Region mourns Owen Arthur

Region mourns Owen Arthur

Vice-Chancellor of The University of the West Indies, Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, has described Owen Arthur, former prime minister of Barbados, as "one of the greatest statesmen of the 20th-century Caribbean".

Arthur, 70, an economist, had been hospitalised earlier this month at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital after suffering heart-related complications.

Representatives of several Caribbean leaders and institutions have paid tribute to Arthur, led the Barbados Labour Party to victory in the 1994 general election and won general elections again in 1999 and 2003.

Following his decision to step away from active politics, Arthur was conferred with the title of Professor of Practice: Economics of Development by the Cave Hill campus of The University of the West Indies in November 2018. He was appointed chairman of the board of the cash-strapped regional airline, LIAT, in January.

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The World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday urged governments, including those in the Caribbean, to adopt a much more focused approach to stopping the COVID-19 transmission if they want to avoid having to impose sweeping lockdowns once again.

WHO's head of emergencies, Dr Mike Ryan, likened fighting COVID-19 to using specialised tools for surgery to ensure better outcomes for patients. On Monday, the WHO announced nearly 16 million cases of reported infection worldwide and more than 640,000 deaths.

"It's very understandable that no country in the world that's been through a lockdown wants to go back there, who wants to go back there, there are huge economic and other consequences," Dr Ryan said.

WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reiterate the need for continued vigilance against the disease and the need for authorities to ramp up the tracking and tracing of contacts.

He said that Thursday, July 30, marks six months since the UN agency declared COVID-19 a public health emergency of international concern.

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Mother among three on sexual assault charges

A mother and two stepfathers are due to appear before a Mayaro and Sangre Grande magistrate later this week on alleged sexual assaults charges against two girls, ages nine and 11 years old.

Police said that the incidents were investigated by the Child Protection Unit (CPU) and in the first case, the CPU officers were alerted to a matter involving a nine-year-old girl who reported that she was forced to perform acts of a sexual nature to her stepfather during the period July 31, 2017, and September 1, 2019, while living with her mother and stepfather.

"The victim also revealed to officers that she confided in her mother about the assaults done to her by her stepfather and she allegedly failed to act. The victim subsequently reported the incidents to her father, who brought her to the police. The mother, 39, was arrested and charged with one count of failing to report the abuse of a minor," the police said in a statement.

It said that the 35-year-old stepfather, 35, was also apprehended and charged with three counts of sexual penetration of a minor and one count of sexual touching of a minor.

In the second incident, a 36-year-old labourer has been charged with five counts of sexual penetration of a minor.

The police said that the 11-year-old girl said that between the period September 5, 2015, and September 1, 2018, her stepfather allegedly sexually assaulted her on several occasions.

She told the police that the abuse came to an end only when her mother and the accused severed ties.

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Returning citizens flout virus rules

Dominica's health authorities have expressed disappointment at returning nationals who flout the regulations that have been put in place to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Coordinator of the borders reopening programme, Dr Laura Esprit, has hinted at the possibility of changes being made to the protocols governing the return of nationals since the borders were reopened earlier this month.

"As a matter of fact, many of you have showed a callous attitude to what we have struggled to maintain, zero cases of COVID on the island.

"Many returnees were seen on the block, lyming in the bars with no mask and no worry... a day or two after arrival. Let me remind you that for those of whom remained home, it meant making a lot of sacrifices over the last three to four months of being locked up, abandoning the farms, places of worship, losing income, having fear of taking public transport, being denied access to the rivers," she added.

Dominica has recorded 18 cases of the virus that was first detected last December in China and linked to 649,000 deaths and the infection of 16.3 million others worldwide.