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During frank and open discussions yesterday (February 21), at the Offices of the Prime Minister, between Jamaican officials and a Haitian fact finding delegation which had just arrived in the island, it was concluded that there were many misrepresentations of the treatment of the Haitian Under 17 CONCACAF Football Team. The Haitian delegation which included representatives from the Ministries of...

Jamaica’s Ambassador to the United States, Her Excellency Audrey P. Marks has lauded the United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) for its support extended to Jamaica, since its inception in 1981. Among the areas of support noted were the US$450,000.00 in grants for the Montego Bay Airport expansion project, and more recently, the grant of US$820,000.00 to assist the...

A National Comprehensive Literacy Programme (NCLP) has been developed and introduced to primary schools. The move is part of the thrust by the Ministry of Education (MoE) to achieve 100 per cent literacy at the primary level by 2015 and allow for students to successfully transition to secondary school. National Literacy Coordinator, Laurel Brent Harris, who made the disclosure during...

Mayor of Port Antonio, Councillor Floyd Patterson, has called on the relevant authorities to look into the re-establishment of the Buff Bay Hospital in Portland. He said the restoration of a full-scale hospital facility in that town would greatly enhance the ability to save lives in the event of a major disaster. Mayor Patterson was addressing a debriefing session following...

Local Government elections are to be postponed until March 2012, following the passage of two Bills in the Senate on Friday (February 18), which sought the deferment. Entitled the Parish Councils General Election (Postponement) Act, 2011, and the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation General Election (Postponement) Act, 2011, the Bills seek to amend the Parish Council and Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation...

Former Minister of National Security, Dr. Peter Phillips, was again the main subject of cross examination yesterday as he continued his testimony before the Commission of Enquiry into the extradition request for Christopher "Dudus" Coke at the Jamaica Conference Centre, downtown Kingston.  Dr. Phillips, in giving his testimony, said that the coffers of Government did not benefit from the signing...

Prime Minister Bruce Golding the immediate past Chairman of CARICOM, leaves Jamaica on Wednesday, (February 23) to attend CARICOM meetings in Grenada from Thursday, (February 24- ) to Saturday (February 26). Mr. Golding will attend two CARICOM meetings in Grenada. The Prime Ministerial sub-committee on the CARICOM Single Market and Economy will be on Thursday, February 24 and the CARICOM Inter- Sessional...

Governor-General, His Excellency the Most Hon. Sir Patrick Allen, has praised the Girls Brigade movement for its work in fostering and molding its members into young women who contribute to national development. Speaking at the launch of the organisation’s month-long activities for March and its fund raising tag drive at King’s House, on February 21, the Governor-General said the Girls...

The Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) yesterday received digital video equipment and Rules of Engagement (RoE) Aide Memoires from the British High Commission, during a ceremony at Up Park Camp, in Kingston. They were presented to Colonel Rocky Meade of the JDF by British Defence Attaché to Jamaica, Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Gunning. AnAide Memoire is an abridged version of the Rules...

Minister of Health, Hon. Rudyard Spencer, on Friday February 18 officially opened the upgraded Frankfield Health Centre in Clarendon, which will serve residents in some 78 communities. The facility, which now has additional staff, was completed at a cost of $7.5 million under the National Health Fund’s (NHF) Health Centre Rehabilitation Programme. The scope of work included expansion of the...

Tourism Minister, the Hon.Edmund Bartlett has revealed that preliminary figures indicate that a record 26,664 stop over visitors arrived in Jamaica between Thursday February 17 and Sunday February 20, 2011. In making the disclosure, Minister Bartlett said the arrivals represent an increase of 6,004 over the 20,660 that arrived over the same period last year. He expressed that “Jamaica’s stop...

Minister of Water and Housing, Hon. Dr. Horace Chang, on February 19, handed over the first set of keys to beneficiaries of the Luana Phase 3 housing development in St. Elizabeth. The project, undertaken by the Housing Agency of Jamaica (HAJ) at a cost of $87 million, comprises 49 starter units and eight serviced lots. Dr. Chang, in his address...