BRIDGETOWN- It’s a makeover that is transforming lives and stimulating pride in 1,200 Jamaican students. At the Christiana Moravian Primary and Infant School, there were once as many as 46 students to one teacher in some classes. Now 10 new classrooms, the renovation of two existing school buildings and student bathrooms, and new programmes and materials have not only alleviated problems of overcrowding but are also enhancing the lives of students.

The Principal credits both funds with leaving an indelible mark on the school community through socially progressive programs such as the Special Education Needs Coordinators Training Project; the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Programme (WASH) and the Literacy and Numeracy Project (LNP). Through LNP, the school received teaching and learning aids to support the math and language curriculum, and academic staff participated in intensive training. As a result, students’ performance in national examinations improved, the school surpassed the national average for literacy, and there has been a marked improvement in numeracy.

Knowledge gained through WASH led to the creation of an action plan intended to address sanitation and hygiene issues within the school’s environment, and it stirred creativity among staff and students. In addition to creating Squeaky, a mascot who reminds students to “WASH”, they reworked “Nuh Dutty Up Jamaica”, a popular song, with new lyrics “nuh dutty up di school yaad.” Improvements made within the school’s Special Education Unit were particularly notable, with significant increases in the numbers of special education students reaching mastery levels in literacy and numeracy.(CDB)…[+]

Ireland’s prime minister, Leo Varadkar, will go into next month’s crucial European summit on Brexit without the fear of a general election at home after one of his key allies resigned from the cabinet hours before a parliamentary vote that would have led to the collapse of the government in Dublin.

Varadkar’s deputy, Frances Fitzgerald, offered her resignation at lunchtime on Tuesday, thus averting a vote of no confidence that could have brought down the minority Fine Gael-led coalition. Fitzgerald’s decision to stand down brought Ireland back from the brink of a pre-Christmas election and gives Varadkar a freer hand to enter critical negotiations on Brexit, the Irish border and the future relationship between the EU and the UK at the summit in December. She has been under intense pressure over her handling of information about the treatment of a police whistleblower who made allegations of corruption and malpractice in the Garda Síochána.(theguardian)…[+]

The glow from a ring of incandescent red lava in the crater of Bali’s Mount Agung is clearly visible, as the likelihood of a large eruption on the popular holiday island continues to grow.

The burnt orange glow atop Mount Agung could be easily seen at night and in the thick ash column that Indonesia’s disaster agency said was being sent nearly two miles (3km) into the atmosphere. “We could see the magma tonight,” Nyoman Karyiarsa, a resident of Rendang village, told the Guardian on Monday evening. “From 7pm to 8pm, we could see a bright red colour from the crater, but it hasn’t come out yet.”The Rendang monitoring post registered powerful and continuous tremors at about 2pm on Tuesday in Bali, with locals and journalists told to evacuate. The last big eruption in 1963 was preceded by continuous tremors. The Balinese volcano, the highest point on the island, has grown increasingly restless over the past week, with the alert system raised to its highest level early on Monday, as the nature of the eruptions has shifted from phreatic, or steam-based, to magmatic.(theguardian)…[+]

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are to marry at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle next May and will go on their first public walkabout on Friday in Nottingham, the palace has announced. The couple are planning to involve members of the public in the proceedings in some form yet to be determined. “It will be a moment of fun and joy that will reflect the character of the bride and groom,” said their spokesman. Markle, 36, who is American, will also become a British citizen and will be baptised and confirmed into the Church of England before the wedding, Kensington Palace announced.(theguardian)…[+]

Thousands of Catholics have welcomed Pope Francis to Yangon, where has begun a three-day visit to Myanmar. The trip – fraught with sensitivity and trepidation over how he will deal with the plight of the Muslim Rohingya – could be the trickiest yet of his papacy. After touching down in the early afternoon, the pope was greeted by a large crowd at the airport, many waving yellow and white Vatican flags and dressed in T-shirts bearing the slogan of the trip, “Love and Peace”. As he drove past, they screamed and chanted “we love Papa”. The head of the Catholic church faces a difficult diplomatic balancing act on his first papal visit to Myanmar.(theguardian)…[+]

Prince Harry has said he is “thrilled” after announcing that he is to marry the American actor Meghan Markle next spring. Congratulations have flooded in for the couple, who appeared in public for a photoshoot at Kensington Palace on Monday afternoon, hours after making their engagement public.

Holding hands, the couple spoke briefly. Harry, wearing a navy blue suit and matching tie, said he was “thrilled, over the moon”. He declined to give details about the engagement, which happened this month in London, but joked: “Of course it was romantic.” Asked when he knew Markle was “the one”, he said: “The very first time we met.” Markle, wearing a white wrap coat, displayed her engagement ring and said she was “so very happy”, rubbing Harry’s arm affectionately as the couple smiled for the cameras.

The couple will move into a two-bedroom Nottingham Cottage in the grounds of Kensington Palace after the wedding. The announcement of their engagement was made by Clarence House on behalf of Prince Charles earlier on Monday. Later, the Prince of Wales, speaking for himself and the Duchess of Cornwall, said: “We’re both thrilled. We hope they’ll be very happy indeed.”(theguardian)…[+]

BRIDGETOWN – The Caribbean could discover its very own Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg, when 300 people from the tech industry, including power players like Jack Dorsey, CEO, Twitter, convene in Jamaica from November 30 to December 2, for the second biannual Tech Beach retreat.

A USD35,000 grant provided by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) will make it possible for 16 young entrepreneurs and innovators from across the region to attend the event, through scholarships. The two-day retreat will focus on teaching participants how to build successful fintech, medtech and consumer tech companies, with special features on cybercrime and data security, robotics and automation, artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies.

Scholarship awardees will present their business ideas to key participants and a select group of speakers at the retreat, and will receive constructive feedback and mentorship. This type of access to global partnerships and potential investment is vital to the region making its mark, said Tech Beach Co-founder and Director, Kirk-Anthony Hamilton. Following the inaugural retreat in 2016, a post-event survey confirmed that 56 percent of the participants had gone on to establish joint ventures through connections made at the event. Hamilton is himself an example of what regional entrepreneurs can achieve with adequate investment and support. He was named one of the 75 Emerging Global Entrepreneurs by the then President of the United States of America, Barrack Obama in 2015…[+]

A Labour party staff member in London has died suddenly amid an investigation into pornographic images found on a computer.

The staff member, who was in his 30s and worked in the party’s London headquarters in Victoria, had been suspended from his job and the party while an investigation was carried out, according to the Sunday Times. Staff were informed of his death on Thursday by Labour’s general secretary, Iain McNicol, but had been told the matter had to be kept private. The inquiry into the staff member is understood to have been in its early stages and there had been no finding of guilt.

A Labour spokesperson confirmed the death on Saturday night but said the party would not be commenting on the circumstances of his death. “A member of Labour party staff has died suddenly and unexpectedly. Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with the family, friends and colleagues, whose privacy must be respected,” the spokesperson said. “We will not be commenting further at this time.”(theguardian)…[+]

A second eruption in less than a week of the Mount Agung volcano in Bali has intensified the watch for a more serious explosion. The volcano rumbled into life with a series of eruptions that temporarily disrupted some international flights to the popular Indonesian island tourist destination.

Mount Agung erupted on Saturday evening and three times early Sunday, lighting its cone with an orange glow and sending ash 4,000 metres into the atmosphere. The ash clouds have been moving toward the neighbouring island of Lombok, a direction that is away from Bali’s airport, where nearly all scheduled domestic and international flights were continuing on Sunday.

An exclusion zone extending up to 7.5km from the crater remains in place, following the evacuation of more than 185,000 people after an eruption in September, and authorities have warned anyone remaining within it to leave the area. About 25,000 to 30,000 people are reportedly still unable to return home. There had been some effect on with flights from airlines including Virgin Australia, Qantas, KLM and Jetstar were affected although many either continued their services or resumed them after a pause. Travellers were advised to check with their carrier.(theguardian)…[+]

Twenty-two people have been injured after part of a nightclub floor in Tenerife collapsed, causing people to plunge into the basement. Emergency services rushed to the club in Adeje in the south-west of the Spanish island at about 2.30am on Sunday, following reports that about 4 sq m (43 sq ft) of its floor had given way, the Canary Islands regional government said.

“After the floor collapsed, the people who were inside fell to the basement from the height of approximately one floor,” its statement said. Firefighters evacuated the club and the 22, two of whom were in a serious condition, were taken to hospital. Injuries included broken legs, ankle sprains and bruises. Two French nationals, a Belgian and a Romanian were among those hurt. Police have launched an investigation into the incident.(theguardian)…[+]