Defence attorney Peter Champagnie, QC, has called for a ticketing system for people who continue to flout the COVID-19 containment measures. At the same time, he is urging lawmakers to develop legislation specific to the novel coronavir...

Scores of people who were not scheduled to be vaccinated yesterday were among those who turned up at The Good Samaritan Inn in the Corporate Area hoping for a "lucky jab".In rolling out its COVID-19 vaccination programme almost two wee...

LONDON, England (AP) - AstraZeneca reported yesterday that its COVID-19 vaccine provided strong protection among all adults in a long-anticipated US study, raising hopes that the findings could help rebuild public confidence in the bele...

Former Member of Parliament for St Andrew West Rural and retired Cabinet minister Dr MavisGilmour receives her COVID-19 vaccination from Professor Minerva Thame at The University of theWest Indies, Mona campus, in St Andrew yesterday.Dr...

FLORIDA, United States (CMC) - Seven Jamaicans were among 14 Caribbean nationals suspected of involvement in a human smuggling venture off the south coast of Florida, who were held by the United States Coast Guard last week, it was repo...

Jamaicans who continue to breach COVID-19 safety protocols could be fined up to $500,000 if the House of Representatives passes the new Disaster Risk Management (Amendment) Act today at Gordon House.The Bill is expected to be supported...

Prime Minister Andrew Holness got his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccination yesterday and used the occasion to again push for the proposed National Identification System (NIDS).Minutes after he took the jab at The Good Samaritan Inn in...

Today is the 82nd day of 2021. There are 283 days left in the year.TODAY'S HIGHLIGHT1775: Patrick Henry calls for America's independence from Britain, telling the Virginia Provincial Convention, "Give me liberty, or give me death!" OTH...

ALL primary and secondary schools have again been ordered closed as the Government believes the country is at a breaking point in the management of the COVID-19 crisis.The announcement was made by Prime Minister Andrew Holness yesterday...

MONTEGO BAY, St James - The tourism, merchant and business process outsourcing (BPO) sectors have thrown their full support behind the COVID-19 vaccine, urging Jamaicans to get their jabs as soon as it becomes available to them.Presiden...

MONTEGO BAY, St James - Saturday morning's predawn operation by members of the security forces, which netted three high-powered rifles, brought the tally of illegal guns seized to five during targeted raids across the parish over a 48-h...

A father was left in utter shock on Saturday night when he heard the news that his 28-year-old son, Jerome Barnett, had been shot dead in Olympic Gardens, St Andrew. Delroy Barnett said his son was a father of an eight-year-old boy, and...

Lawyers for convicted murderers Dantay Brooks and his co-accused Andre Hinds say they will be heading to the Appeal Court in hopes of having the judgement handed down last Friday by Supreme Court Judge Justice Leighton Pusey overturned...

Valuing water is the focus today as entities across the globe mark World Water Day 2021.This year, effort is being made to specifically recognise the crucial role of healthy ecosystems in maintaining water supplies around the world.Acco...

ZION HILL, Portland - The passing of Councillor Derron Wood (Jamaica Labour Party, Fairy Hill Division) has robbed the constituency of a good man who helped people, residents of Zion Hill have told the Jamaica Observer.Wood died last we...

PRIME Minister Andrew Holness yesterday declared that Jamaica has reached its breaking point in the management of the novel coronavirus pandemic and announced a slew of measures to help curb infections - chief among them lockdowns over ...

The Jamaica Observer editorial board yesterday formally endorsed the COVID-19 vaccine, saying that it was the only solution on the immediate horizon to end the novel coronavirus pandemic and return life to normal.The board's full-throa...

IMAGINE having to be cautious about how frequently you flush your toilet. That's the reality of Mount Stewart district residents in Wilmington, St Thomas, who claim they have been without consistent piped water for 20 years, as the worl...

CLEANING company Sanitize-iT Jamaica has burgeoned into a go-to business amid the coronavirus pandemic as companies increase their demand for its sanitisation services at a time of surging infections locally.Edward Wilson, the director ...

Today is the 81st day of 2021. There are 284 days left in the year.TODAY'S HIGHLIGHT1991: High school instructor Pamela Smart, accused of recruiting her teenage lover and his friends to kill her husband, Gregory, is convicted in Exeter,...

NEGRIL, Hanover - Some tourism stakeholders who have been reeling from the novel coronavirus-related downturn in the hospitality industry have begun receiving the grant that was last year promised by the Government.In March of last year...

SANTIAGO, Costa Rica (CMC) - The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) says representatives from 33 regional countries, 20 United Nations agencies, and other organisations have reaffirmed their commitment to im...

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida (AP) - Pointing to over 1,000 arrests in one of the nation's top party spots, Miami Beach officials warned yesterday that the unruly spring break crowd gathering by the thousands, fighting in the streets, destro...

BERLIN, Germany (AFP) - Europe grappled with resurgent coronavirus infections yesterday as Germany considered extending restrictions into April and EU leaders abandoned plans to attend a summit on the pandemic.Thousands of protesters an...

Aboard a US military aircraft (AFP) - US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan Sunday, just weeks before Washington is due to withdraw the last of its troops under a deal struck with the Taliban last ye...

BRASÍLIA, Brazil (AFP) - Brazil said yesterday it was lifting its requirement for local authorities to reserve half their novel coronavirus vaccine stockpiles for second doses, seeking to accelerate its lagging immunisation campaign an...

WASHINGTON, DC, United States (AFP) - "The border is closed" - with those words a top Biden Administration official yesterday pushed back against fast-mounting criticism that it has bungled immigration policy, spurring an influx of migr...

DESPITE pending court proceedings, civil society has lashed out at the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) again arising from the latest incident in which two soldiers have been charged with the rape of a woman soldier at Up Park Camp on Thursd...

The driver of this motor car, reportedly in an effort to elude the police, drove on the wrong side of the road along Marcus Garvey Drive, Friday evening, and crashed into two other vehicles. Initial reports were that there were fataliti...

THE onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic has led to the cancellation of several elective surgeries because of a backlog with COVID-19 test results, overcrowding on wards, and issues with oxygen supply and availabilitypersonal protectiv...

OVER the next four years thousands of Caribbean nationals stand to benefit from increased employment and regional training opportunities as Sandals Resorts International (SRI) ramps up its long-established Team Member Exchange Programme...

AN accused man who escaped police custody "bawled like a baby and wet himself" when he was cornered by law enforcers at a guest house in St Andrew on Friday, a police source confirmed yesterday.Ricardo Richards, 31, also known as Kaka, ...

THE same shoulders on which 55-year-old Lancelot Thomas used to carry his only son Lorenzo "Israel" Thomas as a tot were ironically the same shoulders on which he carried Dantay Brooks and Andre Hinds, the two who would ultimately be co...

Alleged former Shower Posse member, Richard "Storyteller" Morrison says he is disappointed with the recent judgement by the Supreme Court which rejected his claim for at least $30 million for breach of his constitutional rights and negl...

An elderly women watches from her fence while soldiers patrol Bedward Gardens in St Andrew following the shooting death of five men by members of the security during a shoot-out, recently. (Photo: Garfield Robinson) 

If you get to know the managing director of J Wray & Nephew Ltd and chairman of its foundation, Jean Philippe Beyer, you will meet an individual who can be best described as possibly the most down to earth business leader you can f...

IT'S not every day that you run into a Jamaican who is quadrilingual but 27-year-old Gabrielle Barnett speaks four languages.Barnett, who is a past student of St Hilda's Diocesan High School and Hampton School for Girls, is fluent in En...

President of the Small Business Association of Jamaica (SBAJ) Michael Lecky has welcomed the initiative by communications and entertainment provider Flow to deliver dedicated, customised, smart ICT solutions to small businesses.Flow Bus...

MINISTER without portfolio in the Ministry of National Security (MNS), Senator Matthew Samuda, along with colleague Minister of Housing, Urban Renewal, Environment and Climate Change (MHURECC), Pearnel Charles Jr, participated in tree-p...

EVEN as the novel coronavirus pandemic continues to take a significant toll on the Jamaican population, one organisation, RuJohn Foundation, has reached out to provide assistance to schools and, by extension, families across the island....

Elletson Primary and Infant School Past Students Association on Friday distributed care packages to 30 of the most needy students at the institution.The packages were valued at over $150,000 and was an effort between the local and overs...

THIS section of the Sandy Gully, in the Drumblair community off Waterloo Road in St Andrew, has definitely not benefited from the Government's $320-million Gully Intervention Programme.The programme, announced by Finance Minister Dr Nig...

AMID the increasing number of COVID-19 infections locally, people living with tuberculosis (TB) - a disease caused by bacteria that usually attack the lungs - have to be even more mindful of their health. Ahead of World TB Day which wil...

IF you notice a few of your teeth have started to look longer or you frequently experience sensitivity to hot and cold, your gums could be receding and a portion of your tooth's root could be exposed.Gum recession occurs gradually, and ...

VERY often, as urologists, we are called upon to perform surgery in men with symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). We will discuss the indications for surgery in these men and the various surgical options.Surgery for an enlarg...

TIME has a wearing-down effect on the body, which worsens when one undergoes a negative situation for an extended period of time, much like the current novel coronavirus pandemic. Desperation may drive some to do things they would not h...

A family physician is advising people with hypertension to adhere to their daily medication regimen, irrespective of whether their blood pressure readings indicate that the condition is under control.Dr Pauline Williams Green, who was s...

My father's wit, and my mother's tongue,Assist me! Time's the king of men;He's both their parent and he is their grave,And gives them what he will, not what they crave.The voice of parents is the voice of gods,For to their children they...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY for Sunday, March 21, 2021: Innovative, enterprising, and active, move forward with plans that have been on the back burner. This year you will seek out new beginnings, from starting a side business to rearranging your li...

That Dantay Brooks, the son of dancehall artiste Mavado, had prior run-ins with the law and was out on bail in relation to one of two offences when he instigated the 2018 shooting murder of his childhood ally Lorenzo "Israel" Thomas in ...