Today is the 229th day of 2021. There are 136 days left in the year.TODAY'S HIGHLIGHT1991: Italy repatriates the last of an estimated 18,000 Albanian refugees who arrived in southern Italy by boat earlier in the month. The Italian Gover...

State minister in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Robert Morgan, has expressed gratitude to the National Baking Company Foundation for its donation of 20,000 snacks towards the support of the recently concluded island...

PORT MARIA, St Mary - Work will begin early next year on the long-overdue Port Maria Police Station, minister without portfolio in the Ministry of National Security Matthew Samuda has promised. Ground was broken twice for the project ov...

WASHINGTON, DC, United States (AP) - President Joe Biden said yesterday that he stands "squarely behind" his decision to withdraw US forces from Afghanistan and that the Government's collapse was quicker than anticipated. Speaking about...

FALMOUTH, Trelawny - The Sunday morning service at St Peter's Anglican Church in Falmouth was briefly interrupted yesterday when a representative of the Trelawny Health Department entered the building and requested that the pastor, who ...

THEY say behind every dark cloud is a silver lining, but though residents of Tinsbury, St Mary, experienced a silver lining last Friday in the form of a back-to-school treat and care packages for the elderly, the dark clouds of poor roa...

TWENTY-FIVE-YEAR-OLD Kashieka Lawrence, president of JN Circle, St James, is determined not to allow her circumstance to define her. She is also determined to eke out a path that will not only enhance her life, but also the lives of oth...

A team of experts from the Pan American Health Organization's (PAHO) office in Port-au-Prince has been deployed to evaluate damage and coordinate an appropriate health response following the 7.2-magnitude earthquake that shook Haiti on ...

AS he packs his bags to leave Jamaica after four years as the top British diplomat in the country, Asif Ahmad is adamant that though his official link with the island is ending, his relationship with the island and its citizens is far f...

More than 270 Jamaicans have been awarded Chevening Scholarships since Jamaica's first cohort in 1984. Founded in 1983, Chevening is the United Kingdom Government's global scholarship programme aimed at developing global leaders through...

With many Jamaican families still reeling from the economic impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic, many parents must now rethink how they budget for back-to-school this year."Not only will they have to think about how much they spend...

In a matter of months, Jamaican author Daneil Campbell has seen great success with her book, Beauty and the Jamaican Don, which was released on the popular online reading platform Wattpad .The book has already garnered more than one...

Having successfully launched last year, Ingenuity Technologies is reporting that its freelancing website, The Hive, has already grown beyond expectations creating a community of more than 10,000 across the Caribbean, India and the Unite...

MONTEGO BAY, St James - Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett has attributed the recovery of the tourism sector, which yesterday marked the one millionth stopover arrival since June 15 last year, as a major fillip to the strong economic r...

LES CAYES, Haiti (AP) - The death toll from a magnitude-7.2 earthquake in Haiti soared yesterday as rescuers raced to find survivors amid the rubble ahead of a potential deluge from an approaching tropical storm.Saturday's earthquake le...

After receiving quality medical care at the Percy Junor Hospital in Manchester on two occasions as a youngster, the Reverend Paul Peart was determined to extend a hand to local health facilities in need."It has always been in my heart t...

Owner and operator of Gold Mine Boers International Samuel Golding has always been passionate about livestock farming. He turned that passion into a successful business rearing, breeding and selling highly sought after Boer goats around...

Today is the 228th day of 2021. There are 137 days left in the year.TODAY'S HIGHLIGHTS2003: Ugandan military ruler Idi Amin, 78, who presided over an eight-year reign of terror from 1971-1979, where an estimated 300,000 people were kill...

ST JOHN'S, Antigua, (CMC) - The Ministry of Health, Wellness and the Environment has reported that it recently received confirmation from the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) of the presence of the Gamma variant strain of COVID-1...

It is a widely known fact that Sandals Resorts International is a resort company that provides individuals with various opportunities to grow and develop and at Sandals Royal Caribbean, this is no less pervasive.In fact, if you were to ...

TORONTO, Canada (AP) - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau triggered an election yesterday as he seeks to capitalise on Canada being one of the most fully vaccinated countries in the world. Canada was slated to hold its election on or before ...

ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) - Turkey sent ships to help evacuate people and vehicles from a northern town on the Black Sea that was hard hit by flooding as the death toll in the disaster rose yesterday to at least 62 and more people than that...

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Afghanistan's embattled president left the country yesterday, joining his fellow citizens and foreigners in a stampede fleeing the advancing Taliban and signalling the end of a 20-year Western experiment aimed ...

SEVERAL household workers across the island are currently at loggerheads with their employers regarding their employment status, now hinged on their decision to take the COVID-19 vaccine.The household workers, who spoke with the Jamaica...

TERTIARY-TRAINED women are more likely than other women to be abused by their boyfriends or husbands during the novel coronavirus pandemic, according to recent survey findings by researchers at Northern Caribbean University (NCU) .The s...

SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth - The People's National Party (PNP) has confirmed its executive in St Elizabeth North Eastern (NE) and St Elizabeth South Eastern (SE) following constituency conferences.Chairman of the PNP's Region Five, Hopeto...

Jamaica's embassy in Japan has made contact with 25-year-old Tijana Stojkovic, the Olympics volunteer who helped Jamaican hurdler Hansle Parchment get to the Olympics Stadium in Tokyo on Tuesday, July 3 for his semi-final race, after he...

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida (AP) - Tropical Storm Grace formed yesterday morning in the Atlantic Ocean and grew stronger, while Fred weakened into a tropical wave as it headed into the eastern Gulf of Mexico.Both systems were expected to b...

Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke says Jamaica is experiencing early signs of a strong economic recovery from the ravages of the novel coronavirus pandemic, providing as evidence, government revenues for the April to June 2021 quarter. ...

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP) - Rescue workers scrambled to find survivors after a powerful 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck Haiti early yesterday, killing at least 304 and toppling buildings in the disaster-plagued Caribbean nation still ...

Saturday, June 6, 2020 is a day that the family of Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) Private Lexton Clayton will never forget.Their world "fell apart" on that day with the gruesome discovery of her body, as well as that of her two-year-old so...

Three Sandals team members have been awarded the inaugural Gordon "Butch" Stewart Tourism, Hospitality and Service Scholarship.The scholarship is open to team members across the Sandals and ATL Group, including the Jamaica Observer, Is...

Aston Harris with his prize, courtesy of Guardian Group, at the Jamaica Observer offices onBeechwood Avenue in St Andrew last Thursday. He was the first to respond correctly to thequestion asked during the final Your Health Your Wealth ...

The JDF from another angleMy gratitude goes out to the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) for allowing me to see, from another angle, more to the Jamaican army than meets the eye.Last Thursday, the army's head, Lt General Rocky Meade, invited ...

WHILE admitting that, anecdotally, there has been an increase in mental illnesses among Jamaicans since the onset of the novel coronavirus pandemic, a psychiatrist is arguing that at least one upside to the ongoing crisis is the spotlig...

The Ministry of Labour and Social Security has scheduled a meeting for tomorrow to reduce mounting tension threatening the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) Company Limited's operations over a three-year-old payment dispute with its technic...

A woman whose painful skin condition has left her unable to fully use her hands is now seeking help to continue her treatment regime.Dihema Duffus, who lives in Tinsbury, St Mary, has been left in debilitating pain caused by a skin cond...

WESTMORELAND, Jamaica - Councillors Kevin Murray and Rudolph Uter are urging taxi operators in this parish to cancel a strike scheduled for tomorrow. Cabbies who ply the routes from Savanna-la-Mar to Grange Hill, Grange Hill to Green Is...

A frequently asked question by sceptics around the world is: "Why do I need to take the COVID-19 vaccine if I can still get the virus?" If that's something you've also been wondering about, Dr Kate O'Brien, director of the department of...

THE pursuit of love and a happy life took Gabrielle Peat away from her country of birth, Trinidad and Tobago, in the 1970s and brought her to Jamaica. Today, Peat celebrates her 100th birthday and says she has no intention of ever retur...

DRIVING is an activity that requires focus and the use of our senses such as seeing, hearing, and feeling. Unfortunately, as persons grow older, particularly when they have approached their senior years, their mental and physical agilit...

T he British High Commission in Kingston has announced that 17 more Jamaicans have been awarded Chevening Scholarships to pursue master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The 2021-2022 scholars were selected from a short-listed cohort of...

DURING pregnancy, oral health care is often neglected. However, this is actually one of the most crucial times for the proper management of oral health care.Some pregnant women, too, may wonder what, if any, dental procedures might do h...

'SILVER tech' or technological innovations, products and services developed for seniors, may be one of the most lucrative modern industries. At present, 750 million of the world's 7.9 billion inhabitants are aged 65 and over, and that f...

CHOOSING to retire early requires careful consideration. A few years ago, the Jamaican Government introduced the Special Early Retirement Programme (SERP) to public sector workers. Permanent Government of Jamaica employees between the a...

OTTAWA, Canada (AFP) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to call snap elections for September 20 to seek a new mandate to steer the nation's pandemic exit, much to the dismay of his rival parties.In office since 2015, T...

HEALTH systems need to be prepared to deliver high-quality health care for older people that is integrated among providers and settings and one that is linked to the sustainable provision of long-term care, the Pan-American Health Organ...

O, Jesu,This is excellent sport,I faith!- ShakespeareIN other words, "OMG, what a way de sport sweet." And so it was at the 2020 Olympics that actually took place in 2021 because of the accursed novel coronavirus pandemic. I say accurse...

PORT MARIA, St Mary - Chairman of the St Mary Municipal Corporation Richard Creary has challenged his officers to go beyond serving stop orders and to start dragging more people before the court for illegal building construction in the ...

The problem facing Jamaica with scores of people refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine was underscored during a 30-minute taxi ride recently as the driver pointed to religion and spouted unscientific data as reasons he would never take...