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The Ministry of Labour and Social Security will be introducing a certification programme for hotels that cater to persons with disabilities. State Minister, Senator Floyd Morris, who made the announcement at the launch of the Friendly City Project on Wednesday (Sept. 27) at the Hilton Kingston Hotel, explained that hotels having all the facilities for the disabled would be certified...

The official handing over of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) backyard poultry farming development project, took place yesterday ( September 28), at Mount Friendship in rural St. Andrew. "This project has as its objective, helping rural and marginal urban poultry farmers and producers, and to improve their food security and nutrition indices,...

The Ministry of Education and Youth is warning contractors who have failed to meet their contractual obligations under the post hurricane Ivan school rehabilitation project, to take steps to have these projects completed as soon as possible, or face the consequence of losing these contracts. Director of Project Management and Technical Services at the Ministry, Lauriston Wilson, told JIS News...

Resident Magistrate in Clarendon, Andrea Thomas, has called on Justices of the Peace (JPs) to ensure that integrity is the hallmark of their activities. "You have to recognize that when you, as an individual, does something that is illegal or contrary to your mandate, you're not only affecting yourself, but you're affecting the entire society and therefore it should be...

Former Police Commissioner, Colonel Trevor MacMillan, today (September 29), took the Oath of Allegiance in the Senate to become the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party's newest Senator. Senator MacMillan, who between 1993 and 1996 headed the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), replaces former Opposition Senator, Norman Horne, who resigned recently. Welcoming Senator MacMillan to the Upper House, Leader of Opposition Business, Senator...

Minister of Health, Horace Dalley, has said that the Ministry will be launching a violence prevention programme, which is aimed at reducing the number of cases treated at hospitals as a result of violence. Mr. Dalley, who was addressing the Jamaican Women of Washington (JWoW) business development symposium at the Hampshire Greens Golf Club in Maryland on Thursday (Sept. 28),...

Junior doctors will receive a 22 per cent increase in wages over the next two years, in keeping with the 2006/08 Heads of Agreement, which was signed today (Sept. 28) between the government and the Jamaica Medical Doctors Association (JMDA). Under the terms of the agreement, which was signed at the National Heroes Circle offices of the Ministry of Finance...

Inspector for the Pesticides Control Authority (PCA) in western Jamaica, Lee Roy Taylor, has said that the effects of improper disposal of pesticide containers on the environment and on human health could be reversed, if plastic containers were punctured, detoxified or triple rinsed, and put into productive use. He told JIS News that these pesticide containers could be detoxified and...

Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, Roger Clarke, has said that the government was in the process of establishing irrigation systems across the island at a cost of $2 billion. Mr. Clarke, who was speaking at a function held today (Sept. 27) at the Agriculture Ministry's Old Hope Road headquarters to launch World Food Day, said that the systems would "assist...

October 6 is the deadline to register children, who will be sitting the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) next year. Assistant Chief Education Officer in the Student Assessment Unit of the Ministry of Education and Youth, Sephlin Myers-Thomas, has advised that parents and guardians, who have not yet completed the GSAT registration form for their children, to do so as...

A 'One Stop Shop' is to be established at the Kingston Wharves by November this year to facilitate the efficient processing and inspection of agricultural produce. The agencies that will work from this 'one stop shop' include the Public Health Department, Food Storage and Prevention of Infestation Division, Pesticides Control Authority, Ministry of Agriculture and Lands and the Bureau of...

Minister of Agriculture and Lands, Roger Clarke, has cited agriculture as the catalyst for economic growth and creating income-earning opportunities for poor persons in rural areas. Data from the Statistical Institute of Jamaica's Survey of Living Conditions, he said, indicate that "more than 15,000 rural families rely on the agricultural sector for their economic survival". The Minister, who was speaking...