TOURISM Minister Edmund Bartlett has cautioned global leaders that any requirement for proof of vaccination for travel, which does not take into account the unequal access and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines globally, could be conside...

Jamaica should be in a position to continue its COVID-19 vaccine drive into April with approximately 121,000 doses expected to arrive in the island in the coming weeks.Chairman of the National Health Fund (NHF) Howard Mitchell on Wednes...

ST GEORGE'S, Grenada (CMC) - A Jamaican who entered the country earlier this month has been confirmed as the island's first case of the United Kingdom strain of the novel coronavirus.Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Shawn Charles said on...

SOME supermarket operators say they are experiencing a decline in bun sales while others are seeing an increase, when compared to last year, as the nation observes a second Easter holiday during the novel coronavirus pandemic.The Jamaic...

Tomorrow is the 92nd day of 2021. Thereafter there will be 273 days left in the year.TODAY'S HIGHLIGHT1982: Several thousand troops from Argentina seize the disputed Falkland Islands, located in the south Atlantic, from Britain. (Britai...

KINGSTON, Jamaica- Acting Chief Education Officer, Dr Kasan Troupe, says  the necessary preparations are being made to facilitate students with special needs, who will be sitting the May 26 Ability Test component of the Primary Exit Pr...

Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton has defended the Government's approach to testing, insisting that the solution to the COVID-19 crisis in Jamaica is not mass evaluation, as after a certain point more testing does very ...

APPLICATIONS are now being accepted from high school students or recent graduates ages 16-18 years old to represent Jamaica at the 2021 Virtual National Youth Science Camp (NYSCamp). More than 100 students from the United States and sel...

Approximately 50 academic and ancillary staff at Iris Gelly Primary School, in the tough inner-city community of Arnett Gardens, on Wednesday received Easter gift packages from Rainforest Seafoods.Director of marketing and corporate af...

A massive search is now under way for the main suspect in the killing of 36-year-old Police Constable Jermaine Bennett on Main Street in Gregory Park, St Catherine, on Tuesday.Head of the St Catherine South Police Division Senior Superi...

SHOCKED residents of Christian Gardens in St Catherine say 50-year-old Robert "Backra" Fowler - the man who police say has confessed to the murder of accounts clerk Khanice Jackson - had duped them for years, as he never exhibited b...

Police search a vehicle on Eastwood Park Road in St Andrew during last Saturday'slockdown to slow spread of the novel coronavirus. (Photo: Naphtali Junior)  

August Town Primary School students Ariel Willis (left) and her cousin Jhanelle Grant get some school work done by accessing the Internet from the top of a truck inside their yard on University Road, August Town, St Andrew, Tuesday. (Ph...

KerryAnn Coombs, principal of St Thomas Technical High School, sits on a lawn mower donated to the school by past students recently. (Photo: Llewellyn Wynter)

Today is the 91st day of 2021. There are 274 days left in the year.TODAY'S HIGHLIGHT2001: Former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic surrenders after a 26-hour stand-off against police looking to arrest him for charges linked to a decade...

With the Government piloting its E-commerce National Delivery Solution (ENDS) last weekend, information, telecommunications and technology provider Flow Business Jamaica is encouraging the owners of small businesses to embrace digital ...

JAMAICANS at home and the Diaspora, where the product is available, have for several years been eating Easter bun with cheese which has now become a tradition.From running to the kitchen for a slice of bun and cheese during Easter, to s...

COVID-19 patients at the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) are being provided with turmeric tea in a bid to boost their immune system.The Jamaica Observer first reported on the weekend that the hospital was providing turmeric tea to its C...

CHICAGO, United States (AP) - For Christians across the United States, Easter services on Sunday will reflect an extra measure of joy as the nation experiences rising optimism after a year of pandemic. Even if still observing restrictio...

Did you have an encounter with the novel coronavirus? Veteran journalist Desmond Allen, who got the virus but got over it, invites you to share your experiences with him and encourage others to face this dreaded enemy. Tell us how you a...

MINNEAPOLIS, United States (AP) - The convenience store cashier who sold cigarettes to George Floyd and was handed a counterfeit $20 bill in return took the stand Wednesday at Officer Derek Chauvin's murder trial as prosecutors laid out...

WITH the island under heightened weekend and holiday curfew measures through to April 12 as part of the ongoing COVID-19 response, a group of women in the Corporate Area, who depend on prostitution for a living and have been feeling the...

THE labour and social security ministry says it is not aware of any fraudulent activity regarding use of the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH) cash cards of deceased beneficiaries, and that unused funds for th...

VICE chancellor of The University of the West Indies Professor Hilary Beckles, amidst criticism from quarters over the management of the university, says the institution, though "not perfect", has "proven itself" and is "worthy of the r...

THE Judiciary of Jamaica has advised that the closure of the St Thomas Parish Court has been extended for another week due to COVID-19. The building has been deep cleaned and operations are scheduled to resume on Tuesday, April 6, 2021....

MONTEGO BAY, St James - Residents of Montego West Village were annoyed over the smoke nuisance caused from yesterday morning's fire at the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA)-operated Retirement landfill in St James.One ir...

LAST Saturday before the islandwide lockdown took effect, senior citizen Gwendolyn Gillespie Brown ran out of cooking gas at her home in Portmore, St Catherine, and she could only depend on one individual to help put her pots back on th...

The police yesterday said the man charged with murder in the death of 20-year-old Khanice Jackson confessed that he strangled her on Wednesday, March 24, 2021 with a piece of rope, hid her body inside his house in Portmore, St Catherin...

Governor General Sir Patrick Allen has expressed regret and sadness at the passing of William Charles McCalla, a justice of the peace and husband of former Chief Justice Zaila McCalla. The governor general described McCalla as a humble...

JUST over $5.5 billion in loans and grants are expected to be disbursed to some 13,325 applicants by the Students' Loan Bureau (SLB) during 2021/22.These form part of the overall 13,858 eligible applicants on whose behalf the SLB will b...

MONTEGO BAY, St James - Chief executive officer (CEO) of Royal Caribbean Group, Richard Fain, says a number of test cruises carried out during the novel coronavirus pandemic and also prior to the start of vaccination programmes by count...

Today is the 90th day of 2021. There are 275 days left in the year.TODAY'S HIGHLIGHT1995: Tejano singing star Selena, 23, is shot to death in Corpus Christi, Texas, by founder of her fan club. Yolanda Saldivar is later convicted of murd...

HEALTH and wellness coach Natalie Murray is a strong believer in the adage that nothing happens before its time. "I also believe that everything happens exactly the way it is supposed to when you trust and believe," she told JIS News. T...

THE Pringle Home for Girls in Carron Hall, St Mary is to get a $3-million resource centre, the initiative of author Mary White, a native of the community.Work has already started to revamp the library at the home, and upgrade it into a ...

A number of small and medium-sized businesses have been forced to downsize or close operations altogether as a result of the pandemic, while others, depending on the products or services they offer, have been thriving, albeit unexpected...

THE National Water Commission (NWC) says its customer census mapping project will continue this week in the parish of Westmoreland.The project involves a door-to-door survey of existing and potential NWC customers and mapping them using...

May 11, 2021 marks the 40th year since the passing of reggae icon Bob Marley.In the lead-up to this milestone, the Jamaica Observer's Entertainment Desk will be doing a series titled 'Bob Marley - The Last 40 Days'.Starting tomorrow, r...

SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) - Google yesterday said it will start showing users of its free Maps navigation service travel routes less damaging to the environment as just one of some 100 coming upgrades.Improvements to Google Map...

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC) - Guyana on Monday received a consignment of 24,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine through the COVAX facility - the first quota of vaccines Guyana has received through the global initiative for pooled p...

TOKYO, Japan (AP) - The Tokyo Olympics open in under four months, and the torch relay has begun to crisscross Japan with 10,000 runners. Organisers say they are mitigating the risks, but some medical experts aren't convinced."It is best...

Did you have an encounter with the novel coronavirus? Veteran journalist Desmond Allen, who got the virus but got over it, invites you to share your experiences with him and encourage others to face this dreaded enemy.Tell us how you an...

Dear Mr Brown:I am inadmissible to visit Canada, based on being deported from the US on a drug conviction. However, I would like to visit my mother who is elderly and sick. Please explain how one can get a temporary resident permit. I k...

Q. What is the operational status of the Consular Section at the US Embassy in Kingston?Like many US embassies and consulates around the world, Embassy Kingston's Consular Section is open, but currently providing significantly lower lev...

WASHINGTON, DC, United States (RNS) - Ask Americans if they believe in God and most will say yes. But a growing number have lost faith in organised religion.For the first time since the late 1930s, fewer than half of Americans say they ...

LONDON, England (AP) - It was dubbed Happy Monday - the day people could put on a bathing suit and swim in an outdoor pool for the first time in months, or rusty golfers could strive to hit their drives down the middle of the fairway.Fo...

MINNEAPOLIS, United States (AP) - As onlookers pleaded with Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin to take his knee off George Floyd's neck, Chauvin just gave them a "cold" and "heartless" stare, the teenager who shot the harrowing vi...

TEXAS, United States (AP) - The Joe Biden Administration for the first time yesterday allowed journalists inside its main border detention facility for migrant children, revealing a severely overcrowded tent structure where more than 4,...

Prime Minister Andrew Holness yesterday argued that there is a need to engage credit rating agencies in discussions on what the United Nations is calling a "looming debt crisis"."We need to bring the credit rating agencies into our disc...

A man accused of trying to steal a motor car from a shopping plaza in Cross Roads, St Andrew, was arrested yesterday afternoon. The incident, which attracted a crowd, played out in the Sampars Supermarket parking lot on Retirement Road....

The medical oxygen crisis that hit the public health sector a few weeks ago due to rising COVID-19 cases appears to be improving as two of the island's major facilities - Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) and University Hospital of the Wes...