‘Cuba not a threat to any country’ Cuba’s Ambassador to Jamaica, Tania López Larroque, had barely settled into Kingston when a new crisis erupted. Just weeks after her arrival on December 8 last year, United States President Donald Trump signed a January 29 executive order imposing an international fuel blockade on Cuba, threatening heavy sanctions against any country that supplies the island with oil. The consequences, she says, have been devastating.
Patterson agonising over Cuba crisis Former Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson has expressed his “indescribable” personal torment over the deepening political and humanitarian crisis in Cuba – a crisis he says is made worse by the absence of the bold political courage once shown in the era of Michael Manley. Patterson was among 10 former Caribbean prime ministers who issued a joint statement as the situation in Cuba worsens, with the island reportedly starved of fuel. Speaking to ‘Beyond the Headlines’ host Dionne Jackson Miller on Radio Jamaica 94 FM on Friday, Patterson did not mince his words.
‘Baby blood dem a hunt’ The blood had dried stiff against the tiny waistband of the undergarment one would struggle to believe was all white, but at least two bullet holes were very much visible as a reminder of the onslaught. Ladonia Cunningham could not let it go. She wore it on her head as a stark and painful reminder of the manner in which her infant son, Jace ‘Zaza’ Pinnock, was slain.
Route design, not dancehall Two rural principals are pushing back against the Ministry of Education’s explanation for sluggish uptake in the Government’s rural school bus programme – and they say the main problem is route design, not dancehall. At a press conference last Tuesday, Transport Minister Daryl Vaz and Richard Troupe, director of safety and security in the Ministry of Education, acknowledged that student numbers are trailing expectations months after the programme’s launch at the start of the 2025-2026 academic year. Troupe suggested culture may be competing with caution.
Deferred no more Told as a teenager that studying law was beyond her family’s means, Kadeish Jarrett-Fletcher quietly set the dream aside. Nearly two decades later, the Court Administration Division executive has returned to that ambition and crossed the Bar with faith and firm resolve. Now an attorney-at-law, Jarrett-Fletcher offers a simple but powerful message to others struggling to hold on to deferred dreams: start.
No instant relief Jamaican Teas CEO John Mahfood, while welcoming the United States (US) Supreme Court’s decision to strike down tariffs imposed by the Donald Trump administration, has warned that he does not anticipate any immediate impact on Jamaican exports to the US as a result of yesterday’s ruling. Speaking with The Gleaner yesterday, Mahfood said, “It will probably take the whole of this year before we may begin to see if prices will return to pre-tariff levels.”
Expert warns misuse of bleach can damage skin, cause fatal poisoning For many Jamaicans, bleach is a trusted household staple used to clean kitchens, disinfect surfaces, and even treat water in times of emergency. But improper use, especially without correct dilution or when mixed with other chemicals, may be quietly causing skin damage and other health problems that often go unreported. That is the warning from Sherika Whitelocke-Ballingsingh, poison information coordinator at the Caribbean Poison Information Centre, College of Health Sciences at the University of Technology.
Babymother denies Allen, friends were gunmen, gangsters The mother of Mark Allen’s daughter yesterday firmly denied that he and one of his friends, who were killed alongside him in January 2013, were gunmen, rejecting defence suggestions that they were part of a criminal network operating out of Grants Pen in St Andrew. The woman was testifying in the Home Circuit Court in the trial of six policemen charged in connection with the January 12, 2013, fatal shooting of Allen, Matthew Lee and Eucliffe Dyer during a police operation along Acadia Road in St Andrew.
Mom of 3 battles cancer and impact of Melissa WESTERN BUREAU: Nickeisha Black, a 34-year-old mother of three young children, who resides in Bethel Town, Westmoreland, has been fighting a hard battle with Stage-3 colorectal cancer since 2024, and her situation was made even more difficult by the damage Hurricane Melissa did to her home.
Opposition wants timeline for phasing out asset tax Senators on both sides of the political divide yesterday locked horns over a timeline for eliminating the asset tax paid by financial institutions, which should have been phased out about a decade ago. Members of the Upper House were debating two bills – the Income Tax Amendment Act, 2026 and the Asset Tax (Specified Bodies) (Amendment) Act – which provide for a limited adjustment to the annual filing and payment dates of both taxes, moving the final returns and payment dates from March 15 to April 15, starting with the 2025 year of assessment.