NEWS
Haiti’s security situation continues to deteriorate
Hundreds of people have fled their homes after criminal gangs began fighting with each other over the last weekend, also forcing the closure of hospitals in the capital, Port-au-Prince. The group, Doctors Without Borders (MSF), said hundreds of residents sought refuge in its hospital in the neighbourhood and that one of its security guards had been shot by a stray bullet while inside the compound. “We managed to evacuate him, and his condition is now stable,” said Davina Hayles, MSF’s head of mission in Haiti. “But it is unthinkable that our teams and civilians should become victims of these clashes”. MSF said it had taken in more than 800 people who sought refuge, but as the situation worsened, it decided to suspend operations at the hospital until further notice. Read more here
POLITICS
Caricom leaders in five-hour caucus on Secretary General impasse
Caricom leaders had a five-hour discussion last Friday regarding T&T’s concerns on the reappointment Caricom Secretary General Dr Carla Barnett, but leaders did not agree to redo their February process and decision on Barnett’s appointment. And there was no vote on the issue. There was no T&T ministerial presence at the meeting. However, Government officials said the United National Congress (UNC) administration maintains its ground against the reappointment. Government officials last Saturday confirmed that Caricom leaders discussed the reappointment issue last Friday, as part of Caricom’s regular virtual meeting that day. Confirming there was no prime ministerial or ministerial representation of T&T, they pointed out that Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and Foreign and Caricom Affairs Minister Sean Sobers were in Parliament from 1.30 pm last Friday and also hosted visiting India External Affairs Minister, Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. Read more here
BUSINESS
No hantavirus in T&T
DON’T panic over hantavirus. This was the assurance yesterday from Minister of Health Dr Lackram Bodoe, who said there were no confirmed or suspected cases of the virus in Trinidad and Tobago. He was speaking following a statement posted online which the Health Ministry said was fake news. A fake release yesterday stated that schools would be closed for two weeks “due to health concerns relating to the recent detection of the hantavirus cases within several communities”. Read more here
REGIONAL
Guyana ‘more confident than ever’ of ICJ victory
GUYANA has emerged from the final oral hearings in its historic border controversy case against Venezuela at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) “more confident than ever” that the world court will uphold the 1899 Arbitral Award and definitively affirm the country’s lawful boundary. Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall, SC, made the declaration on Monday following the conclusion of proceedings in The Hague, Netherlands. As oral hearings concluded at the ICJ at the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands, Nandlall described the completion of proceedings as a triumph for international law and the rules-based global order, while warning that any refusal by Venezuela to comply with the court’s eventual ruling would place Caracas in breach of fundamental international obligations. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Pakistan struck a rehab centre and killed 269 Afghans. Their families want to know why
On a rainy, cold morning Masooda makes her way to a hillside cemetery in north-west Kabul to visit the grave of her younger brother Mirwais. But she doesn't know exactly where he was buried after he was killed in a Pakistani airstrike two months ago. Instead, she stands at the edge of a mass grave, neatly covered with tiny white stones and roughly marked with grey granite slabs, which is the final resting place of some of the at least 269 people killed in the attack on a drug rehabilitation centre. Read more here
12th May 2026