A former member of the Klansman gang yesterday rebuffed suggestions from a defence attorney that his motivation for turning State witness against the criminal organisation was to avoid prison time. "If I wanted to save myself, I would b...

Opposition Senator Sophia Frazer-Binns says Government must move urgently to remove the 60-year provision in law that people who have been squatting on Crown lands must satisfy before they can pursue legal ownership.She issued the appe...

Andre Francis is quite aware that service is a requirement of his job. After all, happy customers translate into more business and, indeed, profits. But Francis is firm that he won't endure disrespect just to make a dollar."Mi nuh tek d...

Reggae singer Trapycal is pleased with the reception to his latest video, Pedophile."I am so happy this video is complete and released. It is important for Jamaicans to see the value of protecting our children. I can recall going to Sun...

FUSING a trendy platform with his passion for music, veteran journalist and educator Hartley Anderson has launched a podcast series to bolster the global reach and impact of reggae.Reggae Unleashed, a fortnightly podcast series, venture...

Producer Shaheed Muwwakil is ecstatic about the buzz on his debut Red Rum rhythm, which has already spawned Jahvillani's Gun Man Party.The project features 18 tracks with heavyweight names like Gyptian, Jahvinci, Munga Honorebel, Teejay...

Masta Recka is looking forward to the release of his upcoming EP titled #OGG (Only God Greater)."I am very proud about this EP; it's a wonderful project. I'm confident that it will be greatly appreciated by music fans all over the world...

Taurus Ink has teamed up with UK-based producer Reece Dry of El Gringo Records to release a sizzling single, Can't Get We Out."The feedback in dancehall circles has been great so far from disc jockeys and selectors and when the video is...

Singjay Balance, 42, is generating a buzz with the single No Man. It is being blown up on radio since its release last month. "The response to the song has been really good, mi even started getting requests for dubs and jingles so mi kn...

On Monday, November 1, The VM Group hosted a private unveiling which gave a sneak peek of the transformed VM Group brand to key stakeholders. The hybrid event - a mix of virtual and in-presence - was hosted at VM Group's Half-Way Tree l...

Caribbean cricket fans are still hurting following the regional team's humiliatingly meek exit from the International Cricket Council (ICC) Twenty20 (T20) Cricket World Cup in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). But time is a great healer, ...

SOME Jamaicans say if they are allowed to carry pepper spray it could help to protect lives, but believe such a privilege could be abused on a wide scale. On Tuesday, Leader of Opposition Mark Golding brought two Bills to Parliament whi...

MAY PEN, Clarendon - Councillors in Clarendon are again calling on the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to make funding available for the rehabilitation of flood-damaged roads. The minister responsible for roads Everal...

MONTEGO BAY, St James - Government Senator Charles Sinclair has called on Western Parks and Market Waste Management Limited (WPM), the regional arm of the State's National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), to shut down an illega...

St Ann-based singer-songwriter Damell Pacesetta is generating a lot of buzz with his latest single Call Me on the Falcosanara Ent label. It was released four months ago."I'm representing for all the side men out there filling in for the...

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - A court in military-ruled Myanmar yesterday sentenced US journalist Danny Fenster to 11 years in prison with hard labour, the maximum penalty under three charges, despite calls by the United States and rights gr...

WASHINGTON, DC, United States (AP) - Americans quit their jobs at a record pace for the second-straight month in September, in many cases for more money elsewhere as companies bump up pay to fill job openings that are close to an all-ti...

Ajji, emerging dancehall deejay and cousin of sprint legend Usain Bolt, is relishing the success of his debut EP Resurrect. "On its day of release, it peaked at number four on [the] iTunes chart and received 10,000 streams on Audiomack,...

US-based record producer Michael "Skuffla" Johnson is pleading with his colleagues to give young artistes another option other than gun lyrics to get their break on the music scene."For the sake of our country please, don't put in the h...

Artistes/producers Rod Pinnock and CD Banging have collaborated on 99 Good. Released on August 2, 2021, the song is co-produced on the Bangology Records label and is distributed by I W A A D Music LLC.This is the first such collaboratio...

Chicago songstress Cheri Janae is pleased with the feedback to her latest single Perfidia Love released on the Manatee Records earlier this month. Cheri, who boasts a 4.5-octave vocal range, teams up with reggae ariste Teeardropz to mag...

SAVANNA-LA-MAR, Westmoreland - A 15.5 per cent fully vaccinated rate and a decrease in the number of COVID-19 cases in Westmoreland has provided little comfort to councillor for the Grange Hill Division Lawton McKenzie (People's Nationa...

PORT MARIA, St Mary - The ban imposed on unvaccinated individuals wishing to attend meetings at the St Mary Municipal Corporation (SMMC) has influenced higher take-up of COVID-19 vaccines among stakeholders, according to chairman of the...

LUCEA, Hanover - Mayor of Lucea Sheridan Samuels has blasted the roads and works department of the Hanover Municipal Corporation (HMC) for its failure to maintain a park in the parish even though workers are being paid to do the job.He ...

After his friend Phillip Campbell, who roasted yams for a living, passed away, Vincent Frazer was determined to keep the small business alive. The 32-year-old, who lives in Crooked River, Clarendon, and is commonly referred to as 'Yam B...

MANDEVILLE, Manchester - Yesterday's monthly meeting of the Manchester Municipal Corporation was marked by anger and unease over the prolonged closure of Melrose Yam Park. The facility was ordered closed by the health department on Au...

OCHO RIOS, St Ann - Claudette Wilmot is yearning for closure. That will only come, though, after she knows how her brother, 55-year-old Everett Wilmot, lost his life.Everett was a tour guide at Nature Blue attraction in the Lodge area o...

The split among Maroons in Accompong was even more evident yesterday as supporters of embattled Chief Richard Currie tried to intimidate journalists and bluntly told them to get out of the village, while others maintained that the man ...

MONTEGO BAY, St James - With a significant number of roads damaged by heavy rain from a stationary front across the island on Sunday night, Government Senator Charles Sinclair is calling on the St James Municipal Corporation (SJMC) to e...

Witness number 1, the second ex-member of the St Catherine-based Klansman gang to take the stand in the ongoing trial of 33 accused members of that outfit, yesterday claimed that his decision to work with the police to bring down the ga...

Andre "Blackman" Bryan, alleged honcho of the Klansman gang, went the extra mile to keep the hands of his brother and cousin - who are accused of being members of that criminal organisation - gore free, a former gang member testified ye...

The scene was all too familiar - a mother wailing as the cold, lifeless body of her son lay in the street.Yesterday, one such mother and her daughter were inconsolable as they stood behind police yellow tape on Molynes Road, at the entr...

One Jamaica Observer reader is willing to offer a kidney to Edward Seaga's first son, Christopher, who has suffered stage four kidney failure and now urgently needs a kidney transplant. A second, an ambassador, has offered to aid in the...

PARIS, France (AP) - A Maryland high school English teacher, who has worked to open up college education for her students, has won the $1-million Global Teacher Prize, the Varkey Foundation announced Wednesday.Keishia Thorpe, who teache...

The Jamaica Ex-Soldiers Association (JESA) was on Wednesday presented with a cheque for £4,000 ($826,000) by the United Kingdom chapter of the association. The money will be used to assist ex-servicemen who reside at the Curphey Home i...

OCHO RIOS, St Ann - An adoptive mother, Merle Cohen-Green, is clinging to her faith as law enforcers intensify their probe into the disappearance of her 21-year-old son, Javier Green, from Exchange district in Ocho Rios. When she last s...

THE SickKids-Caribbean Initiative (SCI), funded in part by Scotiabank, continues to improve access to health services for children in six Caribbean countries who have been diagnosed with cancer and blood disorders.SickKids Foundation wa...

JAMAICA'S Minister of Housing, Urban Renewal, Environment and Climate Change Pearnel Charles Jr has underscored the importance of data in responding to climate change, and hailed the value of the predictive climate risk assessment plann...

JAMAICA Public Service (JPS) customers in Port Royal and surrounding areas are likely to have their power restored by today as teams work to repair the damage done by contractors working on behalf of the Airports Authority of Jamaica.A ...

WASHINGTON, DC, United States (CMC) - The Bahamas, Belize and Jamaica are among 50 countries that have joined a global initiative to develop climate-resilient and low-carbon health systems during the UN climate summit in Glasgow (COP26)...

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) - Barbados is close to making a decision on administering the Pfizer vaccine to children five to 11 years old, Chief Medical Officer Dr Kenneth George said on Wednesday.The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) an...

Today is the 316th day of 2021. There are 49 days left in the year.TODAY'S HIGHLIGHT2011: A chorus of Handel's Alleluia rings out as Silvio Berlusconi resigns as Italian premier, ending a tumultuous 17-year political era and setting in ...

THE Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has partnered with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to analyse the manufacturing potential of the region of the Americas, under the recently launched Regional Platfor...

NEW DELHI, India (AFP) - A left-wing Indian Opposition party has launched a perfume with what it calls the "fragrance of brotherhood, love and socialism" that will "end hatred".The product was unveiled on Tuesday by the Samajwadi Part...

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) - FW de Klerk, who shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Nelson Mandela and as South Africa's last apartheid president oversaw the end of the country's white minority rule, has died aged 85.Frederik Willem de...

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - Chinese President Xi Jinping warned yesterday against letting tensions in the Asia-Pacific region cause a relapse into a cold War mentality.His remarks on the sidelines of the annual summit of the Asia-Pa...

THE Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) will be capitalising on the country's legacy with the James Bond films to build out an experience for destination Jamaica.Tourism Director Donovan White made the disclosure during a media breakfast hosted...

New York, USA - A 15-member team of United States-based Jamaican medical personnel is preparing for a third mission to the island in their quest to boost the fight against the novel coronavirus in their homeland.An advance team, compri...

SOCIOLOGIST Dr Herbert Gayle says he will not support any call in Parliament for mandatory DNA paternity testing at birth as the solution to stemming the scourge of domestic violence locally.Dr Gayle, a university researcher, was respon...

THE Government is closer to making good on years of warning that it will start taking people before the courts for abandoning their relatives in hospitals, where these patients continue to occupy critically needed bed space for months a...