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Director General of the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), Dr. Wesley Hughes, has projected a 0.7 per cent increase in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for January to March 2008, following flat growth of 0.0 per cent for the last quarter of 2007. The services sector, he said, is expected to grow by 1.7 per cent, while the goods producing sector...

Eight municipal police personnel will take to the streets of Negril and Savanna-La-mar on March 3, where they will work to cut down on illegal parking and vending and restore order to the towns. The group, which comprises five females and three males, were trained at the Police Academy in Twickenham Park, St. Catherine. They will be sworn into office...

Minister of Health and Environment, Rudyard Spencer, said that Jamaica must embark on an aggressive programme of energy conservation in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which cause climate change. The Health Minister was speaking at a press conference held yesterday at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel (Feb. 15) to mark the third anniversary of the Kyoto Protocol and to look...

Prime Minister Bruce Golding is of the view that more effective means of convincing and attracting men in the society, who have never been able to understand their role as fathers, leaders in the home, church and community, will have to be implemented on a national basis in order to effect meaningful change. Mr. Golding said it is almost impossible...

Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Karl Samuda has said that the scrap metal licensing regime has been quite fruitful, with close to 200 dealers registered to the system, since its implementation in November. To date, 177 dealers and 84 carriers have been registered to the system, in addition to the issuing of 349 shipment certificates. "It is very encouraging...

Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett, has said his Ministry intends to reposition the industry and ensure that the nation has a full sense of its importance and economic impact on the country, and the seriousness with which development of the sector must be approached. It is to this end that the Ministry will be hosting the first ever annual Tourism...

The Jamaica National Heritage Trust (JNHT) has selected Paul Thornbourne's 'Tower of Stature' as the winning design for the monument to be erected in honour of the late Hugh Lawson Shearer. The monument of the late former Prime Minister and trade unionist is expected to be built for unveiling in July, in time for the fourth anniversary of his death....

The Coffee Industry Board (CIB) has launched a series of training seminars aimed at helping coffee selectors to better identify quality beans. The seminar, which is in response to a 20 per cent decline in exportable coffee last year, is aimed at increasing the volume and quality of coffee beans exported. One such seminar was held on Monday (Feb.11) at...

Erna Brodber's fourth novel the 'The Rainmaker's Mistake', has been short listed in the Best Book category for the Canada and Caribbean region of the 2008 Commonwealth Writers' Prize. The Jamaican writer, sociologist and lecturer won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for the Caribbean and Canadian region in 1989 for her novel Myal. Ms. Brodber's published works include 'Jane and Louisa...

Jamaican born Captain Barrington Irving, the youngest pilot and first person of African descent to fly solo around the world, was on Tuesday (Feb. 12) presented with a Congressional Resolution at the United States (US) Capitol Building in Washington D.C. The Resolution, in recognition of Irving's successful 97-day historical world mission, which ended last June, was unanimously passed by the...

Minister of Energy, Mining and Telecommunications, Clive Mullings is urging greater participation by individuals and organizations in joint venture projects locally, particularly in the area of information technology (IT). The Minister, who was addressing a panel discussion hosted by the Technology Innovation Centre (TIC) of the University of Technology (UTech) in Kingston on Wednesday (Feb. 13), said many opportunities abound...

Persons suffering from nyctalopia, otherwise known as night blindness, can now benefit from treatment under the Jamaica/Cuba Eye Care Programme. This brings to 10, the total number of conditions being treated under the programme, which is also known as Mission Milargo (Miracle Mission). Initially, the programme focused primarily on the treatment of cataract and pterygium cases. However, it was later...