Carib Scope

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  • Dominican Republic concludes first Dominican Week in Europe

    Dominican Republic concludes first Dominican Week in Europe

    After a week of targeted diplomatic, economic, and cultural engagement across Belgium and the Netherlands, the Dominican Republic has successfully concluded its first-ever Dominican Week initiative, closing out the event with an official ceremonial reception in The Hague. The landmark gathering was designed to advance the Caribbean nation’s strategic goal of deepening multifaceted ties with European partners across political, commercial, academic, and cultural spheres.

    Helmed by Carlos de la Mota, the Dominican Ambassador to the host nations, the week-long series of events worked to highlight the Dominican Republic’s attractiveness as a global trade and investment partner, while advancing shared priorities including innovation, climate action, and cross-border institutional collaboration. The initiative also successfully positioned the country as a reliable, strategic ally for European countries seeking new partnerships in the Caribbean and Latin America.

    Throughout the week, the official Dominican delegation held productive working sessions with senior Dutch government officials to strengthen bilateral political dialogue. It also moved forward with new collaborative frameworks tied to the Port of Rotterdam, one of the world’s largest and most strategically important maritime hubs, opening new avenues for trade and logistics cooperation between the two sides. A centerpiece of the agenda was the Dominican Republic–Netherlands Business Forum, which brought together private sector leaders and policymakers to explore opportunities in cross-border investment, export expansion, the blue economy, sustainable development, and the global energy transition.

    Beyond economic and trade cooperation, the initiative yielded tangible progress in academic and scientific exchange. Two of the Netherlands’ top research institutions, Wageningen University & Research and the IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, formalized new research and training partnerships with Dominican stakeholders. These new collaborations will focus on critical shared challenges including agricultural innovation, global food security, climate adaptation and resilience, sustainable water resource management, and workforce capacity building.

    To cap off the week of engagement, organizers hosted a vibrant cultural showcase that brought authentic Dominican culture to European audiences. The event featured live performances of iconic Dominican musical genres including merengue and bachata, alongside tastings of local gastronomy and premium Dominican rum. The showcase underscored the Dominican Republic’s commitment to leveraging cultural diplomacy as a core tool for building people-to-people connections and strengthening long-term bilateral ties.

    Event organizers and senior Dominican officials have described the inaugural Dominican Week as a defining milestone in the country’s efforts to expand its diplomatic, economic, and cultural footprint across Europe, laying the groundwork for years of expanded strategic partnership with European nations.

  • ITA launches major recruitment drive as transition to statutory body gathers pace

    ITA launches major recruitment drive as transition to statutory body gathers pace

    KINGSTON, Jamaica — In a landmark step to reshape the country’s traffic management ecosystem, Jamaica’s Island Traffic Authority (ITA) has rolled out one of the most expansive hiring initiatives in recent memory, opening more than 30 vacancies to build out its operational capacity following a broadened mandate under the new Road Traffic Act.

    The open positions cut across nearly every core function of the organization, ranging from senior leadership roles in management, finance, legal services, and human resources to frontline operational posts in transport, procurement, communications, and records management. This cross-departmental hiring push signals a deliberate, large-scale expansion of both the ITA’s administrative capacity and regulatory reach, as the agency transitions out of its old institutional structure.

    When questioned by local media outlet Observer Online, ITA representatives confirmed that the recruitment drive is a core component of the agency’s institutional transition: moving from a subordinate department within the Ministry of Transport and Mining to an independent statutory body, a structural change mandated by the 2018 Road Traffic Act.

    “The roles we are filling align directly with the mandate laid out in the 2018 Road Traffic Act, which formally established the ITA as a standalone statutory body tasked with carrying out the expanded functions outlined in the legislation,” the authority stated in an official response. It added further context, clarifying that the shift formally ends its decades-long status as a department within the national ministry that oversaw transport and energy portfolios.

    To support this entirely new organizational structure and allow the ITA to fully carry out all responsibilities assigned by the new law, the agency must build out entirely new departments and fill key leadership positions that did not exist under its previous structure. The list of open senior roles includes directors for human resource management and development, finance and accounting, as well as specialized posts such as senior internal auditor, legal officer, communications officer, senior financial accountant, payroll manager, transport manager, and senior public procurement officer, among others.

    Ultimately, the overarching goal of these new appointments is to reinforce the ITA’s operational foundations and raise the quality of services it provides to Jamaican motorists and the general public. “These hires will strengthen the ITA’s overall capacity, streamline internal operations, and improve service delivery to the public by ensuring the organization has the full resources it needs to meet its regulatory and administrative obligations,” the authority explained.

    The 2018 Road Traffic Act, which began phased implementation across Jamaica starting in 2022, not only redefined the ITA’s institutional status but also vastly expanded its scope of responsibilities, while modernizing the country’s entire national traffic management regulatory framework. Long known primarily for its core work conducting motor vehicle fitness inspections and mandatory driver testing, the ITA now holds expanded responsibility for regulating national vehicle emission and safety standards, leading nationwide road safety public initiatives, and carrying out a broad suite of new administrative and enforcement functions connected to Jamaica’s entire transportation network.

    The sheer size of the current recruitment exercise makes clear that the ITA is now accelerating its work to put these new mandated responsibilities into practice, by building a more robust, full-capacity organizational structure capable of handling its expanded remit. The application window for all advertised positions closed last week, with the ITA expected to announce final appointments in the coming months as it completes its transition.

  • FOP, Give Back Jamaica strengthen communities through education and healthcare outreach

    FOP, Give Back Jamaica strengthen communities through education and healthcare outreach

    In a powerful display of collective purpose and community impact, two Jamaican community organizations – Friends of Porus (FOP) and Give Back Jamaica (GBJ) – have wrapped up a multi-faceted outreach mission in May 2026 that delivered critical support to students, healthcare providers and rural families across the island. The initiative paired targeted literacy advancement for young primary school learners with the donation of life-saving medical supplies to under-resourced rural health facilities, addressing two of the most pressing needs for marginalized Jamaican communities.

    The educational pillar of the mission aligned with Jamaica’s annual Read Across Jamaica Week, and expanded FOP and GBJ’s reach through a new collaboration with Winsome Wishes for Kids, a 2020-founded nonprofit focused on closing literacy gaps for Jamaican children. Over its five years of operation, Winsome Wishes has built a strong reputation for delivering tangible results by providing tailored learning resources and targeted support to students struggling with academic barriers, making the organization a natural partner for the literacy drive.

    For Friends of Porus, expanding access to educational tools remains a core organizational priority, according to FOP Vice President Vassell Ogilvie, who also serves as founder and CEO of New York-based Hudson Valley Dynamic Counseling, the primary funder of the 2026 mission. “Education is far more than textbooks and lessons – it is the most transformative gift we can offer a young person,” Ogilvie shared in an interview during the outreach. “When we put locally authored books in the hands of Jamaican children, we are not just teaching them to read. We are opening doors to new opportunities, sparking their imagination, and laying the foundation for lifelong success. Every child, regardless of their geographic or economic circumstances, deserves the tools to learn, grow and chase dreams bigger than their current surroundings. Participating in Read Across Jamaica Week is not just a one-time donation drive – it is an investment in the future of our nation.”

    Ogilvie also credited GBJ President Hopeton Brown for forging the cross-organizational partnership that made the widespread impact possible. “Meaningful community change never happens in isolation. It only comes when groups set aside individual goals and come together around a shared mission to lift people up,” he noted. “We are deeply grateful to Mr. Brown and the entire GBJ team for creating spaces for organizations like Friends of Porus to contribute to collective service for the Jamaican people. These partnerships let us extend our reach far beyond what we could accomplish alone, so we can make a real difference where need is greatest.”

    Three rural primary schools – Broadleaf Primary School, Harmons Primary School, and Porus Primary School – were selected as beneficiaries of the literacy initiative. Each institution received a curated collection of books written by Jamaican scholars, donated to the schools’ libraries to expand student access to diverse, locally relevant reading material. All book acquisition and distribution costs were fully covered by Friends of Porus as part of the organization’s ongoing commitment to advancing educational equity across rural Jamaica.

    After completing school visits and book presentations, the joint delegation shifted its focus to strengthening rural healthcare, delivering a large shipment of much-needed medical supplies to two community facilities: the Bog Walk Health Centre in St Catherine and the Porus Health Clinic in Manchester.

    The first healthcare stop at Bog Walk Health Centre drew widespread local media attention, with popular broadcaster Roger Hasfal covering the donation live on IRIE FM’s long-running community program *Come In Unity*. During the segment, Hasfal interviewed frontline healthcare workers and special guest Eric Donaldson, the iconic Jamaican reggae artist and GBJ’s official celebrity ambassador. Widely known as Jamaica’s “King of Festival Songs” and creator of the global classic *Cherry Oh Baby*, Donaldson has long used his platform to advance charitable work that benefits communities across the island, and he joined the delegation to highlight the importance of the outreach mission.

    The following day, the team traveled to the Porus Health Clinic, where a second shipment of medical supplies was delivered to clinic staff, who greeted the donation with gratitude for the support that will directly benefit thousands of local residents relying on the facility for care. All medical supplies distributed across both sites were shipped from the United States and fully funded by Hudson Valley Dynamic Counseling. Organizers also extended special recognition to individual donors, particularly Beverly Graham, whose significant financial contribution was a key factor in the initiative’s overall success.

    Leaders from both FOP and GBJ reaffirmed their long-term commitment to advancing educational equity, strengthening rural healthcare systems, and building sustainable cross-organization partnerships that drive lasting positive change for Jamaicans across all regions of the island. As the two groups plan their next round of outreach, they say they hope their work will inspire other individuals and organizations across Jamaica and the diaspora to invest in community development, proving that collective action around a shared purpose can deliver meaningful, transformative change for those who need it most.

  • Track and field fraternity mourning death of former sprinter/coach Patricia Elaine Thompson

    Track and field fraternity mourning death of former sprinter/coach Patricia Elaine Thompson

    The Bahamian track and field community is mourning the passing of Patricia Elaine Thompson, a multi-faceted pioneer who shaped the sport across the nation as an athlete, coach, administrator and team official. Thompson, a former elite sprinter, long-time coach and Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations (BAAA) executive, died yesterday, leaving behind a decades-long trailblazing legacy that laid the groundwork for the country’s future international athletic success.

    Thompson first made her mark on the sport as a standout sprinter at Eastern Secondary School, where her explosive starts out of the starting block earned her a reputation as the institution’s fastest female competitor. She went on to join the iconic Pioneers Track Club, where she rose to national prominence alongside teammates Gail North, Christine Jones and Althea Rolle. Together, the four women made history as the first Bahamian female 4x100m relay team to compete at the 1962 Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games held in Kingston, Jamaica. The quartet finished fifth in the event, but more importantly, blazed a trail that would lead to the historic gold medal-winning success of the Bahamian “Golden Girls” sprint teams between 1999 and 2000.

    After retiring from competitive racing, Thompson seamlessly transitioned into coaching, where she helped elevate programs at two of the country’s top high school programs: AF Adderley Tigers and SC McPherson Sharks. Under her guidance, both programs emerged as dominant forces in Bahamian interscholastic track and field during an era when public and private schools competed in a unified circuit.

    Beyond her work on the high school track, Thompson also dedicated decades of service to the national governing body of the sport, serving more than 20 years as a member of the BAAA council. She also took on key roles with Bahamian national teams at international competitions across the globe, serving as a coach, manager and chaperone at dozens of major events including the CARIFTA Games, the Olympic Games, and the inaugural IAAF World Athletics Championships.

    One of her earliest key international roles came as chaperone for the 1976 Montreal Olympic Team, which marked the country’s participation with just one female competitor, Shonel Ferguson. She would later reprise the chaperone role for the 1984 and 1988 Olympic squads, and served as team manager for the very first World Athletics Championships hosted in Helsinki, Finland. Beyond those top-tier global events, she was a constant presence at regional competitions including CARIFTA, even leading logistics and accommodations when The Bahamas played host to both CARIFTA and the CAC Championships.

    Off the track, Thompson built a 44-year career in education, after earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics with a minor in physical education from Florida Memorial College and a Diploma in Education from the University of the West Indies. She spent the majority of her teaching career at AF Adderley Senior High School, with her final decade of service spent at SC McPherson.

    As news of her passing spread across the Bahamian athletic community, tributes and condolences poured in from current and former athletes, coaches and administrators who worked alongside Thompson throughout her career. Many highlighted her warm, nurturing personality that made her a beloved mother figure for generations of young Bahamian athletes.

    Rolando “Lonnie” Greene, now the head track and field coach at the University of Kentucky, was coached by Thompson during his time as a sprinter at AF Adderley. “We lost a good one and heaven gained an angel. She will be missed,” Greene said. “It always amazes me how things like this hits us so seriously. But we never stay in touch the way we should. I guess we need to learn from things like these and improve upon our connection with one another. I got to be better.”

    Andrew Tynes, a former elite sprinter who now coaches in The Bahamas, recalled Thompson’s steady, caring presence on a 1990 Junior World Athletics Championship trip that spanned three weeks, including a pre-competition training camp in Florida. “We went on a training camp in Florida and two weeks later flew off to Belgrade where the Junior Worlds was held,” Tynes said. “She was always that mother figure and that nurturing person you could go to. She was a very pleasant person you could go to. May she forever rest in peace.”

    Bernard Newbold, a rising BAAA administrator who worked alongside Thompson during events hosted in The Bahamas, remembered her calm, approachable demeanor. “I also had the pleasure of working with her when she was at SC McPherson during many of the high school championships,” he said. “A very calm and pleasant person.”

    Long jumper Jackie Edwards summed up the widespread sentiment shared across the community, calling Thompson a “wonderful, kind person. She will be missed.” Versatile former athlete Linda Woodside echoed that tribute, noting simply: “Elaine was one of a kind.” In a tribute written ahead of an inaugural BAAA gala awards reception, BAAA official Renee Pargo highlighted Thompson’s place as a foundational trailblazer who opened doors for every female Bahamian track and field athlete that came after her.

  • Mailpac opens Barbican location in bid to ‘revolutionize customer experience’

    Mailpac opens Barbican location in bid to ‘revolutionize customer experience’

    Jamaica’s longest-running and most trusted delivery services provider Mailpac has launched its strategically positioned new branch in Barbican, St Andrew, marking the first step in a company-wide transformation aimed at redefining package shipping and collection experiences for Jamaican consumers. In an official statement released Tuesday, the brand framed the opening of this new location as the start of a bold new era for the decades-old delivery enterprise. Operating in an increasingly saturated market dominated by generic, one-size-fits-all delivery solutions, Mailpac says the future of parcel services goes far beyond simply moving packages from origin to destination. Instead, the company argues that successful delivery providers must integrate their services seamlessly into customers’ daily routines, delivering higher convenience, greater efficiency, and more affordable pricing than existing offerings. The new Barbican outlet is the first tangible demonstration of this customer-centric vision put into practice. Photos from the launch event show Mailpac Chief Operating Officer Everton Jhulur and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Mark Gonzales posing outside the newly opened branch, with the full local team already on site ready to serve customers. Per the company’s release, the new location was intentionally placed in one of Kingston’s most dynamic and fast-growing lifestyle-focused communities. It sits adjacent to popular local amenities including pickleball courts, fitness and wellness centers, and a range of everyday retail and service spots that residents already visit regularly. A key differentiator for the Barbican branch is its extended operating hours, closing at 7:00 PM daily to accommodate customers’ busy schedules. This extended window means shoppers can collect their parcels on their own time, whether that is after finishing work, wrapping up a workout, or completing other daily errands, without having to rearrange their entire day around a rigid pickup schedule. In remarks on the launch, Dr. Gonzales emphasized what sets Mailpac apart from newer, smaller competitors in the crowded delivery space: decades of earned consumer trust and deep institutional expertise that the brand brings to every new strategic move. “We have never been a company that rests on past success. Every few years, we take an honest look at where the market is heading, and we evolve to meet customers’ changing needs. The Barbican branch is a perfect example of that approach,” Dr. Gonzales explained. He noted that the delivery market is currently filled with providers offering identical services in identical ways, but today’s Jamaican customers are busy, dynamic people who deserve a service that fits around their lives, not the other way around. “Barbican is just the first step. Extended operating hours, locations integrated into popular lifestyle hubs, and an unwavering focus on convenience, efficiency, and value: this is the direction we are moving as a company, and we have only just gotten started,” the CEO added. Mailpac confirmed that it is re-evaluating every customer touchpoint across its network, from outlet placement to operating hours, drawing on its decades of local industry knowledge and brand trust to guide its overhaul. In the coming months, the company says customers can expect more announcements as it rolls out its full suite of next-generation customer experience initiatives across Jamaica.

  • Men get two chances but women only one

    Men get two chances but women only one

    At the recent signing-on ceremony for the 81st cohort of Squad A, Bahamas Department of Corrections Commissioner Doan Cleare made controversial and striking remarks that laid bare a persistent recruitment crisis plaguing the island nation’s uniformed correctional services. While addressing the new group of incoming trainees, Cleare drew sharp distinctions between how the department will handle disciplinary issues for female and male recruits, rooted in a stark imbalance in qualified applicant pools.

    Cleare openly warned female trainees that a single major misstep would lead to immediate termination, explaining that the department already holds a waiting list of more than 400 qualified women eager to join the ranks. For struggling male recruits, however, he said leadership would take a more lenient approach, attempting to guide and “massage” underperforming men into meeting standards — a concession born out of a years-long shortage of qualified male candidates. He did note that repeated or severe misconduct would still result in dismissal for male recruits.

    The scale of the recruitment shortfall became clear when Cleare outlined the department’s targets and final intake numbers. Originally, the department planned to bring in 70 men and 30 women for the new recruit class. After being unable to meet the male quota despite a nationwide search, leadership was forced to adjust the target to 60 men and 40 women. Even with that revised goal, the current cohort stands at 41 men and 38 women; seven additional recruits are set to join this week, but the department will still end up 12 men short of the adjusted target.

    Commissioner Cleare emphasized that the gender gap is not a reflection of women’s ability to perform correctional work, noting that female applicants consistently meet the department’s minimum entry requirements. Rather, uniformed branches still maintain a need for more male personnel for operational reasons, and qualified male candidates have become increasingly hard to source. Cleare and his team traveled to every island across the Bahamas archipelago to recruit, yet still failed to fill all open male spots.

    The core barrier to entry, Cleare explained, is a failure among many male applicants to meet the minimum educational requirement of five Bahamas Junior Certificate (BJC) passes. Most male candidates only present two or three passes, which is not enough to qualify for recruitment.

    Tracing the origins of the shortage, Cleare said the decline in qualified male applicants first became noticeable around 2012 and 2013. By 2021, he confirmed that other major Bahamian uniformed services — including the Royal Bahamas Police Force and Royal Bahamas Defence Force — are grappling with the same recruitment challenge. Speaking on the sidelines of the ceremony, Cleare linked the shortage to broader educational and social disparities, particularly in the more populated islands of New Providence and Grand Bahama.

    Growing up on a smaller Family Island, Cleare recalled that male students were traditionally eager to learn and focused on their education. But in the country’s two most populated islands, he said, many young men are drawn to gang activity, adopt disruptive behavior in classrooms, and often choose substance use including marijuana and alcohol over pursuing their education. When these young men struggle to find work later in life, he added, they often blame the government rather than their own lack of qualifications.

    Cleare pointed to the government’s National Youth Guard programme as a promising potential pipeline to expand the pool of qualified young men for uniformed services. However, he noted that the Department of Corrections has often been slow to access this talent pool: by the time corrections officials connect with programme participants, police and defence force recruiters have already hired all the qualified male candidates, leaving only female applicants for corrections.

    Beyond the general gender gap in recruitment, Cleare also highlighted a shortage of skilled tradespeople within the department, noting that the BDOCS has recently lost retired workers with specialized technical skills including air-conditioning repair, fencing, and plumbing, with no qualified recruits waiting to fill those roles.

    Department officials estimate that the recruit trainee programme typically sees a dropout rate between one and two percent, a relatively small share of the overall incoming class.

  • Thompson slams BPL for ‘excuses’ over power outages

    Thompson slams BPL for ‘excuses’ over power outages

    A senior opposition lawmaker in the Bahamas has launched a scathing critique of the ruling Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) government, accusing state power utility Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) of hiding behind excuses instead of resolving chronic power outages and holding the administration accountable for broken pledges on affordable, reliable electricity.

    Speaking during parliamentary debate Monday, Kwasi Thompson, the member of parliament for East Grand Bahama, pushed back against a recent public statement from BPL that blamed recent widespread service disruptions on a combination of unexpected equipment breakdowns, underreported underground cable faults, and an earlier-than-usual summer heat wave. Thompson argued that these explanations do nothing to address the daily struggles Bahamian households and business owners face, telling lawmakers that residents have every right to demand concrete action instead of vague justifications.

    “The PLP came into office in 2021 promising voters sweeping changes to the country’s energy sector: lower monthly bills and a far more consistent power supply,” Thompson noted. “Instead, we have seen electricity costs climb steadily year after year. Working families have been forced to slash spending on groceries and other essential household items just to cover their energy bills, while small and medium businesses have seen their operating costs surge — costs that are ultimately passed on to already cash-strapped consumers.”

    Thompson emphasized that the financial relief the government promised to ease energy burdens has never materialized, leaving millions of households across the country facing growing financial pressure. Beyond rising costs, he added, the government has also failed to deliver on its pledge to improve service reliability, particularly for residents of the Bahamas’ outer Family Islands, where persistent outages have been a years-long problem that disrupts every part of daily life. He highlighted a recent island-wide blackout on Cat Island that shut down economic activity during the island’s popular annual Rake and Scrape festival, with local business owners describing the disruption as tragic for their livelihoods.

    “Power outages do more than just turn off the lights — they undercut new economic opportunities, drive away tourists, and upend daily routines for entire communities,” Thompson said. He warned that even New Providence, the country’s most populous island and home to the capital Nassau, is on track for another summer of repeated service interruptions, pointing to recent reports of rolling blackouts across multiple residential communities in the city.

    With the PLP having now completed a full term in office and won re-election, Thompson said the government can no longer shift blame to previous administrations and must accept full responsibility for resolving the country’s long-running energy crisis. “You have had more than enough time to fix these problems,” he said. “At this stage, responsibility rests squarely with the government.”

    Thompson laid out three core questions that Bahamian voters want answered: when will electricity costs come down, when will service reliability improve, and when will the government release a detailed, public roadmap to modernize the country’s aging power infrastructure. For residents of Grand Bahama, he added, the promised benefits of energy reform have yet to materialize, leaving communities still waiting for the change they were promised ahead of the 2021 election.

    He also questioned the timeline for one of the government’s flagship energy reform pledges: allowing Bahamian citizens to take ownership stakes in the national power utility and share in the benefits of a restructured energy sector. While the government frames its current energy agenda as progress, Thompson said that for the vast majority of ordinary Bahamians, what the government calls progress has only translated to greater financial pressure and more uncertainty about access to reliable power.

  • Dominican Republic strengthens airport health controls to prevent Ebola entry

    Dominican Republic strengthens airport health controls to prevent Ebola entry

    In response to ongoing global Ebola outbreak alerts, the Dominican Republic has rolled out strict new mandatory health surveillance protocols designed to stop high-risk infectious diseases like Ebola from entering the country via international air routes. The policy, formally adopted as Resolution 144-2026 by the nation’s Civil Aviation Board (JAC), aligns with directives from the Dominican Ministry of Public Health focused on shoring up epidemiological monitoring across all points of entry, including international airports, seaports, and land border crossings.

    Under the updated regulatory framework, all commercial airlines operating inbound flights to the Dominican Republic are legally required to deny boarding to any passenger or crew member who has been classified by public health officials as a confirmed, probable, or suspected Ebola case. The boarding ban also extends to individuals who have documented recent exposure to the virus in regions currently experiencing active outbreaks.

    Beyond the boarding restriction, air carriers are mandated to collaborate closely with local public health agencies and airport security teams to carry out enhanced entry screening. They are also required to immediately report any passenger who develops visible Ebola-compatible symptoms mid-flight to ground health authorities before arrival.

    Officials have emphasized that the new rules do not bar Dominican citizens from returning to their home country. Any returning national who may have been exposed to the virus will, however, be required to complete a full public health evaluation, and may be subject to quarantine, isolation, or other control measures as outlined in existing Ministry of Public Health guidelines. The surveillance package is framed as a proactive, adaptive measure that will be updated regularly to reflect changing global epidemiological conditions as the international Ebola situation evolves.

  • Nintendo to remake classic ‘Zelda’ game ‘Ocarina of Time’

    Nintendo to remake classic ‘Zelda’ game ‘Ocarina of Time’

    In a major announcement from its Paris presentation Tuesday, Japanese gaming powerhouse Nintendo has confirmed that a brand-new remake of its genre-defining 1998 action-adventure masterpiece *The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time* is in development for the company’s upcoming Switch 2 console. The reveal came during a pre-recorded livestream showcasing Nintendo’s pipeline of upcoming releases, though company representatives shared only limited details about the highly anticipated project, confirming only that the title will launch sometime this year to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the entire *Legend of Zelda* franchise. When the original version of Ocarina of Time launched for the Nintendo 64 console in 1998, it revolutionized the global gaming industry. It introduced players to an unprecedentedly immersive, intricately detailed open 3D world and a groundbreaking combat mechanic that let players lock on to individual enemies— a feature that is now a universal standard across nearly all 3D action and adventure games today. The game follows its iconic green-tunic-clad hero Link on a sprawling adventure that bends time itself, splitting his journey between childhood and adulthood, as he battles the dark tyrant Ganondorf to rescue Princess Zelda and save the kingdom of Hyrule from destruction. For decades, *Ocarina of Time* has retained its reputation as one of the greatest video games ever created, consistently topping “best games of all time” lists from leading gaming publications and holding a nearly perfect 99% aggregate critic score on the review platform Metacritic. This is not the first time Nintendo has revisited the classic title: back in 2011, the company released an updated remake for its Nintendo 3DS handheld console, which reworked the original’s low-polygon graphics to leverage the device’s stereoscopic 3D display technology. The entire *Legend of Zelda* franchise has grown into one of Nintendo’s most successful and enduring intellectual properties, with global sales of all series entries topping 140 million units to date. The most recent mainline installment, 2023’s *The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom*, became the fastest-selling game in franchise history, cementing the series’ ongoing popularity decades after its debut. Beyond the new game remake, Nintendo is expanding the Zelda franchise beyond interactive entertainment: a big-budget live-action *Legend of Zelda* feature film is currently in production and scheduled to hit theaters worldwide in April 2027.

  • JLP mourns passing of former councillor Lorna Leslie

    JLP mourns passing of former councillor Lorna Leslie

    The Jamaica political community is mourning the loss of one of its most dedicated public servants, Lorna Joy Leslie, the former long-serving Councillor for the Denham Town Division who passed away on Tuesday following a prolonged battle with illness. Leslie holds the distinction of being the longest-serving Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) representative to ever serve on the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC), and her decades of advocacy for marginalized communities have left an enduring legacy across the nation.

    In the wake of Leslie’s passing, senior JLP figures have led tributes celebrating her decades of service. Desmond McKenzie, Deputy Leader of the JLP, Member of Parliament for Kingston West, and Jamaica’s current Local Government Minister, offered a heartfelt reflection on Leslie’s decades-long commitment to public life. “Lorna Leslie was a true stalwart of the Jamaica Labour Party,” McKenzie shared in his statement. “She served the residents of Denham Town and the wider West Kingston area with extraordinary distinction until her retirement from office in 2011.”

    McKenzie extended the party’s deepest sympathies to Leslie’s loved ones, acknowledging the sacrifice her family made to enable her decades of public service. “The entire Jamaica Labour Party, and especially the West Kingston political family, send our most sincere and heartfelt condolences to Lorna’s family,” he said. “We are endlessly grateful for her extraordinary contributions to our party and our country, and we thank her family for sharing her with us throughout all these years of service.”

    McKenzie went on to highlight Leslie’s lifelong work advancing the rights and needs of Jamaica’s most vulnerable populations, describing her as an “undisputed champion of the poor and dispossessed.” He emphasized that Leslie was unafraid to speak up for marginalized communities, and her advocacy delivered tangible improvements for countless low-income Jamaicans. “She was fearless and incredibly effective in advocating for the under-privileged across our society,” McKenzie explained. “Lorna’s work, her dedication, and her passion will never be forgotten. She was an exceptional public representative who always went above and beyond to fight for elderly and low-income residents.”

    Leslie’s commitment to supporting vulnerable communities extended beyond her work as a division councillor. She served with notable distinction as chair of the KSAMC’s Poor Relief Committee, and also made significant contributions to the daily operations and improvement of the Denham Town Golden Age Home, a long-term care facility for elderly Kingston residents.

    Leslie’s legacy has already been formally honored by the KSAMC: in 2021, the municipal body unanimously approved a resolution to rename Metcalfe Street, a major thoroughfare in Denham Town, to Leslie Street in recognition of her 35 years of continuous service to the division. The renaming effort enjoyed broad grassroots support, with 174 local residents signing a petition in favor of the change. Even across party lines, Leslie won widespread respect for her work: at the time of the renaming, councillors from both major Jamaican political parties recognized her as a tireless advocate for the poor, praising her unwavering passion and dedication to improving the lives of the most vulnerable members of Jamaican society.