HIGH COURT judge Justice Mira Dean-Armorer yesterday shot down an attempt by Udecott lawyers to stop the Uff Commission of Inquiry from submitting a final report to President George Maxwell Richards.

ONE WEEK after escaping being referred to the Privileges Committee for statements he made against Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar about purchasing a store, Prime Minister Patrick Manning was yesterday referred to the committee by Speaker Barry Sinanan. In doing so, Sinanan agreed with Persad-Bissessar that a prima facie case of breach of privilege had been made out against Manning for comments he made while delivering a statement in the House of Representatives last Friday about Church/State relations.

COUVA NORTH MP Basdeo Panday and Couva South MP Kelvin Ramnath yesterday shocked the nation when they voted against their United National Congress (UNC) parliamentary colleagues on a motion which called Prime Minister Patrick Manning or Cabinet to fire Calder Hart as chairman of the Urban Development Corporation (Udecott).

WHILE there is nothing to prevent contractors from hiring foreign workers on construction projects, this should not be done to the detriment of local workers who are being laid off from construction sites on an almost daily basis.

THE CONGRESS of the People (COP) yesterday called on Prime Minister Patrick Manning to immediately account for his failure to take action against Udecott executive chairman Calder Hart in light of fresh evidence linking Hart to a company his board awarded $820 million in contracts.

LESS THAN 24 hours after arriving in the country, American Ronald Birk was before a Port-of-Spain magistrate facing a charge of defrauding the State sometime between January 1, 1995, and March 27, 1997. The charge was read by Magistrate Melvin Daniel in the First Court.

She lost her mother and father to the 7.0 magnitude earthquake which decimated Haiti just twelve days into the new year. And yesterday, 25-year-old Anelie Joseph, from Port-au-Prince, made a stirring appeal for help from the TT Government.

INSTEAD of celebrating the birthday of their youngest son, Chaz ,who turned four yesterday, Garfield and Lisa Philip-Forde were trying to come to terms with the sudden death of their older son Gahred-Jesus Yvan Forde, eight.

FRESH DOCUMENTS which appear to conclusively tie Udecott executive chairman Calder Hart to a company his board awarded $820 million worth in contracts emerged yesterday after being obtained by the Congress of the People (COP).

Newsday yesterday achieved another first when it launched the Trinidad and Tobago edition of USA Today, the number one newspaper in the United States. The new partnership between Newsday and USA Today was launched at a breakfast meeting in the Port-of-Spain ballroom of the Hyatt Regency Hotel and Conference Centre and was attended by a large cross-section of government and corporate officials, diplomats and advertising agencies. Also present were Tom Kelly, Circulation Vice President of USA Today and Jill Heymer, USA Today National Circulation/Sales/Travel Manager.

Prime Minister Patrick Manning is expected to leave tomorrow for the Dominican Republic to meet with other Caricom leaders to map out a plan for the recovery of earthquake-ravaged Haiti, Foreign Affairs Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon revealed yesterday.

“Welcome to the land of the living.” Family and colleagues warmly greeted director of the Trinidad and Tobago Civil Aviation Authority, Ramesh Lutchmedial on Friday night at the Piarco International Airport, when he returned from his ordeal in Haiti where he experienced a 7.0 magnitude earthquake on Tuesday evening which took the lives of tens of thousands of people.

Aid continues to pour in for earthquake-ravaged Haiti from all over the world and Trinidad and Tobago is holding its own as local groups continue to collect foodstuff and other essentials for the Haitian people, who are now fighting each other for scraps of food and where drinking water is almost non existent.

Carnival 2010 officially kicked off in San Fernando on Friday night with a major event — the National Panorama Preliminaries (Single Pan Bands) which turned into a big street party going on into the wee hours of yesterday morning.

A family of six is now without a place to sleep following a fire which totally destroyed their newly furnished home on Farm Road, St Joseph.

IT was double tragedy for a Rio Claro family on Friday night when the flooring boards in the house where a wake was being held for murder victim Kevon Raymond, collapsed. Several people were injured. The wake was being held at the home of Raymond’s uncle, Clinton Humphrey, whose house is situated in front of Raymond’s.

An international appeal has been made for assistance in finding Gregory Andre McAlpin, a Trinidadian who was among 200 guests at a Haitian hotel which collapsed when a massive earthquake hit that country on Tuesday afternoon.

That summed up a query made by High Court Judge Justice Mira-Dean Armorer yesterday as she questioned lawyers acting on behalf of Udecott in judicial review proceedings the State-owned company has brought against the Uff Commission of Inquiry.

IN AN incident which can only be described as tragic, three-month-old Amrit Dhanraj was found dead in a crib a few hours after his parents dropped him off at a Central Trinidad day care centre on Thursday.

PORT-AU-PRINCE: Hundreds of US troops touched down in earthquake-shattered Port-au-Prince overnight and were soon handing out food and water to stricken survivors, as relief groups struggled to deliver aid yesterday and fears spread of unrest in Haiti’s fourth day of desperation.