MONTEGO BAY, St James - Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett has claimed that local players in the entertainment sector have earned some $0.5 billion for the provision of services to hotels over the first five months this year."I am very pl...

After months of lockdown under the Disaster Risk Management Act (DRMA), public beaches and rivers were reopened last Thursday and hundreds of Jamaicans dived into the waters yesterday, the first Sunday after the restrictions had been l...

AS a seventh-grade student just starting her high school journey, Natalia Clarke never thought that the arrival of the man she called father into her life would leave her permanently scarred.But what should have been a bonding relations...

THE president of the People's National Party could easily have told his detractors, who say he is invisible, that he has been 'working, working, working' - words used before by former party boss, Portia Simpson Miller. But he has gone f...

FOR those who want a clean-shaven political leader in the form of one Mark Golding, Esq, they can, to borrow a phrase used by former Prime Minister PJ Patterson, "Faget it."Looking back, he is the only one to have headed the People's Na...

TECHNOLOGY business leader Dean Nevers has pushed deep into his pocket to provide a $5-million boost to potential entrepreneurs.Nevers, who heads telecommunications service provider, Konnexx Services Ltd, told the Jamaica Observer in a ...

ALMOST 4,000 people have been charged under the Disaster Risk Management Act (DRMA) at the end of the first quarter of 2021.This was disclosed by the Court Administration Division (CAD) following a request from the Jamaica Observer.The ...

SHANIQUE Armstrong visited Spanish Town Hospital for a recurring cough but ended up delivering her baby on her own in the company of strangers.The 26-year-old woman, who went into pre-term labour while on a bed in the waiting area of th...

The big question surrounding Member of Parliament for Clarendon Northern Dwight Sibblies is whether or not he has been collecting two State salaries, or has opted for the higher of two, while he also retains his job at the University of...

Just in case a member of the People's National Party (PNP) feels like challenging incumbent President Mark Golding, he has three words for that individual: Bring it on.The Opposition leader and head of the 83-year-old political organisa...

Nurse Duncan Ward administers the second dose of the Aztrazenica vaccine to centenarian Lucille Hopkins at the National Arena yesterday as part of the blitz for individuals who had already received their first dose of the vaccine. (Phot...

Quitting JLP not enough, Georgie boy!DID anyone expect that George Wright would not have resigned as a member of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party?Well, maybe brother Georgie is taking it a step a day, and he will do the right thing by th...

Jennifer Clarke-Twiddle (right), business relationship and sales advisor at JN Bank, listens attentively to sisters Priscilla (left) and Esther Bernard, who were in attendance at the National Children's Day service, at the Church of The...

We know you sometimes have burning questions that can best be answered by a pharmacist. Get answers by sending your questions to healthandwealth@jamaicaobserver.com.Question: The doctor says I should take the medication three times dail...

Four decades after the first cases of AIDS were reported, new data from UNAIDS show that dozens of countries achieved or exceeded the 2020 targets set by the United Nations General Assembly in 2016 - evidence that the targets were not j...

FORMER Minister of Entertainment Damion Crawford says local promoters and entertainers are being "unfairly" treated by the Government which, he believes, should be offering stimulus cheques to stakeholders in the industry that has been ...

SCOTIABANK is urging heightened safety awareness among its customers, including seniors, as they embrace the self-service banking arrangements.The bank says while there is always a need to practise an increased awareness about personal ...

Twenty red mangrove saplings were planted on the Palisadoes strip in Kingston on Friday in an effort to restore the country's ecosystem.The project also marked a milestone for the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) which c...

MANDEVILLE, Manchester - In November 2019, the newly arrived police chief Superintendent Gary Francis identified traffic congestion in this south-central town as being among his immediate priorities. "What should be a two-to-three-minut...

To be in love where scorn is bought with groans;Coy looks with heart-sore sighs,One fading moment's mirth,With twenty watchful, weary, tedious nights,If haply won, perhaps a hapless gain,If lost, why then a grievous labour won;However, ...

The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) is pushing for the fines and sentences under the Cybercrimes Act to be brought in line with those for related offences under money-laundering and anti-gang laws.Deputy Director o...

NEARLY half-a-billion people on the planet have diabetes but most of them aren't getting the kind of care that could make their lives healthier, longer, and more productive, according to a new global study of data from people with the c...

The joint select committee (JSC) of Parliament examining the revised National Identification and Registration (NIDS) Bill has agreed on the eight members of the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ) forming the oversight National Datab...

MONTEGO BAY, St James - Insisting that there was no arrangement to stage Moodfest 2021 at Grand Palladium Resorts in Point, Hanover, Enrico Pezzoli, the hotel's general manager, was yesterday stunned that the resort was named alongside ...

MANDEVILLE, Manchester - The construction of eight classrooms is to begin within a week at Bellefield High School, a few miles north-east of here, as part of a process towards removing the school from the shift system. Principal of Bell...

Throughout your life, your bones constantly remodel themselves - removing old bones (resorption) and adding new ones (ossification) where needed. This is a natural process that's important for your health and well-being.However, when re...

With her unbridled love for Jamaica, award-winning Jamaican-American attorney, immigration, diversity and inclusion advocate Dahlia Walker Huntington seeks to project Jamaicans in the United States who are doing well there, while keepi...

After spending one year in jail and over nine years as a prisoner at the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre, 39-year-old Andre Thomas was pardoned and released to be treated, after being diagnosed with multiple myeloma - a rare for...

COVID-19 has presented challenges and opportunities for seniors. The elderly are more susceptible to illness and complications which can negatively impact their financial resources and compromise their living standards. Now, more than e...

AGEISM has been costing societies billions of dollars, according to a recent World Health Organization (WHO) report.According to the WHO's global report on ageism, in the United States of America a 2020 study showed that ageism in the f...

PETAL James, chief of branches at JN Bank, says a reverse mortgage can provide much-needed funds for seniors whose net worth is mostly tied up in the value of their home."It allows a homeowner to convert part of the equity in their home...

The fallout from mandatory vaccine requirement pinned to promotions in the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) has begun and is set to spiral with a number of cops already tendering their resignations, the Jamaica Observer has learnt."Seve...

HATFIELD, Westmoreland - Her eight-year-old son Christiano Beckford has a bag packed in case he has to run for his life and their bed rests on four concrete blocks in the event that the house is flooded. So, as the hurricane season open...

Governor General Sir Patrick Allen will be special guest at Cornwall College's virtual Men of Might awards presentation to veteran journalist Desmond Allen and security magnate Ralston Pessoa tomorrow, beginning at 7:00 pm.The Kingston ...

A local corporate executive has blasted men who father multiple children and refuse to support them, describing them as "enemies of the State" who should be "locked up" or "compulsorily sterilised".According to Robin Levy, group CEO of ...

NEW ROAD, Trelawny - People living in the New Road section of Warsop in Trelawny are bewildered by the decision of 23-year-old Stephina Ralston, affectionately called Apple, to ask the court to drop charges against her ex-boyfriend, 34-...

This woman is obviously enjoying herself on a swing at Caymanas River in St Catherine on Thursday, the day when rivers and beaches were reopened by the Government as part of a number of measures under which COVID-19 safety proptocols we...

A man directs the driver of a truck as it tries to pass another on the narrow Junction Road in St Mary, Wednesday. (Photo: Garfield Robinson) 

Today is the 155th day of 2021. There are 210 days left in the year.TODAY'S HIGHLIGHT2001: Nepal's Crown Prince Dipendra dies. Three days earlier he shot the king, queen, and seven members of the royal family before turning the gun on h...

MANDEVILLE, Manchester - Senior citizens in this south-central town who would have received their first dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine two months ago are now eager to be fully vaccinated.Jeff Smith is one of those who received...

Random House Children's Books (RHCB) will be seeking to smash the long tradition of romance novels only featuring white people, by showing that people of colour also fall in love, through a Jamaican writer, Publishers Weekly announced.N...

Heidi Clarke, the executive director of the Sandals Foundation, has joined another Jamaican, Omar Robinson, as trustee on the governing board of the Miami-based Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association Education Foundation (CHTAEF).Clark...

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) - A senior official of the United States Embassy here has welcomed the announcement by President Joe Biden that it is providing six million doses of vaccines to Latin America and the Caribbean."The US Embas...

THE Universal Service Fund (USF) on Thursday handed over a cheque valued at $20 million to the Court Administration Division (CAD) for the procurement of equipment to improve the information and communication technology (ICT) infrastruc...

THE Jamaican Government has started discussions with a team from Portum System, LLC, a health risk mitigation and contact tracing application firm, to assist with the easy detection of people with COVID-19.A release from the technology ...

SIX branches of Scotiabank have gone full digital, removing the day-to-day over-the-counter cash transactions and instead prioritising other banking functions, including financial advice and planning.A key feature of the digital branche...

A primary school principal has raised concerns about the virtual administration of the diagnostic tests for her students, saying they might not provide a true reflection of their academic performance.Diagnostic tests started for grades ...

NEW YORK, United States (AP) - Doctors are reporting improved survival in men with advanced prostate cancer from an experimental drug that delivers radiation directly to tumour cells. Few such drugs are approved now, but the approach ma...

ROME, Italy (AP) - The release from prison of one of Italy's most notorious mobster-turned-informant generated more indignation yesterday, even after he was shown in an old jailhouse interview apologising to his many victims for his rol...

USINGEN, Germany (AP) - It's time for the sheep in Germany's Taunus Mountains to get their summer look and the shearers are making quick work of relieving the 1,000 or so in Volker Schuhmacher's flock of their shaggy coats.A team of fou...