BRIDGETOWN- The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) is investing USD20 million in education and youth development in Saint Lucia. On October 3, the Bank launched the Saint Lucia Education Quality Improvement Project (EQuIP) and the Youth Empowerment Project (YEP), at the Bay Gardens Hotel.

EQuIP aims to strengthen the island’s education system, through the expansion and rehabilitation of four selected institutions, and overall improvements in educational leadership and instructional effectiveness, including training for teachers, principals and education officers.

“These two projects are designed to holistically address a number of the risk factors for sub-optimal educational outcomes, crime and violence, as well as deviant and anti-social behaviour that are affecting youth in a number of schools and communities across Saint Lucia. Specifically, EQuIP is expected to improve quality, equity, efficiency and effectiveness of the education system, making it responsive to the needs of diverse learners,” said Dr. Idamay Denny, Portfolio Manager, CDB. EQuIP will place emphasis on enhancing the support provided for children with special educational needs, by assessing the institutional and infrastructural improvements needed to provide quality education and equitable access to this vulnerable group. “The fundamental reality is such that, when we provide a platform for every child to flourish within their own right, we as a nation succeed. This is the commitment of the Department of Education, and by extension, the Government of Saint Lucia,” said Dr. Gale T. C. Rigobert, Minister of Education, Innovation, Gender Relations & Sustainable Development, Saint Lucia.(CDB)…[+]

A Russian-American space crew have been forced to make an emergency landing in Kazakhstan after their Soyuz rocket suffered a failure shortly after launching from Russia’s Baikonur cosmodrome in one of the most serious space incidents in recent years.

The launch began as a routine affair. Missions bound for the International Space Station (ISS) have been conducted every few months for the past 20 years. But 119 seconds into Thursday’s flight, mission controllers on the Nasa broadcast began to speak of a failure. Shaky footage from the capsule’s cabin seen during the live broadcast appeared to show objects floating mid-launch. The crew told mission control they felt weightless, an indication of a problem during that stage of the flight.

Agitated voices flooding the radio link between mission control and the capsule could be heard on the Nasa broadcast. Details and the exact sequence of events remain unclear, but shortly afterwards the crew initiated an abort and ejected their capsule from the rocket.(theguardian)…[+]

JAMAICA-A man was Monday night shot dead and his teenage son shot and injured when a gunman attacked them in Patrick City, a middle-income community in Kingston. The Hunts Bay police reported that about 9:25 pm, Courtney Russell, 53, and another man were at a ‘cook shop’ when they were pounced on by an armed man.

It was discovered that Russell had been shot multiple times and the other man injured by a bullet. The police were summoned and they were both taken to hospital where Russell was pronounced dead and the injured man treated. The gunman allegedly escaped in a waiting motor car. However, Russell’s wief Joan, otherwise known as Miss Donna, told the Jamaica Observer that her husband and her son were shot inside their house. “About quarter past nine a slim guy came in and say, ‘You have food?’ Mi say, ‘Yes’, but at the same time when he asked if mi have food mi a watch him”. According to Joan, the man moved towards her but the door separating them was locked.(JAMAICA OBSERVER)…[+]