good afternoon I'm Herman green with the midday news a special welcome to those
of you watching online at one spot media.com following yesterday's
declaration of a state of emergency SOE in the st. Andrews South Police Division
concerns are again being raised over the use of SOS as a means of dealing with a
conscious crime problem the concern follows numerous calls from various
sectors of the society for the Andrew Holness led government to outline a
detailed crime plan for central Manchester Member of Parliament and a
challenger for PNP president Peter bunting the imposition of a state of
emergency is more a publicity stunt speaking with reporters in st. James
last evening mr. bunting said he's not hopeful that there will be any great
results under this SOE the central Manchester MP and former security
minister says the members of the force are being used in intelligence so that
they can identify who the violence producers are where the guns are and go
for them in a pincer like movement this you know state of emergency approach has
been just used for largely for public relations the the data says that it has
not been effective and we need something more meaningful from the government to
respond to the crime situation meanwhile the private sector organisation of
Jamaica PS oj is calling for the authorities to provide details on the
decision-making process in the clearing states of emergency PS oj president
hamid mitchell says the business community supports their states of
emergency because crime and violence have affected its members however he
believes there are other areas in need of heightened security measures
additional activities being pursued inclined and hotspots management
additional intelligence on surveillance activities because we can just go on
putting band-aids on this part of the cancer that Carlos you noticed so I I
support it but there must be more to make us airport
are in need of essential upgrades that's according to Transport Minister Robert
Montague who says Jamaica's facilities or airport facilities lack keifa City
technology to compete on the global stage he was speaking at the 45th
anniversary of the airport authority of Jamaica we have more in this report both
phenom and Manny International and sangster international airports have
been leased to investors within the last 20 years and moved the airport authority
of Jamaica saw as necessary in developing and modernizing the
facilities however Transport Minister Robert Montague believes that Jamaica
should be leading in innovation but instead Island is lacking
mr. Montague argues that the lack of urban planning creates major challenges
for the country's infrastructure he believes America must look at mass
transit and other key transportation issues for the future for Transport
Minister says lawmakers inability to plan especially in the transportation
sector please still citizens being inconvenienced when improvements are
made to infrastructure
machine masters TVJ news the problematic Sargassum seaweed is once again
impacting Jamaica's beaches however tourism minister Edmund Bartlet
is proposing that this year the issue will be fixed he spoke on the matter
during a tour of tourist attractions in Saint Mary on the weekend Sargassum it's
a form of seaweed that almost yearly has been a problem to beaches in the region
the weed washes in in droves covering large areas of beach both land and water
it's again seen as a threat to the tourism sector as it has already been
seen on beaches in eastern Jamaica this year we're concerned because we see that
as a clear and present danger to tourism especially the tourism we understand
that is driven by sand sea and so on noting the importance of the beach
experience to the sector tourism minister edmond Bartlett says it's a
threat to the entire region in addition to its unsightly nature and hindrance to
beach goers the seaweed also has a distinctly pungent odor which adds to
visitors staying away last year the National Environment and planning agency
never suggested collecting the seaweed for use as fertilizer while there has
not been much detail on that suggestion mr. Bartlett says more definitive action
is to be taken this year we have already started to be proactive
we been talking with our partners nipper and ourselves we've been talking with
some international bodies that are doing studies as well so what is the
expectation from these discussions this year mr. Bartlett says he expects an
outcome that will bring a solution to the recurring issue once and for all
we think that the meeting of the minds of all of these key and powerful
thinkers will help us to find a formula that will do two things one will
identify and choke off the flow of Sargassum
into our space and second to track it and to be able to trap it and within our
waters and finally to be able to recover from whatever follows that may come my
way of its own accretion on our beaches we take a break here on the midday news
but stay with us more stories when we return
welcome back continuing the news the government is moving to boost the
capacity of the security forces to monitor communication by criminals the
disclosure was made by national security minister dr. Horace Chan at a news
conference yesterday where he outlined legislative measures to be taken to
cauterize crime he noted that a review of the anti-gun legislation is underway
but the government would not be relying only on that law to suppress gang
activities anti-gang legislation will have his final tour three panel sittings
to look at various amendments until we get to those sitting in fact we're
bringing to the host amendments to intercept act to provide the security
forces with an effective means of using modern technology to gather evidence in
dealing with the criminal enterprises the gangs they are Don's and bringing
together of guns in the country the interception of communications at allows
the security forces to tap the telephones of persons suspected or
accused of criminal involvement it authorizes the interception of all
communications of a specific person named in a warrant
and enables author authorised officers to request technical information from
telecommunications service providers under the Telecommunications Act
counselor for the Waterford Division in st. Catherine Finley Douglas is
appealing to the National Works Agency NWA to make adjustments to the newly
rehabilitated port Henderson Road in a recent interview with TVJ news mr.
Douglas raised several concerns about the median being created in the road he
claims the median is too low which encourages motorists especially taxi
operators we were hoping that the median in the center of the road would have
been much higher because as it is right now vehicles are driving over the median
one - we're seeing taxi men work going towards knucklehead stopping in the
center of the road letting off people who is just crossing and three the fact
that this road is somewhat like a new highway if there should be an accident
there is no way that the accident will be contained on the side that it
occurred the intersections are both nog ahead and beside cannot remain as they
are otherwise what they're only doing with the road widening is to shift the
block from one end to the other and no arrangement made at the intersection to
disperse the traffic wanted it's built up in fall in two lanes finally Douglas
also says the street lighting is insufficient which he believes is a
recipe for disaster I am concerned also about the lighting
when it was a normal two-way Road the lighting would have been able to spread
across entire corridor know that it is a dual carriageway the lighting is
insufficient the entire left side going down towards beside will be in total
darkness but as it is no it's an ingredient for disaster and if we should
cry out our talk no it is the best time to do so so that the National Works
Agency can make the necessary correction - - to this corridor here no the Jamaica
urban transit company J UTC's liquefied natural gas LNG terminal in Port Merson
Catherine to be commissioned into service shortly
that's the word from Minister of Transport Robert Montague the Jo TC has
acquired five LNG buses and mr. Montague says more will be purchased the Depot
will operate the buses as part of a pilot LNG is being promoted as a much
cleaner fuel than diesel which offers economic and environmental benefits
children who previously had to travel from south central parishes of the
island to Kingston seeking medical treatment for some air conditions will
no longer have to do so that's because the Mandeville regional hospital is now
equipped with a state-of-the-art microscope which will significantly aid
in those procedures the microscope valued at over 3.5 million dollars was
donated to the hospital by the manchester wellness foundation
consultant in the ear nose and throat ENT department of the Mandeville
Regional Hospital dr. Andrew Manning says the use of the microscope will
change the quality of life for many children in the region this microscope
is going to help a large number of children within our region to have a
better life so currently we have to send patients to basta Monti Children's
Hospital for the universe the hospital and a lot of the times they go to na
join within this so this microscope will help
to change that dr. Manning noted that the handing over of the equipment is
essential as a number of children across the island are affected by glue air this
refers to a buildup of fluid behind the eardrum he says this infection has a
serious debilitating effect on the learning process kids with hearing
disabilities have a lesser chance of learning what they need to learn in
primary school there were much lesser chance of going on to high school a much
lesser chance of going to college which means a much greater chance of ending up
in prison we going on to news in sports Jamaica's men's and women's rugby sevens
team both finished second at the Rugby America's north championship in the
Cayman Islands on Sunday the men's team lost to Canada in the final 40 to 5
despite the defeat the men's team qualifies for the 2020 edition of the
Hong Kong Sevens this is the fourth time in a row that Jamaica have qualified for
this tournament in addition by virtue of finishing second they will now head to
the Intercontinental play-off for the Olympic Games to be played in June 2020
meanwhile the lady crocs lost 1915 to Mexico in the final they will also head
to the Intercontinental playoffs for the Olympics next year
the men's team will next be in action in the Pan Am Games in Lima Peru later this
month and that wraps up the midday news I'm Herman green please join us at 7:00
for the prime time news package on behalf of the new sports and production
teams good afternoon