ONE-MINUTE READS ... News from across the nation

It's Voters' List D-Day

Today is the deadline for persons to register to be on the next Voters' List, which is scheduled to be published on May 31.

The Electoral Office of Jamaica said that persons intending to have their name added to the Voters' List must apply in-person at any constituency office. Electors who meet the March 31 deadline should expect to receive the newly-designed voter identification card by mid-June.

Applicants should be prepared to have their photograph and fingerprints taken.

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Bartlett says no to COVID-19 vaccine passport

Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett has cautioned global leaders that any requirement for proof of vaccination for travel, which does not take into account the unequal access and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines globally, could be considered discriminatory.

The minister made his comments in his capacity as chair of the Organization of American States (OAS), Inter-American Committee on Tourism (CITUR) Working Group 4, which was developed to create a recovery action plan for the airline and cruise industries.

"Effective management of COVID-19 and recovery of the global economy requires a concerted and collaborative effort from all member states. We need to move together on this or else we risk a deterioration of the situation in developing countries, the effects of which will inevitably spread to neighbours in the region and beyond," he said.

He urged members to consider all the implications that a vaccine passport could have, primarily on tourism-dependent countries.

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Ruga charged with Buggy Boy's murder

Detectives assigned to the St Andrew South Police Division have arrested and charged 25-year-old Oneico Nelson, otherwise called Ruga, a labourer of Oakland Road, Kingston 11, with murder and illegal possession of firearm and ammunition.

Nelson was charged on Monday for the death of Kavan Palmer, also called Buggy Boy, 29, of Ferguson Square, Delacree Park, Kingston 13.

Reports are that on Thursday, December 3 last year, Palmer was walking in Ferguson Square when he was attacked by Nelson and another man, and was shot several times. The police were alerted and Palmer was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead. Following investigations, Nelson was arrested and charged.

The other man is currently being sought by the police.

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Cops find two illegal guns

Two more illegal firearms are off the nation's streets, thanks to the efforts of cops from the St Catherine North and the St Andrew South police divisions.

One of the weapons -- a 12-gauge shot gun with one cartridge -- was recovered during an operation on Valdez Road, Spanish Town, St Catherine, on Monday.

Reports from the Spanish Town police are that about 7 p.m., lawmen were in the area when a premises was searched and the illegal firearm and ammunition found in a culvert. No arrest was made in relation to this seizure.

In the case of the gun found by the lawmen from the St Andrew South Police Division, the police said that it resulted from an operation in Majesty Gardens, Kingston 11.

Reports from the Hunts Bay police are that about 6:20 p.m., lawmen were in the area when a premises was searched and a 9mm pistol and two 9mm cartridges were found between a zinc fencing. No one was arrested in relation to this seizure.

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