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JAMAICA-POLITICS-Governor General to receive second knighthood

KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC - Governor General Sir Patrick Allen will be knighted for a second time in a ceremony at his official residence on Monday. Sir Patrick who received the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George from Queen Elizabeth II in 2009, will be invested as Knight of Grace in the Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem. The ceremony at King’s House, will be officiated by Professor Anthony Mellows, Lord Prior of St John, who will represent The Queen.

‘Jamaica out of recession’

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Observer - THE Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) estimates that Jamaica has exited the recession. The State agency is projecting economic growth in the range of 0.5 per cent to 1.5 per cent for the current quarter, which ends September 30. "There is an expected return to positive performance for most industries reflecting a resurgence in output following the impact of Hurricane Sandy," said Colin Bullock, director general of the PIOJ, at the organisation's quarterly press briefing held yesterday.

Police move to protect Chinese nationals in Jamaica

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Observer - THE Police High Command on Sunday met with officials of the Chinese Embassy, Chinese businessmen and members of their civic groups to discuss the frequent attacks on Chinese nationals in Jamaica, and steps being taken by the police to deal with the matter. The High Command, in updating the Chinese community on the risk assessment done by the National Intelligence Bureau, engaged them in full discussion on some of the practices that made members of their community vulnerable to crime.

World Bank Caribbean director in Jamaica for meetings

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Observer - NEW World Bank Country Director for the Caribbean Sophie Sirtaine arrived in Jamaica yesterday to hold a series of meeting with government officials, private sector representatives, as well as social partners. She is scheduled to leave the island today. Sirtaine, who took up the position just three weeks ago, was scheduled to meet with Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips to discuss issues related to strengthening the World Bank's support to Jamaica's agenda for economic growth and greater global competitiveness.

Will Syria be Barack Obama’s first war?

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Observer - AS a president who has strenuously campaigned against war, Mr Barack Obama must be praying, like Jesus Christ, to let this Syrian cup pass from him. In a sense, one can reasonably say that the bloody Syrian conflict, which has claimed an estimated 100,000 casualties since 2011, was bound to reach this crossroad. Last week's killing of hundreds of children using chemical weapons is hard for humanity -- and any president — to stomach. It seems to have constituted the straw that broke the camel's back.

Jamaica treading through its difficulties

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Stabroek News - Since Michael Manley succumbed in the second half of the 1970s, after his experiments in economic and foreign policy radicalism, to the IMF’s insistence that he accept one of their more severe programmes for the recuperation of a depressed Jamaican economy, the country has gone through a number of attempts at trying and retrying those IMF policies to which it had originally objected.

JAMAICA-MEDIA-IPI said TVJ chairman engaged in censorship

KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – The Vienna-based International Press Institute (IPI) said that the chairman of the board of Television Jamaica Ltd. (TVJ) Milton Samuda, had engaged in censorship when he restricted the questions to be asked of two Olympians last month. In a letter to the Chairman of the RJR Communications Group, Lester Spaulding, IPI executive director, Alison Bethel McKenzie said she was expressing her “profound concern regarding allegations of an egregious attack on press freedom perpetrated by...Samuda.

Not enough attention to alternative energy

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Observer - JAMAICA continues to agonise over the cost of electricity and the capacity to pay for its oil imports. This agony started with the first oil price shock in 1973 and the degree of agony has varied with the ebb and flow of oil prices. The country is in the throes of trying to reduce the cost of electricity and the oil import bill. Much attention is now being devoted to finalising the outcome of the bidding process for an additional 360-megawatt (MW) of electricity at the most competitive price.

Gov’t To Remove Prison Option For Problem Kids

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Gleaner - The Portia Simpson Miller Cabinet has approved legislative changes that could remove one of the most controversial provisions of the Child Care and Protection Act which allows a judge to incarcerate a child who is deemed to be "beyond control". "This will result in judges no longer having the option of sentencing these children to correctional centres," the youth ministry said in a statement released yesterday.

Time for action on the MSME policy

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Observer - WE hope that the Green Paper on the draft Micro Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) and Entrepreneurial Policy, which was tabled in Parliament in May, has not been left to gather cobwebs like other documents now before the legislature. Even if he does not show it, we know that Minister Anthony Hylton, in whose Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce the document originated, is quite eager to see the policy put in place to revive a sector that could be the game-changer for Jamaica's ailing economy.

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