News on the Go

Rainy weekend 

The Meteorological Service says that a trough across the southwestern Caribbean is expected to influence the weather across the country.

According to the Met Service, the system is expected to produce increased rainfall across the island, starting this afternoon through to Saturday.

Periods of showers and thunderstorms, which may be heavy at times, are forecast for sections of most parishes.

Babsy urges people to register Labour Day projects

Olivia 'Babsy' Grange, Jamaica's culture minister, is encouraging persons to register their projects for Labour Day, which will be observed on May 23 under the theme'Ramp it up ... Fix it up'.

PLANNED ACTIVITIES

Grange, who chairs the National Labour Day Planning Committee, said that communities and individuals are being encouraged to register their planned activity for the day.

"The fact that you are beautifying, you are volunteering, you are doing something to help your community, and you are participating, register your projects and be part of history," Grange said.

The two Labour Day projects that will receive national focus this year are the St Ann's Bay Infant School in St Ann and the Cumberland Health Centre in St Catherine.

Holness insists on new Parliament

Prime Minister Andrew Holness said that he will pursue the building of a new Parliament as a symbol of national pride.

He said that investing in building a new Parliament is not wasting the people's money.

"The [current] building itself lacks the stature and functionality of a modern Parliament," Holness said.

GREAT DISGUST

"There is a sense in the country that we must not spend anything on Government. There is a sense that if you are going to invest in making the symbols of Government reflective of the hopes, dreams, ambitions, aspirations of the people that you are wasting money because there is great distrust of the State and indeed, a separation of the State from the people. Investing in a Parliament is not wasting people's money. It is because we have not as a country made the investment in the symbols of our sovereignty why we have fundamental issues with the rule of law, fairness and dignity of the State," said the prime minister.

The new Parliament is to be built in a section of the National Heroes Park.