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November 25 has been dubbed, 'A Day of Caring' by the International Volunteer Day Committee (IVDC), as some 300 volunteers will provide assistance to 300 homeless persons at the St. William Grant Park, downtown Kingston. Under the project, which represents the national activity to commemorate International Volunteer Day on December 5, the volunteers will feed, clothe and provide medical check...

Executive Director of the National Road Safety Council, Paula Fletcher, is pleading with motorists to reduce their speed, in light of the increase in traffic accidents. As of November 22, some 281 traffic crashes resulting in 327 deaths have occurred in Jamaica. This is an increase over the similar period last year, which recorded some 245 crashes, resulting in 278...

As World AIDS Day (December 1), draws near, statistics from the United Nations are showing that 39.5 million people worldwide are living with HIV/AIDS. With this in mind, Jamaica is taking no chances with the epidemic, and has stepped up its drive to contain the disease with several initiatives, says Policy Advocacy Officer in the Ministry of Health, Faith Hamer....

A record 43,845 clients have used the services of the Registrar General Department's (RGD) service in October. Speaking with JIS News, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the RGD, Dr. Patricia Holness, said that the agency satisfied these clients in the month of October, and that figure represented a vast increase in the number of applications this year, with an average...

The Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS) parish office in St. Thomas, is setting up outlets to make it easier for more than 3,000 farmers to acquire receipt books. Farmers are required to have receipt books to conduct agricultural transactions with merchants. Under the Agricultural Produce Act, persons caught transporting agricultural produce without receipts for the goods in their possession, could face...

More than 2,000 clients of the Jamaica National Small Business Loans Limited (JNSBL) are to benefit from a business management training programme, which will be facilitated by the Jamaica Business Development Centre (JBDC), between November 2006 and October 2007. The training programme entitled 'Managing Business Growth', targets business owners who are clients of the JNSBL and have accessed loans under...

Minister of Local Government and Environment, Hon. Dean Peart has said that the purpose of the islandwide audit of Parish Councils, which he ordered, was not due to widespread irregularity in procurement procedures. Mr. Peart was clarifying a previous statement that he made in which it was said that there were breaches in procurement regulations in the St. Catherine, St....

I welcome the opportunity to share in this very important consultation with you this morning.This gathering of women's groups and individuals is a gathering of leaders and change agents - change agents in your families, in your communities and in our nation. When I became Prime Minister of Jamaica, my first pledge to the Jamaican people was to advance human...

Prime Minister, The Most Hon. Portia Simpson Miller has taken a firm stance against offenders who abuse women, stating that their actions were impeding the progress of the nation. "Violence against women in whatever form is considered a violation of their human rights. Such violence manifests itself in sexual, physical and psychological and economic forms," she said at yesterday's (Nov....

A national consultation on gender equality and women's empowerment was convened at the Stella Marris Pastoral Centre in Kingston today (November 22). The consultation, which took the form of a workshop brought together some 200 women from various women's groups from across the island, to discuss issues that were affecting them and find solutions to the problems that were identified....

Minister of Health, Hon. Horace Dalley, has urged the Joint Select Committee of Parliament to expedite deliberations for enactment of the National Registration Bill, which was tabled in the House of Representatives some five years ago. Mr. Dalley's prompting came at yesterday's (Nov. 21) sitting of the House of Representatives, following concerns raised by Member of Parliament for Central Clarendon,...

Minister of Agriculture and Lands, Hon. Roger Clarke has said that amendments to the Public Gardens Regulation Act would "bring the management of public gardens into the 21st century and let us be better able to revive the civic pride all Jamaicans felt in visiting and using our gardens". Piloting the Bill to repeal the Act in the House of...