
On Monday at 7.15 am, Gosine was at the front of the grocery preparing to open his gate, when he was ambushed by four men dressed in CEPEP uniforms, one of whom brandished a gun.
Gosine pulled out his licensed firearm and engaged the bandits, shooting Walker dead while the others ran off. Gosine was shot in his stomach. Investigators were yesterday still viewing CCTV footage of the incident hoping to identify the three suspects who remained at large.

thers ran off. Gosine was shot in his stomach. Investigators were yesterday still viewing CCTV footage of the incident hoping to identify the three suspects

Often, though, he’s more profound.

“Anything that can happen does happen,” he tells her, philosophising about parallel universes.

Sometimes those universes seem to overlap in Moko Jumbie, an oblique, dreamlike film, where the everyday life of a sleepy, remote village can encompass unexpected drama and romance and even the supernatural.

Asha (Vanna Girod) grew up in England, and has fond memories of coming to stay in this house as a child, when her grandparents were alive. But her cousin doesn’t share those memories, and her aunt Mary (Sharda Maharaj), who now lives in the house alone, is guarded and suspicious. She teaches Asha what to do if wild dogs come into the yard, warns her not to stray too far from home, tells her who she shouldn’t speak to.

Asha smiles at the old family photos, and is thrilled when her aunt gives her one of her grandmother’s necklaces, brought from India many years ago. She’s fascinated when she sees the boy next door, Roger, catching crabs in the road. She enjoys her short, unplanned meetings with Uncle Jagessar (Dinesh Maharaj) and his reminiscing about what she too thinks of as the good old days.

But her nostalgia doesn’t last for long when Aunt Mary’s beloved stash of family jewelry is stolen.

Her aunt laments the state of the country, and the fact that “we Indians and they Africans always fighting”—but she constantly warns Asha not to have anything to do with the black people who are her tenants in the ramshackle old house across the road. They’re criminals, she says—and don’t eat or drink anything that the woman of the house, Gloria, gives you.

Towards the end of Moko Jumbie there are abrupt, brief indications that the country as a whole is in an equally precarious, hostile state.

But sometimes the viewer—like Asha—can’t tell what’s real and what isn’t. She sees visions; sometimes other people see them too, but at other times she can’t tell if she’s imagined them. Even the deep-thinking Uncle Jagessar can’t say what it means when she sees the moko jumbie. One thing is clear, though: the Trinidad of her childhood no longer exists, and whether or not her cousin means it unkindly when she tells Asha, “This is not your country,” she’s right.

Still, in her city-girl make-up and fashionable boots, Asha can still enjoy some of the simple pleasures that remain: the view of the sea from the cliff; the village single- pan steelband for which Roger plays, practising under a tree at night; dancing to soca with Roger in the village rumshop.

It’s with her uncle and with Roger (Jeremy Thomas) that Asha is happiest—much to the disapproval of her aunt. Trinidadian-American director Vashti Anderson’s story—some of it autobiographical— mingles memory and longing, the real and the imagined, in this elliptical story of family, race, class, and the quest for home.

Screening times September 23, 8.30 pm, MovieTowne POS Screen 8 September 24, 6 pm, MovieTowne San Fernando September 25, 8.30 pm, MovieTowne Tobago

The majority of the world’s refugees found safety in neighbouring countries, many of which have a tradition of providing refuge despite pressing development challenges.

These countries opened their doors to people fleeing conflict and persecution, showing compassion, generosity and a commitment to the principles of international protection.

At the same time, hospitality waned in some regions and a growing sentiment of “enough is enough” found expression in restrictions on access, to protection and pressure to return in conditions that were less than voluntary.

In the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, growing political, social and economic tensions throughout the year led to the displacement of Venezuelans. Since 2011, over 45,000 lodged asylum claims in the Americas and beyond, including at least 27,000 who applied in 2016 mainly in Brazil, Costa Rica, Peru, Spain and the United States. While the number of Venezuelans granted refugee status increased, most tried to regularise their status under different bilateral or multilateral regional frameworks in host countries within the region. In the Caribbean, given the small size of some of the island States, the arrival of Venezuelans, even in relatively small numbers, had a disproportionate impact on their limited reception capacities.

In view of an increasing number of arrivals of Venezuelan citizens, UNHCR fielded a mission to Colombia, Trinidad and Tobago and Brazil in May. An update released by the UN Refugee Agency on May 19 stated that Trinidad and Tobago is confronted with a situation of over 40,000 Venezuelans currently present in the country and as the social upheaval continues in Caracas and other major cities, this figure is expected to grow before the end of the year. The mission found that there were no consistent efforts to register the number of Venezuelan nationals either entering or remaining in the Brazil, Colombia or Trinidad and Tobago. Due to application obstacles, including long waiting periods and fees, many Venezuelans opt to remain in an ‘irregular’ situation instead of using asylum or migratory procedures to regularise their stay and additionally, the borders are also long and porous.

As a country, we need to be prepared to deal with the effects of this migration crisis, especially in this time of economic instability. There are costs that must be borne by the State which we must face. The cost of health care and education are just two that arise. There is also the issue of the type of jobs they engage in, what are the effects on the labour market, and is there going to be displacement of local workers. The concern about fiscal strain at this time raises the need for a policy decision to be made by the government in terms of how to handle the increased inflow of people from these neighbouring countries. Indeed, such a decision will influence what the net economic effect will be in the medium term.

We have to assess the social, cultural and economic impact of the arrival of these people? As citizens, we just need a better understanding of what is taking place.

Attorneys Netram Kowlessar and Graeme Mc Clean, acting head of the Central Authority, appeared on Sookdeo’s behalf. Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi gave authority to proceed with the extradition process on July 28. Sookdeo will face charges in the US which include conspiracy to defraud the US and commit theft of government funds, making false claims to the US and transporting money taken by fraud.

If convicted, he faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.

She began at a very early age performing with the Barataria Community Council for several years. However, in 2008 a group of members left to form Bon Bassa Productions in 2009 and she says that evolution was amazing. She got to see the performing arts from both sides – business and performing– and it was and still is a learning curve.

Alexander feels that Better, Better Village is a very well written script by Barry who also directs the production. She says it captures much of the Best Village experience.

“It is different to most of the other Best Village productions that I have been involved with, because it’s all about what happens behind the scenes, and it’s true, it’s real!” she says.

This move from the Best Village arena to the Queen’s Hall stage as a full-scale production outside of the genre, she says is thrilling. She would also like other established theatre companies to see that they may have seriously underestimated the Best Village product and that folk theatre is powerful and just as entertaining as the productions that qualify as “local theatre” and may be even more powerful, because they are our stories, a release stated.

Better, Better Village opens tonight to Sunday at Queen’s Hall from 8 pm. Showtime on Sunday is 6 pm.

Tickets are available at Queen’s Hall box office.

ONE of the popular events of the parang season, Start De Parang, was held at the Lions Cultural centre last Sunday. The event, was hosted by the reigning national parang champions Voces Jovenes