Visiting guru held on sex charges

By Anika Gumbs-Sandiford, guardian.co.tt
Monday 21st May, 2007

HinduA Guru who arrived in Trinidad last week to give religious discourses (sat sangh) throughout the country on Hinduism has been detained in connection with the alleged rape of 22-year-old Guayanese woman.

The 85-year-old man, who is unable to speak English fluently, is on a one-month visit to T&T.

He was arrested by police at a house in Palmiste late Friday night.
Continue reading Visiting guru held on sex charges

Benny Hinn scorns PM’s ‘prophetess’

‘Prophetess’: I spoke to PM 5 times

By Rhondor Dowlat, newsday.co.tt
Monday, May 21 2007

Patrick Manning and Benny HinnPRIME Minister Patrick Manning got advice at least five times from a woman who has been described as his “prophetess.”

Newsday visited the woman, who sees herself as a spiritual guide rather than a prophetess, at her West Trinidad home yesterday. She had a few conditions for the interview.

Her identity and address must not be made public. The woman, who is mixed with Chinese and Spanish, spoke for a few minutes outside the gates of her home before inviting me upstairs, into her “counselling room.”
Continue reading Benny Hinn scorns PM’s ‘prophetess’

IMF ‘ranking’ blinds us to poverty amidst plenty

By Raffique Shah
May 20th 2007

FinancialNobody should be surprised that international agencies like the World Bank and the IMF have rated Trinidad and Tobago among the leading countries with respect to economic development. It would have taken a complete fool in government, or a big-time bandit so placed, to have done otherwise given the high levels of revenue we have enjoyed over the past five years or so. So our GDP and GNP will have grown in tandem with the steep increases in prices of oil, gas and downstream energy products that account for most of our revenue. These and other indicators used by such agencies will also show a major reduction in poverty levels and almost zero unemployment.
Continue reading IMF ‘ranking’ blinds us to poverty amidst plenty

IMF propaganda

FinancialTHE EDITOR: IMF representatives at the Central Bank in Port-of-Spain recently advised that the reintroduction of price controls in Trinidad and Tobago to stem inflation and high food prices would be a backward step. It is unfortunate that some people accept the advice of the IMF without questioning the validity of their statements.
Continue reading IMF propaganda

Slaves, Amerindians and poor whites

By Marion O’Callaghan, newsday.co.tt
Monday, May 14 2007

AfricansIt seemed an ordinary enough church until someone pointed me to the angels.

“It is the only church in Latin America,” he said proudly, “with black angels.”

I hadn’t thought of it before. I had seen a black and miraculous Jesus, a black Virgin-Mother, but never black angels. Here the cherubim who worship God day and night, were black. I tried to disentangle symbol from what may well have been only a vapse portrayal by some artist. We were here in the heart of Peru’s cotton farms and-since they go together-in the heart of Afro-Peru although neither the words Afro-Peru nor Black Peru describes the people in the villages and homesteads which stretched beyond the church.
Continue reading Slaves, Amerindians and poor whites

Miss Elegance Mom Beauty Pageant 2007

Miss Elegance Mom 2007
On Saturday 12th May, the Cascadia Ballroom, St. Ann’s, hosted the “Miss Elegance Mom Beauty Pageant 2007”, an event that has grown in popularity over the years. On the eve of Mother’s Day celebrations the world over, the Miss Elegance Mom pageant celebrated the beauty of mothers and paid homage to the hard work, dedication, selflessness and confident beauty of motherhood.
Continue reading Miss Elegance Mom Beauty Pageant 2007

A nation of ‘nawsty awsses’

By Raffique Shah
Sunday, May 13th 2007

Under the bridgeONE of my favourite sergeant-majors in the Regiment used to say to private soldiers who committed infractions of any kind: “Boy! You is a nawsty awss!” His peculiar accent and the manner in which he berated some poor soul would elicit stifled giggles in the ranks, and laughter among officers who happened to overhear him.

I think of him (oh, he’s very much alive and kicking!) as I move around the country testing my own Vision 2007, knowing that 20-20 has diminished with the aging process. I am convinced by what I see that however much Prime Minister Patrick Manning may change the skyline of Port of Spain, whatever the authorities may put in place to keep the country clean, the majority of Trinidadians remain “nawsty awsses”.
Continue reading A nation of ‘nawsty awsses’

No Mama – No Die

By Michael De Gale
May 11, 2007

Mother EarthLike most Torontonians, I too enjoyed last year’s extended summer and unseasonably mild winter. Red peppers were still growing in my garden in late December and in early February; perennials were promising to bloom – again. I fired up my backyard BBQ in tee shirt and jeans,, washed my car by hand in the scorching sun, and then suppressed the heat with an ice cold beer. “This is the life”, I mused. Dreadfully fearful of bone chilling winters, I wanted summer to last forever. Imagine for a moment, a land of perpetual sunshine, BBQ and beer. On my CD player the incomparable Louis Armstrong sang, “What a Wonderful World” and a wise old friend assured me that “within everything, life hard but it sweet”.
Continue reading No Mama – No Die