TOURISM Minister Edmund Bartlett says that the island can expect more than 50 non-stop flights per week between Canada and Jamaica, starting November 1.Speaking from Canada, where he has been having a series of engagements with travel i...

JUST a week after losing a theatre technician, staff members at the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) are now mourning the death of a registered nurse who died on Friday night.The nurse, 31-year-old Dominique Stevens, worked in the hospita...

AN overseas company with significant experience in hospital build-out has been brought in to help manage the delay-plagued $4-billion renovation project at Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH) in Montego Bay, Health and Wellness Minister Dr...

The novel coronavirus has claimed many lives around the world, and while Jamaica has already recorded 1,869 deaths so far, many well known names are listed.Some of them are famous Jamaican singer,Frederick "Toots" Hibbert, former Cabine...

SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth - Daphne Holmes, who served as People's National Party (PNP) councillor for the Brae's River Division, as well as mayor of Black River and chairman of what was then the St Elizabeth Parish Council in the 1990s a...

Organisers of the historic Nestlé Caribbean Youth Summit are insisting that their target of finding new jobs for a minimum 1,000 youth under age 30 within three years will be met.The two-day virtual event, set for Tuesday, October 5, a...

Lloyd Myrie, the man announced on Friday to act as interim executive director of the State agency, Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo), will not take up the post.Instead, Georgeia Robinson, TPDCo's director of corporate service...

J Wray & Nephew Ltd is responding to numerous appeals for assistance from Jamaica's hospital network by launching a $45-million intervention called JWN Cares. The money will be spread across 12 institutions and donated through the ...

Patient grievance rages on at Cornwall Regional Hospital in St James, the main health service provider in Jamaica's western region. For the last five years the 10-storey, 400-bed capacity hospital has been undergoing over $3.5 billion ...

"It's DJ Cane, the baddest blind DJ alive." That's how 38-year-old Damion "DJ Cane" Rose starts his gigs before giving his audience a delightful musical experience.Rose was born with glaucoma and lost his sight completely at age two. Bu...

It has been almost 18 years since Richard Plummer has been a dedicated member of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF).Whilst doing his job, he has been passionate about being a true representation of the JCF's motto, 'Service above self...

Rev Sharron Thompson (right), campus pastor of Celebration Church, Portmore, presents a care package to Alvarol Morrison during the handover of care packages to residents of Portmore last Friday at the church campus. Looking on is Saman...

This dog sticks its head through a hole in a zinc fence in Drewsland, St Andrew, on Friday to bark at our photographer as he walked by on an assignment. The animal's protest did not last long and thankfully, the effort did not leave him...

 In the distant past when reasoning and common sense were applicable, people influenced by their religion, education or cultural values, trusted respected and knowledgeable community figures to offer sensible advice.The sick in Jamaic...

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.Q: Do I really need to take vitamin and mineral supplements?A: The supp...

Unlike most chronic conditions, lupus is considered a disease of the young, with the average onset age being 22 years and up to 20 per cent of people diagnosed being children. With this in mind, the Lupus Foundation of Jamaica (LFJ) ch...

The Ministry of Health and Wellness has said that there have been no deaths due to vaccinations against COVID-19 in Jamaica, in the six months since the island has been administering doses. In a statement yesterday, the health ministry...

Manchester leads the way with the highest number of centenarians in the latest list of those who had reached age 100 and more, put out by the National Council for Senior Citizens to coincide with Senior Citizens' Week which ended yester...

Considering the widespread issue of mental health in prisons, consultant psychiatrist and therapist Dr Wendel Abel has said that a mental health-care programme in Jamaica's penal system is long overdue.This comes as Matthew Samuda, mini...

OCTOBER is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and each year approximately 300 women die locally from the disease. Breast cancer is a disease in which cells in the breast grow out of control. There are different kinds of breast cancer. The ki...

HEART disease accounts for 30 per cent of deaths each year in Jamaica and while we might not give it much thought, the heart is the most important muscle in the body.The heart pumps blood and oxygen to all the organs and when the heart ...

AFTER breast surgery it can be difficult to regain your confidence and beauty and for Neisha Williams, a friend's journey through breast cancer inspired her to do more for women battling the disease.Williams, a registered nurse (RN) for...

While many pastors have fiercely rejected the appeal by Anglican archbishop of the West Indies, the Most Reverend Howard Gregory, to make vaccination mandatory, one man of the cloth, Reverend Father Sean Major-Campbell, has sided with ...

MANDEVILLE, Manchester - Director of the Southern Regional Health Authority (SRHA) Michael Bent has asked the charity organisation, Friends of Porus, to lend it's voice to an appeal to the Manchester community to get vaccinated.The SRHA...

It is welcoming that Prime Minister Holness has decided that the National Honours and Awards need to be reviewed, and so conducted through a formal process.For recent decisions have only served to undermine the institution that was est...

MONTEGO BAY, St James - For over 30 years Glen Campbell has sold countless boxes of ice cream to children in Pitfour and surrounding communities of this western Jamaica parish.Stocks and all is stored in an igloo attached to the reliabl...

TOM Helou, director of Amazon Web Services (AWS) for the Caribbean and Latin America, is among the cadre of speakers who are set to make major announcements at the Amber Group event on October 6. The event will practically demonstrate h...

Undaunted by the cancellation of its annual 5K for Special Needs due to COVID-19 restrictions, the Digicel Foundation is turning its attention to advocating for workplace inclusivity during the month of October. Under the theme 'Togeth...

UNITED Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, in his message to mark International Day of Older Persons on October 1, hailed the work of the elderly, but called for more to be done for this group in societies. Below is the full tex...

Under normal circumstances, Ewan Mark Stephenson's funeral service would have attracted thousands in person.But although they were not physically there, many followed the glowing tributes showered on the late businessman, retired banke...

Thermal scanners CANNOT detect COVID-19Thermal scanners are effective in detecting people who have a fever (ie have a higher than normal body temperature). They cannot detect people who are infected with COVID-19. There are many causes ...

IT is an aspiration of many persons to be able to "retire" and continue to enjoy their existing lifestyles. It is also true that the nature of "retirement" is changing as today many persons expect to continue earning income from providi...

DULCE NOMBRE, Costa Rica (AFP) - Aged 94, Saturnino "Sato" Lopez rises early each day, chops wood and takes long walks in a part of Costa Rica that's a global oddity: like him, people there tend to live a very long time.Home for Sato is...

We must be gentleNow we are gentlemen.-Yes, gentlemen must be gentle in spite of all the turmoil that surrounds them.There was a time when it was good to be a gentleman, you were looked upon with respect, revered, admired, emulated by ...

Being the new kid on the block is never easy. Papine taxi driver Elvis Bamberry learnt this the hard way when he started driving in April. Always the target of jokes by veteran taxi drivers, Bamberry never failed to stoically meet the ...

Vivian Shaw wept as he stared at the spot where his mother's body was found yesterday afternoon.Hugged by relatives - tears streaming down their faces as well - Shaw watched in disbelief as police secured the scene, awaiting undertaker...

WASHINGTON, DC, United State (AP) - Drugmaker Merck said yesterday that its experimental COVID-19 pill reduced hospitalisations and deaths by half in people recently infected with the coronavirus, potentially a leap forward in the globa...

PORT MARIA, St Mary - Prime Minister Andrew Holness has listed the entertainment sector among groups he is considering as he contemplates removal, "in the near future", of restrictions imposed to help limit spread of the novel coronavir...

The Government on Wednesday launched Jamaica's NDC Implementation Plan, signalling its move to begin executing strategies towards achieving the country's climate goals.NDC (Nationally Determined Contribution) is the name given to the em...

THE Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is ramping up efforts to have COVID-19 vaccines manufactured within the Latin American and Caribbean region in order to accelerate vaccination coverage and reduce dependency on global supplies...

The first of two Crown witnesses in the trial of 33 people accused of being members of the feared Klansman gang yesterday testified that the gang was a well-organised criminal enterprise with members holding titles ranging from don to f...

Head of the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) Hugh Faulkner is again appealing to Jamaicans for patience as the agency continues its probe into the alleged cutting of the hair of a Rastafarian woman, Nazinga King, at Fo...

PORT ANTONIO, Portland - For 50 of his 65 years, Renold Franklin hunted wild hogs, a skill taught to him by his father. With so many years of experience under his belt, it came as something of a shock when he died while on the hunt.Fran...

These days rain is not a force of nature welcomed by residents in a number of Portland communities.That's because, for just about a month now, the showers have triggered landslides on the main road leading to Holywell National Forest Pa...

LINSTEAD, St Catherine - Executive director of the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) Audley Gordon has declared that foreign investors will not be spared as the agency intensifies its effort to curb the "wanton littering...

Jamaicans who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 are to start receiving digital vaccination cards in another three months, in line with the global move towards secured, machine-readable cards that are universally accepted and not vul...

Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton says Jamaicans have no need to fear receiving expired doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine as there are established systems in place for the disposal of the just under 60,00 unadm...

The mangled remains of this truck that overturned on the Chalky Hill road in Steer Town, St Ann, yesterday afternoon being removed. The truck was transporting water for residents of that community who had pooled to have the commmodity d...

Today is the 274th day of 2021. There are 91 days left in the year. TODAY'S HIGHLIGHT2008: The last czar and his family were victims of political repression, Russia's Supreme Court rules, formally restoring the Romanov name and further...

This boy recovers a few bottles of water after the truck transporting the commodity on behalf of residents of Steer Town, St Ann, overturned on the Chalky Hill road in that community yesterday afternoon. The residents say they have been...