Soca star Machel Montano has tied the knot.
The 45-year-old wed his long-time partner Renee Butcher at the Red House on Valentine's Day. The ceremony was the first to be held at the Rotunda at the Red House since the building was reopened just three weeks ago.

More geological activity has been discovered in South Trinidad after six new mud volcanoes were spotted. 
Researcher and geologist, Xavier Moonan, shared photos via social media showing the new formations in Los Iros. 
"New mud volcanoes! At least 6 new mud volcano cones have appeared over the last week in RE Trace, Los Iros. The new cones all occur along the trace of the August 21st 2018 earthquake fault rupture which completely offset the roads along RE Trace."
"Oil sheen and strong sent of hydrocarbons accompany the mudflow. Mud samples were collected for analysis," Moonan said. 
A resurgence of activity at the Piparo Mud Volcano in October 2019 caused panic among residents.
State officials monitored the mud volcano and some people were even evacuated after it began showing signs of activity including cracks in a nearby road and emissions of gas and mud.
The Piparo Mud Volcano is known for an eruption in 1997 which caused catastrophic damage to over 33 homes in the area. 
Source: The Loop, Jan 20, 2020

The Council and Staff of the National Trust rejoice in the reopening of the Red House, the seat of our democracy.
It is our fervent hope that the grandeur of the Red House will spark a desire in citizens to preserve, cherish and celebrate all heritage symbols that entwine our shared past with our shared future.
The National Trust wishes to thank all those who have contributed to the restoration of the Red House and other heritage properties that are the inheritance of every citizen of Trinidad and Tobago.

The Red House has been pro­claimed as the place for the con­tin­u­a­tion of Par­lia­ment.
A state­ment from the Par­lia­ment yes­ter­day showed a le­gal no­tice signed by Pres­i­dent Paula-Mae Weekes where she ap­point­ed the Red House as the place at which the Fifth Ses­sion of the Eleventh Par­lia­ment shall con­tin­ue.
Here is the full text of the procla­ma­tion be­low:
WHERE­AS it is pro­vid­ed by sub­sec­tion (1) of sec­tion 67 of the Con­sti­tu­tion of the Re­pub­lic of Trinidad and To­ba­go, that each ses­sion of Par­lia­ment shall be held at such place with­in Trinidad and To­ba­go and shall com­mence at such time as the
Restora­tion works have been on­go­ing at the Red House, which housed Par­lia­ment for decades.
Last last year it was an­nounced that sit­tings of the Up­per and Low­er House would re­turn to the Red House this month af­ter be­ing housed at the In­ter­na­tion­al Wa­ter­front Com­plex, Port-of-Spain for the last eight years.
Gov­ern­ment said last year it would take some time for Par­lia­ment staff and op­er­a­tions to move in­to the Red House and this would be done dur­ing while the hous­es were on re­cess.
It was not the first time the his­toric Red House had to be re­stored or re­built.
The orig­i­nal build­ing was de­stroyed in 1903 wa­ter ri­ots and re­built in 1907.
It was giv­en its fa­mous coat of red paint in 1897 when this coun­try, which made up British colonies, pre­pared to cel­e­brate then Queen Vic­to­ria’s di­a­mond ju­bilee.
Pres­i­dent may by Procla­ma­tion ap­point:
Now, there­fore, I, PAULA-MAE WEEKES, Pres­i­dent as afore­said, do here­by ap­point the Red House, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, as the place at which the Fifth Ses­sion of the Eleventh Par­lia­ment of the Re­pub­lic of Trinidad and To­ba­go shall con­tin­ue.
Giv­en un­der my Hand and the Seal of the Pres­i­dent of the Re­pub­lic of Trinidad and To­ba­go at the Of­fice of the Pres­i­dent, St. Ann’s, this 10th day of Jan­u­ary, 2020.
Source: Trinidad Guardian, Jan 16, 2020

Morning lows across Trinidad are already dipping below 20°C, with a few areas nearing 19°C on Saturday morning as of 1:00 AM.
Parts of interior Trinidad, such as Penal and Caroni may see morning low temperatures near 18.0°C.
Temperatures across Tobago, albeit still cool, have remained near 23°C
Low temperatures during this time of year are normal, as the Northern Hemisphere experiences winter.
Cool temperatures across Trinidad result of several factors occurring:

• Calm/near calm winds
• Almost no cloud coverage
• Winds originating from the Northeast to the north at some of the lower levels of the atmosphere (over Trinidad)
• Low amounts of low-level moisture (water vapor)

The dew point, which is the atmospheric temperature below which water droplets begin to condense and dew can form, meteorologists can determine both the moisture content of the atmosphere near the surface, as well as an estimate for the minimum temperature.
A lower dew point means that there is less water vapor in the air. Water vapor can absorb and radiate heat back to the surface. Hence, the lower the water vapor content, the more infrared radiation (i.e. long-wave radiation) can escape from the surface of the earth and cause rapid cooling.
Calm winds and no cloud coverage are due to a persistent sub-tropical high-pressure system that will begin to dominate the weather for much of January, causing dry air at mid and upper levels of the atmosphere, inhibiting cloud formation.
Lack of cloud coverage also leads to fairly warm days, where temperatures can reach 30-32°C.
Particularly during El Niño years, winter storms move further southward across the United States, increasing the likelihood of cold frontal systems moving across the Caribbean and further dipping temperatures. On the rare occasion, a cold front does manage to make it as far south as Trinidad and Tobago, cold conditions would be due to a process called advection, where there is a horizontal mass movement of air.
For vulnerable persons, who might be especially susceptible to cooler temperatures, such as babies or people suffering from arthritis, it may be best to layer up as a way to keep warm at night.

Shared by Anand Mathura on his Facebook Page.  

The THA Division of Tourism, Culture and Transportation collaborated with the Buccoo village council for the launch of the Buccoo passport initiative on Thursday at the tower of the Buccoo Integrated Facility.
The initiative, which includes seven unique elements, is the latest private sector tourism undertaking on the island and offers a packaged Buccoo experience that includes Buccoo Reef tours, entertainment by the Buccooneers Steel Orchestra, goat and crab racing, horseback riding, museum tours, Buccoo "Sunday School" and dining at participating restaurants.
Speaking at the launch, president of the village council Natasha Roachford-Chance said the first step in the initiative was to formulate the pillars of the Buccoo passport, which was initially supposed to be called The Buccoo Experience or The BU Experience.
After several conversations, she said they went in another direction towards the passport booklets. The passports feature active barcodes and will be sold to visitors to enable them to access the package offerings.
“We have developed three packages; fun day pass (FDP), mix and match (M&M) and make your pick (MYP).
“The long-term plan is that we have an outlet where we include other souvenir items of Buccoo passport and surrounding areas and, of course, extend it to our fellow Tobagonians. This will allow the Buccoo Village Council to employ two members of the Buccoo community that would serve as the staff members; of course we have to develop the company to do such and we would be able to benefit more in the community,” she said as she thanked the village council for buying into the initiative.
Public Relations officer (PRO) of the village council, Winston Pereira said the intended target market is the cruise ship arrivals.
“We intend to provide a fully interactive cultural experience that will improve the memorable nature of the product, thereby making it a much safer space for all arriving cruise ship itinerary.
“This initiative forms part of a larger plan by the Buccoo village council to highlight and harness the immense heritage potential of our village using the binary approach of technical and cultural,” he said.
Administrator of the Division of Tourism, Culture and Transportation, Selma Graham applauded the village council for understanding the importance of preserving and showcasing aspects of the island’s rich culture and history.
“Today signifies another noteworthy milestone for our island – one which should be lauded by all…Tobago has numerous natural and historical offerings. I must commend the Buccoo village council for having the foresight and successfully birthing this project even as the Tobago House of Assembly, through the Division of Tourism, Culture and Transportation, continues to encourage the establishment of private initiatives such as these. I look forward to experiencing the offerings of this initiative,” she said.
Following the launch, attendees were escorted on a guided tour of some of the package attractions including the goat racing track, Healing with Horses Park and the La Tartaruga restaurant. Source: Newsday, Dec 2019.

​A new re­port from the In­ter-Amer­i­can De­vel­op­ment Bank (IDB) de­scribes gov­ern­ment trans­ac­tions in T&T and across the Caribbean as a “hotbed of cor­rup­tion” where cit­i­zens are com­pelled to pay bribes to ac­cess cer­tain ser­vices.
In the re­port, Wait no More: Cit­i­zens, Red Tape and Dig­i­tal Gov­ern­ment, au­thors Ben­jamin Roseth and An­gela Reyes state that “man­u­al gov­ern­ment trans­ac­tions, face-to-face in­ter­ac­tions, and the lack of stan­dard­ized process­es mean that trans­ac­tions are vul­ner­a­ble to dis­hon­est be­hav­iour.”
Ref­er­enc­ing da­ta from a 2019 Trans­paren­cy In­ter­na­tion­al sur­vey, they said in five Caribbean coun­tries 19 per cent of re­spon­dents said that had paid a bribe to ac­cess a pub­lic ser­vice.
“Da­ta from this same sur­vey show that the per­cent­age of peo­ple who pay bribes in ex­change for ser­vices varies through­out the re­gion: in Guyana 27 per cent of those sur­veyed said they had to pay a bribe to ac­cess a pub­lic ser­vice, the high­est pro­por­tion in the re­gion, fol­lowed by 20 per cent in The Ba­hamas and 17 per cent in both Ja­maica and Trinidad and To­ba­go.”
Bar­ba­dos reg­is­tered the low­est rate, with on­ly 9 per cent of those sur­veyed re­port­ing hav­ing paid a bribe to re­ceive a pub­lic ser­vice.
The au­thors claim that these rates var­ied ac­cord­ing to the ser­vice be­ing re­quest­ed. The re­search by Trans­paren­cy In­ter­na­tion­al found that in the Caribbean, pub­lic util­i­ties record­ed the high­est rate of bribes where 19 per cent of cit­i­zens said they paid a bribe to ac­cess a ser­vice. Al­so, 15 per cent of re­spon­dents paid a bribe to ob­tain an iden­ti­ty doc­u­ment. For po­lice ser­vices, this fig­ure reached 18 per cent.
The ref­er­ence pop­u­la­tion for these sta­tis­tics, ac­cord­ing to the re­port, in­clud­ed peo­ple who at­tempt­ed to ac­cess a pub­lic ser­vice in the past year. The sur­vey asked re­spon­dents for each type of ser­vice: “How of­ten, if ever, did you have to pay a bribe, give a gift, or do a favour to (pub­lic of­fi­cial in X in­sti­tu­tion) to get the (ser­vice X) you need­ed?”
The re­spon­dents in­clud­ed in the over­all bribery per­cent­age are those who re­spond­ed “once,” “twice,” “a few times” or “of­ten.”
When Guardian Me­dia reached out to var­i­ous of­fi­cials about their knowl­edge of peo­ple ac­cept­ing bribes, they said that they were not aware.
Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty Min­is­ter Stu­art Young said: “No I am not. If you have any cred­i­ble in­for­ma­tion on these very se­ri­ous al­le­ga­tions I would like you to pro­vide to me please.”
There was a sim­i­lar re­sponse from Pub­lic Util­i­ties Min­is­ter Robert Le Hunte.
“No I am not and if you have in­for­ma­tion on that please send it to me,” he told Guardian Me­dia
Ap­proached for com­ment, Po­lice Com­mis­sion­er Gary Grif­fith point­ed out that the T&T Po­lice Ser­vice (TTPS) does not in­ves­ti­gate based on “a Caribbean poll or al­le­ga­tions by anony­mous per­sons from around the Caribbean.”
“There have been dozens of re­ports made on TTPS po­lice of­fi­cers per­tain­ing to such in­ci­dents and with every re­port, it is thor­ough­ly in­ves­ti­gat­ed,” he said.
Grif­fith said at times the in­ves­ti­ga­tions proved the al­le­ga­tions to have no mer­it and there had been “sev­er­al in­ves­ti­ga­tions where­by po­lice of­fi­cers have in­deed been charged.”
The Com­mis­sion­er said this ev­i­dence shows that the TTPS “acts on such mat­ters if and when called up­on to do so.” He ex­plained, how­ev­er, “that the num­ber of such cas­es is very low in com­par­i­son to the num­ber of TTPS of­fi­cers on du­ty.”
Ac­cord­ing to the IDB re­port, one of the rea­sons cit­i­zens re­sort to pay­ing bribes is be­cause of the length of the trans­ac­tion times for gov­ern­ment ser­vices which Roseth and Reyes de­scribed as “slow and (they) gen­er­ate trans­ac­tion costs for both cit­i­zens and firms.”
“Com­plet­ing gov­ern­ment trans­ac­tions re­quires a lot of ef­fort. Jour­neys, queues, wait­ing at the counter, fill­ing out forms, read­ing com­mu­ni­ca­tions, seek­ing in­for­ma­tion, send­ing let­ters, or even learn­ing to use a new sys­tem or web­site: in short, a gov­ern­ment trans­ac­tion can be all-con­sum­ing,” they wrote.
The av­er­age amount of hours spent to get a trans­ac­tion com­plet­ed in T&T is 3.9 hours. Guyana had the slow­est times, where it takes a cit­i­zen on av­er­age 5.9 hours to com­plete one trans­ac­tion. Bar­ba­dos was al­so above the Caribbean av­er­age, at 4.8 hours on av­er­age, while in Ja­maica it took on av­er­age 4.1 hours. The Ba­hamas had the low­est av­er­age times of the Caribbean at 2.8 hours.
Da­ta from Trans­paren­cy In­ter­na­tion­al al­so showed that Caribbean cit­i­zens spent an av­er­age of 4.3 hours to com­plete their last gov­ern­ment trans­ac­tion and “this refers to ac­tive time, such as trans­porta­tion, wait­ing in line and at the counter, and ex­cludes time spent wait­ing for a res­o­lu­tion out­side of the pub­lic of­fice.”
Roseth and Reyes re­port­ed that mul­ti­ple in­ter­ac­tions gen­er­at­ed trans­ac­tion costs for cit­i­zens even if every in­di­vid­ual vis­it is short, “as cit­i­zens must spend time and re­sources com­mut­ing to pub­lic of­fices and ask mul­ti­ple times for leave at work, among oth­er costs.”
These mul­ti­ple in­ter­ac­tions al­so im­ply ef­fi­cien­cy loss­es for the gov­ern­ment which is forced to ear­mark more re­sources for pro­vid­ing cit­i­zen ser­vices due to in­ef­fi­cien­cy.