WESTERN BUREAU: The Government is being urged to crack down on lavish guest houses and villas operating under the guise of Airbnb interests that are charging thousands of US dollars per night while dodging tax authorities. Wayne Cummings, a past...
WESTERN BUREAU: In a sustained pitch for the introduction of the revised National Identification System (NIDS), Jamaica’s national security minister has championed the new framework as a bufffer to the global reach of identity theft that has...
WESTERN BUREAU: Prime Minister Andrew Holness says that he is satisfied with the progress made by the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) in transforming the 16-acre former ‘Dump-up Beach’ into a scenic closed harbour park. The legacy project is...
WESTERN BUREAU: The United States Ambassador to Jamaica Donald Tapia is of the view that if the cost of commercial electricity is reduced by 0.06 cents per kilowatt-hour, the country’s fortunes could explode into economic prosperity. While...
WESTERN BUREAU: Donald Tapia, the United States’ top envoy in Jamaica, is encouraging Jamaican business leaders to take greater advantage of the five to 20 per cent tax-free export arrangement embedded in the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI),...
WESTERN BUREAU: With only US$600-million worth of goods being exported from Jamaica to the United States (US) annually, America’s most senior diplomat here has urged local private-sector leaders to increase crossborder trade. Citing a recent report...
National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang says some citizens are using the powers of the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) as a shield to heap abuse on members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF). Chang said although a recent...
Chairman of the Montego Bay chapter of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA), Robin Russell, says there are many elderly visitors coming to Jamaica because they desire to die in the country. “People die, people come to Jamaica to die,...
WESTERN BUREAU: Several business operators in Falmouth, Trelawny, appear to be flouting the Government’s ban on single-use plastic bags, which are widely being used in the market and supermarkets. At the start of the year, the Government imposed a...
WESTERN BUREAU: The Government’s failure to invest in the investigative capacity of the police has hampered probes into violent crime, says Fitz Jackson, opposition spokesman on national security and chairman of the People’s National Party (PNP)....
WESTERN BUREAU: Johann Heaven, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of PROVEN Wealth, is warning that a global financial recession is on the horizon for the fiscal year 2020-2021, and he believes it could negatively impact Jamaica’s stock...
WESTERN BUREAU: Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Audley Shaw says the Cannabis Licensing Authority (CLA) is seeking to establish a buffer zone policy of a minimum of four miles between medicinal hemp sites and ganja farms to...
WESTERN BUREAU: The practice of federal Air Marshals travelling on passenger aircraft to and from Jamaica under a revised agreement between the Holness administration and the United States is not about signing over our sovereignty, National...
WESTERN BUREAU: Erick Vassell, acting regional director for the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA), says if the nation’s two SOS Children’s Villages are forced to close their doors in the near future, it will severely impact the...
WESTERN BUREAU: Though hotelier Peter Morrow died recently in a plane crash in Miami, Florida, his presence was felt at Friday night’s RJRGLEANER 2019 Hospitality Jamaica Awards in Montego Bay, St James. Not only was there a moment of silence to...
WESTERN BUREAU: Jamaica will need a new international airport to meet the exponential growth and expansion of the tourism industry by 2030, according to Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett. He said that over the 10-year period 2020-2030, the country...
WESTERN BUREAU: Prime Minister Andrew Holness says the stable political climate and the general Caribbean region are factors that should make the island a viable option for investors in tourism and other areas. Holness said Jamaica has a unique...
WESTERN BUREAU: Two new Karisma hotels will open in 2023. Speaking at the just-concluded Caribbean Hotel Investment Conference and Operations Summit in Montego Bay, Beccera said the 226-acre property has been divided into 10 lots, with four already...
WESTERN BUREAU: Sixty-four wards and 14 caregivers of the SOS Children’s Village in Barrett Town, St James, all escaped unharmed from a fire that broke out at the facility on Thursday night. The blaze was reportedly caused by an electrical shortage...
WESTERN BUREAU: Jamaica’s government services and private sector must become more productive in order to be competitive, adopting the velocity of athletics star Usain Bolt in speeding up business transactions, says Prime Minister Andrew Holness....
WESTERN BUREAU: The dreams of university education for 15 youngsters affiliated with the SOS Children’s Villages in Jamaica may soon vanish if the welfare group’s international funding dries up, its interim national director has said. Ray Gregory...
WESTERN BUREAU: The 162 orphans being housed at the SOS Children’s Village in Barrett Town, St James, and Stony Hill, St Andrew, could find themselves homeless within two years unless approximately $266 million can be found to keep the two...
WESTERN BUREAU: The Office of the Children’s Advocate is supportive of a recent call by Professor Errol Morrison, the newly appointed Cadet Lieutenant Colonel for the Jamaica Combined Cadet Force (JCCF), to be considered a major part of the country...
WESTERN BUREAU: Veteran educator and commandant of the Jamaica Combined Cadet Force (JCCF), Errol Johnson, recently created history when he became the first person to serve as a brigadier in the 75-year-old organisation which is divided into seven...
WESTERN BUREAU: Employers and trade unionists are waiting with bated breath for next year’s opening of the Western Division of the Industrial Dispute Tribunal (IDT), which is expected to bring relief in settling job-related disagreements in that...
