Commonwealth finance ministers meeting in St Lucia have made an urgent appeal for strong action to boost the economies of member countries.

Addressing the summit, Zambia's finance minister Ng'Andu Peter Magande told his colleagues that the prosperity of the developing nations was under threat, particularly in light of rising food and energy prices.

He said one credible solution to the problem would be for Western countries to provide more assistance to boost productivity in the developing world.

Mr Magande also made an impassioned appeal for fair trade for developing nations.

Other issues being discussed at the conference include human dignity, inclusiveness and the need for reform in international institutions.

Flood resigns

St Lucia's first female speaker of the House of Assembly, Sarah Flood-Beaubrun, has resigned from parliament to take up a diplomatic post.

Mrs Flood-Beaubrun, who stepped down on Tuesday, will assume her new role as Deputy Head of Saint Lucia's Permanent Mission to the United Nations later this year.

Mrs Flood-Beaubruns was appointed speaker of the House in January 2007.

She previously served as a Minister in the former Labour Party Administration, but fell out with the then Prime Minister Doctor Kenny Anthony over attempts by the Labour government to introduce a bill legalising abortion in special circumstances.

For a brief period she also headed the minority opposition group - Organisation for National Empowerment, and later threw her support behind the then opposition United Workers Party, which won the December 2006 general elections.

Lower growth predicted

The Economic Commission on Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) is predicting lower growth rates for the region this year.

The United Nations body expects growth rates to drop from 4.7 this year to 3.5 next year.

ECLAC says this is due mainly to the ongoing global financial turmoil.

Roberto Machado is the coordinator of the economic development unit of ECLAC.

He told BBC Caribbean the areas that will be most affected are tourism, trade, remittances and the financial services sector.

WICB loses court battle against Digicel

The US $20m match between England and Sir Allen Stanford's Caribbean team is in doubt after a High Court ruling on Tuesday.

The West Indies Cricket Board has lost its case against team sponsor Digicel and been told it cannot sanction the match, set for November 1, in Antigua.

Digicel, overlooked as a sponsor, took action as it felt it had full branding rights on the match, which it claimed was effectively a West Indies match.

The ruling added that no West Indians on central contracts could play.

Lost village

	Gonaives was worst affected by recent storms

One month after Hurricane Ike passed over Haiti, a team from the France-based Medecins Sans Frontieres - Doctors Without Borders - say they've found a village of 2,400 people completely flooded and cut-off.

The area has been named as Mamont, located southeast of Les Gonaives in northern Haiti.

The MSF teams, currently giving aid to the villagers, have launched an appeal to other organisations to "take action as rapidly as possible".

The residents "barely anything to eat and have been without drinking water or medical aid for several weeks," the organisation in a statement.