Con­tro­ver­sy erupt­ed on Mon­day night, as of­fi­cers from the Trinidad and To­ba­go Po­lice Ser­vice (TTPS) swooped down on the Cou­va Car­ni­val Cen­tre and or­dered of­fi­cials of the Cou­va Car­ni­val Com­mit­tee (CCC) to shut down all op­er­a­tions with three bands still to per­form on stage.

Led by mul­ti­ple win­ning band­leader Jacqui Koon How, the band’s pre­sen­ta­tion of Come Fly With Me won the Band of the Year crown.

Ra­madan will be­gin at sun­set on Wednes­day, ac­cord­ing to an up­date is­sued by the AS­JA Hi­lal Com­mit­tee.

“To our Chris­t­ian com­mu­ni­ty, may this Lenten sea­son re­new your faith, deep­en your com­pas­sion, and strength­en your hope. To the Mus­lim Ummah, may your fast­ing, prayers, and char­i­ty bring you clos­er to Al­lah and fill your homes with peace, bless­ings, and el­e­vat­ed Imaan.”

A heavy se­cu­ri­ty pres­ence marked the start of Car­ni­val Tues­day in San Fer­nan­do as Blue Dev­ils joined the first band on the road Fyr­na­tion, sig­nal­ing a de­ter­mined push to re­vive South mas.

For­mer Ma­yaro MP Rush­ton Paray has ac­cused the cur­rent ad­min­is­tra­tion of ap­ply­ing “dou­ble stan­dards” on free­dom of speech, ar­gu­ing that the Gov­ern­ment’s re­cent ac­tions mir­ror com­plaints once made by the Op­po­si­tion when it sat on the oth­er side of Par­lia­ment.

Mid­night Mas in San Fer­nan­do was abrupt­ly shut down by po­lice just over an hour be­fore mid­night on Car­ni­val Mon­day, spark­ing out­rage among mas­quer­aders, band lead­ers and city of­fi­cials.

Op­po­si­tion Leader Pen­ne­lope Beck­les has called on Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar to re­tract com­ments about ca­lyp­so and is­sue an apol­o­gy to the na­tion.

Ex­tem­po artistes lit up the stage in Ch­agua­nas on Mon­day night, de­liv­er­ing not on­ly sharp wit and lyri­cal bril­liance but al­so a pas­sion­ate call for the art­form to reach even greater heights.

Gov­ern­ment has plead­ed “no cen­sor­ship”, and state-owned Trinidad and To­ba­go Tele­vi­sion (TTT) has apol­o­gised to view­ers for the loss of au­dio dur­ing for­mer Ca­lyp­so Monarch Helon Fran­cis’s per­for­mance at Sun­day’s Di­manche Gras show—but Fran­cis is not con­vinced.

Ca­lyp­son­ian Ter­ri Lyons reaped the bless­ings of her hard work, ded­i­ca­tion and faith in God as she was crowned the 2026 Ca­lyp­so Monarch yes­ter­day morn­ing.

Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar was out ear­ly yes­ter­day morn­ing en­joy­ing J’Ou­vert cel­e­bra­tions in Bar­rack­pore.