WESTERN BUREAU: As Prime Minister Andrew Holness’ laughter reverberated through the airwaves last Tuesday in Parliament, wedding event planners across the island cringed in dismay. The prime minister quipped that he was getting no pushback from...
WESTERN BUREAU: A New York-based bride says her dream wedding planned for Jamaica has not only been her biggest mistake, but has now turned into a nightmare, putting her at risk of losing an additional US$75,000 to US$80,000 if forced to cancel...
WESTERN BUREAU: Jamaica’s chief construction industry lobby has raised concern about a legislative order exempting China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) from procurement rules and which also sets employment benchmarks for local workers on a Montego Bay roadworks project. The...
WESTERN BUREAU: The party boat that capsized in Negril last weekend was not licensed to carry visitors, says the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo), an agency of the Ministry of the Tourism. And the operators are to be charged by the...
WESTERN BUREAU: Travel classifications on the basis of national COVID-19 vaccination take-up have been condemned as unfair and shocking by stakeholders in the tourism-dependent Caribbean. The objection comes in the wake of proposals in the United...
WESTERN BUREAU: The Government has been urged to provide a lifeline to craft merchants facing eviction in markets across the island. Tagging craft traders “the most vulnerable in tourism”, Opposition Spokesperson Janice Allen has called for...
WESTERN BUREAU: A multifunctional agro-processing plant estimated to cost $35 million is being established at the Sydney Pagon STEM Academy in St Elizabeth as a gift from the JWN Foundation, the charity and community outreach arm of the rum...
WESTERN BUREAU: Production has started on the 876 Roommates reality television show, which kicks off this summer in Jamaica. The series, which will see 15 of Jamaica’s young comedians and pranksters competing for $1 million cash and prizes, has...
WESTERN BUREAU: In the wake of the capsizing of the industry in 2020 under the weight of global COVID-19 restrictions, Jamaica anticipates welcoming 570,000 cruise shipping visitors and one million stopover travellers by year end. Spurred by...
WESTERN BUREAU: Jamaica’s tourism sector is to get a shot in the arm from at least four major carriers out of the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States, introducing new destinations or a return to the island. Virgin Atlantic will commence...
WESTERN BUREAU: Within months, legislation which allows judges to place children in penal institutions without being charged could be repealed if the tough-talking junior education and youth minister, Robert Morgan, has his way. Morgan, who has...
WESTERN BUREAU: Weighed down under ash, thirsty for water and oxygen, accessible only by sea, predictions are it will take Vincentians three to four months to recover from the devastating volcanic eruption that has displaced 20,000 people in that...
WESTERN BUREAU: The fear of being among the COVID-19 statistics drove scores of tourism workers to the weekend vaccine blitz that was flocked by residents across northern and western Jamaica. “I have seen the damage COVID has done in and around the...
WESTERN BUREAU: The woman accused of beating a two-year-old baby while in her care at the T’s Tiny Tots Daycare Centre in Falmouth, Trelawny, is to be charged this Friday, the police have confirmed. The caregiver, Jacqui Harding-Fearon, who spent...
WESTERN BUREAU: One month and five days after an alleged severe beating of a two-year-old infant at a daycare centre in Falmouth, Trelawny, the accused perpetrator remained on the job without sanction from childcare watchdogs or other state...
The image of a six-year-old praying that her father isn’t taken by COVID-19 early last week warmed the heart, but there was that sinking feeling that maybe disaster was around the corner. Later, The Gleaner captured the recovery of 65-year-...
WESTERN BUREAU: Eight-year-old Ngozi Wright, who made history in 2019 when she became the youngest person to speak in the Jamaican Parliament, wants murderers and rapists to “low” the country’s children. Her cry for an end to the vicious attacks on...
WESTERN BUREAU: Richard Peters’ six-year-old daughter, Rebbekah, asked him if he was going to die the day he was admitted to hospital. He promised her he would return home alive. “Keeping that promise was most important to me,” said the 65-year-old...
WESTERN BUREAU: Eight-year-old Ravi and six-year-old Rebbekah crave the embrace of their dad, Richard Peters, who remains critically ill in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the Cornwall Regional Hospital. The two, who have a strong bond with their...
WESTERN BUREAU: With many developed nations hoarding COVID-19 vaccines and shutting out several smaller nations from the market, at least one regional leader is calling for greater transparency over the development, procurement, allocation and...
WESTERN BUREAU: It took two field handlers two hours to unearth the 140lb Mozella yam that Denville ‘Fuzzy’ Reid reaped from his Welcome district farm in eastern Hanover two weeks ago. This is the largest head of yam the businessman, who does...
WESTERN BUREAU: Newly elected Accompong Chief Richard Currie has distanced himself and the Maroons he leads from the Economic Six Region (Eco-6), Bank of Accompong, the LUMI currency and their secretariat. In a statement to The Gleaner on Wednesday...
WESTERN BUREAU: The creators of the Lumi currency are not concerned about being accepted by the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ), which has sent out an advisory stating that the Central Solar Reserve Bank of Accompong is not licensed here. During a...
WESTERN BUREAU: Their aim was to build a trusted, curated, cross-category brand that customers could rely on, reducing the decision paralysis that many ‘pet parents’ experience, particularly during online shopping. Today, Jamaican Minali Chandiram...
WESTERN BUREAU: As Jamaica rolled out its coronavirus vaccine programme on Wednesday, tourism stakeholders are jostling to be get at the front of the line for the second phase scheduled to commence in July. That assertion, by Clifton Reader,...
