The In­ter­na­tion­al Air Trans­port As­so­ci­a­tion (IA­TA) is call­ing on the An­tigua & Bar­bu­da gov­ern­ment to clar­i­fy a pro­posed plan to raise air pas­sen­ger tax­es for in­ter­na­tion­al trav­ellers. On June 24, the Gas­ton Browne-led ad­min­is­tra­tion ap­proved a US$10 in­crease in the Pas­sen­ger Head Tax for all in­ter­na­tion­al pas­sen­gers ar­riv­ing in and de­part­ing An­tigua & Bar­bu­da, in­creas­ing the tax from US$40 to US$50 per pas­sen­ger (one way). Trav­el with­in the CARI­COM re­gion will be ex­empt from this pro­posed in­crease.

Sen­ate Pres­i­dent Wade Mark used his cast­ing vote ear­ly this morn­ing to break a 15-15 dead­lock and se­cure pas­sage of the Gov­ern­ment’s Spe­cial Op­er­a­tions Bill, fol­low­ing a tense con­clu­sion to de­bate in the Up­per House.

Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar is no longer per­sona non gra­ta in Venezuela, with Cara­cas now de­clar­ing her “per­sona gra­ta” fol­low­ing a meet­ing with act­ing Venezue­lan Pres­i­dent Del­cy Ro­dríguez in New York yes­ter­day.

Less than a year af­ter ad­min­is­ter­ing the oath of of­fice to Trinidad and To­ba­go’s top ju­di­cial of­fi­cer, Sen­ate Pres­i­dent Wade Mark will to­day stand along­side Chief Jus­tice Ron­nie Boodoos­ingh and for­mer gov­ern­ment min­is­ter Dr Su­ru­jrat­tan Ram­bachan as re­cip­i­ents of the na­tion’s high­est award, the Or­der of the Re­pub­lic of Trinidad and To­ba­go (ORTT).