SOME religious leaders are calling on the Government to firmly enforce capital punishment as the past year was stained by crime and bloodshed, with a total of 1,439 murders recorded up to December 30.The clergymen have come out swinging...

Observing the COVID-19 protocols imposed by the Government was a high priority for those churches that opted to have their annual watch night service to commemorate the start of the new year.When the Jamaica Observer visited some churc...

FOR the best part of half a century, Archbishop Desmond Tutu was South Africa's moral compass. Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who helped to end apartheid in South Africa, was laid to rest on New Year's Day. Tutu died on Sunday, Decemb...

Twenty-two years ago, Andrea Dunkley quit her job as a domestic worker after she heard a voice telling her to "Go and sell food."The 67-year-old did just that and doesn't regret it one bit.Dunkley started selling roast breadfruit - fir...

THERE were mixed reactions from parents interviewed by the Jamaica Observer as the Ministry of Education moves to reopen all public primary and secondary schools by the start of the new term on Monday. Education Minister Fayval Williams...

WITH most school buildings being closed for the majority of the last two years, allowing for very little ventilation, pest control specialists are reporting that insects have invaded a number of schools and are urging administrators to ...

When the clock struck midnight on New Year's Day, downtown Kingston was buzzing with everything you could think of - music, fireworks and gun salutes.Gun salutes, which law enforcers warned against just two days before the new year, saw...

Christmas 2021 has passed, but there's one memory from "back in the day" that evokes a feeling of happiness for 67-year-old Alphanso Williams. Today, it's comic relief, but back then it brought pain and embarrassment.Williams told the J...

 AS the Forestry Department continues to encourage the planting of trees islandwide, Noranda Bauxite has committed to planting 200,000 trees over the next three years. This is the continuation of the company's long-established programm...

Canadian Charities GlobalMedic and the Kiwanis Club of Toronto Caribbean partnered recently to assist Jamaican hospitals during the pandemic with the provision of 157,000 Level 1 non-surgical isolation gowns valued at approximately $28 ...

Imagine not knowing what type of clothes you will be decked out in on Christmas night until you wake up on Christmas morning. That was Christmas in a nutshell for 77-year-old Shirley DaCosta. But there was no disappointment. Perhaps be...

We know you sometimes have burning questions that can best be answered by a pharmacist. Our feature, Ask Your Pharmacist , seeks to address some of those issues. Send your questions to healthandwealth@jamaicaobserver.com.Question: How ...

WHEN we talk about fitness, most times messages are targeted at a younger demographic. Likewise, with age there is an assumption of automatic illness and frailty, which is far from the truth.In fact, illness and frailty are not normal p...

THE year 2021 has come to an end and although it came with many challenges, it left us with many lessons. Particularly, amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, we have learned much more about our health and protecting ourselves and our lov...

CORNWALL MOUNTAIN, Westmoreland - The new year got off to a bloody start in this western parish, with the killing of three people in two incidents within a 30-minute time frame.The three men have been identified as 29-year-old Damar Mar...

Several vehicles were parked along Hopefield Avenue, St Andrew,while guests attended an event over an hour after the scheduled end of the 1:00 am curfew on New Year's Day. (Photo: Karl Mclarty)

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) - Evergreen Japanese football star Kazuyoshi Miura said he "still has the passion" to continue his career at 54, local media reported, with contract offers still coming his way.Miura, known as "King Kazu", extended hi...

EVERY year millions of people everywhere make new year's resolutions. What have you resolved to do differently this year? Studies showed that majority of new year's resolutions do not last. However, the pandemic seems to have influenced...

THE World Health Organization (WHO) says making progress on healthy ageing will require a far better understanding of age-related issues and trends.Three approaches, it said, will be crucial for improving measurement and research:* agre...

Michael Andre Collins, ambassador for the JN Foundation's BeWi$e financial empowerment programme, says it's important for people to review and reset their personal financial goals in the new year."This is important, because it helps to ...

ST MARY-based charity Icons of Annotto Bay was given a huge fillip last December with a product injection valued at US$4,000 from the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Jamaica and the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) Al...

Why did Jamaica have to celebrate Boxing Day on Monday last?We continue to waste vital productive days by marking holidays that fall on a Sunday with Monday recognition. It just does not make sense, and for a country that does not prod...

He pledged to be a super dad for his child, and that started the very second his son, Khaneil Nehkali Prynx-Orlando Williams, took his first breath on Tuesday, December 16, 2021 at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI).Firs...

THREE hundred and forty-two thousand women died in 2020 from cervical cancer worldwide. That's a little over half the number of women diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2020. What's more striking is the continued disparity between First ...

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) - Anglican Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has been remembered at a state funeral Saturday for his Nobel Peace Prize-earning role in ending South Africa's apartheid regime of racial oppression and for champ...

RHODE ISLAND, United States (AP) - The state of Rhode Island is extending a nutrition programme to provide about 2,500 boxes of local seasonal produce to low-income seniors.The Department of Environmental Management (DEM) said it was wo...

I wish you all the joyThat you can wish.- ShakespeareIf wishes were horses, beggars would ride; put your wish upon a star; I wish you a happy birthday; I wish you all the best. There are so many sayings with the words wish in them, but ...

Police and soldiers yesterday crushed a plan to parade the body of slain gangster Christopher "Dog Paw" Linton through Tavern and neighbouring communities in St Andrew ahead of his interment at Dovecot Memorial Park in St Catherine.The ...

THE 2nd District Jamaica Defence Force Coast Guard (JDF CG) yesterday intercepted a vessel with illegal weapons and ammunition destined for Jamaica.According to the JDF, the vessel was intercepted off the coast of St Elizabeth with two ...

There are concerns around the ending of work-from-home orders for the public sector, which took effect on Friday, with the union representing the majority of unionised government workers urging caution in light of the Omicron variant of...

MONTEGO BAY, St James - The long-promised pension scheme for tourism workers is scheduled to take effect today and employees in the sector have greeted the development with much enthusiasm, yet some amount of apprehension. "This is some...

Thirty-eight-year-old Allison Findlay sits at the Kingston waterfront watching the final sunset of 2021 yesterday as seagulls glide across the evening sky. Findlay said last year was challenging for her, especially because of the novel...

DESCRIBING himself as a "worlian" (Jamaican word for someone who does not adhere to the beliefs and practices of Christianity) , 70-year-old Waltham Park Road taxi driver Windell Miller says despite being held at gunpoint and robbed of ...

Kiwanis Division 23 Central, this year, joined forces with the Constant Spring Community and Safety Division to stage 'K-Christmas Presence' project for over 60 children in the inner-city communities of Cassava Piece, Whitehall Avenue,...

MONTEGO BAY, St James - The police say video footage have confirmed that the man who was shot and killed by a security guard during Wednesday's attempted robbery at the branch of Scotiabank in Sam Sharpe Square, Montego Bay, has been on...

PARIS, France (AP) - Sorrow for the dead and dying, fear of more infections to come and hopes for an end to the novel coronavirus pandemic were - again - the bittersweet cocktail with which the world said good riddance to 2021 and ushe...

SHEDAI CAMP, Afghanistan (AP) - In a sprawling settlement of mud brick huts in western Afghanistan housing people displaced by drought and war, a woman is fighting to save her daughter.Aziz Gul's husband sold their 10-year-old into marr...

For a second consecutive year, radio broadcaster Markland Edwards helped to make Christmas Day all the brighter for wards of the State at the Yadel Home for Children in Old Harbour, St Catherine.Edwards and his wife, Andrea, shared with...

MONTEGO BAY, St James - The selection of a provider of medical insurance for visitors to the country will move a step closer in the new year. Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett will meet with the three short-listed vendors in the first we...

LINVERN Wright, head of the Jamaica Association of Principals of Secondary Schools, says the education sector is hoping that the resumption of face-to-face classes will not be severely affected, given that the Omicron variant of the nov...

MONTEGO BAY, St James - The Ministry of Health and Wellness has recommended a halving of the isolation period for people who test positive from a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test for the novel coronavirus, which causes the COVID-19 ...

MONTEGO BAY, St James - Local tourism players yesterday said the advisory against cruise travel issued by the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will likely not last long and may possibly be ignored by passengers eager ...

ROSE HALL, St James - Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton says the Government intends to make COVID-19 self-test kits available commercially, once importation approval is obtained."These kits, once approval is granted to ...

ROSE HALL, St James - Tourism stakeholders have welcomed the provision of 5000 COVID-19 home-testing kits by the Ministry of Health and Wellness as the industry is seeing sharp increase in the number of visitors who have tested positive...

SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth - Even as school leaders here are eagerly awaiting the resumption of face-to-face classes next Monday, one principal believes the Government should wait until mid-January to resume physical learning.Chris Dubida...

For decades the streets of central Kingston were playgrounds for many children who grew up in communities dubbed Tel Aviv, South Side, and Spoilers. But in recent days, instead of being able to play, the children have become victims of...

CLIFTON, Hanover - Verona Evans was yesterday still breathing sighs of relief that her daughter, 27-year-old University of the West Indies student Chavene Evans was found alive despite being hospitalised."She is not back to normal, but ...

President of the Kiwanis Club of West St Andrew (KCWSA) Paula Smith (left) hands a gift todeputy matron at the Bustamante Hospital for Children Shailee Neish at a recent joint initiativethat included the Auditor General's Department, Fu...

Kim Mair (third left), CEO, JMMB Joan Duncan Foundation, presents a care package to one of the elderlygentlemen who came out to the RJR Communications Group's outside broadcast, where donations weremade to elderly listeners who were on ...

Today is the final day of 2021.TODAY'S HIGHLIGHT1879: US inventor Thomas A Edison gives first demonstration of his electric incandescent light at Menlo Park, New Jersey. OTHER EVENTS1494: Forces of France's King Charles VIII enter Rome...