PRESIDENT of the Ocho Rios Craft Council Devon Mitchell yesterday welcomed news of the arrival of the Carnival Sunrise cruise ship set to dock in Ocho Rios tomorrow, exclaiming that he was happy and the craft vendors were anticipating a...

"How do I remember big words? I don't know. I guess it's a gift," says eight-year-old Abysenya Gordon with the directness typical of children.The Free Town Primary School student isn't your ordinary grade three pupil.Last year, Abysenya...

Javon Dinnall has one main and urgent goal - to complete medical school.The 27-year-old, who was born and raised in Jones Town, St Andrew, told the Jamaica Observer that as a lad he stuck to his books and heeded his mother's advice - st...

THE Paediatric Association of Jamaica is fearing that a noticeable reduction in the number of children being presented for their scheduled routine childhood vaccines since the start of the novel coronavirus pandemic could trigger an inc...

With the restart of virtual classes for the new academic year, students with special needs are among those who continue to grapple with learning challenges. The concern was raised by the educators of special needs children at St Christ...

Months of bitter quarrels over conflicting governance styles, the Merl Grove High School community exploded last Thursday when the board of management suspended Principal Dr Marjorie Fullerton, setting off a crisis at the beginning of t...

THE Yamaye Council of Indigenous Leaders (YCOIL) is mounting pressure on the Government to meet with them and settle the long-running issue of Maroon sovereignty which sparked controversy last month after residents of Accompong in St El...

MORE than 200 doses of COVID-19 vaccines were yesterday administered under a pilot programme inside the Ministry of Health and Wellness's new mobile vaccination unit at Fontana Pharmacy on Waterloo Road in St Andrew.The unit, a converte...

A number of people are opting to find creative means, or a side job, to earn an income during retirement, which Othneil Blagrove, senior manager for sales, JN Life Insurance Company, says is commendable because the extra income can supp...

No vaccine? Well, no hospital space for youLast week, another protest by a few misguided souls in May Pen, Clarendon, against the administration of vaccines to fight the novel coronavirus, only served to confirm that the list of fools w...

Kiwanians across Jamaica will honour the blind community today as they celebrate Kiwanis for Disability Day, a day dedicated each year to focus on helping people with disabilities.The theme for 2021 is 'Pathway For The Visually Impaire...

A senior member in the legal fraternity is urging young people to make the best of their education so that they can overcome prejudice in the society, as Jamaica, he insists, still mirrors the plantation system.Senior Deputy Director of...

A few weeks ago, Ricardo Green was among the many COVID-19 vaccine sceptics. Today, he is responsible for getting 19 family members and friends to vaccination sites, after he took the jab and went on a crusade persuading others to do th...

Christina Thomas just wasn't happy seeing the setbacks students were experiencing in their education after schools were forced shut by the novel coronavirus pandemic last year. She decided, therefore, to help correct the deficit by sta...

JOHN Allen is one of those men who always stayed on top of his annual medical appointment, but with COVID-19 having a negative impact on many lives, he decided to go earlier - a visit that marked his brush with prostate cancer.The prost...

WITH the increased use of smartphones, tablets and wearable devices among senior citizens comes the conversation about mobile application (app) use in that demographic. Even though more people 65 and over are online, there is still cons...

There are few things I dislike from the depths of my soul - racism and abuse. It's often said that Jamaica does not have racism, and rightly so. Any outsider may wonder how can there be racism in a "black" country so proudly Afrocentric...

A number of blind and visually impaired parents say the move by schools to online classes, forced by the novel coronavirus pandemic, has been particularly difficult for them, even as they acknowledge improvements in technology that have...

SCIENTIFIC research supporting claims that COVID-19 vaccines affect a woman's menstrual cycle is yet to be released, but several Jamaican women are citing changes in their periods since being inoculated against COVID-19.A 24-year-old wo...

MENTION of the word prostate can evoke fear as people either think cancer or the often feared cancer screening test, however, the lime-sized gland present in males plays an important role in body function and should be cared for.The pro...

NEW YORK, United States (AP) - Joan MacDonald's health was in shambles at age 71. She was overweight and on numerous medications with high cholesterol, rising blood pressure and kidney trouble.Her daughter, a fitness coach, warned that ...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY for Sunday, September 12, 2021: You have a great imagination. You are also sincere and very alert. In a discussion with others, you are expressive. You are impulsive but very hard-working. Nevertheless, you always have ti...

'Tis not to make me jealousTo say my wife is fair,Feeds well, loves company,Is free of speech, sings, plays,And dances well;Where virtue is, these are more virtuous.- ShakespeareThat guy who said that is quite lucky, for his wife seems ...

PRIME Minister Andrew Holness, during a tour of the Grant's Pen area of St Andrew on Wednesday, attempted to convince residents that vaccines which guard against the deadly COVID-19 disease were made by man with inspiration from God. Ho...

A total of 630 workers from companies on the Spanish Town Road industrial belt received vaccines in the Red Stripe hosted the "Trust the Fact, Get the Vax" event on Wednesday.Speaking at the event, Dr Norman Dunn, state minister in the ...

THE busy market district in downtown Kingston was the scene of murder and mayhem yesterday as gangsters from Tivoli Gardens and Matthews Lane engaged in an orgy of violence which left a confirmed five people dead and unconfirmed reports...

"JACK of all trades and master of many" is how Sandals Ochi Beach Resort's wastewater plant operator, Robert Marsh, is often described. A trained plumber by profession, boiler operator for the resort's laundry, stints as a carpenter and...

MONTEGO BAY, St James - Government Senator Councillor Charles Sinclair has made an impassioned plea to his peers at the local level who have not yet been vaccinated against COVID-19, to "lead from the front" and take the jab. And at lea...

FALMOUTH, Trelawny - The fledgling tourism resort town of Falmouth is poised to boast a new attraction in the form of a giant statue of legendary sprinter Usain Bolt. It will be mounted on a platform built into the newly designed state-...

WITH his tag line: "Come out a mi car," Naggo Head, St Catherine, taxi driver Patrick King demands honesty and respect from his passengers.Being a taxi driver guarantees that he will often butt heads with passengers, however, when he co...

MAY PEN, Clarendon - Increased monitoring of crime hot spots, combined with support from the police force's organised crime unit and the Jamaica Defence Force are being credited with a double-digit percentage decline in serious and viol...

LUCEA, Hanover - The controversial issue of vaccine passes spilled over into Thursday's meeting of the Hanover Municipal Corporation with the parish's medical officer of health shutting down a suggestion that people entering the buildin...

THE island's trade unions have thrown their support behind the Government's national vaccination programme but has called out employers whom them say are dismissing workers and insisting on mandatory vaccinations, which they are staunch...

NEW YORK, United States (AP) - In the ghastly rubble of ground zero's fallen towers 20 years ago, Hour Zero arrived, a chance to start anew. World affairs reordered abruptly on that morning of blue skies, black ash, fire and death.In Ir...

OCHO RIOS, St Ann - The limited number of vaccination sites in this parish has contributed to the low level of vaccinations to date, according to a health official. So far, 33,742 St Ann residents have been inoculated, with 9,084 of tha...

MONTEGO BAY, St James - Relentless traffic snarls in this tourist resort have earned the police a failing grade from at least one locally elected official. "I have a few concerns as it relates to the police," councillor of the Rose Hall...

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) - After 548 days with restrictions to limit the spread of COVID-19, Denmark's high vaccination rate has enabled the Scandinavian country to become one of the first European Union nations to lift all domestic res...

Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton has rejected criticisms that the Government has bungled the management of the third surge of novel coronavirus cases that has gripped the country over the past several weeks."We have a...

Cops inspect this police service vehicle after it crashed into a car (shown in other photo) and overturned on Truman Avenue in Richmond Park, St Andrew, yesterday. The police vehicle was reportedly carrying two men detained by the cops ...

As Prime Minister Andrew Holness and his Cabinet continue to mull over the possibility of making COVID-19 vaccines mandatory, two of the region's leading legal minds have said that there is nothing in law which would prevent the Admini...

The health and wellness ministry says it will, as of tomorrow, suspend administering first doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine as it tries to ensure that there are enough shots available for Jamaicans whose second dose will become due ...

OCHO RIOS, St Ann - A major investor in the island's tourism industry, Richard Salm, died in a motor vehicle crash Wednesday afternoon in this northern parish, where he started Royal Decameron Resort at Runaway Bay.Reports from the St A...

BLACK RIVER, St Elizabeth - For many people in St Elizabeth South Western (SW), Ewan Stephenson was thought of more as a friend than a politician seeking their votes.Stephenson, who represented the Opposition People's National Party (PN...

With more companies now issuing mandates that their employees become fully vaccinated against the novel coronavirus in order to keep their jobs, general secretary of the National Workers' Union (NWU) Granville Valentine yesterday said i...

WHAT started as a childlike mistake ended in a surprise million-dollar windfall for eight-year-old Abri, her mother Krystal and the rest of the family.They were bowled over when the Grade Three student received a call from Digicel 'Mek ...

PORT ANTONIO, Portland - Hours after the police here urged eight "persons of interest", to come to the Portland Police Station for a discussion, three were taken into custody. The move is part of a wider effort to put a damper on crime ...

PORT ANTONIO, Portland - Locally elected authorities in this parish yesterday put their monthly meeting on hold to accommodate a COVID-19 vaccination blitz that was under way.The motion was moved by councillor for the Port Antonio Divis...

SANDALS Resorts International continues to assist its team members during the novel coronavirus pandemic.The latest initiative took place on Tuesday when hundreds of team members from Sandals Montego Bay benefited from a special back-to...

MAY PEN, Clarendon - Residents in southern Clarendon on Wednesday blocked the Alley Bridge to call attention to the dilapidated structure which they say deteriorates even more with each heavy shower of rain. Tired of having to pay extra...

Today is the 253rd day of 2021. There are 112 days left in the year.TODAY'S HIGHLIGHT2004: The Jamaican Government urges 500,000 people to evacuate as Hurricane Ivan approaches, one of the strongest storms on record. OTHER EVENTS1654: ...