KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — King Stitt, a pioneer in rap reggae, died Tuesday in his Caribbean homeland of Jamaica. He was 72. Stitt died at his home in the capital of Kingston after a long fight with prostate cancer and diabetes, said Jamaican musicologist Bunny Goodison, who was a close friend to the performer for […]
Jamaica launches emergency jobs initiative
January 27, 2012 by Leave a Comment
KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Jamaica’s month-old government on Wednesday launched the first phase of an emergency jobs programme that was the centerpiece of its winning election campaign. The government formed by the People’s National Party said some 700 jobless people will be hired to clear vegetation and trash in the short- and medium-term along a northern […]
Renowned Jamaica producer Winston Riley dies at 65
January 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment
KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Winston Riley, an innovative reggae musician and producer, has died of complications from a gunshot wound to the head. He was 65. Riley died Thursday at University Hospital of the West Indies, where he had been a patient since November, when he was shot at his house in an upscale neighborhood […]
Grieving daughter suspended for Facebook comments
January 19, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Mum-of-two Zoe Bennett, 35, who works for the Jamaican Tourist Board, faces a disciplinary probe over comments she made after her dad, Errol, was brutally murdered in a machete attack on the Caribbean island. Zoe, who is pregnant, received an email from her employers calling her to a disciplinary hearing in London due to messages she […]
New PM wants to break ties
January 10, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Jamaica’s new prime minister has declared that “the time has come” for her country to break its ties to the monarchy. In her inaugural address, Portia Simpson Miller, first paid tribute to the Queen: “I love the Queen. She is a beautiful lady, and apart from being a beautiful lady, a wise lady and a […]
Jamaica to review China deal
January 10, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller has held initial talks with China’s Ambassador to Jamaica on adjusting the structure and implementation of the Jamaica Development Infrastructure Programme (JDIP) funded by the Asian country. The discussion with Ambassador Zhen Qingdian took place on Saturday, two days after Simpson Miller was sworn in as the new head […]
Simpson Miller sworn in 2nd time as Jamaica PM
January 7, 2012 by Leave a Comment
KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Portia Simpson Miller was sworn in for the second time as Jamaica’s prime minister Thursday, pledging to ease its deep poverty, boost the sputtering economy, heal political divisions and sever colonial-era links with Britain. Cayman Premier McKeeva Bush was present at Thursday’s ceremony. Simpson Miller, whose 1½-year-long first stint in office […]
Family killed in crash
January 6, 2012 by Leave a Comment
A Canadian couple were rushing their toddler to hospital in Jamaica when their car collided with an oncoming truck, killing all three and another relative, police say. Local authorities said that at 6 a.m. Wednesday, Garina and Diane Dixon and two-year-old Nekeil were driving from Willowdene to Spanish Town on the Caribbean island nation when […]
Jamaica’s opposition party wins big in elections
December 31, 2011 by Leave a Comment
KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Jamaica’s opposition capitalised on discontent over the economy to return to power Thursday, as voters gave the country’s first female leader a second chance to govern the island. Supporters of former Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, 66, shimmied and shouted in the capital, Kingston, as they heard that the center-right government […]
Election race neck and neck
December 30, 2011 by Leave a Comment
KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Jamaica’s two main political parties are in a neck-and-neck race to capture a majority of the country’s 63 parliamentary seats and win control of the government for the next five years. Both sides were predicting victory after a hard-fought lead-up to yesterday’s general elections pitting Jamaica’s youngest prime minister and his […]
