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Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley describes Trinidad and Tobago, stands as a model nation to the world.

Addressing a Diwali celebration at the diplomatic Centre in St. Anns on Wednesday evening, Dr. Rowley, while not being specific, lamented that genocide is still taking place in the world today.

The Prime Minister reminded those gathered, that this twin island state had its humble beginnings in unity.

He called on each citizen to preserve the harmony, which exists in this country.

Carnival has outgrown the capital city, and there is need for more space.

This is the view of chairman of the National Carnival Commission Winston Gypsy Peters who says, everything is expanding except the Port of Spain route.

He was sitting before public administration & appropriations committee of the parliament on Wednesday.

He said, this is why, in some way the NCC supports the Soca Drome.

The National Carnival Commission assures, it is taking steps to patent certain aspects of carnival.

However the executive of NCC cautions that not everything in Trinidad and Tobago carnival originated in this country.

Chairman of the NCC Winston Gypsy Peters, told a public administration and appropriations committee yesterday, that carnival is being marketed but he failed to satisfy commissioners on the protection aspect.

Chair of the committee bridged Annisette George attempted to drill down on the issue.

However, Corporate Secretary Gissell Martin explained why patenting is easier said than done.

Mrs. Martin gave this assurance to committee member Dr. Lackram Bodoe.

Chair Annisette-George wanted clarification, on what patents are being pursued at this time.

The public administration and appropriations committee examined the role of the National Carnival Commission’s management, of carnival 2023 activities.

Darryl Boucard’s killing may have been gang related.

Mr. Boucard was shot and killed at his St. Anns home, on Tuesday evening.

It is reported Mr. Boucard was in the yard of his home at Symond Valley Road, when two men got out of a white Nissan X-trail and opened fire.

Mr. Boucard tried to run but fell before a staircase and died.

Relatives called the police.

A search for the vehicle used to carry the killers was futile.

Yesterday, at the forensic science center relatives said, he was not perfect and police have to do more to curb the number of murders in the country.

Mr. Boucard was the father of two.

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education who angered the Prime Minister by saying it, would not have been possible to pay teachers before may next year, is being transferred.

According to the Express Newspaper P.S. Kurt Meyer, has proceeded on vacation and will be reassigned when he returns.

The story says, where Mr. Meyer is being reassigned to, have not been released.

On October 26^th Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley said, he was disturbed to know that a public officer indicated to the Education Minister, the promised back pay to teachers might not be possible.

The words of caution to the PS were met with resistance from President of the Public Services Association.

Leroy Baptiste said, the PSA would not allow it.

Mr. Baptiste also said, it would do well for politicians to respect public officers.

The Express says, according to a provision in the law the transfer is done by the PS in the office of the Prime Minister, who is also the head of the public service.

It says, the head of the public service can only transfer a Permanent Secretary, on the instructions of the Prime Minister.

The paper says, a PS is appointed, disciplined or removed by the Public Service Commission and the prime minister can transfer a Permanent Secretary under section 121 6 a of the constitution.

The Trinidad and Tobago Police Service is said, to have 300 working vehicles.

This was revealed by the Minister of National Security Fitzgenerald Hinds in response to questions, on the subject by independent Senator Dr Paul Richards yesterday.

Senator Richards quizzed the Minister on complaints from the public. 

Pressed further, Minister hinds disclosed that his government is working to maintain assets.

Both men were speaking in the upper house yesterday. 

A soldier charged with possession of 600 rounds and six other offences has been granted bail.

Lance corporal Travis Thomas is to stay confined at the regiment’s barracks, in Cumuto.

Thirty-six year old Mr. Thomas was shot last month.

He turned himself in to the police last week and was treated at hospital.

It is reported, the Longdenville soldier shot at the police and escaped in bushes after ammunition was found in a vehicle, he was driving in chase village.

Yesterday he appeared in court on crutches.

Mr. Thomas and Jillisa Frederick were jointly charged with possession.

He was placed on 750 thousand dollars bail, to cover a total of seven charges.

Last week Mr. Frederick appeared in court and was placed on bail.

The Public Utilities Minister says, there is no evidence that Prime Minister, Dr. Keith Rowley’s data has been compromised.

Minister Marvin Gonzales responded to a question posed by opposition Senator Jerlean John yesterday.

Minister Gonzales said, TSTT is still in the process of evaluating all aspects of the cyber attack.

Senator John said, it appeared the Minister was the last to know about what is going on at TSTT.

The Prime Minister calls on the Trinidad and Tobago telecommunications services, to treat the data breach as a national security threat.

This as he clarifies information in the public domain relative to his own data.

In a post on his Facebook page Dr. Rowley says, he can confirm that the information used by the Trinidad guardian to publish its story was not his data, but the ID and DP profile for another family member.

He also says, the latest additional information that is circulating from a stolen spreadsheet is not his bank details.

The Prime Minister says, it appears to be his TT government telephone bill account, which is somewhere on TSTT’s system.

He says, that piece of data has information which is accurate but not secret.

However Dr Rowley says, this data or any other for that matter, falling into the hands of criminals, is deeply disturbing and this occurrence should be treated with the greatest competence and utmost sincerity by the company.

He says, TSTT is also expected to treat this matter as a national security threat and ensure that the public trust is restored, preserved, and handled with absolute professionalism.

A Trinidadian woman is now the 11^th murder victim in Tobago for the year so far.

She has been identified as Chiniqua White of Malick.

Reports say, Ms. White was shot multiple times in what has been described as a drive by shooting in black rock last night.

The Public Utilities Minister gets strong advice from his Prime Minister, regarding the cyber attack at TSTT.

The data breach has reportedly led to, the information of thousands of customers being dumped on line.

Among the customers Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley.

The Minister says, the government will be seeking to protect the public’s interests.

A newspaper story yesterday said, the personal information of Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley was among the data leaked.

The Minister has mandated TSTT’s board to commission an independent probe into the attack.

The Minister responds to a call for his resignation.

United National congress MP Rudranth Indarsingh is calling for the political head of Minister Gonzales.

At an UNC media conference on Sunday MP Indarsingh said, the minister must go.

However, Minister Gonzales yesterday, described the UNC as having no principles when it comes to the truth.

On October 30^th, Minister Gonzales said, the reports of an attack were not true, and the telecommunication services of Trinidad and Tobago would have issued a statement.

TSTT also said, hackers had tried to break into its cyber systems holding tera-bytes of data, but they were unsuccessful.

In calling for answers the opposition also claimed there was a cyber attack at the San Fernando general hospital.

The Southwest Regional Health Authority has confirmed this saying it’s information and communication technologies systems suffered.

According to the SWRHA the incursion took place on Monday 23^rd October at 3:45 am.

In a release the SWRHA says, its platform suffered a cyber security incident by an unknown external party, which resulted in a loss of connectivity and access to its information databases.

It says, the attack therefore compromised the organization’s ability for real-time access to its vast technological systems.

The SWRHA says, this resulted in minimal disruptions to its usual excellent customer service operations.