 Coming to you from RGIS Studios, I am Anicia Antoine and this is your Midday News Brief. The Prime Minister of St. Lucia, Hon. Alan Shastney, recently met with a newly drafted NBA player, Terence Mann, and representatives from the St Lucia Basketball Federation. Terence Mann, who was born in Brooklyn, New York, to St Lucia's parents, travelled to St Lucia often as a child. The athlete, who is now 22 years old, has expressed his love for St Lucia and would like to set up a foundation to promote and develop basketball locally. Terence Mann is currently an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association, NBA, and played for the Clippers during the 2019 NBA Summer League season. The Prime Minister expressed his gratitude to Terence for taking the time to share his journey for not forgetting his St Lucia roots and for his desire to help develop the sport of basketball here on the island. His efforts and that of others combined with our National Sports Development Strategy will help provide the support and opportunities which our local athletes so richly deserve. The St Lucia Parliament has authorised the Minister for Finance to guarantee the loan for the financing of the Uranora International Airport Re-development Project by the St Lucia Air and Seaport Authority from a syndicate of banks led by the Bank of St Lucia Ltd. This was just one of the parliamentary approvals that paved the way for national development initiatives to progress. A bill to incorporate the CariCom arrest warrant treaty in the laws of St Lucia has been passed. The treaty, which has been in existence since 2008, seeks to combat cross-border crime and enhance cooperation among law enforcement, agencies and security in the CariCom region. The treaty was developed in response to the deficiencies of the ex-tradition laws in CariCom member states. Prime Minister Nobel Allen Chastney says it is meant to provide a more efficient system of surrender of persons among CariCom member states. A central authority of the issuing state party must make a request for the surrender of a person. When the request is received, St Lucia as an executing state party is expected to take necessary measures against the requested person in compliance with the laws of St Lucia. Honourable Chastney says provisions must be made in the law to empower a competent authority to arrest and detain someone under the warrant. St Lucia signed onto the CariCom arrest warrant treaty on July 6th, 2017. This has been your media news brief. Thank you for watching.