T&T missions on alert in Canada, NY, Washington
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar says T&T’s missions in Washington, New York, Miami and Canada have been asked to keep lines open so as to respond to the needs of Trinidadians in the US and Canada in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. In a statement yesterday, Persad-Bissessar also called on the national community to join her in prayer for everyone in the path of the hurricane.
The statement added: ‘I am deeply concerned that among those in the path of the storm are thousands of nationals from Trinidad and Tobago, Caricom and the United States who I urge to follow the instructions of emergency personnel and those in authority in order to protect their lives and minimise damage.
“I am confident that the US authorities are well prepared to confront such an impending disaster and will respond appropriately to the exigencies of the situation. This is a deadly storm that has already ravaged the Caribbean, killing 61 people.”
Persad-Bissessar said she also instructed Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Dookeran to keep in contact with the relevant officials at the US Embassy in T&T.
She said she too would monitor the path of Hurricane Sandy. “I am also in touch with our own authorities here in Trinidad and Tobago so that if any intervention is required of us this can be quickly implemented," she said.
Caribbean Airlines new plane makes emergency landing
An investigation has been launched into an incident involving one of the new planes recently acquired by Caribbean Airlines.
An ATR 72-600 with 44 passengers and four crew had to return to Piarco International Airport in Trinidad on Friday after a section of the plane’s exterior panelling peeled away.
CAL’s Corporate Communications Manager, Clint Williams, said no one was hurt in the incident. Caribbean Airlines' Chairman Rabindra Moonan says by tomorrow he will get a preliminary report into the incident.
The plane, which was said to be configured to seat 68 passengers and to provide a higher standard of comfort, was added to CAL’s domestic route.
W.U.C
Venezuela: Minister Henry Rangel eyes state governorship
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has announced that his current defence minister, Gen Henry Rangel, is to seek election as a state governor.
Mr Chavez said the navy commander, Adm Diego Molera, would be his replacement.
Gen Rangel, a close associate of the president, will run for the governorship of Trujillo in state elections on 16 December.
These polls will take place two months after President Chavez was elected for a fourth term.
Mr Chavez comfortably beat his rival Henrique Capriles, albeit with a smaller margin of victory than in the presidential election of 2006.
The December vote will be a test both for Mr Chavez's United Socialist Party (PSUV) and the coalition of opposition parties that threw its weight behind Mr Capriles.
President Chavez said on Monday that Gen Rangel would be the PSUV's candidate in Trujillo after the current governor, Hugo Cabezas, announced he would not seek re-election.
Gen Rangel had been defence minister since January this year.
In 2008, the US administration accused him of "materially assisting" the drug-trafficking activities of Colombia's Farc rebels.
Gen Rangel and President Chavez have repeatedly denied this.
--BBC
Colombia rebel ambush kills six officers, police say
Six Colombian police officers have been killed while on patrol in the south-west of the country in an ambush blamed on left-wing rebels, officials say.
The officers were shot dead in Cauca province by suspected Farc guerrillas, local police said.
The killings come as the Colombian government and the Farc prepare for the next stage in peace talks, due to get under way next week in Cuba.
The talks began earlier this month in Norway but there has been no ceasefire.
President Juan Manuel Santos has said he wants to avoid the mistake of the previous peace talks in the late 1990s, when the rebels were given control of a vast demilitarised zone and used the opportunity to regroup.
The latest peace attempt, the first direct contact in a decade, was formally launched in Oslo on 18 October.
The two sides are due to hold preparatory meetings in Havana next week, with the negotiations proper beginning on 15 November.
The talks are due to focus on five key areas: the end of armed conflict; land reform; guarantees for the exercise of political opposition and citizen participation; drug trafficking; and the rights of the victims of the conflict.
The number of Farc combatants is now believed to be some 8,000, down from 16,000 a decade ago.
US markets to remain closed on today amid Hurricane Sandy
Hurricane Sandy has continued to disrupt business in the US East Coast, including forcing US stock markets to close again on Tuesday.
Sandy has flooded subway and road tunnels in much of Lower Manhattan.
Beyond New York City, public transport has been halted in several eastern US cities, and thousands of flights have been grounded.
The total damage is already estimated at between $10bn and $20bn (£6bn-£12bn).
It is the longest closure since 9/11 and the first time the weather has shut the stock markets for two consecutive days since 1888.
Sandy threatens an 800-mile (1,290-km) swathe of the US, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes in the Mid-West and killed 66 people in the Caribbean last week before pounding the East Coast of the US.
The storm has closed thousands businesses and severely shut down the infrastructure of the nation.
In New York, the US financial capital, an explosion at a sub-station caused power outages and darkened most of downtown Manhattan as well as Westchester County and affected more than 650,000 customers, power company Consolidated Edison said.
"This is the largest storm-related outage in our history," said John Miksad, Con Ed's senior vice president for electric operations.
Both the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq exchanges said they would remain closed on Tuesday, but both plan to reopen on Wednesday. NYSE said that its famed trading floor - based close to the major flooding in Lower Manhattan - remained undamaged.
Wednesday is a key trading day because it is the last day of the month, when traders price their portfolios.
Bond trading is also suspended.
In Europe, shares in Swiss Re rose 1.3% and Munich Re shares were also higher. The two companies are reinsurers - they insure insurers, who will have to pay out a large amount to businesses and individuals affected by Sandy.
The continued closure of public transport along the US East Coast means millions of people won't be able to get to work.
Air traffic to and from the region has also been severely disrupted and nearly 14,000 flights were cancelled, potentially hurting airlines that were already struggling in the weak economy.
Amtrak has suspended passenger train services across the north-east.
The UN headquarters in New York is also to stay closed, while public transport was suspended in Washington DC, New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Boston.
Japan boosts stimulus measures to spur growth
The Bank of Japan has boosted its key stimulus measure amid concerns that Japan's economic recovery may be running out of steam.
It has extended its asset purchase programme, under which it buys bonds to keep long-term borrowing costs down, by 11 trillion yen ($138bn; £86bn).
It will also offer unlimited loans to banks to encourage lending and boost domestic demand.
Analysts said the bank may need to take further measures to spur growth.
"The problem is not banks' ability to lend," said Masayuki Kichikawa, chief Japan economist as Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Tokyo.
"The problem is a lack of demand for loans due to deflation and a high exchange rate."
Japan has been fighting deflation, or falling prices, for many years, and the phenomenon has been a big hurdle in its attempts to boost domestic consumption.
While falling prices are good news for consumers, they are not so for the economy, as people tend to push back their purchases in the hope of getting a cheaper deal in the long run.
At the same time, a strong currency has also hurt Japanese manufacturers, making their goods more expensive for foreign buyers and hurting their profits.
The yen has risen by more than 6% against the US dollar since April 2011, despite interventions by Japanese authorities in the currency markets to weaken it.
Analysts said that a strong currency coupled with slowing demand from key markets meant that, despite a push by the central bank to boost lending, businesses were reluctant to borrow and increase their investment.
--BBC
Apple's Scott Forstall and John Browett to leave firm
Apple has announced a major shake-up of its management, with two senior executives to leave the company.
The announcement follows embarrassing problems with its new mapping software and disappointing quarterly results.
Scott Forstall, head of its iOS software, will leave next year. He will serve as an adviser to chief executive Tim Cook in the interim.
Head of retail John Browett, the former Dixons boss, is also leaving after just six months in the job.
Apple said the moves were a way to increase collaboration across its hardware, software and services businesses. No specific reasons were given for either man's departure.
As part of the changes, Sir Jonathan Ive, who runs the team designing Apple's hardware, will also oversee the user experience on its software.
Mapping problems
The company faced a barrage of criticism after its new mapping software, introduced last month, showed inaccuracies and misplaced towns and cities.
The maps debacle led to Mr Cook issuing an apology to customers, while some critics called for Mr Forstall's head as he was the executive behind the panned app.
Mr Forstall joined Apple in 1997 when the technology giant purchased Steve Jobs' start-up Next, and he is credited as one of the original architects of Mac OS X.
A profile in Businessweek called him the " best remaining proxy for the voice of Steve Jobs", the iconic co-founder of Apple, for his strong views on how consumer technology should function and was responsible for the development of iOS, the operating system on iPhones and iPads that bring in most of Apple's money.
But he was reportedly unpopular with the rest of senior management.
There are several reports that he refused to sign the apology that Mr Cook eventually issued for the maps disaster.
Mr Forstall made almost $39m this year from selling shares, and is likely to be in high demand from rival firms in Silicon Valley.
Craig Federighi will lead both iOS and OS X now, while Sir Jonathan will take on responsibility for the design of "human interface" in its software.
One analyst said Sir Jonathan - responsible for much of the look of the iPod, iPhone and other devices - could now help reinvigorate the look of Apple's software, which has been slower to evolve than Google's Android.
BP profits fall but dividend is raised 12.5%
Oil giant BP has reported a fall in profits for the past three months.
Replacement cost profit, which strips out the effect of oil price movements, was $4.69bn (£3bn), down from $5.27bn for the quarter last year.
However, chief executive Bob Dudley said the figures showed "strong progress" at BP, which is raising the quarterly dividend by 12.5%.
Mr Dudley added that BP was "on track with our strategy to 2014" and was laying foundations for growth.
The profit figures were helped by better-than-expected margins in BP's refining operations. Investors sent BP shares up almost 5% in morning trading.
Richard Hunter, head of equities at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers, said: "It has been an immensely complicated time for BP and this update reflects just how much progress has been made."
BP believes it is entering a new era, as it tries to put the turmoil of the last few years behind it.
The company has signed a major deal with Rosneft to sell its stake in TNK-BP, ending the troubled relationship with its Russian partners in the joint venture. It also re-stated on Tuesday its hope that it can settle civil and criminal claims over the Gulf of Mexico oil platform disaster.
However, BP's statement said: "BP is in ongoing discussions with the Department of Justice and other federal agencies regarding a possible settlement of these claims and whilst it is ready to settle on reasonable terms, a number of unresolved issues remain and there is significant uncertainty as to whether an agreement will ultimately be reached.
"BP has repeatedly said that it is willing to settle on reasonable terms but otherwise continues to prepare vigorously for the start of trial."
The company said it would make a final payment of $860m into the $20bn Gulf of Mexico compensation fund by the end of the year.
Mr Hunter said the size of the trust meant that "the Gulf of Mexico liability is well provisioned" and should help remove some of the uncertainty.
He added: "The recently announced agreement with Rosneft leaves BP with exposure to the important Russian region without some of the previous distractions, and the hike in the dividend is proof of management's optimism for prospects."
--BBC
Storm Sandy causes severe flooding in eastern US
"Super-storm" Sandy has swept into the US East Coast with hurricane-force winds, bringing flooding, cutting power and claiming at least 13 lives.
Sandy caused a record surge of seawater in New York City, flooding subway and road tunnels and plunging much of Lower Manhattan into darkness.
President Obama has declared a "major disaster" in New York state, AFP says.
An estimated 50 million people could be affected by the storm, with up to one million ordered to evacuate homes.
At least five million people across several states are without electricity.
The full extent of the damage may not be known until daybreak.
Over the past week Sandy has killed dozens of people as it carved a path of destruction through the Caribbean.
Public transport has been halted in several eastern US cities, and thousands of flights have been grounded.
In other developments:
- More than 200 patients were evacuated from New York University's Tisch Hospital after its power went out and a backup generator failed.
- Fire has destroyed about 50 homes in the New York City borough of Queens.
- America's oldest nuclear power plant, Oyster Creek in New Jersey, was put on alert due to rising water, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said.
- The New York Stock Exchange will stay shut on Tuesday - the first time it has closed for two consecutive days due to weather since 1888.
- A crew member from a replica of HMS Bounty has died and the captain is missing after the ship sank in mountainous seas off North Carolina on Monday.
Both President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney cancelled campaign appearances little more than a week before the presidential election.
The storm made landfall close to Atlantic City in New Jersey at about 20:00 local time (midnight GMT), packing winds of more than 80mph (129km/h).
Much of Atlantic City is under water, and 30,000 residents were evacuated.
Sandy threatens an 800-mile (1,290-km) swathe of the US, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes in the Mid-West.
It lost its hurricane status late on Monday as it neared the coast and collided with winter weather systems, but was still packing hurricane-strength winds.
At 05:00 EDT (09:00 GMT) the National Hurricane Center placed the centre of Sandy about 90 miles (145km) west of Philadelphia with maximum sustained winds of 65mph (105km/h) with higher gusts.
In New York, some 375,000 residents were ordered out of Lower Manhattan and other areas, as the Hudson and East rivers began overflowing.
A record storm surge of 13.7ft (4.15m) swept into Lower Manhattan, flooding seven major subway tunnels.
"The New York City subway system is 108 years old, but it has never faced a disaster as devastating as what we experienced last night," city transport director Joseph Lhota said early on Tuesday.
"Lower Manhattan is being covered by seawater," Howard Glaser, director of operations for the New York state government, was quoted as saying. "I am not exaggerating. Seawater is rushing into the Battery Tunnel."
Battery Tunnel links Manhattan with Long Island.
The city's Consolidated Edison utility provider said some 500,000 homes in Manhattan were without power.
There were reports of an explosion at a Con Edison power station on the east side of Manhattan.
Vice president John Miksad said it was caused by flooding or flying debris, and he added it could take a week to restore power completely.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the storm surge was higher than the highest forecast, but he expected the waters to start receding from midnight local time.
Elsewhere in the city, the storm left a construction crane bent double next to a skyscraper and caused the facade off a four-storey building to collapse.
The UN headquarters in New York is also to stay closed.
Officials reported at least 12 deaths in New Jersey, New York, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Connecticut - several due to fallen trees. AP news agency put the death toll at 16.
In addition to the US deaths, a Canadian woman was reported killed by flying debris in Toronto.
Forecasters have said Sandy could linger over as many as 12 states for 24-36 hours.
President Obama declared emergencies in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
In Washington DC, federal government offices are closed until Wednesday.
Public transport was suspended in the US capital, New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Boston.
Amtrak has suspended passenger train services across the north-east, while nearly 14,000 flights were cancelled, according to Flightaware.com.
Up to 3ft (91cm) of snow is expected to fall on the Appalachian mountains in West Virginia, Virginia and Kentucky.
The disaster estimating firm Eqecat has forecast that Sandy could cause economic losses to the US of between $10bn and $20bn (£6.2bn-£12.4bn).
Huge Storm Slows US Presidential Campaign
With one week until election day, U.S. President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, are balancing how to make their final pitches to voters while tens of millions of people along the country's east coast deal with a massive storm.
Both candidates have canceled their planned Tuesday appearances, instead focusing their messages on storm victims and calling for donations to relief organizations.
The storm's impact includes several political battleground states that analysts say are key to the outcome of the November 6 election, including Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Ohio.
In some parts of Virginia and North Carolina early voting sites have been closed as the storm moves through, and sites in Washington remain closed Tuesday.
Mr. Obama returned to the White House Monday to oversee the government's response to the storm. Mr. Romney's aides say he may visit areas impacted by the storm later this week.