PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - Any forecast the Chaguanas West by-election campaign outcome will show both the People’s Partnership and the spin-off Independent Liberal Party (ILP) to have been brought low in the course of the exercise. Former MP Jack Warner was moved to renew the unsurpassed electoral mandate received in May 2010. The by-election, triggered by his resignation, was meant to test his continuing political and electoral strength in the constituency.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC - Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar Monday night called for an investigation into her former national security minister Austin “Jack” Warner after a newspaper reported that he had solicited millions of dollars from businesses using his ministerial office.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – The editor in chief at the Trinidad Guardian, Judy Raymond, Monday defended her decision to remain at the newspaper amidst conflicting reports that the impasse involving management and journalists had been resolved. Raymond, in a lengthy statement published in the paper, also announced her resignation as the vice president of the Media Association of Trinidad and Tobago (MATT), the second executive member to do so since the controversy sparked by reported government pressure on the board of directors to have Raymond “re-assigned”.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – The state-owned bank, First Citizens Bank (FCB) will launch its initial public offering (IPO) of more than 48 million ordinary shares on Monday in a move the bank says will be one of the largest single IPO offering in the history of the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange (TTSE). The 48, 495,665 ordinary shares are being sold at TT$22 (One TT dollar=US$0.16 cents) each and will be withdrawn from sale on August 9.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - Venezuela, now in international headlines as a likely asylum home for US espionage fugitive Edward Snowden, is also worthy of heightened attention in bilateral relations with Trinidad and Tobago. As he registered his presence in T&T during this month’s CARICOM talks, Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro followed a trail blazed by US Vice President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Though each of the three leaders identified and pursued specific national interests, it is the man next door, who will likely cast the longest-lasting shadow on T&T.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - Corruption: it’s the big story in the Caribbean. Only here? In one view, it’s a universal problem; we should pay up quietly, tolerate a world of overpriced contracts, runaway crime and substandard services. In another, it’s controllable. Sweden is cleaner than Serbia. Democracy allows aware voters to keep bad stuff in check. Transparency International last week released its Corruption Barometer survey, based this year on 114,000 interviews in 107 countries. That’s plenty data. There are obvious problems with an international survey.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - On yet another occasion, the mental brittleness of West Indian cricketers, the batsmen in particular, has been demonstrated as the major weakness in the team performing consistently at a high level. After winning (even though they tried desperately to lose their first game against India) their first two games in the tri-nation series with India and Sri Lanka the West Indian batsmen simply could not apply themselves to the not-too-difficult tasks set them by the two Asian teams.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said yesterday her government stands by press freedom and she was not aware of political interference of any kind which may have led employees of the Guardian newspaper resigning their jobs.
Persad-Bissessar expressed surprise when questioned by the Express on the issue during a walkabout at Munroe Road, Cunupia yesterday.
She said she was hearing the news of the resignations for the first time.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – The Media Association of Trinidad and Tobago (MATT) Wednesday said it is monitoring “with serious concern developments over the last 24 hours at the Trinidad Guardian newsroom that appears to be a major threat to press freedom”.
Journalists at the newspaper walked off their jobs amid reported government pressure on the board of directors to have Editor-in-Chief, Judy Raymond “re-assigned”.
Media reports said that the newspaper has been under government pressure following a string of damning reports on alleged government wrong-doing.
PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad, Wednesday, 2013 – Trinidad and Tobago has emerged as the top Caribbean country whose adult population is obese, according to a report released by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
The report found that Trinidad and Tobago is ranked sixth among all countries worldwide with 30 per cent of its adult population obese. Mexico with 32.8 per cent of its adult population obese topped the chart, knocking off the United States as the World’s Fattest Developed Nation.
The United States has a rate of 31.8 per cent. more: