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PAUL A REID Observer Writer reidp@jamaicaobserver.com  Wednesday, June 24, 2015     FORMER American sprinter Steve Williams is backing double World Record holder Usain Bolt to beat Justin Gatlin when they eventually meet later this year at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing, China. Bolt In a recent interview with the Jamaica Observer at Icahn Stadium in New York, the venue for the most recent IAAF Diamond League meeting two weeks ago, Williams, who like Bolt, is well over six feet tall, said Bolt's quality and experience running fast times gave the big Jamaican the edge. "I have always believed that if you have a certain speed in your tank, you can run slower than that and still win; Bolt still has the record at a big enough number that on a bad day from his personal record he should still win," Williams said. It was difficult for the 61-year-old, who battled Jamaican Olympic champion Donald Quarrie over several years in some epic sprint races, to disgu...

BY VERNON DAVIDSON Executive editor - publications davidsonv@jamaicaobserver.com  Wednesday, June 24, 2015   JAMAICA'S potential to increase exports to the United States is getting serious attention from the American Embassy in Kingston, according to Ambassador Luis Moreno. The US ambassador, who started his tour of duty here only six months ago, said he and his team are actively pushing Jamaican exports as the volume, he believes, can be "much more" than the approximately 40 per cent at which it now stands. "We think that there's [US]$5 billion worth of money that comes to Jamaica from the US from remittances, from the toursts who come here, from trade, but that could be much more," Ambassador Moreno told the Jamaica Observer in a recent interview. Moreno pointed to mangoes and beef patties as two items from Jamaica that could do well in the US market. "Mangoes grow everywhere in Jamaica," he noted, adding that exports of the fruit woul...

BY RICHARD JOHNSON Observer senior reporter davidson@jamaicaobserver.com  Tuesday, June 23, 2015     EFFORTS are being made to increase awareness about this year's annual Festival Song Competition. The 10 finalists in this year’s Cultural Jamaica Development  Commission’s Festival Song Competition. The Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC), which organises the event, is taking the show into the streets with a series of live shows and performances aimed at getting Jamaicans more in tune with the songs. It is hoped that the winning song will drive the celebrations in August. Director of marketing at the JCDC, Stephen Davidson, told the Jamaica Observer that since the 10 finalists were selected, they have been on a number of these 'roadshows'. "The thinking behind this has been twofold. We wanted to give exposure to the finalists and their talent and, secondly, to ensure that the public becomes more familiar with the songs, which will make it much...

Tuesday, June 23, 2015     THE University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech) has further advanced research efforts to examine the scientific and medicinal properties and potential of the cannabis (marijuana) plant with the acquisition of a cannabis testing machine known as QuantaCann2. Associate Professor and Dean, College of Health Sciences Dr Ellen Campbell-Grizzle, discuss the QunataCann2TM  instant annabis analysis machine (pictured) recently donated to UTech by Steep Hill Labs Inc, USA. Looking  on at left is Dr Donald Land, Chief Scientist, Steep  Hill Labs Inc. The analytical machine donated by Steep Hill Labs, Inc, USA -- a California-based medical cannabis laboratory with which the UTech signed a Memorandum of Understanding last year -- is the only such analytical machine in Jamaica. The QuantaCann2 machine uses revolutionary cannabis-testing technology to analyse cannabis, providing data about cannabinoid potency levels, moisture content, and ot...

BY KIMONE THOMPSON Associate Editor -- Features thompsonk@jamaicaobserver.com Tuesday, June 23, 2015      TWO hundred and seventy six million dollars may sound like a lot of money to some, but for the National Youth Service (NYS) it is barely a drop in the bucket to reach the 14,000 young people it targets through about a dozen programmes each year. Maureen Webber (second right) along with her team (from left)  Acting Programmes Director Naketa West; Deputy Director  Community Services Nickesha Lindsay; and director community  services, Omar Newell, at yesterday’s Jamaica Observer Monday Exchange held at the newspaper’s Beechwood Avenue headquarters in Kingston. (PHOTO:ANTONIO GRAHAM) The figure is 68 per cent of the NYS's budgetary allocation froam Government, the remainder of which covers salaries and administrative costs. "It is more than we got last time around... but it is not enough," chairman of the NYS board Maureen Webber told reporter...

 Tuesday, June 23, 2015 -- Kimmo Matthews      A man was yesterday shot and injured by an off-duty policeman close to the Twickenham Park Housing Scheme in the Central Village, St Catherine. A cop and members of a team from the Independent Commission of Investigations at the scene on  Mandela Highway, in the vicinity of Central Village in St Catherine, where a man was shot  and injured by an off-duty policeman after he stabbed a bus conductor yesterday. (PHOTO: BRYAN CUMMINGS) Reports are that about 1:00 pm a bus was travelling on Mandela Highway past the community when it was flagged down by a man posing as a commuter at a bus stop in the vicinity. The man allegedly boarded the vehicle and proceeded to attack and stab the conductor on the bus. He was confronted by the cop as he tried to escape. "Soon after the attack mi hear two explosions and look and si di man on di ground," an alleged eyewitness told the Jamaica Observer. The incident ca...

KINGSTON, Jamaica - The Jamaica Information Service website has been hacked. A visit to the Government agency's website a short while ago displayed just three words: "hacked By holako". When an earlier visit was made to the website, a black screen displayed a message to the world claiming that it will restore the rights of Muslims who have been killed by governments. The message attributed the hacking to the Islamic State. More information later.