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BY KEVIN JACKSON Observer Writer  Monday, November 30, 2015     THE Carib 5 cinema in Cross Roads was packed to capacity last Friday for the premiere of the film Jamaican Mafia. Members of the cast of Jamaican Mafia at the premiere at Carib 5 on Friday. From left: Stokley Brown, Mykal Fax, Jaun Bennett, Craig Brown, Michelle ‘D’Angel’ Downer, and Paul Campbell.  (PHOTO: Kenyan Hemans) A joint production between Donzo Productions, Kingston 11 Films and Yaad Boiz Films Productions, it was filmed in New York.  Jamaican Mafia tells the story of Zoolian Anderson (played by Mykal Fax), a car salesman who quits his job for life in the fast lane with his uncle Soljie (played by Paul Campbell), head of an organisation known as Jamaican Mafia. A number of well-known entertainment personalities appear in the film. They include Irie Jam Radio's Robert 'Bobby' Clarke, Linkup Media and Fiction Fantasy boss David 'Squeeze' Annakie, singjay Michelle 'D'Angel...

Thursday, November 26, 2015     TWENTY-FIVE Jamaicans have been awarded scholarships valued at more than $100 million to study in Russia by aluminium conglomerate UC Rusal, which owns the Alpart and Windalco bauxite companies. The fully funded scholarships are valid for up to six years, and the students will pursue studies in chemical, mining, electrical, instrumental, and mechanical engineering. Awardees are from the Alpart and Windalco-operating areas, and they were selected through a competitive process, which included essay writing. The awards add to the five engineering scholarships granted by Windalco in 2012 for Jamaican students to study in Russia. Minister of Education Ronald Thwaites (left) congratulates recipients of UC Rusal scholarships, valued at over $100 million, to study in Russia, at the presentation ceremony held Tuesday at the Knutsford Court Hotel in New Kingston. At centre  is managing director at Alpart, Sergey Kostyuk. (PHOTO: JIS) M...

 Reuters Posted: 11/24/2015 03:21 AM EST ANKARA, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Turkish fighter jets shot down a Russian-made warplane near the Syrian border on Tuesday after repeatedly warning it over air space violations, Turkish officials said, but Moscow said it could prove the jet had not left Syrian air space. Turkish presidential sources said the warplane was a Russian-made SU-24. The Turkish military, which did not confirm the plane's origin, said it had been warned 10 times in the space of five minutes about violating Turkish airspace. Russia's defense ministry said one of its fighter jets had been downed in Syria, apparently after coming under fire from the ground, but said it could prove the plane was over Syria for the duration of its flight, Interfax news agency reported. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan was briefed by the head of the military, while Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu ordered consultations with NATO, the United Nations and related countries, their respect...

Reuters By Fiona Ortiz Posted: 11/23/2015 11:12 PM ES CHICAGO, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Community leaders who met with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said they expected protests on Wednesday when the city plans to release a disturbing video of an October 2014 fatal police shooting of a black teenager. Laquan McDonald Emanuel called in community leaders and pastors for meetings on Monday aimed at preparing for public reaction to the video. The footage from a patrol car dashboard camera is being released as a result of a judicial order stemming from a lawsuit brought by a freelance journalist. Also on Monday, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that the officer involved would face criminal charges, citing unnamed sources. A spokeswoman for the Cook County State's Attorney's office did not respond to requests for comment. The video shows Laquan McDonald, 17, being shot 16 times on Oct. 20 last year by police officer Jason Van Dyke, who is white. Van Dyke is on administrative duty whil...

Monday, November 23, 2015     BIRMINGHAM, England (CMC) -- Birmingham City manager Gary Rowett has lashed out at the way frontline striker Clayton Donaldson was treated by Jamaica during the country's 2018 World Cup qualifier last week. Jamaica striker Clayton Donaldson (centre) is a picture of discomfort  as he is being assisted off the pitch by physiotherapist Julia Cousins and team doctor Derrick McDowell after sustaining an injury  during the World Cup qualifying match against Haiti in Port-au-Prince  on Tuesday. Jamaica won 1-0. (PHOTO: GARFIELD ROBINSON) The 31-year-old scored the winning goal as the Reggae Boyz beat Haiti 1-0 in Port-au-Prince last Tuesday to post their first win of the CONCACAF fourth round, following a 2-0 defeat to Panama in their opening encounter. However, Donaldson returned to Birmingham City injured and was forced to miss Saturday's clash with Charlton Athletic, which the West Midlands club lost 0-1. He is expected to...

 BY KARENA BENNETT Business reporter bennettk@jamaicaobserver.com  Sunday, November 22, 2015 KINGSTON Wharves Limited's (KWL) planned expansion of doubling its throughput to one million 20-foot container equivalent units (TEUs) per annum and establishing itself as a lead logistics provider appears to be a step closer. Kingston Wharves on track to double business Last Friday, the Wharves offloaded a Liebherr LHM 550 mobile crane -- the largest in operation on the island -- as part of a thrust to reposition itself in becoming the premier trans-shipment port and logistics provider. "To expand our facility over the next five years, acquiring additional cranes is only one aspect of it," KWL CEO Grantley Stephenson told the Jamaica Observer during a tour of Kingston Wharves new habour crane by the Jamaica Producers Group Limited, the largest shareholders of the company. "We are increasing the amount of business that we do, so we need more equipment. Investing ...

 Published:Sunday | November 22, 2015Janet Silvera After 15 surgeries, a year of chemotherapy, and two 10-hour live resectionings, three-year-old Keshinae 'Kesh' McFarlane from Flankers, St James, walked out of the Jackson Memorial Hospital last Friday free of liver cancer. Three-year-old cancer survivor Keshinae 'Kesh' McFarlane  of Flankers in St James, who was discharged from the Jackson Memorial Hospital last Friday after doctors cured a rare type of liver cancer that she has battled  for the last year. Wearing two large wings depicting an angel, the youngster was given a historic farewell party by doctors and nurses at Jackson, 14 months after she was diagnosed with stage-four hepatoblastoma liver cancer at the Cornwall Regional Hospital in Montego Bay. Paediatric hepatoblastoma is a childhood malignant liver tumour. When Kesh arrived at Jackson in October 2014 from Jamaica, she was described as skin and bones, with a large protruding abdomen. "Sh...

 AP Posted: 11/21/2015 12:20 AM EST KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Pushing back against efforts to bar Syrian refugees from resettling in the U.S., President Barack Obama vowed Saturday that his country will be a welcoming place for millions fleeing violence around the world "as long as I'm president." President Obama Shares A Moment with Young Muslin Refugee Obama commented Saturday at a learning center in the Malaysian capital that serves the poor, including some refugees. He met with boys and girls wearing crisp white and black uniforms and neckties as they sat at tables and worked on painting and puzzle projects. Obama said the youngsters "represent the opposite of terror, the opposite of the type of despicable violence we saw in Mali and Paris." Most of the children the president met with are Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic group. Tens of thousands of Rohingya have fled Myanmar to escape persecution by the country's Buddhist majority, with many en...

Friday, November 20, 2015     Thirty-five years after performing at the first Independence Day celebrations of Zimbabwe, Jamaican reggae icon Bob Marley will be posthumously honoured at the annual Zimbabwe Music Awards (ZIMA) on a date to be announced. According to the website www.chronicle.co.zw, Marley will be bestowed a Lifetime Achievement Award. Bob Marley ZIMA Chairman Joseph Nyadzayo said the award is in tribute to Marley, years after he performed at the flag-raising ceremony in 1980. "We're honouring him for giving the de facto anthem and for leading the reggae music revolution in our free nation which as influenced important music types such as our own Zimdancehall phenomenon," he was quoted as saying. Marley penned the single Zimbabwe, taken from his 1979 album Survival, in support of the country's (then Rhodesia) independence. "As the Marley family comes to Zimbabwe, we hope to recreate some of the excitement that we felt years ago wh...

BY KIMMO MATTHEWS Observer staff reporter matthewsk@jamaicaobserver.com  Friday, November 20, 2015     FAMILY members of Rosalvo Patterson yesterday said that, moments before the elderly man passed away on Monday, he expressed his gratitude to the good Samaritans who gave him a chance to spend his last few months in comfort. Rosalvo Patterson The ailing Patterson, who was blind, sparked national discussion about the treatment of the island’s poor seniors after his abject living conditions in Jericho, St Catherine, were featured in a front-page story in the Jamaica Observer edition of March 19. Patterson had been living in a dilapidated fowl coop for five years and was only getting by through the kindness of neighbours. On the day the story was published, music producer Wayne ‘Lonesome’ Brown rushed to his aid, paying for much-needed medical checkups and building him a onebedroom wooden house, complete with a bathroom and furniture. Other people also offered a...

Reuters Posted: 11/20/2015 04:14 AM EST BAMAKO, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Gunmen attacked a luxury hotel frequented by foreigners in  Mali 's capital Bamako early on Friday and are believed to be holding hostages, a senior source with the security forces and witnesses said. Radisson Blu hotel The raid targeted the Radisson Blu hotel, located just west of the city center in a neighborhood that is home to government ministries and diplomats, they said. Northern  Mali  was occupied by Islamist fighters, some with links to al Qaeda, for most of 2012. Although they were driven out by a French-led military operation, sporadic violence continues. "Very early in the morning there was gunfire. Apparently it's an attempt to take hostages. The police are there and are sealing off the area," the security source said. Witnesses in the area said police had surrounded the hotel and were blocking roads leading into the neighborhood. The U.S. Embassy tweeted that it was ...

 Thursday, November 19, 2015     THE premiere for the movie, Jamaican Mafia, takes place on November 27 at the Carib 5 cinema in Cross Roads. Producer Orville Matherson confirmed the date for what he says will be an "amazing event". Actor Paul Campbell in a scene from the movie Jamaican Mafia "Paul Campbell, Mykal Fax, Stokely Brown, D'Angel will all be present for the premiere," Matherson disclosed. Campbell, whose film credits include Dancehall Queen and Third World Cop, heads the cast. He is supported by dancehall artiste Michelle 'D Angel' Downer and Fax. The plot chronicles the life of Zoolian Anderson (Fax) as he moves from life as a regular citizen to criminality when he takes over the family business, led by his uncle (Campbell). The film has encountered several distribution hurdles. At one stage, producers considered releasing it online. "We found a better situation with fame.watch which will allow us to stream the film w...

Thursday, November 19, 2015   -- Richard Johnson     DANCEHALL deejay Dexta Daps was yesterday freed of all criminal charges relating to a scuffle with the police in April at the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, St James. Dexta Daps The artiste, whose given name is Louis Grandison, appeared in the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court. He was charged with obstructing the police; use of indecent language; resisting arrest; and assault occasioning bodily harm. The deejay was represented by attorney-at-law Peter Champagnie. "Having gone through the statements of both Daps and his driver (Essan Richards), I suggested that it would suit the prosecution to have the matter go to mediation, and urged that good sense prevail in the matter," Champagnie told Jamaica Observer yesterday. Champagnie said after a brief adjournment, the prosecution returned and indicated that they no longer want to proceed with the matter in court and agreed to mediation. ...

Thursday, November 19, 2015     FRANCHISE holder of the Miss Jamaica World pageant, Laura Butler has broken her silence on allegations making social media rounds that obligations to reigning queen Sanneta Myrie have not been met. Miss Jamaica World Sanneta Myrie Various individuals, purporting to be Myrie's friends, have accused Butler of doing very little in preparing the queen, who left for China on Tuesday ahead of the December 19 finals. In an interview with the Jamaica Observer last evening, Butler said the public has a misconception of the obligations of the franchise holder to the reigning queen. She said this has lead to the misunderstanding, particularly as it relates to a close circle of friends associated with Myrie. "After the local contest, there is no sponsorship in preparation for Miss World, and all agreed spending must be handled by the franchise holder. Generally speaking, as franchise holder, I am responsible to get her to China for Miss World ...

BY BRIAN BONITTO Associate Editor -- Auto & Entertainment bonittob@jamaicaobserver.com  Wednesday, November 18, 2015   NEARLY two decades after Dennis Brown's death, American producer Phillip A Thomas is releasing what is believed to be the reggae singer's last recordings. Dennis Brown The three-track EP, Rock On, is produced on Thomas's New York-based D Phil Productions. It is scheduled to be released on December 18. "They're all new songs... and I think his fans will enjoy them. I think it's the perfect time to release them," Thomas, 40, told the Jamaica Observer. According to the producer, the tracks are Baby It's You, the acoustic Somewhere Over the Rainbow, and the title track. A video for Rock On will be released on Brown's birthday, February 1. "I took my time with them (the tracks) and nursed them like a baby...trying to get the right sound as this is my first major project. I used live instruments because I wanted a...

 BY RENAE DIXON Observer staff reporter dixonr@jamaicaobserver.com  Wednesday, November 18, 2015     LIME HALL, St Ann — The mystery surrounding the disappearance of four people, including a seven-year-old girl, deepened yesterday after the police and firemen said that they found no human remains at their fire-ravaged home at the end of a long search. Fifty-seven-year-old Joseph Lynch, 43-year-old Lascelles Lynch, Ruth Lawrence, and seven-year-old Rimeka Haynes went missing on Saturday after fire razed their six-apartment dwelling in the quiet community. Residents said that Joseph, a farmer, lived at the premises while the others were merely visiting. Residents said the fire, which also destroyed two other buildings on the premises, was detected at about 3:00 am Saturday. Seven-year-old Rimeka Haynes is among the missing four. Since then there has been no sign of the four people, which was left residents both puzzled and concerned. Yesterday, Superi...

Wednesday, November 18, 2015     One Love PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz breathed life into their CONCACAF Russia 2018 World Cup campaign with a workmanlike 1-0 win over hosts Haiti at the Stade Sylvio Cator last night. Birmingham City striker Clayton Donaldson, in his first start for Jamaica, but his second game, scored the all-important goal in the 63rd minute. Jamaica’s goalkeeper coach and former Reggae Boyz  Captain Warren Barrett (second right) congratulates  goalkeeper Andre Blake as teammates congratulate  each other at the end of last night World Cup Qualifier against Haiti. (PHOTOS: GARFIELD ROBINSON) It was three points the Jamaicans desperately needed after suffering a 0-2 defeat to Panama at the National Stadium in Kingston on Friday. Jamaica have now moved to three points in the Group B standing, while Haiti remained at the bottom without a point, having lost both games. Panama and Costa Rica, who were scheduled for a...

Kelly Chen-Huffingtonpost Nov 18, 2015  Abdelhamid Abaaoud.  Officers hunting suspects involved in the Paris terror attacks exchanged gunfire during an apartment raid in the Saint-Denis suburb early Wednesday. Residents were asked to stay indoors.  Police said multiple suspects related to the Paris attacks were holed up in the apartment, including Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the alleged mastermind,  AFP reports .  Salah Abdeslam , whom authorities have been hunting for since Saturday, is also believed to be inside the apartment. Abaaoud, 28, is a known terrorist  who has been on European and Western radars for years. He is a radicalized Belgian and alleged ISIS recruiter who was, until the raid, believed to be in Syria. Just last month, he was the target of airstrikes against the Islamic State, The  New York Times reported . The Scene Salah Abdeslam  is the brother Brahim Abdeslam, who died in a suicide attack last Friday at the Boulev...

Tuesday, November 17, 2015     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- When the chips are down, imagination, guile and sheer heart and determination could combine for a winning outcome. Reggae Boyz Jamaica's Reggae Boyz will need all of the above and even more if they hope to put their Russia 2018 World Cup train back on track. The Jamaicans -- rocked by an unscripted 0-2 defeat to Panama in their opening fourth round CONCACAF Group B match at Kingston's National Stadium on Friday night -- will take on hosts Haiti in a battle of desperate teams at the Stade Sylvio Cator in capital Port-au-Prince today. Game time is 7:00 pm, the same as Jamaica. Haiti had lost their opening match 1-0 to Costa Rica away on Friday. On the eve of today's kick-off, the 61st-ranked Boyz have been faced with a crisis of sorts as a number of the team's more seasoned and influential players have become unavailable for one reason or another, giving Head Coach Winfried Schaefer a bit of an itch ...

BY SIMONE MORGAN Observer staff reporter  Tuesday, November 17, 2015     AFTER experiencing a health scare last weekend, Ninjaman said he feels better and is back in the recording studio. The deejay was taken to Medical Associates Hospital in Kingston where he was treated for stomach pains. Ninjaman “Mi good ya now man. Mi do a string a tes’ and dem all come back good. Mi jus’ grateful... A jus’ di music mi a focus on,” he said. When the Jamaica Observer spoke with him yesterday, Ninjaman was busy at his Picture Frame Recording Studio. “Mi a work pon a juggling; it bad. It a guh feature artiste like Beenie Man, Harry Toddler an’ Silver Cat.The streets a guh love it when wi drop it,” he boasted. Located at Blackwood Terrace in Kingston, Picture Frame Studio has the latest in recording equipment. Ninjaman said he is focusing on nurturing young talent to bring back the ‘authentic dancehall sound’. “The room is still open for the older and more establish artist...

Monday, November 16, 2015     CONGRESSWOMAN Yvette Clarke has reiterated that the US Government is committed to partnering with Jamaica on a raft of issues, aimed at strengthening economic development in the Caribbean island. Congresswoman Yvette Clarke (fifth left) and Montego Bay Chamber  of Commerce and Industry president, Gloria Henry (sixth left) are joined  by awardees in the chamber's inaugural Business Leaders Wall  of Fame (from left) Wayne Cummings, the senior director for administration and business processes at Sandals Resorts International, representing  hotel mogul Gordon 'Butch' Stewart; Aroon Dadlani and father Indru, representing in-bond merchant pioneer BD Dadlani; tourism transport mogul Ralph Smith; business exemplar, Anthony 'Tony' Hart and Angella Whitter, representing the late real estate developer, Joe Whitter at the MBCCI Annual Awards Banquet at the Rose Hall Resort and Spa on Saturday night. (PHOTO: ACEION CUNNINGHAM) "I ...