…at the Diplomatic Centre in St Ann’s
By Anna Ramdass
January 14, 2011 – trinidadexpress.com
The grand piano has been found —in the very place it was alleged to have been missing from. National Security adviser to the Prime Minister, Gary Griffith, told the Express by phone yesterday that the piano was found after checks of the Diplomatic Centre in St Ann’s.
Continue reading PIANO FOUND!
By Raffique Shah
January 02, 2011
BARRING being victims of unpredictable natural disasters or another global economic “meltdown”, Trinidad and Tobago seems set to enjoy an encouraging 2011. There will be no boom similar to what we wallowed in from 2005 to 2007. The crime rate will not drop precipitously because of a change of heart among heartless criminals (surely an oxymoron), or a significant improvement in the policing and justice systems. Poverty will not disappear. The nation’s roads won’t be transformed into highways to heaven.
Continue reading A year pregnant with possibilities
By Raffique Shah
December 11, 2010
THE closest I ever got to a football World Cup finals was in London in 1966. No, I was not in Wembley Stadium where England beat West Germany 4-2 in a match that was mired in controversy. My friend, the late Joey Baksh, and I, watched the match on television from a flat near Brixton. That was so close to Wembley, yet beyond the reach of students who could not afford tickets.
Continue reading Warner a one-man wrecking machine
By Raffique Shah
December 05, 2010
“Virtually all countries of the world…have secret CIA tracking stations.”
—Intelligence expert and author Alexander Kolpakidi (Daily Mail, November 15, 2010).
THE scandal—allegations that US agents spied in (and on) sovereign states, allies like Norway, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Iceland—broke around the same time the SIA mess hit the fan here in Trinidad and Tobago. American agents conducted surveillance activities against “suspected terrorists” on foreign soil. They did not inform the host countries of what they were doing, which included monitoring, photographing and filming people around their embassies and others taking part in protest rallies.
Continue reading Big Sister is watching you
By Heru
December 04, 2010
ADDENDUM: December 07, 2010
The English Football Association and other commentators who are fuming because England was not successful in their bid to host the World Cup in 2018 have exposed the extent of Britain’s corruption all the way to Buckingham Palace.
Continue reading Sore Losers After Failed World Cup Bid
By Raffique Shah
November 20, 2010
As I write this column, Government is before Parliament presenting the Interception of Communications bill, which it expects to pass in a marathon sitting. Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said she hoped to get support from the opposition PNM, which I feel certain she will.
Continue reading I spy, with my electronic eye…
Sandy Hits ‘Manic Man’
MINISTER of National Security Brigadier John Sandy yesterday tore into former prime minister Patrick Manning as a “manic man” with “a sick mind” for the wiretapping of persons in public life by a secret spy unit that reported to Manning.
Manning comes out fighting (link fixed)
…says ‘spy’ bill will undermine national security
Continue reading Manning comes out fighting
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
November 16, 2010
I did not vote for the People’s National Movement (PNM) during the last national election. Like so many, I became so disenchanted with the positions and attitudes of the former Prime Minister that I could not, in good faith, support the party which I always supported and of which I am a member. I did not vote for the People’s Partnership (PP) either. Theirs was merely a throwing together of disparate elements whose only objective was to remove the PNM. They had no plans for the country, except for a provision of computers for our students and a promised old-age pension of $3,000 which they repudiated the first day they walked into office. They informed an eager population that it really was not a promise: it was a misprint.
Continue reading Setting a Proper Example
By Corey Connelly
October 10 2010 – newsday.co.tt
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar last evening signalled her Government’s intention to review the $47 million public contract awarded to a Central company for lighting projects at the Piarco International Airport.
Continue reading PM orders review of $47M airports contract
By Sampson Nanton
September 24, 2010
British 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.
Continue reading Chaguaramas named in $830m drug bust off Spain