 Welcome to the NTN Nightly. I'm Nisha Charles. This edition's top stories. Efforts continue at improving St Lucia's tourism products with the training of nearly 300 workers. The Department of Health reviews and strengthens its vaccination program. The Make It Happen Foundation donates to the Women's Support Center. All that plus the latest in youth development, sports and the NTN Nouvelle Arquéon. St Lucia's tourism industry continues to record strong growth led by the cruise sector. With the island's capacity to welcome vista, quantum and freedom class vessels, cruise arrivals increased by 13.6% in 2018. The Caribbean Tourism Organization is projecting 6-7% growth this year. It is against that backdrop that the St Lucia Tourism Authority, the Ministry of Tourism, Invest St Lucia and Slasper have teamed up to ensure continuous enhancement of St Lucia's cruise tourism product. Nearly 300 frontline staff of onshore businesses began a training program. Janelle Norville has the details. The Florida Caribbean Cruise Association, FCCA, is hosting a two-day customer service frontline training for stakeholders of the cruise sector. The training is being facilitated by Aquila's Center for Cruise Excellence. The training, according to Aquila's trainer and international business development manager, Claudine Paul, encompasses training in the areas of tour operator excellence, tour guide excellence and port excellence, all designed to help the key players in the cruise industry achieve excellence in their ports, tours, guides and businesses. We've been working with many destinations since 2007. This is the first time we're in St Lucia. We've worked in many destinations that are very close to here and lots of really, really good feedback. Lots of guests, satisfaction levels increasing, lots of great feedback from the cruise lines as well, and it's really helping overall, especially with getting people to work together as well, which is really important. Once you get everybody working together, you really start to see things happen. Excellent customer service, according to Minister for Tourism, Information and Broadcasting, Culture and Creative Industries Honourable Dominic Fede is essential to St Lucia's tourism product. The minister expounded on the importance of those in the frontline of the cruise industry. All of the frontline people who engage with cruise passengers from time to time that have such a critical role to play in shaping the experience of the cruise passenger, they're the ones that we're targeting here today. They're the ones that we're teaching sales techniques, customer service and going that extra mile and to ensure that St Lucia have the competitive edge so that when people come, it is impressed upon them that it is not the Minister of Tourism, it is not the Prime Minister or the Cabinet or the policy makers that is responsible for that good delivery of service or but the biggest impact on the customer's experience in our destination has to do frontally with them and I think that this is what we're seeing here today. A lot of issues are being discussed on how they can better themselves and reinvent themselves and to add to the overall advancement of the destination. In an effort to ensure that best practices are adopted, following the training frontline officers will be evaluated in their respective lines of duty. The officers upon completion of the training will become certified frontline experts in customer service. The training is being held in collaboration with various entities including the Ministry of Tourism, Information and Broadcasting, Culture and Creative Industries, the St Lucia Air and Seaports Authority, Investing Lucia and the St Lucia Tourism Authority. For the Government Information Service, I am General Norville. St Lucia Jazz sounded off this past weekend with crowd-pleasing events in ancillary and library. This year, organisers of the festival have teamed up with Jazz at Lincoln Centre for a heightened musical feel for Jazz enthusiasts. The collaboration will also benefit national musicians who will be exposed to masterclasses facilitated by the centre, more from Anissa Antoine. Via a first-time collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Centre, the week-long Jazz Festival features five renowned artists-in-residence in modern Jazz performing at intimate venues and public settings throughout St Lucia. Jason Orlane, director of programming and touring at Jazz at Lincoln Centre, explained that the collaboration forms part of an effort to bring the festival back to its original form. We're a non-for-profit Jazz organisation based in New York City. We've been around for a little over 30 years, and our mission is to grow a global audience for Jazz through a few different ways. One is through performances, that's concerts and touring, through education, through classes and some music competitions that we produce, and through advocacy, and that's supporting other organisations that are supporting Jazz. So this seemed like a kind of a match made in heaven, if you will, or heaven right here in St Lucia, where we could lend some of our expertise in programming Jazz and marketing and social media and those sorts of things with a place that already has a history of presenting Jazz in one of the most idyllic settings in the world. St Lucia music students will be given an opportunity to attend masterclasses and workshops hosted by the artists-in-residence such as Etienne Charles and Russell Hall. Meneva Ross is the public relations officer at events company St Lucia. Very critical to the shift for St Lucia Jazz is an education component, and of course that comes about because we understand that Jazz has often been seen as a niche market and we think it's critical that we get the masses to understand the art form itself, to understand the genre, and so as part of the thrust, as part of the drive, to create a unique product for our St Lucia Jazz Festival. Understanding as well that we're competing so heavily right here in the region and outside of that, we wanted to of course identify ourselves as having a unique product, a unique brand which is a St Lucia Jazz Festival. Jackie Mathre, Senior Marketing Manager at the St Lucia Tourism Authority, informed that the Jazz Festival is drawing a lot of international attention. On the international side we have had such an outpouring of interest from the outside world. On Wednesday we're having a lot of international journalists that are going to be descending to St Lucia. We're having the BBC, we're having the New York Post, we're having CNC3 from Trinidad, we're having L'Officiel, we're having France Antilles from Montenegro and many many many others. The excitement is growing from last week from Friday which started at Anceleré. I think there's been a couple of years that people have kind of, you know, they've been kind of waiting to see what's going on with this new refigration of the Jazz Festival and this year really I think magic is about to take off and we are really feeling it from the outside. On Wednesday 8th of May 2019, events company St Lucia will host the first ever St Lucia Jazz Cruise aboard the Pearl featuring Russell Hall's Enigma. From the Government Information Service, I am Anicia Antoine reporting. Meantime St Lucia Jazz is this year being staged at new venues. Organisers led the Minister for Tourism on a tour for a first-hand view. The St Lucia Jazz Festival 2019 promises to be epic with a number of new venues added to the event. Ministering the Ministry of Tourism, Information and Broadcasting, Culture and Creative Industries with responsibility for Culture and Creative Industries Honourable Fortuna Bell Rose, highlighting the new additions indicated the importance of decentralising the event. Today we've had Jazz in about three communities and there's a cry and I think that's what we wanted. When the Jazz Festival rolls into St Lucia, we don't want it to just be in a few locations. We would like the entire nation to embrace Jazz and from what we're seeing this year is that a number of small events happening, small events happening across the country and bringing in the opportunities and creating those opportunities for our young people, our local talent to be showcased publicly. Event St Lucia, according to Minister for Tourism, Information and Broadcasting, Culture and Creative Industries Honourable Dominic Fede has increased its asset to the addition of two temporary structures to its arsenal. The Minister noted with the addition of the structures, event St Lucia has expanded its mandate allowing St Lucia the competitive edge and an opportunity to take advantage of a new niche market. St Lucia has lost out on a lot of business in the meeting and incentives and conventions business. The largest conference room can only facilitate about 400 people and so if the conference is about over a thousand, it becomes very difficult for St Lucia to host these conferences. And so this investment is timely, it is very important and strategic for the furtherance of tourism. It gives us a chance to become a lot more competitive in competing and pitching for meeting and incentives and convention business. So now, this is good news for the industry, it's ideally located in the north where you've got the bedstock or the room stock if you will and I think that this is going to all go well. The temporary structures according to Chief Executive Officer of Event St Lucia, Thomas Lyons, will make its debut at the St Lucia Jazz Festival 2019 at the Grizzly Park. The venue is ideal as it offers patrons an intimate setting where they can fully submerge themselves in the jazz music among other things. At this structure starting tomorrow evening, we shall be hosting four shows for the St Lucia Jazz Festival 2019. So tomorrow night we have Joey Omisil and Patrick Bartley. That show starts at 7pm. The cover charge is US $50 or EC135. On Thursday we have Russell Hall's Family Band and Patrick Bartley's Dream Weaver Society again. That's on Thursday. That show starts at 10pm, so a late night show. So after you've done your dinner, maybe you're taking some fish on the Grizzly Strip, you can envelope over to the structure behind you and taking some jazz from 10pm onwards. The two structures house a total of 1,700 individuals and cost an investment of $3 million. For the Government Information Service, I am Genelle Norville. The Department of Health and Wellness in response to the growing outbreaks of measles in a number of countries in the Americas and Europe is treating the situation as an opportunity to enhance its vaccination program. This includes identifying persons who have not received the required vaccines and providing the measles vaccines to persons whose vaccination status is not compliant with the established protocol. Saint Lucia has been measles free since 1990, largely due to its high immunization rate. But globally, there has been a reversing trend in immunization against measles. Persons across the globe are choosing not to immunize themselves and their children against the disease, which according to Saint Lucia's Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Marlene Fredericks-James, has caused a resurgence of the disease. Just last week, the free winds cruise ship entered Saint Lucia's ports and had to be quarantined after it was revealed that there was one confirmed case of the disease. The ship has since left the island and the Ministry of Health is now alerting the public on the possible threat that this resurgence can pose to the population. Measles is a serious and highly contagious disease that can cause debilitating or fatal complications, including an infection that leads to swelling of the brain, severe diarrhea and dehydration, pneumonia and permanent vision loss. The acting national epidemiologist says a surveillance system is in place should the threat arrive in Saint Lucia. One of the things we do is called syndromic surveillance, which is where we monitor not the disease itself, but groups of disease based on their presentation. So we monitor what is called fever and rash. So there are a whole set of diseases or illnesses which can cause fever and rash and that is monitored. And every case of fever and rash, which is how, like I said, Measles would present, these warrant an investigation to find out what the cause is and we interview the patient whoever is presenting. So it sets in place a whole chain reaction when an individual presents with fever and rash. Up to 90% of people who come in contact with an individual who has the disease and is not vaccinated can get the disease. The disease is preventable through two doses of a safe and effective vaccine. This vaccine in Saint Lucia is a combination vaccine for Measles, Mumps and Rubella, the MMR. Our vaccines generally are procured through power, through the Revolving Fund. So persons may have concerns about the effectiveness and safety of the vaccines and we are committed with PAHO, the Ministry of Health that is, is committed to ensuring that all of the vaccines that are available in Saint Lucia, including the Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccine is safe and effective. The vaccine processes go through rigorous scrutiny to ensure that when it gets to Saint Lucia that the vaccines are in fact safe and it has been proven to be very effective in protecting against the diseases, Measles, Mumps and Rubella. Medical Officer of Health, Dr Sharon Belman George has noted that there are areas that need to be strengthened when it comes to protecting against Measles. We saw the need to strengthen some of our linkages in terms of working in a more coordinated manner and closely with the Ministry of Education to ensure that the vaccination cards are complete on children entering schools. So these are some of the measures which we have put in place in terms of lazing and working directly with the various sectors to strengthen and to ensure that we are fully prepared to manage possible cases coming in on the island. The Chief Medical Officer notes that persons who have adequately been vaccinated against the disease should not be worried and encourages those who are not vaccinated to do so. And this is the NTN Nightly. Ryan O'Brien is up next. Everyone is at risk forgetting a foodborne illness. While most foodborne illness cases are mild and go unreported, long-term health complications and even deaths can occur from a foodborne illness. Foodborne illnesses are caused by contamination of food at any stage of preparation. If you are a food handler involved in home-based food production, meat, fish, chicken, or a big shop, as a food vendor, how you prepare food can put your customers at risk. Do you know the risks and how to avoid them? The St. Lucia Bureau of Standards can help you. For more information, contact the St. Lucia Bureau of Standards at 456-0546 or email slbs at candw.lc or visit the website at www.slbs.org.lc St. Lucia Bureau of Standards, making quality and standards our way of life. Welcome back. We join Ryan O'Brien for the latest happenings in youth development and sports. Welcome once again to your update on happenings in youth development and sports on the NTN Nightly News. I'm Ryan O'Brien. Local physical education and sports teachers are part of an international FINA Level 1 open water coaching program, which got underway Tuesday. This is in keeping with the mandate of the St. Lucia Aquatic Federation's mandate to make accessible international certification for all interested persons. The five-day FINA Level 1 Open Water Coaches Clinic is open to anyone who is interested in becoming an open water swimming coach. Open Water Coaching presents a different set of dynamics to pool coaching and therefore requests its own certification as directed by the international body FINA. The Open Water Coaches Clinic is being conducted by world-renowned FINA lecturer Stephen Cassidy. He's a member of the FINA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee and a member of the Board of Directors of the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame. Cassidy has served in nearly every role in the sport, a former professional marathon swimmer, a record-breaking channel swimmer, a national team coach, USA swimming and FINA administrator, Olympic official, race announcer, race director, and strong advocate of the sport. The Government of Cuba has reassured its commitment to collaborate with Saint Lucia in the area of sporting development. Cuban Ambassador to Saint Lucia, His Excellency Alejandro Simanca Smare, says Cuba is happy to be able to continue the collaboration between the Government of Saint Lucia and the Cuban Deportes Institute. Sports is a priority in Cuba. It's a part of our culture and I have seen that Saint Lucia is the same. We have the same spirit, sport spirit that this is something that we share. Here in Saint Lucia are working trainers in the field of basketball, in track and field, and in the Ministry of Sports. There is a Cuban Specialist also working advising in the methodological system of the sports. So he makes us very happy that we can contribute also in that way. I have seen and I have met the glory of the Saint Lucia sport, Leven Spencer, and first time I saw her was by television in Cuba, competing against Cuba. She won, but we were happy that the one who won the Cuba and the one who beat the Cuba towards Saint Lucia in sports. Ambassador Mare made a disclosure during an interview with the Government Information Service Tuesday. The two more recent coaches under this attachment are Juan Eddie and Roberto Montalvo, both assigned to the Ministry of Youth Development and Sports. Eddie specializes in basketball and Montalvo in track and field. They are both stationed in the south of the island. And as we end a reminder that Inter-district Primary Schools' female football kicks off at the South Plain Field Wednesday. Competition will be among schools in the northern region, districts 1 through 4. There is action circuit off at 10 a.m. to 10-minute house per match, teams 7 aside. The Ministry of Youth Development and Sports, the Ministry of Education and the Saint Lucia Football Association using this competition to develop female football at the grassroots level. And that's your update from Youth Development and Sports for today. I'm Ryan O'Brien. Thanks, Ryan. The Make It Happen Foundation since Inception devoted to helping police officers and firefighters with upgrades to their work spaces and providing equipment where needed. Most recently, the Foundation has broadened its reach to support women victims of domestic violence and their dependent children. In March, the Foundation hosted the first ever Tea and Testimony event, which brought over 300 women together to help raise funds for the Women's Support Center. On April 29, the Foundation made a check presentation in the amount of $15,000 to the center from the proceeds of the Tea and Testimony event. Sparehead in the Foundation is Raquel Jubilee-Chastney. Domestic violence victims and women who require a safe place of refuge, it tends to not get a lot of the attention that it deserves, and so this is just a very small measure to say that we support what you do. We value the haven that the center provides for those women, and we will be offering continued support as and when we can, so the funds raised this year were from the Tea and Testimony Tea Party held in March. We're very grateful that we could provide a small contribution today. The Women's Support Center was established in 2001 as a temporary place of safety for women victims of intimate partner abuse and their children and provides 24-hour service for these women who fare for their lives in a secure, safe, comfortable and supportive environment. The center's manager, Sylvie Edwards, expressed heartfelt gratitude for the timely donation. Those women come to the center for refuge. We provide counseling for them. We take a holistic approach. We also have to provide for all of their needs because very often when those women run from their homes, they leave with nothing. So when they come to the shelter, we have to provide everything for them as well as their children. So the shelter was there from 2001. We do the counseling. We send their kids to school. We find jobs. We find homes. We assist in every way that we can in assisting these women. Even after living in the shelter, we also provide continued support for them as well. In recent years, the center has also developed a student assistance program through which children of clients receive assistance with the acquisition of school supplies, uniforms and in some cases, payment of school fees. And stay with the NTN Nightly. Up next, Primus Hutchinson is here with the NTN Nouvelle Enquire. Was that an earthquake? No. What do you do that's an earthquake? Drop cover and hold on. What does that mean? You drop to the ground, take cover underneath a sturdy table or disk and hold on until the shaking stops. What does no table or desk? Stay away from the walls, windows and doors. Use your hands to cover your head and face and crouch in a corner of the building. But what if you're outside? What's an open space away from buildings, trees, street lights and utility wires? Drop to your knees, protect your head with your arms and wait for the shaking to stop. Welcome back. We join Primus Hutchinson for the NTN Nouvelle Enquire. I would like to invite you to come here for a good cause of infection, especially after the formation that killed me in the boat. A person who was affected and then came here recently. Chief Medical Officer Dr. Mullen-Fedrick James said that he was in Coffence and then in the media. There was a nurse who came here in August to find a cure for this person after the vaccine and then she came here. Chief Medical Officer Dr. Mullen-Fedrick James found permission to attend the debate and consequently he was able to return to the country. He could not have told the people who were supposed to come to Coffence. Dr. Mullen-Fedrick James Verticky said that he would be able to return to the country in the year of 1990. But if the people of Coffence would be able to return to the country in the international context and get the money back to the country in the world because it is the country that made the nation and to help the country to speak the language and the English and a lot of people in Venezuela. He said that he would also be able to visit a doctor who was concerned about the people of Coffence. He was able to go out to the country and find the vaccine before returning to Coffence. He said that he would be able to return to Coffence Um For protection, you It's money that is not a vaccine but a vaccine at risk for a disease. For a disease, the medical chief also advise parents to take care of four children to take care of the disease. If you don't wish to I see. It is a wish to lose life if you cannot find the vaccine for the deaf. The doctors are able, after all, to treat people who are injured or who are dying. The doctors have won the hospital's medical license, the Jackson Memorial Hospital, and visited this hospital for the ease of training to address the situation. situation Salah. Your consultant has done the operation. Dr Charles Greenwich declared that it will play and then it will not Salah because it will help doctors to save more lives. Dr Greenwich said that if there are 4 countries that will follow for the Salah, for the foundation of Che Expo, it will be the Octave Bioplay, which is an anti-Portuguese organization for financial initiatives Salah. Dr Rodd, the hospital Jackson Memorial, Dr Good Post, the organization that has made a commitment to continue to work and then doctors and nurses here to save the lives that will be injured in a bad accident. Our Dr Rodd, the hospital Victoria, is hoping to benefit from Salah. College Salah Louise, CEO of the gymnasium and the college of education at University of Niagara in America. The gymnasium that offers support in a way to transform the program in Salah Louise and to assist in increasing development of the institution for more current and future programs of education that can support the vision of the international country. Also, John Gweck, the director of the Salah College, John Calix by the science support college, the ministry of education and government. This is Professor of the University of Niagara, Dr Patricia Briscoe, who declared that Salah will help all the institutions here to learn more about Salah. And I would like to thank the ladies who have come here. I would like to thank you all for being here. I would like to thank you for the invitation that you have given me. I would like to thank you very much for coming here today. Thank you all for your time and here's a look at what's happening to us otherwise. Conditions are partly cloudy and breezy, becoming cloudy at times with some scattered showers. A marginal increase in moisture and instability in the lower atmosphere over the southern eastern Caribbean region will result in some scattered showers during the next 24 hours. The Atlantic High Pressure System will maintain a moderate easterly wind flow across the eastern Caribbean region during the forecast period. The tide for Castries Harbor became high at 622 p.m. The tide for V4 Bay will be high at 729 p.m. The sea is moderate with waves 4 to 6 feet or 1.2 to 1.8 meters. The sun will rise Wednesday at 5.39 a.m. That brings us to the end of the NTN Nightly. Join us next time at 7 p.m. with a repeat at 7 a.m. You can also catch up with us anytime on the Salusha Government Facebook page or YouTube channel. I'm Nisha Tras.