Today is the 236th day of 2021. There are 129 days left in the year. TODAY'S HIGHLIGHT1991: Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as head of Communist Party of the Soviet Union and urges its leadership to disband the party. OTHER...

THE Dispute Resolution Foundation (DRF) is facilitating a customised, basic mediation training course for attorneys-at-law.This is in keeping with the foundation's mandate to produce quality alternate dispute resolution (ADR) practition...

JAMAICA has received 48 hospital beds from the Canadian Fund for Local Initiatives to support the expansion of COVID-19 hospital wards.The donation worth $11.3 million was received by Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Christopher Tufto...

NEW YORK, United States (AP) - All New York City public school teachers and other staffers will have to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, officials said yesterday, ramping up pandemic protections as the nation's largest school sys...

LONDON, England (AP) - The messy exit of Western military forces from Afghanistan and the swift takeover of the country by the Taliban has stunned officials in Britain and strained the UK's "special relationship" with its most important...

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) - The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday called for a two-month moratorium on administering booster shots of COVID-19 vaccines as a means of reducing global vaccine inequality and preventing the...

DIRECTOR of the National Transformation Programme (NTP) Reverend Al Miller is warning Jamaicans against what he says amounts to "volunteering our children" for inoculation against the SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, even as the Gover...

AT least three motorists whose cars were seized by the police on suspicion of operating a private vehicle as a public passenger vehicle (PPV) without a road licence are threatening legal action.The men, who have denied the allegations, ...

MEMBER of Parliament for Kingston Eastern and Port Royal Phillip Paulwell is chastising the Government for reneging on a promise to carry out flood mitigation works in the Harbour Heights community, under the South Coast Highway project...

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...

OPERATIONS at bauxite outfit Jamalco in Hayes, Clarendon, will today "be at a standstill" following a "major fire" last evening that took a cross-parish effort, which lasted well over six hours, of seven units from the Jamaica Fire Brig...

MONTEGO BAY, St James - Underscoring the need for everyone to be vaccinated against the novel coronavirus, Deputy Prime Minister Dr Horace Chang is charging that the entertainment sector will remain shuttered if entertainers do not get ...

UNDERCOVER agents, marked bills, and recording devices to capture the deal. The target: 'robot' taxi operators.Already, this offbeat strategy being used by the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) and the Transport Authority since earlier t...

SAVANNA-LA-MAR, Westmoreland - While working from home has repeatedly been stressed as one way to help curtail the movement of people in the battle against COVID-19, for some it remains a struggle because of the nature of the services t...

AS the country went into its first day of lockdown yesterday in an effort to stem the increase in novel coronavirus infections, Jamaica Observer photographers Karl Mclarty and Garfield Robinson hit the streets and captured these images....

AFTER being subjected to a number of natural disasters in recent years, Haiti has been repeatedly referred to by some people as cursed or is said to be facing God's wrath. But Haitian Junior Brice, CEO of non-profit organisation LAVI/AY...

KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) - US President Joe Biden said yesterday he still hopes to finalise the dramatic evacuation of tens of thousands of people from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan by August 31, as the Islamists blamed Washington for ...

Today is the 235th day of 2021. There are 130 days left in the yearTODAY'S HIGHLIGHT1973: Four people are taken hostage by a robber in a Stockholm bank in Sweden. During the six-day drama the captor and captives develop a friendship lat...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY for Monday, Aug. 23, 2021:You are generous, creative, warmhearted and sincere. You're an idea person who loves to talk. People are attracted to you because you are a fascinating conversationalist. This year is your last y...

WASHINGTON, DC, United States (AFP) - Devastating floods in the southern US state of Tennessee have left at least 16 people dead and dozens missing, local officials said yesterday in what they warned was a preliminary toll.Tennessee was...

NETANYA, Israel (AFP) - Israel yesterday launched antibody testing for children aged as young as three, seeking information on the number of unvaccinated youth who have developed protection against the novel coronavirus ahead of the new...

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP) - The death toll in the major earthquake that struck Haiti on August 14 has risen to 2,207, authorities said yesterday, as attacks on aid convoys have complicated efforts to bring relief to survivors."New bod...

SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth - Caribbean Cement Company says local manufacturing of cement is set to go to the "next level" soon, following major maintenance of its kiln at Rockfort in east Kingston.Carib Cement, part of the Caribbean-wide ...

Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton's insistence that the country's inability to locally sequence samples of SARS-CoV-2 should not be of concern to Jamaicans has been described as "ignorance" by his Opposition counterpart...

As the country's hospitals buckle under the pressure of a relentless third wave of the novel coronavirus pandemic, checks across the island have revealed a worrying disregard, in many business places, for the safety protocols being rel...

CHRIS-ANN Ward is paying an exorbitant price to stay alive, battling sickle cell (SS) disease for 21 years.Her life has been a blur of hospital visits coupled with multiple surgeries, orthopaedic interventions, pain and massive medical ...

IT'S hard to get a foothold in the labour market with the current economic downturn fuelled by the novel coronavirus pandemic.For young people starting out in the working world the odds are stacked against them, and for those already fi...

THE islandwide COVID-19 vaccination blitz for students age 12 and over got off got off to a steady start yesterday but the lack of adequate health-care workers to speed up the process dampened the day for many.Dr Mindi Fitz-Henley, pres...

COMMUTERS and route taxi operators across the island continue to spar over the fare increases published by the Transport Authority (TA) last week and the mark-ups some operators have chosen to apply.The Ministry of Transport approved a ...

It has been three weeks now since Police Commissioner Major General Antony Anderson ordered a probe into allegations made by a 19-year-old woman that she was relieved of her Rastafarian locks while in custody at Four Paths Police Stati...

Opposition spokesman on mining and energy Phillip Paulwell on Friday made another call for the removal of the oil hedge insurance tax, describing it as "unfair and unconscionable".According to Paulwell, the tax has left consumers at the...

MICHIGAN, United States (THE CONVERSATION) - Vegetarian and vegan options have become standard fare in the American diet, from upscale restaurants to fast food chains. And many people know that the food choices they make affect their ow...

Thirteen university students who did summer internship at the Jamaica Observer said they are enthused about the experience which provided them with valuable lessons and skills for thriving in the labour market. The students are Kabian ...

AS the new school term approaches and hopeful parents wait to see if students will, in fact, return to face-to-face classes, psychiatrist Dr Maureen Irons-Morgan is reminding them to safeguard their children's mental health. According t...

Principals in four parishes would be ready to resume face-to-face classes next month, but an overwhelming majority of them said they do not have enough space to accommodate all students returning to school at the same time.In light of ...

ARIZONA, United States - (The Conversation) Rose Gagnon could not hug her grandchildren for several months.Not being able to see and touch her loved ones every day because of COVID-19's social distancing protocols was taking a toll on t...

HAVE chalky white teeth? Let's explore why.Why your teeth look chalky whiteChalky white teeth are known as fluorosis. It occurs when a great amount of fluoride has been consumed, which then comes in contact with the teeth and changes th...

THE Government is being urged to have children under 12 years old tested for the novel coronavirus before schools reopen next month in order to avoid any possibility of infections when face-to-face learning resumes.The call has come fro...

FOR many, life insurance is associated with illness and death, but according to Kerry Ann Chong, senior manager, sales and service, Scotia Jamaica Life Insurance Company, a good policy is an important element in any strategic retirement...

WHEN it comes to investing for the long term it is important to have a diversification strategy. Diversification involves an investment strategy that is used to manage risks and increase returns. It is based on the concept of "not putti...

PORT MARIA, St Mary - Motorcyclists without helmets and speeding are among the worrying trends pushing up road fatalities in this parish. "Some of these motorcycles are extremely fast. So by the time a police would step out to stop a ...

HIGH-QUALITY social connections are essential to our mental and physical health and our well-being. Social isolation and loneliness are important, yet neglected, social determinants of the health of older people.Social isolation and lon...

ROSE Miller, head of the JN BeWi$e Financial Empowerment Programme, says there's no denying that getting to the age of 60 with little to no retirement savings is a dire situation."Sadly, this is a situation in which many Jamaicans find ...

PARIS, France (AFP) - The Taliban now hold the keys to an untouched trillion-dollar trove of minerals including some that could power the world's transition to renewable energies, but Afghanistan has long struggled to tap its vast depos...

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP) - Survivors of Haiti's devastating earthquake looted an aid convoy Friday as the impoverished Caribbean nation scrambled to roll out a relief effort haunted by the chaotic response to past natural disasters. ...

WASHINGTON, DC, United States (AFP) - Veteran American civil rights activist Reverend Jesse Jackson was hospitalised after testing positive for COVID-19, despite having been vaccinated, representatives said yesterday.Jackson, 79, and hi...

Love's gentle spring doth always fresh remain,Lust's winter comes ere summer half be done,Love surfeits not, lust like a glutton dies,Love is all truth, lust full of forced lies.- ShakespeareThere is behaviour and there is inappropriat...

MONTEGO BAY, St James - Members of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MBCCI) are voicing their disapproval of aspects of the latest COVID-19 restrictions announced by Prime Minister Andrew Holness to stem the transmission...

ST THOMAS, Jamaica - Kareen Boucher's son Jaheem was only three months away from his first birthday when he died. His mother had publicly appealed for help to raise the roughly US$250,000 needed for him to get a liver transplant in the ...

THE Ministry of Health and Wellness yesterday asked the public who have vaccination appointments for today through to Tuesday, August 24 to make new appointments.In a release yesterday, the ministry said in order to set the new appointm...