Today is the 159th day of 2021. There are 206 days left in the year.TODAY'S HIGHLIGHT632 AD: The prophet Muhammad dies in Medina. He leaves no arrangement for his succession, creating a rift in Islam lasting to this day. OTHER EVENTS17...

Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ) yesterday closed its St Andrew Revenue Service Centre on Constant Spring Road after an early morning fire damaged a section of the building.The closure, TAJ said, will remain in effect "until further no...

ROSEAU, Dominica (CMC) - Outgoing Caribbean Community (Caricom) Secretary General Irwin LaRocque is suggesting that "another mechanism" be utilised in getting member countries to greater strengthen their existing cooperation and collabo...

ST JOHN'S, Antigua (CMC) - Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne says the novel coronavirus pandemic has provided Caribbean governments with the opportunity to implement tax cuts for airline tickets across the region."Now is ...

WASHINGTON, DC, United States (AP) - Government health officials yesterday approved the first new drug for Alzheimer's disease in nearly 20 years, disregarding warnings from independent advisers that the much-debated treatment hasn't be...

PALMA DE MALLORCA, Spain (AP) - Spain jump-started its summer tourism season on yesterday by welcoming vaccinated visitors from most countries as well as European tourists who can prove they are not infected with coronavirus. It also r...

WASHINGTON, DC, United States (AP) - A unanimous Supreme Court ruled yesterday that thousands of people living in the US for humanitarian reasons are ineligible to apply to become permanent residents.Justice Elena Kagan wrote for the co...

GHOTKI, Pakistan (AP) - An express train barrelled into another that had derailed in Pakistan before dawn yesterday, killing at least 45 people, authorities said. More than 100 were injured and rescuers and villagers worked throughout t...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY for Tuesday, June 8, 2021: You are witty, curious and high-energy in your approach to life. You are also determined, hardworking and courageous when going after what you want. You will feel very independent this year beca...

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...

HARD-WORKING, decisive and level-headed are a few of the words that have been used to describe Sandals South Coast's newly minted cost manager and 2019 Diamond Team Member, Jahabrie Clarke.The 26-year-old Jahabrie never saw himself work...

Executive director of the National Road Safety Counci l, Paula Fletcher is continuing the push for driver education to be included in secondary school curricula. According to Fletcher, this could result in benefits to the economy by re...

A Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) private was among five people murdered across the island Saturday night into Sunday morning.Police sources yesterday told the Jamaica Observer that a top level investigation is now underway into the fatal s...

MAISE Green Learning Centre has received more help from General Accident Insurance Company (Jamaica) (GenAc) following a facelift on Labour Day 2019.The educational institution based in Grants Pen, St Andrew, has been gifted by the staf...

THE United States-based global management consulting firm, Avasant is moving to help Jamaican entrepreneurs discover new locations for the delivery of services and attract investments through its investment exchange platform, Global Equ...

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...

ATTORNEY-AT-LAW and talk show host, Khadine "Miss Kitty" Hylton has implored female cops not to shirk from pursuing top jobs in the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF). "The women of the JCF have to rise up and take their place without fea...

Nordian Thompson is finally ready and equipped to revolutionise her online business. The small business owner was the first user to download The Honey Bun Foundation's Gapp App and complete the app's survey, which identifies gaps in a ...

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) - The death toll from floods and mudslides following heavy rains in Sri Lanka rose to 14, with another two missing, officials said yesterday.Ten districts on the Indian Ocean island have been under heavy rainfall...

TOKYO, Japan (AP) - Japanese sexual minority groups and their supporters staged a rally outside Tokyo's iconic Shibuya Station yesterday calling for equal rights and public support for the enactment of a long-sought equality law before ...

PARIS, France (AP) -French health authorities are racing to contain scattered cases of the more contagious delta virus variant, as France prepares to reopen its borders to vaccinated visitors and celebrates plunging COVID-19 infection a...

Today is the 158th day of 2021. There are 207 days left in the yearTODAY'S HIGHLIGHT1970: Voters in Switzerland reject proposal to force almost one third of a million aliens to leave that country.OTHER EVENTS1099: The First Crusade reac...

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...