Category Archives: International

Chaguaramas named in $830m drug bust off Spain

By Sampson Nanton
September 24, 2010

CocaineBritish and Spanish police are investigating why 1.5 tonnes of cocaine, worth close to $1 billion, left Chaguaramas earlier this month aboard a yacht headed for Spain. The yacht was traced across the Atlantic Ocean by satellite after it left Trinidad until Spanish Police intercepted it on Monday. The drug haul showed similar signs to one of the biggest drug cases in Ireland two years ago, which also had strong links to T&T. The La Flibuste yacht, a UK-flagged vessel, was moored at Chaguaramas earlier this month before leaving with the cargo of 1.5 tonnes of cocaine hidden in a false roof of two of the cabins.
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Talking From Both Sides of Her Mouth

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
September 23, 2010

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeA few days ago the Honorary Prime Minister, Kamla Persad Bissessar addressed the United Nations General Assembly. Among other things she recognized that “the passport out of poverty is through education, community empowerment and social entrepreneurship.” She also acknoweldged that 16.7 percent of our people still live below the poverty line; 11.7 per cent are considered working poor whereas 9 per cent are deemed vulnerable. The goal, she says, is to reduce poverty by 2 per cent per year.
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Corrupting the Minds of the Young

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
September 08, 2010

Jack WarnerI was in Italy when the scandal about the cheating of the Pakistani cricketers broke. When I got back to England last Monday, it was the only thing one read about in the English newspaper; the major story one heard on television. One would have thought that the Pakistanis had violated English honor and brought the gentleman’s game into absolute disrepute. It was not so much that the Parkistanis had cheated on the outcome of the game. They were accused on cheating of discrete aspects of the game such as bowling one or two deliberate no-balls which we are told resulted in the loss or gain of hundreds to thousand of dollars to criminal elements.
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Our Strength is Our Diversity

By Derren Joseph
September 01, 2010

TrinidadiansThere was a most interesting YouGov poll conducted a couple weeks ago on the website for the Economist magazine – one of my favorite publications. One of the questions asked – Whether or not you think the Islamic cultural centre and mosque should be built near the World Trade Center site, do you think that Muslims have a constitutional right to build a mosque there? Interestingly, 53.2% of Republican respondents, 24.9% of Democrat respondents and 25.2% of Independents disagreed – they actually believed that Muslims did not have a constitutional right to build a mosque on what is actually private property. Although these polls may not meet the test for being statistically reliable, I would argue that they are quite insightful.
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The Sun Also Rises

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
August 18, 2010

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-BissessarWhen Kamla Persad Bissessar took her oath of office she swore on the Bhagavad Gita, one of the holiest scripts of the Hindus. As a Yoruba man, I am not as acquainted with the Gita as I should but true to my bifurcated beginning I was taught something about the Holy Bible. I like the King James Version of the Bible and receive great spiritual sustenance there from.
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“Moral” Police, Allyuh Eh Have Nothing To Do?

Trinidad and Tobago's Latoya Woods
Trinidad and Tobago's Latoya Woods poses topless for an official photo shoot for the Miss Universe pageant in Las Vegas
By Corey Gilkes
August 15, 2010

Ok, so I see now it have bacchanal brewing over the Miss TnT/Universe delegate and some picture she take in which she topless. And some people all up in arms over it.
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Emancipation Celebration?

EmancipationTHE EDITOR: After four hundred years of shackle slavery, and the worst kind of atrocities ever inflicted on any race of people bar none, all because of their melanin and without any apology and compensation, and therapy for Post Traumatic Slavery Syndrome, I am totally puzzled and confused with the reason for the celebration of Emancipation.
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Anil Roberts and US Embassy Visa Denials

Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs Anil Roberts at the Emancipation Celebrations in Port of Spain
Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs Anil Roberts at the Emancipation Celebrations in Port of Spain
Unnecessary row

Express Editorial – August 7, 2010

THE fresh row that has broken out between representatives of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago and the American Embassy in Port of Spain over the issuance of US visas entered a decidedly nasty phase last week.
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Emancipation: When Freedom Come

Head of the Emancipation Support Committee Kafra Kambon, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Minister of Arts and Multiculturalism Winston Peters
Head of the Emancipation Support Committee Kafra Kambon, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Minister of Arts and Multiculturalism Winston Peters
Emancipation Day Celebrations 2010 in pictures

Kamla: Emancipation about struggle, triumph
PRIME MINISTER Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday urged the nation to not only see Emancipation Day as merely a public holiday but rather to reflect on the struggles of the ancestors of Afro-Trinbagonians who rose up from the chattel of slavery to take their rightful place in a free society.
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Emancipation 2010: ‘Ganges and the Nile’?

EmancipationTHE EDITOR: Possible points of confluence, and of departure between the ‘Ganges and the Nile’?

As Emancipation, T&T ’10 approaches, and considering possible choices for ongoing nationhood, three prescient thinkers, one in each of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, are worth citing. One is William Faulkner, the Nobel prize-winning American author; the other, George Santayana, the 19th century Spanish philosopher; and T&T’s David Rudder.
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