 Welcome to the NTN Nightly. I'm Nisha Charles, this edition's top stories. Recent investments by government in the Forensic Science Laboratory show results. St. Lucia has crowned the world's leading honeymoon destination for the 11th time. The Department of Health and Wellness to facilitate research in controlling mosquito-borne diseases, all that plus the latest in youth development, sports, and the NTN novel are clear. The Forensic Service Laboratory is moving forward on a sound footing as government provides funding for upgrades to its physical structure, human and technical resources. Prime Minister Hon. Alan Sharsney visited the facility to see the improvements firsthand. The government of St. Lucia is committed to reducing serious crime by 45% by 2020. It is part of its medium-term development plan, which gives focus to citizen safety and security. Investigation and prosecution are also part of that plan, where the Forensic Laboratory plays a critical role. Government recently injected close to three-quarters of a million dollars to the repair works at the facility. The Prime Minister Hon. Alan Sharsney recently toured the facility. Fernanda Henry is the Director of Forensic Science Services at the lab. We had a very impromptu tour with the Prime Minister this morning, and I wanted to really express to him our thanks for the injection of $700,000 for the infrastructural repairs to the building. We had had cracks in the building. We were suffering from pools of water accumulating in different spaces, then which eventually led to the growth of mold. We had to close down the facility for several months due to an invasion of mold. So I really wanted to show him the work that had been done because the work that was done was good work. We were able to move back into the building. We were able to get the moisture levels down. We're still battling some humidity issues, but I think that's inherent to the building that we need to address. But I wanted to show him the facility as well as the equipment and have him meet the staff. Once the lab is fully functional, it will be conducting forensic drug chemistry testing with an expanded scope, DNA testing, trace examinations, firearm analysis, and digital forensics. The lab will also absorb the crime scene units of the Royal St. Lucia Police Force. Henry says that to do this, the lab must be accredited. A team of people will come from an external body, a body that accredits labs. A team of them will come. They will look at our documents. They will look at our case files. What casebook have you done? Have you done it well? Are you consistent? Are you doing the same thing all the time? Do you do what you say you do? So you have a policy in place. Are you really following your policy as you say? So our documents will demonstrate that. They will also have one-on-one interviews. They will also have an opportunity to see people in lab. So they will see, well, okay, is that person really following the procedure as they should? So after that, then they will sit together with us and tell us what their findings are. If they find that in some areas we are not doing things the way we say or we may need to improve in certain areas, they will inform us. They then give us a timeframe to do that. If we have anything to improve, we have about eight weeks or so to make those changes. Government will save tremendous costs once the lab becomes fully operational. St Lucia has secured an 11th win at the World Travel Awards as the world's leading honeymoon destination. The announcement was made Friday as the St Lucia Tourism Authority unveiled a new marketing campaign, more from Chinon Norville. And the award for world's leading honeymoon destination goes to the Helen of the West, St Lucia. St Lucia has been a judged winner of the prestigious title of world's leading honeymoon destination, a highly coveted industry accolade for a record 11th time. The announcement was made on November 28 at the 26th annual gala ceremony of the World Travel Awards in Oman. St Lucia won amidst a crowded group of renowned honeymoon hotspots the world over. Minister for Tourism, Information and Broadcasting, Culture and Creative Industries, Honourable Dominic Fading indicated that once again St Lucia secured its position as a world leading destination in the area of romance. The minister noted that in addition to St Lucia's beauty, the ambience of the results, what makes it stand out are the hospitality workers to whom he dedicated the award. A small country like ours, getting to be called the best in something in the world is pretty, pretty big. And so for me, I want to congratulate all of the tourism employees in St Lucia. I want to salute them. I want to again dedicate this award to their hard work and extraordinary contributions. Just in my way, I saw a very stark example of that. I was walking through and as I reached the pool, there was a housekeeper waving. In the most hospitable manner, I've been recognised as a guest, whether non-resident or resident, and she made it my business to be sure that I saw her and that she was hospitable to me. And I think that that kind of attitude, that kind of spirit gives why we have won at a war. Managing Director Sanders Resort St Lucia Winston Anderson congratulated all entities and stakeholders who made this award possible. Sanders too secured a number of awards including World Leading All-Inclusive Resort for 24 years and World Leading Family All-Inclusive Resort for 22 years. St Lucia is an island with endless possibilities, a place where the greatest love stories unfold, where romance, weddings and honeymoon continue to be a major niche market for the country. A market, according to Anderson, Sanders Resort will be capitalising fully. I can tell you that St Lucia was one of the places at the heart of a recently launched Isle to Isle Wedding Promotion, which enjoyed and continuously enjoyed heavy global marketing, a taste of what you're experiencing today. And so naturally we're very, very proud to partner with the St Lucia Tourism Authority. Destinations Wedding are a major attraction for guests from all over the world, and therefore I am sure that St Lucia can expect a win-fall from receiving this award again. Out of three properties there in St Lucia, we alone host over a thousand weddings every year. So you can just imagine when you add all the other properties who I know host the number of weddings, how many weddings we have. But let's expand it a little more to say by us again winning this award, what the opportunities lies ahead for Destinations St Lucia. In celebration of the record win, the St Lucia Tourism Authority, SLTA, has launched an interactive social media competition that will see one lucky person winning a five-night stay at a leading hotel on the island. Interested persons need to watch the SLTA's Instagram stories for the next 11 days and answer correctly 11 engaging questions about St Lucia. The winner will be randomly selected on December 10, 2019 and must follow at Travel St Lucia to qualify. General Manager of Cap Miser Ross Stevenson, Echoed Anderson Sentiments. Fantastic opportunity we have in marketing this award and pushing St Lucia even further and better. Cap Miser was very fortunate in 2010 to be the home of the Bachelor and that again really focused the attention of the world on St Lucia as a romance and honeymoon destination. It's up to each and every one of us to keep on demanding more, creating more and to really push all aspects of tourism in St Lucia. In addition to winning the highly coveted award, St Lucia was also nominated in three other categories, namely World's Leading Island Destination, World's Leading Wedding Destination and World's Most Romantic Destination 2019. The World Travel Awards is voted for by travel and tourism professionals and consumers worldwide. For the Government Information Service, I am General Norvel. Come January 2020, holders of a St Lucia driver's license will be able to apply online for a renewal. More on this report from Jelita Pizza. The contract signing for the implementation of the Digital Government Services Platform took place on November 23, 2019 between the Government of St Lucia and a consulting firm, Crimson Logic and E-Government Solutions Provider that offers straight facilitation, e-judiciary and e-citizen services. The Digital Government Services Platform will make it easier for citizens and visitors to digitally access government services. The new platform will automate 154 services across certain agencies over a three-year period. The establishment of this Digital Government Services Platform is a direct response to the gaps identified in the delivery of timely, efficient and transparent government to citizen and government to business services offered by the Government of St Lucia. Through this project, we will transform the way agencies work collaboratively to engage and interact with businesses and citizens. We will also work to create and or update all relevant legal, regulatory and governance frameworks necessary to support this transformation. Phase 1 of the project will focus heavily on transforming the transportation, department and the services provided through this agency. Can you imagine prior to 2006 or 2008 when we opened the licensing office in Viewfort? Somebody from, let's say, Labri or Uri would have to take a bus, come to Viewfort, take a bus from Viewfort because these people would not drive up to pay their license. Then drive up, take a bus to Castries, from Castries to Union, just to pay a driver's license. And when they get there and they pay the driver's license, they would tell them at that time, come in a month for your driver's license. And sometimes they come at the end of the month and the license is still not ready. You see the time, the cost. So that is what needs to change. Some of the features of the platform would include online application for renewal of driver's license in addition to e-payments for renewals and alerts and notification on the status of the application process via WhatsApp and e-mail platforms. This is expected to significantly curb the long queues and in ordinate delays experience at the Transport Division. From the Department of the Public Service Communications Unit, Julia Tepita reporting. The Department of Health and Wellness is expected to begin facilitating research aimed at controlling mosquito-borne diseases in Zinclucia. More in this report from Phanel Neptune. Efforts to strengthen surveillance of vector-borne diseases to ensure a safer Zinclucia is in progress as the Division of Environmental Health recently opened its first ever mosquito insectary at the Union Orchid Garden. Minister for Health and Wellness, Senator the Honourable Mary Isaac says the establishment of the mosquito insectary demonstrates the Department of Health and Wellness commitment to reduce mosquito-bredding and vector-borne diseases. With the establishment of this insectary in a box, the Department of Health is hoping to strengthen its mosquito surveillance system through the establishment of a database of the mosquito species on island as well as mapping out their location and using geographic information systems. This will enable the Department to do the following. Target its interventions at the right locations in order to reduce mosquito-borne diseases. Assess risk of vector-borne disease outbreaks. Perform routine tests for insecticide resistance of both adult mosquitoes and larvae. The mosquito insectary was made possible through the financial support of the Pan-American Health Organization PAHO. PAHO, Country Program Specialist for Zinclucia, Tessa Stroud says her organization remains committed to working with the Department of Health and Wellness to protect Zinclutions from vector-borne diseases. PAHO has provided support to Zinclucia over the years in strengthening the capacity of vector-controlled programs through the provision of training. This insectary in a box is a crucial part of the infrastructure necessary to achieve the objectives with further strength in its capacity to undertake surveillance, prevention and control activities towards preventing outbreaks of vector-borne diseases in the future. Chief Environmental Health Officer Parker Ragnanen says the mosquito insectaries an effective tool as it will assist in the development of strategies in vector-controlled management. Hence the reason why a lab is so important to us because now we would be able to collect mosquito eggs throughout the length and breadth of Zinclucia, be able to analyze these eggs and determine specifically what species of mosquitoes that we have in our country. This is critical because in order for us to respond to mosquito-borne diseases, we need to understand what mosquito species that are transmitting the disease. The new mosquito insectary will allow officers within the vector-controlled unit to collect data on the species of mosquitoes and also with determining the best insecticides for killing the mosquitoes. Reporting from the Communications Unit of the Ministry of Health and Wellness, I am Fernaneption. And this is the NTR Nightly. Ryan O'Brien is up next. One of the eight universally recognized rights of the consumer is the right to satisfaction of basic needs. This means that every consumer has the right to basic goods and services that guarantee survival. This right includes adequate food, clothing, shelter, healthcare, education, water and sanitation. Welcome back. We join Ryan O'Brien for the latest on the new development and sport. Welcome once again to your update from youth development and sports on the NTR Nightly news. I'm Ryan O'Brien. The 2019 Winlot Winner Islands under-15 cricket tournament set for next month will not be played in St. Vincent and the Grenadine. Initially, the tournament was scheduled to be held in Dominica, but multiple factors have forced the Dominica Cricket Association to inform the Winner Islands Cricket Board of Control of their inability to host the tournament as planned. The tournament is usually hosted annually based on a rotation across the Winlot Islands following receipt of an email from the Dominica Cricket Association with cited the upcoming general elections and unavailability of the National Stadium as the main factors for the suggested relocation. The leadership of the Winlot Islands Cricket Board of Control made the decision to solicit the cooperation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines to host the tournament. The Vincentians have since confirmed their commitment to host the tournament and are making preparations to receive the competing teams. Then we shall defend their title and the Ministry of Youth Development and Sports will be making a formal announcement of the squad on Tuesday. Also in line for execution by the Ministry staff next week will be the staging of this school's road races on the Bolshevik circuit. December 4th is the date set for the Inter-District Primary Road Race competition North and December 5th will be the turn of the secondary tertiary school's road race. 10 a.m. start of both events. Eight districts will compete in the primary school's inter-district and among secondary tertiary maximum participation is expected from the 15 competing schools. And in that we end our update from youth development and sports this weekend. I'm Ryan O'Brien. Thanks Ryan. A spot of efforts to educate students about diabetes the Department of Health and Wellness is visiting schools to bring awareness of healthy lifestyle and well-being. More in this report from Phanel Neptune. Students and teachers will granted the opportunity to receive valuable information about diabetes, physical activity, eating and lifestyle as the Department of Health and Wellness hosted health activities at the schools. Formerly life educator General Alexander Dupre says it is important that students learn about diabetes at an early age so that they will be empowered and feel confident in caring for themselves. As we know we have many persons becoming diabetic and even ones at a younger age before it used to be where all the persons became diabetic but now we are having younger and younger persons developing the condition and the only way that this can change is if they know what nutrition is all about, what diabetes is all about and what sugar does to the body. Soka Feet instructor Mikiela Port says it is extremely important that students engage in physical fitness to ensure they are healthy. It was important with Soka Feet or for Soka Feet to partner with the Department of Health just to be able to get that sort of mentality into people there to get them to physically move which is what I do, I provide the sessions and to get especially for the kids especially for the children to get accustomed to the idea of movement to get them used to moving and that can be a part of their lives not something extra that you have to add and that you can have fun. So you get into the movement you get used to it, it's healthy for you and you can carry that into the more formative years. Nutrition officer Shilan Edward applauded the initiative and says it is necessary that they are proactive in ensuring that students eat healthy. This activity is important because right now what we realize is that for me when I get the clients get to my office it's not too late but it's too far gone so if we start now and educate them and show them what they can do to prevent diabetes that is better than we started in the end. So this activity in teaching them how to exercise how to eat properly today we spoke about the different types of sugars we spoke about portions, we spoke about moderation we spoke about the different foods they need to cut down on and those they need to increase these are the important things that helps them prevent these chronic conditions that are linked to their lifestyles. The health activity offered services such as exercise session, nutrition exhibits and face painting for students and blood sugar testing for adults. Reporting from the communications unit of the Ministry of Health and Wellness I am Funal Neptune. Every year St. Lucia joins the rest of the world in commemorating World AIDS Day on December 1st in an effort to raise awareness in the communities to help fight HIV AIDS, the infectious disease unit of the Department of Health and Wellness will be hosting a health fair on Saturday November 30, 2019 at the Cooley Town Day Care Center from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Residents of Cooley Town Jack Mel, Roseau, Vanna, Lacroix-Mango and other surrounding communities are encouraged to take advantage of this activity. The health fair will offer services such as blood pressure and blood sugar screening, nutrition counseling, rapid HIV and syphilis counseling and testing, education and counseling on healthy living and sexually transmitted infections and information on how and where to access clinical services. And stay with the NTN Nightly Up next, Primus Hutchinson is here with the NTN Novel Arquio. Welcome back. We join Primus Hutchinson for the NTN Novel Arquio. Hello. We are here. Welcome back. Welcome back. We are here. We are here. We are here. … A few minutes ago, That is, we will have Gaye Joseph speak to the court of the government concerning his administration which I have accomplished with a lot of what the government has done to develop this here concerning projects and programs. That is, we will have Gaye Joseph, who has all of this, for example, to participate here because he understands what he deserves to do for the more appreciation he has for this country. He continues to speak to the diverse government which I have accomplished to make Gaye Joseph a mayor to lead the investment to live and to work. We will have Joseph mention in the description to make his decision to lower taxes on the way to pay for someone who has to pay for the rent for the hospital victory. He added that all of this is more important to help to lower the debt set here. Ambassador Pobigo Sala, Dr. Joyce Landflatcher explained that the bill is always the same with the responsibility to support all these ways and to assist this country to address this issue. Community Center in Blanchamico in Chimé to receive good assistance right away. That is because there is a lot to live and to pay and to establish a complete salary. Provides a project to reduce the losses of the VIPs. Community Center in Blanchamico was built in 1918 but was abandoned because of the problem of housing and the situation was even worse after Cyclone Thomas in 2010. As the population is increasing, the residents I have called for the government to build a center in Blanchamico to support the development of resources that existed in Blanchamico. The center of Blanchamico was built to resist the movement and also to facilitate the development of services. There was also a service computer, a conference room, a B.O. room, a kitchen, a kitchen, a kitchen to prepare and also to eat plus a chain of activities, a balcony and so on. The mission was to prepare a plan for the establishment of the Les St. Arnold facility in Blanchamico that is the most sustainable and the easiest for the disabled. Today, we have finished the legislative committee to discuss the development of the community that existed in Blanchamico. We have called for the government to consider the amount of projects that are needed in Blanchamico that existed in Blanchamico and that will be built next year because it's all possible. So, we have a plan for the development of the community in Blanchamico. We have to look at the number of projects that are needed in the community and we have to eat them because we know how much they can eat. We have to look at the number of projects that are needed in Blanchamico. All these projects will be done in the next year with 2021. Okay, Mr. Minister, can you give me a few words about the constitution? Well, I would like to say that we have a constitution on the side of the constitution. We have a constitution that can contribute to the development of the community and the economy. We have to work on this in order to continue the development in Gozile. We have to work on this in order to do what is needed. We have to work with the government to support it. We have to work with the government to support it and cooperate with it to ensure that it is done. Because, even if we are to make a arrangements for the development, So, we have to make it concrete. We have to say that we have to pack our motorcars at a distance and walk. We need to understand this. Not driving, but we have to do it. We have to do it. We have to put our feet in place. We have to pack. We have to go to the city centre. We have to do it in a constituent way. We have to clean it up. It's not a problem. He has to serve as a citizen's mother. For Adam, the citizen, to find the power to do nothing, because he is going to kill himself, I think it's a bit of a shame, but it's very important. But we have to put our feet in place. Because Adam didn't do it twice. We have to put our feet in place, because we have to go to the city centre, so that if he does it again, we know what he's going to do. If we know what he's going to do, we're going to make him pay. I want to ask for assistance, cooperation, and understanding of this constituent. I want to make sure that, even if we don't have to put our feet in place, even if we don't have to put our feet in place all day long, I want to work in the city centre, I want to work to win this constituent, to develop my own constituent. I want to say, that all of the programme, including my service to the public, I have been able to communicate with people, I have been able to do a lot of things, because all the good things I have done, I have been able to communicate with people. Thank you for your promise, and here's a look at what's happening to us, weather-wise. Partly cloudy skies becoming cloudy at times, times with some scattered showers mainly over the windward islands. A tropical wave in the vicinity of the windward islands will bring cloudiness and some showers over the islands during the next 24 hours. Tropical cyclone formation is not expected over the tropical Atlantic during the next 5 days. The seas slide with waves 2-4 feet or 0.6-1.2 meters. The sun will rise Saturday at 6-11 a.m. And 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 Saint Lucia Government Facebook page or YouTube channel. I'm Nisha Charles.