- http://www.guardian.co.tt/neo/NeoProxy.dll?app=NeoDirect&com=6/21/7be46ddd02 Tue, 08 Sep 2026 21:17:55 -0400 The ar­rest of a 15-year-old To­ba­go school­boy on a pos­si­ble cap­i­tal charge over the week­end has left Ed­u­ca­tion Sec­re­tary Or­lan­do Kerr con­cerned and res­i­dents of the Ply­mouth com­mu­ni­ty wor­ried about the teenag­er’s fu­ture. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/tobago-schoolboy-held-for-killing-6.2.2662601.a6dae6c50d http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/tobago-schoolboy-held-for-killing-6.2.2662601.a6dae6c50d All schools in To­ba­go were opened for the new aca­d­e­m­ic year yes­ter­day, de­spite mi­nor re­pairs still to take place at some of them. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/tobago-schools-reopen-despite-unfinished-repairs-6.2.2662579.b236b1c98f http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/tobago-schools-reopen-despite-unfinished-repairs-6.2.2662579.b236b1c98f Par­ents of stu­dents at­tend­ing Gloster Lodge Mora­vian Pri­ma­ry School in Bel­mont were called to col­lect their chil­dren around mid­day yes­ter­day, af­ter school of­fi­cials raised con­cerns about the con­di­tion of sev­er­al class­rooms on the com­pound. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/safety-issues-force-early-end-at-gloster-lodge-primary-6.2.2662585.4fdcf5dc14 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/safety-issues-force-early-end-at-gloster-lodge-primary-6.2.2662585.4fdcf5dc14 Op­po­si­tion Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) lead­er­ship of­fi­cials have de­nied that San Fer­nan­do East MP Bri­an Man­ning was “bul­lied” at last Fri­day’s vir­tu­al Gen­er­al Coun­cil meet­ing and that his mi­cro­phone alone was mut­ed. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/pnm-executives-everyones-mic-was-muted-not-just-mannings-6.2.2662563.f7a20b35cb http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/pnm-executives-everyones-mic-was-muted-not-just-mannings-6.2.2662563.f7a20b35cb San Fer­nan­do East MP Bri­an Man­ning is chal­leng­ing the con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of the Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) process for de­ter­min­ing the par­ty groups el­i­gi­ble to par­tic­i­pate in in­ter­nal elec­tions, warn­ing that the list of 30 par­ty groups de­clared for the con­stituen­cy is not a valid roll and that any ex­ec­u­tive elect­ed on it would be open to chal­lenge. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/manning-challenges-constitutionality-of-pnm-party-group-roll-6.2.2662565.48957c0e18 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/manning-challenges-constitutionality-of-pnm-party-group-roll-6.2.2662565.48957c0e18 For­mer Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) sen­a­tor and Pub­lic Re­la­tions Of­fi­cer (PRO) Ronald Hug­gins has been ap­point­ed man­ag­ing di­rec­tor of the Hous­ing De­vel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion (HDC), with the Gov­ern­ment dis­miss­ing con­cerns about his pre­vi­ous po­lit­i­cal af­fil­i­a­tion and in­sist­ing his abil­i­ty to de­liv­er is what mat­ters. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/former-pnm-senator-huggins-appointed-hdc-managing-director-6.2.2662567.a24192370b http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/former-pnm-senator-huggins-appointed-hdc-managing-director-6.2.2662567.a24192370b Four sec­ondary school stu­dents have been sus­pend­ed for sev­en days af­ter they were in­volved in a fight on Mon­day af­ter­noon, fol­low­ing the first day of the new school term. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/grande-schoolboys-suspended-after-fight-on-first-day-of-school-6.2.2662976.19447b4845 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/grande-schoolboys-suspended-after-fight-on-first-day-of-school-6.2.2662976.19447b4845 Neil Ram­s­ingh has re­signed as Chief Ex­ec­u­tive Of­fi­cer of the Agri­cul­tur­al De­vel­op­ment Bank (ADB), with the bank ad­ver­tis­ing the po­si­tion hours af­ter his de­par­ture. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/ramsingh-resigns-as-adb-ceo-6.2.2663275.8ad1422c33 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/ramsingh-resigns-as-adb-ceo-6.2.2663275.8ad1422c33 Neil Ram­s­ingh has re­signed as Chief Ex­ec­u­tive Of­fi­cer of the Agri­cul­tur­al De­vel­op­ment Bank (ADB), with the bank ad­ver­tis­ing the po­si­tion hours af­ter his de­par­ture. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/ramsingh-resigns-as-adb-ceo-6.2.2663037.cc18ef2f80 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/ramsingh-resigns-as-adb-ceo-6.2.2663037.cc18ef2f80 The East­ern Re­gion­al Health Au­thor­i­ty (ER­HA) has ac­knowl­edged con­cerns over short­ages of drugs and med­ical sup­plies at the San­gre Grande Hos­pi­tal Cam­pus. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/erha-acknowledges-supply-shortages-at-sangre-grande-hospital-6.2.2663038.7cfba8a211 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/erha-acknowledges-supply-shortages-at-sangre-grande-hospital-6.2.2663038.7cfba8a211 Smoke was re­port­ed­ly seen com­ing from the air traf­fic con­trol tow­er at ANR Robin­son In­ter­na­tion­al Air­port in To­ba­go on Tues­day, trig­ger­ing a fire alarm and forc­ing staff to evac­u­ate the build­ing. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/fire-alarm-at-anr-robinson-airport-tower-triggers-evacuation-6.2.2663060.00babc4cd3 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/fire-alarm-at-anr-robinson-airport-tower-triggers-evacuation-6.2.2663060.00babc4cd3 An­tigua and Bar­bu­da Prime Min­is­ter Gas­ton Browne has in­ten­si­fied his clash with the re­gion­al ju­di­cia­ry, ques­tion­ing where as­so­ci­a­tions rep­re­sent­ing women judges were when vul­ner­a­ble girls were be­ing raped and sex­u­al of­fend­ers were re­ceiv­ing what he de­scribed as le­nient prison sen­tences. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/gaston-browne-hits-back-at-women-judges-where-were-you-6.2.2663105.a570d6dcb3 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/gaston-browne-hits-back-at-women-judges-where-were-you-6.2.2663105.a570d6dcb3 The Nel­son­ian Foun­da­tion is rolling out three free ar­ti­fi­cial in­tel­li­gence tools aimed at tack­ling gaps in ed­u­ca­tion, de­men­tia care and fi­nan­cial lit­er­a­cy across the Caribbean. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/nelsonian-foundation-rolls-out-free-ai-tools-6.2.2663148.79ede64b13 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/nelsonian-foundation-rolls-out-free-ai-tools-6.2.2663148.79ede64b13 The Min­istry of Agri­cul­ture and Fish­eries is turn­ing to dig­i­tal tech­nol­o­gy to im­prove the de­tec­tion, re­port­ing and re­sponse to an­i­mal dis­eases across Trinidad and To­ba­go. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/agriculture-ministry-turns-to-digital-technology-to-track-animal-diseases-6.2.2663152.41ed6de4e8 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/agriculture-ministry-turns-to-digital-technology-to-track-animal-diseases-6.2.2663152.41ed6de4e8 High Court Judge Frank Seep­er­sad has ad­mon­ished pub­lic au­thor­i­ties to em­brace trans­paren­cy af­ter or­der­ing the Teach­ing Ser­vice Com­mis­sion (TSC) to re­lease doc­u­ments re­quest­ed un­der the Free­dom of In­for­ma­tion Act (FOIA). news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/teacher-wins-foia-access-to-tsc-records-as-judge-halts-proceedings-6.2.2662577.f74633cf45 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/teacher-wins-foia-access-to-tsc-records-as-judge-halts-proceedings-6.2.2662577.f74633cf45 Amid smiles and ner­vous glances across South Trinidad yes­ter­day, chil­dren re­turned to school, some rac­ing to greet old friends while first-time pupils clung a lit­tle tighter to par­ents who were not quite ready to let go. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/school-bells-ring-but-concerns-linger-in-south-trinidad-6.2.2662581.6d24d18f1a http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/school-bells-ring-but-concerns-linger-in-south-trinidad-6.2.2662581.6d24d18f1a Trinidad and To­ba­go ex­cel­lence will be cel­e­brat­ed in New York City on Sep­tem­ber 12, when 19 ho­n­ourees are recog­nised at The Riv­er Run­way 2026: Icons of In­flu­ence. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/trinidad-and-tobago-excellence-to-be-celebrated-in-nyc-6.2.2662575.39bc13a496 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/trinidad-and-tobago-excellence-to-be-celebrated-in-nyc-6.2.2662575.39bc13a496 The Na­tion­al Par­ent Teacher As­so­ci­a­tion (NPTA), T&T Uni­fied Teach­ers’ As­so­ci­a­tion (TTUTA) and oth­er stake­hold­ers have pushed back against Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar’s sug­ges­tion that per­sis­tent­ly dis­rup­tive stu­dents be sent home as part of a ze­ro-tol­er­ance ap­proach to school in­dis­ci­pline. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/npta-ttuta-take-issue-with-pms-call-6.2.2662599.c4480f0fc9 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/npta-ttuta-take-issue-with-pms-call-6.2.2662599.c4480f0fc9 Gov­ern­ment is promis­ing a “very ro­bust” leg­isla­tive agen­da when Par­lia­ment re­sumes on Fri­day, with leg­is­la­tion aimed at re­mov­ing what the cur­rent ad­min­is­tra­tion de­scribes as a long­stand­ing bot­tle­neck in the con­struc­tion ap­proval process set to come be­fore the House. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/construction-approval-bill-tops-agenda-as-parliament-resumes-friday-6.2.2662569.e25ab1b029 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/construction-approval-bill-tops-agenda-as-parliament-resumes-friday-6.2.2662569.e25ab1b029 Three fish­ing pirogues were de­stroyed in a fire at the Morne Di­a­blo Fish­ing Fa­cil­i­ty on Sun­day night, prompt­ing fish­er­men to re­move their re­main­ing ves­sels yes­ter­day amid fears the at­tack­ers could re­turn. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/fishermen-accuse-authorities-of-neglect-as-3-pirogues-torched-in-morne-diablo-6.2.2662573.1aa1dac6a3 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/fishermen-accuse-authorities-of-neglect-as-3-pirogues-torched-in-morne-diablo-6.2.2662573.1aa1dac6a3 Al­though the Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion re­port­ed that all 777 gov­ern­ment and gov­ern­ment-as­sist­ed schools opened for the new aca­d­e­m­ic year yes­ter­day, the Trinidad and To­ba­go Uni­fied Teach­ers’ As­so­ci­a­tion (TTUTA) is call­ing for ur­gent at­ten­tion to 11 schools af­fect­ed by is­sues rang­ing from in­ad­e­quate fur­ni­ture to main­te­nance and pest con­trol con­cerns. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/ttuta-flags-issues-at-11-schools-despite-ministrys-allclear-6.2.2662597.9ab57e9b67 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/ttuta-flags-issues-at-11-schools-despite-ministrys-allclear-6.2.2662597.9ab57e9b67 A 23-year-old Venezue­lan woman ac­cused of aban­don­ing her new­born ba­by was grant­ed $60,000 bail with sure­ty when she ap­peared be­fore Mas­ter Kateisha Am­brose-Per­sads­ingh in the Siparia Court yes­ter­day. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/venezuelan-woman-accused-of-abandoning-newborn-baby-granted-60000-bail-6.2.2662571.c77533f9fd http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/venezuelan-woman-accused-of-abandoning-newborn-baby-granted-60000-bail-6.2.2662571.c77533f9fd Par­ents across St Au­gus­tine and Tu­na­puna ac­com­pa­nied their chil­dren to school on Mon­day, of­fer­ing en­cour­age­ment and ad­vice as the new aca­d­e­m­ic term be­gan. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/parents-urge-care-understanding-as-students-return-to-classrooms-6.2.2662583.833eecd3b5 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/parents-urge-care-understanding-as-students-return-to-classrooms-6.2.2662583.833eecd3b5 PNM Deputy Po­lit­i­cal Leader San­jiv Bood­hu has ac­cused the Gov­ern­ment of be­com­ing a “gov­ern­ment by threat”, ar­gu­ing that its ap­proach to dis­ci­pline, crime and the econ­o­my is plac­ing in­creas­ing pres­sure on cit­i­zens while weak­en­ing the sup­port sys­tems avail­able to fam­i­lies. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/boodhu-government-becoming-a-government-by-threat-6.2.2662795.dcbf4b22ea http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/boodhu-government-becoming-a-government-by-threat-6.2.2662795.dcbf4b22ea Po­lit­i­cal an­a­lyst Dr Shane Mo­hammed says the PNM lead­er­ship’s han­dling of the mat­ter in­volv­ing San Fer­nan­do East MP Bri­an Man­ning, in­clud­ing the pos­si­bil­i­ty of dis­ci­pli­nary ac­tion against him, could jeop­ar­dise the par­ty’s chances of re­tain­ing con­trol of the San Fer­nan­do City Cor­po­ra­tion at the next Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment elec­tions. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/mohammed-pnm-handling-of-manning-could-hurt-san-fernando-election-chances-6.2.2662819.e711a4f821 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/mohammed-pnm-handling-of-manning-could-hurt-san-fernando-election-chances-6.2.2662819.e711a4f821 Po­lice are in­ves­ti­gat­ing the theft of 28 car bat­ter­ies from a man who was robbed at gun­point and forced to dri­ve to an­oth­er area on Mon­day af­ter­noon. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/28-car-batteries-stolen-during-morvant-gunpoint-robbery-6.2.2662897.dc8a40c985 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/28-car-batteries-stolen-during-morvant-gunpoint-robbery-6.2.2662897.dc8a40c985 Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar has urged teach­ers to send dis­rup­tive stu­dents home and leave par­ents to deal with them, sig­nalling a ze­ro-tol­er­ance ap­proach to in­dis­ci­pline as schools re­open for the 2026/2027 aca­d­e­m­ic year to­day. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/kamla-warns-students-6.2.2662031.4a189ba8db http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/kamla-warns-students-6.2.2662031.4a189ba8db Three peo­ple, in­clud­ing the cap­tain of the ill-fat­ed MV Bari­ma that sank on Ju­ly 18, killing more than 100 peo­ple, ap­peared in court on Mon­day, but the mat­ter was ad­journed to Sep­tem­ber 14. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/case-against-the-captain-of-illfated-vessel-further-adjourned-6.2.2662481.07b603f0e4 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/case-against-the-captain-of-illfated-vessel-further-adjourned-6.2.2662481.07b603f0e4 So­ca star Machel Mon­tano re­ceived mul­ti­ple of­fi­cial ho­n­ours in New York last Thurs­day, as thou­sands gath­ered out­side the Brook­lyn Pub­lic Li­brary (BPL) to watch the sto­ry of his life and ca­reer pro­ject­ed on­to the façade of the land­mark build­ing. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/machel-honoured-as-soca-lights-up-brooklyn-6.2.2662025.cef9383669 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/machel-honoured-as-soca-lights-up-brooklyn-6.2.2662025.cef9383669 To­ba­go in­mates housed in Trinidad say in­car­cer­a­tion away from the is­land has left them iso­lat­ed and dis­con­nect­ed from their fam­i­lies. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/tobago-inmate-claims-isolation-extortion-in-trinidad-6.2.2662013.91d877693f http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/tobago-inmate-claims-isolation-extortion-in-trinidad-6.2.2662013.91d877693f The search for miss­ing Pi­paro res­i­dent Nelvin Ali end­ed in tragedy yes­ter­day, af­ter his body was dis­cov­ered in the vil­lage. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/missing-man-found-dead-6.2.2662002.f49805ec28 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/missing-man-found-dead-6.2.2662002.f49805ec28 A 23-year-old Venezue­lan woman, who al­leged­ly claimed she found an aban­doned ba­by on the side of the road in South Oropouche, is ex­pect­ed to ap­pear in court to­day, af­ter po­lice de­ter­mined that the new­born was, in fact, her own child. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/venezuelan-woman-facing-charges-after-making-false-report-about-newborn-child-6.2.2662000.ec38d12dbd http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/venezuelan-woman-facing-charges-after-making-false-report-about-newborn-child-6.2.2662000.ec38d12dbd San Fer­nan­do East MP Bri­an Man­ning has re­ject­ed claims that sup­port for him with­in the con­stituen­cy is dwin­dling, fol­low­ing a re­port by an in­ter­nal Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) com­mit­tee sug­gest­ing the par­ty’s long-held strong­hold could be un­der threat. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/manning-rejects-pnm-reports-claims-of-declining-support-in-constituency-6.2.2662021.fa6d72ddb5 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/manning-rejects-pnm-reports-claims-of-declining-support-in-constituency-6.2.2662021.fa6d72ddb5 While all schools are sched­uled to re­open to­day, some par­ents of stu­dents at Fyz­abad An­gli­can Sec­ondary School say they will be keep­ing their chil­dren at home due to con­cerns about con­demned build­ings and oth­er in­fra­struc­tur­al is­sues. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/fyzabad-anglican-secondary-parents-threaten-boycott-over-infrastructure-woes-6.2.2662023.d3ae09c2c8 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/fyzabad-anglican-secondary-parents-threaten-boycott-over-infrastructure-woes-6.2.2662023.d3ae09c2c8 Methane bub­bling from the seabed. Vast beds of mus­sels thriv­ing in dark­ness. The re­mains of a man­ta ray pro­vid­ing a feast for deep-sea crea­tures. Sunken wood sup­port­ing life hun­dreds of me­tres be­low the sur­face. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/scientists-map-tts-deep-sea-region-6.2.2662005.832e07b220 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/scientists-map-tts-deep-sea-region-6.2.2662005.832e07b220 Calls for tougher con­trols on fire­works are grow­ing af­ter Sat­ur­day’s dev­as­tat­ing fire in Port-of-Spain, which gut­ted a long-stand­ing elec­tri­cal re­pair busi­ness and de­stroyed two homes. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/activists-again-call-for-tougher-fireworks-laws-6.2.2662011.4ce0991355 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/activists-again-call-for-tougher-fireworks-laws-6.2.2662011.4ce0991355 For­mer Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) gen­er­al sec­re­tary Ash­ton Ford has ex­pressed deep con­cern over re­ports that San Fer­nan­do East MP Bri­an Man­ning was shout­ed down and threat­ened dur­ing last Fri­day’s Gen­er­al Coun­cil meet­ing, com­par­ing the in­ci­dent to the treat­ment met­ed out to Man­ning’s fa­ther, for­mer prime min­is­ter Patrick Man­ning, in 2010. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/ford-decries-bullying-of-manning-at-pnm-meeting-6.2.2662019.5f0c965a89 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/ford-decries-bullying-of-manning-at-pnm-meeting-6.2.2662019.5f0c965a89 Ran­dall Ash was killed short­ly af­ter mid­night yes­ter­day when gun­fire erupt­ed along Mur­ray Street, near Adam Smith Park. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/man-ambushed-killed-in-woodbrook-6.2.2662004.6b9d3b63b2 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/man-ambushed-killed-in-woodbrook-6.2.2662004.6b9d3b63b2 Po­lice will use da­ta gath­ered dur­ing the last aca­d­e­m­ic year to tar­get fight­ing, va­p­ing and mar­i­jua­na pos­ses­sion in schools this term, with 51 schools re­main­ing on the School-Ori­ent­ed Polic­ing (SOP) pro­gramme for now. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/dcp-says-police-will-maintain-presence-at-51-schools-6.2.2662029.2e4cbe6bbf http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/dcp-says-police-will-maintain-presence-at-51-schools-6.2.2662029.2e4cbe6bbf As teach­ers re­turn to class­rooms to­day, Trinidad and To­ba­go Uni­fied Teach­ers’ As­so­ci­a­tion (TTUTA) pres­i­dent Crys­tal Ashe is warn­ing that schools can­not func­tion ef­fec­tive­ly while key re­sources, per­son­nel and sup­port sys­tems re­main un­re­solved. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/teachers-return-to-classrooms-today-6.2.2662027.534310a7be http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/teachers-return-to-classrooms-today-6.2.2662027.534310a7be A 15-year-old To­ba­go school­boy is ex­pect­ed to miss the first day of the new aca­d­e­m­ic year to­day, as he re­mains in po­lice cus­tody fol­low­ing the death of his grand­fa­ther. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/tobago-schoolboy-15-held-after-grandfathers-death-6.2.2662016.81abe4c05c http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/tobago-schoolboy-15-held-after-grandfathers-death-6.2.2662016.81abe4c05c A 65-year-old busi­ness­man is as­sist­ing po­lice with in­ves­ti­ga­tions af­ter he in­ad­ver­tent­ly left his li­censed firearm and am­mu­ni­tion on the rear bumper of his ve­hi­cle in El So­cor­ro on Sun­day. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/man-loses-gun-during-roadside-pit-stop-6.2.2662217.86bbabe972 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/man-loses-gun-during-roadside-pit-stop-6.2.2662217.86bbabe972 The Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion said all 777 Gov­ern­ment and Gov­ern­ment-As­sist­ed schools, in­clud­ing Ear­ly Child­hood Care and Ed­u­ca­tion cen­tres, opened on Mon­day for the start of the 2026/2027 aca­d­e­m­ic year, al­though re­pair work re­mains out­stand­ing at a few schools. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/education-ministry-claims-all-777-schools-opened-today-6.2.2662218.d43379e01c http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/education-ministry-claims-all-777-schools-opened-today-6.2.2662218.d43379e01c CARI­COM is call­ing for deep­er co­op­er­a­tion be­tween the Caribbean and Africa as the Com­mu­ni­ty marks the fifth an­niver­sary of CARI­COM-Africa Day. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/caricom-marks-fifth-africa-day-anniversary-6.2.2662225.552d575d1b http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/caricom-marks-fifth-africa-day-anniversary-6.2.2662225.552d575d1b Fed­er­al in­ves­ti­ga­tors ex­am­in­ing why an Ama­zon car­go jet bar­reled off a run­way at Mi­a­mi In­ter­na­tion­al Air­port and in­to ve­hi­cles, killing at least five peo­ple, are like­ly to fo­cus on a cru­cial mo­ment in the land­ing: whether the plane touched down too late to stop safe­ly. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/federal-investigators-probe-amazon-cargo-jets-fiery-runway-crash-that-killed-5-in-miami-6.2.2662261.da86a71b0d http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/federal-investigators-probe-amazon-cargo-jets-fiery-runway-crash-that-killed-5-in-miami-6.2.2662261.da86a71b0d An­tigua and Bar­bu­da’s Ed­u­ca­tion Min­is­ter, Daryll Matthew, has de­scribed as “his­toric” the de­ci­sion to pro­vide “uni­ver­sal free ed­u­ca­tion from ear­ly child­hood to uni­ver­si­ty” as the new school term got un­der­way in An­tigua and Bar­bu­da on Mon­day. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/antigua-and-barbuda-govt-introduces-universal-free-education-from-this-new-academic-term-6.2.2662264.583bc753c0 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/antigua-and-barbuda-govt-introduces-universal-free-education-from-this-new-academic-term-6.2.2662264.583bc753c0 In Plum Mi­tan, the once-promis­ing Marp­er Farm, known for its prop­a­ga­tion ini­tia­tives, is fac­ing a de­cline. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/the-predicament-in-plum-mitan-residents-say-closure-of-farm-led-to-job-losses-community-challenges-6.2.2661307.74b3b91989 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/the-predicament-in-plum-mitan-residents-say-closure-of-farm-led-to-job-losses-community-challenges-6.2.2661307.74b3b91989 Through­out the his­to­ry of Trinidad and To­ba­go, sev­er­al trade union­ists have risen to en­joy the ben­e­fits of po­lit­i­cal pow­er—hold­ing some of the coun­try’s high­est of­fices, in­clud­ing Prime Min­is­ter—while work­ers ac­cused them of bro­ken promis­es and what some called a di­vid­ed trade union move­ment. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/political-ties-test-labours-collective-voice-6.2.2661305.d592ebdc9e http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/political-ties-test-labours-collective-voice-6.2.2661305.d592ebdc9e Car­ni­val stake­hold­ers are still wait­ing on prize mon­ey from the 2026 cel­e­bra­tions, even af­ter the Na­tion­al Car­ni­val Com­mis­sion says it has paid $4.55 mil­lion to the Trinidad and To­ba­go Car­ni­val Bands As­so­ci­a­tion (TTC­BA); and now a Gov­ern­ment com­mit­ment to ad­dress the out­stand­ing pay­ments by the mid­dle of Sep­tem­ber is ap­proach­ing. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/9m-in-carnival-prize-money-still-unpaid-as-september-deadline-nears-6.2.2661303.73517bd2da http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/9m-in-carnival-prize-money-still-unpaid-as-september-deadline-nears-6.2.2661303.73517bd2da The Op­po­si­tion Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment has put arrange­ments in place for San Fer­nan­do East par­ty group elec­tions to start last Fri­day (Sep­tem­ber 4) and run un­til Oc­to­ber 10, to­wards the con­stituen­cy ex­ec­u­tive elec­tions. How­ev­er, San Fer­nan­do East MP Bri­an Man­ning has re­ject­ed the process and sought a sus­pen­sion un­til he re­ceives in­for­ma­tion, in­clud­ing why 15 par­ty groups were omit­ted. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/manning-challenges-pnm-inquiry-and-objects-to-process-for-constituency-elections-6.2.2661339.b9e9cc2e34 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/manning-challenges-pnm-inquiry-and-objects-to-process-for-constituency-elections-6.2.2661339.b9e9cc2e34 The Amer­i­can Cham­ber of Com­merce of Trinidad and To­ba­go (AM­CHAM T&T) has wel­comed the re­newed T&T/Venezue­lan en­gage­ment as an im­por­tant step to­wards build­ing a stronger, more se­cure and pros­per­ous re­la­tion­ship be­tween both coun­tries. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/amcham-tt-welcomes-renewed-engagement-with-venezuela-6.2.2661321.8877516dea http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/amcham-tt-welcomes-renewed-engagement-with-venezuela-6.2.2661321.8877516dea An ear­ly morn­ing con­fronta­tion in Mal­abar end­ed in tragedy yes­ter­day when a 26-year-old car sales­man was stabbed mul­ti­ple times and died short­ly af­ter reach­ing the Ari­ma Hos­pi­tal. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/malabar-man-dies-after-fight-6.2.2661297.3134a9aceb http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/malabar-man-dies-after-fight-6.2.2661297.3134a9aceb Days af­ter ex­plo­sive al­le­ga­tions of gang­ster­ism, in­tim­i­da­tion and ex­tor­tion sur­faced with­in the NCRHA’s Pa­tient Es­cort and Hos­pi­tal At­ten­dant Ser­vices, chair­man Dr Tim Gopeesingh says the once “ter­ri­ble” sit­u­a­tion is im­prov­ing and the au­thor­i­ty is get­ting bet­ter re­sults from work­ers. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/ncrha-says-terrible-situation-involving-patient-escorts-improving-6.2.2661301.7b4a744435 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/ncrha-says-terrible-situation-involving-patient-escorts-improving-6.2.2661301.7b4a744435 Po­lit­i­cal an­a­lyst Dr Shane Mo­hammed is chal­leng­ing the PNM to ex­plain why Bri­an Man­ning’s nar­row 2025 elec­tion vic­to­ry is be­ing used as ev­i­dence of “dwin­dling” pop­u­lar­i­ty when three of the par­ty’s oth­er suc­cess­ful can­di­dates won by sim­i­lar­ly slim or even small­er mar­gins. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/analyst-challenges-pnms-assessment-of-mannings-popularity-6.2.2661337.d80a492af2 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/analyst-challenges-pnms-assessment-of-mannings-popularity-6.2.2661337.d80a492af2 A long-stand­ing Port-of-Spain elec­tron­ics re­pair busi­ness was gut­ted and two homes de­stroyed ear­ly yes­ter­day in a fire at Pic­cadil­ly Street, with res­i­dents point­ing to fire­works be­ing dis­charged by chil­dren short­ly be­fore the blaze erupt­ed. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/fireworks-blamed-as-blaze-guts-electronics-shop-destroys-two-homes-6.2.2661333.3eb7a2e51e http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/fireworks-blamed-as-blaze-guts-electronics-shop-destroys-two-homes-6.2.2661333.3eb7a2e51e A To­ba­go woman was al­leged­ly shot by her boyfriend dur­ing an ar­gu­ment on Fri­day af­ter­noon in Bon Ac­cord. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/tobago-woman-shot-during-row-6.2.2661299.1aeede9796 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/tobago-woman-shot-during-row-6.2.2661299.1aeede9796 The State has been or­dered to pay over $2.5 mil­lion in com­pen­sa­tion to a woman who was sub­ject­ed to a cam­paign of cru­el and un­usu­al pun­ish­ment, in­clud­ing be­ing re­peat­ed­ly sex­u­al­ly as­sault­ed by a fe­male prison of­fi­cer, while serv­ing a 12-year sen­tence for manslaugh­ter.  news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/state-to-pay-25m-to-woman-sexually-abused-by-female-prison-officer-in-jail-6.2.2661335.5064d79277 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/state-to-pay-25m-to-woman-sexually-abused-by-female-prison-officer-in-jail-6.2.2661335.5064d79277 A diplo­mat­ic spat is brew­ing over the use of Chi­nese tech­nol­o­gy in Trinidad and To­ba­go, with the Chi­nese Em­bassy re­ject­ing warn­ings from the Unit­ed States about the se­cu­ri­ty risks posed by Chi­nese tech­nol­o­gy com­pa­nies. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/us-chinese-embassies-spar-on-trini-soil-over-technology-6.2.2661325.84477bd100 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/us-chinese-embassies-spar-on-trini-soil-over-technology-6.2.2661325.84477bd100 Dance­hall artiste Joseph “Medz Boss” Ol­liviere was re­leased from cus­tody on Fri­day night af­ter his at­tor­neys suc­cess­ful­ly chal­lenged the cir­cum­stances sur­round­ing his con­tin­ued de­ten­tion. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/medz-boss-finally-out-of-detention-6.2.2661327.0a0211eb4b http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/medz-boss-finally-out-of-detention-6.2.2661327.0a0211eb4b A 27-year-old man was shot dead and an­oth­er man wound­ed af­ter gun­men opened fire on a group along Mur­ray Street, Wood­brook, ear­ly Sun­day morn­ing. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/27yearold-man-shot-dead-in-woodbrook-6.2.2661670.49f8610a29 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/27yearold-man-shot-dead-in-woodbrook-6.2.2661670.49f8610a29 Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar has warned par­ents that they must take re­spon­si­bil­i­ty for dis­ci­plin­ing and guid­ing their chil­dren be­fore they grow in­to adults who run afoul of the law. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/pm-tells-parents-to-do-their-part-before-children-end-up-in-court-6.2.2661756.6c99d37e58 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/pm-tells-parents-to-do-their-part-before-children-end-up-in-court-6.2.2661756.6c99d37e58 The PNM’s hold on San Fer­nan­do East, un­bro­ken since the con­stituen­cy was cre­at­ed, is be­ing deemed un­der threat af­ter an in­ter­nal com­mit­tee found MP Bri­an Man­ning’s pop­u­lar­i­ty “may be dwin­dling” amid an in­ves­ti­ga­tion in­to his bit­ter rup­ture with the con­stituen­cy ex­ec­u­tive. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/pnm-probe-finds-mannings-hold-on-san-fernando-east-seat-shaky-6.2.2661341.6e7198b2c2 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/pnm-probe-finds-mannings-hold-on-san-fernando-east-seat-shaky-6.2.2661341.6e7198b2c2 Ed­u­ca­tion Min­is­ter Dr Michael Dowlath is de­fend­ing the late dis­tri­b­u­tion of the School Sup­plies and Book Grant, say­ing the Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion had just six weeks to ver­i­fy 20,744 ap­pli­ca­tions. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/dowlath-defends-late-distribution-of-book-grants-6.2.2660679.febce0ea3b http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/dowlath-defends-late-distribution-of-book-grants-6.2.2660679.febce0ea3b With just days to go be­fore schools re­open, Route Two Maxi Taxi As­so­ci­a­tion pres­i­dent Bren­ton Knights says school maxi taxi con­ces­sion­aires have re­ceived more than $2 mil­lion to­wards out­stand­ing pay­ments, with more mon­ey ex­pect­ed in the com­ing week. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/maxi-taxi-concessionaires-get-2m-in-outstanding-payments-6.2.2660681.6beac69861 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/maxi-taxi-concessionaires-get-2m-in-outstanding-payments-6.2.2660681.6beac69861 The seizure of 416.5 kilo­grams of co­caine, with an es­ti­mat­ed worth of $193.5 mil­lion, has raised se­ri­ous con­cern for Ch­agua­nas May­or Faaiq Mo­hammed and the Ch­agua­nas Cham­ber of In­dus­try and Com­merce (CCIC). news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/1935m-cocaine-seizure-raises-alarm-in-chaguanas-6.2.2660663.fb46b7c6a1 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/1935m-cocaine-seizure-raises-alarm-in-chaguanas-6.2.2660663.fb46b7c6a1 A 55-year-old woman was over­pow­ered by ban­dits and pis­tol-whipped with her own firearm dur­ing a rob­bery at her Tu­na­puna home on Wednes­day night. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/two-teenagers-arrested-in-sangre-grande-for-stealing-a-vehicle-6.2.2660661.856855a2a3 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/two-teenagers-arrested-in-sangre-grande-for-stealing-a-vehicle-6.2.2660661.856855a2a3 The Trinidad and To­ba­go Uni­fied Teach­ers’ As­so­ci­a­tion (TTUTA) is ex­pect­ing a low turnout of stu­dents dur­ing the first week of the new aca­d­e­m­ic year, warn­ing that de­lays in the re­lease and pro­cess­ing of book grants have left many par­ents scram­bling to pre­pare their chil­dren for Mon­day’s re­open­ing. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/ttuta-expects-low-student-turnout-for-opening-week-6.2.2660677.78a83a1940 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/ttuta-expects-low-student-turnout-for-opening-week-6.2.2660677.78a83a1940 The Trinidad and To­ba­go Cham­ber of In­dus­try and Com­merce has wel­comed the re­open­ing of di­rect di­a­logue be­tween Trinidad and To­ba­go and Venezuela, par­tic­u­lar­ly re­newed dis­cus­sions on en­er­gy co­op­er­a­tion, but says the fo­cus must now shift from diplo­ma­cy to im­ple­men­ta­tion. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/business-community-welcomes-ttvenezuela-reset-6.2.2660688.f4afa14faa http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/business-community-welcomes-ttvenezuela-reset-6.2.2660688.f4afa14faa Days be­fore the new aca­d­e­m­ic year be­gins, To­bag­o­ni­ans are ques­tion­ing Cen­tral Gov­ern­ment’s cri­te­ria to ap­prove book grants and why the dis­burse­ment is be­ing done so late. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/tobago-parents-question-late-book-grant-payments-6.2.2659969.0e23a69dc5 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/tobago-parents-question-late-book-grant-payments-6.2.2659969.0e23a69dc5 As events man­age­ment and lifestyle com­pa­ny Yup Life con­tin­ues to face crit­i­cism from dis­sat­is­fied Fes­ti­val of Colour (FOC) fete pa­trons on so­cial me­dia, the com­pa­ny’s di­rec­tor Shadeed Ab­dul­lah is urg­ing dis­ap­point­ed at­ten­dees to give them a chance to re­deem them­selves fol­low­ing the events of Mon­day. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/yup-life-director-to-critics-let-us-redeem-ourselves-6.2.2660659.90e9366113 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/yup-life-director-to-critics-let-us-redeem-ourselves-6.2.2660659.90e9366113 The struc­tur­al in­tegri­ty of the To­ba­go Con­vict Prison re­mains a cause of con­cern, says Act­ing Pris­ons Com­mis­sion­er Elvin Scant­er­bury. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/scanterbury-tobago-prisons-structural-integrity-remains-a-concern-6.2.2660657.061e8b5efb http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/scanterbury-tobago-prisons-structural-integrity-remains-a-concern-6.2.2660657.061e8b5efb Mu­sic pro­duc­er and pod­cast­er Khalif “KG” Greaves says that while com­mu­ni­ties ap­pear will­ing to con­tin­ue ob­serv­ing a cease­fire fol­low­ing an ap­par­ent truce led by Trini­bad artistes Kashif “K Man” Sankar and Meschach “Plumpy Boss” Em­manuel, it is im­por­tant for man­age­ment teams and com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers to help keep res­i­dents on the path of peace. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/music-producer-optimistic-pos-peace-truce-will-hold-6.2.2662017.3ec8d367e4 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/music-producer-optimistic-pos-peace-truce-will-hold-6.2.2662017.3ec8d367e4 A for­mer Trinidad and To­ba­go diplo­mat be­lieves this coun­try was “diplo­mat­i­cal­ly in­sult­ed” dur­ing For­eign and Cari­com Af­fairs Min­is­ter Sean Sobers’ vis­it to Cara­cas, ar­gu­ing that Venezuela’s ac­tions, rather than the cor­dial lan­guage con­tained in a joint state­ment, show re­la­tions re­main far from re­paired. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/exdiplomat-says-venezuela-insulted-tt-6.2.2660692.9264fe1840 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/exdiplomat-says-venezuela-insulted-tt-6.2.2660692.9264fe1840 De­spite con­cerns from stake­hold­ers over the readi­ness of schools for Mon­day’s re­open­ing, Ed­u­ca­tion Min­is­ter Dr Michael Dowlath yes­ter­day ex­pressed con­fi­dence that all schools would re­open. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/education-minister-confident-all-schools-will-reopen-on-monday-6.2.2660683.5b433a26dd http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/education-minister-confident-all-schools-will-reopen-on-monday-6.2.2660683.5b433a26dd The State of Emer­gency (SOE) has con­tributed to safer com­mu­ni­ties, par­tic­u­lar­ly in ar­eas af­fect­ed by se­ri­ous crime, ac­cord­ing to Min­is­ter in the Min­istry of Hous­ing Philip Alexan­der, who point­ed to a sharp de­cline in re­port­ed crime since the emer­gency mea­sures were in­tro­duced. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/alexander-soe-making-communities-safer-6.2.2660665.820bd2e792 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/alexander-soe-making-communities-safer-6.2.2660665.820bd2e792 An 81-year-old To­ba­go man was robbed and as­sault­ed af­ter with­draw­ing mon­ey from the bank on Tues­day. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/tobago-man-81-robbed-after-leaving-bank-6.2.2660655.068d9f8e53 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/tobago-man-81-robbed-after-leaving-bank-6.2.2660655.068d9f8e53 Op­po­si­tion Leader Pen­ne­lope Beck­les is ques­tion­ing what Trinidad and To­ba­go ac­tu­al­ly achieved from For­eign and Cari­com Af­fairs Min­is­ter Sean Sobers’ trip to Venezuela and why Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar has still not met di­rect­ly with Act­ing Venezue­lan Pres­i­dent Del­cy Ro­dríguez. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/beckles-questions-what-tt-actually-gained-from-venezuela-trip-6.2.2660685.8006c09ae6 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/beckles-questions-what-tt-actually-gained-from-venezuela-trip-6.2.2660685.8006c09ae6 A trip to a To­ba­go House of As­sem­bly (THA) of­fice could soon be­come a thing of the past for res­i­dents seek­ing ac­cess to a range of pub­lic ser­vices. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/tobago-goes-digital-with-launch-of-new-id-system-6.2.2660675.6c4460bc01 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/tobago-goes-digital-with-launch-of-new-id-system-6.2.2660675.6c4460bc01 One year af­ter Caribbean Air­lines (CAL) tem­porar­i­ly sus­pend­ed flights be­tween Trinidad and To­ba­go and Venezuela, the air­line is prepar­ing to re­sume ser­vice to the South Amer­i­can na­tion. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/caribbean-airlines-to-resume-venezuela-flights-6.2.2660690.8bcc6182c3 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/caribbean-airlines-to-resume-venezuela-flights-6.2.2660690.8bcc6182c3 Hilton Trinidad work­ers have been giv­en a six-month re­prieve af­ter the Gov­ern­ment se­cured a new man­age­ment agree­ment that will keep the in­ter­na­tion­al ho­tel brand at the State-owned prop­er­ty while a longer-term so­lu­tion is de­vel­oped. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/hilton-lifeline-6.2.2660694.1022759c4b http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/hilton-lifeline-6.2.2660694.1022759c4b A 36-year-old Fyz­abad man was ar­rest­ed and two firearms, am­mu­ni­tion and co­caine seized dur­ing an in­tel­li­gence-led op­er­a­tion in the Pe­nal and Fyz­abad dis­tricts. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/fyzabad-man-held-with-two-firearms-and-cocaine-6.2.2661019.6af73543de http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/fyzabad-man-held-with-two-firearms-and-cocaine-6.2.2661019.6af73543de Telecom­mu­ni­ca­tions provider Flow is ad­vis­ing cus­tomers in Bel­mont and sur­round­ing ar­eas of a ser­vice in­ter­rup­tion fol­low­ing a fire on Pic­cadil­ly Street last night. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/fire-causes-flow-service-interruption-in-belmont-6.2.2661020.5460c851b6 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/fire-causes-flow-service-interruption-in-belmont-6.2.2661020.5460c851b6 Po­lice ar­rest­ed one man and seized a firearm, a mag­a­zine and sev­er­al rounds of am­mu­ni­tion dur­ing in­tel­li­gence-led ex­er­cis­es in the Cen­tral, South­ern and East­ern Di­vi­sions over the past 24 hours. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/ttps-seizes-firearm-and-ammunition-in-separate-exercises-6.2.2661023.c5828b7ff3 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/ttps-seizes-firearm-and-ammunition-in-separate-exercises-6.2.2661023.c5828b7ff3 A To­ba­go woman was al­leged­ly shot by her boyfriend dur­ing an ar­gu­ment on Fri­day af­ter­noon in Bon Ac­cord. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/tobago-teacher-shot-during-argument-6.2.2661064.a2af3b7dc9 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/tobago-teacher-shot-during-argument-6.2.2661064.a2af3b7dc9 A 33-year-old Trinida­di­an na­tion­al and law­ful per­ma­nent res­i­dent of the Unit­ed States has plead­ed guilty to sex traf­fick­ing and ad­mit­ted that he kid­napped six ad­di­tion­al women. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/trinidadian-man-pleads-guilty-to-sex-trafficking-in-us-6.2.2661066.0afb534143 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/trinidadian-man-pleads-guilty-to-sex-trafficking-in-us-6.2.2661066.0afb534143 A group of re­gion­al as­so­ci­a­tions rep­re­sent­ing fe­male judges have crit­i­cised An­tigua and Bar­bu­da Prime Min­is­ter Gas­ton Browne over his now con­tro­ver­sial com­ments in re­la­tion to a judge in that coun­try. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/regional-women-judges-rebuke-antigua-pm-over-controversial-remarks-6.2.2661997.edc716c22c http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/regional-women-judges-rebuke-antigua-pm-over-controversial-remarks-6.2.2661997.edc716c22c A new era in Trinidad and To­ba­go-Venezuela re­la­tions is be­ing ush­ered in fol­low­ing the de­vel­op­ment of a roadmap aimed at strength­en­ing co­op­er­a­tion in key ar­eas rang­ing from en­er­gy and agri­cul­ture to se­cu­ri­ty, which is to be led by Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar and act­ing Venezue­lan Pres­i­dent Del­cy Ro­dríguez. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/kamla--delcy-turn-new-leaf-6.2.2660009.22a1be53fb http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/kamla--delcy-turn-new-leaf-6.2.2660009.22a1be53fb Cou­va South MP Bar­ry Padarath has brand­ed crit­ics of Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar’s In­de­pen­dence Day mes­sage as “pre­ten­tious, spine­less in­di­vid­u­als,” as he came to the de­fence of her con­tro­ver­sial ad­dress to Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress (UNC) sup­port­ers. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/barry-blasts-critics-of-unc-leaders-independence-day-message-6.2.2659992.068d17aa11 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/barry-blasts-critics-of-unc-leaders-independence-day-message-6.2.2659992.068d17aa11 With the start of the new aca­d­e­m­ic year just days away, par­ents and busi­ness­es on High Street, San Fer­nan­do, have mixed views on the back-to-school sea­son. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/booksellers-see-mixed-sales-as-parents-watch-spending-6.2.2659986.d1ce78f2bc http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/booksellers-see-mixed-sales-as-parents-watch-spending-6.2.2659986.d1ce78f2bc Two days af­ter Home­land Se­cu­ri­ty Min­is­ter Roger Alexan­der re­voked the Pre­ven­tive De­ten­tion Or­der (PDO) is­sued against dance­hall artiste Joseph “Medz Boss” Ol­liviere on Au­gust 24, his at­tor­neys filed an ur­gent bail ap­pli­ca­tion in the Port-of-Spain High Court, along with a re­quest for an ex­pe­dit­ed hear­ing. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/medz-boss-seeks-urgent-bail-after-pdo-revoked-6.2.2659957.94e8afdc0f http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/medz-boss-seeks-urgent-bail-after-pdo-revoked-6.2.2659957.94e8afdc0f Three for­eign­ers were ar­rest­ed af­ter po­lice seized ap­prox­i­mate­ly 416.5 kilo­grammes of co­caine, worth an es­ti­mat­ed $193.5 mil­lion, con­cealed in­side four back­hoe tyres at a Long­denville busi­ness­place. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/police-seize-1935m-in-cocaine-hidden-inside-backhoe-tyres-6.2.2659952.364ccab866 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/police-seize-1935m-in-cocaine-hidden-inside-backhoe-tyres-6.2.2659952.364ccab866 Trinidad and To­ba­go’s lat­est en­gage­ment with Venezuela could sig­nal the be­gin­ning of a thaw in re­la­tions be­tween the two coun­tries fol­low­ing a pe­ri­od of height­ened diplo­mat­ic ten­sions that dis­rupt­ed en­er­gy co­op­er­a­tion. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/energy-experts-welcome-thawing-of-ttvenezuela-relations-6.2.2659999.5b43ec7593 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/energy-experts-welcome-thawing-of-ttvenezuela-relations-6.2.2659999.5b43ec7593 Of­fi­cials from the Trinidad and To­ba­go Uni­fied Teach­ers’ As­so­ci­a­tion (TTUTA) vis­it­ed schools yes­ter­day to see first­hand the con­di­tion of fa­cil­i­ties ahead of the start of the new aca­d­e­m­ic year next week. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/ttuta-visits-schools-to-assess-readiness-ahead-of-new-academic-year-6.2.2659967.d7405b1b50 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/ttuta-visits-schools-to-assess-readiness-ahead-of-new-academic-year-6.2.2659967.d7405b1b50 In­ter­na­tion­al af­fairs ex­pert Dr An­tho­ny Gon­za­les says For­eign and Cari­com Af­fairs Min­is­ter Sean Sobers’ re­cent meet­ing with his Venezue­lan coun­ter­part is an en­cour­ag­ing sign that re­la­tions be­tween Trinidad and To­ba­go and Venezuela are be­gin­ning to im­prove, and he be­lieves a meet­ing be­tween the lead­ers of both coun­tries could even­tu­al­ly fol­low. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/gonzales-urges-pm-to-watch-her-language-6.2.2660007.ca4c15ee1d http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/gonzales-urges-pm-to-watch-her-language-6.2.2660007.ca4c15ee1d The Pub­lic Ser­vices As­so­ci­a­tion (PSA) is now sig­nalling a will­ing­ness to find com­mon ground with the Gov­ern­ment over bil­lions of dol­lars in out­stand­ing wage ar­rears, af­ter pre­vi­ous­ly hold­ing firm on its de­mand for a greater cash com­po­nent. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/psa-signals-flexibility-on-38b-wage-arrears-settlement-6.2.2659947.9a49f8fd8c http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/psa-signals-flexibility-on-38b-wage-arrears-settlement-6.2.2659947.9a49f8fd8c The To­ba­go House of As­sem­bly (THA) will dis­burse more than $600,000 in back­pay to par­ents un­der its new ba­by grant pro­gramme. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/tha-to-pay-600000-in-tobago-baby-grant-backpay-to-parents-6.2.2659943.af5e1e1717 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/tha-to-pay-600000-in-tobago-baby-grant-backpay-to-parents-6.2.2659943.af5e1e1717 Some 20,000 dai­ly-rat­ed pub­lic-sec­tor work­ers could be­gin re­ceiv­ing their new salaries this month af­ter Cab­i­net rat­i­fied a ten per cent wage agree­ment be­tween the Na­tion­al Union of Gov­ern­ment and Fed­er­at­ed Work­ers (NUGFW) and the Chief Per­son­nel Of­fi­cer. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/20000-dailyrated-workers-set-to-get-new-salaries-this-month-6.2.2659945.cd76ba8a6b http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/20000-dailyrated-workers-set-to-get-new-salaries-this-month-6.2.2659945.cd76ba8a6b The trau­ma of be­ing held at gun­point dur­ing a home in­va­sion con­tin­ued to haunt two el­der­ly friends yes­ter­day, days af­ter they were robbed of their pen­sion mon­ey and car in Mayo. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/pensioners-traumatised-after-armed-home-invasion-in-mayo-6.2.2659950.52613d4825 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/pensioners-traumatised-after-armed-home-invasion-in-mayo-6.2.2659950.52613d4825 Three years af­ter po­lice searched the home and of­fice of To­ba­go House of As­sem­bly (THA) ex­ec­u­tive mem­ber Zor­isha Hack­ett as part of its au­dio­gate probe, the High Court has ruled the po­lice act­ed il­le­gal­ly. news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/high-court-rules-police-search-of-hacketts-home-office-unlawful-6.2.2659965.80d8def306 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/high-court-rules-police-search-of-hacketts-home-office-unlawful-6.2.2659965.80d8def306 As the events man­age­ment and lifestyle brand Yup Life con­tin­ues to face crit­i­cism from dis­sat­is­fied fete pa­trons on so­cial me­dia, the com­pa­ny's di­rec­tor Shadeed Ab­dul­lah is urg­ing dis­ap­point­ed at­ten­dees to give them a chance to re­deem them­selves fol­low­ing the events of the Fes­ti­val of Colour (FOC): The Awak­en­ing on Mon­day morn­ing.  news http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/yup-life-director-to-critics-let-us-redeem-ourselves-6.2.2660357.1f18df9fe5 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/yup-life-director-to-critics-let-us-redeem-ourselves-6.2.2660357.1f18df9fe5