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The country's elected leaders, heads of private and public sector enterprises, and church leaders gathered this morning (January 19), for spiritual reflection at the annual National Leadership Prayer Breakfast, held at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston. This was the 26th staging of the event, which was held under the theme: 'Choose You This Day'. In his address, Governor-General, His...

The Bamboo Primary and Junior High School in St. Ann is to be expanded, to benefit more than 1,155 students and 34 teachers. A contract to carry out the work was signed by the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) and the Bamboo Community Development Benevolent Society at a ceremony held at the school on January 19. "The JSIF family believes...

The Jamaica Customs Department has organized a week of activities to mark International Customs Day on January 26. Speaking with JIS News, Naomi Goulbourne Rodney, Public Relations Manager at Jamaica Customs Department said, "Instead of observing one day we thought we would make it a week of activities to give information and interact with our customers." The Jamaica Customs Department...

Residents of Silent Hill and surrounding communities in north Clarendon have benefited from a range of health services provided by a medical team from the Organization for International Development (OID) and Caribbean Outreach, which are based in the United States. At a health fair held on Tuesday (Jan.17) at the Silent Hill community centre, the medical team, comprised of more...

A team of senior officers from the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) will meet with the Jamaican Diaspora in South Florida at a community forum on Saturday, January 21 in North Miami. The team members are Deputy Commissioner of Police, Charles Scarlett of the Intelligence Unit; Assistant Commissioner, Glenmore Hinds of Operation Kingfish and Inspector V.C. Campbell of the Narcotics Unit....

Effective immediately, Colombian and Jamaican nationals holding diplomatic and official passports will no longer have to obtain visas to travel between both countries. Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister, K.D. Knight and his counterpart in Colombia, Dr. Carolina Barco signed the agreement on January 16 at the just concluded Fifth Meeting of the Jamaica Colombia Bi-national Commission, held in San...

The government of Venezuela has granted scholarships to 10 Jamaicans to study sports related courses at the IBER American and Caribbean Sports University in Venezuela. Minister of Local Government, Community Development and Sport, Portia Simpson-Miller has informed that eligible students would be required to read for a degree in the areas of physical activity, health, sports training and sports technology...

Employees who suspect that their National Insurance Scheme (NIS) contributions are not being paid over by employers are being encouraged to verify that the deductions are in fact, turned in. Denzil Thorpe, Director of National Insurance in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, tells JIS News that an acceptable course of action for an employee to pursue, is to...

The Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) has added another overseas law enforcement official to its ranks. He is Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Les Greene, who will be in charge of serious and organized crime. ACP Greene has been on secondment from Scotland Yard since October 2004 as part of the technical support provided by the Metropolitan Police to Operation Kingfish....

More than 400 4-H clubbities in St. James, along with their leaders, have benefited from training sessions organized by the parish's advisory council since the start of the year. According to 4-H Parish Manager for St. James, Barbara Lawrence, the training programme was a continuous one and was geared towards equipping the clubbites with the necessary skills to properly function...

Managing Director of the Water Resources Authority (WRA), Basil Fernandez, has pointed out that the floodwaters affecting some sections of St. Ann for the last six months would continue to affect those areas for some time yet. Speaking with JIS News following a tour of the flooded areas last week, where he and a team of geologists from the WRA...

Cabinet has approved the appointment of the chairman and members of the Town and Country Planning Authority for a period of two years with effect from January 2, 2006. Making the announcement at Monday's (Jan. 16) post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House, Information Minister, Senator Burchell Whiteman informed that Ruth Potopsingh, Group Managing Director at the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica,...