Free Republic

When President Obama visited Jamaica in early April, he held a town hall meeting with "Young Leaders of the Americas" at University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica. The president made remarks and took questions for only about 75 minutes in the Assembly Hall building on the Mona campus of the university, but the State Department issued four contracts totaling almost $50,000 for "staging" and the installation of generators and air conditioners. The initial "staging" contract was $39,935 with a followup change order for $3,675. The exact nature of the work is not spelled out, and the contractor is...

Members of the Jamaica Coalition for A Healthy Society and other groups are currently staging a protest in Mona at the intersection of Mona Road and Araila Drive. The protestors say they are mourning the loss of free speech under the Obama administration. They believe that Christians have lost their freedom of religion especially on issues dealing with the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transponder community (LGBT).

President Obama on Wednesday embarks on a trip to Jamaica and to Panama where the formal agenda is summitry with Caribbean and Latin American leaders. But the powerful subtext will be the body language between him and President Raúl Castro of Cuba. Four months after Mr. Obama ordered the restoration of full diplomatic relations with Cuba, he and Mr. Castro are likely to share a stage, a conference table, a “family photo” with attendees and potentially even a one-on-one meeting.

The establishment of a pro-life centre to assist pregnant women in crisis has resulted in the lives of more than 100 babies being saved in the past two years. That's according to the operators of the Holy Innocents Crisis Centre, which was set up after a heated national debate on abortion in 2009. At that time, pro-lifers - persons opposed to abortion - and pro-choice lobby groups sought to provide convincing arguments for their positions in Parliament. Among the pro-lifers was prominent philanthropist Father Richard Ho Lung, who decided to start the Holy Innocents Crisis Centre at National Heroes Circle...

Rising Turkish Menace: U.S. and NATO Ally Wants Islamic Advance in Latin America By Julio Severo The president of Turkey has re-written history by claiming Muslim explorers, not Christopher Columbus, discovered America. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Recep Tayyip Erdogan, chief of America’s NATO ally, said November 15 that Islamic sailors found the New World in 1178. He said, “Muslims discovered America in 1178, not Christopher Columbus.” Turkey is the only Islamic nation in the NATO. His theory — which is supported only by Islamic historians — came to light in a televised speech during an Istanbul summit of...

Colombia, Jamaica, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago have all announced travel bans as Ebola concerns grow. Colombian authorities announced that anyone entering their country from Ebola-stricken countries will face heavy scrutiny. Colombia’s National Health Institutes have said they developed a questionnaire to determine who should be under suspicion of potentially having contact with Ebola. Colombian newspapers have reported that some have already been detained due to the newly instituted executive actions. Fernando Ruiz, Colombia’s vice minister of health, said of the reports, “The cases are not suspicious. They are simply people who have traveled to places where Ebola is present....

unresponsive aircraft over atlantic, USAF in pursuit

KINGSTON, Jamaica — US attorney Jasmine Rand said that Trayvon Martin’s accused killer George Zimmerman was acquitted because the victim was black. Speaking at press conference in Kingston on Monday, Rand, who represented the interests of Martin’s relatives in the case, said Zimmerman was set free because of where the incident happened. “Trayvon Martin was shot because he was black. Zimmerman got away because he (Martin) was black. I think the case was lost because the jury selection was not done properly and the area where the trial took place,” Rand said. The law professor is in Jamaica to...

TWO US lawyers who represented the family of slain teen Trayvon Martin and police shooting victim Michael Brown have joined the legal team of Mario Deane, a Jamaican construction worker who died three days after being beaten by inmates in his cell. Justine Rand and Benjamin Crump agreed to join the team after hearing about the tragic circumstances that led to the death of the 31-year-old. In an email to The Gleaner’s news centre, Rand said human rights violations cannot be tolerated in the USA or Montego Bay, Jamaica. She added humanity in itself is universal and what happened to...

Data from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime shows the most up-to-date available homicide rates per 100,000 people for the most populous cities of 137 countries. The Americas overtook Africa as the region with the highest murder rate in 2012 – with eight of the world’s 10 deadliest cities found there 10: Kingston, Jamaica. (Murder rate: 50.3 per 100,000 people in 2011) The UNODC numbers capture intentional homicide, defined as 'unlawful death purposefully inflicted on a person by another person'. A total of 328 people were murdered in Kingston in 2011 – significantly down on previous years. Photograph: David...

After a trip to Jamaica, a pair of local women landed at Midway International Airport on Friday with about $36,000 worth of cocaine wrapped in condoms and stored in body cavities, authorities said. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection canine alerted to Denisha White when she landed at Midway after an AirTran Airways flight from Montego Bay, Jamaica, police said.

The politician was charged with misusing tens of thousands of dollars in taxpayer funds — even spending some of the money on a $750 designer handbag. ... A city councilman's career is going to hell in a Louis Vuitton handbag. Councilman Ruben Wills, 42, of Jamaica, Queens, was arrested Wednesday on charges of stealing $30,500 in government money, and using some of it for shopping trips to Nordstrom and Century 21 and the purchase of a $750 Vuitton bag at Macy’s. Wills, a Democrat, was slapped with a dozen charges, including scheming to defraud, grand larceny and falsifying business records....

KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent (CMC) – A 24-year-old man, who was on bail for robbing an insurance worker in January, has been shot and killed, police said. They said Kwesi Ryan died in his mother’s arms after he was shot several times by a masked assailant early Monday. His mother, Brenda Ryan was not injured after the gunman entered her yard firing several shots at the victim. “He died in front of my eyes. I can’t explain to anybody how I feel,” said Ryan, who, like her son, were trapped against a galvanize fencing as the gunman repeatedly shot at them....

Could this be the decade that slavery reparations become a reality? If not, it won't be for a lack of trying. This is the obvious next step for poor countries getting poorer because of bad economics, bad politics, and bad, bad leaders. Former colonial powers are to be milked for all the cash that can be gotten by laying a guilt trip on the good socialists who run these countries now. Any successes enjoyed by the former colonies will no doubt encourage African Americans to try the same ploy here. Jamaica is leading the way in pushing for reparations from...

I have seen many Americans, particularly blacks, do nothing when the national anthem is played. And yet, here is a Jamaican sprinter who has the class to stop an interview, and pay tribute to Americans. I an now an Usaniac!

LORD OF HOSTS There are certain situations my children will arrive in now that only through the obedience of arrival all "shall" be made known and so as I dispatch My Holy Ones to your strategic position, as Commander of The Lord's army I shall reveal all for I AM The "WHY" and the "OUTCOME" for My Kingdom "HAS" come in you. Do you see ? You "ARE" the Flames of fire , the burning bush I ignite "for others" that MyTestimony "IS" "ALIVE" ! Go and I "shall" arrive ! Speak and I "SHALL" Act ! "Move" for I...

According to community members the two men tried to rob a man who turned out to be licenced firearm holder. They were caught by surprise when the victim turned his gun on them shooting one of the robbers multiple times.

<p>KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) - Police in Jamaica say authorities have seized 3,300 missile warheads and a machine to make missiles and bullets.</p> <p>Deputy Police Superintendent Steve Brown said Friday that custom officials discovered the weapons late Thursday aboard a ship at Kingston Wharf.</p>

Napa and Sonoma have their wine tours, and travellers flock to Scotland to sample single malt whiskies. But in Jamaica, farmers are offering a different kind of trip for a different type of connoisseur. Call them ganja tours: smoky, mystical - and technically illegal - journeys to some of the island's hidden cannabis plantations, where pot tourists can sample such strains as "purple kush" and "pineapple skunk." The tours pass through places like Nine Mile, the tiny hometown of reggae legend, and famous pot-lover, Bob Marley. Here, in Jamaica's verdant central mountains, dreadlocked men escort curious visitors to a farm...

A Jamaican teenager said he uncovered buried treasure dating back to the 1860s while working to clear a vacant lot in Kingston. Michael Taylor, 19, was using a sledge hammer to demolish a concrete column in the lot Wednesday discover what appeared to be a vault, he told The Gleaner, Kingston, Jamaica. Taylor called over fellow workers who helped him open the vault. Inside it, they found a vial containing silver coins, a medallion and a parchment paper. "We tried to take up the paper but it just crumble. We saw seven coins and the pendant and we say this...