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Stories by Daraine Luton

Financial sector workers get big tax benefit

Published:Friday | July 3, 2015 | 12:00 AMDaraine Luton

Workers in the financial and insurance sectors have been granted a huge boost following the Government's decision to raise the concessionary funding available to them to $4.5 million, up from $1.5 million.President general of the Bustamante...

CARICOM mulls debt relief

Published:Thursday | July 2, 2015 | 2:06 PMDaraine Luton

Caribbean leaders attending the 36th Regular Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in Barbados were yesterday told to pursue debt forgiveness as a means to economic freedom.Sir Hilary Beckles, vice-chancellor of the...

Bernard Lodge houses to be delivered by next March

Published:Wednesday | July 1, 2015 | 12:00 AMDaraine Luton

The problem-plagued Bernard Lodge housing project is to be completed by next March, Housing Minister Dr Omar Davies has promised.Davies, in a statement to the House of Representatives on Tuesday, said that Cabinet has given approval for the Housing...

Gov't denies monitoring citizens' online activities

Published:Wednesday | July 1, 2015 | 12:00 AMDaraine Luton

The Jamaican Government has denied that it has monitored private online communications without appropriate legal authority. Responding to the claims made by in the United States' State Department report on Human Rights Practices for 2014, Information...

high fine - Smoking motorists to be burned with heavy fee for driving with ganja

Published:Tuesday | June 30, 2015 | 12:00 AMDaraine Luton

A MAJOR amendment is to be made to the Road Traffic Bill, with lawmakers now asked to consider legislating a fine of $10,000 for persons who smoke ganja and operate motor vehicles.Stating that there is ample evidence to show that the use of...

Caribbean to get US$200-million energy facility

Published:Wednesday | June 24, 2015 | 12:00 AMDaraine Luton

Noting that the Caribbean region is faced with high-energy costs and that the use of renewables could help reduce prices, a senior member of Spain's government has indicated that a green-energy facility is being created to help in the...

'Austerity works' - Spain's secretary of state says governments must be tough, serious to rescue struggling economies

Published:Tuesday | June 23, 2015 | 12:00 AMDaraine Luton

Arguing that popular political decisions are unhelpful, Spain's Secretary of State for International Cooperation, Jesús Gracia Aldaz, is declaring that austerity is not bad medicine for an ailing economy.Speaking with The Gleaner yesterday, Gracia's...

State to take DNA of non-convicted persons

Published:Monday | June 22, 2015 | 12:00 AMDaraine Luton

If you are locked up for a criminal matter, chances are that DNA material taken from you will be retained in the Government's database, even if you have been found not guilty or if there is no prosecution of the case.Although the DNA bill, which is...

Attorneys wary of forced taking of DNA samples

Published:Monday | June 22, 2015 | 12:00 AMDaraine Luton

The Jamaican Bar Association has expressed concern over the taking of DNA samples by any police or correctional officer, with its president, Donovan Walker, saying that the provision for reasonable force to be used to take such material could lead...

Hit 'em hard - Corruption prevention boss wants delinquent public officials slapped with heftier fines

Published:Sunday | June 21, 2015 | 12:00 AMDaraine Luton

Disappointed by the levels of fines being imposed by the court on public servants who flout the Corruption (Prevention) Act, David Grey, the Corruption Prevention Commission (CPC) executive director, said that it is probably time for errant persons...

Corruption prevention body takes 23 illicit enrichment cases before DPP

Published:Sunday | June 21, 2015 | 12:00 AMDaraine Luton

The Commission for the Prevention of Corruption (CPC) has indicated that it reported five cases of illicit enrichment to the director of public prosecutions (DPP) in 2013-2014.Illicit enrichment is the most serious offence under the Corruption...

Unions militant - Say finance minister’s address threatens negotiation talks

Published:Friday | June 19, 2015 | 12:00 AMDaraine Luton

Public sector leader Oneil Grant said yesterday that workers are "very cognisant" that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreement is very instrumental to Jamaica but stressed that they cannot be expected to go home and "just look" at their children.

Big waivers to popular Jamaicans

Published:Tuesday | June 16, 2015 | 12:57 PMDaraine Luton

Several prominent Jamaicans were beneficiaries of waivers last fiscal year, some being athletes, politicians, lawyers and public servants.Manchester Custos Sally Porteous, a retired politician, was one of the recipients, getting $969,366 waiver of...

Parliamentarians reject biased OCG proposal

Published:Wednesday | June 17, 2015 | 12:00 AMDaraine Luton

Suggestions from the contractor general for so-called politically exposed persons to be disqualified from being appointed commissioners of the Integrity Commission have been rejected by parliamentarians reviewing the proposed law.The contractor...

Battered Hylton moves to salvage credibility ... Samuda tells him to resign

Published:Wednesday | June 17, 2015 | 5:51 PMDaraine Luton

Seeking to salvage his own credibility, Industry Minister Anthony Hylton told parliamentarians on Tuesday that Krauck Systems and Anchor Financial Group LLC had shown financial instruments to the Government as part of its proof that it should be...

No time to be reckless - Phillips defends Government's public sector wage offer

Published:Tuesday | June 16, 2015 | 12:00 AMDaraine Luton

Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips says it would be fiscally reckless to borrow more money in order to offer higher pay to public-sector workers, stating that what the Government has offered in the wage negotiations is what we can afford at this...

Businesses fume at huge jump In trade licence, other fees

Published:Sunday | June 14, 2015 | 12:00 AMDaraine Luton

Business operators whose turnover does not exceed $500,000 per year have been slapped with a 12,400 per cent increase in the cost for licences to carry out business.The increase forms part of a move by the Government to rationalise outdated fees,...

Bigger penalties for drunks

Published:Sunday | June 14, 2015 | 12:00 AMDaraine Luton

The $10 fine that is now levied on a person who has been found guilty of drunkenness or other disorderly or improper conduct for being in any part of the premises where wine, beer, or other malt liquors are sold is to move to $250,000.Information...

Gov't extends copyright protection

Published:Wednesday | June 10, 2015 | 12:00 AMDaraine Luton

Nadine Sutherland sat expectantly in the gallery as legislators examined a bill brought by Industry Minister Anthony Hylton to amend the Copyrights Act. The bill, when signed into law, will see copyright protection being extended from 50 years to 95...

Stay out ... Committee says no to pre contract vetting by anticorruption bodies

Published:Wednesday | June 10, 2015 | 12:00 AMDaraine Luton

A SENIOR member of the Portia Simpson Miller-led Govern-ment has said that anti-corruption agencies, by some of their actions, have "cost the country dearly".Chairing the joint-select committee of Parliament consi-dering the Integrity Commission Act...

Move towards mandatory local content in media

Published:Thursday | June 11, 2015 | 12:00 AMDaraine Luton

Radio and television stations could soon be forced to play more local content as part of a strategy to stem the outflow of royalties from Jamaica for playing foreign works, while at the same time giving a fillip to homegrown talent."We want to look...

Chuck: It is my business - MP pushes back at proposal for declaration of expensive gifts

Published:Wednesday | June 10, 2015 | 12:00 AMDaraine Luton

Lawmaker Delroy Chuck found himself a lonely man yesterday, as he argued for the right not to report to the Integrity Commission gifts made to him, unless they value more than half a million dollars.At present, parliamentarians must declare gifts...

Jamaican Government to sue for damage to road furnishings

Published:Tuesday | June 9, 2015 | 12:00 AMDaraine Luton

Motorists who crash their vehicles into road furnishings such as guard rails and signs will be forced to pay, through their insurance companies, for their repair or replacement as the cash-strapped Government looks at ways to reduce its expenditure...

Death trap! ... 30-odd open bauxite pits in Mocho hills

Published:Friday | June 5, 2015 | 12:00 AMDaraine Luton

Some 33 open bauxite pits lay sprawled in the hills of Clarendon, presenting great danger to residents and livestock who venture near to them.Information supplied to The Gleaner by the Mines and Geo-logy Division indicate that of the 189 ore bodies...

OCG alarmed at ballooning contract costs

Published:Monday | June 8, 2015 | 12:00 AMDaraine Luton

There has been a 7.5 per cent increase in the number of public-sector entities that have reported cost overruns or contract variations, resulting in $2.59 billion in unprogrammed spending by taxpayers.Contractor General Dirk Harrison, in his office'...

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