News

Dr Christopher Tufton, minister of health and wellness.
December 26, 2025 by Christopher Thomas

Tufton expects Melissa-damaged western hospital buildings to be repaired by next month

WESTERN BUREAU: Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton says he is hopeful that the hospitals in western Jamaica, which took a battering from Hurricane Melissa, will be restored by the end…
Residents of Winchester Housing Scheme in Green Island, Westmoreland, helped a paraplegic senior from Glenbrook, Westmoreland to acquire a new wheelchair after being displaced by Hurricane Melissa.
December 26, 2025 by Mickalia Kington

Hope in motion

A paraplegic senior displaced by hurricane damage is regaining a measure of independence, thanks to swift community action and quiet generosity in Green Island, Westmoreland. The woman, Claudette…
Marsha Coore-Lobban, Jamaica’s high commissioner to Canada.
December 26, 2025 by Karen Madden

Jamaican diplomats in Canada working to meet diaspora demands

Just over two years since her Ottawa posting, Jamaica’s High Commissioner to Canada Marsha Coore-Lobban is hailing an improvement in consular services as being among her accomplishments, but admits to…
Labour and Social Security Minister Pearnel Charles Jr (second left) shakes hands with farm worker Zeneice Nixon at a send-off ceremony for 95 workers who departed the island for Toronto, Canada, last April under the Canadian Seasonal Agricultural Workers
December 26, 2025

Charles Jr, Coore-Lobban firm on safety for farm workers

The Seasonal Agricultural Workers Programme (SAWP) between Canada and Jamaica is being hailed as one of the most successful and longest-running labour mobility programmes in the world. Known more…
Murray and Ashley McKenzie, school groundsman and janitor, watch closely as Don Jorgensen, rapid response team leader for Global Medic, works on the UV water filter.
December 26, 2025 by Mickalia Kington

Blauwearie gets drinkable water from Global Medic

Western Bureau: For years, students at Blauwearie Primary and Infant School relied on water from a nearby stream, rain catchment and bottled supplies, never fully certain if the water they had access…
Keliesha Fearon, a resident of St Elizabeth and a JWN Foundation volunteer, prepares paint to help with the rebuilding efforts.
December 26, 2025

‘I won’t have to worry anymore’

For 33-year-old Nichola Smith, the approach of Hurricane Melissa brought days of fear and uncertainty. Living in Balaclava, St Elizabeth, Smith, who shares her home with five members of her household,…
Digicel Foundation CEO Charmaine Daniels (right) hands over $300,000 worth of hardware vouchers to Sadie Brisstell, administrative assistant at West Haven Children’s Home, during a visit to the facility in Hanover.
December 26, 2025

Digicel Foundation brings holiday cheer with hardware vouchers

The Digicel Foundation is distributing of $30 million in Hardware and Lumber Limited vouchers to support home repairs and rebuilding efforts, with a strong focus on western Jamaica, where communities…
People relax along Hellshire Beach in St Catherine.
December 26, 2025 by Paul H. Williams

No ‘box dung’ on Boxing Day

A few days ago, I overheard a conversation between a young mother and her daughter, who looked about six years old. The child wanted to know why Boxing Day is so called, and when it is. The mother…
Professor Donovan Campbell
December 26, 2025

UWI scientists play key role in UN flagship environmental report

Scientists from the University of the West Indies (UWI) have once again placed the Caribbean at the centre of global environmental discourse, playing a key role in the research, analysis, and…