News

Paulwell: Noranda bankruptcy filing has nothing to do with bauxite levy row

MINISTER in charge of mining, Phillip Paulwell, has dismissed speculation that the bankruptcy filing by Noranda Bauxite’s parent company in the United States is in any way related to the recent arbitration ruling in favour of the Jamaican Government’s right to be paid the full bauxite l ... Read More

Political campaigning banned in volatile Flanker
THE Election Centre, which is co-chaired by the political ombudsman and the director of elections, h ... Read More

Big projects on Bunting’s agenda as he looks forward
MANDEVILLE, Manchester — It has been eight-and-a-half years since incumbent member of parliame ... Read More

PM demands apology from Holness over ‘con artist’ comment
THE attorney for Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller has written to Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) lead ... Read More

Murdered Manchester couple were returning residents

FAMILY members of an elderly Manchester couple found dead on Monday were yesterday still trying to come to grips with the vicious attack. Lansil Gregory, 71, and his 74-year-old wife, Corita — who returned to Jamaica from the United States — were chopped to death at their home in the rural community of Edinburgh. A relative of the family, Alwyn Gregory, told the Jamaica Observer yesterday that he believes that robbery was not the only motive when the couple’s lives were snu ... Read More

Nomination day highlights

JAMAICANS turned out in their numbers Tuesday to show support for their respective political candidates who were nominated to contest the February 25 General Election. A total of 152 candidates were nominated across the 63 constituencies. The ruling People’s National Party and the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party each fielded full slates of 63 candidates while seven individuals were nominated for the National Democratic Movement and six for the Marcus Garvey People’s Political Party. ... Read More

#DecisionJa2016: St Aubyn Bartlett absent from code of conduct signing in Manchester

MANCHESTER, Jamaica – Jamaica Labour Party candidate for Manchester Central Dr St Aubyn Bartlett was on Thursday absent from the signing of the political code of conduct in Manchester. Justice of the peace and member of Bartlett’s campaign team Marcel Barham signed on his behalf. Sally Porteous, custos of Manchester, told OBSERVER ONLINE that Bartlett informed her that he had an emergency in Kingston and was unable to attend the signing ceremony. Though the proceedings started lat ... Read More

Forex: J$121.66 to one US dollar

KINGSTON, Jamaica – The US dollar on Thursday, February 11, 2016, ended trading at J$121.66, up by nine cents according to the Bank of Jamaica’s daily foreign exchange trading summary. Meanwhile, the Canadian dollar ended trading at J$86.14, down from J$86.96, while the British pound sterling ended trading at J$173.72, down from J$174.08. Read More

Jamaica’s food import bill drops 11.5% in 2015

ST JAMES, Jamaica (JIS) – Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Derrick Kellier is reporting that the country’s food import bill declined by 11.5 per cent last year, representing savings of J$10.5 billion (US$88.7 million) over the corresponding period in 2014. He was speaking at the 2016 Hague Agricultural and Livestock Show in Falmouth, Trelawny, on Wednesday. Minister Kellier credited the decline to “deliberate strategies” to increase food production, including the a ... Read More

#DecisionJa2016: PNP says no debates until Holness apologises to Portia

KINGSTON, Jamaica – General Secretary of the People’s National Party (PNP) Paul Burke has informed the chairman of the Jamaica Debates Commission, Noel daCosta, that the PNP will not participate in any debates with the Jamaica Labour Party unless Andrew Holness takes certain actions, which were communicated to him today. In a letter to daCosta, Burke referred to tripartite discussions which have been held regarding the staging of political debates, prior to the upcoming general elec ... Read More

Work on GraceKennedy's new headquarters begins Feb 15

KINGSTON, Jamaica – Pedestrians and vehicular traffic will be affected, to varying degrees, when initial construction work on GraceKennedy’s new US$25-million corporate headquarters begins downtown Kingston on February 15. Executive Chairman of GraceKennedy Properties Limited, Michael Ranglin, who has oversight for the development, explained that the construction process on the 48,000-square-foot property will begin with the erection of a hoarding or wall along the perimeter of the ... Read More

SLB to calculate interest rates on reducing balance

KINGSTON, Jamaica – As of April 1 this year the Student Loan Bureau will charge interest on the reducing loan balances for new and returning students. According to Education Minister Ronald Thwaites, this move will result in new and returning students paying 20 per cent less in interest charges. Thwaites made the disclosure Thursday while speaking at the Jamaica Dental Association 52nd Annual Convention in Kingston. He also praised the Bureau for satisfying approximately 93 per cent of ... Read More

Plane makes emergency landing in Dominican Republic

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (CMC) – A Russian plane was forced to make an emergency landing late Wednesday at the Punta Cana Airport after one of its engines caught fire en route to Moscow. The Air Oreair flight 553 with 351 Russian tourists and 20 crew, departed Punta Cana shortly after 6:00 pm (local time) on Wednesday, when two hours into the flight, a failure in one engine was reported, forcing the crew to make an emergency landing after circling over the area for close to two h ... Read More

Fitch upgrades Jamaica

KINGSTON, Jamaica – Fitch Ratings Agency today upgraded Jamaica’s Long-term foreign and local currency issue ratings to ‘B’ from ‘B-‘ and revised the outlook to Stable from Positive. The issue ratings on Jamaica’s senior unsecured Foreign- and Local-Currency bonds were also upgraded to ‘B’. The ratings upgrade is predicated on a number of factors including the Government’s continued commitment to fiscal consolidation and macroeconomic ... Read More