Lead Stories

Inadequate funding, staff hamper Jamaica’s human trafficking fight

Published:Friday | August 3, 2018 | 12:18 AMBrian Walker/Staff Reporter

Diahann Gordon Harrison, national rapporteur on trafficking in persons, says that inadequate staffing and resources have hampered the operations of her office. The Office of the National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons (ONRTIP) was created in...

Forrest quits - PM summons science, technology and energy boards

Published:Friday | August 3, 2018 | 12:12 AMEdmond Campbell and Brian Walker/Staff Reporters

Following revelations that he had improperly intervened in the recruitment process at the Spectrum Management Authority (SMA), a chaste Trevor Forrest resigned as board chairman yesterday. “... I sincerely regret any damage my actions may...

Phillips flays Holness over failure to name Wheatley's replacement

Published:Friday | August 3, 2018 | 12:00 AM

Leader of the Opposition Dr Peter Phillips is urging Prime Minister Andrew Holness to tell the nation who will take on the ministerial responsibilities that were held by Dr Andrew Wheatley.According to Phillips, adequate time has now passed since...

Stop calling wards 'government pickney' - CPFSA director

Published:Friday | August 3, 2018 | 12:00 AMJodi-Ann Gilpin/Gleaner Writer

Pointing to a number of success stories within state homes, Michelle McIntosh, a director at the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA), believes that it has become even more critical that stigma is eradicated from vulnerable groups.In...

Jacob's Ladder - Example of people power under trying circumstances

Published:Friday | August 3, 2018 | 12:00 AMChristopher Serju/Gleaner Writer

The final two-kilometre-drive to get there can be testing to navigate, given the poor road conditions - either a rough and dusty roadway or water-laden potholes - but Jacob's Ladder provides a refreshing example of...

Rio Cobre back to normal after contaminated water from Windalco

Published:Friday | August 3, 2018 | 12:00 AMSyranno Baines/Gleaner Writer

The National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) yesterday revealed that an overflow of contaminated storm water from the nearby West Indies Alumina Company (Windalco) property in Ewarton caused the discolouration that was observed in a tributary...

Weekend smoke relief for citizens affected by Riverton fire

Published:Friday | August 3, 2018 | 12:00 AMJason Cross/Gleaner Writer

Between today and tomorrow, persons in sections of the Corporate Area should once again enjoy fresh air, uninterrupted by heavy smoke emanating from the Riverton disposal site inSt Andrew, according to Acting Commissioner of the Jamaica Fire Brigade...

1-yr wait for Cornwall Regional Hospital to be fully operational

Published:Friday | August 3, 2018 | 12:00 AMNadine Wilson-Harris/ Gleaner Writer

The public has to wait another year or more before they can fully access the services provided by the St James-based Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH), which has been plagued by air-quality problems for the last two years.It is estimated that the...

ZOSO tearing cops' families apart - McBean - Prolonged absenteeism destroying households, says Police Federation

Published:Thursday | August 2, 2018 | 12:00 AMCarlene Davis/Gleaner Writer

As the Government boasts of significant reduction in crime, stemming from the implementation of zones of special operations and states of public emergency, families of members of the security forces are being torn apart.Chairman of the Police...

Utility companies troubled by court delays for theft cases

Published:Thursday | August 2, 2018 | 12:00 AMBrian Walker/Gleaner Writer

The island's major utility companies are frustrated by the delays in the parish courts in dispensing with cases of theft and other illegal activities that negatively affect their operations. The entities have all asserted that theft, no matter how...

New leadership at UWI, Mona

Published:Thursday | August 2, 2018 | 12:00 AMShanna Monteith/Gleaner Writer

The University of the West Indies' (UWI) oldest campus at Mona in St Andrew is now under new leadership.After almost five years at the helm, Professor Archibald McDonald yesterday made way for Professor Dale Webber as the new campus principal....

Most gov't stakeholders unclear about role in human trafficking fight

Published:Thursday | August 2, 2018 | 12:00 AMBrian Walker/Staff Reporter

Only 20 per cent of the National Task Force Against Trafficking in Persons' (NATFATIP) stakeholders interviewed by the Office of the National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons were able to articulate their area of responsibility in tackling the...

Three strikes for cop killer - Court of Appeal confirms murder conviction after third trial

Published:Thursday | August 2, 2018 | 12:00 AMLivern Barrett/ Senior Gleaner Writer

A St Andrew man who ambushed a beloved police corporal and sprayed him with bullets then twice dodged murder convictions has finally been put away.The Court of Appeal, in a decision handed down on Tuesday, confirmed the murder conviction of...

Ja ripe for development of energy sector - US ambassador-nominee

Published:Thursday | August 2, 2018 | 12:00 AM

Donald Tapia, United States (US) President Donald Trump's nominee for the post of ambassador to Jamaica, told a Senate committee hearing yesterday that he would focus much of his attention on the energy sector if he is named to the post.Tapia, an...

Church must play its role in pushing culture agenda

Published:Thursday | August 2, 2018 | 12:00 AMCecelia Campbell-Livingston/ Gleaner Writer

On Tuesday, the Longville Park Baptist Church in Clarendon was transformed into a cultural arena as the congregation celebrated the Emancipation vigil under the theme 'Emancipation Sinting', culminating in the reading of the declaration of freedom....

PSOJ concerned about dump fires impact on businesses, citizens

Published:Thursday | August 2, 2018 | 12:00 AMJason Cross/Gleaner Writer

The recent fires at the Riverton and Church Corner disposal sites in St Andrew and St Thomas, respectively, have negatively affected the health of thousands and put a dent in the operations of numerous business establishments, triggering concern by...

Reid: Emancipation marked end of dark time - Beginning of walk to self-determination

Published:Thursday | August 2, 2018 | 12:00 AMCarl Gilchrist/Gleaner Writer

Education Minister Ruel Reid has underscored the importance of celebrating emancipation from slavery as Jamaica observed 180 years of freedom on August 1.Giving the main address at the Emancipation Jubilee at Seville Heritage Park in St Ann on...

Court to hear no-locks-in-school case this Friday, says JFJ - OCA sides with JFJ, family in constitutional action

Published:Thursday | August 2, 2018 | 12:00 AMSyranno Baines/Gleaner Writer

The first hearing in the constitutional claim filed by Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ) to have school policies that prohibit the wearing of dreadlocks by children struck down is scheduled for Friday.Filed on July 18, the legal action is being pursued on...

Constant Spring Market vendors lament dim future

Published:Wednesday | August 1, 2018 | 12:00 AMJodi-Ann Gilpin and Maurice Silvera/ Gleaner Writers

Vendors in the Constant Spring Market, once the place of choice for fresh produce in upper St Andrew, are in despair because of an uncertain future.Members of this micro-enterprise community have found themselves locked in a legal dispute with the...

Slap on wrist for child killer - 25-year sentence cut to nine for man who beat one-year-old to death

Published:Wednesday | August 1, 2018 | 12:00 AMLivern Barrett/Senior Gleaner Writer

Jamaica's second-highest court has slashed by more than half the 25-year prison sentence that was imposed on a St Mary man who used a piece of stick to beat his infant grandniece to death. This occurred 16 months after he was released from prison...

JET aims for 10,000 International Coastal Clean-up volunteers

Published:Wednesday | August 1, 2018 | 12:00 AMBrian Walker/Staff Reporter

Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) is pushing to attract 10,000 volunteers for the 2018 staging of the International Coastal Clean-up (ICC) Day set to take place on September 15. Last year, Jamaica was recognised as hosting the 12th largest ICC event...

NEPA yet to confirm Rio Cobre pollutant

Published:Wednesday | August 1, 2018 | 12:00 AMSyranno Baines/Gleaner Writer

Up to late yesterday, the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) said that it was yet to confirm the identity and source of the pollutant that was observed in a tributary of the Rio Cobre in Linstead, St Catherine.NEPA began carrying out...

Forrest pressed PS to bow to Warren shortlist

Published:Wednesday | August 1, 2018 | 12:00 AMEdmond Campbell/ Senior Staff Reporter

Chairman of the Spectrum Management Authority (SMA), Trevor Forrest, ignored the advice of the permanent secretary in the parent ministry against the late addition of Carolyn Warren to a shortlist of persons to be interviewed for a management...

Hanover triple tragedy - Cop kills man accused of beheading friend and slaughtering another

Published:Wednesday | August 1, 2018 | 12:00 AMHopeton Bucknor/Gleaner Writer

Western Bureau: Until he broke up with his girlfriend recently and began acting strangely, 30-year-old Keron 'Timber' Watson of Cascade in Hanover was just a regular member of his community.However, things changed last Saturday when he allegedly...

Telemedicine to ease healthcare strain