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The World Bank Tuesday said that Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) continues its efforts to reignite growth and create more and better jobs, but progress remains constrained.

The Washington based financial institution said that the regional growth rate is expected to edge up slightly, from 2.2 percent in 2024 to 2.3 per cent this year, even as many individual economies face downward revisions in their projections

It said that these adjustments reflect, in part, an external environment that offers limited support, shaped by a cooling global economy, falling commodity prices, and greater uncertainty.

According to the World Bank, monetary authorities in the region continue to manage inflation competently, but the ‘last mile’ is proving longer and rockier than expected.

It said interest rates in advanced economies have slowed their decline, constraining interest rate reductions across the region, and delaying the needed relief for households, banks, and governments’ fiscal accounts. Investment, both public and private, remains depressed, and any momentum for ‘nearshoring’- the practice of bringing offshore operations to close or friendly countries-is stalled, both because of the rise in global uncertainty and because of a lack of preparedness in the region’s enabling environment to attract and host it.

In a major push to strengthen the pipeline of Caribbean cricket talent, Cricket West Indies (CWI) has kicked off a second round of essential coaching courses across the Leeward Islands and St. Vincent.

The initiative is a critical part of CWI’s strategy to build a deep and qualified pool of coaches, preparing for the restart of primary school and community grassroots programmes.

Course Instructors Brendon Ramlal (left) and Keshava Ramphal (second right) with participants at Coolidge Cricket Ground, Antigua.

The training will equip local coaches with the skills needed to nurture the next generation of stars.

The sessions began on Thursday, October 2nd, 2025, at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua and Barbuda.

The programme will now move through the region, with stops scheduled for Montserrat (Oct. 5), the British and US Virgin Islands (Oct. 7), St. Maarten and Anguilla (Oct. 10), and a final session in St. Vincent on October 30th.

CWI’s Director of Cricket, Miles Bascombe, emphasised the long-term importance of the investment in coaching.

‘Investing in coaching education at this early stage is essential to building a solid foundation for the growth and future sustainability of the sport in the region,’ Bascombe stated. ‘By equipping coaches with the right tools and knowledge, we are creating a more inclusive and sustainable cricket pathway.’

Bascombe highlighted that flagship development programmes like the Republic Bank Limited (RBL) Five for Fun Cricket and the Girls Under-16/19 Territorial Cricket Hubs will directly benefit from this newly trained cohort of coaches.

The courses are being led by two highly qualified coaches from Trinidad and Tobago, Brendon Ramlal and Keshava Ramphal. Both Level 3 certified and with extensive backgrounds in education, they bring over a decade of experience in age-group cricket development.

In a key move for player safety, CWI mandated that all participating coaches complete the online UNICEF Child Protection Course and a virtual Cricket Safeguarding Workshop before beginning their training. This ensures every coach is prepared to provide a safe and supportive environment for young players.

This latest series of courses builds on a successful first round that engaged over 150 participants in territories including Jamaica, Barbados, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago, signalling CWI’s sustained commitment to rebuilding the sport from the ground up.

Homeland Security Minister, Roger Alexander, said Tuesday that the government is moving to remove rogue prison officers from the system adding that some of these officers have been assisting criminal elements now in custody.

Alexander said that steps are being taken to rid the prison service of these rogue officers with the involvement of the Police Commissioner, Allister Guevarro, and the Attorney General, John Jeremie.

Homeland Security Minister, Roger Alexander

‘Intelligence driven strategic systems would be put in place in order to deal with that whole situation because, I will tell you this much there is a very large, according to the intelligence unit in Trinidad and Tobago, a very large portion of prison officers who.have already been identified.

‘Persons who support this type of behaviour coming from the nation’s prisons and to a greater extent the gang and crime syndicate that has overwhelmed our prison for a number of years, we have spoken to the Police Commissioner and his intelligence team and also the Attorney General, other legal arms of government as to what is the next move we can make to get rid off and eradicate those persons.they are offering no type of assistance to their colleagues, to the institution or even to the prisoners,’ Alexander said.

On Monday, acting The acting Commissioner of Prisons, Hayden Forde, Monday said that drone drop offs were contributing significantly to contraband reaching the prison walls, and is also blaming some prison officials for being part of the criminal activities.

Forde, speaking on a television programme here, said the use of the devises had become a major challenge even as the authourities attempt to intercept them and that something needs to be done urgently.

‘The greatest challenge that we face on a daily basis would be drone flights. Drone flights take place every single day.and because there is that open air we are unable to properly treat with those drone drops.

‘So, the criminal realise that that’s a weak spot and they are actually using that to their advantage. Despite that we have officers who are intercepting some of those drops (and) they have been able to curtail some of th contraband they are trying to get into our prison system, but the vast majority, obviously based on the flight patterns.we have not been able to intercept.

The Acting Prison Commissioner said that between April and October this year, there have been more than 600 drone drops with the most popular spot being at the Maximum Security Prison, at Arouca, east of here.

The Homeland Security Minister, a former senior police officer, said this issue will be addressed in a matter of weeks.

‘At this time, we have engaged persons from outside of Trinidad and Tobago. They will be here in a couple days with the type of technology that we should be proud of with respect to what is happening at the nation’s prisons as it relates to the drones.

‘He has already sent to me a number of items that I must choose from with respect to the drones,’ Alexander said, adding that he would be involving the persons responsible for treating with that situation.

‘So that should be dealt with before the end of November.if not sooner because that to mee is of paramount importance. This war against crime and criminality, especially coming from the nation’s prisons’.

Police are searching for the father of a 13-year-old secondary school girl after her body was found Tuesday in a burnt-out refrigerator, less than four days after she had been reported missing.

Student Santina Sergeant, whose body was found in a burnt out refrigerator

‘We are currently looking for her father Mr Lawrence Sergeant who we believe at this point can assist in our investigation,’ said Superintendent Carey Duncan, head of the Manchester Poloce station.

The police said that Santina Sergeant, a student od the Christiana High School, had been reported missing last Friday and that officers while carrying out a search of the area stumbled upon the body in an advanced state of decomposition.

She had been reported missing by her father.