NEWS
Chaguaramas businesses shut down operations for this week after Stink and Duty traffic chaos
Several marine and tourism-related businesses in Chaguaramas have been forced to close during this week’s intensified Carnival festivities, following the severe traffic congestion linked to the Stink and Dutty fete at the Heliport in Chaguaramas. This was confirmed yesterday by Marine Services Association of Trinidad and Tobago (MSATT) president Jesse James, who said at least 40 businesses were forced to shut down on Saturday due to the traffic snarl related to the event. He said business owners have decided it is better not to operate than to face more severe inconvenience with other events planned in the peninsula before Carnival culminates on Monday and Tuesday next week. James said the scale of disruption has reached a point where some business owners now plan annual closures from the Friday before Carnival straight through to Carnival Monday, citing uncertainty, staff access issues and repeated financial losses. Read more here
POLITICS
John: Govt to roll out aspects of Revitalisation plan by mid-year
Three months after Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar launched the Revitalisation Blueprint, promising 50,919 jobs, Works and Infrastructure Minister Jerlean John says aspects of the project should begin by mid-year. Speaking at a media conference at the United National Congress headquarters in Chaguanas yesterday, John said there have 965 expressions of interest in the 129 projects listed in the plan. John and other Government ministers have visited several countries since the launch in November last year. She said interests came from Peru, the US, Netherlands, China, Belgium, South Africa, India, China, France and the United Kingdom. Asked which entities expressed interest, John said she could not say. Read more here
BUSINESS
Ministry defends pension policy
The Senior Citizens’ Pension is not a benefit granted solely on the basis of age. This according to the Ministry of the People, Social Development and Family Services (MPSDFS), which says it is aware of public statements made by an individual on Facebook regarding the outcome of an application for the Senior Citizens’ Pension. Read more here
REGIONAL
‘Transnational threats do not respect borders’
Networks of illicit activities are growing more acute and complex, President Dr Irfaan Ali has warned, urging leaders of small states, particularly those in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), to foster stronger collaboration to protect their societies. “Transnational crime, including illicit trafficking of drugs, weapons and people, undermines stability and corrodes institutions. These challenges facing small states in our hemisphere are becoming more acute and more complex,” President Ali warned during an address to the Belizean National Assembly last week. Transnational problems, he stressed, require transnational solutions, especially at a time when the international environment itself is marked by heightened uncertainty and rapid change. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Hong Kong pro-democracy tycoon Jimmy Lai gets 20 years' jail
Jimmy Lai, Hong Kong's pro-democracy media tycoon, has been jailed for 20 years for colluding with foreign forces under the city's controversial national security law. Rights groups called it a death sentence for the 78-year-old, whose family has raised concerns about his health, but Hong Kong's leader said it was "deeply gratifying". This is the harshest punishment to be handed down under the law, which China imposed after huge protests in 2019 demanding more freedom, and defends as essential for the city's stability. Lai, a British citizen, is the most prominent of the hundreds arrested under the law. A fierce critic of China, he often wielded his paper, Apple Daily, as a tool of protest. Read more here
9th February 2026