Carib Scope

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  • Dominican sailor rescued after catamaran becomes overdue near Sint Maarten

    Dominican sailor rescued after catamaran becomes overdue near Sint Maarten

    A multi-national maritime search and rescue mission has successfully recovered a 58-year-old Dominican sailor who went missing during a voyage between the British Virgin Islands and Sint Maarten, ending a days-long search with a positive outcome for the stranded mariner.

    U.S. Coast Guard officials confirmed that Peter Baron was located alive and unharmed on Thursday afternoon, August 13. His 45-foot sailing catamaran, named Ocean Time, was found roughly 11 nautical miles off the western coast of Sint Maarten, after coordinated efforts from search and rescue teams across three nations.

    The search operation was launched after Baron’s family filed an overdue vessel report, following the sailor’s failure to reach his scheduled destination. The mission brought together maritime authorities from the United States, the Netherlands, and France to comb the open waters for the missing craft.

    Baron’s trouble at sea began before his final departure, according to investigation details. During an initial attempt to sail from Tortola in the British Virgin Islands to Sint Maarten, his catamaran suffered a critical steering system failure. He returned to Tortola to carry out repairs, and set out again on Sunday, confident that the fixes would hold. But after leaving the port, Baron never arrived at his planned destination, triggering the alert that launched the cross-border search.

    A U.S. Coast Guard HC-144 Ocean Sentry patrol aircraft, deployed from Air Station Miami, was the first asset to spot the disabled vessel. Aircrews observed that Baron was using an emergency tiller to manually steer the crippled catamaran while waiting for assistance. After the location was confirmed, a Dutch Coast Guard vessel was dispatched to reach the craft and make contact with the sailor.

    Once on scene, Dutch crews verified Baron’s identity and conducted a preliminary health check, finding that he had sustained no injuries and had no ongoing medical issues. Inspectors also confirmed that despite the steering failure, the catamaran remained structurally sound and seaworthy enough to be towed to port.

    The partially disabled sailing vessel was ultimately towed to Simpson Bay in Sint Maarten, where it was safely brought into harbor. Dutch Coast Guard teams also assisted Baron in reconnecting with his family, relaying confirmation that he had survived the ordeal unharmed.

    Cmdr. Matthew Romano, search and rescue mission coordinator for the U.S. Coast Guard, commended the seamless cooperation between all participating agencies. “This successful outcome is a direct result of open communication and coordinated action between our French, Dutch, and Virgin Islands partners,” Romano said. He also used the incident to issue a public reminder to all seafarers: before departing on any voyage, mariners must ensure they carry fully functional, reliable communication equipment and visible emergency signaling devices. These simple preparations, Romano stressed, can make the difference between life and death during an unplanned emergency at sea.

  • Grenada’s new hospital legislation

    Grenada’s new hospital legislation

    Grenada is pushing forward with a landmark overhaul of its public hospital system, as a specialized transition team works to deliver modernized governance legislation that addresses longstanding gaps in the island nation’s outdated health care regulatory framework. The Hospital Statutorisation Transition Team (HSTT), which has been steering the reform process for more than a year, confirmed that the 1998 Hospitals Authority Act—currently the law governing public health facilities—fails to meet contemporary standards for governance, financial management, and data protection, and cannot adequately support the planned staff transition required for the new system.

    The HSTT laid out its detailed roadmap for the transition at an official press conference held on Wednesday, 19 August 2026, where it shared the latest progress on legislative, administrative, and operational preparations for the full statutorisation of the public hospital network. The foundational policy draft was finalized in June 2026, followed by a month of initial stakeholder consultations in July, and formal legislative drafting kicked off earlier this month. The first full version of the bill is expected to be completed by the end of September, with the team targeting introduction to the parliamentary session scheduled for October. If the legislation progresses through the parliamentary process on schedule, HSTT Chairperson Lucia Livingston-Andand explained, full implementation of the new system could launch as early as the first half of 2027. Livingston-Andall emphasized that the final timeline remains contingent on parliamentary review and approval.

    This reform effort builds on a decades-long history of attempts to update Grenada’s hospital governance rules. The 1953 Hospital Act was repealed and replaced by the 1998 Hospitals Authority Act, which established the Grenada Hospital Authority to oversee and manage all public hospital services. When fully enacted, the new legislation will enable the statutorisation of six key public health facilities and services: Grenada General Hospital, Princess Alice Hospital, Princess Royal Hospital, Mt Gay Psychiatric Hospital, the centralized Hospital Laundry Services, and the Central Medical Stores. Officials stress that passage of the bill will not mark the end of the transition process, with multiple phases of structural change required after legislation is approved.

    Health Minister Hon. Philip Telesford framed the reform as a carefully designed corporatisation of public hospital services, explaining that the new statutory model will grant participating facilities greater operational autonomy while retaining full public ownership and maintaining mandatory public accountability. According to Telesford, this structural shift will allow hospitals to operate with improved agility, greater operational efficiency, and more responsiveness to patient and community needs.

    This latest attempt at statutorisation comes after an earlier effort launched under the 1998 Act, which passed through Parliament but was never fully implemented. The HSTT identified a series of missteps that derailed the previous initiative, including inadequate pre-transition planning, insufficient input from key stakeholders, and unresolvable legal, constitutional, and industrial relations challenges tied to the transition of public sector workers to the new statutory body.

    To avoid repeating these past failures, the HSTT has adopted a deliberate, inclusive approach to the transition process. Over the past 16 months, the team has held more than 30 stakeholder working sessions and split its work across five specialized thematic working groups to address every aspect of the reform. The Cabinet has already approved a three-phase transition plan to guide the process: the first phase concludes with the passage of the enabling legislation; the second covers the appointment of the new statutory body’s Board of Directors, executive leadership team, and core staff; the third and final phase involves the full transfer of all hospital assets, liabilities, and personnel to the new governing body.

    Parallel to legislative work, the government has already begun restructuring hospital management to prepare for the transition. Telesford confirmed that recruitment is currently underway for an Interim Chief Executive Officer to lead the transition management, while a Director of Human Resources and Chief Engineer have already been hired to fill key new roles. Additional senior positions that are currently being sourced include a Financial Controller and a Chief Technology Officer, to support the system’s upcoming digital transformation.

    Stakeholder engagement has been a core priority from the earliest stages of the process: formal discussions with trade unions representing workers at affected facilities launched in June 2025 and are still ongoing, while internal stakeholder consultations got underway in March 2026. Formal engagement with external stakeholders kicked off on the same day as the press conference, 19 August, with additional public consultations and townhall-style community meetings planned in the coming months to gather public input. The new legislation is also being designed to align with other major ongoing health sector reforms across Grenada, including Project Polaris, the rollout of national health insurance, and the broader digital transformation of the country’s health care system.

  • Prince Harry and Meghan to move back to Britain

    Prince Harry and Meghan to move back to Britain

    Six years after their high-profile exit from official royal roles and a very public rift with the British royal family, Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, are preparing to move back to the United Kingdom, multiple sources familiar with the plans confirmed to CNN.

    According to reporting from UK-based outlet The Telegraph, the couple — who currently reside in Montecito, California — intend to relocate from the U.S. later this month, and have already enrolled their two young children, 7-year-old Prince Archie and 5-year-old Princess Lilibet, in local British schools ahead of the upcoming academic term. The family plans to settle in a private residence outside of London.

    King Charles III, Harry’s father and the reigning monarch, was only formally notified of the couple’s relocation plans this past Sunday. Notably, the proposal was not brought up or discussed during Harry and Meghan’s visit to the UK in July, when the entire family gathered for a rare reunion. A source close to the King told CNN that Charles welcomes the chance to spend more private, personal time with his son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren, but has made clear that the couple’s status as non-working, private members of the royal family will remain unchanged.

    The Sussexes first stepped away from official royal duties and relocated to North America in 2020, citing a toxic combination of intrusive tabloid press coverage, systemic racism within British institutions, relentless online harassment, and fractured family dynamics as the core reasons for their exit. The rift only deepened in the years that followed, with the couple sharing a series of explosive claims about the royal family in public interviews and their 2022 Netflix docuseries.

    Harry has made only a handful of trips back to the UK since 2020, including high-profile official occasions: the 2022 state funeral of his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, and his father’s coronation in 2023. It was not until September 2023 that Harry and Charles held their first in-person meeting after a 19-month gap in private contact. The July 2024 visit marked another milestone: it was the first time in four years that Charles had met with the entire Sussex family together, hosting the group at his private country estate, Highgrove House in Gloucestershire, alongside Queen Camilla.

    During that July visit, Harry carried out a series of commitments for his charitable projects, including events marking the one-year countdown to the next Invictus Games, the international adaptive sporting event for wounded, injured and sick service members and veterans that Harry founded over a decade ago.

    The possibility of Harry’s permanent return to the UK has been complicated in recent years by a long-running dispute over personal security. In 2023, Harry challenged the UK government’s decision to remove his taxpayer-funded security detail after he stepped down as a working royal. He ultimately lost the high-profile court case, and told the BBC in an interview afterward that he was “devastated” by the ruling, which he said made it “impossible” for him to bring his wife and children back to live in the UK.

    CNN has reached out to representatives for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to request comment on the relocation plans.

  • CSA launches new trophy as regional sailing circuit takes shape

    CSA launches new trophy as regional sailing circuit takes shape

    The Caribbean Sailing Association (CSA) has announced two major updates to the region’s competitive sailing landscape: the launch of a brand-new overall championship trophy and a revised five-year event calendar running from 2027 to 2031. The changes are designed to streamline scheduling, cut down on conflicting event dates, and boost the Caribbean’s standing as a top global destination for competitive sailing.

    Central to the new plan is the consolidation of all the region’s top-tier regattas into a single four-month competitive racing season, anchored by the newly introduced CSA Majors Trophy. This prestigious new award will honor the sailor or team that delivers the strongest consistent performance across five of the Caribbean’s most high-profile sailing events: the RORC Nelson’s Cup Series, RORC Caribbean 600, St Maarten Heineken Regatta, Antigua Racing Cup, and BVI Spring Regatta. The overall champion of the circuit will be officially crowned following the conclusion of the BVI Spring Regatta.

    The updated five-year calendar brings key adjustments to event timing to eliminate overlapping schedules, a longstanding pain point for competitive teams that want to compete in multiple regional events. Barbados Sailing Week will retain its annual January spot on the calendar throughout the entire 2027–2031 period, while the St Maarten Heineken Regatta also remains a core fixture on the circuit. The Antigua Racing Cup will shift to an earlier date in the revised schedule to accommodate the consolidated four-month window for major events.

    CSA President Bastien Poutier emphasized that the structural changes strike a balance between building a professional, accessible competitive circuit and preserving the iconic adventurous spirit that sets Caribbean sailing apart. “This calendar delivers clarity and momentum for our sport,” Poutier explained. “Concentrating our marquee events into a four-month window creates a true circuit for serious campaigners — without losing the adventurous spirit that defines Caribbean racing.”

    The CSA Majors Trophy becomes the third regional award recognizing consistent cross-event performance, joining the existing Budget Marine Windies Multihull Trophy and Travellers Trophy. CSA officials noted that the overarching goal of both the new trophy and revised calendar is to maximize competitor participation across the region’s events, attracting more top sailing talent from around the globe and cementing the Caribbean’s reputation as a world-class sailing host.

  • ABFA Criticised Over “sycophantic endorsement” of FIFA President

    ABFA Criticised Over “sycophantic endorsement” of FIFA President

    A public declaration from the Antigua and Barbuda Football Association (ABFA) throwing unreserved support behind FIFA President Gianni Infantino and hailing his tenure leading global soccer has sparked sharp criticism from football industry observers.

    The unsigned statement released by the ABFA praises Infantino’s leadership as visionary, describing his policy agenda as transformative and highlighting his administration’s investments in grassroots football development across smaller member associations. This public endorsement comes just months after Ickford “Nyah” Roberts won the ABFA presidential election in May, beating rival candidate Fernando Abraham in the final voting round. Roberts stepped into the role after Everton “Batow” Gonsalves, who held the presidency for four consecutive terms starting from his first election in 2008, stepped down.

    But industry outlet Inside World Football has pushed back against the glowing tribute, dismissing the statement as excessively fawning and devoid of meaningful content. The publication points out that the endorsement puts the ABFA at odds with a number of fellow Caribbean and Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) member associations, which have openly raised concerns about the direction of Infantino’s policies in recent years.

    A key point of contention raised by Inside World Football is the ABFA’s highlighting of FIFA funding delivered under Infantino’s watch. The outlet notes that much of the funding cited by the association was already allocated before Infantino assumed the FIFA presidency, and that the funds are resources that all FIFA member associations are legally entitled to receive as part of the governing body’s standard distribution framework.

    The publication warns that the high-profile endorsement could have significant diplomatic consequences for the ABFA within regional football circles. It argues that the public show of support for Infantino could isolate the association from Caribbean football officials who are currently lobbying for widespread governance reforms and a larger slice of global football revenue for the Caribbean region, a bloc that has long argued it is under-resourced compared to larger football confederations.

    Notably, Inside World Football frames this statement as Roberts’ first major foray into the complex landscape of international football politics. It also raises pressing questions about whether the hardline pro-Infantino position laid out in the statement actually represents the views of the broader Antiguan and Barbudan football community, rather than just the new leadership. The ABFA has long held a prominent, influential role across Caribbean football, including serving in key leadership positions within the Caribbean Football Union for decades.

  • Barbados seeks stronger climate reporting systems

    Barbados seeks stronger climate reporting systems

    Against a backdrop of accelerating climate impacts already reshaping Caribbean nations, Barbados has made strengthening climate measurement and transparency systems a top national priority, with senior officials framing the effort as critical to unlocking much-needed international climate funding. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Environment Santia Bradshaw outlined the country’s strategic goals during an inception workshop and first formal consultation round for the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Capacity Building Initiative for Transparency (CBIT) project, which brought together key environmental agencies to build institutional and technical capacity for climate action.

    Bradshaw emphasized that transparency in climate action is not just a reporting requirement under the Paris Agreement — the landmark legally binding global climate treaty — but a core strategic advantage for the island nation. “Put simply, what we cannot measure and what we cannot properly manage and what we cannot demonstrate, we will find increasingly difficult to finance,” she told attendees of the gathering. For small island developing states like Barbados, where climate change is already an immediate, lived reality rather than a distant hypothetical, robust data systems are foundational to advancing climate goals.

    Unlike many larger economies that can treat climate change as a long-term policy challenge, Bradshaw noted that the crisis is already reshaping daily life across Barbados. It is damaging coastal infrastructure, straining freshwater supplies, disrupting national food systems, threatening key economic sectors, and eroding future opportunities for local communities. As such, the work of building stronger transparency frameworks goes far beyond meeting international reporting obligations: it is about fundamentally improving how Barbados governs its climate response, tracks national progress, and makes evidence-based policy decisions that benefit all residents.

    Barbados has already laid out its formal climate commitments under the Paris Agreement, which requires all signatory nations to outline and update their voluntary national climate targets, called nationally determined contributions (NDCs). The country has submitted its second NDC, reaffirming its commitment to limiting global warming to the 1.5°C threshold outlined in international agreements and setting a target to cut absolute greenhouse gas emissions 45% below 2008 levels by 2035. To turn these commitments into action and attract the international funding needed to implement them, Bradshaw said clear evidence of results is non-negotiable. If Barbados is to call on the global community to increase climate finance commitments, it must first demonstrate its own progress and accountability for funds it already receives.

    The CBIT project, which carries a total budget of $1.25 million U.S. (equivalent to Bds$2.5 million), is being implemented in partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) as the executing agency. Its core mandate is to build out the full suite of systems Barbados needs to measure, verify, report on, and demonstrate the impact of its climate actions across every sector. For example, if the country invests in climate-resilient agricultural practices, officials need data to prove those investments are delivering results; if it expands renewable energy and clean technology, it must quantify resulting emission reductions; and if it protects vulnerable natural ecosystems, it has to document the tangible environmental benefits those protections deliver.

    A key pillar of the effort is breaking down institutional silos across government, Bradshaw stressed. Climate change touches every aspect of national development, from energy and agriculture to infrastructure and public health, so transparency cannot be the sole responsibility of any single ministry. Instead, it requires a whole-of-government, whole-of-country approach that brings all stakeholder agencies together around shared climate goals. Strengthened coordinated transparency systems will not only meet international requirements but also standardize data collection processes, improve quality assurance, cut down on duplicative work, and create a stronger foundation for evidence-based policy across all levels of government.

    Ultimately, Bradshaw emphasized, the work of collecting and analyzing climate data is not just about tracking carbon tons or meeting reporting deadlines — it is about improving the lives of all Barbadians. Climate policy shapes family well-being, protects livelihoods, supports local business, safeguards food and national security, and builds prosperity for coming generations. For Barbados, which has been a leading voice in international advocacy for greater climate finance for vulnerable small island developing states, strong domestic systems are the necessary complement to global calls for action.

    Francesco De Simone, IDB Chief of Operations for Barbados, confirmed that the project will support the development and rollout of a national monitoring, reporting, and verification system aligned with Barbados’ NDC commitments, forming a foundational anchor for other IDB-supported climate initiatives. The work aligns closely with the IDB’s country strategy for Barbados, which prioritizes building national climate resilience, and De Simone echoed Bradshaw’s call for close coordination across government agencies and stakeholders to maximize synergies and ensure efficient use of project resources.

    Closing the consultation, Bradshaw encouraged all participating stakeholders to bring forward constructive feedback and take ownership of their specific roles in the project. She framed the CBIT initiative as a unique opportunity to strengthen Barbados’ international credibility, ensuring that its ambitious climate commitments are backed by solid evidence and measurable, verifiable results that can attract the international funding needed to turn climate goals into real action.

  • Nicholas Urges Households to Keep Three-Day Emergency Water Supply

    Nicholas Urges Households to Keep Three-Day Emergency Water Supply

    As Caribbean nations continue to grapple with intermittent infrastructure challenges and the growing risk of unexpected service disruptions, Antigua and Barbuda’s top utilities official is pushing a proactive message of self-reliance for residential water security. Minister of Utilities Melford Nicholas is calling on every household across the twin-island nation to build up and maintain a stored water reserve capable of covering at least three days of normal use, a buffer designed to cushion residents against unplanned interruptions to the public water network.

    Nicholas emphasized that this preparedness measure remains a critical investment even after the Antigua Public Utilities Authority (APUA) hits its planned production target of 14 million gallons of potable water per day. The minister framed the reserve requirement as a foundational step for individual community resilience, noting that unforeseen disruptions—from sudden equipment breakdowns at treatment facilities to scheduled maintenance work that requires temporary supply shutdowns—can strike at any time, regardless of overall production capacity.

    “I would still encourage homeowners to build that resiliency and to keep at least three days’ water supply available in the event that there is a disruption or discontinuation for any reason whatsoever,” Nicholas stated in his public address.

    To support the initiative, the national government has already rolled out a targeted distribution program, delivering 600-gallon water storage tanks to eligible households through local parliamentary representatives. This includes hundreds of families in Nicholas’ own constituency, who have already received the free storage infrastructure to help them meet the recommended reserve target.

    Nicholas pushed back on the common expectation that government or the national utility authority will resolve all supply issues immediately during an outage, arguing that households bear a share of responsibility for their own emergency preparedness. He pointed to the newly completed Booby Alley apartment development as a model of proactive planning: every unit in the complex comes with a dedicated private water storage tank pre-installed, eliminating the immediate strain of temporary supply cuts for residents.

    The minister concluded that widespread adoption of adequate household water storage would not only reduce immediate hardship for families facing outages, but also cut down on the volume of urgent complaints that overwhelm the utility company during unexpected interruptions, letting crews focus on restoring full service more quickly.

  • CXC Examination Misconduct Cases Jump From 80 to 128

    CXC Examination Misconduct Cases Jump From 80 to 128

    The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) has published alarming new data showing a steep 60% jump in documented examination misconduct cases across the Caribbean region in 2026, with total confirmed infractions rising from 80 cases in the previous year to 128. The findings were officially announced by CXC Director of Operations Dr. Nicole Manning during the public release of the May-June 2026 examination cycle results, hosted in Anguilla.

    Dr. Manning characterized the upward trend in rule-breaking as a deeply troubling development for regional education standards, outlining clear penalties for students found guilty of misconduct. Candidates proven to have violated examination regulations face serious consequences, including full cancellation of their exam grades and permanent disqualification from sitting future CXC-administered assessments.

    An analysis of the 128 confirmed irregularities reveals that the most prevalent offense remains the unauthorized possession and use of electronic devices inside exam halls, a longstanding challenge for testing bodies globally. Following device misuse, the next most common infractions are collusion, where candidates coordinate to share answers during testing, and the introduction of pre-prepared prohibited reference materials into exam rooms.

    In a historic first for the regional examination body, 2026 marked the first time that deliberate misuse of artificial intelligence was formally recorded as a category of exam misconduct. This development comes as generative AI tools have become widely accessible to students across the Caribbean, creating new challenges for educators and testing administrators working to uphold academic integrity.

    Further investigation into the cases found that misconduct was not limited to one-off, isolated incidents. Dr. Manning confirmed that a subset of repeat offenders had been caught engaging in the same rule-breaking behavior across multiple different papers in the 2026 exam cycle.

    Beyond deliberate cheating, CXC also highlighted a separate persistent issue: a growing number of candidates failing to complete and submit their mandatory school-based assessments (SBAs). The council reported that some examination centers failed to send in required SBA submissions to CXC headquarters, while many other candidates simply did not finish the required coursework components that count toward their final grades.

    Dr. Manning emphasized that incomplete assessment components carry just as serious consequences as intentional cheating. Any candidate who fails to submit an SBA, misses a required exam paper, or leaves any other mandatory assessment component unfinished will receive no final grade for their qualification, effectively invalidating months of study and preparation.

    To address the growing integrity crisis, CXC has issued a public appeal to regional education ministries, individual schools, parents, and local community leaders to collaborate in reinforcing the importance of full compliance with examination rules and the completion of all required assessment components. The council stressed that even small acts of misconduct can erase months of hard work, leaving students without the credentials they need to pursue higher education or career opportunities.

    In response to the emergence of AI-related cheating, CXC has also taken proactive steps to update its policies. The organization has developed new official guidelines outlining the responsible and acceptable use of artificial intelligence in educational settings and formal assessments, providing clear guidance to regional schools that are grappling with the rapid spread of generative AI tools in classrooms.

  • Greene Makes Personal Appeal for Prostate Screening Ahead of St. Paul’s Health Month

    Greene Makes Personal Appeal for Prostate Screening Ahead of St. Paul’s Health Month

    In a vulnerable personal appeal rooted in devastating family experience, St. Kitts and Nevis Foreign Affairs Minister E.P. Chet Greene is urging all men to prioritize regular prostate cancer screenings, following his own brother’s late-stage diagnosis that could have been caught earlier with routine care.

    Greene opened up about his family’s journey last week while officially unveiling plans for St. Paul’s annual Health Month, a month-long public health initiative scheduled for October this year, centered on the empowering public health theme “Know Your Numbers, Own Your Health.”

    The minister shared that his brother Said had seemed outwardly fit and physically active for months before his diagnosis, with no obvious warning signs that would have prompted him to seek testing. By the time the cancer was detected, it had already progressed to stage four, an advanced form of the disease that drastically reduces treatment outcomes. “When he found out, he was already at stage four,” Greene confirmed in his remarks.

    Despite the grim diagnosis, Greene expressed gratitude to the clinical team leading his brother’s care, and commended Said for the remarkable resolve and discipline he has maintained throughout his ongoing treatment. The difficult experience, Greene emphasized, offers a critical lesson for all people: delaying routine health screenings and avoiding uncomfortable health conversations can have life-altering consequences.

    “If you are able to catch it — as the saying goes, nip it in the bud — you just might be able to save life and all that goes with life,” he explained.

    Greene also noted that a cancer diagnosis extends far beyond the patient, rippling through entire families, friend groups, and local communities, a lesson his family learned years earlier when his sister received a breast cancer diagnosis that shook their entire household.

    This year’s St. Paul’s Health Month will bring a wide range of accessible preventive care services directly to local residents. Beyond prostate cancer screening, attendees will be able to access free or low-cost checks for key health metrics including blood pressure, blood glucose levels, cholesterol, and body mass index, as well as screenings for other common forms of cancer.

    In a shift from previous years’ programming, organizers are integrating preventive health services directly into community faith spaces, offering screenings and health education to congregations immediately after worship services. The new outreach model is designed to remove common barriers to access, from transportation hurdles to the stigma that keeps many men from seeking prostate care, eliminating any excuse for skipping critical preventive checks.

    “There must be no excuse by the people where their health is concerned,” Greene stressed.

    The minister shared his disappointment that turnout for prostate screenings has remained consistently low in previous iterations of Health Month, noting that far too many men continue to put off routine care out of discomfort or procrastination. He urged all local residents to integrate regular preventive health checks into their ongoing self-care routines, warning that late detection is directly linked to far more severe health outcomes.

    “We see too many instances of amputations, too many instances of persons afflicted by things that they can control,” Greene said, linking preventable severe health complications to delayed screening and diagnosis.

    A full detailed calendar of Health Month events, locations, and service offerings is expected to be released to the public in the coming weeks.

  • Justice Protest Scheduled Outside Prison and Legal Affairs Today

    Justice Protest Scheduled Outside Prison and Legal Affairs Today

    Residents of St. John’s will take to the streets on Wednesday for a coordinated public demonstration, pressing authorities for long-delayed accountability over the in-custody death of Rashawn Shabazz and a slate of other unresolved, high-stakes cases that have left local families without closure.

    Organizers of the demonstration have laid out a clear route for the day’s action: participants will kick off the picket outside His Majesty’s Prison sharp at 8:30 a.m., before marching as a group to the Ministry of Legal Affairs to deliver their demands directly to key decision-makers.

    Shabazz died following an unspecified incident while he was being held in custody at the facility, and his family has yet to receive the full, transparent explanation organizers say they are owed. But the protest is not limited to seeking justice for Shabazz alone. Organizers emphasize the demonstration stands in solidarity with dozens of other local families grappling with unsolved homicides, unclosed missing person investigations, deaths linked to law enforcement interactions, and other in-custody fatalities that have gone without formal resolution.

    Beyond pushing for answers in individual deaths, the protest will also bring long-simmering systemic concerns to the forefront: organizers plan to highlight widespread allegations of misconduct among prison staff, including claims of sexual abuse and rape, as well as broader failures to address violent crime and public corruption across local institutions.

    In a statement ahead of the demonstration, organizers stressed that the action is not rooted in partisan political gain. “This is not about politics. It is about accountability, justice and the value of human life,” the group said.

    The organizers are calling on broad public support for the movement, noting that many participating families have repeatedly requested information from government agencies for months or even years, only to be met with silence or incomplete responses that fall far short of what they deserve.

    For those planning to join the protest, free commemorative T-shirts are available to the public, with pickup arrangements able to be made via phone or WhatsApp messaging at the contact number 720-2557.

    The entire demonstration is unified under a rallying cry that captures its core mission: “When Justice Fails, the People Must Rise!”