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Former Port of Spain Mayor Louis Lee Sing is welcoming the government’s decision to create a Ministry of Youth Development and National Service.

Mr. Lee Sing says this is long overdue.

Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley announced the details of the new Ministry after he was sworn in by the President last week.

He has named Member of Parliament for Laventille west Fitzgerald Hinds as Minister of Youth Affairs and National Service.

Mr. Lee Sing is commending the move.

Mr. Lee Sing has been a proponent of National Service for many years.

He believes it is one sure way of getting young people involved in activities, which can benefit the nation.

And Activist Garth St. Clair says he was elated by the development.

Mr. St. Clair says it will save many youth from a life of crime.

Speaking with Newscenter 5 yesterday the cohost of the Eye on Dependency program on i95.5fm also said it should not be optional.

National Service is defined as a system of either compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service.

Twenty-eight-year-old Nathan Julien was shot and killed on Saturday night in Maloney Gardens.

Three others were wounded and are now hospitalised.

That incident occurred at Thrush Lane, while Mr. Julien and a group of friends were playing a game of cards.

Two men got out of a vehicle and fired several shots.

The victims were taken to the Arima Hospital where Mr. Julien of Flamingo Boulevard died.

And police are also investigating the killings of 59-year-old Veji Boodoo and his 2 sons, 30-year-old Vid-Har-Shan and 24-year-old Shree-Hashan.

They were found dead in a shack off Connector Road Reform Village yesterday morning.

The bodies of the father and sons were found near the entrance of the 1-room shack.

Police Mr. Boodoo was a bomb maker who was the focus of investigations into threats of terrorism back in 2003.

A Chinese national has been killed during an attempted robbery at his business place on the Eastern Main Road in Barataria.

The name of the victim has not yet been released.

Several of his employees were also wounded during the incident, which occurred at around 4am yesterday at the Happiness Supermarket.

Officers of the Northeastern Division Task Force arrested 8 suspects, including 2 women and 2 Venezuelan men yesterday morning.

It is reported that the 6 men and 2 women stormed the supermarket and also went to the upper floor of the building where the owner of the supermarket and 8 employees, all Chinese nationals were asleep.

Reports say the bandits were armed with knives and cutlasses.

The suspects attempted to rob the occupants but the victims fought back.

Several persons were stabbed and chopped.

Police responded within minutes and found the suspects inside.

One of the Chinese nationals suffered serious wounds.

He was taken to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex where he later died.

Nothing was stolen from the supermarket.

Police say the suspects who are now in their custody are from Morvant, Laventille, and Belmont.

Police are also checking the legal status of the 2 Venezuelans.

The Police Complaints Authority says it rejects all suggestions from the Commissioner of Police that publication of findings by the PCA, in the disciplinary aspect of the case involving ACP Irwin Hackshaw, is other than in the public interest.

In a release issued Saturday it said further, the criminal investigation into reported allegations of unusual financial transactions involving Mr. Hackshaw is nearing conclusion and the PCA has met with the office of the Director of Public Prosecution on the matter.
 
The PCA says it is of the view that transparent publication of the recommendations arising out of its investigations, provide public accountability and enhances trust in the justice system, even more so where the case involves a senior rank.

The PCA maintains it is independent of the police and it investigates criminal offences involving police officers, police corruption and serious police misconduct and other related matters.

Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith says he will not be bullied by the Police Complaints Authority.

Commissioner Griffith made the statements as he posed a series of questions lashing out at PCA Director, David West.

It stems from the ongoing investigation into allegations of financial impropriety on the part of DCP Irwin Hackshaw.

The Commissioner in his latest statement on the matter questions how an internal disciplinary matter is in the public interest.

Newly appointed Minister of Education Dr. Nyan Gadsby Dolly has visited 2 schools in Port of Spain just before the students began writing the Secondary Entrance Assessment today.

Speaking with reporters outside the St. Ursula’s EC Primary School, Minister Gadsby Dolly was satisfied with the COVID-19 protocols in place at the school.

The Minister also visited the Sacred Heart Boys R.C. Primary School on Richmond Street.

She is expected to go to the Gandhi Memorial Vedic Primary School in Aranguez when the exam is over this afternoon.

The S.E.A ends at 1:30 this afternoon.

Meanwhile Dr. Gadsby Dolly is to meet with her staff at the Ministry today.

She says high on the agenda is online learning, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

She said certain decisions regarding learning must be made in the near future.

Dr. Gadsby Dolly and her Minister in the Ministry Lisa Morris Julian have been given a mandate by the Prime Minister to make radical changes to the curriculum.

The mandate came after the Ministers were sworn into office yesterday afternoon at the President’s House.

The MET service says Tropical Depression 13 is getting closer to the northern Leeward Islands.

The system is moving towards the west-north west near 33 kilometers per hour.

This motion is to continue for the next 2 days.

According to the Meteorological Service, current analyses suggest that on its projected track, the center of the system is to move near north of the northern Leeward Islands today.

Maximum sustained winds are near 55 kilometers per hour with higher gusts.

According to the met service some gradual strengthening is forecast and the system could become a storm later today.

The MET office says the system poses no direct threat to Trinidad and Tobago or Grenada and its dependencies.