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Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, Honourable Olivia Grange, has pledged support to the Jamaica Volleyball Association in its search for a headquarters. Speaking at a news conference hosted by the Jamaica Volleyball Association in Kingston on Monday night, Minister Grange said: "I give you this commitment that the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture will assist the Jamaica Volleyball...

More than four years after Parliament approved the Criminal Justice (Plea Negotiations and Agreements) or "Plea Bargaining" Act, the Senate passed the regulations that will govern the Act on Friday (February 12). Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Senator the Hon. Dorothy Lightbourne, said that the provisions of the Criminal Justice (Plea Negotiations and Agreements) Regulations and the Legal Aid...

Small business owners in the tourism sector have been keeping their businesses afloat through financial assistance from the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF). Proprietor of Bubbling Springs in Middle Quarters, St Elizabeth, Lincoln Fagan, says the loan saved his property. After starting his business in 2000, Mr. Fagan confesses that it was rough getting things off the ground. "The loan has...

More than 31,000 disbursements amounting to $1.5 billion have been made to micro, small and medium-sized enterprise (MSME) stakeholders, under the Government of Jamaica/Government of the Netherlands MicroFIN/JA Programme, over the last 10 years, State Minister for Industry, Investment and Commerce, Hon. Michael Stern, has disclosed. The MicroFIN/JA Programme, which falls under the Ministry's purview, focuses on extending credit to...

Agriculture continues to outperform other industries, showing 20.5 per cent real growth for the October to December quarter of 2009. Acting Director General of the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), Dr. Pauline Knight, addressing the PIOJ's quarterly press briefing today (February 16) at the Institute's Oxford Road offices, credited the performance, which she said, is consistent with the previous four...

A visionary, giant, cultural icon and intellectual were some of the accolades repeatedly echoed today (February 16) as Jamaicans bade farewell to Professor the Hon. Ralston 'Rex' Milton Nettleford, at a thanksgiving service held at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Chapel in Kingston. For a man who wore many caps as an academic, a dancer, choreographer, cultural ambassador...

Former Prime Ministers of Jamaica, the Most Hon Edward Seaga and the Most Hon P.J. Patterson, paid tributes to the late Vice Chancellor Emeritus of the University of the West Indies (UWI), Professor the Hon. Rex Nettleford, during Tuesday's (February 16) sitting of the House of Representatives at Gordon House in Kingston. Mr. Seaga remembered Professor Nettleford as an individual...

Fitch Ratings, on Tuesday February 16, upgraded Jamaica's long-term local and foreign currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) to B-. The rating outlook was also upgraded from "Negative" to "Stable". This follows the downgrade in January, when the long-term local currency IDR was downgraded to "C" and the long-term foreign currency IDR was affirmed at "CCC." The revision in the ratings...

Prime Minister the Hon. Bruce Golding says a great deal of Prof. Rex Nettleford's life can never die. His work, Mr. Golding said includes the bridges he built to enable Jamaican's minds to travel beyond self imposed boundaries, the confidence he inspired in Jamaicans, organisations he helped to build and his published works, writings and commentaries. Mr. Golding who was...

In a statement to Parliament on Wednesday February 10th, Prime Minister the Bruce Golding asserted that the competitive tender process that governs the divestment of Air Jamaica, requires the Government to pursue diligently and in good faith, the negotiations with Caribbean Airlines which had submitted an offer by the stipulated deadline of June 30, 2009. This position has been upheld...

A cohort of 20 participants from the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) and the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) graduated from a maritime training interdiction course on Friday (February 12). The course is aimed at improving the island's capacity to deal with transnational organised crimes, which threaten maritime space. It lasted for three weeks, was designed for junior officers, enlisted maritime boarding...

On March 1, 2010, the Jamaica Information Service (JIS) will embark on a new approach to its programmes for radio and television. The Agency will no longer produce the 30-minute Jamaica Magazine programme but will instead, produce two five-minute features to be repeated three times daily from Monday to Saturday, to make use of the 30 minutes allocated for Government...