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The newly constituted Board of the Independent Central Firearm Licensing Authority will hold its first meeting on Friday, February 17. Chairman, former Chief of Staff of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), Major General John Simmonds, as his first duty, will preside over the selection of a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for the authority. The other Board members are: Attorney-at-law, Ethan...

Linvern Wright, principal of the Alston High School in Clarendon is giving high marks to the Safe Schools Programme, noting that the joint government/private sector initiative has helped to reduce incidents of violence among students. The school has been a part of the programme since 2004 and according to Mr. Wright, over the two-year period, "the frequency of the fights...

The second annual Michael Manley Memorial Lecture will be held on Friday (Feb. 10) at the Steele Auditorium at Nova Southeastern University in Davie, Florida, beginning at 7:00 p.m. Professor Rex Nettleford, O.M., chairperson of the Jamaica Diaspora Foundation and former Vice Chancellor of the University of the West Indies, will be the guest speaker and he will give a...

Come December 31, 2008, when the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) is fully implemented, there will be no need for CARICOM nationals to have permits or skills certificates to work in members states, as by then, every category of the workforce would be eligible to move freely. Ivor Carryl, Programme Manager for CSME regional unit, made the disclosure as...

The relocation exercise, for residents of Hurricane-damaged communities in St. Catherine and Clarendon, will begin as early as next month. Minister of State for Education, Youth and Culture, Senator Noel Monteith, in his contribution to the State of the Nation Debate in the Senate on February 3, informed that housing solutions would be provided for some 400 residents hailing from...

State Minister in the Education, Youth and Culture Ministry, Senator Noel Monteith has said that the Ministry is aiming to provide 14,000 new school spaces by September 2007. Senator Monteith, who was making his contribution to the State of the Nation Debate in the Senate on February 3, explained that the school spaces would be provided through the expansion of...

Minister of Development, Dr. Paul Robertson has urged stakeholders in the bauxite industry to "let good sense prevail", so that the gains made in the industry could be preserved. Speaking on the weekend at the Jamaica Bauxite Institute's 30th anniversary awards luncheon at the Knutsford Court Hotel, the Minister with responsibility for bauxite, said he hoped the stakeholders would find...

A year after Jamaica was granted approved destination status from China, plans are being put in place for the country to begin receiving some of the more than 19 million Chinese tourists who travel annually, by early 2007. Deputy Director of Tourism, David Shields, informs JIS News that since the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) last year February...

Awards and attractive prizes will be handed out to outstanding employees of the Sandals Whitehouse European Village and Spa, located at Whitehouse in eastern Westmoreland, at the hotel's first annual staff awards presentation on February 9. The function will form part of activities for the weeklong anniversary celebrations from February 5 - 11. Director of Public Relations at the hotel,...

State Minister in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture, Senator Noel Monteith has called for an end to the glorification of violence through all types of media. "Our children through these various media - cable television, the computer and video games - have become desensitised to the plethora of violent acts explicitly shown through these media," he said. Making...

Jamaica's children have found a strong voice in Mary Clarke, veteran teacher and former senior projects officer with the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), who has been appointed the new Children's Advocate. Her appointment became effective on January 1, 2006. Mrs. Clarke, who comes to the fore with an enviable track record of success in matters concerning children at all...

If Haiti is included, the combined population of the CARICOM Single Market (CSM) would be 14 million persons. However, as it is now, the Single Market's combined population stands at around 6 million persons, with a combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of approximately US$300 million. Because of its current political uncertainty, Haiti is unable to participate in the CSM at...