Robert Pickersgill (centre), Minister of Housing, Transport, Water and Works, and a team inspect a river-training facility at Worthy Park, Lluidas Vale in north-west St. Catherine, on Thursday. - Photo by Elgin Taylor

MONTEGO BAY, St. James

Twenty persons were detained on Thursday during a joint police-military operation in the volatile community of Norwood, St. James.

The operation, which was part of an ongoing curfew imposed on the area Wednesday night, came on the heels of a double murder in Hendon, Norwood, by gunmen on Monday night.

- Western Bureau

MONTEGO BAY, St. James

Governments represented on the regional Labour Board have renewed their commitment to the growth and development of the H2A and H2B Overseas Work Programmes, which have benefited thousands of Caribbean nationals for the past decades.

"We continue to work with the employers and the United States and Caribbean authorities and their representatives here in Jamaica to ensure that, at all times, we provide the best-quality labour for their employers who rely on this service," said Derrick Kellier, minister of Labour and Social Security, in his address at the opening ceremony of the 86th Joint Meeting of the Regional Labour Board and U.S. Employers, held at Rose Hall Resort and Country Club in Montego Bay on Tuesday evening.

SPANISH TOWN, St. Catherine

Senior Resident Magistrate for St. Catherine, Lorna Errar-Gayle, said earlier this week that a letter would be written to head of the St. Catherine North Police Division Superintendent Harry Daley, about the detention, without bail, of a man accused of fraudulently converting $1,000 that he took from a policeman in November to buy material for work on a house.

When the case came up for mention on January 16, and the facts were outlined by Constable Michael Garnett of the Spanish Town Criminal Investigation Bureau, the judge expressed grave concerns, saying the reason the citizen was held in custody for so long, without bail, could not be because the money was taken from a policeman.

- Rasbert Turner

MONTEGO BAY, St. James

Chief Executive Officer of e-Learning Jamaica, Avril Crawford, has charged the Caribbean Institute of Technology to create more programmes relevant to producing more home-grown specialists.

"The demand for individuals with specialised skills, as it relates to courseware developers and network personnel, is becoming greater, therefore, more professionals in instructional capacities will be needed," she said, while giving the keynote address at the press launch for Information and Communication Technology Awareness Week at the Montego Bay Civic Centre on Wednesday.

- Western Bureau

PORT ANTONIO, Portland

The Rotary Club of Port Antonio will be sponsoring an eye clinic in the town from Monday, January 22 to Thursday, January 25, for the purpose of conducting eye surgeries on needy persons, free of cost.

The clinic, which will be held at 28 Harbour Street in Port Antonio, will be implemented in close collaboration with the Kingston Public Hospital and the Ministry of Health, and will facilitate the removal of cataracts and the treatment of other eye defects. Operations will be conducted by a team of doctors from Surgical Eye Expedition International in the United States.

- JIS

LLUIDAS VALE, St. Catherine

Minister of Housing, Transport, Water and Works, Robert Pickersgill, toured a river-training facility at Worthy Park, Lluidas Vale, north-west St. Catherine on Thursday.

Speaking with a group of journalists on the site, Mr. Pickersgill described the work done as being very professional and captivating. The work involved reinforcing the embankment with stones, wires and shrubbery to deter flooding.

- Elgin Taylor