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Jamaica Customs reported Friday (November 27) that effective Tuesday (December 1), persons clearing barrels containing personnel effects will pay Customs $5,000 per barrel. The Department said that this does not apply to commercial shipments. The fixed rate of $5,000 on items usually described as personnel effects does not include shipping, storage, wharfage costs or Queens's Warehouse charges on overtime goods....

Some 192 priority development plans, which set out key areas identified by communities for development, have been submitted to the Social Development Commission (SDC). Director of Community Development Planning at the SDC, Mr. Courtney Brown, addressing a Think Tank at the Jamaica Information Service (JIS) head office in Kingston yesterday (November 26), explained that the SDC officers work with the...

Jamaica's Prime Minister, the Hon. Bruce Golding, was among leaders representing the 53 states who took on climate change as their primary issue, as the 21st Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) opened in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago on Friday (November 28). Mr. Golding is leading Jamaica's team, which also includes: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and...

Minister of State with responsibility for Local Government, Hon. Robert Montague, has urged members of the International University of the Caribbean (IUC) community to continue to rise above the global challenges and strive for quality education. "You must build upon the foundation of your past victories, rather than being overwhelmed by the monumental scope of the challenges you face, posed...

Sixteen residents from the community of Cauldwell in Hanover have been certified as fire wardens, bringing to 119 the total number of such personnel in the parish. The move is in keeping with a national initiative launched in July 2008 to train and certify community members to be first responders in the event of fires or other disasters in their...

While Jamaica's Commercial banks are stepping up their assistance to small and medium sized enterprises by providing low interest loans, Government is also determined to play its part in strengthening support services to this sector. Prime Minister the Hon. Bruce Golding has given instructions to the Jamaica Business Development Centre (JBDC) to strengthen its support services and to the Scientific...

Residents of Old Harbour and surrounding communities in St. Catherine, came out in their numbers on Wednesday (November 25) for the annual Old Harbour Development Area Committee (OHDAC) community expo. The event was held on the grounds of the Portmore Community College's Old Harbour campus under the theme: 'Community Empowerment For Nation Building'. More than 30 exhibitors from the public...

Prime Minister the Hon. Bruce Golding on Tuesday (November 24) named the Consultative Monitoring Group that will work directly with the Public Sector Transformation Unit (PSTU), which has been charged with transforming the machinery of Government to be more efficient and cost-effective. The Committee will be chaired by banking executive, Peter Moses. The other members are Cabinet Secretary Ambassador Douglas...

Minister of State with responsibility for Local Government, Hon. Robert Montague, has said that the Department is contemplating legal action, under the Maintenance Act, against Jamaicans, who abandon their elderly parents in state care. "You have some children out there, lawyers, doctors, teachers, who have abandoned their elderly relatives and leave them to the state and we need to deal...

Prime Minister the Hon. Bruce Golding says that the Government will outline the terms of its projected US$1.2 billion standby facility with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Parliament shortly. "We will very shortly be outlining in Parliament the terms of the IMF agreement, the details of the economic programme to be pursued and targets to be met, the policy...

Prime Minister the Hon. Bruce Golding has assured Jamaica's creditors that the country will not compromise its record of repaying its debts. "Jamaica has had an unblemished record of repaying its debts. I want to affirm, today, that we have no intention of allowing that valuable reputation to be compromised," Mr. Golding told Sunday's annual conference of his governing Jamaica...

Prime Minister the Hon. Bruce Golding has listed the current gaza/gully conflict among the negative influences destroying Jamaicans' self-confidence. "We as a society must unite around some basic principles, some agreement as to what is right and wrong, good and bad; what will uplift and what will destroy. The gully/gaza conflict is just one example of the negative influences that...