Fireworks expected for UWI Invitational at Usain Bolt Track

THE 14th staging of the University of the West Indies (UWI) Track and Field Invitational Meet will be held on Saturday, March 21, 2015 at the UWI Usain Bolt Track.

The meet has been a staple of the Jamaican track and field calendar for over a decade now and has attracted top names such as Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce since its inception in 2001.

Staged by the UWI Sports Development Unit, the meet is primarily a means of facilitating Jamaican athletes’ participation and subsequent development beyond the high school level through organised, quality competition.

Also, the meet is part of the university’s alternative income-generating activities, whereas proceeds go directly into financing scholarships for student athletes and upgrading sporting facilities.

Grace Jackson, the 1988 Seoul Olympics 200 metre silver medallist and head of the UWI Sports Development Unit, is expecting yet another stellar meet in 2015 as athletes gear up for a big year in the sport of track and field.

“We are expecting a massive year. It’s a World Championships year and with the Olympics to follow in 2016, athletes are aware that they need to get in as much race time to prepare themselves for major championships.

“This is a mid-season meet and your form at that point is crucial to any success at major championships. The meet has always been well-supported by elite athletes and we are expecting an even greater turnout this year as everyone will be looking to improve their personal bests and season bests heading into the Championship months,” said Jackson.

In addition to the elite athletes who generally steal the limelight at the meet, there is also quality competition for a non-elite section.

Athletes can participate individually or as part of a club or team along with the University athletes who also partake in this class.

The 2015 staging of the UWI Track and Field Invitational Meet is expected to be a blockbuster event as athletes will be readying themselves for impressive performances ahead of the National Senior Trials and World Championships.

Patrons can therefore expect fireworks as top athletes are expected to clash in the 100m, 200m and 110m hurdles.

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Fireworks expected for UWI Invitational at Usain Bolt Track

More than a dozen states plan to cancel health care policies not in compliance with ObamaCare - OPINION: ObamaCare is gift that keeps on giving - VIDEO: Many ObamaCare cancellations expected

More than a dozen states plan to cancel health care policies not in compliance with ObamaCare in the coming weeks, affecting thousands of people just before the midterm elections.

“It looks like several hundred thousand people across the country will receive notices in the coming days and weeks,” said Jim Capretta of the Ethics and Public Policy Center.

The policies are being canceled because states that initially granted a reprieve at the request of President Obama are no longer willing to do so.

In coming weeks, 13 states and the District of Columbia plan to cancel such policies, which generally fall out of compliance with the Affordable Care Act because they don’t offer the level of coverage the law requires.

Virginia will be hardest hit, with 250,000 policies expected to be canceled.

And because federal law requires a 60-day notice of any plan changes, voters will be notified no later than November 1, right before the Nov. 4 midterms.

Many of those forced out of their current plans and into ObamaCare may not be able to keep their doctors. They also could face higher deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses, making ObamaCare an election issue on the eve of voting.

Obama had originally unequivocally promised that underhis health care plan, everyone could keep their doctors and plans.

In 2009, he told the American Medical Association, “If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period.If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan. Period.No one will take it away. No matter what.”

The president later was forced to admit that any plan without the additional benefits required under ObamaCare faced cancellation.

But that unleashed a nasty political backlash, forcing him to back down and call for states and insurers to extend those policies forthree more years.

Some said he didn’t have much choice. “There were some five or six million people who were at stake here and the federal exchange was in no condition to even process a few hundred thousand people much less millions,” said Joe Antos of the American Enterprise Institute.

Many states flatly refused to extend and now comes the new round of states that plan to cancel policies.

Jim Angle currently serves as chief national correspondent for Fox News Channel (FNC). He joined FNC in 1996 as a senior White House correspondent.

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More than a dozen states plan to cancel health care policies not in compliance with ObamaCare - OPINION: ObamaCare is gift that keeps on giving - VIDEO: Many ObamaCare cancellations expected

Bermuda watchful as Edouard expected to become a category 3 hurricane

Hurricane Edouard

HAMILTON, Bermuda, Sunday September 14, 2014, CMC - Bermuda has been keeping close watch on Hurricane Edouard, the fifth named storm of the Atlantic season.

Already a Category one hurricane, Edouard is strengthening and is projected to pass to the island’s east on Tuesday.

On Sunday, Edouard was 915 miles east-northeast of the northern Leeward Islands, packing winds of 80 miles per hour at it moved northwest at 16 mph.

Forecasters say Edouard is expected to become a Category 3 hurricane as it curves towards the north, before weakening as it reaches cooler waters.

The Bermuda Weather Service said Edouard was being closely monitored. But the storm is unlikely to be a threat to land.

On its current track Edouard is scheduled to be around 400 miles to the east-southeast of Bermuda on Tuesday evening.

Edouard follows three hurricanes and one tropical storm in what so far as been a relatively uneventful Atlantic hurricane season.

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Bermuda watchful as Edouard expected to become a category 3 hurricane

Huge turnout expected for Wett Nipplez

Wett Nipplez promotional girl

The organisers of Wett Nipplez, dubbed as central Jamaica’s official water party, are expecting to see a bumper crowd this Sunday in Santa Cruz, St Elizabeth.

Event co-ordinator, Shelly Ann Taylor, says increased security and parking arrangements will be put in place to deal with the expected bumper crowd.

Taylor says that over the past week, their office has been receiving calls from as far as Miami and New York in the United States, from persons who have indicated that they will be flying in for Wett Nipplez.

attractions

“Wett Nipplez has attracted a lot of local and international press this year. The event will be recorded and broadcast locally and internationally via TV shows Street Link and Campus Vybz,” Taylor said.

This year’s attractions at Wett Nipplez will include foam pits, water slides, water trucks and paint guns.

Taylor says that Wett Nipplez will have patrons excited from start to finish, with juggling by ZJ Chrome, Ice Berg Million, Pink Panther, Mad Rass, Bad Rass, Niney Badness, Worm from Bass Oddysey, Big Pun, Jacks International, Ratty and Bones, Reggae “Clart It” Rogers(MC) and Super K International.

Wett Nipplez will be held at the Miguel’s Cafe Car Park in Santa Cruz, St Elizabeth (in front of KFC).

The Admission will be – $299; VIP – $500. Gate prizes will include smart phones. Taylor is encouraging patrons to come out early and benefit from an entrance deal. For more info contact 966-2897/276-3001.

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Huge turnout expected for Wett Nipplez

DPP expected to drop bribery charges against Tankweld boss

Prosecutors are expected to confirm today that the bribery charge against Tankweld boss David Bruce Bicknell have been dropped. The case is set for mention in the Half  Way Tree Criminal Court.

As was first reported by our news centre lawyers for Mr. Bicknell, who is charged under the Corruption Prevention Act, wrote to the Director of Public Prosecutions requesting that she discontinue the case. The request was made in light of  testimony by Sergeant Jubert Llewellyn during the court hearing. The DPP confirmed that she responded to the letter.

The charge against Mr. Bicknell stemmed from a traffic stop in April 2012. The Tankweld boss was accused of  trying to bribe Sergeant Llewellyn after he was caught speeding along the Sir Florizel Glasspole main road.

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DPP expected to drop bribery charges against Tankweld boss

DPP expected to drop bribery charges against Bicknell

Prosecutors are expected to confirm today that the bribery charge against businessman David Bruce Bicknell have been dropped. The case is set for mention in the Half  Way Tree Criminal Court.

As was first reported by RJR News, lawyers for Mr. Bicknell, who is charged under the Corruption Prevention Act, wrote to the Director of Public Prosecutions requesting that she discontinue the case. The request was made in light of  testimony by Sergeant Jubert Llewellyn during the court hearing. The DPP confirmed that she responded to the letter.

The charge against Mr. Bicknell stemmed from a traffic stop in April 2012. He was accused of  trying to bribe Sergeant Llewellyn after he was caught speeding along the Sir Florizel Glasspole main road.

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DPP expected to drop bribery charges against Bicknell

New St Vincent coast guard base expected to end haven for crime

Canouan coast guard sub-base (Credit: iwnsvg.com)

KINGSTOWN, St Vincent, Friday June 27, 2014, CMC – The St Vincent and the Grenadines government has commissioned a coast guard sub base on the southern Grenadine island of Canouan, which Prime Minister Dr Rlaph Gonsalves said will help to protect the “soft underbelly” of this multi-island nation.

Commissioner of Police Michael Charles said the new base will also help to make less porous an area of the country that is a haven for criminals from South America, Trinidad and Tobago and Grenada.

The two million US dollar facility was constructed under the United States government’s Secure Seas Programme with the government contributing EC$400,000 (one EC dollar=US$0.37 cents).

The base, which was completed last October and became operational in November, comprises a two-storey, operational centre that has 4,500 square feet of floor space and can house 24 Coast Guard personnel; a 50 feet long pier that allows for six feet of water depth at low tide; fuel and water storage and dispensations systems; and a communications tower.

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Gonsalves, who is also National Security Minister, said the sub base is an extension of the central coast guard base at Calliaqua in St Vincent, and will perform all the operations conducted at the main base.

Twelve coast guard personnel and coast guard vessel SVG 09, a rigid-hulled inflatable boat (RHIB) vessel donated by the U.S. government, are stationed at the sub base.

“The Southern Grenadines is the soft under belly security wise,” Gonsalves told the ceremony and expressed appreciation for US President Barack Obama’s Safe Seas Programme.

The coast guard has also received two RHIBS, a pick-up truck, and spare parts under the programme and Gonsalves said the sub base is important to tourism investment on the island.

“It is magnificent because the people who are coming with the marina and the people who are here would know you are going to be relatively safe from bandits who want to use the sea to come in and disturb our safety and our security,” he said.
He said the facility would be responsible for Coast Guard operations in the Southern Grenadines and support the main base operation whenever required.

It has 24-hour very high frequency and digital selective call in watch on channels 16 and 17 respectively and can be contacted easily by VHF channel 16, Gonsalves said.

“This Coast Guard base fits strategically into our coastal surveillance plan. This operation is linked to the coastal radar system that was financed by the government of Trinidad and Tobago with three sites on the mainland,” he said of the system that allows maritime officials to track traffic in the nation’s waters.

Meanwhile, US Ambassador to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean Larry Palmer said that St Vincent and the Grenadines and the United States are part of a shared security partnership to address the transnational security challenge in the hemisphere.

“This partnership is underscored by the cooperative working relations between the Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force and especially its coast guard and the United States’ military and law enforcement agencies.

“You have all been strong partners and have taken an aggressive stance to keep this nation safe from narcotics trafficking and other threats to the maritime borders of our shared region,” Palmer said.

“The base’s key location between St Vincent and Grenada will strengthen your coast guard’s maritime law enforcement and search and rescue capabilities as well in this remote area…. This coast guard base is only part of the long-term United States commitment to support your on-going capacity building efforts to increase the country’s national security,” Palmer further said at the ceremony.

The Police Commissioner said that the island now has another point from which it can bring the fight to the criminals and protect citizens and visitors.

“For many years, the Grenadine islands have been a security challenge to law enforcement agencies. Being a multi-island state, there are many bays, beaches and inlets to the policed and patrolled. And because of our limited resources to do such, our borders can be considered as porous.

“As a result of these prevailing circumstances, these islands have been a haven for criminals from South America, Trinidad, Grenada.”

Charles said criminals have capitalised on the nation’s limited capabilities to man its borders, to traffic illegal drugs, smuggle guns and launder money.

“But today, as we commission this Coast Guard base, I want to assure the general public and our visitors alike that we will use this facility to optimal potential and to bring to justice those persons who contravene the maritime and other laws of St Vincent and the Grenadines,” the police chief said.

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New St Vincent coast guard base expected to end haven for crime

New St Vincent coast guard base expected to end haven for crime

Canouan coast guard sub-base (Credit: iwnsvg.com)

KINGSTOWN, St Vincent, Friday June 27, 2014, CMC – The St Vincent and the Grenadines government has commissioned a coast guard sub base on the southern Grenadine island of Canouan, which Prime Minister Dr Rlaph Gonsalves said will help to protect the “soft underbelly” of this multi-island nation.

Commissioner of Police Michael Charles said the new base will also help to make less porous an area of the country that is a haven for criminals from South America, Trinidad and Tobago and Grenada.

The two million US dollar facility was constructed under the United States government’s Secure Seas Programme with the government contributing EC$400,000 (one EC dollar=US$0.37 cents).

The base, which was completed last October and became operational in November, comprises a two-storey, operational centre that has 4,500 square feet of floor space and can house 24 Coast Guard personnel; a 50 feet long pier that allows for six feet of water depth at low tide; fuel and water storage and dispensations systems; and a communications tower.

Click here to receive free news bulletins via email from Caribbean360. (View sample)

Gonsalves, who is also National Security Minister, said the sub base is an extension of the central coast guard base at Calliaqua in St Vincent, and will perform all the operations conducted at the main base.

Twelve coast guard personnel and coast guard vessel SVG 09, a rigid-hulled inflatable boat (RHIB) vessel donated by the U.S. government, are stationed at the sub base.

“The Southern Grenadines is the soft under belly security wise,” Gonsalves told the ceremony and expressed appreciation for US President Barack Obama’s Safe Seas Programme.

The coast guard has also received two RHIBS, a pick-up truck, and spare parts under the programme and Gonsalves said the sub base is important to tourism investment on the island.

“It is magnificent because the people who are coming with the marina and the people who are here would know you are going to be relatively safe from bandits who want to use the sea to come in and disturb our safety and our security,” he said.
He said the facility would be responsible for Coast Guard operations in the Southern Grenadines and support the main base operation whenever required.

It has 24-hour very high frequency and digital selective call in watch on channels 16 and 17 respectively and can be contacted easily by VHF channel 16, Gonsalves said.

“This Coast Guard base fits strategically into our coastal surveillance plan. This operation is linked to the coastal radar system that was financed by the government of Trinidad and Tobago with three sites on the mainland,” he said of the system that allows maritime officials to track traffic in the nation’s waters.

Meanwhile, US Ambassador to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean Larry Palmer said that St Vincent and the Grenadines and the United States are part of a shared security partnership to address the transnational security challenge in the hemisphere.

“This partnership is underscored by the cooperative working relations between the Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force and especially its coast guard and the United States’ military and law enforcement agencies.

“You have all been strong partners and have taken an aggressive stance to keep this nation safe from narcotics trafficking and other threats to the maritime borders of our shared region,” Palmer said.

“The base’s key location between St Vincent and Grenada will strengthen your coast guard’s maritime law enforcement and search and rescue capabilities as well in this remote area…. This coast guard base is only part of the long-term United States commitment to support your on-going capacity building efforts to increase the country’s national security,” Palmer further said at the ceremony.

The Police Commissioner said that the island now has another point from which it can bring the fight to the criminals and protect citizens and visitors.

“For many years, the Grenadine islands have been a security challenge to law enforcement agencies. Being a multi-island state, there are many bays, beaches and inlets to the policed and patrolled. And because of our limited resources to do such, our borders can be considered as porous.

“As a result of these prevailing circumstances, these islands have been a haven for criminals from South America, Trinidad, Grenada.”

Charles said criminals have capitalised on the nation’s limited capabilities to man its borders, to traffic illegal drugs, smuggle guns and launder money.

“But today, as we commission this Coast Guard base, I want to assure the general public and our visitors alike that we will use this facility to optimal potential and to bring to justice those persons who contravene the maritime and other laws of St Vincent and the Grenadines,” the police chief said.

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New St Vincent coast guard base expected to end haven for crime

Pengelley expected to be re-elected JMA President

Brian Pengelley is expected to be re-elected President of  the Jamaica Manufacturers’ Association (JMA) when the organisation holds its annual general meeting today.If re-elected, Mr. Pengelley, a company executive, will be serving his fourth term in the post.       
Elections for the post of Deputy President and eight directors will also take place.

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Pengelley expected to be re-elected JMA President

Third quarter growth of 0.5% to 1.5% expected — PIOJ

Latest News

Wednesday, August 28, 2013 | 4:57 PM

KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Jamaican economy is expected to record growth ranging between 0.5 and 1.5 per cent over the July to September quarter according to Director General of the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) Colin Bullock. He was addressing the PIOJ’s quarterly media briefing on Tuesday August 27 at the institute’s office in Kingston.Bullock said the growth should be spurred by a number of factors, including the continued rollout of several capital projects approved in the 2013/14 budget. He said that the gradual restoration of investor confidence, contingent on Jamaica passing of the first quarterly International Monetary Fund (IMF) performance review, and continued global economic recovery, will also drive economic activity.Bullock also pointed to the anticipated return to positive performance for most industries reflecting resurgence in output following the impact of Hurricane Sandy. Meanwhile, mining and quarrying, and construction were the key performers during the April to June quarter, where the economy contracted by 0.4 per cent.Mining and quarrying recorded growth of five per cent, while the building component of the construction sector grew by 1.5 per cent.Bullock said the figure for mining and quarrying reflected increased production of alumina, “as crude bauxite production declined.”“Alumina production increased by 8.6 per cent, reflecting an increase of 1.1 percentage points in the alumina capacity utilisation rate, reflecting higher output from a major producer,” he explained.Like our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/jamaicaobserverFollow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/JamaicaObserver

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Third quarter growth of 0.5% to 1.5% expected — PIOJ

Verdicts expected in Turkish coup plot trial

News

Tuesday, August 06, 2013

ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) — Some 275 people — including military officers, politicians and journalists — yesterday were facing verdicts in a landmark trial in Turkey over an alleged conspiracy to overthrow Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government.The ruling caps a five-year trial that has been a central drama in tensions between the country’s secular elite and Erdogan’s Islamic-oriented Justice and Development Party.The defendants are accused of plotting high-profile attacks that prosecutors said were aimed at sowing chaos in Turkey to prepare the way for a military coup.The prosecutions have helped Erdogan’s government reshape Turkey’s military and assert civilian control in a country that had seen three military coups since 1960.The defendants are accused of being part of an alleged ultranationalist and pro-secular gang called Ergenekon, which takes its name from a legendary valley in Central Asia believed to be the ancestral homeland of Turks.In thousands of pages of indictment, prosecutors maintained that the gang was behind a series of violent acts — including one in 2006 on a courthouse that killed a judge — that were made to look as though they were carried out by Islamic militants, in a bid to create turmoil and provoke a military intervention.Prosecutors say the gang also plotted to kill Erdogan, Nobel laureate author Orhan Pamuk and other high-profile figures.The defendants have rejected the accusations.Prosecutors have demanded life prison terms for 64 of the defendants, mostly on terrorism charges. Others face up to 15 years in prison for possession of firearms or membership in Ergenekon.The case has polarised the country between those who see it as an opportunity to unravel a shadowy network of ultranationalists known as the “Deep State” that allegedly acted behind the scenes with impunity, and those who believe it is a government attempt to muzzle Erdogan’s secular-minded foes and undermine Turkey’s secular legacy.Police on Monday blocked hundreds of demonstrators from reaching the courthouse in Silivri, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) west of Istanbul, in a show of solidarity with the defendants.Protesters clash with riot and paramilitary polices as they fire tear gas and use water cannons to disperse them outside the Silivri jail complex in Silivri, Turkey, yesterday. Some 275 people — including military officers, politicians and journalists — are facing verdicts in a landmark and divisive trial in Turkey over an alleged conspiracy to overthrow the government. The court has acquitted 21 people accused of plotting to overthrow the Islamist-rooted government in the fiveyear “Ergenekon” trial and sentenced of up to 47 years or life terms in jails some of the other 254 defendants. (PHOTO:AP)

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Verdicts expected in Turkish coup plot trial

Verdict expected in Manning case

29 July 2013 Last updated at 21:57 ET Manning has acknowledged disclosing the documents, but his lawyer denies he did it to win notoriety A military judge is set to issue a verdict in the court martial of the US soldier who disclosed reams of secret documents to the Wikileaks website.

Pte Bradley Manning, 25, will hear Judge Col Denise Lind’s ruling at 13:00 local time (17:00 GMT) on Tuesday.

Pte Manning has acknowledged leaking the documents but denies the most serious charge of “aiding the enemy”.

He has already pleaded guilty to 10 lesser charges out of 22 total, and faces life in prison if convicted.

‘Systematic harvest’ Pte Manning, an intelligence analyst, was arrested in Iraq in May 2010. He spent weeks in a cell at Camp Arifjan, a US Army installation in Kuwait, before being transferred to the US.

He was charged with 22 counts including aiding the enemy, unauthorised possession of intelligence material, theft, and violations of computer regulations.

The court martial in Fort Meade, Maryland, opened in early June.

During the trial, prosecutor Maj Ashden Fein argued Pte Manning systematically harvested hundreds of thousands of classified documents to offer them to anti-secrecy organisation WikiLeaks.

Pte Manning’s supporters rallied outside Fort McNair in Washington on Friday

He argued that with his training as an intelligence analyst, Pte Manning should have known the leaked documents would become available to al-Qaeda operatives.

The prosecution has argued the leaks harmed US national security and endangered American lives and those of foreign intelligence and diplomatic sources, and Maj Fein has said some of the documents eventually made their way to Osama Bin Laden.

Pte Manning’s defence lawyer, meanwhile, has argued the young soldier is a well-intentioned whistleblower – and naive and disillusioned after his deployment to Iraq in 2009.

The lawyer, civilian David Coombs, has also said Pte Manning acted without the “general evil intent” that would justify the “aiding the enemy” charge.

In a lengthy statement during a pre-trial hearing in February, Pte Manning said he had leaked the files in order to spark a public debate about US foreign policy and the military.

The BBC’s Ben Wright explains the case against Bradley Manning in 80 seconds

Among the items sent to Wikileaks was graphic footage of an Apache helicopter attack in 2007 that killed a dozen people in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, including a Reuters photographer.

The documents also included 470,000 Iraq and Afghanistan battlefield reports and 250,000 secure state department cables between Washington and embassies around the world.

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Verdict expected in Manning case