Minister of National Security, Peter Bunting says Cabinet has approved the formal merger of the Forensic Science Laboratory and the Legal Medicine Unit to form a new entity to be named the Institute of Forensic Science and Legal Medicine.
The merging of the two entities was one of the recommendations made in the Master Rationalization Plan for the Public Sector.
Long drive professional golfer Maurice Allen will conduct two golf clinics and exhibitions in Jamaica this weekend.
The Atlanta-based Allen will stage the first clinic and exhibition tomorrow at the Constant Spring Golf Course in Kingston.
He travels to Montego Bay for the second clinic and exhibition at the Cinnamon Hill Golf Course.
Among the highlights at the exhibition will be a demonstration of power hitting by Allen.
The 32-year-old American is Guineas World Record holder.
The Pharmaceutical Society of Jamaica says there's a shortage of mosquito repellent among its members arising from the high demand from persons seeking to protect themselves from the chikungunya virus.
And President of the organisation, Christopher Curtis also says local suppliers have curtailed the volume of repellents they sell to pharmacies.
According to him, pharmacies were informed that overseas suppliers are out of stock and this is affecting supplies to local distributors.
The Jamaica Cancer Society is lamenting the continued reluctance of Jamaican men to undertake tests for prostate cancer, even though the cancer is the most deadly among adult men.
Speaking on Independent Talk with Althea McKenzie, the cancer society’s, Shullian Brown, disclosed that the number of men volunteering to be screened is unimpressive.
The Cancer Society has recommended that all men have a yearly screening for prostate cancer starting at age 40.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has urged the US to provide military assistance to his country to counter pro-Russian eastern separatists.
In an address to a joint session of Congress, he said ill-equipped young Ukrainian servicemen were fighting a "war for the free world" against Russian aggression.
President Obama has condemned Russia's actions in Ukraine.
But he has said that military support will only include non-lethal equipment.
The Organisation of American States, OAS, has released a report, blasting Jamaica's prosecutorial agencies, especially the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, for what it calls a general failure to prosecute corruption cases.
The report is the culmination of a review that examined Jamaica’s implementation of modern mechanisms for preventing, detecting, punishing, and eradicating corrupt acts under the Inter-American Convention against Corruption, covering oversight bodies.
Jovan Johnson reports:
[LOCOAS]
The number of deaths linked to the chikungunya virus is estimated at 113.
And all of the fatalities are reported in the Caribbean.
The latest figures from the Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO), which include statistics as of Sept. 12, confirm the Caribbean region's vulnerability to the disease.
The PAHO report says, however, that it was not yet clear if these deaths were directly attributable to the virus.
Chikungunya itself is not fatal but can result in death when combined with other serious medical conditions.
