THE Government will today begin the roll-out out of the registration for its much-vaunted E-commerce National Delivery System (ENDS) which is designed to enable the quick service industry to continue operating during the hours of the CO...

THE aunt of a man who was shot and killed on Mountain View Avenue, just outside the community of Nannyville Gardens in Kingston, burst into tears yesterday as she shared with the Jamaica Observer how she experienced "a terrible gut feel...

MINISTER of Finance and the Public Service Dr Nigel Clarke says the policy for the allocation of chicken back importation licences has been revamped. The minister, who was closing the 2021/22 budget debate in the House of Representative...

THE Melrose Hill bypass in Manchester is to be incorporated in the new alignment of the May Pen to Williamsfield leg of Highway 2000.This component of the project will entail upgrading of the roadway to a four-lane dual carriageway with...

One of the most prolific trainers in the history of horse racing in Jamaica, Wayne "Anthony" DaCosta, passed away yesterday, leaving the racing industry and the broader sports fraternity in mourning for a man hailed as a legend for his...

OPPOSITION Leader Mark Golding said yesterday that he is still dissatisfied with the concentration of executive power in the hands of the Government, under Tuesday's amendments to the Disaster Risk Management (Amendment) Act (DRMA).Aske...

Today is the 84th day of 2021. There are 281 days left in the year.TODAY'S HIGHLIGHT1965: Rev Martin Luther King Jr leads 25,000 marchers to the state capitol in Montgomery, Alabama, to protest the denial of voting rights to blacks. OT...

THE Ministry of Health and Wellness says up to 5:00 am Tuesday at least 4,108 people had booked appointments to receive coronavirus vaccinations utilising its online registration portal. This was disclosed by permanent secretary in the ...

THE Sean Paul Foundation (SPF), in partnership with the Flow Foundation and the Sandals Foundation, on Tuesday brought added support to growing digital learning needs of vulnerable students in Jamaica with the donation of 100 computer t...

CHAIR of The University of the West Indies (UWI) Chancellor's Commission on Governance Sir Dennis Byron has insisted that there is no link between changes the commission has recommended at the regional tertiary educational institution a...

WASHINGTON, DC, United States (CMC) - Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Director Dr Carissa Etienne said Tuesday that by early next month all Caribbean countries will have received their first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines under t...

HEALTH officials are insisting they have "cauterised" the situation which resulted in dozens of Jamaicans who were not yet scheduled to get the COVID-19 vaccine being on the receiving end over the past two weeks in the initial roll-out ...

NEW YORK, United States - More than three months into the US vaccination drive many of the numbers paint an increasingly encouraging picture, with 70 per cent of Americans 65 years and older receiving at least one dose of the vaccine an...

Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke yesterday said the Government will be providing aggregate spending of $126 million to central and local government representatives to assist constituents during the three consecutive weekends of lockdown...

CROSS KEYS, Manchester - Police here have charged 27-year-old Ramalia Rebecca Polkins with the murder of her 84-year-old grandmother, Advira Wilson-Palmer, following Monday's stabbing death of the senior citizen.The incident happened in...

PRINCIPAL of Cumberland High School Darien Henry has claimed that almost 70 per cent of his current grade seven students are reading below the grade four level.Henry said this is a disheartening reality considering the absence of remedi...

Jamaica Observer readers will have the benefit of receiving three special editions of the Sunday Observer over the next three weekends when the country will be under strict COVID-19 lockdown.The publications will offer features, news...

DESPITE the announcement by Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke in his recent budget debate presentation that Students' Loan Bureau (SLB) applicants will now only need one guarantor instead of two, current borrowers are more concerned with...

Young Jamaicans who continue to flout the COVID-19 containment measures and refuse to resist the urge to mingle are inadvertently killing their older relatives - the cohort which is dying the most in the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic here."We ...

Lawmakers in the lower House yesterday gave the nod to a raft of penalties and other provisions under the Disaster Risk Management Act (2021), which will see, among other things, those who refuse to wear masks in public or break curfew ...

Justice Patrick Brooks says that the Appeal Court, where he serves as president, is pinning its hopes on the newly minted Commission of Senior Judges of the Parish Courts to come up with a fix to ensure that the records of appeal are p...

SOME 7,053 people have applied for the 2,500 backyard garden kits under the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries' Backyard Garden Kit Project, which is designed to strengthen the country's food security by enabling citizens to grow and...

Today is the 83rd day of 2021. There are 282 days left in the yearTODAY'S HIGHLIGHT1989: Supertanker Exxon Valdez runs aground on a reef in Alaska's Prince William Sound and begins leaking 11 million gallons (41.6 million litres) of cru...

THE Portland police and Children's Court judge are being commended for their efforts in supporting the National Child Diversion Programme.Child diversion officer for Portland Simmonette Rose Daniels said that as diversion partners, the ...

THE Clarendon Municipal Corporation has been making strides in providing farmers and residents of Clarendon Northern and other areas in the parish with potable water, Mayor Winston Maragh has announced.This was made possible, he said, t...

MANDEVILLE, Manchester - Business interests in this south-central parish have welcomed the three consecutive weekends of tighter curfew measures imposed by the Government in an effort to combat the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus,...

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) - Prime Minister Mia Mottley, in her capacity as chair of the Joint World Bank-International Monetary Fund (IMF) Development Committee, has highlighted reaching a clearing arrangement for excess orders of COVI...

AS the Government continues to push back against the local anti-vaccination lobby, family physician at Ruthven Medical Centre Dr Marc Ricketts wants Jamaicans to know that COVID-19 is real and that the jab is the only answer to the invi...

FLORIDA, United States (AP) - The National Weather Service has turbocharged its lagging forecast model to better predict extreme weather events such as hurricanes, blizzards and downpours, as well as day-to-day weather.By including much...

MORE than 800 tourism workers have been resensitised about the COVID-19 health and safety protocols that were established for the reopening of the sector in June last year.The protocols were developed in partnership with the Ministry of...

BOSTON, United States (AP) - Parents across the United States are conflicted about reopening schools. Most are at least somewhat worried that a return to the classroom will lead to more coronavirus cases, but there's an even deeper fear...

ISRAEL (AFP) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's party was on track to win the most seats in Israel's election yesterday, the fourth in less than two years, but he was not guaranteed to secure a majority. The projections, based on exi...

LONDON, England (AP) - The UK has a lot to reflect on.A year to the day since Prime Minister Boris Johnson first put the country under lockdown to slow the fast-spreading coronavirus, Britain paused yesterday to remember those who have ...

CALIFORNIA, United States (AP) - Millions of US households are facing heavy past-due utility bills, which have escalated in the year since the pandemic forced Americans hunkered down at home to consume more power.And now, government mor...

Q. What is an Affidavit of Support?A. Many immigrant visa categories require an Affidavit of Support, Form I-864. The Affidavit of Support provides information on the petitioner's household size and income and attests that the petitione...

Dear Mr Brown,Considering that the Canadian border is still closed to travel, do you foresee a negative impact on immigration due to COVID-19?TM Dear TM,According to a recent report by Statistics Canada, the country is experiencing the...

Defence attorney Peter Champagnie, QC, has called for a ticketing system for people who continue to flout the COVID-19 containment measures. At the same time, he is urging lawmakers to develop legislation specific to the novel coronavir...

Scores of people who were not scheduled to be vaccinated yesterday were among those who turned up at The Good Samaritan Inn in the Corporate Area hoping for a "lucky jab".In rolling out its COVID-19 vaccination programme almost two wee...

LONDON, England (AP) - AstraZeneca reported yesterday that its COVID-19 vaccine provided strong protection among all adults in a long-anticipated US study, raising hopes that the findings could help rebuild public confidence in the bele...

Former Member of Parliament for St Andrew West Rural and retired Cabinet minister Dr MavisGilmour receives her COVID-19 vaccination from Professor Minerva Thame at The University of theWest Indies, Mona campus, in St Andrew yesterday.Dr...

FLORIDA, United States (CMC) - Seven Jamaicans were among 14 Caribbean nationals suspected of involvement in a human smuggling venture off the south coast of Florida, who were held by the United States Coast Guard last week, it was repo...

Jamaicans who continue to breach COVID-19 safety protocols could be fined up to $500,000 if the House of Representatives passes the new Disaster Risk Management (Amendment) Act today at Gordon House.The Bill is expected to be supported...

Prime Minister Andrew Holness got his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccination yesterday and used the occasion to again push for the proposed National Identification System (NIDS).Minutes after he took the jab at The Good Samaritan Inn in...

Today is the 82nd day of 2021. There are 283 days left in the year.TODAY'S HIGHLIGHT1775: Patrick Henry calls for America's independence from Britain, telling the Virginia Provincial Convention, "Give me liberty, or give me death!" OTH...

ALL primary and secondary schools have again been ordered closed as the Government believes the country is at a breaking point in the management of the COVID-19 crisis.The announcement was made by Prime Minister Andrew Holness yesterday...

MONTEGO BAY, St James - The tourism, merchant and business process outsourcing (BPO) sectors have thrown their full support behind the COVID-19 vaccine, urging Jamaicans to get their jabs as soon as it becomes available to them.Presiden...

MONTEGO BAY, St James - Saturday morning's predawn operation by members of the security forces, which netted three high-powered rifles, brought the tally of illegal guns seized to five during targeted raids across the parish over a 48-h...

A father was left in utter shock on Saturday night when he heard the news that his 28-year-old son, Jerome Barnett, had been shot dead in Olympic Gardens, St Andrew. Delroy Barnett said his son was a father of an eight-year-old boy, and...

Lawyers for convicted murderers Dantay Brooks and his co-accused Andre Hinds say they will be heading to the Appeal Court in hopes of having the judgement handed down last Friday by Supreme Court Judge Justice Leighton Pusey overturned...

Valuing water is the focus today as entities across the globe mark World Water Day 2021.This year, effort is being made to specifically recognise the crucial role of healthy ecosystems in maintaining water supplies around the world.Acco...