Kay-Marie Fletcher

Opposition Leader Pennelope Beckles says she is not surprised, but is “exceptionally disappointed” by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar's response to controversial remarks made by Sport and Youth Affairs Minister Phillip Watts about women in Parliament.

One day after threatening to fire “lazy” public sector workers, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has vowed to uproot what she describes as a “swine culture” entrenched in Trinidad and Tobago by the People's National Movement (PNM).

Public Utilities Minister Barry Padarath says the On-the-Job Training (OJT) Programme has been operating on “autopilot” for years, with several key positions vacant, including those of executive director and deputy executive director.

Public Utilities Minister Barry Padarath yesterday stopped short of assuring citizens that electricity rates would not be increased to help settle the nearly $10 billion debt owed by the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (T&TEC) to the National Gas Company (NGC).

Public Utilities Minister Barry Padarath yesterday refused to rule out privatisation or a public-private partnership for the Trinidad and Tobago Solid Waste Management Company (SWMCOL), saying the state enterprise's business model must change to reduce its burden on taxpayers.

Opposition Senator Faris Al-Rawi is calling on the Government to account for its management of the scrap iron industry, following the suspected arson attack at the Telecommunications Services of T&T (TSTT) compound in Laventille over the weekend.

People's National Movement (PNM) Senators Faris Al-Rawi and Foster Cummings are urging the Government to rethink its non-support of this year's Divali Nagar, while chairman Marvin Gonzales is questioning the sudden withdrawal of state sponsorship, warning that the decision could create the perception of political retaliation against cultural institutions.

Former People's Partnership government minister Winston Dookeran is urging Trinidad and Tobago to stand by Cuba, insisting that the Caribbean nation's sovereignty must be respected and its people defended.

Trinidad and Tobago's historic decision to vote against a United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution calling for an end to the United States' economic embargo against Cuba has drawn strong condemnation from former government officials and raised concerns about the country's foreign policy direction.

Cuba's ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago, Gustavo Veliz, has warned that countries supporting the United States' position on its economic embargo against Cuba risk becoming complicit in a policy that could cost lives.