Brazilian researcher, Dr. Mauricio Shimabukuro, has copped the International Seabed Authority (ISA) Secretary-General’s 2019 Award for Excellence in Deep Sea Research. Secretary-General, Michael Lodge, made the presentation during the 25th Session of the ISA Assembly at the Jamaica Conference Centre, downtown Kingston, on July 25. Dr. Shimabukuro, who completed his doctoral degree (PhD) in 2018 at the University of São...

Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, has reassured stakeholders in the sector that the Tourism Workers’ Pension Scheme will guarantee their social security after retirement. The Minister gave his assurance at a Tourism Workers’ Pension awareness and sensitisation session to urge industry workers to sign on to the scheme, held at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St. James, on Thursday...

The Ministry of Education, Youth and Information is advising administrators in educational and training institutions to take the necessary steps to eliminate incidents of sexual harassment. The Ministry, in a recent bulletin, said that sexual harassment “is a barrier to equal opportunity and treatment of females and males”. In an effort to ensure that all students are safe and secure...

The Kingston and St. Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC) has expanded its activities under this year’s staging of the Youth Summer Employment Programme (YSEP) to include two new features. These will support the ban on single-use plastics and bolster safeguards for the society’s most vulnerable citizens. Some 600 youth from across the Corporate Area who are participating in the six-week activity,...

The Ministry of Tourism has, this year, once again afforded hundreds of youth the opportunity to gain invaluable work experience within the hospitality sector, through the ‘Spruce Up Jamaica’ Tourism Summer Internship Programme. The initiative, which started in 2008, is being spearheaded this year by the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo). Some $25 million has been provided by the Tourism...

Minister of National Security, Hon. Dr Horace Chang, says the Government is committed to putting strategies in place in order to protect the country against cyberthreats. He noted that the development and use of new technologies, e-services and interconnected networks over the last few decades have seen a rise in cyberattacks, as cybercriminals take advantage of these advancements to commit...

The Hanover Health Department has heightened its enhanced vector control programme aimed at eradicating the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which transmits the dengue, Zika and chikungunya viruses. Deputy Chief Public Health Inspector for the parish, Fritz Francis, told JIS News that the intervention started on July 1 and is focused on high-risk communities. He noted that 60 temporary vector control aides...