Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AFP)--The United States risks losing influence to China because it is too slow to deliver aid to needy nations, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Thursday. Speaking to a congressional committee, Clinton cited the example of an emergency deal signed by China last month to help bail Jamaica out of its financial crisis. "They (Jamaica) have just signed a memorandum of understanding with China...and now they have got a government-to-government relationship with China," Clinton said. "We have to be sure we have in place the safeguards so that the money goes where we intend it to go," Clinton told...

Just two days after US President Barack Hussein Obama shared a controversial and landmark handshake with Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez at the Summit of the Americas, the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center has released a study analyzing the flowering alliance between the increasingly anti-Western Latin America and the virulently anti-Israel Iran. The study was conducted at the Israel Intelligence Heritage & Commemoration Center (IICC), a non-governmental organization dedicated to Israeli intelligence and terrorism issues. According to the study, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is using anti-Western Hugo Chavez as a springboard into several Latin American countries, such as Bolivia, Nicaragua, and...

<p>CNN) -- Passengers were reportedly taken hostage on a charter flight at a Jamaican airport.</p> <p>They were boarding the CanJet flight from Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay to Halifax, Canada, late Sunday when the security breach occurred, said Elizabeth Scotton, a spokeswoman for the company that manages the airport.</p>

An ice bridge linking a shelf of ice the size of Jamaica to two islands in Antarctica has snapped. Scientists say the collapse could mean the Wilkins Ice Shelf is on the brink of breaking away, and provides further evidence or rapid change in the region. Sited on the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula, the Wilkins shelf has been retreating since the 1990s. Researchers regarded the ice bridge as an important barrier, holding the remnant shelf structure in place.

As the debate continues on proposals to legalise Abortion and introduce a Termination of Pregnancy Act, legislators have been exposed to a gamut of arguments and numerous warnings about the predicament such a decision could create, not the least of which were those brought to fore last week. HO LUNG ... we must not do what is wrong for the sake of money THE missionaries begged, cajoled and even sang in a bid to sway the members of the Joint Select Committee of Parliament contemplating proposals to legalise abortion. The group, which appeared before the committee last Thursday, also had...

Prime Minister Bruce Golding has vowed to keep Jamaica's anti-sodomy law on the books, regardless of criticism from gay rights advocates. Golding told Parliament on Tuesday that gay rights advocates are ''perhaps the most organized lobby in the world'' and he vowed to preserve the country's 145-year-old anti-sodomy law that prohibits sexual acts between men. He says his administration will not ''liberalize the laws'' in the face of criticism from any international groups. Human Rights Watch has been urging Golding to repeal the anti-sodomy law. Earlier this year, Golding came under fire for saying he would not allow gays in...

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Jamaican regulators say they are forbidding all explicit references to sex and violence over the airwaves. The new rules from the island's broadcast commission ban any song or music video that depicts sexual acts or glorifies gun violence, murder, rape or arson. The Saturday announcement follows a Feb. 6 ban that specifically targeted dancehall tunes and videos depicting "daggering" — a dance style popular among Jamaican youth that features pelvic grinding simulating sex.

Father Richard Ho Lung of Missionaries of the Poor and Father Gregory Ramkissoon of the Mustard Seed Communities walk out of Parliament yesterday. They expressed dissatisfaction with the poor attendance of members of the abortion policy review committee. - Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer ANGERED BY the tardiness and frequent absence of members of the abortion policy review committee, leaders of the Roman Catholic Church yesterday boycotted the sitting, refusing to make their presentation to only five members who showed up.At 10 a.m. when the meeting was scheduled to begin, only committee chairman Rudyard Spencer was present, followed by Hyacinth Bennett...

Firearm Licensing Authority boss rejects calls to arm the nation KARYL WALKER, Crime/court co-ordinator walkerk@jamaicaobserver.com Thursday, January 29, 2009 CHAIRMAN of the Firearms Licensing Authority Errol Strong has rejected calls from gun rights lobbyists and members of the public who have been clamouring for Government to relax legislation to allow all law-abiding citizens easier access to owning firearms. According to Strong, with Jamaica's high propensity for violence, the move could backfire with devastating results. "In the context of the Jamaican experience, the right for everybody to own a gun could have profound consequences. Quite often attacks on licensed firearm holders...

At least two women who have had abortions say they would rather terminate a pregnancy than give the child up for adoption. The women were responding to a call recently made by several members of the church community and other anti-abortion advocates for expectant mothers contemplating abortion to take the babies to them instead. Father Gregory Ramkissoon, executive director of Mustard Seed, threw out the lifeline during a press conference recently, saying his organisation and other churches would be willing to care for children whose mothers believed they could not keep them. However, the two young professionals who spoke with...

I was interested to see that in the recent election exercise in the USA, although the Democratic Party won the presidency, and increased its majority in the Senate and the Congress, it lost ballots in three States which would have redefined the institution of marriage to include same-sex unions. In Arizona, Proposition 102 won by 56 per cent to 44 per cent; in Florida, Amendment 2 passed by 62.4 per cent to 37.6 per cent and in California, Proposition 8 passed by 52.2 per cent to 47.8 per cent in a hard-fought contest. In California, campaigns for and against Proposition...

KINGSTON, Jamaica, November 21, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A recent presentation by a woman who 20 years ago bullied her daughter into having an abortion reduced members of the Jamaican parliament to tears, reports the Jamaica Gleaner.  Anne Arthur, a grief counselor, told the parliament she has never fully recovered from having bullied her daughter into killing her unborn child. "I drove my daughter to the abortion clinic like a lamb to the slaughterhouse, against her will," Arthur told her audience."I pressed my views on her and convinced her that she would be unable to care for the child while studying...

The late pioneer of Soca, Byron Aloysius St. Elmo Lee BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – SOCA pioneer and leader of the world renowned ‘Byron Lee and the Dragonaires’, Byron Aloysius St. Elmo Lee is not dead. Children of the 73-year-old Jamaican icon recently issued a missive which sought to clear the air on the reports that sparked erroneous releases from media houses in Canada, USA and around the Caribbean, including SKNVibes. The missive reads: Dear All, Our Dad is very much alive. Since Tuesday afternoon, we all have been bombarded with e-mails, calls, faxes, etc., re: a rumour which started in...

Jamaican Me Speedy - Why are Jamaicans so good at sprinting? By Nina Shen Rastogi Posted Monday, Aug. 18, 2008, at 6:57 PM ET Jamaicans dominated the Olympic 100-meter sprint this weekend, with Usain Bolt setting a world record and his teammates taking all three medals in the women's event. Jamaica is a poor, tiny nation about half the size of New Jersey. What makes its people such champion sprinters? A combination of nature and nurture. Runners of West African descent—which includes Jamaicans as well as most African-Americans—seem to be built for speed: In 2004, they held all but five...

Afghanistan to Ask NATO for Bigger Army Afghan officials will go to the NATO summit in Romania Thursday with a request: pay to increase our national Army by 40 percent. A bigger Army, Afghan officials argue, will allow the US and other coalition members to scale back in the coming years. This appeal comes amid pleas from the US and Canada for other NATO members to commit more to the Afghanistan mission, which many analysts say has floundered over the past year for lack of resources and a coherent strategy. France is expected to contribute another 1,000 forces and...

Components that potentially could be made into a pipe bomb were found in the luggage of a man preparing to fly from Orlando International Airport to Jamaica on Tuesday, the Orlando Sentinel newspaper said. The Transportation Security Administration confirmed only that "suspicious" items were found in a search of the man's luggage. FBI spokesman David Couvertier, whose agency is handling the case, said the items "generated a high level of concern," but he declined to confirm the newspaper's report that the suspicious items included "unassembled pipes with end caps, metal ball bearings and other potentially explosive materials." The man, whose...

It was Peace Day in Kingston but that meant nothing to Donny Hall's killers. Just before 4pm, the 20-year-old resident of Rose Town, one of the most violent places in Jamaica, was getting ready to join the Peace parade in the city's centre when he was murdered in a hail of 9mm bullets. Hall had planned to hand out T-shirts urging an end to the gang violence which has wrecked his community. Only in December gunmen blew his foot off in a shooting that killed a friend. Now, just minutes before this week's parade was due to start, the same...

Who: NØNJY/6Y5, KBØIRW/6Y5 (Rick and JoAnne Donaldson) What: Jamaica DXPedition When: 12-14 October 2007 Where: Runaway Bay, Jamaica, West Indies Why: For FUN! Island DXpedition (Celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary and 18 years as hams radio operators together!) QSL: Home call (NØNJY) Operational Times: APPROXIMATELY 17ØØ-21ØØ UTC on Friday and Saturday, and 17ØØ-2ØØØ on Sun Frequency: Split frequency operation during operations hours on 14.19Ø +/-1Ø KHz, TX, Listening 14.2ØØ – 14.23Ø (+/- 1Ø KHz) Equipment: ICOM IC-735, Alinco Power Supply, Home brew antenna (Pictures on blog site for equipment) Blog site with much more information for comments, and QSL information...

News Release Canada Sends New C-17 to Jamaica with Supplies for the Victims of Hurricane Dean 2007-16 - August 23, 2007 TRENTON — Minister of International Cooperation Beverley Oda and Minister of National Defence and Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency Peter Gordon MacKay were in Trenton today to oversee loading of relief items in Canada’s new C-17 for hurricane-affected communities in Jamaica. "By using our new C-17, Canada’s New Government is responding today to the humanitarian emergency in Jamaica with a large shipment of emergency aid supplies," said Minister Oda. "The 32 tons of supplies, such as tarps,...

Extremely dangerous Hurricane Dean is moving west-northwest through the Caribbean Sea. The current NHC forecast track indicates Dean's powerful center core will pass just south of the southwestern peninsula of Haiti, and should skirt Jamaica's southern shoreline. The storm maintained strong Category 4 wind status through the night during an eyewall replacement cycle. However, the minimum pressure supports Category 5, and additional strengthening of winds is likely. Tourists in Jamaica crowded airports Saturday to leave the island nation. Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller addressed the Jamaican people, asking that everyone put aside their political differences and work together in...