CARIBBEAN

NAIROBI, Kenya (AFP) — A Kenyan court temporarily halted the opening of an Ebola quarantine centre for United States (US) citizens on Friday following a petition filed by a rights group.The facility was due to open in the east Africa nation on Friday, according to US officials, to quarantine Americans arriving from the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is battling a major Ebola outbreak.Washington has defended its criticised decision not to repatriate Americans infected with the virus.US […]

GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday announced the first recovery of a confirmed Ebola patient in the outbreak raging in the Democratic Republic of Congo."The DRC has said that on May 27, a patient recovered and left the hospital and has been discharged into the community," the WHO's Anais Legand told reporters.She said it marked the "first" among patients who had been confirmed to have Ebola, but stressed that she expected there had been other recoveries […]

WASHINGTON, United States (CMC) — The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) says it has signed a technical cooperation agreement with the Madrid-based Mundo Sano Foundation to strengthen efforts to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of diseases and advance cervical cancer prevention in the Americas, including the Caribbean.The agreement was signed by PAHO’s Director Jarbas Barbosa and Silvia Gold, president of Mundo Sano at the foundation’s headquarters.“This partnership reflects […]

UNITED NATIONS (CMC) — The United Nations (UN) says nearly 1.5 million people in Haiti had been displaced as of May this year, with 95,000 newly displaced between December last year and May.UN Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq said the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that violence in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area has pushed the number of displaced people there to more than 300,000 for the first […]

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) — Health authorities in Trinidad and Tobago say they are “actively managing several suspected and probable cases” of varicella, commonly known as chickenpox, among healthcare workers at the Sangre Grande Hospital Campus in northeastern Trinidad.The Ministry of Health said ongoing contact tracing efforts have identified and assessed exposed staff members across affected departments as part of a targeted varicella vaccination campaign.“At this time, […]

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Long jumpers Aaliyah Lindsay of Kansas State and Shantae Foreman of Clemson as well as shot putter Britannie Johnson of Purdue all punched their tickets for the NCAA National Outdoors Championships on Thursday’s second day of the Regionals.Aaliyah Lindsay produced a big personal best 6.55m (1.1m/s) on her third and final round to place fourth at the West Regionals being held at the University of Arkansas and her first qualification to the nationals to be held at the […]

Three men who sustained third-degree burns in a blast at a garage adjacent to Guardsman Group-Beryllium Limited headquarters, on South Camp Road, on Wednesday have been airlifted to hospitals overseas for additional treatment.An additional man who suffered injuries in the blast has been confirmed dead.Speaking at the Norman Manley International Airport on Thursday afternoon while the men were waiting to be transported, Chairman of the Guardsman Group of Companies, Kenny Benjamin, stressed […]

ST THOMAS, Jamaica — Attorney-at-law Josemar Belnavis, is urging Jamaicans to take estate planning more seriously, warning that the failure to prepare wills and organise assets is fueling family disputes, costly court battles and the loss of property across the island.Belnavis, a partner at Lindsay Law Chambers, addressed the issue during a presentation on estate planning to the JN Circle Morant Bay Chapter recently, where he examined estate planning as both a wellness and financial planning […]

KINGSTON, Jamaica — The United States (US) dollar on Thursday, May 28, ended trading at $158.27, up 19 cents, according to the Bank of Jamaica’s daily exchange trading summary.Meanwhile, the Canadian dollar ended trading at $115.08 up from $114.39, and the British pound at $212.12, down from $212.33.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AFP) — Lionel Messi will captain Argentina at the World Cup, national coach Lionel Scaloni announced Thursday as he unveiled his 26-man squad.Messi, 38, had not previously confirmed he would play in what will be a record-breaking sixth tournament for the Argentine superstar.But it had been widely assumed the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner would again lead Argentina, four years after lifting the trophy in Qatar.As well as confirming Messi's presence, Thursday's […]

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The families of two Black babies who died in 1967 after secretly being given an experimental vaccine are suing the United States (US) government for damages, their lawyers said Thursday.The babies, Ross Otto Hambrick and Victor Marcellus King, were used to test an early vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a highly contagious virus, the leading cause of hospitalisation among infants in the United States."The complaint alleges that tissue samples […]

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Beryllium Limited has confirmed that one of four people injured in an explosion and fire at a garage on South Camp Road in Kingston adjacent to its facility, on Wednesday, has died.In a news release, the courier company also shared that two of the three survivors were flown out of the country on Thursday for treatment at burn centres in the United States.“It is with profound sadness that we confirm that one of the individuals injured in the incident, an external […]

KINGSTON, Jamaica — World leader Jordan Scott broke the meet record at Wednesday’s JBL Jump Fest in Košice, Slovakia, after he won the Elite men’s event World Athletics Continental Tour Silver event with 17.44m (0.2m/s).It was back-to-back street meet wins for the World Athletics Indoor silver medallist after setting a personal best 17.66m at a meet two weeks ago in Puerto Rico.World-Under 20 record holder Jaydon Hibbert, who was competing for the first time since the 2024 Olympics, due […]

KINGSTON, Jamaica – Red Stripe has announced a significant leadership transition as Holly Bostock has been appointed as the new managing director effective July 1, 2026 and Managing Director Daaf van Tilburg will assume a regional role within Heineken’s Asia Pacific (APAC) region.Notably, Bostock’s appointment marks a historic milestone for the company, as she becomes the first woman to lead Red Stripe in its century-long history.The company made the announcement Thursday indicating that […]

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Drone flights will be banned over United States (US) stadiums hosting World Cup matches as well as over fan events related to the tournament that kicks off June 11, authorities said Thursday.On match days, unless specifically authorised, all aircraft, including drones, will be prohibited from flying within three nautical miles (5.6 kilometres) of stadiums and up to 3,000 feet (900 meters) above ground level, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a […]

KINGSTON, Jamaica — The numbers are building and the buzz is getting louder as the Sunday, June 21 staging of the Powerful Women and Men Perform for Charity draws near.The event is set for the Jamaica College auditorium beginning at 7:00 pm, and rehearsals are underway in earnest as a number of political representatives, private sector and civil society are  polishing their acts.Miss Jamaica World 2026, Nevaeh Allen is one of the latest to join the list of performers, as well as Nekeisha […]

KINGSTON, Jamaica— Restaurants of Jamaica (ROJ), operators of KFC andPizza Hut turned Labour Day 2026 into a company-wide show of service, mobilisingteam members, supplies and meal support behind school improvement projects across western Jamaica and St Catherine.The company, in a press release on Thursday, explained that the initiative was built around community projects connected to ROJ team members across its network, allowing employees from different restaurant locations and internal […]

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Enhanced Games has increased the bonus for any athlete who breaks Usain Bolt’s men’s 100m world record at its 2027 event to $10 million, dramatically raising the stakes ahead of the competition’s second edition.The announcement came in a shareholder letter from Enhanced CEO Maximilian Martin following the inaugural Games in Las Vegas, where organisers said 13 athletes produced 21 personal bests under medically supervised enhancement protocols.Bolt’s long-standing […]

KINGSTON, Jamaica — State Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister, Senator Abka Fitz-Henley, has criticised the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) for what he described as a “malicious tendency” to discredit “competent and patriotic Jamaicans” who serve in crucial posts.His remarks came in response to a statement issued by the PNP questioning whether Ambassador Antony Anderson formally applied for the role of chief executive officer (CEO) of the National Reconstruction […]

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Super-talented teenage singing sensation Sanna (pronounced SAY-NA) Moore has been generating a lot of attention in music circles with her powerhouse live performances.She wowed a large audience at the 'To Mom With Love' concert at the AC Hotel Ballroom recently with a rendition of Andra Day's I Rise Up, a powerful, soulful anthem of resilience, hope and perseverance. As Sanna's voice reverberated off the venue walls, it provided an aural nitrous boost that energised the […]

There are 10 finalists competing for the 2026 Mister and Miss Supranational Jamaica titles. The winners will be announced in a boutique-style event this Sunday, May 31 at the Louise Bennett Garden Theatre on Hope Road in Kingston.The finalists have been going through weeks of training and preparation for the finals. They recently spent a weekend at the Princess Hotel & Resorts in Hanover where they did an impromptu fashion show as well as a photo shoot.Serene Lloyd, the public relations […]

NAIROBI, Kenya (AFP) — A Kenyan rights group said on Thursday it had filed a court petition against plans to establish an Ebola quarantine centre for United States (US) citizens in the east African country.Washington is building a "state-of-the-art" facility in Kenya for US citizens to quarantine after leaving the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is battling a major outbreak of the disease, a US administration official said.Katiba Institute, a Kenyan rights group, said it had filed the […]

GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Global average temperatures are likely to continue at or near record levels this year and for the next four years afterwards, the United Nations (UN) warned Thursday.The 11 hottest individual years ever recorded all happened from 2015 onwards and the UN's weather and climate agency said the trend was set to continue, with a new hottest-ever year "likely" before 2031.There is a 75 per cent chance that the 2026-2030 five-year mean temperature will surpass the key […]

PARIS, France (AFP) — Mosquitoes can learn to associate the smell of the world's most common insect repellent with a tasty meal — and after training can even prefer to bite people who have been sprayed with it, an experimental study said Thursday.The surprising results, which were conducted "under very specific conditions" in the lab, do not "call into question the effectiveness" of the repellent DEET, lead study author Claudio Lazzari told AFP.Since being developed in the 1940s in the […]

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States (US) announced Thursday that it was allocating an additional US$80 million to help combat the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.The Trump administration has faced criticism from the Democratic Party and non-governmental organisations over its response to the crisis, which comes after the US withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the dismantling of the US Agency for International Development […]