NEWS
Hilton warns of Sept 18 exit as lease agreement yet to be finalised
More than 300 workers at the Hilton Trinidad & Conference Centre are facing an uncertain future after Hilton International Trinidad Limited warned it could stop operating the landmark hotel on September 18 if a new agreement with State-owned Evolving TecKnologies and Enterprise Development Company Limited (eTeCK) is not finalised. But eTecK insisted yesterday that no decision has been taken by either the company or the Government to permanently discontinue the hotel’s operations. In a letter sent yesterday to Communications Workers’ Union (CWU) Secretary General Joanne Ogeer, Hilton General Manager Olivier Maumaire formally notified the union that the company’s lease expires on September 18. “Without a replacement agreement, Hilton will not continue to operate the Hotel beyond that date,” Maumaire wrote. Read more here
Communities welcome plan
Resdidents and business operators in Acono Road in Maracas Valley-St Joseph, areas near the Grand Bazaar Interchange and Kelly Village in Caroni have welcomed Government’s latest crime-fighting initiative to establish 30 joint army-police posts across the country. The Express visited the communities yesterday. Most residents and business owners supported the initiative, although several said they would like more details about how the posts would operate. At Acono Road, a resident and taxi driver who identified himself as “Malcolm” questioned why officers attached to the nearby police station could not already carry out the duties of officers at the posts. Read more here
POLITICS
Kamla, Beckles clash over joint police-army posts
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and Opposition Leader Pennelope Beckles are clashing over the Government’s plan to establish 30 joint police and army posts across the country. Beckles is questioning the legality, funding and effectiveness of the initiative, while Persad-Bissessar is accusing the People’s National Movement (PNM) of standing in the way of efforts to dismantle the drug trade. The Government intends to establish the joint Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) and Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force (TTDF) posts over the next four months as part of its crime-fighting strategy. In a Facebook post yesterday, the Opposition Leader described the plan as a “knee-jerk reaction” to mounting public concern over crime. Read more here
BUSINESS
Swaratsingh: First quarter job losses reflect seasonal trend
Planning Minister Dr Kennedy Swaratsingh says the nearly 6,000 jobs lost during the first three months of 2026 should not be viewed in isolation, arguing that the decline reflects a recurring post-Christmas employment pattern and does not, by itself, signal a weakening labour market. Swaratsingh was responding to Guardian Media reporting on the Central Statistical Office’s (CSO) latest Labour Force Survey, which showed that the number of employed people fell by almost 6,000 between the fourth quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026. The CSO is a division of the Ministry of Planning, Economic Affairs and Development. While not disputing the CSO figures, Swaratsingh said the more appropriate comparison was between the first quarter of 2025 and the corresponding period in 2026. Swaratsingh said employment actually increased by approximately 5,100 people, moving from 558,900 in the first quarter of 2025 to 564,000 in the first quarter of this year. Read more here
Lisa Mohammed’s vision for TOSL’s future
Lisa Mohammed’s appointment as managing director of TOSL Engineering Ltd. marks the beginning of a new chapter for the 44-year-old engineering company, but she says the role is less about the title and more about responsibility. “I was honoured, but if I’m being honest, the first thing I felt wasn’t excitement; it was responsibility. Responsibility to our employees, to our customers, and to the legacy of everyone who has helped build TOSL over the past 44 years,” Mohammed told Express Business. Having spent nearly three decades with the company, Mohammed said TOSL has played a significant role in shaping her career and that leading the organisation’s next phase is both personal and meaningful. Read more here
REGIONAL
Green spaces, improved infrastructure, community care to enhance EBD communities
PRESIDENT Dr Irfaan Ali is pressing ahead with a nationwide push to modernise Guyana’s villages, holding a string of community consultations along the East Bank of Demerara (EBD) yesterday that will see Kaneville, Diamond and Grove transformed under the government’s Model Village Initiative. The engagements are set to continue on Thursday with residents along the East Coast of Demerara, as the administration widens a programme it says will bring the pace of development seen in Georgetown into villages across the country. Speaking at a consultation in Kaneville on Tuesday, President Ali said the initiative goes beyond roads, bridges and drainage, placing people, the environment, culture and community life at the centre of development planning. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Russian strike kills at least 17 as Zelensky says interceptors could have saved lives
Russia has attacked Ukraine with ballistic missiles and drones, killing at least 17 people, as Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said interceptors "could have saved lives". In one of the deadliest strikes on Kyiv and the capital region this year - which started after midnight on Wednesday - at least 45 people were injured after residential buildings, a railway station and warehouses were hit. Ukraine, who has consistently urged allies for more US-made Patriot missile interceptors to defend against Russian ballistics, has not reported intercepting any of the missiles in the overnight attack. Read more here
5th August 2026