 Welcome to NTN Nightly. I am Genal Novel. This edition stops stories. St. Lucia joins the rest of the world in commemorating the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. St. Lucia once again bestowed with the prestigious title of world's leading honeymoon destination. And DGCELL one-time scholarships presented to students who excelled at the 2020 Common Entrance Examination. The 16 days of activism against gender-based violence is ongoing. From the 25th November to the 10th December, the Department of Gender Relations has organized activities to draw awareness to the cause, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Reports indicate that preceding COVID-19, violence against women has registered alarming increases. In St. Lucia, basic skills training and psychological first aid will be held for first responders to better equip them when dealing with this vulnerable group. Director of Gender Relations, Janie Joseph explains. To be able to identify if those persons are in situations that they need some support or they need to somehow be referred for direct services. To be able to listen empathically and to be able to link them to the services that they need, they require at the time. So that is happening between the first to the fourth of December. We are targeting police officers, nurses, nurse practitioners and doctors and agriculture and fisheries extension officers. The Department of Gender Relations has also slated a day to remember victims of gender-based violence. A day for prior and a video challenge dubbed Vox Assemble, where members of the public can publish clips of themselves online speaking against gender-based violence. The 2020 UNITE campaign theme is Orange the World, Fund, Respond, Prevents, Collect. Joseph says this highlights the response to gender-based violence not being limited to prevention. You cannot tackle gender-based violence without having a specific set of money aside that is designated to providing the services that are required, enough services that are required, enough prevention activities. We cannot speak about ending gender-based violence if we don't speak of collecting data, analyzing that data and making data informed decisions. Orange is a uniting colour for ending gender-based violence. Members of the public are also encouraged to incorporate the colour into their outfits during the 16 days of activism. The Consumer Affairs Department is encouraging consumers to read and understand higher purchase agreements before signing. Marvin St. Louis tells us more. The signs are clear. Buying on credit spreads the course of an item over a period of time. A comfort for the customers. But the Consumer Affairs Department is concerned that the terms and conditions of higher purchase agreements are not fully read and understood. This has led to misinterpretation of the law. Let's see a store, for example. Yoshi goes into the store, identifies the product. To complete the transaction, the clerk prints out the agreement and says to the customer, sign here, sign here, sign here. Very few consumers will read what they are signing on to, others will just sign. Higher purchase transactions are governed by the Consumer Credit Act, cap 13.15, and all agreements must be in keeping with this legislation. Subject to section 26 within this legislation, the owner may exercise his or her right to recover and pay goods. Under a higher purchase agreement, the good does not belong to the consumer until the final payment is made. And so if there has been a breach of contract or consumer has failed to make the monthly payments, the owner has the right to repossess his or her goods. However, this can be done only after the owner has given the consumer 21 days notice in writing of his or her intention to repossess. The owner must also give the consumer a period of not less than 10 days after the notice has been served to come in and make a payment. Now, if the consumer has already paid more than 70% of the higher purchase price, the owner cannot repossess without obtaining a court order. However, if less than 70% of the higher purchase price has been paid, once the owner has given the consumer sufficient notice in writing, the goods can be recovered or repossessed. The Consumer Affairs Department is providing additional education on higher purchase and other consumer-related transactions at the office on the corner of Miko and Coral Street in Cass Trees. Consumers are encouraged to know their rights and responsibilities. Marvin St. Louis reporting from the Ministry of Commerce. St. Lucia's prominence amongst global destinations within the romance niche continues to be undisputable. The destination was bestowed yet again the prestigious title of world's leading honeymoon destination. The virtual announcement of the highly coveted industry accolade was made on November 27 in Moscow, commemorating the observance of the 27th annual World Travel Awards. St. Lucia has been recognized for this award for the 12th time and for the third consecutive year since 2018. World Travel Awards are voted for by travel and tourism professionals and consumers worldwide and is recognized as the travel industry's most prestigious awards program, rewarding leaders in the tourism, airline, hotel and hospitality sectors. Jiren Georges is the public relations manager of the St. Lucia Tourism Authority. It is an honor for St. Lucia to be named for a 12th time as the world's leading honeymoon destination. Her undeniable prominence among global destinations is what we strive for daily. So on behalf of the Minister of Tourism, Honorable Dominic Fede, the teams at the Ministry of Tourism and the St. Lucia Tourism Authority and our entire hospitality industry, we say thank you to our travel and tourism professionals and consumers worldwide for recognizing St. Lucia for this prestigious title once again. Commenting on the award, Tourism Minister Honorable Dominic Fede said, St. Lucia's international acclaimed status is what we strive for daily in our strategic marketing and promotion efforts. The destination undoubtedly boasts of true passion in all key niches and amongst its hidden gems. It is indeed an honor for St. Lucia to be named once again as world's leading honeymoon destination, a sincere reflection of our culture and the people who propel the industry." Apart from 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 2020. Students who excelled at the 2020 Common Entrance Examinations will last Wednesday, presented with Digicel One Time Scholarships. Hermadi Mark has the details. The Ministry of Education partnered with Digicel to award students who performed excellently at our Common Entrance level. The awardees were presented with scholarship packages at a ceremony held at the conference room of the Ministry of Education. The government and secretary in the Department of Education, Innovation and Gender Relations, Michelle Charles, expressed appreciation to the telecommunications company for their support and contribution to the education sector. Once again, the Ministry of Education is very pleased to partner with Digicel on this initiative, and it couldn't be more apt at this time, especially given that our scholarship, apart from a financial contribution, covers devices, so we have some smartphones and laptops for our students this year. I first want to thank Digicel also for increasing the number of scholarships to the Ministry of Education, and I'm sure our parents and students are quite thrilled with this as they stand to benefit significantly from this initiative. After addressing the award ceremony, Charles reaffirmed the Department of Education's commitment to ensuring the well-being and development of students in St. Lucia. I want to talk to the students in particular to tell you that the Ministry of Education, we were about ensuring that none of our students, none of our children are left behind, and we want to encourage you to continue with your exceptional academic performance, and that's the reason why you're here this morning, why you have been considered for a scholarship within the Ministry of Education. It's because you performed extremely well during the Common Entrance exam, and for that we want to congratulate you and wish you all the best as you continue through your secondary school education. For one-time scholarships include a financial contribution and smart devices to assist students with online learning. From the Government Information Service, Humati Mock reporting. This is NTN Nightly. Please stay with us. Coronavirus? But children are safe, no? Hold up. Children are actually more likely to touch all kinds of surfaces, put their hands on their mouths and their eyes, or sneeze and cough with little thought about hygiene when around others. While children have been seen to recover well from this virus, they can easily spread it to those more at risk like the elderly or ill persons who have a weaker immune system. Teach the little ones in your care to be little powerhouses of infection prevention. Keep reminding them, wash, wash, wash your hands. Cover your mouth with tissue or your inner elbow when you sneeze and cough. And be sure to praise them when you see them taking these precautions. Our health is in our hands. Together through simple actions, we can stop the spread of coronavirus. This message was brought to you by the Brewer of Health Education of the Ministry of Health and Wellness. Welcome back. The 10th Caribbean Beekeeping Congress continued in St. Lucia and virtually across the globe with focus on the future of beekeeping. The second session featured presenters from Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago. More in this report. Day two of the 10th Caribbean Beekeeping Congress began with concern over the future of beekeeping in the Caribbean and its impact on food security. And so there's this intimate link when we start home with bee health and worry about colony collapse, et cetera. It's because of this link between beekeeping and agriculture and those pollination services. So if you have problems with your honeybees, it means that you're going to see a decline in agricultural production. Scientist Varma Jasami of Grenada encouraged the integration of beekeeping into agriculture and urged farmers to cultivate plants that bees can feed on. Dr. Jasami was also concerned about a decline in beekeeping and honey production at a time when demand was growing globally. Over the past five or more years, there's been a steady decline in the output of honey even though there's been a steady increase in demand. And so that's an opportunity for countries who are exporting natural honey. Dr. Jasami also called for more research into apiculture, a sentiment echoed by Giles Romulus, the national coordinator of the Global Environment Fund in St. Duchelle. We've had research. We are lost. Definitely. That's because we can't make sound decisions for the progress of our economies. The second presentation for the morning went a deeper into pollination. It was felt that the contribution of pollination to agriculture was seriously undervalued to the detriment to agriculture and food production. So we don't really tend to consider pollination as an agricultural input and as a consequence, people are not taking care of it, they're not managing it properly. It was revealed that not all pollinators are bees. Flies, wasps, bats, birds, bugs, beetles and lizards are also pollinators and so have a role to play in any successful agricultural enterprise. There's very little knowledge about pest species on a whole which means that people just tend to spray broad spectrum pesticides which kills everything. The thing is, we do not know what we have so we don't even know what we're losing and that is the biggest issue. There is worry that many valuable species are being lost due to the widespread use of pesticides and herbicides housing and other development and deforestation. From the Government Information Service, Lisa Joseph reporting. The city of Castries has recorded reduced traffic congestion with the recent installation of the traffic lights. This has been the city's largest installation of traffic lights on all major thoroughfares in Castries. Speaking to this achievement, Mayor of Castries, his worship, Peterson Francis says the traffic lights project was very timely and is a perfect marriage with other major projects in the capital. Not only traffic within the city of Castries has been reduced but motoring has normalized in a structured manner daily. The new traffic lights were very effective and certainly a beacon of hope which lights up the developmental agenda of the city and St. Lucia, he said. He expressed that he is very pleased that the government and by extension the Ministry of Infrastructure made this project a priority. That brings us to the end of NTN Nightly. Join us next time at 7pm with a repeat at 7am. You can also catch up with us anytime on the St. Lucia Government Facebook page or YouTube channel. I am General Norvel.