Port State Control will have an important role to play in ensuring compliance by ships to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) regulations for the 2020 Global Sulphur Limit, which came into effect on January 1. Under the new regulations, the IMO has set a limit of 0.5 per cent for sulphur in fuel used on board ships, down from 3.5...

The Child Resiliency Programme of the Violence Prevention Alliance is the beneficiary of funds raised at this year’s National Leadership Prayer Breakfast (NLPB) held on January 16 at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston. In addition, the Victoria Mutual (VM) Foundation, sponsors of the NLPB, will be partnering with the organisation for an initiative that will be implemented on...

A smattering of mutters were heard in the Mayor’s Chambers at the St. James Municipal Corporation building in Montego Bay, as a diminutive 11-year-old boy approached the podium to give his speech during the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development’s Youth Forum held recently. The 2019/2020 Junior Mayor of Portmore, Malique Robinson-Porter, showed no sign of nervousness. There were...

The National Council on Reparations (NCR) will be spearheading a number of activities this year to raise public awareness of the historical and current justification for reparation. Supported by the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Council has a mandate to organise events and to conduct research and publish the findings in accessible forms that will educate the...

Enterprising developer, Denise Pitter, has fulfilled her mission of spearheading the construction of affordable apartments for persons seeking homes in the Corporate Area. She was able to achieve this with the assistance of the Jamaica Mortgage Bank (JMB), an agency of the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, which provided a loan of approximately $61.12 million to build the...

Miss Jamaica Festival Queen 2019, Khamara Wright, has embarked on a project, dubbed ‘Nourish and Flourish’, which is focused on facilitating high-school students with healthy meals. Key among the initiative’s objectives are encouraging creative cooking lessons; fostering and heightening awareness of the need for healthy living and eating practices; and showcasing the versatility of Jamaican foods, while promoting what she...

Founder of ReBuild, Zara Harris, has formulated a novel way of utilising discarded plastics in the construction of environmentally friendly albedo (heat resistant) pavements. The project minimises the amount of plastics in the environment, while the low temperature sidewalks allow for cooler surroundings. “These pavements will not reflect the sunlight in a blinding way, and facilitate a smoother run-off of...

Educator and graduate of the Aspiring Principals’ Programme (APP), an initiative of the National College for Educational Leadership (NCEL), for 2019, Mr. Everton Tyndale, is calling for early childhood educational institutions to increase play time for their students. “I realised that children are not allowed to go outside and play as much when compared to previous years. Play time has...

For 35 days between October and early December, Clayon Elliot travelled 149 kilometres from his home in York Town, Clarendon, to attend classes in event production at the Grandiosa Hotel in Montego Bay, St. James. It was a three-and-a-half-hour commute to and from Montego Bay each day for a total of seven hours. Mr. Elliot tells JIS News that he...