Latest News

People walk past a mural of Che Guevara in Havana
February 22, 2026

Byron Blake | Whither the people of Cuba?

Cuba is the largest Caribbean island with a land mass of 42,426 square miles, and a population of 11.6 million in 2024. Life expectancy was 78.6 in 2025, with the female rate at 81 and the male at…
UNICEF Jamaica 
Children, facilitators, and community members gather outside a UNICEF-supported temporary learning space.
February 22, 2026

Olga Isaza | Jamaica’s recovery must put children first

Almost four months after Hurricane Melissa struck Jamaica, the headlines are understandably moving away from response priorities. Electricity is returning, and daily life is resuming, but for…
February 22, 2026

Garth Rattray | Thoughts about the sugary drinks tax

The Government announced the introduction of a new Special Consumption Tax (SCT) on non-alcoholic sweetened beverages. It is expected to raise $10.1 billion during the 2026-2027 fiscal year.…

Former Prime Minister P.J. Patterson.
February 22, 2026

Patterson agonising over Cuba crisis

Former Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson has expressed his “indescribable” personal torment over the deepening political and humanitarian crisis in Cuba – a crisis he says is made worse by the…

Tania López Larroque, the new Cuban ambassador to Jamaica, speaking with The Sunday Gleaner last week.
February 22, 2026 by Erica Virtue

‘Cuba not a threat to any country’

Cuba’s Ambassador to Jamaica, Tania López Larroque, had barely settled into Kingston when a new crisis erupted. Just weeks after her arrival on December 8 last year, United States President Donald…
Evo Morales.
February 22, 2026

Evo Morales reappears nearly seven weeks

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP): Bolivia’s long-serving socialist former leader, Evo Morales, reappeared Thursday in his political stronghold of the tropics after almost seven weeks of unexplained absence,…

A man carries usable belongings salvaged from his flood-hit home across a flooded area in Shikarpur district of Sindh province of Pakistan on August 31, 2022.
February 22, 2026

Scientists change how El Niño is labelled to keep up with spike in temperature

WASHINGTON (AP): The natural El Niño cycle, which warps weather worldwide, is both adding to and shaped by a warming world, meteorologists said. A new study calculated that an unusual recent twist in…

Illustration of a satellite breaking up into multiple pieces at higher altitudes.
February 22, 2026

Sophia Forster | In space, no one can hear the pollution

When we hear people talk about “pollution,” we generally assume they’re talking about pollution on Earth. Slogans like “There is no Planet B,” “Go Green,” or “Save the Earth,” are meant to warn people…
Business
February 22, 2026

Bulletins

In Friday’s trading session the following reflects the movement of the JSE Indices: - The JSE Combined Index closed at 351,347.00 and the volume traded amounted to 25,517,101 valued at…