Bogus tourism award

By Raffique Shah
October 23, 2011

Raffique ShahI WAS not surprised that Tourism Minister Rupert Griffith was all excited over Trinidad and Tobago “winning” a “best destination 2012” award from a Romania-based organisation that seems to be as genuine as a three-dollar bill. Griffith does not strike me as being a particularly bright person, his doctorate notwithstanding.
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The Son of Africa Claims a Continent’s Crown Jewels

By John Pilger
October 20, 2011 – johnpilger.com

Barack ObamaOn 14 October, President Barack Obama announced he was sending United States special forces troops to Uganda to join the civil war there. In the next few months, US combat troops will be sent to South Sudan, Congo and Central African Republic. They will only “engage” for “self-defence”, says Obama, satirically. With Libya secured, an American invasion of the African continent is under way.
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Moving Backward Into Slavery

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
October 19, 2011

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeAddressing the 15th Divali Celebration organized by the United National Congress Siparia Women’s Association last Friday, the Hon. Prime Minister offered the following remarks to her followers: “I thank you for your support, for your prayers and the adjustments you have made to your lifestyles during this period of the State of Emergency [SOE].”
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PNM SCANDALS

Budget presentation in Parliament at the Waterfront Complex, Port of Spain - October 10, 2011
Budget presentation in Parliament at the Waterfront Complex, Port of Spain - October 10, 2011

By Clint Chan Tack
October 18 2011 – newsday.co.tt

PRIME MINISTER Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday dropped several bombshells in the House of Representatives, exposing what she described as major corruption scandals which took place under the former People’s National Movement (PNM) government.
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Jack Warner responds to London Telegraph video

LEFT: Former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner, FIFA president Sepp Blatter and former FIFA president João Havelange at the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation's Centennial Dinner held at the Dr. Joao Havelange Centre of Excellence, Macaya on September 05, 2008
LEFT: Former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner, FIFA president Sepp Blatter and former FIFA president João Havelange at the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation's Centennial Dinner held at the Dr. Joao Havelange Centre of Excellence, Macaya on September 05, 2008

Jack Warner responds to London Telegraph video: Ingratitude worse than witchcraft

October 18, 2011
guardian.co.tt

Former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner has responded to the video recording of his CFU meeting in Port-of-Spain which was highlighted in the London Telegraph last Thursday. In the following letter which was sent to the Guardian, Warner points out that the recording fell flat despite the pressures of foreign interpretation and the anti-Jack Warner sentiments. Warner also gives an insight as to what can be expected when he reveals his tsunami against FIFA ‘in the fullness of time.’
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Unlimited Liability

By Raffique Shah
October 15, 2011

Raffique ShahNOT surprisingly, Jack Warner is back in the international news—for all the wrong reasons. When he resigned as one of the most powerful men in FIFA earlier this year, Warner probably thought he had buried his past in the murky waters of Lake Zurich.

But that was not to be. FIFA is not the kind of “brotherhood” from which principal players simply walk away. If or when they do, they are expected to maintain “omerta”, the ancient Sicilian code of silence that FIFA has cleverly combined with the Swiss code of banking secrecy.
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PNM, COP on Jack video: PM must address issue now

By Gail Alexander
October 13, 2011 – guardian.co.tt

Jack WarnerThe Opposition People’s National Movement (PNM) and the Congress of the People (COP), a coalition partner in the People’s Partnership, have called on Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar to immediately act in the issue concerning taped statements by Works and Infrastructure Minister Jack Warner. PNM MP Amery Browne said Persad-Bissessar must immediately suspend Warner from the Cabinet and allow a police probe to proceed. COP chairman Joseph Toney, who said he was not at all comfortable with the situation pertaining to Warner, added that the Prime Minister must speak about the issue and the country must be told whether any laws were broken.
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Begging for Freedom

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
October 11, 2011

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeMany of us do not understand that freedom is not something one asks for. It is something that one demands; a state of being that is renewed perpetually through our actions. Imagine the spectacle of the biggest unions in the country and the opposition party begging for permission to march rather than demanding that their constitutionally-guaranteed right to assembly and petition their government be honored which, incidentally, is the basis of democratic government.
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Budget for fiscal year 2011-2012

Budget presentation in Parliament at the Waterfront Complex

Budget Statement 2012
Finance Minister Winston Dookeran presented the National Budget for the fiscal year 2011-2012, in Parliament, at the Waterfront Complex, in Port of Spain, this afternoon. Below is the full text of the budget speech:
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Question of Apology for Slavery and Reparations: Updated

By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
October 09, 2011

Dr. Kwame NantambuApology for Slavery

In April 2006, the Church of England voted “to apologize to the descendants of victims of the slave trade” and in March 2007, considered paying reparations.
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