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Government will be making more sporting facilities and amenities available to Jamaicans this financial year, in an attempt to channel and develop positive values and attitudes in the society. Prime Minister, Portia Simpson Miller, in her Budget Presentation in the House of Representatives yesterday (May 1), mentioned plans to build 27 multi-purpose courts and the construction or upgrading of five...

As of May 28, children under the age of 18 years will receive free care at all government hospitals and health facilities, except the University Hospital of the West Indies. Prime Minister, Portia Simpson Miller, who made the announcement during her contribution to the 2007/08 Budget Debate in Gordon House yesterday (May 1), noted that the move will also apply...

A special seminar will be held next month between the Government and the island's private sector leaders, to stimulate further private investments in the education sector. Making the disclosure in her contribution to the 2007/08 Budget Debate in the House yesterday (May 1), Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller said that tackling education successfully, "requires a truly bi-partisan approach". "My hope,...

Chief Technical Director in the Ministry of Information and Development, Dennis Morrison has said that the economic outlook is positive, with Net International Reserves (NIR) at US$2.3 billion and a 6.6 per cent inflation rate for the month of March. "There was significant growth in the NIR," he said, noting that the inflation rate "compares very, very well with our...

Children's Advocate, Mary Clarke is reminding adults that positive reinforcement is necessary for the development of a healthy child. According to her, too often persons focus on the negatives, that the children begin to believe that there is no good in them. "Let Child Month this year be the start of celebrating our children, and let us highlight the positive...

Synergy...More and more I find myself using this word... sometimes out of concern for its absence, but happily, more frequently because of tangible evidence that it is central to any meaningful and sustainable social intervention. According to a leading online glossary: Synergy comes from the Greek word synergia, meaning joint work and cooperative action. Synergy is when the result is...

The budget debate is traditionally the most significant event of the parliamentary calendar. This year's debate has added significance. It marks the end of the Prime Minister's first year in office and, therefore, part of our focus must be what difference has she made, what hope has she generated and what new direction has she charted to justify and secure...

I WISH TO PAY SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO SOMEONE WHO WOULD HAVE BEEN HERE TODAY, EXCEPT FOR HIS PASSING. I SPEAK OF THE LATE HON. RAY HADEED. HE WAS A CLOSE FRIEND AND ASSOCIATE FOR SEVERAL DECADES. HE WAS AN EMPLOYER WHO OPERATED IN MY CONSTITUENCY - SOUTH WEST ST ANDREW. HE EMPLOYED HUNDREDS OF RESIDENTS FROM THE COMMUNITY. HE WAS...

The European Union (EU) is reassessing its relationship with the Jamaican Government and will be placing more emphasis on providing budgetary support to reduce the debt burden, and crime. "We should move to a mature relationship being characterized not so much by traditional projects.but more towards the budget support approach. Traditional projects have been cumbersome..we can now move to a...

As of August 1 this year, Air Jamaica Vacations will be outsourced to the Mark Travel Corporation, headquartered in Milwaukee, Wiscosin. The corporation will conduct Jamaica's business from its offices in Orlando, Florida. "Our customers will continue to receive the same high level of service and various options for booking packages under the new management. To the consumer, and travel...

Some 6,000 spaces are available with the National Youth Service (NYS) Summer Employment Programme, and secondary and tertiary students, who wish to participate, have until Friday, May 4 to submit their applications. Speaking with JIS News, Project Supervisor of the NYS Summer Employment Programme, Keisha Hines informed that the programme would be accommodating some 6,000 participants this year, compared with...

The Jamaica National Heritage Trust (JNHT) will be hosting its first Taino Day on Friday, May 4, at Seville Heritage Park in St. Ann. This observance seeks to commemorate the life and legacy of Jamaica's first inhabitants, who were formally referred to as the Arawaks. Speaking with JIS News, Executive Director of the JNHT, Laleta Davis-Mattis pointed out that Taino...