hey guys

(Trinidad Express) The University of the West Indies (The UWI) is “intellectually bankrupt”, Member of Parliament for Diego Martin North East Colm Imbert has said.

Imbert, an alumni of The UWI, said at times he felt like returning his degree to the institution.

Imbert said Friday that during this time of growing turbulence in the global energy sector the intellectuals at The UWI have remained “deafeningly silent”.

He said he was bothered by this.

“The University of the West Indies, you know sometimes I feel like giving back my degree, because The University of the West Indies is in a sorry state,” Imbert said during debate in the Lower House at the International Waterfront Centre in Port of Spain.

“Where are the economists in The University of the West Indies, educating the public, debating, speaking about these issues there should have been forums at The University of the West Indies for the last six months bringing thinkers and economists and oil experts together to talk about these things and to chart the way forward for Trinidad and Tobago,” he said.

“All you are hearing is a deafening silence, what has happened to The University of the West Indies, what has happened to it. Intellectually bankrupt,” he said.

Imbert said when you do hear voices from The UWI they seem to be “government mouthpieces”.

“Even an economist at UWI some fella called Roger Hosein everything is good man, the budget price good. This is why I talk about the intellectual bankruptcy of UWI, you get the impression that the only people who speak up there are government mouthpieces, there are no independent thinkers anymore left at UWI and I call on the University of the West Indies to stop that,” he said.

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The son of murdered Rautie Esther Gopaul, who was tied up, gagged, and smothered to death in her bed by intruders last week, broke down and could not complete the last rites at her funeral at the Waterloo cremation site yesterday.

Aaron Gopaul, 19, had to be assisted by the pundit, and consoled by relatives as the flames licked the pyre.

Last Friday, three thieves broke into the family home in Chaguanas with Gopaul and her son lived.

They were attacked and robbed by three armed thieves.

The mother and son were bound by tie straps and beaten. Rautie was suffocated by the thieves as her face was pressed into her bed as her mouth was taped.

Aaron, who was also tied, lay helpless on the floor. The suspects escaped with a sum of cash and jewelry.

The case remained unsolved yesterday.

Distraught relatives and friends described the late Rautie as “hard-working and loving mother”.

Pradeep Sankar, a former co-worker, said she was kind and always had a friendly smile. He said Gopaul worked hard to support her son, whom he said “was her world”.

Some relatives also described her as caring and kind.

Ricky Siewdass, uncle of Rautie, said she will be terribly missed.

The funeral was officiated by Pundit Rishi Ojar.

COLOMBO, (Reuters) – Pope Francis will give Sri Lanka its first Catholic saint today, ending a 300-year campaign to recognise the sanctity of an Indian-born missionary who was captured as a suspected spy after he crept into the tropical island in disguise.

Joseph Vaz was born in 1651 in India’s Goa, then a Portuguese colony. He travelled south at the age of 36, dressed as a poor labourer, to a country then known as Ceylon after hearing about the persecution of Catholics by the Dutch.

“He revived the faith of our people,” said Sri Lanka’s Bishop Raymond Wickramasinghe of Galle.

The canonisation is an example of Francis’s no-nonsense approach to creating saints to meet the demands of the flock for new holy figures. Some say Vaz does not technically qualify because the Church has not attributed two miracles to him.

The ceremony will take place in a park on the Colombo seafront, where crowds of faithful began gathering late yesterday to witness one of the headline events of the Pope’s two-day visit.

On Monday, Francis called on Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka to uncover the truth about its long civil war between mainly Hindu Tamils and the mostly Buddhist Sinhalese and bring religious communities closer together.

He moves on to the Philippines tomorrow as part of a week-long tour, his second trip to Asia, to shore up the Church’s presence in developing nations.

The British High Commission today announced that Leroy Phillips from Guyana is one of 60 young people from across the Commonwealth who are being recognised as exceptional leaders in their community. These 60 young people are the first ever to receive a prestigious Queen’s Young Leaders Award, the release said.

Leroy became blind at the age of six and faced intense discrimination at school, the citation says. He now works hard to improve access to education for all. Leroy’s achievements include speaking about this issue at a conference in Brussels, where he shared the platform with former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

The Award, which will be presented in London by Queen Elizabeth in June, and is part of The Queen’s Young Leaders Programme, celebrates the achievements of young people who are taking the lead to transform the lives of others and make a lasting difference in their communities.

This year’s Award winners, aged between 18 and 29 and who come from all over the Commonwealth, are working to support others, raise awareness and inspire change on a variety of different issues including; education, climate change, gender equality, mental health and disability equality.

The Christie administration wants to close the Izod Center, which has been a key component of the Meadowlands Sports Complex for 34 years, perhaps as soon as the end of this month.

The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority board will be asked at its monthly meeting Thursday to approve a plan that would shutter the 18,000-seat arena by the end of March. The date would be moved up if acts booked there for February and March can be relocated to the Prudential Center in Newark.

happy friday

This is a pretty honest assessment of LeBron from Coach Blatt. Not sugarcoating anything and realizing the only way to get LeBron on his side is if they start winning more games. Here is what he had to say via Yahoo Sports.

    Blatt has played it level and cool with James, it seems, letting the superstar dictate the terms of the relationship. Blatt hasn’t tried to overreach, nor battle him in public or private. It is a fight no one coach could win, nor survive. Blatt’s strategy seems simple: Over time, sell James – sell all these Cavaliers – on a vision for victory.

    “It is a process,” Blatt told Yahoo Sports. “It really has to come first from the professional side. Man to man, we’re OK. We don’t go out drinking together, but we’re fine man to man. But professionally, LeBron wants to win. And he wants from me, from any coach, a vehicle to help him win.

    “Sometimes, it’s tougher. Sometimes, it’s less so. He’s one of the great players of all time. He’s been in the Finals four straight years and five times overall. He’s got his own opinions and he expresses them. At times, he can be stubborn. But what I know from him, what he wants from me, is a vehicle to help him win. And beyond that, nothing else is really important.”

    At times, would Blatt prefer to see James more engaged in timeouts and huddles?

    “I do,” Blatt told Yahoo Sports. “But I’ve had players do that before. But the answer to that is just winning. This isn’t a perfect world. This isn’t utopia. In the NBA, it’s different. Every glance, twitch, gets glorified and magnified. I just let it go. There’s nothing I can do about it.”

LeBron needs to help Coach Blatt. Blatt seems to understand he can’t win if he and LeBron aren’t on the same side of the war, but he also can’t win just letting LeBron do whatever he wants. There has to be a middle ground and a level of respect. The respect is being given by Blatt, but it isn’t being given back by LeBron and everyone else on the team are taking their cues from him. Winning does cure all, but LeBron certainly could be more helpful if he wanted to be.