Applying for a US immigrant visa? Make sure you have your computer-generated polymer birth certificate, according to an update from the US Embassy in Trinidad and Tobago.
In an update shared to social media on January 28, 2019, the US Embassy said this is required for all immigrant visa applications from February 1, 2019.
"#VisaUpdate: Starting February 1, 2019, U.S. Embassy Port of Spain will require the new green polymer, computer-generated civil documents issued by the Registrar General."
"These include Trinidad and Tobago birth certificates, marriage certificates, and death certificates. All previous versions of these civil documents will no longer be accepted."
"Please ensure that you have your updated documents prior to your scheduled immigrant visa interview in order to avoid any delays in visa processing," the Embassy said. 
According to the US Bureau of Consulate Affairs, a citizen of a foreign country who wishes to enter the United States must first obtain a visa, either a nonimmigrant visa for a temporary stay, or an immigrant visa for permanent residence. Visitor visas are nonimmigrant visas for persons who want to enter the United States temporarily for business (visa category B-1), for tourism (visa category B-2), or for a combination of both purposes (B-1/B-2).
For more information on the US visa application process see here: https://bit.ly/2B8dHpX
To search for your birth certificate details and order a polymer certificate online, click here: https://bit.ly/2KFSXgl
To contact the Registrar General's offices see here: https://bit.ly/2Nfv8wS 
Source: The Loop TT, January 2019

When it comes to goat meat, Caribbean people are fond of cooking it the same way: in curry.
One woman is intent on changing that.
Franka Philip, a popular media personality in Trinidad and Tobago, wants to expand the variety of ways goat meat is cooked, educate Caribbean people about goat meat in general and improve the goat industry.
This October, she will be introducing Goatober to the Caribbean, starting first in T&T.
Goatober began when an American woman, Erin Fairbanks and renowned cheesemaker Anne Saxelby, wanted to end the practice of euthanizing young male goats that the dairy industry had no use for.
Goatober was created as a month-long celebration on the menu of New York restaurants as a way to promote goat meat as delicious, ethical and sustainable.
In 2016, UK chef James Whetlor introduced Goatober to the UK and to mainland Europe the following year.
“I follow Cabrito, a website run by James who is a chef concerned about waste in the dairy goat industry. You only need girl goats for milk and cheese and they would euthanize boy goats so he started to raise and rear boy goats and sell to restaurants. A friend connected James and me and we hit it off. I discovered he was doing Goatober which started in the States. James formalised it in the UK and is moving it through Europe and I said hey, Trinidad need to get in on that, we love goat and our meat is pretty decent and I just decided I am doing this,” said Philip.
On December 9, Philip launched the first in a series of events leading up to Goatober. The intimate dinner at Aroma Culinary Studio in Woodbrook, Port-of-Spain, was attended by specially invited friends including top chefs in the country and representatives of the Goat and Sheep Society.
An Italian trained T&T Chef by the unique name of Bianca Bianco whipped up the menu which included steamed goat wontons, hops with sliced goat meat, goat and cheese ravioli and corn cake with goat milk, sour cherry ice cream, and coconut tuile. It was her first time working with goat meat.
“We used James’ book Goat as a guide and adapted recipes to suit our palette. We tried to get a nice Caribbean flavour,” said Philip.
he said one of the challenges they faced in preparing the dinner was the butchery of the meat. 
“We practiced on half a goat and it was really badly butchered. We wanted to get bones to make stock and that wasn’t readily available because of how the meat was cut. There are different little elements we realise if we need to bring this up to a different standard and accessibility we have to work with the butchers,” said Philip, who has a deep interest in the way meat is cut after living in the UK for over 13 years.
Deep diving into the world of food
In an age when food blogging has exploded in popularity and self-professed foodies are everywhere, Philip’s foray into food may seem opportunistic.
But when blogging was in its nascent stage in T&T, around 2007, Philip ran a food blog called Can Cook, Must Cook where she experimented with recipes, wrote about personalities, explored cooking in a Caribbean style and did book reviews. She had been living in England since 2000 following her graduation from the University of Sussex.
The blog, she said, was started out of anger.
“Going to England I saw what was on offer. In every one of the big newspapers you had a cooking section, food TV was more accessible and I became more interested in food. I lived with Bostwanian, Norwegian and English people so I was exposed to different types of food. At Sussex University there was a very diverse postgraduate cohort so I got to meet different kinds of people, ate different types of food but Caribbean food was not represented. I thought I should pitch an idea for Caribbean food to a media outlet. The editor of UK TV Food said she loved the idea but she didn’t think Caribbean food was anything to shout about and I got damn vex. That is how I started the blog. 
Philip’s passion for food was sparked from an early age. Her late mother, she said, was a really good cook and she spent a lot of time with her in the kitchen. An only child, Philip accompanied her mother to the market and admired the orderly fashion in which she would put away her goods and prep for the week.
“That helped her to manage cooking during the week. She wasn’t a gourmet type chef but what she cooked she did very well. Daddy was into oxtail, cowheel, and souse and Mummy would make oxtail soup but in a nice way, she used plenty greens and had a very balanced approach to the way she looked at food,” Philip recalled.
When cable TV arrived in T&T that opened up a world of food for Philip who would devour food shows on the Travel Channel, one in particular that took viewers across the USA exploring different cuisines.
As a journalist in the Trinidad Express newspaper, even before she left for England, Philip got even more exposure to food.
From 1992 to 1996 she was the social events reporter which allowed her to interact with chefs at all types of events, and they were only too happy to fill her curious mind with their knowledge.
In England, Philip worked at the BBC and became friends with those who worked in the food section. She said Susan Low, an editor at BBC with a progressive approach to food, encouraged her to write for them.
The Food Editor who happened to be Susan’s husband, Guy Dimond, he was very encouraging, he taught a course at City University on food writing and he would ask me to come in and talk to students. I did that for a while and I started to meet more people in food such as Dan Lepard, a well-known baker and food writer in the UK. We became friends and I did a couple Caribbean Beat stories on things we did together. Two recipes we did ended up in his book Short and Sweet. I became familiar with Yotam Ottolenghi, he has a series of books that are very well-known,” she said.
Philip’s plan was to pen her own book about Caribbean food stories but life took another course.
Renewing her passion
In 2012, Philip returned to T&T when her mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She died within months of her diagnosis and Philip had to look after her father, who also passed away a few years later.
“I had to make a decision to stay in Trinidad and I had to start working. I was in a high-pressure job at the Trinidad Guardian and I put food on the back burner. I maintained an interest but my actual forays, cooking a lot and experimenting, was on the back burner,”’ she said.
In 2018, Philip left the Guardian and started to renew her passion for food.
“I started to cook more, started going back through cookbooks, going through magazines and rekindled that feeling. I started to get excited by food again,” she said.
She credited a close friend for reminding her about her love for food.
“I was reminded by my friend that I get more excited when I talk about food. It really rang for me. I continued to write for Caribbean Beat. I have been doing that since 2007 and it is a gig that I love, it gets me to write about things I love and I started to get more passionate about doing it. That, combined with the buff from my friend, made me dig out the notes about the book I want to write,” she said, also crediting her partner Ardene, who, she said, has been very encouraging and supportive.
Philip sees her role as stimulating the food industry in different areas. She is keen on food security and sovereignty, innovations, challenges in eating local, issues affecting farmers and wants to educate people about where food comes from. Philip, who runs a digital platform called Trini Good Media (TGM), intends to turn Can Cook, Must Cook into a food podcast where those topics can be explored.
Through Goatober, she will execute her plans to encourage more adventure and creativity with local food, stimulate more activity in the goat industry which has already begun improvements to deliver higher quality goat products and put the Caribbean on the map.
Source: The Loop, January 2019

Summertime in Toronto is host to some of the biggest cultural festivals in the city celebrating Canadian diversity and the many people that make up our nation.
This year, the Toronto Caribbean Carnival will celebrate the 52nd anniversary of the festival, and on this year’s frontline, they welcome newly appointed General Manager Richard de Lima.
Richard de Lima was officially appointed as General Manager of the Toronto Caribbean Carnival at the beginning of last month and will be responsible for the overall management of the Festival Management Committee (FMC) and the production of the Toronto Caribbean Carnival, Canada’s celebration of freedom and diversity.
The new GM brings 30 years of experience in business management, tourism, and hospitality to the 52nd year of the Caribbean Carnival celebrations in Toronto.
In addition to a 30-year career in engineering and business management, including experience working for major tourism, hospitality and entertainment organizations in Canada, the Caribbean and other international locations, de Lima brings a passion for Carnival arts and culture, with his 43 years as a “mas maker”, masquerader and steelpan aficionado.
“We are grateful to be working with an executive that combines both the required operational skills along with a deep knowledge of and passion for Caribbean Carnival operations”, says Joe Halstead, FMC Chairman. “We look forward to our 52nd year of the celebration under his guidance and leadership.”
The Toronto Caribbean Carnival is an exciting four-week cultural explosion of Caribbean music, cuisine, and revelry. It is the largest cultural event in Canada and the largest outdoor festival in North America. Taking place from July 7th to August 11th, 2019, and since this year marks the 52nd anniversary of the carnival in Toronto it will feature more floats, music, celebrities, and fun than ever before. The theme “Canada’s Celebration of Freedom and Diversity” will infuse every aspect of the festival, from the parade route to the shows and all performers including singers, pannists and calypsonians. 
The city of Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area will come alive with the pulsating rhythms and melodies of Calypso, Soca, Salsa, Zouk, Reggae, Chutney, Steel Pan and Brass Bands. Carnival events will showcase originality, culture, and history to millions of spectators attending in downtown Toronto or watching on television and online.
“I look forward to working with our key stakeholders in the Mas, Pan, and Calypso communities to forge truly collaborative relationships, where my objective is to evolve the Toronto Caribbean Carnival to be the best carnival in the world,” says de Lima. “As Canada’s celebration of freedom and diversity, our objective is to engage and invite Canadians and visitors from coast to coast to participate and experience the “Festival of Joy” that happens every summer in Canada’s downtown.”
The Festival Management Committee (FMC) is the official producer of the Toronto Caribbean Carnival, Canada’s four-week-long celebration of freedom and diversity.  Established in 1967 as part of Canada’s Centennial celebrations, the event formerly known as “Caribana”, has evolved into North America’s largest event of its kind with over 1 million participants annually and showcases the very best of Canadian Caribbean arts and culture.
For more information, please visit www.torontocarnival.ca or connect with them on social media @gotocarnival.
Put it in your calendars and make sure to head down to the Lakeshore and join your fellow masqueraders to celebrate the 52nd anniversary of the festival this summer! 
Source:  Toronto Caribbean.com

According to CNN a foreign language can be the best aphrodisiac, and as a result, CNN traveled the world in search of the 12 hottest accents.
Coming in at number 10 is the Trinidadian accent which is the only West Indian accent on the list. This is what CNN had to say ” For fetishists of oddball sexuality, the Caribbean island of Trinidad offers an undulating, melodic gumbo of pan-African, French, Spanish, Creole and Hindi dialects that, when adapted for English, is sex on a pogo stick.”
A Few Famous tongues: Nikki Minaj, Billy Ocean, Russell Latapy, Geoffrey Holder, V.S. Naipaul, Peter Minshall, Heather Headley, Wendy Fitzwilliam, Ato Boldon, Brian Lara, Dwight York, Marlon Asher,and ah bunch ah Soca artists like Machel Montano, Denise Belfon, Shurwayne Winchester, Nadia Batson, Destra, Bunji Garlin, Fayann Lyons, Iwer George, Patrice Roberts, Farmer Nappy, Zan, Blaxx, Benjai and many more…you get the picture

​The decriminalisation of marijuana may be coming sooner than you think.
Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi in response to an Urgent Question in Senate on Tuesday indicated that the issue was a matter of priority and will be laid in Parliament in the first half of 2019.
Al-Rawi revealed that consultations with stakeholders have already begun with public sessions to begin after feedback is received from interest groups.
He explained that Government is working to ensure that it’s thorough in its consultation process and as such intends to collate the information from this feedback and address it in public consultation, which is expected to be conducted across the country.
“So what we have to do is go to the public domain exactly as we did in our prison consultation, our child marriage consultation and several of our other issues and get the voices of the people in open forum with open microphones, with open communication.”
This, he said, will ensure that they have the “widest form of understanding of this particular topic”.
While the Attorney General could not provide a list of interest groups and organisations engaged on the matter, he said Government had written to around 100 stakeholders.
“We’ve written to about 100 entities and we’ve received umpteen replies, so I couldn’t do justice to all of the stakeholders but we’ve included a very broad subsection.
We’ve written to the Medical Association, to the Law Association and to special interest groups. Interest groups have approached us, private citizens have approached us.”
Questioned further by Opposition Senator Wade Mark on whether a list of the stakeholder and interest groups would be made available ahead of these public consultations, Al-Rawi said he was two minds about doing so as it was an ongoing process.
The Attorney General issued an invitation to the Opposition to write in offering their points of view and expressed the hope that Government would receive Opposition support on the matter,
“This is an ongoing process and it will become public in a very short space of time when we go to the public domain... So, I welcome the Opposition but when we go public everybody will be invited and we will address the issue of exactly who we’ve received consultation from at that point because I hope on this occasion we will have some support from the Opposition.”
Responding to further questions on the matter, Al-Rawi said Government would opt not to produce a green paper.
He said the best way to treat with the issue is to do it in the same way Government approached the issue of child marriage.
“You see, for far too long our country has been stuck in analysis paralysis,” he said.
Al-Rawi stated that it is Government’s intention to dive into the issue and get busy with producing the work product.
Legislation to protect prison officers will also be laid in Parliament during early 2019
Source: The Loop, Dec. 2018

SOME 758 alleged killers are awaiting trial for murder, acting Minister of National Security Edmund Dillon told the Senate yesterday. Replying to a listed question by Opposition Senator Gerald Ramdeen, Dillon said, “A total of 758 persons have been accused of murder and are currently committed to stand trial at the Assizes.”
The minister replied to two other law-and-order questions posed by Ramdeen, respectively on police suspensions and witness protection.
Dillon said, “The Commissioner of Police has indicated that a total of 277 police officers are currently on suspension.” He said 269 are on suspension for criminal investigations, and eight for departmental/internal disciplinary investigations. Ramdeen, in a supplemental query, said some suspensions have been for as long as 14 years, but Dillon merely replied they are all at differing stages.
Also, Dillon said in a three-year period from September 2015 to September 2018, some 76 people were admitted to the justice protection programme. Ramdeen, in a supplementary question, tried to ask if the number represented a significant drop from past figures, but Senate President Christine Kangaloo disallowed it.
He tried again, asking how the Government plans to make the programme more attractive, but was again blocked by Kangaloo.

Source​Sandals has withdrawn from the Tobago project.
CEO Gebhard Rainer, in a press conference today, said the main reason for withdrawing was the negative publicity surrounding the project.
He said the Sandals team had been grateful for the unwavering support and transparency from the Government and from the Prime Minister.
"From the beginning there has never been a doubt about what the Prime Minister has been trying to do for the good of Trinidad and Tobago," Rainer said.
He said there would be no cost from Sandals that would be passed on to the TT Government as any cost they would have incurred from preliminary designs would be at Sandals' expense.
National Security Minister Stuart Young said a handful of people had tainted a global international brand and that was a sad and disappointing day.
Source: TT Newsday, Jan 2019

​Efforts are currently being taken to have Port-of-Spain declared a Unesco City of Music.
Port-of-Spain Mayor Joel Martinez revealed this on Friday night as he spoke at Phase II Panyard for the reveal of their 2019 song selection for Panorama.
Martinez said while efforts were made years ago, he has decided to push it again.
He said he met Carla Foderingham, former Chief Executive Officer of the Film Company of Trinidad and Tobago, who told him that the process was started some time ago but stalled.
"She said Trinidad has not had a designation from Unesco as a City of Music. Jamaica got it for reggae and I went to a function in Jamaica, the Mayor of Kingston invited me and they were so proud of their designation and they were spouting it so I felt when Carla brought it up to me I said let's get it done," he said. 
Martinez said we have lost out on so many things because we have not pushed it and having that designation would be an acknowledgment of our contribution to the world. 
"We are a talented nation, full of music, full of culture. We have invented the steelband, we have invented soca, we have invented calypso, we have invented chutney, so what are we waiting on?" he asked.
He said the process for the application has begun with Foderingham spearheading the project and he is hopeful it will be completed in time for the designation to be applied before the end of 2019.
To be approved as a City of Music, the following criteria need to be met according to Wikipedia: 

• A city must be  a recognised centre of musical creation and activity
• Experienced in hosting musical festivals and events at a national or international level
• Engage in promotion of the music industry in all its forms;
• Contain music schools, conservatories, academies and higher education institutions specialised in music
• Have informal structures for music education, including amateur choirs and orchestras;
• Have domestic or international platforms dedicated to particular genres of music and/or music from other countries;
• Have cultural spaces suited for practicing and listening to music, e.g. open-air auditoriums

Souce: The Loop, January 2019

For the first time in approximately three years, Trinidad and Tobago will be able to fully see the upcoming ‘Blood Moon’ lunar eclipse, which is also a supermoon, on January 21, 2019.
Although Trinbagonians were able to see the last partial lunar eclipse in August 2017, the last time a total lunar eclipse was fully visible to Trinidad and Tobago was on September 27-28, 2015.
However, on January 21, 2019, the total phase of this total lunar eclipse will be visible from North and South America, Europe and western Africa.
Central and eastern Africa and Asia will see a partial eclipse of the Moon.
The full eclipse should be visible to Trinbagonians from around midnight on January 21, 2019.
According to a report by meteorologist and avid astronomer Joe Rao, this month’s lunar eclipse is supposed to be a ‘blood moon’ and a ‘supermoon’, meaning it will appear to be larger than usual.
The phrase ‘blood moon’ is a misnomer as the moon can vary in colour from red to brown, grey or even black during the eclipse.
Traditionally, the January full moon is known as the "Wolf Moon." Names such as these are said to have been handed down from people living in old England or from Native Americans and are promulgated today in many popular almanacs.
Source: The Loop, Jan. 15, 2019