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Some 2,000 cruise ship passengers disembarked the Ruby Princess Cruise Liner, which arrived at the Ocho Rios Pier in St. Ann, on December 15, the start of the Winter Tourist Season. Cruise Terminal Manager, Dennis Richards, told JIS News, that the Ruby Princess is one of the newest ships in the Princess Cruise Line and that the vessel made its...

The National Housing Trust (NHT), will be offering a range of measures to assist persons, who may have difficulties paying their mortgage, as a result of job loss or disruption in income flow. "These involve suspension of mortgage payments, reduction in monthly payments, rescheduling of mortgage payments, extension of the mortgage period and reduction in interest rates. The exact treatment...

A US$300 million facility has been negotiated with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), to provide loans to the productive sector. Prime Minister, Bruce Golding, in making the announcement during a national broadcast on Sunday (Dec. 14), said that the loans will be made available through commercial banks and the Export-Import Bank (EX-IM Bank). "I expect to sign this agreement in...

Governor-General, His Excellency the Most Hon. Professor Sir Kenneth Hall, has called on residents of St. Ann to support efforts to develop the St. Ann's Bay Hospital. The Governor-General, who recently toured the facility, said were it not for the generous gesture of a citizen of the parish many years ago, the hospital would not have been established. "If this...

Close to 29,000 tourists came to Jamaica in the first week of December, Tourism Minister, Edmund Bartlett, is reporting. This, he said, is a 14.9 per cent increase on the figure recorded for the similar period in 2007, and is positive news for the sector, against the background of the global economic downturn. The Minister was speaking at a Tourism...

Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Christopher Tufton, has defended Government's decision to grant import permits for leg quarters, stating that the move was to meet a shortage in production, as indicated by the main chicken producers, and to ensure that there would be no increase in price. Dr. Tufton, speaking at a press conference, held at the Ministry's headquarters in Kingston...

With the consumption of ethanol globally expected to increase significantly over the next few years, Energy Minister, Clive Mullings, is upbeat about Jamaica's ability to export competitively to the international market. Speaking at the opening of a two-day bio-fuels policy workshop today (Dec. 15), at the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston, Mr. Mullings noted that the global bio-ethanol market is...

Hundreds including relatives, Jamaican community leaders, friends and colleagues turned out on December 12, to say farewell to the late former Office Manager at the Jamaican High Commission, in London, England, Donovan (Don) Hammond. The funeral Mass of Thanksgiving was held at the St. Cedds Roman Catholic Church, in Goodmayes, Essex, and featured tributes in words, song and poetry from...

Hoteliers will soon be able to complete and monitor the processing of marriage applications online, through the Registrar General Department's (RGD) Hotel Interface for Marriage Applications (HIMA) programme. The launch will be held on December 18 at the San Souci Hotel in Ocho Rios, St. Ann. The HIMA allows RGD customers to enjoy the benefits of doing business via the...

The Jessie Ripoll Primary School in Kingston is the envy of all Jamaica, having being honoured with a gold-plated replica of the architectural masterpiece the 'Bird's Nest', which was the main venue for the staging of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the site of Jamaica's record-breaking performances at the Games. The gift, from the Chinese Government, is in recognition of...

The arrival of a full Air Jamaica flight from Los Angeles, in the United States, at the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, St. James, today (December 15), marked the official start of the 2008/09 Winter Tourist Season. On hand to greet the visitors on board the plane were Tourism Officials, including Minister Edmund Bartlett. Mr. Bartlett described the full...

If criminal activities are to be controlled and illegal guns taken off the streets, citizens must partner with the police. This was emphasised by Senior Superintendent of Police, Paul Ferguson, as he addressed members of the Kiwanis Club of Providence, at a meeting held at the Wexford Court Hotel, in Montego Bay, St. James, on December 10. Superintendent Ferguson, who...