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BY BRIAN BONITTO Associate Editor -- Auto and Entertainment bonittob@jamaicaobserver.com  Saturday, January 31, 2015     DANCEHALL singer Pinchers says he is on the road to recovery following injuries received during a shooting incident last Saturday. "Me deh pon the road," Pinchers told the Jamaica Observer in an exclusive interview yesterday. "I'm not feeling any pain. My recovery is great. It's just an unfortunate setback. I want to thank everyone for their prayers and concern. Give thanks for life," he continued. Pinchers Two bones in the artiste's left arm were broken. Pinchers, 49, given name Delroy Thompson, was one of four persons shot -- two fatally -- in an incident in the Queenborough area of St Andrew, last weekend. According to the Corporate Communications Unit, the media arm of the police, at 11:20 pm armed men opened fire on a group that included Pinchers. Ralston Daley and an unidentified man died instantly. A third per...

 AP |  By RAQUEL MARIA DILLON Posted: 01/30/2015 4:05 am EST  COMPTON, Calif. (AP) — Death Row Records founder Marion "Suge" Knight accidentally ran over and killed a friend and injured another man on Thursday as he fled attackers, his lawyer said. Authorities said the incident was being investigated as a homicide. Knight, 49, planned to turn himself in to authorities and "we are confident that once the investigation is completed, he will be totally exonerated," attorney James said by telephone. A red pickup truck struck the men at around 3 p.m. PST in the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant in the Los Angeles-area city of Compton and then took off, Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. John Corina told reporters. He said the incident is being investigated as a homicide. Suge Knight "Looks like he drove backwards and struck the victims and drove forwards and struck them again," Corina said. "The people we talked to say it looked l...

 Friday, January 30, 2015  TRAGEDY struck yesterday in Papine, St Andrew, when a physically challenged man was crushed to death by a Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) bus. Lead story Police reports are that about 1:00 pm, Marlon King, a 39-year-old resident and artist from Cheshire Village -- a tiny community located in Mona for the physically challenged -- was travelling along Golden Avenue, a road that runs close to the University of the West Indies hospital, when he was struck from his wheelchair. Reports are that the body of the victim was dragged several metres away from the mangled remains of his wheelchair by the State-owned bus. "Have mercy, all now me can't believe what happen. The man was travelling along the road when all of a sudden mi hear the loud crash. When mi look is the body mi see behind the bus," a woman, who claimed she was an eyewitness told the Jamaica Observer. Investigators gather evidence She stood among the hundreds of onlook...

BY ARLENE MARTIN-WILKINS Associate editor - news martina@jamaicaobserver.com  Thursday, January 29, 2015  WASHINGTON, DC, USA — The United States Government has signalled some discomfort with Jamaica's move to decriminalise marijuana for specific uses. According to assistant secretary of the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), William R Brownfield, there is a possibility that the move could increase inflows of marijuana from Jamaica that now accounts for 80 per cent of ganja illegally smuggled into that country. Brownfield said that, while the US must be tolerant of national policies to combat the illicit trade of ganja, Jamaica must be mindful of international drug treaties to which it is a signatory. Brownfield was responding to a question concerning last Friday's tabling of the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act, 2015 in the Jamaican Senate, which seeks to, among other things, decriminalise ganja for medicinal, religious, and personal...

The Huffington Post |  By Kate Abbey-Lambertz Email Posted: 01/28/2015 6:00 pm EST  The Detroit police officer who fatally shot a sleeping 7-year-old girl will not be retried, officials said Wednesday. Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said in a statement that her office was moving to dismiss the case against Officer Joseph Weekley. He was originally charged with involuntary manslaughter and careless discharge of a firearm causing death, a misdemeanor, after  Aiyana Stanley-Jones was killed in 2010  during a botched police raid at her home. Charles Jones, the father of 7-year-old Aiyana Jones, who was killed early Sunday  in Detroit, holds a photo of Aiyana in attorney Geoffrey Fieger's office in Southfield, Mich.,  Tuesday, May 18, 2010. Fieger, the lawyer for the family of the slain 7-year-old Detroit girl has filed two lawsuits related to a weekend raid that led to her death.  Weekley's first trial in 2013 ended in a mistrial. In...

BY ANTHONY LEWIS Observer writer  Thursday, January 29, 2015     FROME, Westmoreland — The normally lively chatter and smiles in the classrooms and within the halls of Frome Technical High School were replaced by sporadic sobs, grief and anger yesterday as students and teachers mourned the brutal slaying of 14-year-old Santoya Campbell, whose dismembered body was found wrapped in a garbage bag near the school on Tuesday. Frome studemts in pain from brutal slaying of Santoya Campbell "The school community is in pain. All students, all categories of staff, we are all grieving. The outpouring of love for this girl has been really profound," expressed Sylvia Ricketts, principal of the school located in the sugar-cane belt of Westmoreland. According to reports, Santoya — who hailed from Shrewsbury in the parish — left home for school at around 7:30 am on Monday. However, she did not show up for classes and was eventually reported missing after she failed to return ...

Wednesday, January 28, 2015   Jamaica Observer     Dear Editor, The crime situation is quite alarming and the fears of the Jamaican people of the spike in the number of homicide is further exacerbated by the minister's statement to Parliament that murders may very well reach the 100 mark by the end of this month. Frightening indeed! Crime in Jamaica, like anywhere else in the world, is a social and economic problem. And, unless the Government and other stakeholders start treating crime as such our homicide rate will not reach any manageable level. Most of our crime hot spots in this country cannot be effectively policed due to infrastructural network deficiencies in these unplanned communities. Inner-city squatter communities and other unplanned communities account for the majority of criminals and criminal activities.When the socio-economic background of the criminals are checked out it has been observed that most are from the lower socio-economic grouping. Let...

Wednesday, January 28, 2015     Dear Editor, Admittedly, there were some gorgeous women competing in the recent Miss Universe pageant, including our very own Kaci Fennell -- who did amazingly well! I agree with many that she should've won, or at least placed much higher than fifth. The top five contestants of the recent Miss Universe pageant on stage in Miami on Sunday. (PHOTO: AP) These pageants are often laced with controversy, politics, stereotypes, and even mischief. I had concerns immediately upon noticing the lack of ethnic diversity on the judging panel. It was not surprising that there was not one black-skinned girl in the top 15 this year. And, if memory is correct, the same thing happened last year. In the 63-year history of Miss Universe, only four black-skinned girls have managed to win the pageant. This year there were stunning afro beauties from Ghana, Guyana, Angola, Aruba, Turks and Caicos, Curacao, South Africa, yet none made it to advanced round...

Monday, January 26, 2015 | 5:57 PM  by Renae Dixon   ST MARY, Jamaica - The 14-year-old whose body was discovered in Enfield, Annotto Bay, here Monday had reportedly gone to Dry River to wash on Sunday, January 25. When Tishauna Henry did not return home, family members went in search of her. After the Annotto Bay High School student was not found, a report was made to the Annotto Bay Police who also carried out a search. However, there was still no sign of Tishauna.? On Monday morning, residents, along with the Annotto Bay Police, continued the search for the teen and her body was  discovered face down among rocks in the river. Observations of the body reportedly revealed that the body had a wound to the right side of the head. The St Mary Police say they are awaiting a post-mortem to determine the cause of death. However, they told OBSERVER ONLINE that they are not ruling anything out at this time. Tishauna is the second child to be found dead in less than ...

January 1, 2015  BY KEVIN JACKSON Observer Writer (Repost) Actress Shauna Chin is hoping her role on the hit CBS series Criminal Minds will lead to more acting opportunities in Hollywood. The Montego Bay-born Chin shot scenes for an upcoming episode of the popular television drama this week. She told Splash how the part came about. Shauna Chin (Facebook) "Over the years I've developed a relationship with the casting department for Criminal Minds. When an actor goes in for an audition, it's important for them to not just focus on landing the role, but also to make an impression," she said. "I've auditioned for them twice before for different episodes and did not get the part. However, I made sure that I stood out to their team, so I got placed on their radar." The part is a small one. Chin shares a scene with Matthew Gray Gubler, who plays Dr Spencer Reid, one of the lead characters. "It's the opportunity that's huge. Once y...

 BY DONNA HUSSEY-WHYTE Sunday Observer staff reporter husseyd@jamaicaobserver.com  Sunday, January 25, 2015    Yanique Chin has been defying medical science by simply staying alive. At three months old Chin’s mother was told that she would not live beyond three years old. When she got to three, she was then told six, followed by 12 and on and on it went. 18 y-o Yanique Chin On New Year ’s Day, the Glenmuir High School fifth former celebrated her 18th birthday and believes she has many more ahead. Chin was born with a rare condition known as truncus arteriousus, in which the heart was not properly formed. With a normal heart there are two main blood vessels leaving the heart — the aorta, carrying blood to the body, and the pulmonary artery that branches immediately to carry blood to each lung. Instead of having a separate pulmonary artery and aorta, each with its own three-leafed valves, Chin’s heart has only one blood vessel or trunk leaving the heart...

Sunday, January 25, 2015   Kaci Fennell She's wooing international pageant press watchers, second-place to the Philippines in Internet polled fan votes, and looking to shake things up and snag The Rock's first Miss Universe crown. As 22-year old gamine beauty Kaci Fennell hits the stage at the Florida International University Arena in Doral, Miami for tonight's Miss Universe live NBC broadcast (to be simultaneously telecast locally on TVJ) and aims to one-up 2010's first runner-up Yendi Phillipps, we at SO were long taken with the Audrey Hepburn-loving Fennell (note her too-cute pixie-cut ode) before she entertained star-making dreams. Blessed with winning poise, charm for days, and an easiness on the eyes, Fennell has sat for our stable of in-house photogs on fashion shoots for our Style Observer and All Woman publications, beginning in 2012; made the guest list for our Scandal viewing party in 2013; invited us into her home for a Best Dressed Chicken-prepared...

BY MARK CUMMINGS Editor-at-Large Western Bureau cummingsm@jamaicaobserver.com  Sunday, January 25, 2015    MONTEGO BAY, St James — After giving birth to three children, the 33-year-old Montegonian just couldn’t get the pleasure she once experienced during sex. Dr. Spencer The woman, who has been married for almost three years, said the tightness in her vagina no longer existed. Fearing that the lacklustre sex could impact negatively on her marriage, she became worried, and suffered in silence for months. “It [sex] just didn’t feel the same as before, and I know my husband who is 37 felt the same way about it, even though he said it’s okay. But I know for sure that he just wasn’t getting that feeling like before, just like myself, and so I became very concerned about our marriage,” she told the Jamaica Observer. But fortunately for her, sometime last year she saw an advertisement in a local newspaper that addressed a surgical procedure called Laser Vaginal ...

By   Emily Tess Katz Email Posted: 01/22/2015 5:07 pm EST  HuffPost Live Rhonda Lee had long been told that she needed to make her natural hair "more pleasing to a wider audience," she told HuffPost Live on Thursday, but she never expected her hair style to actually compromise her job. Rhonda Lee  Showcasing My Natural Hair Got Me Fired Lee, an African American woman who currently works as a meteorologist for WeatherNation TV, recalled how comments she made in response to Internet vitriol targeting her hair ultimately led to her being fired by her former network. "There really does come a breaking point when either you're going to accept me as I am and how I do my job, or you're not," she explained. "Apparently my station of KTBS chose not, and I was quickly fired for... two different comments that got me in trouble, both times defending being black in general." While the network first asked that she let them know before releasing a ...

Lloyd Bogle EXCELLENT BREAKING NEWS FROM JAMAICA 5:40pm ET Friday 1/23/15 Stranded Jamaican, Lloyd Bogle, gets British visa KINGSTON, Jamaica - Lloyd Bogle has received a visa to return to England. The 64-year-old Jamaican, who has been living in England for the past 54 years, has been stranded in the island since October 2014. He will now be able to return to England. KINGSTON, Jamaica - Lloyd Bogle on Friday, displayed his multiple entry British visa, which grants him leave to enter outside of the rules. When he visited the Jamaica Observer today, he told OBSERVER ONLINE that he is extremely happy to have been granted the visa. (PHOTO: BRYAN CUMMINGS) more #RulaBrownNetwork

Friday, January 23, 2015    David Smith, the Jamaican head of the failed investment scheme Olint, was yesterday released from a Turks and Caicos Islands prison after serving just over three years of a six-year sentence. David Smith His early release, which the TCI Sun newspaper reported was due to good behaviour, should have been followed by his extradition to the United States to serve a 30-year sentence handed to him in August 2011. However, a source in the Turks and Caicos Islands said his lawyer, Oliver Smith (no relation), filed an appeal to stop the extradition. "The appeal was filed in the Grand Turk Magistrate's Court before Clifton Warner," the source said. "Our understanding is that it is now being handled by the Attorney General Rhondalee Brathwaite-Knowles." The source added that Oliver Smith declined to comment when asked why his client was released early. However, the source said David Smith was released into the custody of the polic...

NEW YORK -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo wasn't the one in custody on Thursday. But the arrest of powerful New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver could spell plenty of trouble for his fellow Democrat. In this Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2015 photo, Assembly Speaker  Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, right, stands with New York  Gov. Andrew Cuomo before Cuomo's State of the State address The state's chief executive will face tough questions over his handling of corruption in the legislature. Perhaps more worryingly, he's been sent a sharp reminder that  U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara  may be looking into why Cuomo killed an investigation into just the sort of double-dealing that Silver stands accused of. Just hours after Silver's arrest on bribery and kickback charges involving millions of dollars, Cuomo's opponent in last year's Democratic primary wrote an op-ed lambasting the governor for closing down the corruption commission he'd created in July 2013."[A]s...

Friday, January 23, 2015     Politicians are indeed a rare breed. Thankfully, though, not all of them are given to contradictions in their pronouncements and actions. South Africa President Jacob Zuma For there are, among them, people who still uphold the highest ideals of integrity, common decency and the purest motives of serving their compatriots. Locally, Messrs Burchell Whiteman and the late Seymour 'Foggy' Mullings come easily to mind as among the group of politicians whose integrity is beyond question. Unfortunately, politics across the globe has been, and still is populated by individuals with whom one could easily draw parallels to the pigs in George Orwell's allegorical novel Animal Farm. "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others," they told their comrades as they cemented their stranglehold on power over their master's farm, which they had seized in an overthrow. Essentially, the pigs were making it clear ...

Abdullah of Saudi Arabia King of Saudi Arabia Abdullah ibn Abdilazīz is the King of Saudi Arabia. He ascended to the throne on 1 August 2005 upon the death of his half-brother, King Fahd. According to Forbes, in 2013, Abdullah was among the world's most powerful people ranked 8th globally.  Wikipedia Born :  August 1, 1924 (age 90),  Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Office :  King of Saudi Arabia since 2005 Parents :  Ibn Saud ,  Fahda bint Asi Al Shuraim Siblings :  Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud ,  Fahd of Saudi Arabia ,  More Spouse :  Alanoud AlFayez  (m. 1972–2003),  More Children :  Mutaib bin Abdullah ,  Adila bint Abdulla Al Saud ,  More

The Huffington Post |  By Maxwell Strachan Email Posted: 01/22/2015 4:59 pm EST  New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said Thursday that he had no knowledge of under-inflated footballs during the AFC Championship Game last Sunday. "I don't want anyone rubbing them" - Tom Brady on his balls During a press conference to address the “deflategate” controversy, Brady said that he was as “surprised as anyone” when he heard that the Patriots may have been using deflated footballs during the first half of the game. Brady said he first heard of the controversy  Monday morning. Tom Brady at Press Conference “I didn’t alter the ball in any way,” Brady told reporters. “I would never do anything outside of the rules of the play.” The press conference also had its lighter moments, many involving repeated usage of a certain word. more