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 02/29/2016 09:48 pm ET Dozens of black college students in Georgia said they  were asked to leave a Donald Trump rally  on their campus Monday for standing silently on gymnasium bleachers before the business magnate began speaking. Black Students at Valdosta State University in Georgia Valdosta State University students said Secret Service agents were told by Trump to remove them, according to  Jennifer Jacobs , a Des Moines Register reporter who was at the event. Representatives for Trump and the Secret Service didn't immediately respond to inquiries.  "I think we got kicked out because we're a group of black people," a tearful student said  in a video   posted by USA Today. "I guess ... they're afraid we're going to say something or do something. But we just really wanted to watch the rally. To get kicked out because we're a group of black people ... shows you how racist our own school is." Another student said the group decided to ...

BY BALFORD HENRY Senior staff reporter balfordh@jamaicaobserver.com  Tuesday, March 01, 2016     The Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ) is expected to send the names of winning candidates in last Thursday’s general election to Governor General Sir Patrick Allen today. Director of Elections Orrette Fisher addressing a news  conference at the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ) head office yesterday morning. Beside him is ECJ Chair  Dorothy Pine-McLarty. However, while the list will include the People’s National Party’s (PNP’s) Dr Winston Green, who was declared the winner in St Mary South Eastern late Saturday night, he will still have to await the outcome of a magisterial recount sought by the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) candidate, Dr Norman Dunn, which is expected to start tomorrow. The Jamaica Observer  has been told that with yesterday’s final count for St Thomas Western concluded last night, Director of Elections Orrette Fisher – havin...

Donald Trump Posted on Feb. 29, 2016, at 1:55 p.m.  Ben Smith Ben Smith BuzzFeed Editor-in-Chief The  New York Times  is sitting on an audio recording that some of its staff believes could deal a serious blow to Donald Trump who, in an off-the-record meeting with the newspaper, called into question whether he would stand by his own immigration views. Trump visited the paper’s Manhattan headquarters on Tuesday, Jan. 5, part of a round of editorial board meetings that — as is traditional — the Democratic candidates for president and some of the Republicans attended. The meetings, conducted partly on the record and partly off the record in a 13th floor conference room, give candidates a chance to make their pitch for the paper’s endorsement. Donald Trump After a dispute over Trump’s suggestion of tariffs on Chinese goods, the  Times  released  a portion of the recording. But that was from the on-the-record part of the session. On Saturday, colum...

By KIMBERLEY HIBBERT Observer staff reporter hibbertk@jamaicaobserver.com  Monday, February 29, 2016     AS the recounting process of ballot boxes continue, tensions remain high in both political parties. An armoured truck blocks a section of Duke Street in front of the Electoral Office of Jamaica yesterday as ballot boxes from the St Thomas Western constituency were transported there for the final recount. Yesterday, Orrette Fisher, director of elections, halted the process of the final count of ballots in the St Thomas Western constituency and requested that the boxes be moved to the headquarters of the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) on Duke Street in Kingston where the recount will take place. When the  Jamaica Observer  contacted Fisher to ascertain the reason behind the order, he said based on concerns of staff and party officials regarding the conditions and space at the St Thomas office, he made the decision. “A number of persons expresse...

BY  TIM KING  Excerpt from American Herald Tribune Most families of enormous wealth have a dark and sometimes scandalous, even monstrous past.  Donald Trump 's clan is no exception to that rule. His grandfather was a pimp and a tax evader, his father a racist who would in the course of his life, clash with New York City Police as a member of the  Ku Klux Klan  and then as a wealthy real estate magnate, refuse to rent to people of color. Donald Trump's legacy is anything but a rags to riches story. His dad kicked the bucket with $250-$300 million in the bank. The man who wants to ban all people of a particular  religion  from travel, wasn't born with a silver spoon in his mouth, his was white gold. The only thing more obnoxious than Donald Trump himself, is his family's money grubbing, bigoted  history . Trump's Grandfather: Pimp and Tax Evader Donald Trump's grandfather, Frederick or Frederich Trump, made his money from operating a decaden...

 BY JEDIAEL CARTER Sunday Observer reporter carterj@jamaicaobserver.com  Sunday, February 28, 2016   Nothing could keep Alberta McDonald from the polls on general election last Thursday. Despite complaining of pain in her knees, the 91-year-old proudly boasted that she cast her ballot. “Of course mi affi come vote,” she said. “Me like di voting; me was ready fi vote long time,” she told the Jamaica Observer. The elderly woman agilely walked to the polling station a little after 8:00 and was treated with high priority when she arrived, as she was allowed to pass the lines on the outside to go straight into the station.  When asked how long she has been voting, McDonald cheerfully said she has been doing so since she was young and will continue to exercise her right. “A long time me a vote, from me a pickney,” she said. She said she decided to participate in the political process and “vote fi di better”. Her vote, she said, has always been cast at a po...

Sunday, February 28, 2016 | 1:10 AM Excerpt Jamaica Observer KINGSTON, Jamaica - Observer Online can now confirm that the PNP's Winston Green has been declared the official winner of the St Mary South East constituency after the official recount ended late last night. Green lost by 137 votes after the preliminary count on Thursday night to the JLP's Norman Dunn. Souces close to the process say that one of the boxes that were counted on election day (preliminary count) had Dunn winning when it should have been the other way with Green winning.  If this final result holds, it would mean that the JLP won 32 seats and the PNP 31. The declared result on election night had the JLP winning 33 seats and the PNP 30. more

 02/26/2016 01:25 pm ET  David Moye Reporter, The Huffington Post Fred Shekoufeh looks a lot older than 15, but then again his son, Eric, doesn't look four either. Fred Shekoufeh and son  Eric Shekoufeh and son, who live in La Mesa, California, share a unique bond that goes beyond genetics: They were both born on February 29. The calendrical quirk means that even though the older Shekoufeh will celebrate 60 years on Earth on Monday, it will only be his 15th official birthday. Eric is celebrating his 5th official birthday the same day. Both father and son were born on February 29, an event that has a  1 in 2.1 million chance of happening, according to Time.com. Fred Shekoufeh, a native of Iran, didn't realize his birthday was unusual until 1979 when he moved to the U.S. and immigration officials commented on it.  It wasn't clear at first. "It's confusing," Shekoufeh told HuffPost.  Since then, he celebrates his birthday when he can, but admi...

Winston "Merritone" Blake

ST JAMES, Jamaica – The Jamaica Labour Party’s Fayval Williams was a short while ago declared the winner of the St Andrew Eastern constituency seat, beating the People’s National Party’s incumbent Andre Hylton by just over 150 votes. Based on the preliminary results, Williams amassed 7,140 votes to Hylton’s 6,983. Hylton won the seat by 254 votes in 2011 against a then pregnant JLP candidate Dr Saphire Longmore-Dropinski. The seat, since it was formed in 1944, has been held by the JLP five times and the PNP six — during the periods 1944 to 1955, and 1976 to present when it regained its name as St Andrew Eastern.  KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Jamaica Labour Party was a short while ago declared the winner of the 2016 general election, after claiming 33 of the 63 constituency seats. The Labourites will now form Jamaica’s new Government, after the People’s National Party only managed to win 30 constituency seats. The December 2011 election, which resulted in the JLP being voted ...

Published 2/25/15 excerpted from Jamaica Observer JAMAICANS head to the polls today in the country’s 17th general election since universal adult suffrage when citizens won the right to vote for the first time in 1944 while the country was still under colonial rule. Portia and Andrew Political pundits, using recent opinion polls, believe the election will go down to the wire in the race for the 63 parliamentary seats. However, the two major political parties — the People’s National Party (PNP), which has campaigned under the slogan ‘Step Up the Progress’, and the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), which has promising voters to move them from ‘Poverty to Prosperity’ — were, up to last night, brimming with confidence that they will take home the election. While people will go out to vote for their respective candidates, several say their vote will be for the leader of the parties, the PNP’s 70-year-old Portia Simpson Miller and Andrew Holness, the 43-year-old leader of the JL...

Rihanna's "Work" music video featuring Drake, released in Feb. 2016. COURTESY PHOTO As  noted last week , the chart that ranks the top hits in the United States, the Billboard Hot 100 , hasn't sported an American act at No. 1 since July, when Wiz  Khalifa 's "See You Again," featuring Charlie Puth , wrapped a 12-week run at No. 1. Following that smash through last week (on the Hot 100 dated Feb. 27), eight songs by non-Americans had reigned for 32 straight weeks. The sum of weeks marked a record run, while the string of eight leaders in a row tied a mark first set in 1985. Let's update the count as of this week, as a new record for foreign talent's domination emerges. Hot 100 Goes Global: American Acts Haven't Hit No. 1 Since July As  reported yesterday ,  Rihanna 's "Work," featuring  Drake , rises 4-1 on the Hot 100 (dated March 5). With Rihanna from Barbados and Drake from Canada, a new-record nine No. 1s in a ...

Tuesday, February 23, 2016 | 11:56 PM     KINGSTON, Jamaica – OBSERVER ONLINE learnt a short while ago that at least two people were shot and injured at the People’s National Party rally in Portia Simpson Miller Square, St Andrew, earlier. According to Phillip Paulwell, one of the injured is now in surgery and is said to be critical. That individual was reportedly shot in the back. Several injured people are now at the Kingston Public Hospital receiving treatment after the were shot, stabbed and suffered other injuries in a stampede that ensued after gunshots rang out at the venue. The PNP was hosting its final rally before Thursday’s general election, when the proceedings came to a halt after explosions were heard and people were sent scampering in different directions. more

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Tuesday, February 23, 2016 | 5:34 PM     Balford Henry ST JAMES, Jamaica — One person has died and three more have been hospitalised, following a shooting incident in Canterbury, St James, last night. OBSERVER ONLINE understands that about 7:30 last night, gunmen fired shots at the entrance to Canterbury, where a group of 30 to 40 people, most of whom were wearing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) T-shirts, were partying. It is understood that a motor car drove up to the scene and started firing at the crowd. When the dust settled, it was found that at least four people were shot, including a young man identified as 26-year-old Oneil Clarke, a resident of Canterbury, who died in hospital.  The other three people include a young woman who was shot in the face and has reportedly lost her sight, and a 13-year-old boy. JLP general secretary, Dr Horace Chang, told OBSERVER ONLINE Tuesday that, while he could not give details about the condition of the four hospitalised p...

  02/22/2016 11:08 pm ET Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has taken a page from Donald Trump's presidential campaign  playbook , hardening his rhetoric against undocumented immigrants. Cruz told Fox News host Bill O'Reilly on Monday that yes, should he be elected president, his administration  would deport all 12 million undocumented people estimated to be in the U.S. and wouldn't allow them to return. "We should enforce the law ... federal law requires that anyone here illegally that's apprehended should be deported," Cruz said. "Of course" he'd look for undocumented immigrants, he said. Cruz said America would build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, triple the border force and establish biometric entry systems "so we will know the day someone overstays their visa."  The senator's comments represent an escalation in rhetoric from a candidate who rejected the notion of a "deportation force" of "jackboots" ju...

— Simone Morgan of Jamaica Observer 2/23/16 DISCUSSIONS are currently underway for the filming of Shottas 2, a sequel to the 2002 low-budget movie. Victor Lewis, publicist for singer Ky-Mani Marley, who starred in Shottas, told the Jamaica Observer  that Marley is expected to reprise his role as Biggs in the sequel and proposed television series. “The producers have reached out to us for both the sequel and the series, but nothing is concrete as yet. The ideas are pitching around and the finances are being sorted out for the filming,” said Lewis. Written and directed by Cess Silvera,  Shottas  had a budget of US$200,000. The movie chronicles the lives of two friends, Biggs and Wayne (Spragga Benz), who grow up together in the tough streets of Kingston.  They rob a beverage truck and use the money to purchase visas to go to the United States where they continue their criminal activities. Shottas  had a cult following before it was officially released...