Caribzone News Highlight
Jamaica
A sum of
$255.2 million has been allocated for the Justice Sector Reform Programme as
outlined in the 2020/21 Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House of
Representatives.
The
the project seeks to strengthen the quality of service delivery and access in the
justice sector; improve the treatment of children in the criminal justice system,
and to enhance sector governance and the capacity of Government to deliver
sector policy objectives.
For the
upcoming fiscal year, the program seeks to renovate and equip two family
courts (Mandeville and St. Ann); retrofit a justice center in St. Thomas; and
conduct pre-investment activities for a family court in St. Catherine and three
justice centers in St. Andrew, Clarendon, and St. Catherine.
As of
December 2019, nine-justice centers were operationalized in St. Andrew,
Manchester,
Westmoreland, St. Elizabeth, St. James, St. Mary, St. Ann. Trelawny
and Portland.
In addition, two family courts were established in Clarendon and Trelawny.
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Jamaica
Three-hundred
and ninety teachers have left the public school system since September, Karl
Samuda revealed yesterday. However, he insisted that there is no need for
panic.
Samuda, the minister
without portfolio who is overseeing the education ministry, said this is a
a small percentage of the island's 26,000 primary and secondary teachers, and
that the ministry is already implementing measures to buffer the impact and
fill the gaps.
Responding to media
reports of teachers resigning in droves, Samuda stressed at a news conference
yesterday that the number of resignations may seem very alarming.
“But when one considers
that we have a total teaching population of just under 24,000, this amount
comprises about 1.6 per cent... so it has impacted on the ministry but it is
not at a level where we need to be alarmed. We would be alarmed if we were not
monitoring it, and we have not taken measures to correct it,” he said.
The majority of the
resignations have come from secondary schools, with region one, which comprises
Kingston and St Andrew, accounting for 134, the bulk of the resignations.
Seventy-eight teachers in
region two (Portland, St Thomas, and St Mary) have quit; 37 from region three
(St Ann and Trelawny); 69 from region four (St James, Hanover, and
Westmoreland); 40 from region five (Manchester and St Elizabeth); and 32 from
St Catherine and Clarendon, which comprise region six.
He also made the point
that while some teachers leave for positions overseas, not all have left the
island, as some have taken up other opportunities here.
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Guyana
A team from JetBlue Airways
Corporation (JetBlue) met with the Director-General, Lt. Col. (Ret’d) Egbert
Field and his team at the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) on January 28,
2020 to discuss the carrier’s application for commencement of non-stop
scheduled air services on the Georgetown to New York route from April 2, 2020.
A release today from the GCAA
said that JetBlue’s team was led by Adam Schless, Director, Aircraft
Transactions & International Counsel who shared the airline’s long
term vision and plans for the Guyana market.
JetBlue proposes to operate
daily flights using a new Airbus A321-271NX aircraft with seating capacity for
200 passengers.
The release said that the scope
of JetBlue’s application is covered under Article 3 – Authorization of the
‘open-skies’ Air Transport Agreement between the Government of Guyana and the
Government of the United States of America. Article 3 of the Agreement says:
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Trinidad & Tobago
Machel Montano is now a married man.
The King of Soca wedded his long-time girlfriend, Renee
Butcher, at the Red House in Port-of-Spain last Friday.
The Valentine’s Day ceremony was held in a hallway,
located on the southern side of the building. Montano was dressed in a white
suit. His bride came in wearing white two-piece pants and off the shoulder
top outfit with a trail attached. She wore a colorful flower hairpiece.
Pastor Clive Dottin officiated the ceremony. The guests,
close friends, and relatives of the couple, were also dressed in all white. Red
House staff and other personnel lined the balcony on the top floor with their
cameras in hand to record the historic event.
The wedding was the first marriage ceremony to be held at
the building since it was restored and reopened.
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National
The Americas reported more than 3 million cases of dengue
in 2019, the largest number recorded in the Region so far, according to the
latest epidemiological update from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
These figures exceeded the 2.4 million cases reported in
2015 during the previous largest dengue epidemic in the history of the Region.
That year, almost 1 400 people died of dengue.
Despite the increase in the number of cases in 2019,
thanks to intense efforts from the countries, the case fatality rate – or the
percentage of cases of dengue that progress to death – has been kept below the
expected 1 per cent (0.05 per cent in 2019). In 2019, more than 1,500 died of
dengue
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