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FOUND DEAD: Simeon Roopchand, seen in this photo with his friend Marissa Edwards, was found dead in the Tabaquite forest on Saturday. Edwards, missing since September 18, remains unaccounted for. –

THE body of Simeon Roopchand – boyfriend of administrative clerk Marissa Edwards – was found hanging from a tree in the Tabaquite forest on Saturday afternoon. Edwards, missing since September 18, is still unaccounted for.

Team captain of the Hunters’ Search and Rescue Team, Vallence Rambharat, confirmed the discovery of Roopchand’s body saying members of the team journeyed about a kilometre into the forest where they came across his body at 4 pm.

Roopchand was the last person Edwards was in company with before she went missing.

He was not seen or heard from since he was confronted by Edwards’ family, the day after she went out with him and subsequently went missing. Edwards’ relatives identified the 51-year-old PH taxi driver’s body by the clothing he was wearing. Rambharat said a cutlass and cellphone were found near the man’s body.

Roopchand’s car was found abandoned in Tabaquite near the entrance to the forest last Tuesday.

Rambharat said his team was searching near the car for Edward’s body as they suspect she too may have been killed. The surrounding area near to where Roopchand’s car was found was searched twice.

On Saturday, a man who was walking through the forest found Roopchand’s body and alerted the search and rescue team.

Roopchand and Edwards, an administrative clerk at the UWI’s Faculty of Medicine, left her John Eli Road, Freeport home on September 18. She told relatives she was going out with Roopchand, who she had been in an on-again off-again relationship for about two years.

At the time, the 39-year-old woman was wearing a black and purple dress, black sandals and black clutch purse.

Roopchand told relatives last Monday that he dropped Edwards off at the side of the highway just before midnight, because he had to get gas, and she wanted to get home.

Relatives became suspicious after they tracked her phone signal at a gas station in Couva at 4 am earlier that day. But before they could question him further, Roopchand left and was never seen or heard from again.

On Friday, relatives said they were still clinging to hope that Edwards could still be alive. On Sunday they said they continue to cling to hope.

“We still have hope, even if it reaches five per cent. Faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains, so we have hope and faith,” a relative said.

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WARNING: Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal makes a point at the UNC’s weekly Sunday press conference in Port of Spain. At right is Mayaro MP Rushton Paray. PHOTO BY AYANNA KINSALE –

THE Opposition has put the country on notice for even more hardship and stress when Finance Minister Colm Imbert presents the budget on Monday in the House of Representatives.

In fact, Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal said on Sunday, the public can expect more nuisance taxes to be announced in Imbert’s presentation.

Moonilal and Mayaro MP Rushton Paray spoke at the Opposition’s weekly Sunday media briefing at the Office of the Opposition Leader, Charles Street in Port of Spain.

“I can predict tomorrow (Monday) there will be more taxes. Every little thing you do in life will have a tax attached to it. And what they cannot introduce new, they will increase.

“I am telling the country today, from where I sit, it appears that we are in for a rough road ahead. I tell the people of Trinidad and Tobago, to expect more hardship,” a grim Moonilal said.

He predicted that allocations for the Tobago House of Assembly and the Police Service will be cut.

“It was just a few months ago that the people of Tobago, to use a colloquial term, spit-out the PNM and rejected them with an overwhelming majority. I ask the Minister of Finance, ‘Will you come tomorrow and punish the people of Tobago for doing that with your measures?’”

Moonilal said he wasn’t hopeful the budget would include measures to address crime, unemployment, poor road infrastructure, new investments to stimulate the economy, offer ease to high food prices, or initiatives to close the existing gap in the education system.

“You know it is sad that we have a crisis with the cost of living, we have a crisis with crime and insecurity, we have a crisis with joblessness and the last several years.” He raised concerns over the high unemployment rate and lack of job opportunities.

“The NIB records show that 112,000 fewer persons have been contributing to NIB with their payments. So it tells you that people are no longer working because they cannot pay national insurance.

“You cannot fill the economy without jobs and we don’t expect job-creation but I want to warn the country that I don’t think he (Imbert) will speak anything about creating jobs. He may speak about taking away jobs and closing down sectors.”

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Parlamentario Alvin Molina (MEP):

ORANJESTAD (AAN): Siman pasa a topa cu sra. Noemi Maduro kende ta presidi e Plataforma “Veiligheid in de Kinderopvang”.

            E comision a wordo forma despues di e incidente lamentabel di baby Noah. E meta ta pa trece profesionalnan hunto den e plataforma multi disciplinario pa brinda conscientisacion y prevencion den e centronan di cuido di mucha, pa baby di seis siman pa diesdos luna. Recien e plataforma a lansa e campaña ‘HUNTO NOS POR’ cu un poster y buki di conscientisacion cu a traha riba mas siguridad pa babynan. 

            E buki y poster cu e 10 pasonan di prevencion a wordo comparti cu tur centro di cuido di mucha pa asina garantisa siguridad pa nos muchanan. E Plataforma ta consisti di un colaboracion di diferente stakeholders: Directie Volksgezondheid/Jeugdgezondheidszorg, Stichting Wit Gele Kruis, Fundacion Pa Nos Muchanan, Stichting Rode Kruis, Ambulance y Departamento di Mucha y Hoben.

            Trahando hunto cu un solo meta comun nos por logra cosnan grandi. Den luna di october Parlamento di Aruba lo haya presentacion di e bunita y importante iniciativa aki.

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Rihanna will take center stage at February’s Super Bowl halftime show.

The singer, who declined to perform in the 2019 Super Bowl halftime show out of solidarity with Colin Kaepernick, will headline the 2023 Super Bowl, the NFL announced Sunday along with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation and Apple Music.

Rihanna posted an image on Instagram of an arm outstretched holding an NFL football.

“Rihanna is a generational talent, a woman of humble beginnings who has surpassed expectations at every turn,” said Jay-Z, whose Roc Nation is an executive producer of the show, in a statement.

“A person born on the small island of Barbados who became one of the most prominent artists ever. Self-made in business and entertainment.”

The Super Bowl will take place at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on February 12. After years of Pepsi’s sponsorship, the upcoming halftime show will be sponsored by Apple Music.

Rihanna earlier said she turned down a similar opportunity for the 2019 Super Bowl that was ultimately headlined by Maroon 5. At the time, many artists voiced support for Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback who protested police brutality against Black people and minorities by kneeling during the national anthem in 2016.

“I couldn’t dare do that. For what?” Rihanna told Vogue in 2019. “Who gains from that? Not my people. I just couldn’t be a sellout. I couldn’t be an enabler. There’s things within that organiastion that I do not agree with at all, and I was not about to go and be of service to them in any way,” she said of the league.

Kaepernick accused the NFL of colluding to keep him out of the league in a case that was eventually settled in early 2019.

In 2019, the NFL partnered with Roc Nation (which manages Rihanna) to help pick performers for the Super Bowl and strategize on the halftime show. The widely acclaimed 2022 halftime show featured Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar and Mary J. Blige.

With sales of more than 250 million records worldwide, Rihanna ranks as one of the best-selling female artists ever. Her last album was 2016’s “Anti.”

Rihanna last performed publicly at the Grammy Awards in 2018.

In the years since Rihanna has occasionally teased her music return.

Earlier this year, she had her first child with the rapper ASAP Rocky.

By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer

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Guyana Amazon Warriors completed the perfect set of home victories in the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) with a comprehensive defeat of the table-topping Barbados Royals.

The victory means the two teams will do it all again on Tuesday in the first qualifier.

The Amazon Warriors won the toss and opted to field first, and that proved to be an inspired decision. On a fresh surface their seamers wreaked havoc taking three wickets inside the PowerPlay to leave the Royals in disarray.

Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals and the 125 the Royals mustered was never likely to be enough on a track that offered good value for positive stroke play.

The Royals were able to take two early wickets of their own when they had their turn to bowl restricting the Amazon Warriors to 18/2 but that was as good as it got.

Shakib Al-Hasan produced a scintillating half century to put the Amazon Warriors on the cusp of victory and the remaining batters saw the chase home to win the game inside 15 overs.

Earlier Guyana Amazon Warriors had utilised the movement on offer to unleash their cadre of seamers on the Royals. Romario Shepherd, Keemo Paul and Odean Smith all weighed in with wickets to leave the Royals 97/9 and it was only late cameos from Ramon Simmonds and Mujeeb Ur Rahman that enabled the Royals to post 125.

Although the Amazon Warriors lost Chandrapaul Hemraj and Shai Hope in the PowerPlay, Shakib played an enterprising innings to take the drama out of the chase. His knock of 53 came off 30 balls and laid the foundation for the Amazon Warriors to win with five over to spare.

The two sides will now do battle again in the first qualifier on Tuesday to determine who will earn the right to go straight to the Hero CPL final.

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