The Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) says that, while it has no objection to Portmore becoming the 15th parish, there will be need for changes to the organisational and management structure of its police divisions.Deputy Commissioner of...

FERRIS CROSS, Westmoreland - George Wright, the parliamentarian at the centre of a domestic abuse controversy, yesterday said he supports the Sexual Harassment Bill tabled in the House by Gender Affairs Minister Olivia "Babsy" Grange an...

The United States Embassy in Kingston will be closed today after President Joe Biden yesterday signed a bill that was passed by Congress to set aside Juneteenth, or June 19, as a federal holiday."As the 19th of June falls on a Saturday,...

Two major players in the energy market have joined the call on the Government to terminate the Right Of First Refusal (ROFR) clause in the electricity licence which it issued to Jamaica Public Service (JPS) company in 2016.Yesterday, Ja...

Justice Minister Delroy Chuck has tabled a Bill in the House of Representatives to validate millions of dollars in legal aid fees to be paid by his ministry to lawyers representing members of the King Valley Gang who were tried in the S...

There has been deafening silence from the police following allegations that a taxi driver was kidnapped in St Catherine on Tuesday and that a demand for $400,000 has been made for his release.Jamaica Observer sources say early Tuesday ...

Abijah Livingston delivers a tribute in song to his father, Neville O'Riley Livingston, at yesterday's celebration of the life and legacy of the man known in Jamaica and around the world as Bunny Wailer or Jah B, a member of the famous ...

Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie (left) points out the damage to this gully beside Horizon Adult Remand Centre, which is in his Kingston Western constituency, to Matthew Samuda (second left), minister of state in the Ministry ...

A tricycle proves the perfect mode of transportation for this woman and a little girl on PenwoodRoad in the Waterhouse community in St Andrew. (Photo: Joseph Wellington) 

FALMOUTH, Trelawny - Businessman and senior justice of the peace (JP) Hugh Gentles was yesterday installed as custos otulorum of Trelawny and immediately stated his intention to build a vibrant and effective unit of JPs in the parish."M...

MANDEVILLE, Manchester - Eighteen at-risk communities in this south-central parish are being targeted by the Manchester Peace Coalition in an effort to showcase good fathers this Sunday, which is celebrated as Father's Day.Dr Clifton Re...

TOURISM Minister Edmund Bartlett says that tourism sector employers will start contributing to the new Tourism Workers' Pension Scheme (TWPS) in January 2023, at a rate of five per cent per annum.He told the House of Representatives Tue...

John Eaves, the Atlanta-based grandson of a Jamaican immigrant, has thrown his hat in the ring for the Democratic nomination for secretary of state of Georgia, which became a hot seat in the 2020 US presidential elections.Eaves, who is ...

Jamaican Professor Wycliffe Lofters, known for his illustrious career as an oncologist who specialised in breast and colon cancers, died in Canada earlier this month, aged 78, the family announced.After leaving Cornwall College in Mont...

Shawna Marie Sinclair and Nicholas Folkes have become the first two members of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) to be admitted to the Connecticut-based United States Coast Guard Academy.The achievement threw Jamaica further into the spo...

Award-winning business process outsourcing (BPO) company itel yesterday announced a rebranding of its image ahead of its planned strategic expansion into nearshore markets this summer.Founded by Jamaican Yoni Epstein, the company - whic...

For over 40 years, talk of Walter Rodney has sparked divisive debate in his native Guyana. Last week's announcement by the country's Government that it would amend his death records and afford him overdue national recognition is relief ...

JAMAICA is poised to benefit from the United States donation of an initial 25 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines that have been earmarked for deployment globally, to assist in easing challenges with access being experienced by a number ...

ONE lucky Izzizi lottery customer walked away from the PayDay West Ltd store a millionaire when the two $100 4Play tickets he purchased raked in $600,000 each, racking up a total prize of $1,200,000. The winner, a second-time Izzizi cus...

PORT MARIA, St Mary - A student in search of bottle caps to complete a project may not be able to find 100 bottle caps at home, but he or she would have found 167 at the Pagee Beach clean-up in Port Maria earlier this week. On Wednesday...

Today is the 169th day of 2021. There are 196 days left in the year.TODAY'S HIGHLIGHT2010: BP removes chief executive Tony Hayward from day-to-day oversight of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill crisis, a day after he was pummelled by US lawm...

THE plastic separation project in Drax Hall Manor, St Ann, is progressing well with more than 360 bags of plastic bottles collected since the start of the pilot in February 2020.The community is the first in the parish to participate in...

PARAMARIBO, Suriname (CMC) - Suriname Thursday announced a complete lockdown on Sundays and holidays until July 5, as the Dutch-speaking Caribbean Community country and other member states recorded deaths linked to the COVID-19 over the...

MORANT BAY, St Thomas - Over the next two weeks a group of 36 volunteers from Utah, USA, will work on several projects that will increase security at a local school, help preserve vital aspects of the parish's culture and provide short-...

WASHINGTON, DC, United States (AP) - The US Government is catching up with black people who have been commemorating the end of slavery in the United States for generations with a day called Juneteenth.President Joe Biden was expected to...

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) - Hati Maronjei once swore he would never get a COVID-19 shot - after a pastor warned that vaccines aren't safe.Now, four months after the first batch of vaccines arrived in Zimbabwe, the 44-year-old street hawker o...

LUSAKA, Zambia (AP) - Kenneth Kaunda, Zambia's founding president and a champion of African nationalism who spearheaded the fights to end white minority rule across southern Africa, has died at the age of 97.Kaunda's death was announced...

HONG KONG (AP) - Hong Kong police used a sweeping national security law Thursday to arrest five editors and executives of a pro-democracy newspaper on charges of colluding with foreign powers - the first time the legislation has been us...

MILWAUKEE, United States (AP) - Every Sunday at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church Rev Joseph Jackson Jr praises the Lord before his congregation. But since last fall he's been praising something else his black community needs - the C...

MOSCOW, Russia (AP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday praised the outcome of his summit with US President Joe Biden and called him an astute and shrewd negotiator.The two leaders concluded three hours of talks Wednesday at ...

WASHINGTON, DC, United States (AP) - The United States is devoting US$3.2 billion to advance development of antiviral pills for COVID-19 and other dangerous viruses that could cause pandemics.Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectio...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY for Friday, June 18, 2021: You have a wonderful zest for life and you need to be stimulated! You are charming and articulate. Because you have enormous tenacity, you are also persevering in your goals. This is a more easy...

DESPITE concerns about costs and manpower by the security minister, Police Commissioner Antony Anderson has indicated the possibility of a zone of special operations in Kingston Central, which is being affected by deadly gang conflicts....

THE Transport Authority says Uber's "vehicle with driver lease agreement" is a new designation in the local public transportation landscape and may not eliminate the need for the company to engage licensed public transportation operator...

FINANCIAL institutions are concerned that they could face serious risk and liability exposure from clients if not properly protected under the Cybercrimes Act, from the authorities having access to information or data which are not rele...

IT was frenzy in Balcombe Drive, Waterhouse, on Tuesday night as residents, some with cooking gas cylinders, ran from Welcome Avenue in a section of the community where a fire ravaged three houses, leaving nine people displaced.Police s...

Staff at General Accident Insurance Company (Jamaica) on Tuesday donated blood during a drive hosted at the company's headquarters on Tuesday.The National Blood Transfusion Service, better kown as the Blood Bank, collected 50 units at t...

MAN DEVILLE, Manchester - Some operators of public passenger vehicles in this south-central town who rely heavily on the eas t-west legs of Highway 2000 for their daily commute are appealing for a delay in the proposed toll hike."When t...

The lengthy wait for jury trials is beginning to take its toll on people who have been denied bail while they wait for their cases to be tried.Because of the novel coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent restrictions on the number of p...

MONTEGO BAY, St James - The 39-year-old St James pastor, Jason Rose, who was given bail on charges of raping a 15-year-old girl on Monday is back behind bars after his bail was revoked yesterday.The pastor's wife and the mother of the c...

THE dry spell currently affecting the island has left National Water Commission (NWC) customers in several parishes without water or with low pressure because of falling intake levels.The NWC, in a written response to queries from the J...

Volunteer Jacqueline Cooper is living her dream.Six years ago when she placed a poster on a nearby shop door about voluntarily teaching youngsters in her Waterhouse community, she was unsure of how many people would show up at her home...

THE more than 21 communities identified by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) as vulnerable and volatile communities could meet the criteria for designation as zones of special operations (ZOSO), said Minister of National Security...

THE driver of the Toyota Fielder that crashed with a Toyota Hiace bus in the Bog Walk Gorge in St Catherine last Tuesday has been arrested and charged with manslaughter.According to Deputy Superintendent of Police Kerry-Ann Bailey, the ...

Today is the 168th day of 2021. There are 197 days left in the year.TODAY'S HIGHLIGHT1999: Nelson Mandela bids farewell to the country he led into democracy and hands over power of South Africa to its second freely elected president, Th...

PARIS, France (AP) - France yesterday eased several COVID-19 restrictions, with authorities saying it's no longer always mandatory to wear masks outdoors and halting an eight-month nightly novel coronavirus curfew this weekend.The surpr...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY for Thursday, June 17, 2021: You are witty, entertaining, creative and adaptable. You have a debonair, outgoing style, and yet you are a serious person with serious concerns. You can be impulsive. In a nine-year cycle, yo...

Although embattled Westmoreland Central Member of Parliament (MP) George Wright was absent from yesterday's sitting of the House of Representatives, Government and Opposition legislators engaged in a testy exchange over where he should ...

An effort by St James Central Member of Parliament (MP) Heroy Clarke to rehash the findings of a 2012 auditor general report on the Canadian farm work programme was squashed at a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) yesterday...

The firefighters who rescued 66-year-old George Smart after he was dumped into a 55-foot pit by gunmen in Spanish Town, St Catherine, in May were yesterday hailed as heroes during an appreciation lunch hosted by GraceKennedy.Grace Kitch...