TORONTO, Canada - Canada is easing COVID-19 testing regulations for travellers, the country's health minister announced on Tuesday.Starting February 28, the country will no longer require polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests for fully ...

Jamaica has joined a number of countries around the world that have started lifting some COVID-19 restrictions, but the Government is playing cautious by keeping the emergency brake engaged.In a late evening address to the nation on Tu...

Andre "Blackman" Bryan, the alleged leader of the One Don faction of the St Catherine-based Klansman gang, from behind bars learnt of his crumbling empire, which not only saw his men turning away from him, but also signing a "peace" tr...

Today is the 54th day of 2022. There are 311 days left in the year.TODAY' S HIGHLIGHT2000: Preston King, a black man who refused induction into the Army in the 1960s because the all-white draft board wouldn't address him as "Mr", return...

PRIVATE sector groups have welcomed the increases in the national minimum wage announced on Tuesday, but are prompting the Government to advance steps to determine a liveable wage, and to try to bring the salaries of the country's lowes...

LEADERS in the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry have rejected allegations made by employees who said they were experiencing unfair treatment in a slavery-like working environment. The Jamaica Observer's lead story on Monday r...

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - Shocked by Russian President Vladimir Putin's order to deploy troops to separatist regions of eastern Ukraine, world leaders moved quickly Tuesday to impose as forceful a response as possible in hopes of avertin...

M ANDEVILLE, Manchester - Two men were on Tuesday killed in a crash on the Gutters main road at the foot of Spur Tree Hill near the Manchester/St Elizabeth border.Police named the deceased as 21-year-old Nevardo Brown and 25-year-old Om...

THE long-simmering dispute involving the Firearm Licensing Authority (FLA) and some gun dealers, which boiled over into the public space last week, is getting hotter.The dispute, which sources say has been ongoing for more than three ye...

MOSCOW (AP) - The East-West face-off over Ukraine escalated dramatically Tuesday, with Russian lawmakers authorising President Vladimir Putin to use military force outside his country and President Joe Biden and European leaders respond...

GENEVA (AP) - The number of new coronavirus cases around the world fell 21 per cent in the last week, marking the third-consecutive week that COVID-19 cases have dropped, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday.In the UN health...

NEW YORK (AP) - Stocks fell on Wall Street in afternoon trading Tuesday after Russia sent forces into Ukraine's eastern regions, escalating tensions. The US, European Union and the UK responded with sanctions.The S&P 500 was down 0....

OCHO RIOS, St Ann - As Sandals resorts across the Caribbean continue efforts to care for the physical and mental welfare of their team members, the staff at Sandals Royal Caribbean were recently treated to a special day of rejuvenation ...

MANDEVILLE, Manchester - The Island Traffic Authority (ITA) has vowed to increase its mobile scale operations in order to clamp down on overweight vehicles, which it says are major contributors to deplorable road conditions and motor ve...

THE Ministry of Health and Wellness will be spending more than $2 billion on the Prevention and Care Management of NonCommunicable Diseases (NCDs) Programme in the 2022/23 fiscal year.The programme has an objective of improving the heal...

THE board of Skibo Primary School has secured 13 more tablets for needy students at the Portland-based institutionThe board was informed of the need for tablets for some students at its first meeting by way of a report by the school's a...

House Speaker Marissa Dalrymple-Philibert and her two co-accused are said to be relieved after hearing a judge's ruling that freed them of a charge of illegal dumping, brought under the National Solid Waste Management Act.In handing dow...

THE Government on Monday made a major step towards settling the year-long dispute with thousands of its employees over salary adjustments.After signing a new wage pact with the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA), Minister of Finance an...

CHIEF of Defence Staff Rear Admiral Antonette Wemyss Gorman and Prime Minister Andrew Holness are confident that the recent acquisition of six protected mobility vehicles (PMVs) for the Jamaica Defence Force will help to cauterise the c...

THE relatives of 53-year-old Lloyd Davis, the Bethsalem, St Elizabeth, farmer who was shot dead, allegedly by an off- duty cop in Accompong on January 6, are growing frustrated that the post-mortem has not yet been conducted. Almost two...

LILLIPUT, St James - Howard Fitzgerald was inconsolable on Monday.He had lost his 12-year-old son Jeff Anthony Fitzgerald in the very manner he had tried to prevent. The seventh-grade student at Spot Valley High School in St James, who ...

The damage to roads and other public infrastructure in three parishes due to heavy rain and flooding has left millions of dollars in damage, according to Local Government and Rural Development Minister Desmond McKenzie."The infrastruct...

The man who claims to have served under two administrations of the St Catherine-based Klansman gang has sworn allegiance to the current alleged leader Andre "Blackman" Bryan despite being behind bars for a murder he claimed to have carr...

Littering the stomping ground of the St Catherine-based Klansman gang with dismembered bodies of disloyal gangsters was the ultimate means of sending a message to those who had turned against accused leader Andre "Blackman" Bryan after...

LONDON, England (AP) - Northern Europe was battered by the third major storm in five days, with heavy rains and high winds on Sunday and Monday killing at least two more people, disrupting travel and prompting hundreds of flood alerts a...

LONDON, England (AP) - Scientists warned the British Government on Monday not to weaken the country's ability to monitor and track coronavirus after Prime Minister Boris Johnson ends the requirement for people in England to self-isolate...

Today is the 53rd day of 2022. There are 312 days left in the year.TODAY'S HIGHLIGHT1997: Scientists in Scotland announce they have succeeded in cloning an adult mammal, producing a lamb named "Dolly". (Dolly, however, was later put dow...

WASHINGTON, DC, United States (AFP) - US intelligence suggests any Russian invasion of Ukraine would employ a particularly brutal strategy to "crush" the civilian population, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Monday.The White...

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) - With all eyes on a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin is sending his top security envoy to the Balkans where Moscow has been trying to maintain influence mainly through its all...

MONTEGO BAY, St James - Irate members of the Rastafarian community have indicated that they are planning to demonstrate in front of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) this week in protest against the decision of DPP...

BUFF BAY, Portland - Staff and students of Buff Bay High School in western Portland are mourning the loss of Nicholas Barnes, a grade 12 student who collapsed and died at the school just over a week ago.Barnes was at training when he c...

FORMER Prime Minister Bruce Golding on Sunday expressed shock and sadness at the passing of Dr Paul Robertson, a political adversary with whom he shared an enduring friendship since their high school days."Our association goes back almo...

A string of complaints, including salary alterations and unjust working conditions, have been unleashed by workers in the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry.The employees, who spoke with the Jamaica Observer on condition of ano...

Today is the 52nd day of 2022. There are days 313 left in the year.TODAY'S HIGHLIGHTS1965: Former Black Muslim leader Malcolm X is shot and killed by assassins identified as black Muslims as he was about to address a rally in New York C...

AC Hotel Kingston donated over 1,000 articles of linen and assorted clothing including pillowcases, fitted sheets, bed pads, duvets, bath towels, wash rags, and hand towels to the KSAMC Poor Relief Department through a collaboration wit...

MINISTER of Transport and Mining Audley Shaw says he is pleased that, despite the negative effects of last year's fire at Jamalco, the plant has been able to rescue the jobs of about 1,000 employees."I am glad that, despite the fire, wh...

HUMAN rights group Stand Up Jamaica (SUFJ) is expressing concern over what they describe as alarming data from the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) highlighting the number of fatal shootings involving the police since ...

MANDEVILLE, Manchester - The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Jamaica is celebrating with those who are disabled as it lauds the passing of the Disability Act. The Disabilities Act 2014, which was passed in Parliament in October 2014 and...

A member of the Union of Clerical Administrative and Supervisory Employees (UCASE) has blasted the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) for its failure to abide by protocols in handling an ongoing wage matter. General secretary at UCASE...

DEPUTY Superintendent of Police (DSP) Coleridge Minto has described the crackdown on illegal parties in the St Andrew South Division as a cat and mouse game between partygoers and the police.DSP Minto told the Jamaica Observer that the ...

PORT ANTONIO, Portland - Ryan Thomas, a 38-year-old fisherman of Manchioneal district, Portland, was on Friday sentenced for his involvement in the illegal g uns-for-drugs trade.When Thomas appeared in the Portland Parish Court he was c...

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - A gemstone, billed as one of the largest gem-quality opals in existence, was sold for US$143,750 at auction in Alaska on Sunday. The opal, dubbed the Americus Australis, weighs more than 11,800 carats, according to...

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - Ethiopia has started generating electricity from the controversial mega dam that is being built on the Blue Nile.The milestone was reached on Sunday morning when one of the 13 turbines of the Grand Ethiopian Renais...

LONDON (AP) - People with COVID-19 won't be legally required to self-isolate in England starting in the coming week, the UK Government has announced, as part of a plan for "living with COVID" that is also likely to see testing for the n...

MEMBERS of the disabled community are bemoaning the deplorable state of sidewalks they traverse daily, which has left them exposed to danger and injury.Sharon Tennant, an amputee, told the Jamaica Observer that she was hit out of her wh...

OCHO RIOS, St Ann - Service above self is more than just a mantra, but a lifestyle that is lived out daily for the team of butlers at Sandals Ochi Beach Resort as they acquaint guests with the resort's activities that will make their ex...

PORT MARIA, St Mary - The Ministry of Education has declined to give a probable time frame for commencement of repairs to facilitate resumption of face-to-face classes at the flood-ravaged Port Maria Primary School.The institution's lim...

RESIDENTS of New Market Oval in downtown Savanna-la-Mar were all smiles on Friday as they gathered at their football field for a joint initiative by the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) and several other entities such as the National Co...

AFTER 40 years in the business 65-year-old potter Robert Francis is experiencing the best of times of his career, moulding items as small as an ash tray to as large as decorated flower pots.To learn and perfect his craft the St Mary nat...

GIFTED with the talent to conceptualise, design and create several items from a young age, 47-year-old Clarendon native Clifton Granston is eager to make his name globally as inventorso as to be able to generate the money needed to prov...