The Tobago Tourism Agency Limited’s destination marketing campaign, “Tobago Beyond”, has been shortlisted in the International Travel & Tourism Awards 2019 in the “Best National Tourism Board Campaign” and “Best Destination Campaign” categories.
A release from TTAL said the International Travel and Tourism Awards is presented by the World Travel Market and supported by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation. The awards are a global platform that recognises and promotes excellence within the travel and tourism industry.
The 2019 Awards Ceremony will take place on Tuesday, November 5 in London, England.
According to the release, the “Best National Tourism Board Campaign” award recognises which destination showcased its vibrancy, culture, and individuality through a consumer or trade campaign that leaves the viewer pushing the destination to the top of their bucket list, or wanting to return.
The award for “Best Destination Campaign” looks at which destination’s campaign achieved volume and value growth in addition to encouraging visitation.
TTAL said the submitted campaigns were assessed using tangible metrics, including proof of audience engagement, budget, and obstacles and how they were resolved.
According to Nicole Smart, International Travel and Tourism Awards Organiser: “Our judges have been greatly impressed by the exceptional quality of entries, and those who are on the shortlist know they have reached a very high standard – they will be among the best in the world.”
Tobago’s submission, “Revitalising Tobago Tourism”, outlined the aim of the “Tobago Beyond” campaign, which is to revitalise the international appeal of Tobago as a real challenger holiday destination for those seeking a Caribbean holiday. With limited resources in comparison to other Caribbean destinations, focusing on specific markets and traveler segments was a key part of the strategy.
TTAL said the submission also indicated that all of the campaign’s KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) have outperformed, and resulted in double-digit growth of arrivals in 8 months, with the last three months showing 22 percent, 29 percent and 40 percent growth respectively.
Commenting on the announcement of Tobago being shortlisted in the awards, Secretary for Tourism, Culture and Transportation, Councillor Nadine Stewart-Phillips said: “This accomplishment is another reflection of our continued commitment to advance the island's tourism sector. This is certainly a testament to the fact that we are going in the right direction with respect to greater visibility for destination Tobago.
"Since the launch, the ‘Tobago Beyond’ campaign has attracted tremendous local and international interest and has yielded substantial results. I am heartened that our efforts are being recognised globally and look forward to the continued positive returns this recognition will bring.”
Louis Lewis, CEO of the Tobago Tourism Agency Limited, also expressed his satisfaction with the news, stating: “We are honoured to be shortlisted for not just one, but two categories in these prestigious awards, due to the beyond ordinary marketing efforts of the Tobago Tourism Agency. Our intention has always been to enable Tobago to be a stand out destination in its own right using the island’s unique character and features to guide our creative and messaging exploration, and our recognition in these awards signify that our brand message is being received loud and clear.”
Source: Newsday, August 2019

Extra Innings, a period drama produced by Trinidadian born filmmaker Jolene Mendes, won the top award for Best Feature Film at the 2019 Manhattan Film Festival held in Cinema Village, New York in May.
The film, set in 1960's Brooklyn, tells the story of an aspiring baseball player who is torn between pursuing his professional dreams and remaining devoted to his religious family who are affected by mental illness.
Extra Innings features actors Alex Walton, Aidan P. Brennan, Mara Kassin and Geraldine Singer. It was directed by Albert Dabah and Brian Dillinger from an original script written by Dabah, and is based on his own life story. Mendes produced the film with Rabia Sultana.
The award represents the highest accolade to date won by Mendes, a graduate of the film production conservatory programme at the New York Film Academy, who marks her feature film producing debut with the film.
Several of her previously produced short films have screened at festivals around the world, winning awards at the Soho Film Festival, the New York City International Film Festival, the Coney Island Film Festival and the Orlando Film Festival.
According to Mendes "This award has special meaning for us all, as the project was a labor of love in every way. We didn't have a big budget, but we had a story with a big heart, so generously shared with us by Albert. In a festival that screens nearly 200 films annually, for our film to win the most prestigious award meant everything."
Mendes has had a passion for and curiosity about film and television production since her childhood in her native country Trinidad. But since the island did not have a thriving film industry at the time, she never thought a career in film was possible.
Following her graduation from high school, she studied briefly in Canada before switching career paths, relocating to New York and enrolling at NYFA to pursue her dream of film production.
Since graduating from the conservatory programme in 2015, she has been working steadily as a film producer, making it her mission to make films that have the potential to "inspire and make a difference in the world."
"I feel so lucky to have been given the opportunity to make my passion into my career. What I love most about film is the ability it has to have such a huge impact throughout the world. The fact that you can sit down for a couple hours and laugh, cry, be motivated or feel inspired is so special to me. For all these reasons, the journey we have taken with Extra Innings has been truly unforgettable. It has some wonderful things to say about ambition, family and making hard choices. It also tackles the sensitive issue of mental illness in a very real and relatable way. Everyone who sees it can learn something from this film."
Source: BroadwayWorld.com

​The Washington-based Institute for Caribbean Studies (ICS) has inducted four-time Olympic medallist Ato Boldon into its Wall of Fame.
The honour was given as part of the Institute's efforts to pay tribute to notable Caribbean nationals during Caribbean American Heritage Month, held annually in June.
Boldon holds the Trinidad and Tobago national record in the 50, 60 and 200-metre events, with times of 5.64, 6.49 and 19.77 seconds respectively, and also the Commonwealth Games record in the 100m.
The ICS said, “Boldon is widely viewed as one of the all-time leading sportsmen in the history of the Caribbean, as well as one of its most internationally-recognisable spokesman.” 
After he retired from the track, he made his NBC Sports Group debut in 2007 during NBC’s presentation of the US National Championships. That same year, Boldon also served as an analyst for NBC’s coverage of the Track and Field World Championships.
NBC said Boldon joined its Olympics broadcasting team in 2008 where he served as a track and field analyst for NBC’s coverage of the Beijing Olympic Games. He continued in that role during the 2012 London Olympic Games and most recently, he served as an Olympic correspondent at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang.
Prior to joining NBC Sports Group, Boldon served as an analyst for BBC’s coverage of the 1999 World Championships in Seville, Spain. Source: The Loop, June 2019

A STREET in San Fernando has been named after a former slave Mary Belgrove, who first established a funeral parlour in the city in 1888.
The former Henry Street, which stands on the side of Belgrove’s Funeral Home and Crematorium on Coffee Street, was renamed Belgrove Lane recently in honour of the family’s long contribution to the commerce of the city
This is the sixth street named after individuals who have contributed to the development of San Fernando in the past year, through the initiative of San Fernando mayor Junia Regrello.
At the street naming ceremony Regrello noted that many of the streets in the city were named after past governors, mayors and politicians.
He said there were other individual worthy of such a gesture and established a committee to research and make recommendations.
CEO of the Belgroves Group of Companies Keith Belgrove welcomed the renaming of the street to honour his family’s legacy,
As the ceremony, Belgrove proposed that the University of the West Indies, (UWI) St Augustine campus take the first step in starting an associate degree programme in funeral services in an attempt to raise the bar.
“We cannot truly become a professional service unless we raise the education bar. I am going to talk to the UWI to put an associate degree together to raise the bar in funeral service.
“It is already in Jamaica,” Belgrove said at a street naming ceremony in San Fernando yesterday.
Belgrove also used the opportunity to call on Attorney General Faris Al Rawi and Local Government Minister Kazim Hosein to fulfil his dream and regulate the funeral industry. “I dream of the day in my lifetime when funeral directors can grow from being an industry to truly being a profession.
“We will not get there unless regulations for the funeral industry is enacted.”
Before an audience which included Regrello and deputy mayor Vidya Mungal- Bissessar, Belgrove said he has been clamouring for regulations since the 1990’s.
He said Patrick Manning first took the proposal to Cabinet when he was alive and was prime minister but since then he has had promises from successive governments but no results.
“The AG gave me promises. The Minister of Local Government gave me promises. I know you have a lot on your plate as you point out constantly but push it. This is a good time to make it happen.”
Belgrove also issued a call for the reduction in the “punitive” tariff rates funeral homes are subjected to in the importation of hearses which he said has led to a high cost to the consumer.
He said three months ago he wrote to the Comptroller of Customs and Excise to consider its application for the correction for the rate of import duty on funeral hearses.
“It is now three months and we have not had any productive response. How can we grow our business under such punitive import duty rates of 65.5 per cent?” he asked.
Belgrove said his company has professionally pointed out that funeral hearses are considered special purpose goods vehicle.
“To the motor vehicle taxes, it is so considered, but for duty it is considered a luxury vehicle.
“There are so many funeral homes who cannot afford to bring professional vehicles in this country.
“How then can we stand up as truly world class?” Source:  Newsday, June 27, 2019

From the Trinidad & Tobago Guardian, July 24, 2019
We've known for some time now that Trinidad and To­ba­go was a coun­try spi­ralling out of con­trol. Peo­ple were be­ing killed and robbed at record rates, weapons made for war flood­ed our streets and every­one seemed to be liv­ing in fear of los­ing their life.
If you think our na­tion­al night­mare couldn't get worse, just re­flect on the events of the last few weeks. In broad day­light, there were dead­ly gun bat­tles in the streets of Port-of-Spain at least 24 peo­ple in dif­fer­ent parts of the coun­try were killed last week alone. No place seemed safe from the scourge of vi­o­lent crime—from an evening jaunt for fried chick­en in West­moor­ings to a chil­dren's birth­day par­ty in cen­tral Trinidad.
From the time you step out of your door, you're tak­ing your life in your own hands. On­ly two days ago, a busi­ness­man get­ting ready to drop his wife off to work was shot dead in a dri­ve-by shoot­ing.
Crim­i­nal gangs have got­ten more brazen. They re­spect no one. Moth­ers and chil­dren are of­ten col­lat­er­al dam­age, caught in the cross­fire of bloody gang wars. Se­nior cit­i­zens are be­ing tar­get­ed and killed by armed home in­vaders. The spike in rapes of women is now at­trib­uted to roam­ing bands of se­r­i­al rapists.
Some crime scenes in our coun­try re­sem­ble the world's dead­liest war zones. We are well past the point of pa­tience and tol­er­ance. We do not have the lux­u­ry of time. We de­mand ur­gent and im­me­di­ate ac­tion. The lead­ers of our gov­ern­ment and op­po­si­tion par­ties have failed to de­liv­er. They need to set aside their dif­fer­ences and con­front our na­tion­al cri­sis head-on.
1. It starts at the top. That means you, Prime Min­is­ter Row­ley. When you cam­paigned for of­fice five years ago, you pre­dict­ed that out-of-con­trol crime would top­ple the UNC-led gov­ern­ment. Ap­peal­ing for sup­port at the polls, you told us that we were "vir­tu­al­ly vot­ing to save (our) life." Vot­ers put their trust in you.
Our lives have nev­er been in greater dan­ger.
The first and ut­most re­spon­si­bil­i­ty of any gov­ern­ment is to pro­tect its cit­i­zens and pro­vide safe­ty of law and or­der. On that score, your gov­ern­ment gets an F.
Crime has soared since you took of­fice, sur­pass­ing by far the du­bi­ous records of your po­lit­i­cal ri­vals, whom you ap­pro­pri­ate­ly lam­bast­ed for their own fail­ings in fight­ing crime.
When Barack Oba­ma be­came pres­i­dent of the Unit­ed States in 2008, he quick­ly ac­cept­ed the role of con­sol­er-in-chief to com­fort his na­tion af­ter mass shoot­ings and oth­er pe­ri­ods of na­tion­al grief. In our na­tion, there is a deaf­en­ing si­lence from the top when moth­ers wail af­ter the blood of their chil­dren flows in the street. We can do bet­ter.
Ask ran­dom peo­ple in Trinidad and To­ba­go to list close fam­i­ly mem­bers and loved ones who have been mur­dered in the last decade and it is not un­usu­al for the num­ber to ex­ceed 20.
You, Dr Row­ley, have felt your own vis­cer­al agony of los­ing loved ones to crime. In ear­ly May, your for­mer high school class­mate John "Jok­er" Mills and his com­mon-law wife, Eu­lyn John, were bru­tal­ly killed by an in­trud­er in the bed­room of their To­ba­go home. Their hands and feet were bound, their mouths gagged and mul­ti­ple stab wounds cov­ered their bod­ies. In your Face­book post, you asked: "What have we be­come? What are we pro­duc­ing as the next gen­er­a­tion?"
As head of gov­ern­ment, you can help save our next gen­er­a­tion, Dr Row­ley. Even though it took three years for you to in­stall per­ma­nent lead­er­ship in the po­lice ser­vice, it was on­ly a start. The li­on's share of the work is yet to be done.
One of the first tasks should be en­sur­ing that po­lice have all the tools to do their job. It didn't help that Guardian Me­dia re­ports re­cent­ly dis­closed that our gov­ern­ment used mil­lions of dol­lars in tax­pay­ers' mon­ey to sup­port gang boss­es and crim­i­nal net­works fu­elling crime. It is in­dis­putable that these crim­i­nals take our mon­ey, buy big­ger and more men­ac­ing guns, fund their il­lic­it ac­tiv­i­ties, then fight each oth­er for the gov­ern­ment largesse. Many civil­ians be­come their in­no­cent rob­bery and mur­der vic­tims.
(The UNC-led gov­ern­ment does not have clean hands in this mat­ter, as it has al­so fund­ed "com­mu­ni­ty lead­ers", al­so known as gang boss­es).
But now, Dr Row­ley, your wear the jack­et. How can the com­mis­sion­er and his rank-and-file do their jobs when your gov­ern­ment is fund­ing the gangs? Don't take our word for it. Lis­ten to what Po­lice Com­mis­sion­er Gary Grif­fith said last week: "It is ab­solute mad­ness that any­body that holds a po­si­tion of au­thor­i­ty could feel that by giv­ing crim­i­nal el­e­ments funds and mon­ey…. [then] throw blame on the po­lice ser­vice. I will not have any­one throw blame…when they are not do­ing their job."
This is the time, Dr Row­ley, for you to stand up and make bold de­ci­sions for all the peo­ple of Trinidad and To­ba­go. One should not pon­der if starv­ing the crim­i­nal net­works of tax­pay­ers' mon­ey will re­sult in elec­toral con­se­quences.
Here's an­oth­er way you can make a dif­fer­ence, Dr Row­ley. Un­der­take a mas­sive re­struc­tur­ing of the na­tion's le­gal sys­tem.
In the PNM's 2015 man­i­festo, you promised: "The PNM will en­gage the crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem stake­hold­ers to re-en­gi­neer the struc­ture to pro­vide an ef­fi­cient and le­git­i­mate crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem as the foun­da­tion for crime pre­ven­tion, law en­force­ment and the pro­tec­tion of hu­man rights."
Every­one agrees that our jus­tice sys­tem needs a mas­sive over­haul. Crim­i­nal cas­es still take up to 15 years to come to tri­al—with no guar­an­tee of res­o­lu­tion. (One fraud case in­volv­ing a lawyer who tam­pered with wit­ness­es end­ed last week af­ter 24 years.) Many cas­es lan­guish be­fore mag­is­trates and judges, some of whom, for var­i­ous rea­sons, lack any ur­gency to clear their dock­ets.
The ju­di­cia­ry owns part of the crime prob­lem. If you can­not have a fair jus­tice sys­tem, you can­not fair­ly pros­e­cute crim­i­nals re­spon­si­ble for the crime spree.
Dr Row­ley, the ques­tion is: do you have the will to ful­fil your promise?
Many peo­ple—em­i­nent le­gal schol­ars and cit­i­zens alike—were dis­mayed last week when you de­cid­ed to leave Chief Jus­tice Ivor Archie in his job. He faced mis­con­duct al­le­ga­tions in­volv­ing his as­so­ci­a­tion with two con­vict­ed fraud­sters. Over the last few years, his col­leagues on the bench, the le­gal com­mu­ni­ty and the pub­lic have lost con­fi­dence in Archie and, by ex­ten­sion, the ad­min­is­tra­tion of jus­tice.
If Archie ap­pears to be com­pro­mised, how could he be ex­pect­ed to help you trans­form the jus­tice sys­tem?
Fight­ing crime should be the Gov­ern­ment's top pri­or­i­ty. That is why we can­not un­der­stand how Stu­art Young, your hard­est work­ing min­is­ter in gov­ern­ment busi­ness, can be min­is­ter of com­mu­ni­ca­tion, min­is­ter of le­gal af­fairs, min­is­ter in the Of­fice of the Prime Min­is­ter and min­is­ter of na­tion­al se­cu­ri­ty.
No won­der, the over­bur­dened Mr Young some­times takes a hands-off ap­proach when pressed on crime. "At the end of the day the Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice and the men and women of the Po­lice Ser­vice are the ones con­sti­tu­tion­al­ly who have the pow­ers of ar­rest. I can't go and ar­rest any­one," he said in a re­cent re­but­tal.
At­tack­ing our na­tion­al cri­sis is a full-time job. Here's a rad­i­cal pro­pos­al: re­duce Mr Young's port­fo­lio to on­ly min­is­ter of na­tion­al se­cu­ri­ty or ap­point some­one who can fo­cus every minute of the day on our na­tion­al cri­sis.
2. Fel­low cit­i­zens of Trinidad and To­ba­go, the heinous na­ture and fre­quen­cy of the crime you see every­day is not nor­mal. We are los­ing a gen­er­a­tion of young men—and young women.
If you fol­low so­cial me­dia sites cov­er­ing our car­nage, you'll re­ceive a dai­ly blast of dri­ve-by killings, rob­beries and vi­cious fights—of­ten with guns, cut­lass­es and any­thing peo­ple can get their hands on. In oth­er videos, women and chil­dren con­front and even re­pel po­lice who en­ter neigh­bour­hoods to ar­rest sus­pect­ed gang­sters. This is not nor­mal.
The crim­i­nals keep get­ting younger and younger. With the glee of chil­dren play­ing video games, a group of boys who seemed no old­er than ten-years-old bran­dished guns and bragged in a re­cent video about their crim­i­nal and sex­u­al ex­ploits. No won­der that many peo­ple, af­ter see­ing or hear­ing about grotesque crime, say in ex­as­per­a­tion: "Trinidad is not a re­al place."
Last week came an­oth­er shock­er: young women flash­ing big grins and what ap­peared to be se­mi-au­to­mat­ic weapons.
Many of our young peo­ple have lost their in­no­cence. It is no sur­prise that in many schools, teach­ers are no longer in charge and dis­ci­pline holds no sway. Some young­sters have lit­tle or no re­gard for au­thor­i­ty be­cause they feel that kind of be­hav­iour is em­pow­er­ing and has cur­ren­cy.
It seems like every day the lives of our na­tion's youths are be­ing snuffed out as killers show no mer­cy. We all re­mem­ber how 13-year-old Videsh Sub­ar, while await­ing his SEA re­sult, was bru­tal­ly mur­dered. The school­boy and his neigh­bour, in whose care he was left, were found in her Mal­abar home tied up and their throats slashed.
In Laven­tille, where vi­o­lent gang wars re­flect the hor­rors of ur­ban war­fare, chil­dren are of­ten in­no­cent vic­tims.
About two weeks ago, Fitzger­ald Hinds, min­is­ter in the Of­fice of the At­tor­ney Gen­er­al, dis­closed that in the last decade, more than 1,300 peo­ple in Laven­tille alone had been mur­dered, some 93 per cent by gun­fire.
Hear Mr Hinds: "We have a cri­sis in Laven­tille. Be­cause you know bet­ter than me that to­mor­row, this evening, your chil­dren are at risk. They could be in the wrong place at the wrong time. And you know you too are at risk. Be­cause if you on­ly pro­voke some­body now, tell them some­thing, watch them too hard, bounce them as you pass­ing by the shop, they want to go for their 'lass, they want to go for their gun. That is the lev­el of ig­no­rance."
Hinds seemed baf­fled that chil­dren in Laven­tille would suf­fer the same dire plight of chil­dren in Mid­dle East­ern con­flicts. "This is no war zone," he said of Laven­tille.
When you hear de­spair in a gov­ern­ment min­is­ter's voice, you know we're in trou­ble.
3. This is a call to all de­cent peo­ple. All the good cit­i­zens of Trinidad and To­ba­go who val­ue law and or­der over law­less­ness must come for­ward in num­bers greater than the crim­i­nals to re­claim our coun­try, to help make our neigh­bour­hoods safe again and work with what should be a re­vamped and pro­fes­sion­al po­lice ser­vice.
Let us chan­nel our col­lec­tive out­rage over two decades of record-set­ting blood­let­ting to let our lead­ers know that we don't like it so. De­mand that they work to­geth­er to solve the cri­sis.
We need to de­vel­op and ral­ly around a well-ar­tic­u­lat­ed na­tion­al crime pre­ven­tion strat­e­gy. The Gov­ern­ment and Op­po­si­tion should em­brace civ­il so­ci­ety groups and the busi­ness com­mu­ni­ty to de­vel­op this plan, with ap­pro­pri­ate con­tri­bu­tions from peo­ple across the na­tion.
Be­fore that hap­pens, the Gov­ern­ment should be hon­est and trans­par­ent about the scope of the prob­lem.
But first, the Gov­ern­ment and the po­lice should con­sid­er tak­ing in­ter­im steps to re­store pub­lic trust in the po­lice and ju­di­cia­ry.
We must ac­knowl­edge that re­cent ex­am­ples of peo­ple who have stood stood up against crim­i­nals haven't gone so well. Just pon­der how many state wit­ness­es have been killed while they were in pro­tec­tive cus­tody.
Com­mis­sion­er Gary Grif­fith would ac­knowl­edge that many cor­rupt cops would dis­close the names of in­for­mants to crim­i­nals. Grif­fith needs to be giv­en the tools to clean up rogue el­e­ments to build con­fi­dence in po­lice ser­vice.
Any ef­fort to ad­dress crime must con­front the tough­est ques­tions. For in­stance, if the mur­der toll in Trinidad and To­ba­go is large­ly fu­elled by turf bat­tles over drugs, is it time for a whole­sale re­view of our ex­ist­ing drug laws? How do we pre­vent weapons of war from en­ter­ing the coun­try through our ports? How do we pro­vide jobs—in the pub­lic and pri­vate sec­tors—and hope to im­pov­er­ished com­mu­ni­ties? And how do we ral­ly the na­tion to be­come part of the so­lu­tion?
Guardian Me­dia re­mains com­mit­ted to ad­dress­ing these press­ing is­sues. In the next few weeks, we will show how our dire crime sit­u­a­tion is rip­ping apart the fab­ric of our na­tion—and what we all need to do to be safer in our homes, our neigh­bour­hoods and our coun­try.
To chan­nel Stal­in, the bard from Mara­bel­la: Our coun­try faces its dark­est hour. This is a time to de­mand that our lead­ers put coun­try be­fore par­ty.
Find­ing so­lu­tions will not be easy. They will re­quire our best minds, sac­ri­fice and col­lab­o­ra­tion to en­sure that Trinidad and To­ba­go does not be­come a failed state.
Stay­ing the course or do­ing noth­ing is not an op­tion. Our beloved na­tion's very sur­vival is at stake.

THE TT Mathematics Olympiad (TTMO) contingent left for the UK on Sunday to participate in the 60th anniversary of the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), which will run from July 11 to 22 in Bath, England.
The IMO is one of the most prestigious Olympiads worldwide and is an annual competition which started in 1959. Today, over 100 countries participate by sending its best six mathematical minds, chosen after a series of rigorous testing and elimination rounds.
Students must be under 20. This year’s contingent includes Rajeev Gopeesingh, a sixth form student of Hillview college who participated in the 2018 IMO; Joshua Davis (6th Form) of Bishop Anstey Trinity College East; Rahul Gopeesingh (5th Form) of Presentation College Chaguanas;
Celine Roodal (6th Form) of Lakshmi Girls Hindu College; Alex Adams (6th Form) of St Mary’s College and Justin Llanos, a sixth former of Fatima College.
The team is headed by Dr Indra Haraksingh with the deputy head being Jagdesh Ramnanan. The competition looks deceptively simple as each participant from around the world has to solve three problems within a four-and-a-half-hour period, each day for two days.
These six problems carry seven marks each, so a total score is 42 points. No calculators are allowed and if a participant solves one entire problem only, for seven marks, he is given an honorary mention.
Gold, silver and bronze medals are awarded according to standards set by the IMO. The TTMO has been sending participants to the IMO fairly regularly since 1991. The TTMO is headed by Dr Haraksingh, Lecturer in Physics at UWI, and a Director of the International Mathematical Olympiad Foundation (IMOF), which is a Charity that supports the IMO.
To date, TTMO has brought home two silver and five bronze medals, and has received several Honorary Mentions (HMs). Source: Newsday, July 2019

A pupil of the Grant Memorial Presbyterian Primary School in San Fernando has topped the country at the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) examinations.
The name was kept a closely guarded secret until shortly before 9a.m when Education Minister Anthony Garcia, and Chief Education Officer Harrilal Seecharan arrived in San Fernando.
At 9.48a.m Garcia named Siri Vadlamudi as the top pupil. She will be attending the Naparima Girls High School.
Vadlamudi's parents are from India, and her father is a medical doctor.
The child told reporters she wanted to thank God and her teachers. 
Siri, who said she felt 'okay' after writing the SEA, said she wants to be a doctor.
About 18,849 pupils across Trinidad and Tobago who wrote the Secondary ­Entrance Assessment (SEA) examination will get their much-anticipated ­results today.
Chief Education Officer Harrilal Seecharan also said the top three SEA pupils will be named. All three top schools are from south Trinidad.
On June 17, Education Minister Anthony ­Garcia said the results would be published, and those parents who didn’t wish to have them published could request they be withheld by writing to the ministry.
A small number of ­parents had made the ­request, he said.
In a release yesterday, Garcia cautioned anxious parents: “Your response to your child’s results will dictate your child’s self-esteem and the way they view their results.
“If the child feels as though they have disappointed their parents, that feeling can transcend the results and be transferred into the attitude the child carries into their new school.
“The SEA is a placement examination and will not dictate how a child will perform in the next five years.
“A seed, once nurtured, can bloom and thrive in some of the toughest environments. The nurturing at this time is the support of parents.”
Parents should be able to collect results from 9 a.m. at the respective primary schools after principals collect their school’s packages at the Education District Offices.
Source: Sunday Express, June 28 2019.

Ramgopaul Roop, a 71-year-old farmer from Trinidad continues to inspire others and prove that with hard work and dedication you can realise your dreams.Roop is the owner of Rocrops Agrotec, a smallholder family farm established in 1990 in Trinidad; owned and managed by him and his wife Beena Roop. At the age of 71, Roop graduated on July 5th, 2019 from the Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland with a Master of Science Degree (MSc) with Distinction in Business Management specialising in Human Resource Management.
In addition to this, he is the winner of the University Medal for topping his class. This is a follow-up to his achievement just (3) years ago, back in 2016, where at age 69 he was awarded a Master of Business Administration (MBA), also with Distinction.
Rocrops Agrotec has been a Partner of the Global Water Partnership-Caribbean (GWP-C) for the past eight (8) years. The development of Rocrops Agrotec, has always revolved around an integrated system of agroecology practices to rehabilitate degraded heavy clay soils for horticultural and agricultural production.
Amongst its many activities, on the farm Roop has steered significant promotion of climate-smart agriculture and water management. He works to promote sustainable agricultural techniques and practices with the potential to contribute to rural development and food security of Trinidad and Tobago. Additionally, soil and water management in climate change adaptation is critical to the way in which Rocrops Agrotec is managed.
The farm has been Roop’s family home providing a year-round source of income for the past 30 years. It is an innovative and model farm in the Caribbean. During these 30 years, Rocrops has successfully implemented soil and water adaptation measures to mitigate against the negative impacts of climate change. Source:  Global Water Partnership Caribbean, July 2019.

Nine-year-old Keri Alfred, of Mt. Pleasant, Tobago, is well on her way to becoming an exporter of milk and cheese, and diversifying Tobago's economy.  Watch her here  or copy this URL into your browser https://bit.ly/2xxlR94.
Source: Omardarth Maharaj

NEW YORK (AP) — A former Caribbean soccer official fighting extradition in the FIFA bribery scandal has been ordered to pay $79 million in damages from a related U.S. lawsuit.
U.S. District Judge William Kuntz ordered the default judgment against Jack Warner in the 2017 civil action accusing him of embezzling tens of millions of dollars from the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football. The written ruling was issued in federal court in Brooklyn on Tuesday after Warner failed to contest the claim.
The soccer association "intends to pursue all available avenues to enforce the judgment in any jurisdiction where CONCACAF has reason to believe Mr. Warner may have assets," plaintiff lawyer John Kuster said in a statement Wednesday.
Warner, 76, is a defendant in a sprawling criminal investigation that has resulted in convictions of several top soccer officials. He's out on bail while challenging a U.S. extradition request to Trinidad and Tobago, where he's denied any wrongdoing.
There was no immediate response Wednesday to an email sent to one of his lawyers.
The suit accused Warner and Chuck Blazer, another soccer official who died after it was filed, of negotiating bribes and kickbacks in connection with lucrative broadcasting rights for tournaments including the confederation's Gold Cup championship. Allegations in the suit also mirrored criminal charges saying that Warner, while he and Blazer were members of FIFA's executive committee, took a $10 million payment to influence voting on which country should host the World Cup.
Warner "agreed to provide Blazer with $1 million of the $10 million bribe," according to the suit. "Unsurprisingly, when the FIFA Executive Committee vote was held on May 15, 2004, South Africa was selected over Morocco to host the 2010 World Cup. Warner and Blazer both voted for South Africa."
Blazer's estate agreed earlier this year to pay $20 million in damages in the civil case.
Warner's sons, Daryll and Daryan, pleaded guilty to fraud charges in the criminal case in 2013 as part of a cooperation deal. They're both out on bail with travel restrictions within the U.S. and are awaiting sentencing.
Source: Daily Express, July 10, 2019