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BY JEDIAEL CARTER Sunday Observer staff reporter carterj@jamaicaobserver.com  Sunday, November 15, 2015   IN retrospect, Surinae Brown's life was tumultuous. The now 27-year-old admitted that before the intervention of the Citizens Security and Justice Programme (CSJP) he led a life that was heading for destruction. I was a very bad teenager, very, very bad "I was a very bad teenager, very, very bad. To the point where I was about to get kicked (expelled) from Papine High because I was doing so many bad things," Brown said. "I wanted answers. There were a lot of questions that I had in my mind but I couldn't really ask anyone. I didn't want to open up to anybody because I didn't want them to know that I was feeling this pain," he said as he sought to explain his actions. At age four, Brown said that he encountered a life-changing experience as his main caregiver -- his mother -- died. "That kind of bring my life in a different way...

BY KIMMO MATTHEWS Staff reporter matthewsk@jamaicaobserver.com  Sunday, November 15, 2015     WITHIN a few hours of Jabary Williams's story appearing in the Jamaica Observer on Friday, the disappointment he felt at being ridiculed by people in his community for returning $100,000 he had found to its owner turned to respect and joy. Nineteen-year-old Jabary Williams and his stepmother Maurine  Wright (right) in discussion with Sagicor executive Carol Bourke-Hylton; and Sagicor Investments President and CEO Rohan Miller at the financial giant’s headquarters in New Kingston last Friday. The Sagicor Group, after reading in the Observer how Williams was ridiculed in his  community for returning $100,000 he had found to the  man who lost it, rewarded the youngster for his  honesty. (PHOTOS: JOSEPH WELLINGTON) In addition to Jamaicans here and abroad who called the Observer offering to help the 19-year-old, executives of financial giant Sagicor Grou...

  Alfred World Reporter, The Huffington Post Posted: 11/13/2015 04:36 PM EST A shooting in a restaurant and a series of explosions in Paris on Friday left at least 26 people dead,  according to French police . HuffPost France reports  that at least one gunman opened fire on the terrace of the Petit Cambodge restaurant in the 10th district. In another attack, the  Associated Press reports  that at least 15 people were killed at the city's Bataclan theater and that at least 100 hostages were being held there. Explosions also took place near Paris’ Stade de France during a soccer match between France and Germany. French President Francois Hollande was evacuated from the match, France 24 reported. Hollande and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve have safely returned to the Interior Ministry, according to France 24. It was not immediately clear whether the incidents were connected. Graphic images posted to Twitter showed bodies in the streets: Photos from ...

BY KIMMO MATTHEWS Observer staff reporter matthewsk@jamaicaobserver.com  Friday, November 13, 2015     NINETEEN-year-old Jabary Williams has found out the hard way that acts of kindness and honesty are not always appreciated in a society where morals are on the decline. Williams says he was walking in his inner-city Kingston community, recently, when he found a bag containing approximately $100,000. The former City College student told the Jamaica Observer that the reaction from members of his Kid Lane community when he decided to return the bag of money has left him dumbfounded. He said that when he found the money he was struck with so many emotions, he was left confused. "When I found the money several ideas ran though my mind; I didn't know how to feel, I was shocked, at one point, happy at another and then sad," the teenager said in an interview at the Observer's Beechwood Avenue headquarters in Kingston. Williams said he struggled with the thought o...

By  Adam Goldman  and  Missy Ryan   November 12 at 10:00 PM A former ISIS member says that "Jihadi John" (right)  was the one who beheaded Japanese  prisoner Kenji Goto. Photo: AP, Zuma Wire The U.S. military launched a drone strike Thursday targeting “Jihadi John,” the masked Islamic State terrorist who beheaded several Western hostages in Syria and came to symbolize the brutality of the militant group, U.S. officials said. But the Pentagon is still working to determine whether  the strike actually killed the militant, Briton   Mohammed Emwazi . [ ‘Jihadi John’: Islamic State killer is identified as Londoner Mohammed Emwazi ] Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said the strike took place around the Syrian city of Raqqa, the Islamic State’s de facto capital.  “We are assessing the results of tonight’s operation and will provide additional information as and where appropriate,” Cook said. more

BY ANTHONY LEWIS Observer writer  Thursday, November 12, 2015     LUCEA, Hanover - The project at the Pell River Primary School which newly installed Youth Mayor of Lucea, Felicia Foo - Schroeder is to spearhead has not yet been determined, but already the Grade 5 student is looking forward to undertaking the task. Youth Mayor of Lucea, Felicia Foo-Schroeder (centre), is  flanked by youth councillors (from left) Ramona Flynn  of Green Island Primary, Thianna Chisholm of Esher  Primary, Shannon McIntosh of Mount Peto Primary and  Kayla McKenzie of Sandy Bay Primary and Junior High,  after an installation ceremony held at the Hanover  Parish Council Municipal Building in Lucea, last week. (PHOTO: ANTHONY LEWIS) "It would feel very responsible...... knowing that as a junior mayor, I will get to do my responsibility (undertake a project). I think I will enjoy it," said Felicia, who takes over from last year's Youth Mayor, Rheanna Kerr o...

Thursday, November 12, 2015  THE National Housing Trust (NHT) has increased its loan ceiling by $1 million, effective November 1, it was announced at yesterday's Jamaica House press briefing. With the increase, Jamaicans will now be able to receive up to $5.5 million in loans from the organisation, up from $4.5 million. The increase means that two contributors, as allowed by the NHT, can together access a maximum of $11 million towards the purchase of a house. The decision, which was recently approved by Cabinet, also sees the lowering of the interest rate applicable for all categories of new borrowers by one percentage point. Senator Sandrea Falconer, the minister without portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister in charge of information, told the press briefing that the NHT changes should make it easier for more Jamaicans to own their own houses. "... We have had increases in the cost of building [making it more difficult for some people to own their own homes...