PRESS RELEASE
The Government is pleased to announce that the court action brought by the operators of Airone Limited, trading as REDjet, commercial air services, against the Civil Aviation Authority of Trinidad and Tobago and Mr. Amral Mohammed, in his capacity as Chairman of the Air Transport Licensing Authority of Trinidad and Tobago has been settled on terms which are mutually acceptable to all parties.
Continue reading Government Approves REDjet to Fly
By Raffique Shah
July 17, 2011
“‘Tis strange—but true; for truth is always strange;
Stranger than fiction; if it could be told,
How much would novels gain by the exchange!
How differently the world would men behold!”
(Lord Byron, Don Juan, 1823)
IN Frederick Forsyth’s 2010 novel, Cobra, the central character, Paul Devereaux, a former CIA agent, is tasked by his President (mucho resemblance to Barack Obama) to put an end to the cocaine menace that is strangling America. Devereaux demands, and is given, $2 billion plus a carte blanche instrument of authority to launch his war on the Colombian Cartel and its global tentacles. He hires as his operations officer a former foe, Calvin Dexter, and within one year they put together a powerful machine of personnel and equipment that attacks Don Diego and his overlords with extreme prejudice, as such exercises are described.
Continue reading Wage war to win peace
July 16, 2011
IN TRIBUTE
Rose Janneire
The National Association for the Empowerment of African People (NAEAP) joins the nation in recognizing the many services Ms. Janneire rendered to the nation. Ms. Janneire joined NAEAP in 2000, two years after it was founded, and worked arduously with the organization to transform the landscape of African people in this country. She served as a trustee in the organization and for many years controlled the finances of the organization.
Continue reading NAEAP’s Condolences for Rose Janneire
July 14, 2011
Dr. Tim Gopesingh, Minister
Ministry of Education,
Port of Spain
Trinidad
Dear Dr. Gopeesingh:
I am sure that you were pleased as I was to learn that 14 students from one class in the Chaguanas Government School placed among the top one hundred students in the recent SEA Examination. Initially, my instinct was to accept the result and to applaud the exemplary teaching that takes place in that school; that is, until allegations of cheating were brought to my attention. Although I wanted to disregard this unfortunate conclusion, my desire for fairness led me to contact a statistician from William Patterson University in New Jersey, USA, and a mathematician from Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, to determine the statistical possibility of such a result occurring.
Continue reading Letter to Minister of Education on SEA Results
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
July 13, 2011
“How come one school could get 14 passes in the top one hundred places of the SEA,” asked the irate caller on the phone, and drew her own conclusion: “Dey had to tief.”
After she calmed down she explained her anxiety. She was referring to the fact that 14 students from Chaguanas Government School placed among the top one hundred students at the recent SEA examination. To her mind, that was impossible.
Continue reading Probe SEA Results
Why do I go on and on about tourism? The answer is that in the Caribbean, tourism is everything. It is the biggest generator of income and the biggest employer. Even oil-rich Trinidad has energy, manufacturing and service sectors that are heavily dependent on regional markets. These regional markets would collapse without tourism. Ask any Trini that travels regionally about how grocery shelves up and down the Caribbean are stocked with Trini brands. Our island neighbours buy smoothies and enjoy free Internet access at Rituals. Our island neighbours often bank at Republic Bank or get insurance from known Trini insurance companies. To understand tourism trends, is to understand the ups and downs of our regional economy. Our region is one inextricably linked market–despite what politicians say.
Continue reading Need for Transparency in Tourism
By Anika Gumbs-Sandiford
July 10, 2011 – guardian.co.tt
The overwhelming popularity of Works and Transport Minister Jack Warner has a part to play in him being cut down to size in the recent Cabinet reshuffle. A plan, Sunday Guardian understands, was hatched to frustrate Warner out of the Kamla Persad-Bissessar led People’s Partnership (PP) Government, mere weeks after her resigned as vice president of FIFA. There had been rumours circulating more than six months ago that the PM had plans to split Warner’s ministry. Warner however, was unaware of this.
Continue reading Warner gets shaft from PM Cabinet
By Raffique Shah
July 09, 2011
THE disaster that engulfed the Chaguaramas Peninsula last Sunday was a classic but toxic mix of skilfully marketed foreign “bull” and unmitigated local “dotishness”. That thousands of Trinidadians would knowingly subject themselves to torture, just to see other equally stupid Trinis “pilot” some crude “craft” that plunges into the sea in seconds, speaks volumes about our collective stupidity.
Continue reading Toxic mix of ‘bull’ and ‘dotishness’
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
July 06, 2011
I have had mixed feelings about Jack’s fall from grace. I have not been able to garner the venom that some have displayed toward him nor the delight others have taken in his departure from FIFA. I am yet to see how Jack’s actions have so maligned Trinidad and Tobago that I have to hang my head in shame when I am in the outside world. Few Americans hang their heads in shame in light of Madoff’s shenanigans.
Continue reading For the Love of Jack
By Derren Joseph
July 05, 2011
Within the last year, much has been happening in the airline industry. Of specific interest is the decision by one of the world’s largest airlines to take legal action against two of the three largest content distributors. Content distributors, better known as Global Distribution Systems (or GDS) take fares from the airlines to the travel agents (both online and offline players) so that they can be offered for sale to customers like you and I. Specifically, American Airlines (AA) has decided to file a civil antitrust suit against two of the three big GDS’ to stop what AA describes as “exclusionary, anti-consumer and anti-competitive business practices” of the named GDS’s. What does this have to do with us in the Caribbean one may reasonably ask? On the surface, I see three key changes coming if AA has its way and withdraws some of its fares from these GDS’.
Continue reading The Rise of Airline Web Sites