All posts by News

Foreign Affairs Ministry Responsible for Diplomatic Fiasco

By Stephen Kangal, Caroni
November 12, 2009

Trinidad and Tobago News Blog
www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog

Paula Gopee-Scoon
Paula Gopee-Scoon
From documented evidence available to me I can state categorically that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is solely responsible for the diplomatic furore involving a Saudi Arabian diplomat, Fawaz Alshubaili and ACP Raymond Craig at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. There is no need for any inquiry in this matter.
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Once it’s taped, it might as well be out there

November 09, 2009
Trinidad and Tobago News Blog
www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog

Sex and RecordingsEDITOR: A collection of sex video clips involving a local celebrity is making the rounds on the internet. I am told that she is quite embarrassed about this exposure.

Personally, I do not have a problem with adults exhibiting themselves to other adults by choice. However, if they have a problem with such performances being made public, then why do they record them in the first place? And, if they do record them, why do they not secure them properly?
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What price, national pride?

By Raffique Shah
November 08, 2009
Trinidad and Tobago News Blog
www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog

SPORT Minister Gary Hunt is convinced that the $2 million national flag that flutters over the Hasely Crawford Stadium would instil national pride in the populace. From the flak he has been subjected to ever since the issue first surfaced-the cost, that is, not the flag-he must be wondering what sin he has committed. In time, he argues, people would come around to understanding why his ministry opted for a 2,000 square feet flag hoisted on a 150-foot pole.
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Williams went to obeah woman

By Sean Douglas
November 07, 2009 – newsday.co.tt

Dr Eric WilliamsHistorian Prof Selwyn Ryan said that on balance former prime minister, the late Dr Eric Williams, was a positive force for Trinidad and Tobago but had done negative acts which affect the country to this very day.

Ryan gave a talk on Williams as part of the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) research fellow series of lectures on Thursday at the National Library, Port-of-Spain.
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Can PM Manning Ever Get Anything Right?

By Stephen Kangal
November 05, 2009
www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog

TT CricketersWhen the ethnicity agenda gets in the way of PM Manning’s modus operandi, which is the rule, he is doomed to make faux pas after faux pas. He becomes a stranger to the stark multicultural reality that surrounds him. His groping in the dark Caucasian Minister of Sports is caught in the horns of an ethnicity dilemma. He dismisses the outstanding T&T Cricket Team as not winning anything in India. At the airport he merely “notes” the performance. He is a stoic only where cricket is concerned. This is tragic and blatant irrationality.
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Are the Chinese racist?

By Tim Collard
November 2nd, 2009 – telegraph.co.uk

Trinidad and Tobago News Blog
www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog

Lou Jing
Lou Jing
Yesterday The Observer reported an alarming row over a TV talent contest in Shanghai. One of the leading contestants, a 20-year-old girl named Lou Jing (pronounced Low not Loo), has attracted enormous opprobrium from all over the country. Some of the comments in the Chinese blogosphere are almost unbelievable. Sounds familiar, you might think. But the only allegation levelled at her is that she has dared to appear on television while being of mixed race, her father being a black African who was not married to her mother.
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Shoring up time?

Newsday Editorial
November 03, 2009 – newsday.co.tt

Patrick Manning and Basdeo PandayWhat is the real agenda for the sudden meeting between Prime Minister Patrick Manning and embattled Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday?

According to the official line, Manning has invited Panday to the Diplomatic Centre in St Ann’s to discuss “national issues — crime and the constitution.” Basdeo Panday has jumped at the invitation, saying “It is my duty to respond…”
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Security sector stinks

By Raffique Shah
November 01, 2009
www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog

MI5 security companyLast Sunday’s arms heist at the inappropriately-named “MI5” security company’s premises was a disaster waiting to happen. The saving grace, if there was any, is that the bandits did not kill the lone female security guard and proceed on a gun-rampage through town. There are some very serious lessons to be learnt from this incident. But given our attitude towards matters that have implications for personal and national security, I don’t hold much hope that we’ll see the requisite changes.
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