SWINDLED! New breed of white-collar thieves strike banks
A SIGNIFICANT increase in scams kept the police Fraud Squad busy last year as the unit probed reports of fraudulent transfers of land, employee theft, credit-card fraud, identity theft, and other allegations.

Jazz festival worth $1 billion, says Bartlett
JAMAICA Jazz and Blues Festival is estimated to have stimulated economic activity within the tourism capital to the tune of US$10.2 million (J$1 billion) over the last three days, Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett has announced.

Painful wait for persons at Spanish Town Hospital
IT'S A case of survival of the fittest, in a painful wait to access free prescription drugs at the Spanish Town Hospital in St Catherine. From as early as 3 a.m., scores of persons converge on the hospital's pharmacy to secure a space in a line with the hope of receiving medication prescribed by doctors.

Banks taken to cleaners - Local banks swindled out of millions while scammers target high-end vehicles
A NEW scam is in town and local banks and other financial institutions are being targeted. This time, the tricksters are using fraudulent papers to get motor-vehicle loans and going into hiding when the loans are to be repaid.

Peralto, a passionate party man
HE WAS small in stature with the physique of a featherweight boxer, but for much of his 30 years in politics, Ryan Peralto was a heavyweight in the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP). Peralto, a former member of parliament, senator, mayor of Kingston and high-ranking JLP executive, died on Friday morning at the Andrews Memorial Hospital in St Andrew.

Inauguration travelogue
Diary of my historic experience at the inauguration of United States (US) President, Barack Obama in Washington, DC.

Hillside pleads for help
GOOD OLD father time seems to have forgotten Hillside. Sitting at the foot of the Blue Mountains in St Thomas, it looks like a typical countryside enveloped in shawls of greenery. But the bare hillsides casting their shadow over the village tell this reporter that Hillside is a community awaiting the advent of another environmental disaster.

Dunn to act as secretary general of global media research organisation
UNIVERSITY OF the West Indies media specialist, communications scholar and technology policy analyst, Dr Hopeton Dunn, has been named to act as secretary general of the prestigious global academic organisation - the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR).