SEVERAL COVID-19 testing facilities have slashed costs associated with testing by more than 50 per cent.The news comes four days after the Jamaica Observer reported that the Ministry of Health and Wellness (MOHW) is facing strong critic...

When it comes to pranks and trickery Dwayne and Kerri-Ann Miller will always say "I do."Last December, one of the YouTube videos of the ruthless pranks of the couple went viral on social media, and the result is that Kerri-Ann has been ...

Thinking of the elderly population one would conjure up images of peace and lawfulness. But over the course of the last five years, some 164 elders - over 55 years old - have been charged with murder.Data obtained by the Jamaica Observe...

Various rural secondary education principals have shed light on bleak sixth form programmes at their institutions ahead of the Ministry of Education's compulsory Sixth Form Pathway Programme come September 2022.According to the ministry...

Nobody wore a broader smile on the day than principal of Long Road Primary School, Audreth Gardner.It was Tuesday, November 2, and a man who had celebrated the anniversary of his birth a day before - medical practitioner Dr Nagendra Ba...

SHEER misery!That's how one member of Long Road in St Mary South Eastern summed up the quality of the community's main road - a sentiment largely shared in the deep-rural village.The roadway, which allows only for one vehicle to travel ...

MONTEGO BAY, St James - The way has now been cleared for baby Ariah Turner to lead a normal life.That's the suggestion from the toddler's mother, Tashoy Brown, following a major anal reconstructive procedure days ago.Brown had appealed ...

Sheryl Williams has been hoping for over two months.Her daughter, 34-year-old Ruchelle Williams, a teacher of Goshen district in St Ann, has been missing since September 15. After paying people to search for her daughter in September, S...

NOVEMBER is Diabetes Awareness Month and diabetes, often referred to as 'sugar' in Jamaica, is a potentially life-threatening illness and is the second-leading cause of death for Jamaicans under the age of 70 years.Locally the month of ...

FOR many people, their senior years are synonymous with retirement, finally getting a chance to step away from the daily stresses and hassles of the working world and spend more time with friends and loved ones. For an increasing number...

MANY retirees want to engage in post-retirement work for the money or out of a desire to stay active. We are interested in opportunities for encore or second careers that are less stressful than our first, which give us a chance to util...

Three years after she left office as chief executive officer of the Universal Service Fund, Suzette Camile Buchanan was back at an event held by the State agency last week.This time, though, it was to bring words of encouragement to the...

FINANCIAL stress is a global phenomenon, but just what is financial stress, and how can it be managed? The Financial Health Institute describes financial stress as "a condition that is as a result of financial and/or economic events tha...

As electricity and Internet connection went out from time to time, 16-year-old Jamie Lowe resorted to purchasing data plans to keep up with classes and take notes.An investment well made, he deems it, after bagging eight ones with strai...

In recent weeks, there have been some press discussions about rising medical inflation, and health insurance providers have signalled a likely increase in premium payments. Currently, only an estimated 15 per cent of Jamaicans are cover...

Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett has described the United Kingdom leg of his recently concluded international markets blitz as "extremely successful", and it will result in Jamaica benefiting from several new flights and investments."Ja...

Why do women wait so long to file sex-related claims?A hearing will likely determine whether there is truth to the allegation that Jamaica national women's football team Coach Hubert Busby Jr sexually abused a Vancouver Whitecaps player...

It was the best news Nadian Whyte had in September. She was chosen as the first recipient of the Dr Rickert Allen Scholarship from the NCB Foundation.That meant she could pursue her Bachelor of Science degree in Networking with Cybersec...

RECENT conversations on COVID-19 vaccines have flirted with the idea of mixing and matching vaccines. The argument was also touted in local circles when Jamaicans who received the Pfizer vaccine were unable to get their second doses. Th...

We know you sometimes have burning questions that can best be answered by a pharmacist. Get answers by sending your questions to healthandwealth@jamaicaobserver.comQuestion: Can I smoke while taking antibiotics?Answer: We all know smok...

Not shy about invoking her Jamaican heritage, Republican Winsome Earle Sears is the unlikely lieutenant governor-designate of Virginia after defeating her Democratic opponent Hala S Ayala in last Monday's hard-fought elections.Sears, 54...

The pleasing punishmentThat women bear.- Shakespeare, The Comedy of ErrorsMost men love to please women, but we should ask the question, why? Why does a man take it unto himself to please a woman, sometimes one who he hardly knows?The a...

THE Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) has developed a National Tsunami Response Plan and Standing Order Procedure for Jamaica.This was disclosed by Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Desmon...

Howls of protest from Opposition senators over a two-clause amendment to the old Road Traffic Act yesterday failed to gain traction as the Government used its majority in the Upper House to suspend the Senate Standing Orders and pass th...

Parliament yesterday approved a new Bill, the Road Traffic (Amendment) Act, which will allow for the continuation of fixed penalties under the substantive road traffic legislation.The Bill was approved without amendments in the House o...

Police were last night searching for a gunman who escaped during a firefight with cops in Portmore, St Catherine, which resulted in the death of his crony and injury to three policemen.The dramatic events started unfolding about 3:30 p...

The couple charged with trafficking in persons when a nightclub they owned and operated was raided by police in 2010 was this week sentenced after striking a plea deal.The then Organised Crime Investigation Division (OCID) of the Jamai...

SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth - Following Thursday's stand-off between a judge and police personnel, Jamaica Police Federation Chairman Corporal Rohan James says his members are demanding greater respect from the judiciary.Thursday's unease ...

Sadie Keating, the public servant best remembered for the sensational 2003 Keating Report that lifted the cover off the abuse of children and the horrible conditions in State homes and places of safety, died yesterday, aged 79, her fami...

The death penalty, life behind bars, and imprisonment with hard labour are some of the punishments Jamaicans have recommended for adult men who have relationships with girls below the age of consent and even go as far as impregnating t...

THE Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) says the Ministry of Health's decision to administer only second doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine from the current batch available runs contrary to the urgent need to increase vaccin...

Kevin Dale has seen many puzzling things in the two decades he has been driving his taxi. But the strangest of the lot, he said, was the day a man he believed to be a ghost entered his vehicle.The 47-year-old cabbie says he can't quite ...

MONTEGO BAY, St James - Opposition spokesman on transport Mikael Phillips says the temporary injunction granted by the Supreme Court blocking the police from issuing traffic tickets in excess of fines as at 2006 is a result of the Gover...

CHAMBERS PEN, Hanover - The National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) is looking to private contractors to help it improve garbage collection for the Yuletide season. The two-week-old programme, which has already added at least ...

WASHINGTON, DC, United States (AP) - Friends, family and former colleagues gathered yesterday at Washington National Cathedral to honour Colin L Powell, the trailblazing soldier-diplomat who rose from humble Bronx beginnings to become t...

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) - Britain's Prince of Wales, Prince Charles, is to visit Barbados to participate in the island's transition to a republic on November 30, according to an official statement issued by the British High Commissio...

IMMEDIATE past president of the Jamaica Association of Public Health Inspectors (JAPHI), Karen Brown, is encouraging more young people to consider a career as public health inspectors. Speaking to students at the St Ann's Bay Primary Sc...

The second Crown witness in the trial of 33 alleged members of the Klansman gang yesterday told the court about more murders committed by the criminal organisation and revealed how he secretly collaborated with detectives to record phon...

New York , USA - Jamaicans across the United States have reacted with delight over President Joe Biden's pick of Jamaican-born N Nick Perry to be the next American ambassador to Kingston.Biden made the announcement Wednesday at the Whit...

MALVERN, St Elizabeth - Stakeholders, including two Government ministers, are beaming that Jamaica's first solar-powered library located in the deep-rural St Elizabeth community of Malvern will bring enormous benefits and savings.BMR En...

LINSTEAD, St Catherine - A father charged in connection with the death of his seven-year-old daughter attended the thanksgiving service held for her on the outskirts of this town on Wednesday and delivered a tribute."Tianna Russell was ...

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) - Executive director of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) Elizabeth Riley says the protracted nature of the novel coronavirus pandemic has caused a radical shift in the socio-economic ...

Member of Parliament (MP) for Manchester North Western Mikael Phillips is calling for more investment in the public health-care infrastructure in rural areas, and for the health ministry to deliver on its promise of universal health car...

Some of the issues arising from the Supreme Court's temporary injunction against costly traffic tickets will be addressed at today's rare emergency sitting of Parliament scheduled to begin at 11:00 am, according to Justice Minister Del...

President of the Rotary Club of Kingston Ryan Strachan (fifth left) poses with a representational cheque valued at $370,000 which he handed over to the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) during a brief ceremony at the YMCA's Hope ...

Today is the 309th day of 2021. There are 56 days left in the year.TODAY'S HIGHLIGHT2010: Jamaican social anthropologist Professor Barry Chevannes loses his battle with pancreatic cancer. OTHER EVENTS1605: English authorities arrest Gu...

Diana Cleghorn (left) of May Pen, Clarendon, is surprised by Jamaica Public Service customer service team leader in the parish, Kareen Jackson, who visited her home and presented her with e-vouchers and groceries for herself and two gra...

This disabled Jamaica Urban Transit Company bus is left in the middle of Oxford Road, just above the intersection with Knutsford Boulevard, last evening, forcing some motorists heading east to use the oncoming lane at the risk of collid...

In our story carried yesterday headlined 'Now Julian wants more', Member of Parliament (MP) for St Andrew South Eastern Julian Robinson was reported as joining the call for an increase in Constituency Development Fund (CDF) allocations....

SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth - A stand-off between a judge and a police sergeant created a few moments of tension in the St Elizabeth Parish Court yesterday, resulting in the cop being warned for contempt.The kerfuffle had its foundation in...