Trinidad police deny killing Jamaican man

Saturday, September 27, 2014 | 5:09 PM    

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad  – Acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams has denied that police officers were involved in the recent killing of three people, including a Jamaican, in Laventille, Port of Spain.

Since the incident, the Laventille community has been in a state of unrest and the police have called on the government to consider a state of emergency in the area, according to the Trinidad Express newspaper.

The uproar in the area began when an unknown group of heavily armed men reportedly opened fire on the Besson Street Police Station about 10 pm Thursday, shortly after an alleged gang leader, Dillon “Bandy” Skeete, was killed.

According to Williams, Skeete was one of three people who were killed following a shooting incident along Desperlie Crescent, Laventille. The other two men have been identified as Tremin Thomas of Jamaica and Joel Tash.

When the Express visited Desperlie Crescent yesterday, residents described the killing of the three men as “an execution” and they believed that law enforcement officers were the persons responsible.

“The preliminary investigations that we have conducted clearly points to the fact that the persons involved are not law enforcement,” Williams said at a press briefing yesterday.

He said investigations will proceed with “an open mind”.?

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Trinidad police deny killing Jamaican man

BELIZE- Police officer shot and killed

Saturday, September 27, 2014 | 7:55 AM    

BELMOPAN, Belize – Gunmen, believed to be illegal Guatemalan nationals, shot and killed a 20-year-old police constable at a popular tourist destination in western Belize.

Danny Conorquie, a Special Constable assigned to the Belize Tourism Police Unit was ambushed by the men who emerged from bushes around the Caracol Archaeological site in the Cayo district.

Conorquie was one of two police officers on duty at the time of the incident on Thursday. He was shot in the head and died at the scene of the incident.

According to a government statement, two men on horseback shot at Conorquie near the main temple in full view of several tourists and tour operators. After the shooting the men fled the scene into nearby bushes.

Conorquie was rushed to the San Ignacio town hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

The government statement said that additional security personnel have been deployed to the Caracol Archaeological site to ensure the safety of visitors who frequent the area and that “every effort is being made to bring those responsible to justice.

One eyewitness told reporters that a second policeman bravely rushed to the aid of his fallen colleague and was engaged in an exchange of gunfire with the murderers.

Although the government statement said there were two men on horseback, the witness, who works as a tour guide, said there were three Hispanic men, believed to be Guatemalan nationals.

The Belize Police Department Friday said that about five men stood over Conorquie’s body before fleeing into the bushes.

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BELIZE- Police officer shot and killed

Jamaica now looking to export pork as local industry booms

Saturday, September 27, 2014 | 4:46 PM    

KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) – Chief Technical Director in the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Dervan Spence, has lauded local pig farmers for creating a “self-sufficient pork industry”.

Spence, who was speaking at the 12th annual general meeting of the Jamaica Pig Farmers Association (JPFA) held in Mandeville on Thursday (September 25), said Jamaica produces nearly 10 million kilograms of pork annually, which is more than enough to satisfy local consumption.

He noted that this independence from importing pork and pork products, exemplifies, in several ways, the goal of the Government to achieve food and nutrition security.

“We are seeking to ensure sustainable food security and the aim is to attain self-sufficiency in many areas. We are now looking at that in Irish potato and several other crops coming on stream, and the plan is to target the expansion of the export sector, once we have satisfied the local market,” Spence said.

He noted that having successfully increased production to sustainable levels, the pork industry can now lead the way in terms of expansion into export markets and diversification of product lines.

The chief technical director gave the pig farmers the assurance, that the Government has every intention to build on and preserve the gains that have been made.

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Jamaica now looking to export pork as local industry booms

Ebola vaccines next year, says WHO

Saturday, September 27, 2014 | 9:40 AM    

MONROVIA, Liberia (AFP) – The World Health Organization said urgently awaited vaccines for the deadly Ebola disease could be ready early next year.

“If everything goes well, we may be able to begin using some of these vaccines in some of the affected countries at the very beginning of next year,” WHO assistant director general Marie-Paule Kieny said.

Currently, there is no licenced treatment or vaccine against the virus, and the UN health agency has endorsed rushing experimental prototypes through testing.

WHO is focusing on two vaccines: one made by British company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), and the other by US group NewLink Genetics. It is working with both companies to accelerate clinical trials, Kieny told reporters in Geneva.

Another experimental vaccine by US company Johnson & Johnson had not been ruled out, but “they are clearly behind by a few months,” she said.

Some clinical trials of the GSK vaccine have begun in the United States and Britain, and other trials are expected to begin in Mali next week.

Trials of the NewLink vaccine are also set to start “imminently” in the United States.

If shown to be safe, thousands of doses of both experimental vaccines should be available by January.

WHO is also trying to accelerate the development of around half a dozen treatments for Ebola, including the prototype ZMapp drug already given to US and Spanish aid workers with promising results.

Supplies of the drug have been exhausted.

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Ebola vaccines next year, says WHO

Ambassador reiterates Jamaica’s commitment to rule of law

Saturday, September 27, 2014 | 4:26 PM    

WASHINGTON DC, United States (JIS) – Jamaica’s Ambassador to the United States, Professor Stephen Vasciannie, has reiterated that the Government of Jamaica is committed to the rule of law in its relations with the international community.

Vasciannie emphasised that Jamaica’s treatment of refugee issues exemplifies the country’s good-faith efforts to meet its international treaty commitments, and to satisfy generally accepted norms and standards of international human rights.

He was speaking at a panel discussion hosted by the United States Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s 44th annual legislative conference under the theme ‘Protection from Persecution: The Flow of Asylum Seekers of African Descent’, at the Walter E Washington convention center on Friday, September 26.

“Jamaica, as a small, developing country which seeks to promote human rights and the rule of law in practice, has sought to safeguard all the rights specified in the Refugees Convention for persons who come to our shores…for us, this is work in progress, but we must remain committed to protecting persons facing persecution,” Vasciannie said.

In a wide-ranging review of refugee issues in Jamaica, Vasciannie identified a range of factors to be considered in the treatment of asylum-seekers, and pointed out that Jamaica’s formal refugee policy document, implemented in 2009, seeks to address these factors in keeping with the United Nations Refugees Convention and Protocol.?

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Ambassador reiterates Jamaica’s commitment to rule of law

Civil group lauds charging of cops in Mario Deane’s death

Saturday, September 27, 2014 | 1:21 PM    

KINGSTON, Jamaica – Civil lobby group Citizen’s Action for Principles and Integrity (CAPI) has commended INDECOM on its charging of three police officers over the killing of Mario Deane.

CAPI said the move is “encouraging and a major step in the journey towards justice for the Deane family”.

“The ruling sends a signal of intolerance for the lack of regard for the human rights of ordinary Jamaicans by agents of the State, and gives hope that those so inclined will be held accountable for their transgressions,” says CAPI’s co-convener Dennis Meadows.

The officers, Corporal Elaine Stewart, District Constables Juliana Clevon and Marlon Grant, were each charged Friday, September 26 with manslaughter, misconduct in a public office, and perverting the course of justice.

They were offered bail to return to court on October 3.

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Civil group lauds charging of cops in Mario Deane’s death

China busts smugglers of iPhone 6 in Shanghai

BEIJING (AP) — China in recent days has busted a slew of smugglers bringing Apple iPhone 6 models into the country ahead of their official release here, with officials on Sunday reporting the latest seizure of 453 smartphones in Shanghai.

Hundreds more were seized during three separate busts Thursday through Saturday in Hong Kong, including from men with a speedboat who were loading contraband onto a wooden sampan-style boat in a mangrove, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

The latest seizure was from the luggage of two passengers arriving at the Shanghai airport from Tokyo, one of them Chinese and one of them Japanese, a woman at the Shanghai customs agency said, confirming state media reports. She said hundreds more have been confiscated individually from passengers who did not declare them.

Apple delayed its original plans to introduce the iPhone 6 in China this month, but did not comment on reports that it still hadn’t received Chinese regulatory approval. The already-thriving black market for the phones in China, where Apple competes with less-expensive alternatives from local powerhouse Xiaomi, plus Lenovo and Samsung, has drawn a rebuke in Chinese state media.

The Global Times said in an editorial Friday that the frenzy over iPhone 6 — including a scuffle among Chinese nationals queuing up at an Apple store in the U.S. — was making China “lose face.” It said iPhones apparently were hip, but that buyer’s shouldn’t buy into their marketing hype. “Please show that you despise those who already have the iPhone 6,” the editorial read.

Apple became a target of state media critiques in March 2013 over alleged unfairness when it was reported that, under its warranty policy, it was fixing internal components of faulty iPhones in China while elsewhere it was replacing the entire phone. Apple later clarified that it would be replacing handsets in China and apologized about the concerns, and the furor subsided.

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China busts smugglers of iPhone 6 in Shanghai