News-buzz

THE traditional lighting up of the City of Castries popularly known as the Festival of Lights will be observed Monday night with the theme “Celebrate Light, Celebrate Jesus”. This is the time of year when the Castries Constituency Council, in collaboration with other partners, decorate the commercial center of the capital with Christmas lights and themes signifying the birth of Jesus Christ.

KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC -The police force has announced plans to increase stop-and-search operations during the festive season. Head of the Corporate Communications Unit (CCU) of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), Superintendent Stephanie Lindsay, said there will be a surge in the number of police on the ground during the festive season to counter the increase in robberies and the large migration of criminals at this time of year.

ONE of the elements of the Festival of Lights is the lantern competition and this year the effort has been boosted with a $5,000 donation and 100 traditional Taiwanese unicorn lanterns to the Castries Constituency Council from the Embassy of the Republic of China (Taiwan).

THE St. Lucia government says it had no choice but to follow other Eastern Caribbean States in launching a Citizenship by Investment (CIP) programme here. “It means that a person can get a passport from Dominica for EC$100,000 or get a passport from Grenada, St Kitts or Antigua and have the full rights of being here. They got OECS citizenship,” Prime Minister Allen Chastanet said, noting that some of the Chinese nationals who came here to open restaurants, received their passports through Dominica.

CASTRIES Mayor Peterson Francis has vowed to make the city safer by establishing a 50-strong constabulary force. The current 12 member constabulary will get an injection of 18 more into members by year end, said to Francis Thursday at a press conference. The move by the Council to beef up its security force comes as a result of two shooting incidents within the city’s borders earlier this week, one of which resulted in the death of 27 year old Shane Emmanuel of City Gate.

ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, Dec 7, CMC – Grenada police have raided a number of business places here confiscating military type clothing and warning against its importation as well as “explosive” fireworks during the Christmas Season. Head of the Community Relations of the Police Force, Sylvan McIntyre, said that as part of the operations, “all things’ illegal will be seized.

A recent traffic accident at Banse, Laborie, where a truck driver lost control of his vehicle which veered off the road and plunged down a precipice, has renewed calls by residents for the Ministry of Infrastructure to make the road safer for users. Over the years, there have been several accidents at a particular bend along the road where people have narrowly escaped death. The situation is of grave concern to residents of the area, especially those living near the bend.

A Vieux Fort man is in critical condition at St Jude Hospital after suffering severe burns in a domestic incident. Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident which resulted in 68 year old male resident of St. Jude’s Highway, being admitted to the St. Jude Hospital for treatment with severe burns about his body.

In a true demonstration of regional partnership, two CARICOM institutions have taken an important step to formalize their relationship towards …

A COLLECTIONtaken at the recent funeral ceremony of a dementia patient is to go towards financing training for care-givers of the newly-formed St. Lucia Alzheimer’s & Dementia Association (SLADA). The collection was taken up during the funeral service of the late Leotha St Jour held at Our Lady of Fatima Church in La Clery.