Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Minister, Hon. Olivia Grange, says plans are in place to revive the country’s Culinary Arts Festival and Competition beginning next year. Introduced during the 1970s, the festival, which showcased the island’s rich culinary food and delights, was later discontinued after having been staged for a number of years. “It will now be resuscitated and have...

Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, has hailed the National Parenting Support Commission (NPSC) as a catalyst for social change in Jamaica. The Minister, who was speaking at the NPSC’s Mentorship Programme graduation ceremony, held at the Jewel Dunn’s River Beach Resort & Spa in St. Ann on Tuesday (July 31), said the Commission has...

In an effort to make the Jamaican passport more secure and to tighten any loopholes for identity theft, the Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA) will now require that persons submitting an application on behalf of an applicant take along a certified authorization letter signed by the applicant. Formerly, a person could submit an application for another person without presenting...

Public comment will be invited on the regulations being developed for the National Identification and Registration Act, which was passed in Parliament last November. “The regulations will go on the National Identification System (NIDS) project website for the public and media to provide feedback. It will then be finalised for submission to Parliament,” explained Chief Technical Director in the Office...

Mr. Patrick Campbell, wearing the Jamaican colours, views the ‘Yaadi Bites’ booth at the opening of Independence Village at the National Arena in Kingston on August 1. The Village, which will open daily to the public until August 6, features a number of family-friendly activities, including booth displays, food courts, lunch-hour concerts and a children’s village.

The care of patients continues with minimal disruption at health facilities in western Jamaica, as rehabilitation work progresses on the Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH), in Montego Bay, St. James. According to Chairman of the CRH Rehabilitation Oversight Committee, Professor Archibald McDonald, primary healthcare in the area where the hospital serves has seen an increase of 6.5 per cent since February,...

Described as the best kept secret in Jamaica and the English-speaking Caribbean, the 10-year-old University of the West Indies Open Campus (UWIOC) has been quietly making an indelible mark on the region’s tertiary-education landscape. Its precursor, the Extra Mural Campus, was established in 1948, the same year as the University of the West Indies (originally University College of the West...