PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – The Trinidad and Tobago government says it remains committed to the safety of all visitors to the country as it responded to a travel advisory issued by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). The FCO in a travel advisory warned British nationals visiting the twin island republic to be wary of “a high level of gang related violent crime in Trinidad, particularly in the inner city neighbourhoods east of Port of Spain’s city centre, Laventille, Morvant and Barataria”.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Former president of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) Austin “Jack Warner” has sent pre-action protocol letters to the football organisation as well as former Barbados chief justice, Sir David Simmons over the contents of a report that had been damning of him. Warner has also sent similar letters to all other authors of the report and is demanding an apology and withdrawal to be published internationally within 28 days plus costs and damages.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago, Guardian - More than US$2 billion is spent on the annual food import bill by Caricom countries, which have a combined population of only six million people. Dr Richard Cox, capacity building officer of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, shared the statistic yesterday. “It is worth noting that Caricom itself produced the figures to show that our import food bill runs over US$2 billion every year,” he said. His comments were part of a capacity-building workshop on the NAP/IFS Alignment Process in the Caricom subregion.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Guardian - “It’s like drinking water from a fire hose... too much to take in all at the same time,” said Minister of the Arts and Multiculturalism Lincoln Douglas, talking about his experience of Carifesta while addressing the Trinidad and Tobago representatives who will be heading to Suriname this week. The Cabinet of Trinidad and Tobago is providing $3 million in funding to facilitate the contingent of 100 participants for Carifesta XI.

PORT OF SDPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – The Trinidad and Tobago government will present the 2013-14 national budget on September 3 and dismissed suggestions that the announcement late Sunday night was aimed at a distraction from the upcoming Local Government elections. A brief statement from the Office of the Prime Minister said that the date for presenting the fiscal package had been finalised after Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar held consultations with Finance Minister Larry Howai.