By Raffique Shah
April 12, 2014
Ray Robinson was the most titled politician in the history of Trinidad and Tobago: President of the Republic, Prime Minister, Chief Secretary of the Tobago House of Assembly, and for good measure, Chief Olokun Igbaro of the Yoruba people.
But he was not the most successful, certainly at the polls. He was King of Tobago but a knave in Trinidad. In fact, he was a Tobagonian politician whom Trinidadians loved to hate.
Continue reading He cast a giant shadow
Robinson has died
By Multimedia Desk
April 09, 2014 – trinidadexpress.com
Former President and Prime Minister Arthur NR Robinson has died.
Robinson, who had been ailing for several months, passed away at the St Clair medical Centre at around 6 a.m. He was 87.
His passing was confirmed by National Security Minister Gary Griffith who said a State funeral was being planned.
Continue reading Arthur NR Robinson has died
By Alexander Bruzual
January 23, 2014 – newsday.co.tt
A mother of a six-week-old girl. An aspiring interior designer. An avid lover of steelpan.
All these things, and so much more, described 15-year-old Aleah Cain who was brutally gunned down on Tuesday night along Belmont Circular Road, Belmont mere moments after she left her home at Farrell Lane to get something to eat, despite protests from her mother.
“Aleah was sitting with me at home helping me comb my hair, when she suddenly tell me she was hungry, and she wanted food. I tell her we had bread and butter, and small stuff at home, but she said no, she wanted something different, so she going to the shop. I tell her, ‘Aleah, look at the time, it’s after 10!’ But she said she didn’t want the food at home, and she would go out and get something,” Aleah’s mother Lauren recalled yesterday.
Continue reading Mom, 15, shot dead
By Jada Loutoo
January 17 2014 – newsday.co.tt
A QUINTESSENTIAL citizen of the world.
This was the description given to internationally renowned jurist Karl Terrence Hudson-Phillips, QC, by his close friend Ferdie Ferreira hours after learning of his sudden death in London, England, yesterday.
Hudson-Phillips, 80, died peacefully in his sleep in London where he and his wife Kathleen travelled last Tuesday to celebrate their son Kevin’s 30th birthday. He was expected to return to Trinidad next week.
Continue reading FEARLESS KARL
By Raffique Shah
January 12, 2014
A tragic consequence of spikes in violent crimes such as we experienced in the first week of 2014, is the baying of the hounds, the blood-curdling cries for revenge that are as transient as the surges are cyclical. As soon as the murder rate settles back to what is normal for us, meaning one-a-day, the society will shift into the muted mode. People will hardly note the killing, and the police and government will enjoy a respite from outrage…until the next surge.
Continue reading Edge of the abyss
By Stephen Kangal
January 10, 2014
It is with a very heavy but grateful heart that I pay my last farewell to the late Editor-In-Chief of the Newsday, Therese Mills, on her being called in the fullness of time to the great beyond to be with her God after having served humanity notably the small man with a warm and caring heart to the fullest.
The late iconic hero, Therese Mills was the tender loving and gifted lamb that made, forged and fashioned me into a civic journalist. In 2002 she gave me an editorial opportunity by publishing my first Newsday article entitled ”Caroni is more than Sugar”. Hundreds of articles followed from this inspiring and motivating gesture.
Continue reading Celebrating The Mills Legacy
By Greg Palast
December 13, 2013 – gregpalast.com
I can’t take it anymore. All week, I’ve watched Nelson Mandela reduced to a Barbie doll. From Fox News to the Bush family, the politicians and media mavens who body-blocked the anti-Apartheid Movement and were happy to keep Mandela behind bars, now get to dress his image up in any silly outfit they choose.
Continue reading The Mandela Barbie
By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
December 10, 2013
Now that 95-year old Nelson Mandela has died, it is indeed a glorious sine qua non to trace/recount/relive his remarkable/heroic journey from prisoner/revolutionary to President of South Africa.
At the outset, it must be emphasized that the year 1994 was a pivotal, watershed turning-point as the white minority-ruled South Africa joined the civilized nations as a de jure actor on the international stage of democracy.
Continue reading Mandela: From Prisoner to President
By Raffique Shah
December 07, 2013
Last Thursday night, for moments ranging from seconds to hours, the world stood still. People paused or stopped doing whatever they were engaged in, diverting attention to their radio or television sets that, in hundreds of languages, broke the news that Nelson Mandela had died.
By Friday, every newspaper that had gone to print after his passing will have featured banner headlines screaming news of his passing. Network news leaders such as the BBC and CNN continued almost non-stop coverage of the life and times and death of this man. Tributes poured in: no one had anything negative to say about him.
Continue reading Night the world stood still
December 06, 2013 – newsday.co.tt
TRINIDAD and Tobago last night joined with the rest of the world in celebrating the life of South Africa’s cherished statesman Nelson Mandela and mourning his death at the age of 95. Mandela was undoubtedly a colossus of the 20th century when he emerged from 27 years in prison to negotiate an end to the hated apartheid system of white minority rule in South Africa.
South African President Jacob Zuma made the announcement at a news conference yesterday at 5.45 pm TT time, telling the world, “we have lost our greatest son.” Mandela’s death at his home in Johannesburg closed the final chapter in South Africa’s struggle to cast off apartheid, leaving the world with indelible memories of a man of astonishing grace and good humour.
Continue reading MANDELA DIES