In Focus

January 18, 2026

Mark Wignall | Pain, aches, and persistent coughs

I was 22 years old and still living with my parents. It was a terrible Sunday afternoon. I had come home with aches in just about muscle group. At the arrival in the doctor’s office, the pain…
In this October 2025 photo a cordon is seen along Whitehall Avenue in St Andrew following a fatal police shooting.
January 11, 2026

Mickel Jackson | Jamaica’s historic crime reduction amid security forces killing surge

As we enter 2026, Jamaica confronts a stark paradox. In 2025, the nation achieved a historic breakthrough: murders fell to a provisional 673, the lowest annual total in over three decades and a…
Palestinians inspect the damage at a displacement camp following an Israeli strike in Gaza City.
January 11, 2026

Jalil Dabdoub | The goat, sheep, and the world order – The fall of principle

Bruce Golding’s recent article in the Jamaica Observer, titled ‘Things fall apart’ in almost every respect, is a truthful and courageous reckoning with the collapse of the post-WWII rules-based…
An unused oil pump jack in Cabimas, Venezuela.
January 11, 2026

Gordon Robinson | It’s all about the money!

So, USA foreign policy results in an invasion of Venezuela to capture an alleged drug trafficker/“narco-terrorist” who also happens to be President. Why? How come this is how you “arrest” Nicolas…
Residents look at a damaged apartment complex that neighbours say was hit during US strikes to capture Nicolás Maduro, in Catia La Mar, Venezuela.
January 11, 2026

Mark Wignall | Fundamentally evil

At his core, the US president swims in a huge void.One of the great Trump policy directions is one of non-intervention, that is, no armed intervention. That, I believe, was his intention until a…
A government supporter holds an image of President Nicolás Maduro during a women’s march to demand his return in Caracas, Venezuela.
January 11, 2026

Imani Tafari-Ama | Return of 21st century piracy?

For those who believed that the age of imperial adventurism and piracy was confined to the history books — age-old memories of the Barbary Coast or the scramble for Africa — the events unfolding in…
Gordon Robinson writes: Based on Jamaica’s history and current reality, is there another way to reduce murders than police targeting and killing suspected murderers after being “challenged”?
January 4, 2026

Horace Chang | Turning the tide on crime – moment of national reckoning

As we reflect on 2025 and look ahead to a new year, we do so at a moment of profound national significance. For the first time in more than three decades, Jamaica has recorded fewer than 700 murders…
Debris surrounds damaged homes along the Black River, Jamaica, in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa.
January 4, 2026

Theresa Rodriguez-Moodie | After Hurricane Melissa, Black River waits

I was warned about what I would see before heading to Black River, but no image of the damage from Hurricane Melissa fully captured the devastation, and nothing prepared me for the horror of the…
Peter Espeut writes: If you agree to decriminalise sex between “consenting” minors, then you will have walked into the logical trap ...
January 4, 2026

Africka Stephens | Young love on trial: Criminalise or guide?

Last week’s story in The Gleaner - “When Kids Get Caught — Heartache as grandmother struggles with teen grandson’s sexual assault charges” - laid bare a heartbreaking but avoidable consequence of our…