Jamaica
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Task force to examine impact of smoking ban on tourism
KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – With the recent implementation of a ban on smoking in public places, Tourism Minister, Dr. Wykeham McNeil has announced that an inter-ministry task force will take a look at concerns about implications of the ban in the hotel sector. The decision to convene the task force was made at a meeting on Friday between representatives of…
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The University of the West Indies: Performing against the odds
KINGSTON, Jamaica – A few days ago the BBC Television World Service interviewed one of the wealthiest people in China. She will be 48 years old next month and her assets are worth US$3.6 billion. Zhang Xin was born into abject poverty, began working in a sweat-shop, lived in a single room with her mother in Hong Kong, saved from…
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How badly has the doping scandal hurt Brand Jamaica?
KINGSTON, Jamaica – IT would be foolhardy to think that Jamaica's image would not be harmed by the doping scandal involving several of our athletes, including the much loved Mr Asafa Powell, and just before that, the iconic Mrs Veronica Campbell Brown. Yet, we must admit to being greatly surprised by the immediate conclusion in so many quarters about how…
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Curfew imposed after gunmen kill three
KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – The authorities have imposed a 24 hour curfew on a section of Annotto Bay in St. Mary after gunmen shot and killed three people including a woman. Police said that 27-year-old Dwayne Harris, 41-year-old David McIntosh and his common-law wife, 44-year-old Maureen Pinnock were shot and killed after the gunmen gained entrance to the premises. Police…
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Jamaica’s very surprising call over CARICOM
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – THIS IS UNDOUBTEDLY a most challenging period in global political and economic developments for some members of CARICOM. And a few leading Community partners seem to be wilting under mounting economic and social pressures, resulting in rather surprising political posturings. None more so than in the case of Jamaica. Last week, for instance, that country’s opposition leader…
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EDITORIAL – Repairing the brand and our psyche
KINGSTON, Jamaica – Karl Samuda, the opposition MP, with great clarity, summed up the impact of the recent spate of positive drug tests for leading Jamaican athletes on the global brand. The observation applies, too, to our collective psyche. “What has happened,” Mr Samuda told his parliamentary colleagues, “is that the previously infallible nature of our athletics prowess has been…
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Positive findings – naysayers’ paradise
KINGSTON, Jamaica – THE positive analytical findings involving two of our star athletes and three other young athletes have not only shocked the nation but have placed Jamaica under intense scrutiny as the supreme sprinting powerhouse in the world. The doubters are having a field day, ramping up the claim that our athletic domination in sprints is not based on…
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Jamaica gets praise from PAHO/WHO for new tobacco law
KINGSTON, Jamaica – THE Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO) have heaped praises on Jamaica for the no-smoking regulations, which took effect on Monday. In a release yesterday, the United Nations bodies said that the regulations will protect the population from the harmful effects of tobacco and exposure to second-hand smoke.
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Health Minister defends smoking ban in public places
KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – The Jamaica government says while it remains open to facilitating dialogue and reasonable suggestions regarding the newly implemented smoking ban in public places, the policy was not taken in isolation. “When we look at emerging data, some, 50 per cent of persons who smoke die from some kind of tobacco-related illness. So my actions and that…
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Government not pleased with online petition
KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – A campaign by local human rights watchdog, Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ), highlighting the plight of children, has not gone down well with the Minister of Youth , Lisa Hanna who has described an online petition by the JFJ as “disingenuous, dishonest, and dangerous”. According to Hanna, the petition – “Stop the abuse of Jamaica's children by…
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