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Jamaicans will be treated to the second staging of the much anticipated Coffee Festival on October 1. Director General of the Coffee Industry Board (CIB), Graham Dunkley told JIS News that the festival was the major local event for the CIB and it was primarily designed to show the various products of coffee. "The talented professionals at Caribbean Events Group...

Member of Parliament for Central Kingston, Victor Cummings has proposed the establishment of community councils in constituencies, which he said could "play a significant role in the transformation of our system of governance and political culture." Mr. Cummings, who was speaking on a private members motion in Parliament yesterday (Sept. 27), pointed out that the establishment of community councils could...

Director General and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Caribbean Hotel Association, Alec Sanguinetti has recommended that a Caribbean airline be created to meet the travel needs of the regional tourist industry. Mr. Sanguinetti, who was speaking at the annual Tourism Achievement Awards Ceremony, held yesterday (September 27) at the Hilton Kingston Hotel, said this Caribbean air transport system would...

Minister of State for Agriculture, Errol Ennis has challenged the Jamaica 4-H Club to assist in the creation of a "development trajectory" for the country's young people. "I think that the 4-H movement has an opportunity to lead a process by which significantly more rural young people can identify a developmental path that speaks to themselves as well as their...

The Real Estate Board (REB) is appealing to the public to desist from conducting business with unregistered developers or real estate dealers, to reduce incidents of fraud. The appeal comes in light of continuous appeals from the public for assistance in matters involving unscrupulous developers, real estate dealers and salesmen, who are usually not registered by the Board.Sandra Watson, Senior...

The Ministry of Labour and Social Security is advising job seekers to be on the look out for fraudulent employment and recruitment agencies. This comes in the wake of the Ministry's shut down of Tank International and several other employment agencies in recent weeks. The Ministry released an advisory last week warning that Tanka International, operated by American Peter Ntankey,...

President of the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA), Ruel Reid, has described the late past President of the JTA, Michael Clarke, as one who served with "unquestionable distinction and gave of himself unselfishly" at the highest level, leaving a great legacy. Speaking recently at the funeral service for Mr. Clarke, held at the Torrington Wesleyan Holiness Church in Westmoreland, Mr. Reid...

Sports journalist Tony Becca, is among an impressive line-up of cricketing luminaries, who will be inducted into the Cricket Hall of Fame in Hartford, Connecticut on Saturday, October 1. Becca, who recently retired as Sports Editor of the Gleaner, is regarded internationally as one of the most knowledgeable scribes of the game. The 2005 list of inductees will also include...

Miguel Peart, a farmer in St. Ann, has been planting on bauxite-reclaimed lands in Armadale in the parish for over a year and have found his yields to be of a very high quality. "On my farm, I plant yam, bananas, cho-cho, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, escallion, ginger and many other things," he tells JIS News. "The soil is so rich...

Minister of Local Government, Community Development and Sport, Portia Simpson-Miller has called for greater collaboration and co-operation between the Government and Opposition in order for both parties to effectively advance the people's agenda. Speaking at a luncheon in honour of Parliamentarians from the United Kingdom (UK) Branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, at the Terra Nova Hotel in Kingston today...

New regulations governing the importation of agricultural produce are to be gazetted soon.In an interview with JIS News, Chief Plant Quarantine Officer in the Ministry of Agriculture, Carol Thomas informed that the regulations would clearly outline the requirements of importing agricultural produce. "It will outline in a clearer way.the items that are prohibited, some of the pests and diseases which...

Jamaica's local government reform process has come in for much praise, and is seen as a model worthy of emulation by a number of sister islands in the Caribbean, which are at various stages of implementing local government reform. Consultant on Local Government Reform in the Ministry of Local Government, Community Development and Sport, Keith Miller, told JIS News in...