Black Immigrant Daily News

The United States ended their World Cup tuneup matches in unimpressive fashion, playing a 0-0 draw against Saudi Arabia on Tuesday night at Murcia, Spain, that saw oft-injured Gio Reyna come off in the 30th minute because of muscle tightness.

Christian Pulisic returned to the depleted U.S. lineup after missing Friday’s 2-0 loss to No. 24 Japan with an unspecified injury, among four changes by coach Gregg Berhalter.

Ricardo Pepi, inserted at forward in a final audition for the 26-man World Cup roster, had a team-low 13 touches and no shots against the 53rd-ranked Saudis before Jes?s Ferreira replaced him in the 59th minute.

The 14th-ranked Americans were slightly more threatening than Friday, managing two shots on target after getting none against the Japanese. The two results augur poorly for their return to the World Cup and will do little to quiet criticism of Berhalter, who left Jordan Pefok, John Brooks and Tim Ream off this roster.

After missing the 2018 tournament, the U.S. have rebuilt with among the world’s youngest rosters in 56 matches under Berhalter. The Americans open against No. 19 Wales on Nov. 21, face fifth-ranked England on Black Friday and play No. 22 Iran on Nov. 29 in the toughest of the eight groups by ranking.

The U.S. were without Tim Weah, Yunus Musah, Chris Richards, Antonee Robinson and Zack Steffen due to injuries, and Miles Robinson will miss the World Cup because of a torn Achilles tendon. Because the Cup has been jammed into the middle of the European season by FIFA to avoid Qatar’s summer heat, players have club matches through Nov. 13 and more injuries are possible.

Berhalter plans to announce his 26-man roster on Nov. 9.

Reyna, the 19-year-old son of former U.S. captain Claudio Reyna, is a constant injury concern. His 2021-22 season was wrecked by leg ailments and Borussia Dortmund have limited his playing time this season to 247 minutes.

DeAndre Yedlin started at right back, Sergi?o Dest moved to the left, Kellyn Acosta replaced Luca de la Torre in midfield and Pulisic took over from Brenden Aaronson.

Yedlin limped off in the 59th minute after Saud Abdulhamid’s lunging tackle and was replaced by Joe Scally.

Pulisic and Weston McKennie played until the 75th, when Aaronson entered in central midfield and Malik Tillman took over a flank.

Estadio Nueva Condomina, with a capacity of about 31,000, was mostly empty and teammates could be heard shouting instructions. A spectator ran onto the field during the first half and approached Dest before being stopped by security.

Wearing its new blue tie-dye style uniforms, the U.S. were tested just 24 seconds in. Matt Turner dived to his left to save a long-range shot by Sultan Al-Ghannam. Turner made a fine block on Haitham Asiri’s point-blank shot in the 70th minute after second-half sub Mark McKenzie was stripped of the ball.

Saudi Arabia are in a World Cup group with No. 3 Argentina, 26th-ranked Poland and No. 12 Mexico.

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OWTU president Ancel Roget.

JOINT Trade Union Movement (JTUM) president Ancel Roget has said the labour movement remains convinced that the four per cent wage increase Government is offering public-sector workers will not help them to cope with the economic challenges they face.

Addressing a virtual post-budget panel discussion on Tuesday, Roget said the labour movement felt vindicated in rejecting this offer, after the presentation of the 2022/2023 budget in Parliament on Monday

“We are firm in our conviction that the four per cent, which was already woefully inadequate, is woefully ten times, 100 times more inadequate after the reading of the budget.”

Roget said measures such as increased fuel prices and increased fares on the domestic air- and seabridges, will negatively affect most people. He included public-sector workers in that category, even if they accepted the four per cent increase.

“We are vindicated in our stance to ensure that better can be done and to ensure that workers in this country get a better wage adjustment.”

In hs budget presentation on Monday, Finance Minister Colm Imbert said, “We are firm in our view that our current offer of four per cent over the period 2014-2019 for the mainstream public service, although it will be a challenge to raise the required funds, is practical and equitable.”

He added , “One trade union has already accepted our offer and we hope that others will soon follow suit.”

The Amalgamated Workers Union accepted the offer on August 29.

At a news conference at the Red House after the presentation, the Prime Minister supported Imbert.

“I don’t have any problem with people advocating for the best for them, but at the end of the day there has to be reason.”

During the virtual panel discussion, economist Dr Keston Perry said Government was not using the opportunity created by the covid19 pandemic to strengthen and diversify the economy.

He argued Government was following a strategy used by its predecessors of just transferring wealth to a selected few interests which support it.

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Hurricane Ian has been churning across Cuba as a category three storm with wind speeds of up to 205km/h (125mph).

Hundreds of thousands of residents in the west of the island were left without power because of storm damage.

Forecasters have warned of the risk of storm surges, flash floods and mudslides.

Ian is expected to strengthen en route to Florida. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis spoke of the threat of a “major disaster”.

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As of 12:00 GMT on Tuesday, the centre of the storm was located about 15km (10 miles) north-east of the city of Pinar del Rio in Cuba, moving north at nearly 19km/h, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) reports.

It said Cuba could see up to 30cm (12in) of rain from Hurricane Ian. Some 38,000 people were evacuated in the province of Pinar del Rio, according to AFP news agency.

Cuban authorities declared emergencies in six areas, with forecasters warning of storm surges on the coast, along with flash floods and mudslides.Hurricane conditions are expected along the west coast of Florida on Wednesday.

The governor said there could be “broad impacts throughout the state”, while residents have been stocking up on food, water, medicine and fuel.

“This is a really big hurricane at this point,” he said at a Monday news conference, urging residents to “remain calm”, but “do what you need to be prepared”.

Some parts of the US state have not seen a hurricane of this magnitude in about a century.

The governor declared a state of emergency for all of Florida over the weekend and has activated 5,000 National Guard troops to assist with relief efforts.

SOURCE: BBC News. Headline photo: Stock image

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La portavoz de los residentes del condominio Reinassance Square en Hato Rey, Mirta Colón, denunció en RADIO ISLA, que la administración del edificio le brinda tiempo reducido  a los condomines, que en su mayoría son personas de la tercera edad, para cargar sus equipos médicos.

“Aquí hay 40 personas de la tercera edad. De esas cuarenta personas, hay once que con condiciones crónicas, que necesitan equipos para preservar sus vidas”, dijo Colón.

“El viernes pasado nos llegó una comunicación que nos indicaba, que el Centro Comunitario donde nosotros íbamos a cargar nuestros equipos, que el lunes continuaba sin energía eléctrica en el área. Aunque el problema del diesel, ellos iban a dejar de 7 a 9 de la mañana y de 3 a 5 de la tarde , para cargar los equipos. Si  no era suficiente y no cumplía con las espectativas nuestras, pues nos fuéramos a un hospital o al un refugio”, culminó la portavoz.

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TTMA president Tricia Coosal.

TT Manufacturers’ Association (TTMA) head Tricia Coosal hailed the budget for boosting local businesses by assisting their ease of doing business, but urged a continuation of VAT refunds.

The TTMA issued a statement on Tuesday on Finance Minister Colm Imbert’s presentation in the House of Representatives on Monday.

She hailed the Government’s partnership and dialogue with the private sector to stabilise and grow the economy after the impact of covid19 and the Ukraine war, as shown by news of real GDP growth of two per cent and non-energy-sector growth of two per cent.

“The importance of ensuring the ease of doing business was once again stressed by the minister via the pledge of digitisation though the strengthening of the single electronic window and implementation of the electronic fund transfer framework to allow businesses to make payments to the government by the business community.” She welcomed these initiatives.

Coosal added, “TTMA has advocated for a more efficient tax-collecting mechanism, stressing the importance of widening the tax net as opposed to further burdening the already compliant population of the country.”

So the TTMA looked forward to the TT Revenue Authority starting its work in 2023 and anticipated that this would bring greater efficiency in tax collection.

Coosal looked forward to Phase 3 of the state-of-the-art industrial park at Phoenix Park, which could bring many synergies to the TTMA’s annual Trade and Investment Convention.

She declared, “The Government’s initiative to further the operationalisation of the manufacturing apprenticeship programme and the export booster initiative as well as increasing the allotment of the foreign exchange facility at Exim Bank are pleasing deliverables.

“The Government continues to signal the trust it places in the manufacturing sector to continue within a framework or public-private partnership to lead the charge on diversification of the economy, as evident by the 17 per cent increase in exports.”

She keenly anticipated details of the Exim facility, which has greatly helped exports in the TTMA.

TTMA supported Caricom’s goal to cut the region’s food-import bill by 25 per cent by 2025, including a $300 million allocation to agricultural incentives and infrastructure.

“Additionally, the rebate of $25,000.00 for the implementation of renewable wind and solar energy in agriculture will support the further development of this sector.”

She welcomed the $500 million in government support for long-term guarantee schemes for SMEs, guaranteeing 80 per cent of loans for up to ten years. This guarantee, plus a rise in ExporTT’s maximum grant fund facility from $250,000 to $340,000, will boost SMEs’ competitiveness and their contribution to the exports of the non-energy sector.

Noting the Government’s $4 billion in VAT payments in 2022, she said, “The association hopes the disbursement of VAT refund continues rapidly in the coming fiscal year, since the SME sector specifically suffers significantly from cash flow when payments are outstanding. As a result, TTMA looks forward to a continued rollout for its members, in a timely manner, for fiscal 2022-2023.”

Imbert was due to participate in the TTMA’s post-budget event on Tuesday at the Hyatt Regency, Port of Spain.

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