The Ministry of Education and Youth will be employing various teacher retention strategies for the 2024/25 academic year, which begins in September. Acting Chief Education Officer, Terry-Ann Thomas Gayle, advised that teachers are being sought from...

The police in Westmoreland are reporting the arrest of a man involved in the alleged impersonation of a Jamaica Public Service (JPS) worker. Reports are that the individual in question, who is neither a JPS worker nor contractor, was brought in for...

US leader said that he meant focus on Trump's policies and «on the number of lies he told on debate»

Rwanda's President Paul Kagame has scored a crushing election victory that will extend his iron-fisted rule by another five years, according to partial results issued Monday. De facto leader since the end of the 1994 genocide and president since 2000, Kagame scored 99.15 percent of the vote, the National Election Commission announced after 79 percent of ballots had been counted. It tops the 98.79 percent Kagame won in the last election in 2017 and puts him streets ahead of the only two candidates authorised to run against him. Democratic Green Party candidate Frank Habineza scraped 0.53 percent of the vote and independent Philippe Mpayimana 0.32 percent. The outcome of Monday's poll was never in doubt, with Kagame's regime accused of muzzling the media and political opposition, and several prominent critics barred from the race. Soon after the partial results were announced, giving Kagame a fourth term, he thanked Rwandans in an address from the headquarters of his ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). «The results that have been presented indicate a very high score, these are not just figures, even if it was 100 percent, these are not just numbers,» he said. «These figures show the trust, and that is what is most important,» he added. «I am hopeful that together we can solve all problems.» Full provisional results are due by July 20 and definitive results by July 27. With 65 percent of the population aged under 30, Kagame is the only leader most Rwandans have ever known. The 66-year-old is credited with rebuilding a traumatised nation after the genocide but he is also accused of ruling in a climate of fear at home, and fomenting instability in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo. - 'Big margin' - Over nine million Rwandans -- about two million first-time voters --  were registered to cast their ballot, with the presidential race being held at the same time as legislative elections for the first time. «(Kagame) gives us everything we ask him, such as health insurance. This is why he wins by a big margin,» said 34-year-old mechanic Francois Rwabakina. Kagame won with more than 93 percent of the vote in 2003, 2010 and in 2017, when he again easily defeated the same two challengers. He has overseen controversial constitutional amendments that shortened presidential terms from seven to five years and reset the clock for the Rwandan leader, allowing him to potentially rule until 2034. Rwandan courts had rejected appeals from prominent opposition figures Bernard Ntaganda and Victoire Ingabire to remove previous convictions that effectively disqualified them from Monday's vote. The election commission also barred high-profile Kagame critic Diane Rwigara, citing issues with her paperwork -- the second time she was excluded from running. - Well-oiled PR machine - The imbalance between the candidates was evident during the three-week campaign, as the well-oiled PR machine of the ruling RPF swung into high gear. The party's red, white and blue colours and its slogans «Tora Kagame Paul» («Vote Paul Kagame») and «PK24» «Paul Kagame 2024») were everywhere. His rivals struggled to make their voices heard, with barely 100 people showing up to some events. Despite the lacklustre turnout at his rallies, Habineza hailed the «free and fair atmosphere». «This is a very good show of the level of growth in democracy in our country. We have been able to campaign (across) the whole country,» he told AFP. Kagame's RPF militia is lauded for ending the 1994 genocide when it marched on Kigali -- ousting the Hutu extremists who had unleashed 100 days of bloodletting targeting the Tutsi minority. The perpetrators killed around 800,000 people, mainly Tutsis but also Hutu moderates. Kagame has overseen a remarkable economic recovery, with GDP growing by an average of 7.2 percent per year between 2012 and 2022, although the World Bank says almost half the population lives on less than $2.15 a day. Ahead of the vote, Amnesty International said Rwanda's political opposition faced «severe restrictions... as well as threats, arbitrary detention, prosecution, trumped-up charges, killings and enforced disappearances». Abroad, Kigali is accused of meddling in the troubled eastern DRC, where a UN report says its troops are fighting alongside M23 rebels. Kigali was also accused of killing tens of thousands of Hutus in the DRC during its pursuit of fleeing genocide perpetrators. Discussion of these alleged massacres remains taboo and is considered genocide «revisionism» in Rwanda. In the parliamentary election, 589 candidates were chasing 80 seats, including 53 elected by universal suffrage. In the outgoing assembly, the RPF held 40 seats and its allies 11, while Habineza's party had two. Another 27 spots are reserved for women, the youth and people with disabilities. © Agence France-Presse

Kenyan police said they arrested on Monday a suspected serial killer who confessed to murdering 42 women, including his wife, and discarding their dismembered bodies in a Nairobi rubbish dump. Since Friday, nine butchered bodies trussed up in plastic bags have been hauled from the site of an abandoned quarry in the Mukuru slum, a gruesome discovery that has horrified the nation. Acting Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja said the 33-year-old suspect, named as Collins Jumaisi Khalusha, was arrested at around 3:00 am (0000 GMT) near a Nairobi bar where he had been watching the Euro 2024 football final. «We are dealing with a serial killer, a psychopathic serial killer who has no respect for human life,» the head of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Mohamed Amin told reporters. «We are dealing with a vampire, a psychopath.» Amin said Khalusha claimed the murders took place between 2022 and July 11 this year. «The suspect confessed to have lured, killed and disposed of 42 female bodies at the dumping site,» he added. «Unfortunately, and this is very sad, the suspect alleged that his first victim was his wife... who he strangled to death, before dismembering her body and disposing it at the same site.» Police said Khalusha would appear in court Tuesday. - 'Luring another victim' - The suspect was tracked down after analysis of one of the victim's mobile phones, Amin said, in a joint operation by the DCI and the National Police Service. As officers swooped, «he was in the process of luring another victim», Amin said. Khalusha had confessed to having had «carnal knowledge» with some of his victims, he added. Officers searched his one-room house, located just 100 metres (300 feet) from where the bodies were found, discovering a machete, nylon sacks, rope, a pair of industrial rubber gloves -- as well as a «pink female handbag», and «two female panties». The areas will remain «active crime scenes», Amin said, promising a thorough investigation. Nine mutilated and dismembered bodies have so far been retrieved from the crime scene, according to police, with Kanja saying autopsies on the victims would be carried out on Monday. Eight have been confirmed to be female. A second suspect who was caught with a phone belonging to one of the victims has also been arrested, Amin said. After the discovery of the bodies, Kenya's State Department For Gender and Affirmative Action on Sunday condemned the «horrific act» and urged more action against gender-based violence. In 2022 the East African country recorded 725 femicide cases according to a UN report, the highest number since data collection began in 2015. - Police under spotlight - The dumped bodies have thrown yet another spotlight on Kenyan police and added more pressure on President William Ruto, who is struggling to contain a crisis over widespread anti-government protests that saw dozens of demonstrators killed. Kenya's police watchdog, the Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA), said Friday it was looking into whether there was any police involvement in the bodies found in the dump, noting the dumpsite was just 100 metres from a police station. IPOA was also investigating if there had been a «failure to act to prevent» the grisly killings. Kanja told reporters on Sunday that all officers at the nearby police post had been transferred. Still, tensions ran high at the crime scene over the weekend, as volunteers combed through the vast piles of rubbish in search of more victims with officers briefly firing tear gas to disperse the crowds. Kenyan police are often accused by rights groups of using excessive force and carrying out unlawful killings or running hit squads, but few have faced justice. The Mukuru killings follow the so-called «Shakahola forest massacre» when the bodies of some 400 members of a doomsday cult were discovered in mass graves near the coast last year. © Agence France-Presse

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Donald Trump has given his first in-depth interview after miraculously surviving an assassination attempt at his Pennsylvania rally Saturday, insisting 'I'm supposed to be dead'.

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The investigation is underway

LONDON: Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke on Monday. Starmer thanked the crown prince for giving his congratulations on the Labour Party leader’s election victory and reported on his first days in government, a Downing Street statement said. While discussing the situation in the Middle East, the prime minister praised the crown prince for his leadership in supporting regional stability, and emphasized the UK’s enduring commitment to peace and security in the region.

MADINAH: Madinah Gov. Prince Salman bin Sultan received in Madinah on Monday the Deputy Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources Khalid Al-Mudaifer. Issues related to the industrial and mining sector at regional level were discussed, the Saudi Press Agency reported. The ministry’s role in creating a lucrative investment environment in the Madinah region was also looked at, through projects related to the industrial and mining sector and programs aimed at stimulating investment and job opportunities for Saudis.    

Riham El-Gizy is the CEO of Voluntary Carbon Market, a Saudi company which is the first of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa region. In the company’s first 18 months, El-Gizy led the world’s largest-ever voluntary carbon market auction in Riyadh in 2022, before setting a new record at a second auction in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2023. She now leads the development of Saudi Arabia’s first carbon exchange, launching in 2024.

AL-MITHNAB: The Qassim Municipality’s Al-Mithnab branch has successfully executed a simulation of heavy rainfall and flash floods. The drill, which involved all relevant departments and divisions, put the region’s disaster preparedness to the test in order to bolster its emergency response capabilities. The exercise saw the activation of the emergency rainfall plan. Some 40 field personnel were mobilized alongside a fleet of 12 vehicles and machinery, all operating under the comprehensive Emergency and Disaster Management Plan.

RIYADH: Citizens and residents of Saudi Arabia are no strangers to extreme heat conditions, and over the years they have learned to adapt. But as temperatures rise, so do the bugs. And sometimes the problem cannot simply be swatted away. Tephriditae fruit flies, such as the Mediterranean fruit fly and the olive fruit fly, as well as insects such as the red palm weevil, are among the biggest antagonizing forces against the nation’s plant and fruit supply.

According to Russian Foreign Minister, it is necessary to hear what Western representative will say to «the question, asked for the tenth time already.»

Ex-President of the US has the charisma and the grip on both sides, Hossein Khorram said

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In the preamble for the platform, the Republicans vow to prevent World War III

A total of 100 compressed natural gas (CNG) buses arrived in the island today, which will significantly boost the Jamaica Urban Transit Company Limited (JUTC) fleet and improve service delivery to the public. The new units, acquired at a cost of...

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Cheering GOP delegates formally nominated Donald Trump for president at today's Republican National Convention kickoff, less than two days after an assassination attempt on the former president and shortly after he...

We all know the British summer is often a wash-out… but this year? With endless rain and a definite chill in the air, there's been no chance of a healthy glow - so it's a bottle of fake tan to the rescue.

NASSAU, Bahamas, CMC – Bahamian Prime Minister Phillip Davis today said he is supporting a compendium of bills to legalise the use of cannabis for medical and religious purposes, to decriminalise the possession of small amounts of cannabis....

The legal battle between acting principal of Jamaica College, Wayne Robinson, and former Jamaica College Old Boys' Association President, Major Basil Jarrett, over the sale of school uniforms is to be determined by the Court of Appeal...

A crucial part of the history of Jamaica's first national hero, The Right Excellent Marcus Mosiah Garvey, has now come home following the donation of his death certificate to the Marcus Mosiah Garvey Multimedia Museum and the Garvey...

The Court of Appeal today ruled that Kensington Primary School in St Catherine had breached the constitutional rights of a female student who was denied access in 2018 after failing to trim her dreadlocks hair. Outgoing president of the Court of...

The Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) is reporting that the domestic economy grew by 1.4 per cent during the January to March 2024 quarter, relative to the corresponding period last year. According to STATIN's quarterly Gross Domestic...

A 10-year-old girl from Saskatchewan who attracted millions of followers while sharing her health story online has died. 

The former Canadian Forces reservist who stormed the grounds of Rideau Hall — the official residence of the Governor General — in an attempt to confront Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been granted statutory release.