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The Ministry of Labour and Social Security will be hosting its Access to Information 'Open Day' this Friday, December 10, and the public is invited to view or request documents that fall within the parameters of the Access to Information Act. Scheduled to begin at 9:00 a.m. at the Ministry's North Street Office in Kingston, the 'Open Day' will involve...

Minister of Information, Senator Burchell Whiteman, has said that success would not be achieved overnight with the Possibility Programme, and called on stakeholders to exercise patience with the project. "We all have high expectations for this programme, but we must not expect the associated problems to disappear overnight and therefore we must plead for patience, understanding and hard work," Minister...

With the region moving toward a single market economy, Jamaica will need to strengthen its monitoring and surveillance system to prevent food bourne diseases, which can be transported through the transfer of goods from one country to the next, said Dr. Ernest Pate, Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO) representative to Jamaica. Dr. Pate, who was addressing a conference...

Minister of Finance and Planning, Dr. Omar Davies tabled the First Supplementary estimates for the financial year 2004/05 in the House of Representatives on December 7, increasing the budget by $3.394 billion, up from $328.15 billion to $331.55 billion. The recurrent sum has been increased by $2.487 billion and the capital by $1.378 billion. The figures reveal that some $300...

The Labour and Social Security Ministry is reporting that to date, some 21,000 beneficiaries have received cheques under the government's recovery programme for persons whose houses were damaged by Hurricane Ivan in September. This group is the first of the 150,000 households assessed and approved for the benefits amounting to some $191.9 million. Minister of Labour and Social Security, Horace...

On Saturday, December 11, some 75 persons will be recognized for completing their courses of study ranging from Government Accounting to the Fundamentals of School Management, at the annual graduation exercise of the Management Institute for National Development (MIND). Special guest speaker at the event will be Pro Vice Chancellor and Chair at the University of the West Indies (UWI),...

Some 137 new teachers have graduated from the Sam Sharpe Teachers' College in Granville, St. James, which held its annual graduation ceremony at the institution on Tuesday, December 7. Topping the list of graduates was Anthony Murry, who was awarded the coveted Sam Sharpe Teachers' College Trophy for excellence in academics. Mr. Murry was also awarded the Winston Stewart Trophy...

New traffic management measures will be introduced in May Pen over the next few weeks to control the flow of traffic into the town over the Christmas season.The new traffic arrangements are expected to start on December 15 and continue into the first week of January, with the intention that these changes will be put into effect over a long-term...

The Port Authority of Jamaica has announced extended opening hours at the ports, including weekends, to facilitate the clearing of cargo and to reduce backlog. The additional hours will be from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on weekdays, stripping will be facilitated on Saturdays between the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., while on Sundays, the container yard will...

Moving to keep pace with the globalized shift for international standards for goods and agricultural produce, the Bureau of Standards Jamaica (BSJ) has established a National Codex Committee (NCC), forging partnerships with the Ministries of Commerce, Science and Technology; Agriculture; and Health. The official launch of the NCC took place today (December 8) at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston....

The Consumer Affairs Commission (CAC) has embarked on a consumer education and media campaign to encourage good spending habits during the Christmas season. Tanikie McLarty, Director of Field Operations at the CAC, told JIS News, that the campaign was geared toward educating consumers about their rights and responsibilities especially as it related to trade agreements such as hire purchases and...

President of the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA), Wentworth Gabbidon, has called on leaders, teachers and parents to confront and eliminate violence and indiscipline in schools. He stressed that the future of the nation depended on these persons successfully confronting and eliminating these evils, noting however, that violence and indiscipline in schools were reflections of the wider society. "Reported incidences of...