During peak turtle nesting season (1 March—31 August), five of the seven sea turtle species found globally return to Trinidad’s beaches to lay their eggs. Trinidad is the second largest leatherback nesting site in the world. Two months later, turtle hatchlings emerge (especially from June to August). Witnessing the nesting ritual, and clutches emerging from the sand, is an unforgettable experience
Where giant leatherbacks come ashoreTrinidad is one of only a few places in the Caribbean where the giant leatherback female practises her timeless “family tradition” of returning to the place where she was born to lay her eggs. The sight of these huge creatures swimming in the rough waves of the Atlantic and then making their way up on to the beach is incredible. The whole process of watching her give birth to hundreds of eggs — from the digging of the hole with her flippers, to the “backfilling” after the delivery, to her return to the sea to mate again — can be witnessed on any north or east coast beach, but especially at Matura and Grande Rivière (here you can see up to 50 on some nights).
Trinidad is the second largest leatherback nesting site in the world, with more than 6,000 of these heavyweights (up to 2,000lbs) travelling across the Atlantic to nest on the north and east coasts every year, from 1 March to 31 August. About two months later, the clutch of babies will emerge, like magic, from the sand pit. (Peak season for seeing hatchlings is June to August)
Nesting grounds for five different turtle speciesThis country is home to five of the seven species of sea turtles found globally; all are on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. The leatherback and olive ridley are listed as vulnerable; the green and loggerheadas endangered; and the hawksbill is listed as critically endangered. Three species — the leatherback, hawksbill, and the green turtle — nest on the beaches. Only a few dozen hawksbill and green turtles (40 at most) nest on our beaches each year. The loggerhead and olive ridley are less common locally but they are occasionally sighted at sea. There have been a few nesting records but these are few and far between.
Where giant leatherbacks come ashoreTrinidad is one of only a few places in the Caribbean where the giant leatherback female practises her timeless “family tradition” of returning to the place where she was born to lay her eggs. The sight of these huge creatures swimming in the rough waves of the Atlantic and then making their way up on to the beach is incredible. The whole process of watching her give birth to hundreds of eggs — from the digging of the hole with her flippers, to the “backfilling” after the delivery, to her return to the sea to mate again — can be witnessed on any north or east coast beach, but especially at Matura and Grande Rivière (here you can see up to 50 on some nights).
Trinidad is the second largest leatherback nesting site in the world, with more than 6,000 of these heavyweights (up to 2,000lbs) travelling across the Atlantic to nest on the north and east coasts every year, from 1 March to 31 August. About two months later, the clutch of babies will emerge, like magic, from the sand pit. (Peak season for seeing hatchlings is June to August)
Nesting grounds for five different turtle speciesThis country is home to five of the seven species of sea turtles found globally; all are on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. The leatherback and olive ridley are listed as vulnerable; the green and loggerheadas endangered; and the hawksbill is listed as critically endangered. Three species — the leatherback, hawksbill, and the green turtle — nest on the beaches. Only a few dozen hawksbill and green turtles (40 at most) nest on our beaches each year. The loggerhead and olive ridley are less common locally but they are occasionally sighted at sea. There have been a few nesting records but these are few and far between.
Trinidad is the second largest leatherback nesting site in the world, with more than 6,000 of these heavyweights (up to 2,000lbs) travelling across the Atlantic to nest on the north and east coasts every year, from 1 March to 31 August. About two months later, the clutch of babies will emerge, like magic, from the sand pit. (Peak season for seeing hatchlings is June to August
Nesting grounds for five different turtle speciesThis country is home to five of the seven species of sea turtles found globally; all are on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. The leatherback and olive ridley are listed as vulnerable; the green and loggerheadas endangered; and the hawksbill is listed as critically endangered. Three species — the leatherback, hawksbill, and the green turtle — nest on the beaches. Only a few dozen hawksbill and green turtles (40 at most) nest on our beaches each year. The loggerhead and olive ridley are less common locally but they are occasionally sighted at sea. There have been a few nesting records but these are few and far between.

Where giant leatherbacks come ashoreTrinidad is one of only a few places in the Caribbean where the giant leatherback female practises her timeless “family tradition” of returning to the place where she was born to lay her eggs. The sight of these huge creatures swimming in the rough waves of the Atlantic and then making their way up on to the beach is incredible. The whole process of watching her give birth to hundreds of eggs — from the digging of the hole with her flippers, to the “backfilling” after the delivery, to her return to the sea to mate again — can be witnessed on any north or east coast beach, but especially at Matura and Grande Rivière (here you can see up to 50 on some nights).

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"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
It is this faith in God, and herself, which is guiding Keziah John to success.
At just 11-years-old Keziah, a primary school student, is being celebrated for earning a distinction in mathematics at the January sitting of the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations which are set for older students in secondary schools, and even adults.
Despite attracting national attention, the math whiz insists she is just an ordinary girl, with an extraordinary work ethic.
Keziah, alongside her mother Caron John, spoke to Newsday Kids about her achievement, challenges, expectations and most importantly her love for puzzles.
A student of the Specialist Learning Centre in St Augustine, Keziah, who sits the SEA exam in May, credits her passion for problem-solving and above average analytical skills to her teacher Noble Felice.
However, Keziah's walk to success began with her first steps, according to her mother, who fondly recalls going to pick her daughter up from pre-school only to find her sitting and listening to lessons in the kindergarten on the same compound.
"I knew there was something special about her. I couldn't describe it but I could definitely see a mature sense of understanding behind her eyes. It was something I have tried to nurture within her without taking away her childhood."
While many students have found themselves within a rigid routine of school, extra lessons and deep study, Keziah does not confine herself to a particular schedule, instead making up her study plan as she goes along.
"The first thing I need to do is eat when I get home. Then I go through the workbooks and see what has to be done. It's something I've grown accustomed to and I don't really follow a particular schedule. People do that?" she says and laughs.
She places more attention on topics she does not understand rather than reviewing and reciting material wholesale.
Keziah is no stranger to routine and discipline as she is active in the Roman Catholic church and serves on mornings as an altar girl at the Cathedral of Immaculate Conception, Port of Spain. This means that she must wake up at 4 am for the latest to get to the cathedral's 6.30 am mass and then make it to school in St Augustine on time.
"My family has done a lot to give me the strength and discipline I need to succeed and make it through the day. Sometimes when it feels too much I know I have their support. Their advice really goes a long way."
In the face of her success at the CSEC level, Keziah is still nervous about sitting the SEA examination. Admitting while she believes she can do it, the mere idea of the exam can be intimidating. But how can someone so familiar with complex equations years ahead of her grade level be intimidated by a simpler exam?
"In the exam room you're by yourself. It's just you and the paper and with mathematics, you either know the answer or you don't."
However Keziah continues to move forward, hoping to pass for her first choice of Holy Name Convent, Port of Spain. She hopes to one day be able to motivate other students to go beyond their comfort zones and excel in their passions.
"But that's all in the future," she says with a smile.
Source:  The Loop, April 5.

For the last three months, I have been a part of the Sokafit BodyMORPH programme, a three-month fitness programme that incorporates weight training, nutrition advice and twice-weekly Sokafit classes.
The programme is an offshoot of Sokafit, a fitness system created by media personality Lisa Wickham and her business partner Sheldon Felix.
As the name implies, the programme is fuelled by soca music but more than that, it takes elements of our Carnival culture and packages it into a fast-paced soca dance fitness class.  Yes, there is wining but there is also waving – in each class, participants are given bandanas to wave – and there are moves inspired by the Dame Lorraine Carnival character and sailor dance. The moves are also named after places in T&T such as the Buccoo Bounce, Bago Rock and the Sando.
With Sokafit officially registered in Australia, France, Canada and, most recently, South Africa, the programme is not just about exporting an indigenous fitness system but also exporting T&T culture to the world.

For the last three months, I have been a part of the Sokafit BodyMORPH programme, a three-month fitness programme that incorporates weight training, nutrition advice and twice-weekly Sokafit classes.
The programme is an offshoot of Sokafit, a fitness system created by media personality Lisa Wickham and her business partner Sheldon Felix.
As the name implies, the programme is fuelled by soca music but more than that, it takes elements of our Carnival culture and packages it into a fast-paced soca dance fitness class.  Yes, there is wining but there is also waving – in each class, participants are given bandanas to wave – and there are moves inspired by the Dame Lorraine Carnival character and sailor dance. The moves are also named after places in T&T such as the Buccoo Bounce, Bago Rock and the Sando.
With Sokafit officially registered in Australia, France, Canada and, most recently, South Africa, the programme is not just about exporting an indigenous fitness system but also exporting T&T culture to the world.
When we train the coaches we do a cultural aspect of the programme, we teach them about the culture of Trinidad and Tobago, the multi-ethnic influences on the music and how they are going to use the music to impact the choreography on the class,” said Wickham, just back from South Africa where she spent over six weeks training coaches. She was initially joined by Lashaun Prescott, head coach of Sokafit and founder of the Elle dance school.
Prescott was the one Wickham and Felix contracted to design the Sokafit programme after Felix came up with the idea to get into fitness as a way to diversify their business. The duo had worked together for years in entertainment, pioneering, among other things, the way music videos were shot and produced.
“We were looking to diversify from what we know which mainly entertainment and he wanted to do a TV show in fitness. I know in aerobics I would be in the back of the class wining and they would say no and I couldn’t understand why I couldn’t wine. I found other forms of fitness were too strict in the movements and not necessarily dance and I wondered why we couldn’t combine the two and do something that people at home could do. So initially it was conceptualised as a television show,” explained Wickham.
Describing Prescott as the epitome of dance and soca, Wickham said when she first produced the COTT Awards where she met the dancer. She watched as Prescott was introduced to Machel Montano and went on to dance for him with her group of dancers from Elle.
She said they approached Prescott with the idea but she had been accepted to go to New York University to do her Master’s in dance.

“We said we will wait on you. By the time she came back in 2012, I was doing Home Again and Girlfriends Getaway and the film business was booming.  In December 2015 I said we have to do Sokafit, if we don’t do it now someone else will. In January 2016 we shot the teaser with Lashaun. People loved it and TV6 said yes they are on board and once it hit the airwaves people were like how do we get this in our gym,” recalled Wickham.

The tipping point, she said, was when Maurisa Gibson Bailey, the only exercise physiologist and sports scientist in the country, requested a Sokafit class at the Mucurapo West School where she teaches.  
“We had a meeting with her to plan it and as a scientist, she said this is a proper fitness system. For instance, she said wining is called circumduction of the waist and if you repeat these moves over and over you will see the benefit to that part of the body.  She explained the benefits of each move and she agreed to come on board and with Lashaun, a group of Elle dancers, Sheldon and myself we sat on the floor in the studio week after week workshopping the moves, developing the criteria for coaches and developing the programme,” said Wickham.
To qualify as a coach, participants must learn the physiology and impact of Sokafit on the body and do a written exam as well as practical exams.
Sokafit’s growth from television was really as a result of them responding to the needs of the market.
After featuring the Mucurapo West School, other schools started calling and the founders embarked on an educational tour where children exercised and given lectures on fitness.  They did 23 schools in all including seven in Tobago.
Adopting the #onefitnation and #onefitworld slogans, Wickham and Felix decided that in an effort to help combat non-communicable diseases in the country, they could bring Sokafit to communities around the country through free community burns. From Plymouth and Roxborough in Tobago to Point Fortin and Matura, Sokafit held community burns all over T&T.
Classes began in various venues when members of the public came forward to train as coaches. The first coach outside of the Elle dancers was Tiffanie Dennison, whose father enquired about her training in Sokafit. Dennison was already a fitness coach in other systems and loved soca music.
Based in South, she today conducts Sokafit classes in San Fernando and Central Trinidad at six gyms.
“We had our first international coach from Australia, Jamie Trahanas. She comes every Carnival and she and Lashaun are friends. When Jamie saw Sokafit she wanted to be trained and certified and is now a super coach,” said Wickham.
Last year, they got an email from Tania Parissi, an Italian, who teaches Salsa and Zumba in Montreal, Canada.
“She was looking for a new form of fitness to introduce to her studio in Montreal and she came here not knowing anything or anyone, she trusted the process and now she just launched the Family Fit featuring Sokafit kids. Training with her was Jenny Pauline, who is the sexy, vivacious coach for the French Caribbean in Martinique and Guadeloupe. She has huge classes with up to 100 people.”
Stating that they plan to be all over, Wickham said she already had links in South Africa as she does a lot of film work there and in showing her business partner the Sokafit videos, she was encouraged to establish the system there.
“So Lashaun and I went across and we trained 22 coaches.  We expanded the curriculum there to include business studies and communication skills to be used as an empowerment tool in the townships,” she said.
Describing the cultural immersion of the programme, Wickham said in South Africa, they recreated the J’ouvert experience with powder and the paint, and then explained the significance of the tradition in the Carnival context.
Asked about the challenges in growing the Sokafit brand, Wickham said in T&T some dismiss it as just a wining thing.
“We take the benefits of soca dance for granted but this has been put into a fitness system to help people meet their fitness goals. Within the system is repetition, in a fete you not going to jump the same way all night to get the benefits,” she explained.
As a start-up, she said, finance is always an issue especially when it comes to legal fees and associated costs of setting up in different countries. She praised ExporTT for holding their hands through their international expansion.
She said from a human resources standpoint, they have been able to rely on satellite relationships with a team of videographers, photographers, coaches, graphic designers, doctors and nutritionists who all support Sokafit.
Wickham, who has kept herself relevant in business and media since she first appeared on Rikki Tikki at the age of six, knows all too well that innovation is key to survival and that has been applied to Sokafit. The BodyMORPH programme is an offshoot product to help people focus on their goals of losing weight and getting fit and includes blood work, body analysis and nutrition advice.
A recently launched product is the Chip2Burn which will be held in communities. Participants chip behind to soca music as they do on Carnival days before engaging in an intensive burn.
Asked about the future plans for Sokafit, Wickham was mum.
Source:  The Loop, March 30.


 
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Not many people get to hold an Oscar, but Trinbagonian compositor Adrian Nurse has achieved the dream.
Nurse who works as lead compositor with acclaimed visual effects studio Framestore Studios, said the golden statuette, a symbol of excellence in US film for over 90 years, was 'heavier than it looks'.
"It's heavier than it looks, I was scared to drop it," he joked, speaking to LoopTT on the amazing award, which his team won for Best Visual Effects in Blade Runner 2049. 
The film also won a BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) award for the same category. 
A former student of Queen's Royal College, Nurse, who now lives in Montreal, Canada, said the win feels 'incredibly surreal' especially as it's a first for the province of Montreal.
“Winning feels incredibly surreal. We all thought we worked on something special, but didn’t really expect it to win!"
"This recognition from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences truly validates the time and sacrifice all 160 members of the team put into this film. It’s probably the most I’ve worked in my life."
"The award also has an extra significance here in Montreal as we, [Framestore Studios], are the first studio to win in the history of the province," he said. 
The 35-year-old compositor has worked on several blockbuster films including Guardians of the Galaxy, The Edge of Tomorrow, Alien: Covenant, Paddington, Frankenweenie and many more. 
Nurse said he's also a huge fan of fellow Trinbagonian Sekani Solomon, who recently worked on the biggest blockbuster of the year, Black Panther. 
"Sekani and I are great friends, we talk every week. We are constantly bouncing ideas and concepts off each other. I’m his biggest fan, the work he did on Black Panther is simply amazing," Nurse said. 
He also had some advice for other Trinbagonians trying to break through in the film industry. 
"Practice your art, never stop trying to improve yourself. Surround yourselves with talented people who inspire and challenge you and who will pull you up with them."
"Practice till you're blue in the face, till you're so tired you can’t see straight. Then the next day, do it again. One day the world will reward you for it," he said.
For more information visit his IMDB page: http://imsr.me/AdrianNurseIMDb ​

US researchers visited Trinidad and Tobago to analyse the blue crab as part of a study on viral pathogens affecting the species. 
Agricultural economist Omardath Maharaj joined Dr Donald Behringer, Marine and Disease Ecologist, Associate Professor and Project Lead from the University of Florida, and his team to take samples of blue crabs from the Gulf of Paria last week. 
Dr Behringer and his team have been awarded a US$1 million grant from the National Science Foundation to try to revive the crab industry. 
Maharaj said the study will the findings will be of interest to the smallest economic participants in the local fishery as well as the national population of Trinidad and Tobago.
This forms part of on-going research to determine how variation in life history and connectivity drive pathogen-host dynamics and genetic structure in a trans-hemispheric pathosystem.
The pathogen is not transferable to humans. 
"While we understand much about these life cycle characteristics for important fishery species such as the blue crab (Callinectes sapidus), we understand little about how variations in these characteristics interact with large-scale movement of individuals in the oceans to shape connections between populations." 
"Similarly, we are aware of the emergence and impact of diseases on marine organisms such as crustaceans, corals, and echinoderms, but are only beginning to understand how they spread between distant host populations."
"However, recent advancements in oceanographic modelling, genetic techniques, and animal tracking technologies have greatly increased our ability to measure and model population connectivity in the ocean," Maharaj said. 
Maharaj said the blue sea crab has considerable socioeconomic value in Trinidad and Tobago and numbers are being heavily depleted.
"While there has been significant advocacy focused on the integrity and sustainability the Gulf of Paria and its inherent fishery for many years; the outstanding issues remain largely unaddressed."
​"The focal points have been the damage inflicted by energy and industrial interests, unsustainable fishing practices, and general environmental interactions from climate change through flooding and effluent on the fishery especially juveniles, breeding grounds and vulnerable species."
"In this instance, further pressure on food and nutrition security as well as livelihoods is possible through viruses and genetic changes," he said. 
Maharaj said a stronger emphasis must be placed on the fishing industry to protect habitat and breeding grounds. 
"We are of the shared view that more must be done within the fisheries sector and towards all actions, voluntarily or involuntarily, that lead to its detriment. This includes, but not limited to, fishing techniques and regulations, measures to protect habitat and breeding grounds, enforcement, adopting proper equipment and procedures at sea and at landing sites, and related public awareness and #education concerning the sector."
'Ultimately, Trinidad and Tobago would benefit from the knowledge generated in this project; resource managers who need to manage fisheries, including the artisanal soft shell crab industry, sustainably."
"Simple best practices to avoid disease mortality and curtail the spread of the virus are being developed and could be communicated to fisherfolk through direct collaboration and public workshops. The project also includes formal and informal educational programs integrated with the research program."
"We, as a people, must commit to supporting activities which put value into the hands of the people who need them the most but also those that claw at development," he said. 
The research team was assisted by the Claxton Bay Fishing Association, Felicity Charlieville Fishing Association, Otaheite Fishing Association, Fisheries Division and the Department of Agricultural Economics & Extension, University of the West Indies. 
Source:  The Loop

Within recent weeks Trinidad has been seeing the rebirth of volcanoes thought to have been dormant or long dead, as in the case of the Tabaquite and the Devil’s Woodyard mud volcanoes.
Now, an exciting rediscovery has been made in Rock River, Moruga. This one is different from the other two, as it is composed of not only mud, gases and water—but tar. The viscous, sticky substance is being ejected continually from below the earth’s surface via several vents throughout roughly an acre of estate land.
Source:  Saturday Express, March 17.

Agriculture advisor to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, Dr John Alleyne, is urging pineapple growers to move quickly to secure a patent on a unique variety of the fruit currently under cultivation in Tableland, south Trinidad.
Dr Alleyne issued the alert while addressing the opening of the TechAGRI Expo on the St Augustine campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) yesterday. He stood in for an absent Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat.
According to Dr Alleyne, the country has already lost exclusive rights to the now world-famous Moruga Scorpion pepper and the indigenous Double Chaconia and the same can now happen with the Tableland Sugar Loaf pineapple hybrid if T&T does not move fast.
He urged greater collaboration between producers and institutions such as UWI, the relevant regional and international agencies and the government to ensure that the indigenous pineapple variety remains under national ownership via patents.
“Now is the moment to get national (farmers’) bodies tied into UWI,” he argued, in an effort to ensure that farmers in the field receive the research and development support of the university.
Speaking briefly with T&T Guardian, executive director of the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI) Barton Clarke said securing IP rights is an indispensable part of development in the sector and unique hybrid varieties are being recognised in a variety of other crops throughout the region.
Advisor to the Pineapple Farmers Association, Omadath Maharaj said work has already started on securing such intellectual property (IP) rights when it came to the hybrid variety, known for its size and unique taste.
He explained that farmers already enjoy a ready market “for all the pineapples they grow” and the scope for value-added processing was limited, so far, given the scale of production and the heavy demand for fresh fruit.
Maharaj said a preliminary meeting had already been held with the IP Office of the Ministry of Legal Affairs to begin the process of securing a patent.
He, however, said the sector also needs to capture the “indigenous knowledge” of current farmers who have worked to propagate the unique variety.
Source:  Guardian March 25.

​UPDATE:
ENVIRONMENTAL Management Authority (EMA) chairman Nadra Nathai-Gyan has said a proposal to designate the scarlet ibis an “environmentally sensitive species” has been drafted to further bolster the protection of the national bird.
However, she said legislation alone would not prevent the poaching of the indigenous bird, adding that this would require a change in people’s attitudes to wildlife and its habitat.
She was speaking to reporters before the launch of the EMA’s ISO 9001 workshop at Agate Building, Adesh Drive, SS Erin, Duncan village yesterday.
“We are taking steps right now to support the core ministry, which is the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries, with the protection of the scarlet ibis, and the EMA is in the process. It’s just about to send to the minister all of the paperwork that is required to designate the scarlet ibis as an environmentally sensitive species,” she said.
She said once approved, those found in breach would be fined $100,000. The scarlet ibis is one of the country’s two national birds, the other being the cocrico, and is protected under the Conservation of Wildlife Act and the Forest Act, which safeguards its habitat in the Caroni Bird Sanctuary.
She disagreed, however, that the EMA had not acted swiftly to protect the bird.
“I will not say that the birds have not been saved. If you look at the biology and the ecology of the scarlet ibis, it’s a trend. Scarlet ibis, during the nesting season, leave TT: most of the population go to the mainland, South America, nest, and then come back, so that the scarlet ibis population ranges. It comes down to a low of 2,000 in the nesting season to 12,000-plus in the non-nesting season.
“However, there is a threat of poaching. The EMA has stepped in, but I want us to focus as well that legislation alone is not the answer. You can have as many laws as you wish: if people’s attitudes don’t change, people’s perception of the value of wildlife and their habitat, we will not get anywhere, because you cannot have surveillance in an area for 24/7.”
With the Agricultural Society and farmers’ groups protesting the proposed use of lands occupied by the St Augustine nurseries for a housing development, she said the EMA had not awarded any Certificate of Environmental Clearance.
ORIGINAL STORY:
Environmental Management Authority (EMA) chairman Nadra Nathai-Gyan has stated that a proposal to designate the Scarlet Ibis as an “environmentally sensitive species” has been drafted to further bolster the protection of the national bird.
Once approved, persons found in breach would be fined $100,000.
However she said legislation alone would not prevent the poaching of the indigenous bird adding that this would require a change in people’s attitudes to the nation’s wildlife and habitat.
Nathai- Gyan was speaking to reporters earlier this morning prior to the launch of the EMA's ISO 9001 workshop at Agate Building, Adesh Drive, SS Erin Road, Duncan village.
Source:  Newsday March 23

Justin Sobion, a St Mary’s College alumnus and son of late Attorney General/Minister of Legal Affairs Keith Sobion, was appointed as an Associate Human Rights Officer in the Office of the President of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, last month. The current President of the Human Rights Council is Vojislav Šuc, Permanent Representative and Ambassador of Slovenia to the United Nations in Geneva.
The President has four staff members advising and supporting him with his work at the Human Rights Council and Sobion is the only staff member from T&T and the Caribbean Community (Caricom) region.
Sobion is a UWI and Hugh Wooding Law School graduate and was called to the Bar in T&T in 2002. He was also awarded a Masters (LLM) in International Law from the University of Cape Town, South Africa in 2008.
As an Attorney at Law, Sobion specialises in International Law. His main areas of practice are Litigation, Dispute Resolution, Human Rights, Constitutional law, Environmental law, Arbitration and Mediation services, International Law of the Sea, International Trade Law, Fisheries Subsidies negotiations (WTO), Intellectual Property Law (WIPO) and Humanitarian Law.
Like his father, who is also an alumnus of UWI, and principal of the Norman Manley Law School in Jamaica, Sobion is passionate about regional integration (Caricom) and supports the full implementation of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).
As an international law consultant, Sobion advises clients on matters relating to public international law, environmental law and international trade. Some of his work projects have included undergoing legal research, providing advice and publishing articles on the impact of Brexit and the Caribbean Community, the Nairobi International Convention on the Removal of Wrecks, Biodiversity and Environmental law in the Caribbean/New
Justin Sobion Zealand and constitutional reform. Last year, he was also appointed as a rapporteur at the Africa CEO Forum in Geneva and continues to serve as a Director in his family Foundation, namely the Keith Stanford Sobion Foundation.
Over the past couple years, Sobion has been working on the biography of his father which has a publication date of later this year. The Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations system made up of 47 states responsible for the promotion and protection of human rights around the globe.
Source:  The Guardian, March 21

​T&T-born pan virtuoso Liam Teague has been named a Presidential Research, Artistry and Scholarship Professor at Northern Illinois University (NIU).
This is one of the highest honours that the university bestows on faculty.
In awarding him this professorship, Janet Hathaway, Ph.D., Director, School of Music? NIU, said: " The university and the selection committee recognise Teague's artistic achievements, his unique and multi-faceted career path, and his deep impact on steelpan nationally and internationally."
Dubbed the "Paganini of the Steelpan”, Teague has been the recipient of a number of awards, including the Humming Bird (Silver) and the Anthony N. Sabga Caribbean Award for Excellence.
He has won a number of notable competitions such as the Trinidad and Tobago National Steelband Festival Solo Championship and the Saint Louis Symphony Volunteers Association Young Artiste Competition. For more information about Liam Teague, visit his website by clicking here