ULTIMATUM Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Christopher Tufton said the ministry is on high alert for any potential disruptions to the healthcare system by doctors. “To the extent that it disrupts the health system, we have to put contingency in place, and I’ve advised the team to begin to put that preparation in place,” Tufton told The Gleaner yesterday.
Robinson wants virtual assets law to go beyond containing risk The Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP) Act, 2026, which provides for the regulation of virtual assets in Jamaica was passed in the Lower House on Tuesday with three amendments. A virtual asset is a digital representation of value that can be traded, transferred, or used for payment and investment.
JCC: Gov’ts must help close price gap on Caribbean goods WESTERN BUREAU: The Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC) is pushing back against concerns raised by Rodwell Ferguson, Belize’s Minister of Agriculture, about the reluctance of some businesses to purchase regionally produced goods, arguing that companies cannot reasonably be expected to sacrifice profitability simply to support Caribbean products. In an interview with The Gleaner on the sidelines of the ongoing CARICOM’s Caribbean Week of Agriculture (CWA) event in Trelawny, JCC President Emile Leiba said the issue was more nuanced than Ferguson was suggesting.
Detective, defence clash over what statement said about Gardner’s killing An investigator insisted in the Home Circuit Court on Tuesday that she was told that Andre Ruddock had been instructed to cut the throat of church member Taneka Gardner despite the defence challenging her account. The detective sergeant maintained under cross-examination that her statement contained a reference to Ruddock cutting Gardner’s throat after defence attorney Anthony Williams pressed her on what an injured church member had actually told her on the night of the October 2021 incident.
New planting tech set to revolutionise yam farming WESTERN BUREAU: A new yam propagation technology could multiply planting material up to 300-fold from a single plant could help to ease the shortage of quality seed while leaving more edible yam for farmers to sell. Charles Webster, a plant protection officer in the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, said the single-node vine-cutting technology uses leaf nodes, which are typically discarded by farmers, to produce healthy plantlets for field planting.
BAR FIGHT - Defence lawyers says ‘unrelenting’ push for gun law reform about fairness, justice The Advocates’ Association of Jamaica (AAJ) and Jamaican Bar Association are dismissing what they described as “narratives being peddled” to distort their campaign for amendments to the Firearms (Prohibition, Restriction and Regulation) Act. Chief among them, they say, is the notion that the groups want to do away with the statutory mandatory minimum sentences of 15 years under the act, which took effect in 2022.
Official urges CARICOM to strengthen regional food economy WESTERN BUREAU: With the Caribbean importing more than half of its food, CARICOM Assistant Secretary General Dr Wendell Samuel says the situation poses a major threat to the region’s economic resilience. “For a region where more than 60 per cent of the food consumed is imported, and where some member states import up to 80 per cent of their food, the imperative for action became undeniable,” Samuel said, while addressing the opening ceremony of Caribbean Week of Agriculture 2026 in Trelawny on Sunday.
Deputy clerk resigns amid ‘retaliatory’ environment at Parliament Describing the treatment he faced during his two-year tenure in office as “retaliatory”, former Deputy Clerk to the Houses of Parliament Christopher Cowan has listed a series of concerns among the reasons for his resignation with immediate effect yesterday. Cowan’s five-page letter to Speaker of the House of Representatives Juliet Holness described a “contentious” environment in which he said he was made to operate, the removal and denial of privileges, as well as the “retaliatory approach” of Clerk to the Houses Colleen Lowe.
Witness: Cop approached me amid Pathways siege A policewoman whose gun was allegedly used by now-deceased church leader Kevin Smith to fire at police during a deadly October 2021 service, had reportedly approached a senior officer after members of the security forces arrived at the location and told her that she had “information”.
Holness pushes for faster, more strategic regulation in regional agriculture WESTERN BUREAU: Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness says bureaucracy is strangling agricultural investment in the Caribbean, requiring faster and more strategic regulation to help Jamaica and the region modernise farming to open the door to attracting technology-driven investments. Holness outlined that position while addressing Sunday’s opening ceremony of the 20th Caribbean Week of Agriculture (CWA) at the Ocean Coral Spring Resort in Trelawny.