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Starting this year, the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) will be observing May as Hurricane Preparedness Month. The initiative, which will be an annual feature on ODPEM's calendar, aims to heighten national awareness of the need for adequate preparations, by individuals, to effectively deal with dislocations resulting from the onset of severe weather during the six-month North...

Prime Minister the Hon. Bruce Golding has advised that parents wishing to purchase computers for their children, should do so through the schools in order to avoid the General Consumption Tax. He has again advised the public that computers that are purchased by schools, universities and educational institutions are exempted from tax. Speaking on his call-in radio programme, Jamaica House...

Leader of the Opposition, the Most Hon. Portia Simpson Miller, has recommended that the allocation for Natural Disaster Mitigation and Management in the current budget be significantly increased. "Jamaica is a small island developing state. This places us at the epicentre of the challenges that come with Global Warming and Climate Change, for which there is a growing body of...

Deputy Director-General of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), Richard Thompson, is assuring that the agency is adequately prepared to initiate up to four weeks of relief assistance islandwide, in the event that the country is affected by a hurricane or tropical storm. This assurance comes one month ahead of the start of the 2009 North Atlantic...

The National Library of Jamaica is developing Digital Audio Books for visually impaired Jamaicans. The new format will assist visually impaired persons who are unable to access research or recreational material, other than by Braille, because of the unavailability of Digital Audio Books and material. Executive Director of the National Library, Winsome Hudson, made the disclosure on Tuesday (April 28)...

The Swaby's Hope New Testament Church of God in Manchester is hosting a series of community fora, aimed at addressing the development needs of the area. At the sessions, which got underway last month, residents identified a clinic, a community centre and basic school, as among the most pressing needs. It was proposed that funding for the projects could come...

The Jamaica Institute of Environmental Professionals (JIEP) will host its Fourth Conference on the Environment at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, New Kingston, from May 26-27, under the theme "Climate Change: Caribbean Response". President of JIEP, Marcia Creary, announced today (April 27), at the launch of the conference, that the event will feature presentations from some of the region's most respected...

Prime Minister the Hon. Bruce Golding has said he expects that issues raised by the PNP Youth Organisation in a letter sent to him today (April 27), will be raised by the opposition in Parliament and that the Government will address them during the current Budget Debate. The letter under the signature of the President of the PNP Youth Organisation...

Hundreds of citizens turned out today (April 24) at the Ministry of National Security for the Citizens Justice and Security Programme's(CJSP) Opportunity Fair, at the Agency for Inner-City Renewal, Trench Town, Kingston. Citizens of the communities were given the opportunity to get on the national grid by registering for birth certificates, National Insurance (NIS) cards and their Tax Registration Number...

Prime Minister the Hon. Bruce Golding has said that the country will have to find its own money to close the budget gap this year. In a national broadcast tonight, Mr. Golding said that the Government cannot borrow more money to close the gap, and the nation will have to start "cutting our suit to fit the cloth." "We will...

Prime Minister the Hon. Bruce Golding has welcomed Canada's support for the inclusion of a development component in the proposed Canada/CARICOM Free Trade Agreement. "We insisted, from the very beginning, that we cannot just negotiate a trade agreement, it has to be a trade agreement plus. It must have a development component, because we are not in a position to...

Prime Minister the Hon. Bruce Golding says that Canada's commitment to increase funding to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is a positive move for regional economies. He was speaking at a joint press conference with the Prime Minister of Canada the Rt. Hon. Stephen Harper, following the launching of the Justice Undertakings for Social Transformation (JUST) Programme at Jamaica House...