PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago, Guardian - Beating Australia at any form of cricket is always a major triumph and West Indies’ women conquered that particular challenge wonderfully well in the International Cricket Council’s Women’s World Cup semifinal to earn a berth in Sunday’s final.
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KINGSTON, Jamaica, Observer- IT'S heavy — this $16 billion in new taxes being imposed on us by the Government. There is no doubt either that it will hurt most Jamaicans. After all, many of us, particularly PAYE workers, are already overtaxed. The fact, though, is that the Government has little choice, having participated in unrestrained borrowing and irresponsible fiscal policy of successive Administrations that have taken us to this sorry point in our history, with a debt of more than 140 per cent of gross domestic product.
KINGSTON, Jamaica, Observer - MINISTER of Agriculture and Fisheries Roger Clarke this week announced a $45-million crop production programme as part of the Government's drought-mitigation initiative for the sector. The programme, he said, will provide for the establishment of 645 hectares of select crops in 13 parishes to counter any shortfall in cash crops resulting from the severe dry conditions affecting the island.
KINGSTON, Jamaica, Gleaner - Visitor arrivals by air and sea hit a record 3.3 million in 2012, up 7.4 per cent year-on-year, according to newly released tourism data. Arrivals in 2011 amounted to 3.07 million. Tourist visits also hit the three million mark in 2006. The bulk of last year's increase came from cruise passenger growth, up 17 per cent, mainly due to the newest port in Trelawny, the Falmouth Cruise Pier, built over a year ago. Total visitors by sea amounted to 1.34 million.
KINGSTON, Jamaica, Observer - THE Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) has chided the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for supporting what it described as the Government's 'scandalous raid' on the National Housing Trust (NHT) for $11 billion annually to fund the country's debt, as one of several new revenue measures announced in Parliament earlier this week. In the meantime, the Opposition said its legal team would be examining the legality of the decision to pull money from the NHT as well as that of some of the other recently announced tax measures.
KINGSTON, Jamaica, Gleaner - STAKEHOLDERS IN western Jamaica say Government must now provide the nation with a comprehensive growth package to complement the measures announced by Prime Minister Portia Simpson and her finance minister, Dr Peter Phillips, earlier this week.
KINGSTON, Jamaica, Gleaner - AMID THE hue and cry from sections of the society in response to a $16-billion tax package passed by Parliament this week, Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips has urged Jamaicans to be guided by the country's economic reality as well as the global financial climate. "I think it important and I plead for the country and all the stakeholders to have a realistic understanding of the kind of world within which we operate," Phillips said.
(Barbados Nation) There has been a worrying spike in dengue cases so far this year. And the Ministry of Health views the situation so seriously that it has issued a bulletin to doctors, reminding them to report any suspected cases of the disease. In the bulletin, the ministry revealed that six people were admitted to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital during the first four weeks of this year with dengue fever or dengue haemorrhagic fever. This is double the number of hospitalizations for the same period last year.
GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Stabroek News - An excessive deference to figures in authority and an unhealthy obsession with titles, especially academic ones, are traits not necessarily confined to the Caribbean. German education minister Annette Schavan resigned last week, after Düsseldorf’s Heinrich Heine University found her guilty of plagiarism and stripped her of her doctorate. Ms Schavan maintains that she did no wrong and has vowed to clear her name.
(Jamaica Gleaner) Investment promotions agency, JAMPRO, has announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with American Global MD (AGMD) for the country’s first ‘five-star’ medical tourism facility valued at US$170 million. John Marcocchio, the local project manager and director of Implementation Limited, said Thursday that the project is likely to break ground in 12 to 18 months after design is completed and construction approvals have been received.