 Welcome to the NTN Nightly, I'm Nisha Charles. This edition's top stories. The Government of St. Lucia takes a significant step in establishing a national human rights framework. A monument in honour of Francis Mindo Philip has been unveiled. Works on Phase 2 of the Denry North Water Rehabilitation Project are advancing. All that, plus the latest in youth development, sports and the NTN Wapow Accraeol. The Department of External Affairs on Monday 11th February officially opened a two-day inaugural meeting of the National Coordinating Committee. This meeting is of major national significance as it serves to establish St. Lucia's National Human Rights Framework. The United Nations has been emphasising the necessity for all countries, particularly small island developing states, to organise their reporting on human rights. Human rights reporting has been a challenge for countries, especially small island developing states. To help St. Lucia submit its report in a quicker manner, the UNDP along with the Department of External Affairs are setting up a National Coordinating Committee to assist in the process. Michelle Brathwaite is the National Human Rights Advisor for the United Nations Development Programme for Barbados and the OECS. Primarily capacity development, helping government officials better understand the international human rights system. What are the expectations of a country after a country has ratified a treaty, as well as engaging in the international human rights processes of the United Nations. So helping government officials to better understand those processes and how to draft reports to better engage with those mechanisms. The Caribbean region has struggled to get any human rights reports, so many countries are five years behind, ten years behind, twenty years behind on the human rights reporting. So the record is not good, but with that said, my position and the capacity development assistance that I'm offering countries is a recognition on the UN's part that small island developing states struggle with this responsibility. So while most countries are far behind on most of their human rights reports, there's an understanding about the capacity and human resource limitations that small island developing states have, and that's part of the reason I'm here to assist. According to Binta Ernest, the Foreign Service Officer with the Department of External Affairs, it is a national obligation to report on such matters and in a timely manner. We've signed on to these international treaties, and part of the obligation of signing on to a treaty becoming a state party to a treaty is periodic reporting. And because we've been challenged resource-wise, human resource-wise, so it's been kind of a challenge for St. Lucia to provide these reports in a timely manner to the UN agencies. I think there is a misconception about what human rights is. I always say that St. Lucia's or even us in the Caribbean and Caracom states, we're like, we have no human rights issues because we view human rights in one lens, like gross human rights violations. But we have our own, I said, realities when it comes to human rights in St. Lucia. And I don't think we're doing enough because I think it needs to be demystified first of all. People need to understand what is human rights, because we say very broadly human rights, but there are different thematic areas in human rights. And if we look at it in that manner, I think that we can better be able to digest it as opposed to St. Lucia's one being broad human rights. The inaugural meeting of the National Coordinating Committee for Human Rights is being held from February 11th to the 12th, 2019. A monument erected in honour of Francis Mendo Phillip was unveiled on the weekend. Mendo is regarded as the greatest St. Lucia sportsman of his time, who represents St. Lucia in cricket and football in various capacities with distinction for over 25 years. The Castries Constituency Council, in collaboration with the Monument Committee, dedicated the Mendo Phillip Monument. Phillip retired from representative cricket in 1969 and assumed the roles of National Cricket and Football Coach, selector for the national team, president of the St. Lucia Empires Association, and stayed on at the Victoria Park as a curator. In March 1979, Victoria Park was renamed Mendo Phillip Park in his honour. Dan Standubule is the chairman of the Monument Committee. We decided that considering the monumental contribution Mendo made in the field of sport in St. Lucia, and the fact that very little recognition had been forthcoming, we felt we had to do something to really preserve his memory and his legacy. The structure was designed by the late Stanley Fringe, who was one of the Caribbean's leading playwrights, and a member of the Monument Committee. The Prime Minister of St. Lucia, Hon. Alan Sharsney, commended the committee on the tenacity in safeguarding the completion of the monument. There are some of us who may not have ever met the great Francis Mendo Phillip during his lifetime, but most solutions know a lot about him. A monument to Mendo existed at this site before, but it appears that its upkeep left a lot to be desired. And I've always said that, that the true characteristic of a country is how we remember our elders, and there is nothing more symbolic than that than our cemeteries. And I think that this monument to him is a great, great statement by solutions. The ceremonial cutting of the ribbon to officially declare the handover was done by Helen Phillip, the widow of the late Francis Mendo Phillip. I am overwhelmed by this awesome and imposing structure built in honour of Mendo. On behalf of my family and myself, I would like to express our gratitude and appreciation to the Government of St. Lucia, the late Stanley Fringe, Dunstan and the other members of the Monument Committee for the effort in creating this magnificent monument, which is bound to preserve the memory and legacy of my late husband, Francis Mendo Phillip. The chairman of the committee presented the keys for the monument to the mayor of Castries, his worship, Peterson Francis. From the Government Information Service, I am Anisia Antoine reporting. Plans are running full steam ahead for the commencement of works on Phase 2 of the Denver North Water Rehabilitation Project. Having completed the first set of work in this multi-phase initiative, which saw the construction of a raw water intake, the installation of transmission facilities to the newly constructed treatment plant, and the distribution of facilities inclusive of pumping stations to the existing Tumazo tank. The success of Phase 1 ensures that 500,000 gallons of well-treated pipe-borne water can be distributed regularly to residents in the lower communities of Denver North. We hear more from the Ministry of Agriculture's Amanda Faye Clark. Chairman of the Board of Directors of Wasco, Francis Dembo, says much applause needs to be given to the governments of St. Lucia and Mexico, which worked assiduously to secure funding to begin the much-needed intervention to improve the socio-economic conditions of the people of Denver North. For this, we must commend the excellent workmanship of Vinci Construction, CIE, the government of St. Lucia, which provided funding in the sum of US$1.6 million, and most importantly, the Mexican government, through the local embassy that provided extremely generous grant funding to the tune of US$5 million to kick-start this important project. Phase 2 will also ensure that water is provided at higher elevation with the installation of booster pumping stations in specific areas. Parliamentary representative for Denver North Hon. Sean Edwards says the completion of Phase 1 and the commissioning of work in this new phase is a milestone achieve, and that which signals the end of decades of struggle where water rehabilitation is concerned in his constituency. For me, this water project is very, very important. I know we have waited a long time. I know we have gone to different agencies to try and get it to happen and happen in quick time. Minister with responsibility for the island's water resources Hon. Ezekiel Joseph says he applauds the recent accomplishments gained by way of an overall reduced cost of funding for the rehabilitative works. I want to say today that we made a number of changes to this project. Changes that will cause us to reduce the cost of the project. Like you heard from your rep, and it's correct. Phase 1 was a loan, was a grant, but Phase 2 is a loan. The main contractors, Vinci Construction, will use smaller contractors from the Denver North community for support to carry on its mandate and work schedule over the next 12 months. Phase 2 of the Denver North Water Rehabilitation Project is scheduled to begin immediately. From the Information Unit of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Physical Planning, Natural Resources and Cooperatives, I am Amanda Fee-Clock reporting. In keeping with changes in international oil prices and government's application of the modified market passed through petroleum pricing mechanism, the retail price of the LPG 20 and 22 pound cylinders, gasoline and diesel remains unchanged. The prices of LPG 100 pound cylinder and kerosene have been changed. The price changes take effect from Monday, February 11th, 2019. The 20 pound LPG cylinder remains unchanged at $32.91. The 22 pound cylinder also remains unchanged at $36.48. The 100 pound cylinder increased from $204.95 to $207.07 per cylinder. However, kerosene decreased from $950 to $8.21 per gallon. Gasoline has maintained that $13.95 per gallon. Diesel has also remained at $13.95 per gallon. The next adjustment of the retail prices for fuel products will be on Monday, March 4th, 2019. And this is the NTN Nightly, coming up, the latest happenings in youth and sports with Ryan O'Brien. Food safety is a scientific discipline describing handling, preparation and storage of foods in ways that prevent food-borne illness. Here are some food safety tips. Be careful when purchasing food items on sale. Examine all items carefully prior to purchasing. Check for damage to food items and expiration dates. When purchasing local meat from butchers, look for the inspected and past stamp which indicates that the meat has been inspected by the Department of Environmental Health. Avoid keeping foods such as meat, fish, chicken or foods requiring refrigeration in your vehicle or other location for over 4 hours. Before preparing foods and in between handling raw meat or chicken, wash hands thoroughly with soap and warm water and dry thoroughly. Use a separate cutting board and utensil for your raw meats. Prepare foods as close as possible to meal time. Refrigerate leftovers immediately after meal time and use refrigerated leftovers within 2 to 3 days. When reheating food, ensure that it is steaming hot to at least 75 degrees Celsius. A message from the Bureau of Health Education and the Ministry of Health, Wellness, Human Services and Gender Relations. Welcome back. Council workers who have enhanced their skillset have been duly recognized for their efforts. We will have the details in a moment but first, we join Ryan O'Brien for the latest happenings in youth development and sports. Hello and welcome to today's update on some of their programs and activities under the auspices of the Ministry of Youth Development and Sports. News from the Inter-Secondary Schools table tennis singles and doubles events played on Friday. St. Joseph's Convent and Castery's Comprehensives secondary school dominated the championships. The girls' doubles event saw the St. Joseph's Convent duo of Zarian Anthony and Maya George defeating all their opponents in straight sets to retain their girls' doubles title. Leno Ajuda and Aviona Edmund also from St. Joseph's Convent finished second while the mixed pair of St. Joseph's Convent Angelique Richardson and Babunow's Giselle McGowan finished third. The boys' doubles then saw Castery's Comprehensives Deandre Caldron and Ishmael Mouiz make light work of all their opponents to retain their doubles title. Karem Secondry, Taneil Bernard and Max William finished second while Castery's Comprehensives secondary schools Chernan Janky and Colvin Paul finished third. The mixed doubles event saw the Castery's Comprehensives secondary schools Deandre Caldron teaming up with St. Joseph's Convent Zarian Anthony to win the event. TCSS's Ishmael Mouiz and SJC's Maya George finished second whilst Babunow, Nate John and St. Joseph's Convent Leno Ajuda placed third. The girls' singles saw St. Joseph's Convent capturing all the podium spots. Starian Anthony won her second singles title in three years. Jules St. Clair finished second whilst Angelique Richardson and Leno Ajuda finished third. The boys' singles saw Deandre Caldron stamping his dominance against all of his opponents to retain his singles title. Ishmael Mouiz also from the Castery's Comprehensives secondary school placed second whilst Babunow secondary's Kenneth John and Nate John placed third. St. Joseph's Convent Zarian Anthony was named female MVP, capturing goal in a team's event, girls' doubles, mixed doubles and girls' singles. She competed unbeaten in the entire competition. Castery's Comprehensives secondary school's Deandre Caldron was named male MVP, capturing goal in a team's event, boys' doubles, mixed doubles and boys' singles. He played the entire championship without dropping a set. Minister responsible for youth development and sports, the Honourable Edmund Estefan has urged football administrators to continue with the efforts to have more football played on Island. Minister Estefan made the remarks while delivering an address during Saturday's awards put on by the St. Lucia Football Association Incorporated. He pledged government support in making this a reality and emphasised his interest in seeing leagues, having their competitions being played simultaneously and subsequently feeling teams in national competition. Now a reminder for all schools participating in this year's Mass United Insurance under-19 schools cricket competition. That participants must be under 19 years of age on September 1st in the year of the competition and are subject to special conditions. All matches shall be played under the laws of cricket as laid down by the MCC at the time. All matches shall consist of one innings per side, each innings being limited to 50 overs and completed on the same day. National sports awards are fast approaching and it will be a final briefing for the local media on Wednesday, February 13th at the conference room at the ministry from 10 in the morning. That same evening, all nominees are being invited to a meeting at the same location to familiarise themselves with their roles and responsibilities during the awards. That's all from us today. I'm Ryan O'Brien. Thanks Ryan. The Ministry of Equity, Social Justice, Local Government and Empowerment have recognised council workers who have enhanced the skill sets by completing a plumbing training programme. Chef Roy Marius has the details. To augment the ministry's public facility maintenance efforts, six local government council employees successfully completed a plumbing skills maintenance programme at Sir Arthur Lewis Community College. At a ceremony on Wednesday, February 6th, 2019, the council workers were handed certificates to recognise their accomplishments. Deputy Permanent Secretary Miss Lenita Joseph commanded the workers for their efforts. So I'm really pleased to be standing here today just to congratulate you on finishing the programme. And you have my commitment and support that we will continue to find initiatives that we can help to build the vocational skills of the counsellors and the workers of the councils. The participants were very thankful for being given this opportunity. Well actually, I already did one course on basic plumbing and then I did that one. So it pushed me to get to know more things. I get to know more techniques. And then I found the ministry and thanks this one or two for pushing me. The research unit of the ministry undertook a national public standby facility assessment exercise from 2016 to 2017. One of the recommendations was to get council employees certified in the trade of plumbing. Reporting from the Ministry of Equity, Social Justice, Local Government and Empowerment, I am Shivraimarius. And stay with the NTN Nightly. Up next, Primus Hutchinson is here with the NTN Waipo Aquarium. There are signs everywhere. Pay attention whether you're male or female. Visit your health centre to get screened. It's a preliminary test to determine if you are exposed to the HIV virus, an STI or tuberculosis. Some people who are HIV positive also have tuberculosis. But there's hope. Tuberculosis can be cured. And yes, you can live a full life with HIV. Talk to your doctor. Be responsible. Help stop the spread of TB HIV. Encourage everyone to get tested. Welcome back. Time now for the NTN Waipo Aquarium with Primus Hutchinson. I'm from the Department of Health and Welfare. I'm from the government of the GIS. I'm from the NTN National Television. I'm from the New Aquarium. I'm from Primus Hutchinson. The Department of Finance. I've developed a lot. To help the department find out which department they are precise for me, I recommend the government's app to help manage debt and its body protects people from HIV. The Ministry to provide funds to administer my business for my treatments and helped me with myچ for my money, and services for my clients and for myida services, who have been doing a lot since May of last year. This is a very good development, this is a carry-on. Everything is connected to the development of the Salar. Silos and Claire have made this diverse initiative that is capable of developing this Salar that has also assisted the Finance Department to strengthen my coordination with this diverse division that unites Executive Director for Carry-on, Devon Road, so that we can improve the capability of these 77 countries so that we can manage and plan the activities of the Finance Department, so that we can improve the Salar plan to start in May of last year. The Health Department, each takes a step to control the disease, and to prevent the Salar disease from spreading in the country. So, I have placed the Health Professionals in this area. These Health Professionals have found the opportunity to receive information that it is May of last year that has been done to help control the disease of the last year that has been assisted recently. Officers who know this to address the Health Ministry Dr. Sharon Belma-George has declared that she will be able to control the Salar disease since the year 1990. Even if it is necessary to work in the Health Ministry, she will be able to come here and discover the Salar disease as soon as possible. Dr. Belma-George has said that since so long ago the Salar disease has been affected in the country, it is necessary to work in the Salar to find all the information to see if the Salar disease has been affected in the country. Dr. George has said that he observed for the past 10 years that he has been able to do to protect the Salar disease from the disease of the disease. He has called to protect the Salar disease in his Health Centers in the country to find the disease that can protect the health disease. Officers have said that the health ministry will be able to come here quickly because since so long ago it has been possible to visit the country if you want to travel to other countries. Dr. George has called to protect the Salar disease to receive health protection from the disease of the disease. There are many companies that have advanced to do medicine, to do engineering and to do that because they have made an effort to program for new development and for human error. I have more than 10 years of experience in various projects in this country. The Ministry of Health has made an effort to promote the Salar disease to engage in new development in human error. There are several changes that have been made to make it possible for the health service to be provided according to Mr. King for the health service to be provided to provide health services in different international countries. Mr. King has said that the Health Service has established in this country a lot of health services. Mr. King has told that new health services can be used to improve health for the health service to be provided in the future. organized for these communities. It is a domino competition, a special event for the family, an agricultural sector activity, and also for the fishermen, a major observation for the fishermen. The Chief Committee of the General Administration of MacIntyre, which is also a committee that does everything possible to facilitate transportation for the public. It is very common to come and celebrate the fourth anniversary of this year's EDPRDAS. I would like to thank you all for joining us today. I would like to thank you all for watching and for your invitation. I would also like to thank you all for joining us today. Thank you all, primers. We've been experiencing moderate to brisk easterly winds and above normal seas, which will continue over the next few days. Here's a look at what's happening to us weather-wise. Winds will be blowing from the east near 23 miles per hour or 37 kilometers per hour with a few gusts. The weather, fair to partly cloudy and breezy with a few isolated showers. Tides for Castries Harbour was low at 2.14 p.m. and will be high at 8.35 p.m. Tides for Vefor Bay was low at 3.41 p.m. and will be high at 9.42 p.m. The seas moderate to locally rough with ways 5 to 8 feet or 1.5 to 2.4 meters. Small craft operators and sea beavers are advised to exercise caution due to brisk winds and rough seas. Sun set today at 6.07 p.m. and will rise tomorrow at 6.28 a.m. Here's the weather summary. Moderate to brisk easterly winds and above normal seas will continue around the eastern Caribbean islands over the next few days. Low-level clouds moving along this wind flow will bring occasional showers over the lesser Antilles during the forecast period. 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 St. Lucia Government Facebook page or YouTube channel.