So said French Ambassador H?di Picquart at the launch of the event on Wednesday at the French Embassy in St Clair.

Go?t de France/Good France highlights French cuisine at diners around the world. In TT , two restaurants will be participating in the food fest –Zazou Bistro Modern located in the Country Club, Maraval, and Melange Restaurant on Ariapita Avenue, Woodbrook.

Worldwide, some 250,000 diners are expected to savour French fare at 2,000 restaurants.

Picquart said: “Go?t de France/ Good France is a celebration of the vitality of French cuisine. It is an event that promotes dialogue about different cultures by providing a common language: The language of food.” He said the third edition of the event, which began in 2015, will focus on training for the catering, hotel and tourism industries, bringing together schools and students from all over the world.

“Seventy-one culinary schools from around the world will take part in the event by serving French-style dishes on March 21,” he said. “More than 2,000 restaurants and 150 French embassies on all five continents will take part in the event by providing dishes that celebrate all categories of restaurants – from gourmet dining to exceptional bistros.” The event, organised in the form of a dinner, will honour the excellence of French cuisine, its capacity for innovation and the values that it conveys: sharing, enjoyment, respect for our peers, the planet and the art of eating well.

Two chefs, one local and the other from France will be responsible for the local input for this culinary adventure.

“We have the pleasure, here in Trinidad and Tobago, to have the participation of two great chefs, Pierre-Yves Le Bihan [France] and Moses Ruben accompanied by his daughter Collette, who, at their respective restaurants, Zazou Bistro Moderne and M?lange, will participate in this global event as they present their art and their culinary expertise,” Picquart said.

Each menu will feature dishes that are lower in fat, sugar and salt, thereby promoting the art of eating well and respect for the environment, and each restaurant will commit to paying five percent of sales to a local NGO (non-governmental organisation) working to support health and the environment.

Le Bihan will present a fivecourse meal with ravioli, tuna, duck, cheese and dessert using local ingredients but keeping the French spirit and techniques in his food.

Ruben’s dishes will be international with a local fusion. His menu will include chicken, salmon, mousseline, lamb and dessert.

The competition is one of the major events of the kendra’s Phagwa festival celebrations.

The weekend activities begin with Holika Dahan today at 6.30 pm at its grounds at Raghunanan Road, East off Southern Main Road, Enterprise.

At last Saturday’s pichakaaree qualifying round several youthful first timers competed alongside the veterans.

The finalists are Mukesh Babooram, Savitri Beharry, Akshaye Khandoo, Rikki Khandoo, Mohip Poonwassie, Pooja Ramoutar, Surendra Ramoutar, Nirmala Ramdass Singh, Toolsie Ramdass Singh, Kamaldai Ramkissoon, Shanta Ramnath and Reena Teelucksingh.

Singers and composers will be judged on best theme pichakaaree, best social commentary, best festive pichakaaree, most imaginative use of Hindi and costuming, props and stage presentations.

Other activities will include children’s games, the human pyramid team sport and the vibrant Ranga Barase. The festival is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the end of indentureship.

The Rugby Boys promise that there will be lots of entertainment when the DJ plays “The Call To Post” for “jockeys to get on their hobby horses”.

By the spin of a “wheel of fortune”, jockeys will only move forward on a track with a couple obstacles on the way to the finish line.

Last year “breathalysers” and “random drug tests” were introduced, rendering some of the “horses” movements very strange and doing even stranger things, but that is where most of the fun came from.

This year it will be no different.

There will be door and spot prizes, a beer drinking competition, prizes for the best Irish jig, best ladies race day hat, best dressed leprechaun and winners of the raffle.

Tickets are available at the club’s bar and from members of the club’s rugby fraternity

The minister said the Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the Police Service assists the families of persons who have been kidnapped by providing updates on the investigations, kidnapping incidence reduction procedures, individual or group counselling.

Construction of the campus began under the former People’s Partnership government.

Garcia reminded MPs that the main contractor for the campus was fired on November 11, 2016, for poor performance.

He explained the campus’ construction will be completed in two phases, with phase one scheduled to be completed in December.

That phase will include the construction of a faculty of law, hall of residence, food court and a student building.

Garcia said phase two, which is contingent upon identifying funding, will include construction of facilities such as a central library, car park facilities, cricket and football fields

Deyalsingh made this comment as he responded to a question from Chaguanas West MP Ganga Singh in the House of Representatives. Deyalsingh explained that blood is tested HIV prior to use and,” if found positive it is discarded.” Later in the sitting, Deyalsingh said expressions of interest for the Couva Children and Adult Hospital are being evaluated by the Urban Development Company of TT (Udecott). He said once a determination is made, the facility will not be opened and closed in the same day as happened in August 2015 under the then People’s Partnership (PP) government.

He said all of the equipment which the PP placed at the hospital is still there.

Deyalsingh said the women and outpatient centre of the Mt Hope Women’s Hospital has been operating since December 12, 2016.

However, while Acting Deputy Commissioner of Police Operations, Deodath Dulalchan agreed, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Na tional Security, Lydia Jacob, said what was needed was a holistic solution since some importers have large stocks which could probably last them as many as two to three years.

The issue emerged as a Joint Select Committee on Social Services and Public Administration met at the Parliament building to hold its first inquiry on the issue of the safety of fireworks. Minister of Works and Transport Rohan Sinanan suggested the suspension of imports after the Ministry of National Security acknowledged that it did not know how much fireworks had been imported into the country.

And it also emerged that a fireworks storage facility at Macoya, Tunapuna, faces closure as the Fire Department said yesterday that the facility was unsuitable for the storage of explosives.

Assistant Chief Fire Officer, Cecil Davis said the importer has a retail outlet at Macoya where fireworks are stored.

He told the committee that the importer was given 90 days to improve the Fire Protection System at his Macoya facility and that the 90 days had expired and the improvements were not made. He said the Fire Department will be moving ahead to have the licence for the storage of fireworks at that location revoked.

Dulalchan said that five persons had been charged for offences over the last five years for retailing fireworks without a licence.

Committee Chairman Dhanysar Mahabir asked whether the act could be enforced more seriously given the nuisance caused by the use of fireworks.

Dulalchan admitted that the police receive many calls but said they are mostly anonymous calls and the callers are reluctant to support the police.

Mahabir said the law also stipulates that no importer may keep more than 150 pounds of manufactured fireworks in any compound, but while the officials from the Fire Department said two of the three main importers in the country were compliant they said the one in Macoya was not and had not been since 2011.

Jacob said no new licences for the importation of fireworks have been issued since 2014 and committee members wondered whether this meant that the fireworks being sold to the country were stale and expired and worried about the dangers posed to the public by fireworks which had been imported so long ago.

The Scotiabank Vision Achiever programme was developed with the entrepreneur in mind. In keeping with Scotiabank’s commitment to helping customers become better off, the programme is geared towards supporting small businesses run and grow their operations.

Through a partnership with Action Coach; the world’s number one business coaching firm, the course spanned 14 weeks and consisted of 8 sessions, designed to impart the core competencies required for running a profitable business.

Anya M. Schnoor, Scotiabank’s Senior Vice President and Head, Caribbean South and East, reiterated the Bank’s commitment to the promotion of small businesses. “To participate in this initiative, it was not a requirement that the business be Scotiabank customer. Small businesses play a vital role in our economy. As a financial institution of choice, we know that our role goes beyond the provision of goods and services. It is also about impacting futures and helping these business build capacity to become better off ” she stated.

In addition to all 14 small business owners graduating from the programme, the top three were awarded cash prizes to help them further their business. They are, 1st Place Jerome Precilla, Founder and co-owner QuikSlice Pizza ($30,000); 2nd Place Nigel Wilson, Owner of Wilson Quarries Limited and Wiljo Enterprises ($20,000) and; 3rd Place T’shura Maraj, Co-owner of Chemelco East Caribbean Limited ($10,000).

The college, in a press release, said that students enrolling in COSTAATT’s Bachelor’s Degree programme will benefit from this at ACCA Level I and three papers in Level II if they choose to pursue these qualifications after their degree.

On March 10, the release continued, Dr Gillian Paul, President of COSTAATT and Orin Gordon, Head of ACCA Caribbean, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) formally establishing an agreement made between the two institutions to collaborate.

The MoU signed between COSTAATT and ACCA will facilitate collaboration on several areas, including provision of exemptions by ACCA to students who successfully complete the BA Accounting degree programme; discounted prices for COSTAATT students who wish to pursue ACCA professional qualifications; promoting of the opportunities at ACCA through the hosting of information sessions to students pursuing the BA degree programme; providing developmental opportunities for both accounting faculty and students.”

Applications were invited from international attorneys- at-Law practicing in various fields of law __ public and private __ on a topic of their choice, which supports civil justice reform in the Region, in the area of civil procedure.

Among some 100 applicants who applied for the Legal Internship, Ms. Lall is one of four successful applicants, following a rigorous selection process that included the submission of a Research Proposal and Profile Form by 30 November 2016, following which the top 10 were shortlisted and interviewed.

The high quality of Ms. Lall’s Research Project, “Modernising Justice: Mandatory Mediation in the Trinidad and Tobago Justice System, E-filing and Legislative Reform” and the 45 minute interview, which followed her being shortlisted, earned her a place as one of the 4 Legal Research Interns at Osgoode Hall Law School.

Among the four selected Interns, is another Trinidad and Tobago Attorney- at-Law, Ms. Kamla Braithwaite, who is a Judicial Research Counsel in the Judiciary of Trinidad and Tobago. Her Research Project concerns “Access to Justice for Litigants in Trinidad and Tobago.” The Internship runs from 6 March to 17 March 2017 at Osgoode Hall Law School and will continue with the submission of a legal paper, presentations and the further action required for implementation of the Research Project in the civil justice system.

The scope of Ms.

Lall’s Legal Internship, which, in the main, concerns an analysis and examination of the Mandatory Mediation Rules, practices and culture of Ontario, Toronto, includes accessing and utilising the resources of Osgoode Hall Law School; engaging the expertise and specialist training of the Law Professors and Lecturers; attending and participating in pertinent classes/ lectures of the Law School; holding meetings and conferences with trained mediators and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) agencies in Ontario, Toronto; attending and shadowing mediation sessions; Court attendance and observation and conducting surveys and comparative studies to determine empirical information and future action and conduct.