The matches will be staged in St Lucia, Barbados, Guyana, and St Kitts.

Warner Park St Kitts will host all of the First Round matches for the female version of the tournament, during the period 6-11 May 2010.

Teams scheduled to participate in St Kitts are Australia, South Africa, India, Pakistan, New Zealand, England, Sri Lanka, and West Indies.

A series of Warm Up matches also takes place prior to the tournament, on May 2 and 3, 2010.
Tickets for the region- wide event will go on sale on November 1st, after an official launch at Kensington Oval, Barbados on October 31.

Fans in St Kitts will be able to purchase their tickets in St Kitts for any of the matches in any of the host venues,(Guyana, Barbados and St Lucia). Tickets will be sold at the Warner Park Ticket Centre, situated on East Park Range, Basseterre, also on Monday November 1, 2009.

CASTRIES, St Lucia – The University of the West Indies (UWI) celebrated an historic first with the inaugural formal Graduation Ceremony of its newest campus, the Open Campus, at the Beausejour Indoor Sports Facility in St Lucia on Saturday, October 21, 2009. Almost 150 of the over 700 qualified graduands from all fifteen contributing Caribbean states to the UWI came to St Lucia to be presented to the Chancellor of the University, Professor Sir George Alleyne.

Also present to celebrate the occasion were four Caribbean Heads of State, including Dame Pearlette Louisy, the Governor General of St Lucia; Sir Cuthbert Sebastian, Governor General of St Kitts & Nevis; Dame Louise Lake-Tack, Governor General of Antigua & Barbuda; and Sir Carlyle Glean, Governor General of Grenada.

In attendance too were the Education Ministers from Montserrat and St Kitts & Nevis. Speaking to a full audience, the Chancellor spoke to the graduates about leadership qualities and encouraged the graduating class to aim high for success.

He mentioned that the UWI is looking to the future with the establishment of the Open Campus to offer higher quality service to the region. He said that, “The Open Campus has, in a short time, traversed a challenging but rewarding journey, and I am sure the future will unfold many more accomplishments.”

The Chancellor reiterated the importance of maintaining connectivity between individuals and institutions and urged the graduates to keep in touch with each other and the University.

The mood at the graduation ceremony was one of enthusiasm and joy. Honorary Graduate,  Dunstan St Omer, distinguished artist of St Lucia, addressed the gathering. Speaking on behalf of his fellow Honorary Graduate, Dr Peggy Antrobus, he said, “ To be honoured by (our) people at the highest intellectual level of our Caribbean nation is also to realize a dream, that no matter how small a nation, it could not survive without a university of some kind.”

To the graduates, Dr St Omer said that, “You have gained new knowledge, learnt important lessons for life, made lasting friends, and collected memories that will be with you for a lifetime.”

He called on the class of 2009 to strive towards the nobility of his own generation as it is their heritage and their responsibility and that there has never been a time in our common Caribbean history when nobility was in greater demand. “A country that does not grow is a country that’s dying and you are fortunate to herald the new age, the new Renaissance. We in St Lucia and the West Indies are depending on you to lead us into our Golden Age”.

This year’s first Open Campus Valedictorian, Denise Gordon from Montserrat, spoke on behalf of her fellow graduates and her address earned her a standing ovation. She said that, “It is indeed an honour to be selected as the 2009 class Valedictorian for the Open Campus. It has been a life-changing experience as it provided us with an opportunity to expand our horizons even with all the challenges. We are proud to have been a part of this remarkable transition. We salute the vision of The UWI, which has facilitated the opportunity for us to further our studies with the high standards this institution is well-known for. As the first graduates of the Open Campus, we have left behind a legacy I trust will encourage the Open Campus team to continue the hard work.”

A first class honours graduate in the Bachelor of Science in Management Studies, she spoke to the need for all in the region to come together in community and to leave fractiousness behind in order to build the region. She charged her fellow graduates to take this challenge forward with them with all they had experienced and learned in the Open Campus, by saying “ This evening, I ask that we bid farewell to mistakes made, attitudes that continue to hinder our progress and mindsets that threaten to retard our future development.”

The Chancellor shook the hand of each graduate who attended the ceremony resplendent in their gowns before receiving their canisters from the Open Campus Registrar, Simone Augier. Also witnessing the historic moment in the audience, were the eminent Open Campus Council members, members of the diplomatic corps in St Lucia, other government ministers, faculty, parents, friends, and relatives of the graduates. The Graduation ceremony concluded with the ceremonial recession of the Chancellor’s and Academic Processions and then by the outgoing Class of 2009. Families and friends of the graduates from St Lucia and all across the region were witness to this emotional and proud moment. This inaugural Open Campus Graduation Ceremony was streamed online on Graduation Day so all Open Campus graduating students and their friends and family members who could not make it to Saint Lucia, were able to see the ceremony live.

HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) — A day after his surprise release from prison, Cuban dissident Nelson Aguiar urged the government on Wednesday to free all political prisoners and said he was at one stage held in “Stone Age” conditions during his six years behind bars.

Aguiar, 64, told Reuters he was stunned that he was out of jail because he still had years to go on a 13-year sentence handed out in a 2003 government crackdown on dissidents.

Cuban dissident Nelson Aguiar is seen at his house in Havana. AFP PHOTO

“They never said they were going to free me. When they told me to collect my things, I thought I was moving to another prison,” he said in an interview at the Havana apartment he now shares again with wife Dolia Leal Francisco.

He thanked the Spanish government for helping to obtain his freedom, which followed a visit to communist-led Cuba by Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos.

Aguiar was one of 75 government opponents arrested and jailed in what became known as the Black Spring of 2003. In 1999 he founded a tiny political party known as the Orthodox Party, and continued running it from jail.

“I’ve worked only for my ideas,” he said.

Dressed in a green T-shirt, khaki pants and running shoes, Aguiar moved gingerly about his apartment, where the walls are adorned with photos, drawings and news clips of his imprisonment.

He called on Cuba’s government “to recognize its errors and little by little, if they can’t do it all at once, to continue freeing the prisoners of conscience.”

“They should be released quickly because they are innocent,” said his wife, who is one of the founders of the “Ladies in White,” a group of family members of political prisoners that holds a silent protest on Sundays in Havana.

During his six years behind bars, Aguiar developed a variety of health problems, which he attributed to brutal jail conditions, particularly in a prison in the southeastern city of Guantanamo.

For a year there, he said he lived in isolation in a small cell that had no light and no ventilation except for a hole where guards slid in his food. He said he would sleep next to the hole to catch the air for relief from the “enormous heat.”

A hole in the floor was his toilet, and his only water came from a small tube next to it. The conditions, he said, were like something from the Stone Age.

The 2003 crackdown on dissidents caused the European Union to impose diplomatic sanctions on Cuba. Last year, at the urging of Spain and others, the 27-nation EU lifted the sanctions and re-established cooperation with Cuba.

Moratinos met with Cuban President Raul Castro for three hours on Monday, during which time he said human rights were discussed “in general terms.”

When Aguiar was released on Tuesday, a Spanish diplomat said it was an affirmation of Spain’s policy of engaging with communist-ruled Cuba rather than seeking confrontation. Moratinos was criticized at home for not meeting with dissidents during his visit to Cuba.

In an August report, the independent Cuban Commission on Human Rights estimated that Cuba had 208 political prisoners, including now 53 of the 75 jailed in 2003.

Cuba says dissidents are US-aided traitors and that it has no political prisoners.

Now free, Aguiar seemed uncertain about his immediate future. He said he would continue his political activities, but at the same time said he wanted to go to Spain for back surgery.

More urgently, he needed to obtain an income, which may be problematic in Cuba, given his political baggage.

Prison life was difficult, but freedom is complicated.

“It’s not easy,” Aguiar said, using a common expression with which Cubans confront daily challenges in their lives.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (BGIS) — Barbados is the first country in the region to have a dedicated HIV/AIDS Food Bank and Personal Development Centre (The Vashti Inniss Empowerment Centre).

Minister of Health, Donville Inniss, presenting a painting of the HIV Food Bank and Personal Development Centre to Vashti Inniss, retired Health Educator in HIV Management and initiator of the HIV/AIDS Food Bank.

It was officially opened Wednesday in St Michael by Health Minister, Donville Inniss.

In addressing the ceremony, Minister Inniss pointed out that the new facility signalled Government’s commitment to meet the 2006 United Nations’ General Assembly goal of Universal Access to comprehensive HIV prevention, programmes, treatment, care and support by 2010.

He said: “The results to the scaling up of efforts have been promising, with statistics showing that persons are now learning to live with HIV instead of waiting to die from it. In scaling up towards universal access, countries must ensure that nobody is left behind and our efforts must therefore be equitable, accessible and affordable. The opening of the HIV/AIDS Food Bank and Personal Development Centre is one of the ways in which this Government cements its commitment to universal access.”

He explained that universal access signified a concrete commitment and a renewed resolve among people around the globe to reverse the course of the epidemic. “It is not a new initiative, but rather it builds on past processes and infuses existing initiatives with new momentum,” said Inniss.

Barbados’ Health Minister further observed that “AIDS is an exceptional crisis requiring an exceptional response” and reflected that other commitments had been made in response to the pandemic. Among them was the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS in 2001, where the disease increasingly received the political and financial attention it deserved.

While stating that the facility would improve accessibility to essential prevention and care services, he said Government recognised that cost should not be a barrier to essential needs such as medicines, diagnostics and services and meaningful information. He stressed: “Services must be available when and where people need them, and they should be able to access them, without fear of prejudice and discrimination. Our programmes must also be sustainable, knowing that HIV is a lifelong challenge requiring sustained action for preventing new infections and saving and improving the quality of the lives of those with HIV. Services must, therefore, be available throughout people’s lives rather than as one-off interventions.”

As its name suggests, the facility houses the food bank and a personal development (or empowerment centre) that provides comprehensive HIV prevention and psychosocial support and care services to those in need. The Personal Development Centre is dedicated to the work of an early pioneer in the field of empowering persons infected and living with HIV - retired health educator, Vashti Inniss.

According to the Health Minister, the combined facility would ensure that prevention, treatment, care and impact mitigation services are delivered with the full inclusion of people living with HIV, civil society, faith based organisations, private sector, international partners and government.

The HIV/AIDS Food Bank is managed by a Community Nutrition Officer, with specialist training in HIV nutrition. She will be assisted by a cadre of dedicated volunteers. Psychology services will be provided by a clinical psychologist; while HIV testing and counseling, and community health education will be the responsibility of the Ministry of Health.

The unit also houses the Sex Worker’s Project and three non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that cater to the needs of persons living with HIV (PLHIV). Housing these NGOs in this state-owned and operated facility, represents, according to the Health Minister, the Ministry’s strengthening of strategic alliances with key partners who comprise the National AIDS Programme.

The HIV/AIDS Food Bank and Personal Development Centre is located next door to the Barbados State-of-the Art Ladymeade Reference Unit, the specialty clinic responsible for the management of PLHIV in Barbados and known region-wide for its accredited laboratory. It is also neighbour to the AIDS Foundation Inc. of Barbados, a private sector response to the HIV epidemic.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (BGIS) — At the end of the current recession, a large number of super-powers would have emerged and would be able to mass produce and deliver consumer goods and services that are highly competitive.

Prime Minister David Thompson (left), greeting President of the Human Resource Management Association of Barbados, Henderson Williams, on his arrival at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre.

This is the view of Barbados Prime Minister David Thompson, who warned that to prevent social and political disasters following these developments, “we have to think outside the box”.

He made these comments today at the 12th annual Human Resource Management Association of Barbados’ (HRMAB) Conference, under the theme “Organisational Renewal, Managing People, Managing Change”. The two-day meeting is being held at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre.

“To begin with, we have to safeguard the inalienable rights and freedoms of our people. We have to guarantee their right to housing, their right to education, their right to work, and their right to a decent standard of living,” Thompson declared.

He noted that it was for that reason that government had been pre-occupied with strengthening the social safety net, to prevent Barbadians from suffering unnecessarily during the recession.

The Prime Minister stressed that the way out of a recession was to invest heavily in human resources, because, according to him, the people of a country contributed most to the recovery, and, if given a chance, would “guarantee the sustainable development of their nation”.

Thompson also suggested that the time had come to revisit the relationship between the employer and the employee. “Can we afford the luxury of perceiving that relationship as a war between two implacable foes? Can we afford to be pulling in different directions in times of crisis?” he queried.

He advocated re-examining the perception of the role of the worker in both the private and public sectors, asserting that challenges were being experienced in changing the mindset of some public workers who held certain “out-dated or politically motivated beliefs”.

The Prime Minister warned: “The point is that we cannot continue in the brave new world of the 21st century to operate on the assumption that a government, or any other job is a sinecure. Our workers simply have to become more efficient and more productive … or we shall stagnate and perish as a nation.”

He appealed to HRMAB help to train more persons to identify with management, to produce more and to plan ahead. “You have to help us to get workers to adopt the iterative process and ask themselves every day how they could improve their efficiency,” Thompson urged.

He also cautioned persons against always assuming that someone would “turn up on a white charger” and create jobs for them. “They can no longer assume that they can forever sit down on the job. Those jobs are being outsourced to distant lands; and, in some cases, are being taken by more industrious migrant workers before our very eyes,” the Prime Minister advised.

The delegation will hold a series of meetings with the Minister of Finance, the Economy and Public Administration, and senior ministry officials to examine how the Bank can best help Antigua and Barbuda implement its Fiscal Consolidation Programme and the other components of the National Economic and Social Transformation (NEST) Plan.

They will also hold discussions with the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications on E-Government issues, and with the Government Negotiating Team on matters of compensation.

Included in the packed three-day agenda are meetings with the Public Sector Transformation Advisory Committee, the Labour Commissioner, the Government Training Division and the Trade Union Congress.

The World Bank comprises two development institutions – the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA).

Together, they provide low-interest loans, interest-free credits and grants to developing countries for a wide array of purposes that include investments in education, health, public administration, infrastructure, financial and private sector development, agriculture, and environmental and natural resource management.

“The country will use the IADB financing to increase spending on targeted subsidies, education, health care, and the Solidarity Program, a conditional cash transfer plan for the poor,” the IADB said in a statement.

“In addition, the government plans to use the loan to better target payment of liquefied petroleum gas subsidies and streamline electricity subsidies,” it added.