TORTOLA, British Virgin Islands (CMC)— The British Virgin Islands has implemented a ban on flights from Brazil and South Africa in the wake of reports of new strains of COVID-19 emerging in both countries. The announcement was recently made by Health Minister Carvin Malone. This is in addition to a travel ban on flights from the Dominican Republic and the United Kingdom that came into effect on January 11. Health Minister Carvin Malone today announced that a travel ban has been imposed against travellers from Brazil and South Africa due to new strains of COVID-19 in these countries. “In a…
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TRELAWNY, Jamaica— One church member was shot and killed this morning when a gunman entered the Agape Christian Fellowship Church in Falmouth and fired several shots during the usual Sunday morning worship. According to a worshipper, about 10:30 she heard explosions in the building and later saw a woman falling to the ground. “We were in the church singing and I heard several explosions and saw a woman falling to the ground,” she told OBSERVER ONLINE. The woman was taken to hospital where she was pronounced dead.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Democratic push to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour has emerged as an early flashpoint in the fight for a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package, testing President Joe Biden’s ability to bridge Washington’s partisan divides as he pursues his first major legislative victory. Biden called for a $15 hourly minimum wage during his campaign and has followed through by hitching it to a measure that, among other things, calls for $1,400 stimulus checks and $130 billion to help schools reopen. Biden argues that anyone who holds a full-time job shouldn’t live in poverty,…
By Jomo ‘Sanga’ Thomas The establishment media was horrified when the ‘Stop the Steal’ mob stormed the US Capitol on January 6, and the sentence was swift: President Donald Trump, with his baseless fraud allegations and refusal to concede defeat, was responsible for the mayhem. Corporate outlets have summarily denounced Trump’s bogus claims of vote fraud, though for years they have faithfully echoed similarly spurious accusations made about elections held by official enemies. But the media make no effort to account for years of hypocrisy and double standards. Venezuela’s December 6 parliamentary election offers an instructive case study, with corporate…
On Friday January 29, 2021, the Ministry of Health and Wellness received confirmation of eighty-nine new cases of COVID-19 from a batch of 356 tests conducted at the Ezra Long Laboratory. This batch consists of samples taken from January 21, 2021 to today January 29, 2021. The Ezra Long Laboratory continues to manage the backlog of COVID-19 samples. Confirmation was also received today of the recovery of thirty-two individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 bringing the total number of active cases in country to 562. One of the active cases is in critical care at the Respiratory Hospital and all of the…
Minister of Finance and Economic Planning Camillo Gonsalves says his government is hoping to have “constructive conversations” with representatives of the trade union movement and other stakeholders this year to iron out the problem of the escalating payments to pensioners which pose a challenge to the health of nation’s economy. The importance and urgency of meetings to address the issue came out in the finance minister’s presentation of the 2021 budget estimates to parliament on Wednesday. He was at the time expressing concern over the fact that his government’s provision for pension payments had climbed to 50 percent over a…
Andrew Phillip King, a man who breached a quarantine order last December with the explanation that the Prime Minister had given him permission to leave, was fined $1,000 on Tuesday. He was allowed one week to pay the fine with an alternative of six months in prison. Magistrate Zoila Ellis-Browne handed down the penalty after King was found guilty, following a short trial at the Calliaqua Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday. King, said to be born in England, had given his age as 53 and his residence as Biabou. He was charged with breaching an order by Medical Officer of Health…
St. Vincent and the Grenadines today confirmed thirty-one (31) new COVID-19 cases. All of the cases were detected during contact tracing, testing at flu clinics andexit screening. There are now seven hundred and fifty-five (755) local cases of COVID-19, the majority of whom are linked to various clusters. Twelve (12) persons have recovered bringing the total number of recoveries to two hundred and thirty-two (232). Six hundred and sixty-two (662) cases remain active and two (2) persons with COVID-19 have died. Eight hundred and ninety-six (896) cases of COVID-19 have been reported in St. Vincent and the Grenadines since March…
AGUADILLA, Puerto Rico (CMC) — The United States Coast Guard says its aircrew combined efforts with US Border Patrol agents during a drug-smuggling operation in the Caribbean Sea that resulted in the seizure of 157 pounds of cocaine and the arrest of two suspected smugglers from the Dominican Republic near Villa Montana, Isabela, Puerto Rico. The US Coast Guard said the estimated wholesale value of the seized cocaine is US$1.9 million. “The joint collaboration is the result of ongoing Caribbean Border Interagency Group (CBIG) multiagency efforts in their common goal of securing the borders of Puerto Rico against illegal threats,”…
TORONTO, Canada (AP) — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday announced stricter restrictions on travellers in response to new, likely more contagious variants of the novel coronavirus — including making it mandatory for travellers to quarantine in a hotel at their own expense when they arrive in Canada and suspending airline service to Mexico and all Caribbean destinations until April 30. Trudeau said in addition to the pre-boarding test Canada already requires, the government will be introducing mandatory PCR testing at the airport for people returning to Canada. “Travelers will then have to wait for up to three days at…