50-YEAR THAW : THEY MEET... Raul Castro Delivers Stunning Defense Of President In Speech... 'I Apologize To Obama'... Calls For Reopening Of Embassies...Barack Obama And Cuba President Raul Castro Make History With First Sit-Down Meeting

The Huffington Post |  By Igor Bobic Email Posted: 04/11/2015 4:23 pm EDT

WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Barack Obama sat down with Cuban President Raul Castro on Saturday, the first substantial meeting between the countries' leaders in more than 50 years.

According to a White House pool report from the Summit of the Americas in Panama City, Obama and Castro, the brother of former Cuban President Fidel Castro, met in a small room in the convention center, and were seated next to each other in "the same set up as when world leaders are hosted in the Oval Office‎."

"This is obviously an historic meeting," Obama said. After 50 years of U.S. embargo toward Cuba, "it was time for us to try something new, that it was important for us to engage more directly with the Cuban government and the Cuban people. And as a consequence, I think we are now in a position to move on a path towards the future, and leave behind some of the circumstances of the past that have made it so difficult, I think, for our countries to communicate." Following Obama's remarks, Raul Castro said the two nations could have differences "with respect of the ideas of the others."

Raul meets Obama

"We could be persuaded of some things; of others, we might not be persuaded," Castro said. "But when I say that I agree with everything that the president has just said, I include that we have agreed to disagree. No one should entertain illusions. It is true that we have many differences. Our countries have a long and complicated history, but we are willing to make progress in the way the president has described." more

Poll: Americans Back Iran Deal, Don't Want Congress To Crush It ....Americans United for Change found that 61 percent of the country favor the deal, while 34 percent oppose it....And perhaps more importantly, 65 percent of voters don't want Congress to block the deal, compared with 30 percent who do.

The Huffington Post |  By Michael McAuliff Email Posted: 04/10/2015 8:27 am EDT 

WASHINGTON -- Americans mostly approve of the outline of the Iran nuclear deal and don't want Congress to block it, according to a poll released Friday.

Prez Barack Obama

The survey by Hart Research on behalf of the Democratically aligned Americans United for Change found that 61 percent of the country favor the deal, while 34 percent oppose it.

And perhaps more importantly, 65 percent of voters don't want Congress to block the deal, compared with 30 percent who do.

The poll, done this week of 806 voters, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

It also reveals a partisan divide on the issue, with Republican voters being the only ones who oppose the deal -- 52 to 41 percent -- and who are split on whether Congress should interfere, with 48 percent saying to block it and 47 percent wanting the lawmakers to let it advance.

For its questions, the survey largely adopts the descriptions of the United States government, although Iranians have characterized some points differently.

Still, in a measure of the strength of the opinions, 57 percent of respondents said they agreed with supporters of the deal and 38 percent said they agreed with opponents when the positions were cast like this:  more

IN JAMAICA: 29-y-o Damion Ewin charged with 14-y-o schoolgirl's Kayalicia Simpson murder

Thursday, April 09, 2015 | 8:21 PM  

KINGSTON, Jamaica - The bus conductor who was implicated in the death of 14-year-old Kayalicia Simpson was formally charged with murder by the St Thomas Police on Wednesday, April 8.

Kayalicia Simpson

In custody is 29-year-old Damion Ewin of Newland Housing Scheme, Yallahs, in the parish.

Ewin has also been charged with committing sexual offences in the same matter.

On Tuesday, March 3, relatives found Kayalicia's body with multiple chop wounds to the head and neck and summoned the police. The post-mortem examination revealed that Kaylacia was also pregnant.

Ewin is expected to appear before the Yallahs Resident Magistrate's Court on Wednesday, April, 15. more

Officer Michael Slager's Mother: 'My Life Will Never Be The Same Again' (VIDEO)

ABC Breaking US News | US News Videos

The Huffington Post |  By Andy Campbell Email Posted: 04/09/2015 6:59 pm EDT 

The mother of the South Carolina police officer who shot and killed an unarmed man says her life will "never be the same again."

In an interview with ABC News, Karen Sharpe, the mother of North Charleston Officer Michael Slager, said she doesn't want to think about how long her son will be in jail should he be convicted of murder. He was charged on Tuesday after he was seen on video fatally shooting 50-year-old Walter Scott.

"I'm not gonna worry. I'm not gonna think about that right now," Sharpe said through tears in the interview (above). "What will happen will happen, and that's the way it'll be. I can only hope that it's not forever. I just have to let it be and hope God takes care of everybody involved.

"Not only my family but the Scott's family -- because I know they're grieving just like I'm grieving. So, I want them to know that," she added.

She said she hadn't seen the video of the shooting, claiming that she's "in denial."

She said her son, whose wife is expecting a baby, "loved being a police officer" and "would not do something purposeful" and not be able to help his wife during her pregnancy.

Slager has yet to enter a plea in his murder case. New evidence continues to be made public, including dashboard footage from Slager's patrol vehicle and audio of the suspect's initial calls to dispatch. more

President Barack OBAMA Big Up Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Price as the world's fastest at UWI

Dear Obama by Poochie Good Gal Brown....Very Funny

Dear Obama by Poochie Good Gal Brown....very funny

Posted by Bring Back Our JAMAICA, #BBOJ on Friday, April 10, 2015

Some Funny Flix of President Obama's Visit To Jamaica....#ObamainJamaica #BarackObamainJamaica #PortiaandObama

KINGSTON, Jamaica: President Obama's unannounced visit to the Bob Marley Museum

Pres. Barack Obama at Bob Marleys Museum

Wednesday, April 08, 2015 | 9:46 PM  

KINGSTON, Jamaica – United States President Barack Obama makes a late night visit to the Bob Marley Museum after he landed at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston Wednesday evening.

U.S. President Barack Obama, right, visits
 the Bob Marley Museum with tour guide
 Natasha Clark, left, Wednesday,
 April 8, 2015 in Kingston, Jamaica. 

The Hope Road facility, which has been in operation for nearly 30 years, recently reopened it's doors after some structural upgrade.

The museum is reported to attract some 35,000 visitors per year. And President Obama has now been added to that list.

Bob Marley became a superstar in the 1970s, a fruitful period for roots-reggae. He lived at what became the museum in May 11, 1986.

He died of cancer in May 1981 at age 36. more

GoFundMe Shuts Down Campaign For Officer Charged With Murder Of Walter Scott

The Huffington Post |  By Jessica Dickerson Email Posted: 04/08/2015 5:27 pm EDT

A fundraising page dedicated to South Carolina police officer Michael Slager was shut down by GoFundMe on Wednesday.

Slager was charged with the murder of 50-year-old Walter Scott after video surfacedof him shooting at the unarmed man eight times. GoFundMe’s public relations manager, Kelsea Little, told The Huffington Post that the page's removal was "due to a violation of our terms and conditions.”

However, Little said GoFundMe was unable to discuss the details of the campaign with anyone other than the organizer because of "privacy concerns.”

One source of outside financial support for the Slager family will be North Charleston. In a press conference Wednesday, Mayor Keith Summey confirmed that the town would continue to pay for the medical insurance of the officer’s wife, who is eight months pregnant, until the birth of the child.

Comparisons have been drawn between the shooting of Scott and Ferguson, Missouri, teen Michael Brown, including the online fundraising for the officer involved in the shooting in response to protests against police brutality.

Controversy swirled around the establishment of two GoFundMe pages that raised money for Darren Wilson, the officer responsible for the fatal shooting of Brown in July. Combined, they had raised nearly half a million dollars before they disappeared from the Internet late August. more

Pres. Obama and Prime Minister Portia Simpson at STONE LOVE DANCE in JAMAICA dancing to Montego Bay...New dance ZIG-ZAG Rock and Boink Glide.

Hope, scepticism as Obama lands in Jamaica : JAMAICANS yesterday expressed mixed feelings about whether the current visit of United States President Barack Obama to Jamaica will be the start of a chain of positive developments for the island and the wider region.

BY KIMMO MATTHEWS Observer staff reporter matthewsk@jamaicaobserver.com  Thursday, April 09, 2015   

JAMAICANS yesterday expressed mixed feelings about whether the current visit of United States President Barack Obama to Jamaica will be the start of a chain of positive developments for the island and the wider region.

(L-R) FISHER... the fact that him choose to come here,
 we are very happy. HUSSEY... not a lot can be done in the
 short space of time. BAYLE... with such a short visit, we are not
 going to see a lot of changes (PHOTOS: KARL MCLARTY)

Obama touched down at the Norman Manley International Airport (NMIA) at minutes to eight last night, marking the second visit of a sitting US president to Jamaica.

"We know that the visit is going to be short, but the fact that him choose to come here, we are very happy," remarked Neville Fisher, a farmer in Caymanas Bay, St Catherine.

"This is history in the making," another man interjected.

But others were more sceptical.

"I believe that, with such a short visit, we are not going to see a lot of changes," said Christian Bayle, who was conducting business in Half-Way-Tree, the capital of St Andrew.

Gisele Hussey, who was seen on South Camp Road, shared similar sentiments.

"I believe that not a lot can be done in the short space of time. I believe it may fast-track some roadworks," Hussey quipped.

Soldiers man a section of Oxford Road, in the vicinity of
the National Housing Trust in St Andrew, yesterday.
(PHOTO: MICHAEL GORDON)

Marcia Henry agreed. "I believe the time is too short to bring about the changes many people were hoping for," she told the Jamaica Observer.

Henry made the comment as members of the Jamaica Defence Force carried out last-minute preparations to beautify the surroundings of Up Park Camp, which was expected to be the president's first stop after leaving NMIA.

Further away, near New Kingston, a large contingent of police and soldiers were seen monitoring areas such as Knutsford and other areas of New Kingston, where businesses were forced to shutter early as a result of access 

CRUCIAL ARTICLE: President Obama Visits Jamaica, but What Is His Government Doing to Jamaica's Economy? The Caribbean island nation, probably best known for dominating the sport of sprinting, has had declining living standards for the past 20 years. Per capita GDP has fallen by an average of 0.3 percent annually over the past two decades, making Jamaica the worst-performing economy in the hemisphere over this long haul....Does Jamaica need debt cancellation assistance or better fiscal managment? What do you think?

Posted: 04/08/2015 1:54 pm EDT Mark Weisbrot Huffington Post

The international media isn't paying much attention to President Obama's trip to Jamaica this week, but maybe they should. The country has become a terrible example of what can happen when creditors, led by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), are able to impose harsh austerity on a trapped nation in an attempt to collect on an uncollectable debt. Since the U.S. Treasury Department decides what the IMF does in the Western Hemisphere, President Obama himself can claim responsibility for this crushing economic failure.

Barack Obama-Jamaica I Cry For You

The Caribbean island nation, probably best known for dominating the sport of sprinting, has had declining living standards for the past 20 years. Per capita GDP has fallen by an average of 0.3 percent annually over the past two decades, making Jamaica the worst-performing economy in the hemisphere over this long haul. And this measures only average living standards; it is much worse at the bottom, where poverty has more than doubled since 2007, and where unemployment is currently over 14 percent, higher than it stood during the world recession. (More detail can be found here.)

But the worst part, and the part where Washington bears the most responsibility, is the country's future prospects. It is currently under an IMF agreement that requires the government to run annual primary budget surpluses -- revenue minus spending, excluding interest payments -- of 7.5 percent. This is the worst such burden in the world. For comparison, Greece was projected to run a primary budget surplus of 3 percent this year, and about 4.5 percent thereafter -- and this is so unsustainable that it is causing a political crisis as well as a widespread belief that it can't possibly happen.

How can something so much worse be done to Jamaica? Besides the obvious fact that Jamaica is much poorer and also over 90-percent Black, it mostly boils down to the creditors' cartel, headed by the IMF, which is calling the shots. This used to be the situation faced by most of the Western Hemisphere south of the U.S., but in the past 15 years the vast majority of the region has gotten loose from the IMF and Washington's grip, winning Latin America's "second independence." Jamaica is an extreme example of what happens to those who were not fortunate enough to get away.

The fiscal austerity that this cartel has imposed would be enough to throw even the U.S. economy into recession, with budget tightening of 5 percent of GDP between 2012 and 2015. Even at the IMF executive board, which must approve the four-year agreement that the country is operating under, about 25 percent of the directors were worried that excessive austerity could threaten Jamaica's "fragile recovery and social cohesion." more

Hope, scepticism as Obama lands in Jamaica : JAMAICANS yesterday expressed mixed feelings about whether the current visit of United States President Barack Obama to Jamaica will be the start of a chain of positive developments for the island and the wider region.

BY KIMMO MATTHEWS Observer staff reporter matthewsk@jamaicaobserver.com  Thursday, April 09, 2015   

JAMAICANS yesterday expressed mixed feelings about whether the current visit of United States President Barack Obama to Jamaica will be the start of a chain of positive developments for the island and the wider region.

(L-R) FISHER... the fact that him choose to come here,
 we are very happy. HUSSEY... not a lot can be done in the
 short space of time. BAYLE... with such a short visit, we are not
 going to see a lot of changes (PHOTOS: KARL MCLARTY)

Obama touched down at the Norman Manley International Airport (NMIA) at minutes to eight last night, marking the second visit of a sitting US president to Jamaica.

"We know that the visit is going to be short, but the fact that him choose to come here, we are very happy," remarked Neville Fisher, a farmer in Caymanas Bay, St Catherine.

"This is history in the making," another man interjected.

But others were more sceptical.

"I believe that, with such a short visit, we are not going to see a lot of changes," said Christian Bayle, who was conducting business in Half-Way-Tree, the capital of St Andrew.

Gisele Hussey, who was seen on South Camp Road, shared similar sentiments.

"I believe that not a lot can be done in the short space of time. I believe it may fast-track some roadworks," Hussey quipped.

Soldiers man a section of Oxford Road, in the vicinity of
the National Housing Trust in St Andrew, yesterday.
(PHOTO: MICHAEL GORDON)

Marcia Henry agreed. "I believe the time is too short to bring about the changes many people were hoping for," she told the Jamaica Observer.

Henry made the comment as members of the Jamaica Defence Force carried out last-minute preparations to beautify the surroundings of Up Park Camp, which was expected to be the president's first stop after leaving NMIA.

Further away, near New Kingston, a large contingent of police and soldiers were seen monitoring areas such as Knutsford and other areas of New Kingston, where businesses were forced to shutter early as a result of access restrictions to the area. more

Pres. Obama and Prime Minister Portia Simpson at STONE LOVE DANCE in JAMAICA dancing to Montego Bay... Watch the Zig-Zag Rock and Boink Glide. #ObamainJamaica #BarckObamainJamaica

KINGSTON, Jamaica : President Barack Obama is in Jamaica....This historic visit marks the second to the island by a sitting US president. The first saw Ronald Reagan arriving in 1982...President Obama will engage in a number of activities tomorrow, including bilateral talks with the Jamaican Government and with Caricom heads of government, a youth forum at the University of the West Indies

Wednesday, April 08, 2015 | 7:31 PM    

KINGSTON, Jamaica — United States President Barack Obama arrived in the island a short while ago at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston.

This historic visit marks the second to the island by a sitting US president. The first saw Ronald Reagan arriving in 1982, with yesterday marking the 33rd anniversary of his visit.

Obama, who arrived on Air Force One, is expected to travel on the Marine One helicopter to the Jamaica Defence Force’s headquarters, Up Park Camp.

He is then expected to travel in the presidential limousine, The Beast, to a hotel where he is expected to stay ahead of tomorrow’s activities.

President Obama will engage in a number of activities tomorrow, including bilateral talks with the Jamaican Government and with Caricom heads of government, a youth forum at the University of the West Indies, and a wreath laying at the Cenotaph in National Heroes Park in honour of the Jamaicans who fought and died in World War I and II.

He will leave Jamaica tomorrow evening for Panama to attend the Seventh Summit of the Americas.

Governor General Sir Patrick Allen and Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller headed the delegation of officials who greeted President Obama on his arrival.

More information later.

KINGSTON, Jamaica: President Obama visits Bob Marley Museum

Pres. Barack Obama at Bob Marleys Museum

Wednesday, April 08, 2015 | 9:46 PM  

KINGSTON, Jamaica – United States President Barack Obama makes a late night visit to the Bob Marley Museum after he landed at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston Wednesday evening.

The Hope Road facility, which has been in operation for nearly 30 years, recently reopened it's doors after some structural upgrade.

The museum is reported to attract some 35,000 visitors per year. And President Obama has now been added to that list.

Bob Marley became a superstar in the 1970s, a fruitful period for roots-reggae. He lived at what became the museum in May 11, 1986.

He died of cancer in May 1981 at age 36. more

WARNING GRAPHIC VIDEO: Video Shows Officer Michael Slager Shooting Unarmed Black Man In The Back In South Carolina

Killer Police stands over victim

The Huffington Post |  By Andy Campbell Email Posted: 04/07/2015 7:08 pm EDT 

A white South Carolina police officer was arrested and charged with murder Tuesday after video showed him fatally shooting a fleeing, unarmed black man in the back.

North Charleston Police Officer Michael T. Slager, 33, can be seen shooting 50-year-old Walter Scott after a confrontation on Saturday, according to The Post and Courier. Slager chases Scott and shoots at him eight times in the video recorded by a passerby and obtained by The New York Times.

Scott died there, though it wasn't clear if he died immediately.

The graphic video raises questions about Slager's original assertion that he used his gun because he felt endangered. more

Harold Ekeh 17 y-o, Got Into All 8 Ivy League Schools wants to be a Neurosurgeon., is a senior at Elmont Memorial High School in Long Island, New York, has a GPA of over 100, he got a 2270 (out of 2400) on the SAT, and – oh yeah – he's been accepted to all 13 colleges he applied to, including all eight Ivy League schools, as well as Johns Hopkins and MIT. His Humble Response Will Inspire You. (WATCH THE VIDEO)

The Huffington Post  |  By Katie Sola Email Posted: 04/07/2015 12:51 pm EDT

When Harold Ekeh was accepted into all eight Ivy League schools, he didn't boast about his amazing feat. Instead, he thanked his teachers and parents.

Harold Ekeh

"He came into school and the first thing he said -- rather than saying 'Can you believe it?' -- he said, 'Thank you so much. I got into all eight Ivy League schools,'" science teacher Michelle Flannory told Newsday. "And that is Harold, and that is what he is about."

The Nigerian-American teen came to the United States at the age of eight. His family lives in Elmont, New York, where Ekeh attends Elmont Memorial High School.

Ekeh isn't your average high school senior. He scored a 2270 on the SAT, according to Patch, and was a semifinalist in the Intel Science Talent Search. He's editor-in-chief of the school newspaper, and vice-president of the Model United Nations.

Feeling inadequate yet? Ekeh was also the homecoming king. He told Yahoo he hopes to become a neurosurgeon, a field he became interested in after his grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease.

First, he has the pleasure of choosing between Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, Princeton, and Yale.

According to New York Magazine, Ekeh was also accepted to MIT, NYU, Johns Hopkins, Vanderbilt, and SUNY Stony Brook.

Ekeh told Fox News Insider that he wrote his admissions essay about how his parents' resilience and determination to succeed in America inspired him.

"You can accomplish great things if you work hard and persevere," he told Newsday.TO VIEW VIDEO CLICK more

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Gertrude Weaver, World's Oldest Person, Dies At Age 116....Jamaica now boasts world's 4th oldest person, Viola Moss Brown at 115 y-o

 AP |  By CLAUDIA LAUER Posted: 04/06/2015 5:30 pm EDT

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- Just days after becoming the world's oldest documented person, 116-year-old Gertrude Weaver has died in Arkansas.

The Williams Funeral Home confirms that Weaver died Monday at the Silver Oaks Health and Rehabilitation Center in Camden, about 100 miles southwest of Little Rock.

Weaver became the oldest person in the world after the death of a 117-year-old Japanese woman last week, according to records kept by the Los Angeles-based Gerontology Research Group. Weaver was born on July 4, 1898.

Weaver told reporters last week that the key to her longevity was being kind to everyone and eating her own cooking.

Gertrude Weaver, World's Oldest
Person, Dies At Age 116

She also said she hoped President Barack Obama would come to her 117th birthday party in July....Meanwhile DUANVALE, Trelawny -- Viola Moss Brown, whose life spans three centuries, was on Sunday hailed by Queen Elizabeth II for reaching the age of 115, making her Jamaica's confirmed oldest person, and the smallest nation to produce a person of her age.

"Mrs Violet Moss Brown, my congratulations to you on achieving the remarkable milestone of 115 birthday and I send you my best wishes," Custos Rotulorum of Trelawny Paul Muschett read from a letter signed by Queen Elizabeth II.

Viola Moss Brown, 115 y-o  of
Jamaica raises her hands in the
 air as she acknowledges the accolades
heaped on her at her birthday party

The letter was read during a glitzy bash at the Glistening Waters Restaurant in Falmouth, on Sunday, to mark her birthday.

The milestone makes Brown, who is affectionately called Aunt V, the world's sixth oldest person, a mere two years behind the world's oldest person, Osaka, Japan's Misao Okawa whose birth date is listed at March 5, 1898.

IN JAMAICA: Grange Hill High Best from the West in the teenAGE Expression Tours (PHOTOS)

Tuesday, April 07, 2015 |
Last week the teenAGE Expression Tours went west, visiting Grange Hill High School.

The talent showcase was hosted by DJ Rushane, who was substituting for resident DJ, Cash Price.

First to take the stage was Delano McMahon. This young man had the crowd in a frenzy when he performed a remix to Throat by Gage. In his remix, Delano deejayed about a female being overly interested in her cellular phone.

Christasha Watkins was next. She performed a rendition of Louise Bennett's Nuh Lickle Twang. She was well received by her peers. Kayonn Campbell followed the dub performance and, despite facing problems with the sound system, she pressed on and the crowd responded.

The crowd was treated with a series of hits played by DJ Rushane, much to their delight.

After the musical selections, Amanda Samuels was next to take the stage. The crowd seemed pleased with her performance.

Russalie Brown dramatized a piece that had the crowd erupting in laughter. The girl duo, Teena Kay Parish and Mickalia performed Beyonce's 1+1 and Celine Dion's To Love You More. These two girls delighted the crowd with their melodies and had everyone singing along.

It was now time for a giveaway courtesy of Flow. Renford Green was the winner of this giveaway. more

33rd anniversary of first visit by a sitting US president... Contrast between Ronald Reagan’s lashing of Cuba and Obama’s reconciliation.... The leaders- Reagan, Seaga, Obama, Castro

Tuesday, April 07, 2015    

ON the eve of the visit of United States President Barack Obama, Jamaicans are today marking the 33rd anniversary of the first visit to the island by a sitting US president, Ronald Reagan, who came in contrasting circumstances on April 7, 1982. While Reagan brought a strong anti-Communist message and lashed Marxist Cuba as the "only Caribbean nation which has totally enveloped itself in Marxism, a philosophy alien to this hemisphere", Obama comes against the backdrop of negotiations to lift the punishing embargo against Cuba.

The leaders- Reagan, Seaga, Obama, Castro

Today the Jamaica Observer reproduces excerpts of the address by President Reagan (who was accompanied by his wife Nancy), and the welcome address given by then Jamaican Prime Minister Edward Seaga at a state dinner at King's House:

Nancy and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the warm and gracious welcome that you've given us here in Jamaica. In the hours of flying down here today and seeing many of the islands for the first time and out over the vast blue of the Caribbean, it seemed as if we were getting a long way from home. It's very funny, but I feel very much at home right now.

It's been said here and it's true, Mr Prime Minister, you were the first head of state to visit us in the White House after my Inauguration. From the beginning I felt a special sense of closeness and common purpose with you. Your election was only one week before my own, and we were both given mandates to restore economic health to our respective nations and to secure the freedom which is so dear to us all.

I followed your progress with great interest and admiration as in my country there's still much to do. But I congratulate you for the significant accomplishments that you've already made since our last meeting...For the first time in seven years Jamaica has had real growth in its economy, and inflation has been dramatically reduced. You have set your country on a course for economic progress by making the hard decisions first and sticking to them. And I know from 14 months of experience how difficult that can be. more

Jamaica land 85 medals at 44th Carifta Games....The Jamaicans won 41 gold, 25 silver and 19 bronze medals, the 31st straight time they have topped the table and their second best ever haul since the schedule moved to 66 events, and just shy of the record 89 medals won last year in Fort de France, Martinique.

BY PAUL A REID Observer writer reidp@jamaicaobserver.com  Tuesday, April 07, 2015    

Jamaica's junior athletes once again proved they are the kings and queens of the Caribbean with another dominant display at the annual Carifta Games after amassing 85 medals at the 44th staging of the championships which ended at the newly renamed Kim Collins Stadium in Basseterre, St Kitts, yesterday.

JA Winning Team

The Jamaicans won 41 gold, 25 silver and 19 bronze medals, the 31st straight time they have topped the table and their second best ever haul since the schedule moved to 66 events, and just shy of the record 89 medals won last year in Fort de France, Martinique.

The Bahamas finished second on the table with 31 medals, eight gold, 13 silver and 10 bronze; Barbados were next with seven gold, four silver and five bronze; Trinidad and Tobago were fourth with six gold medals, eight silver and eight bronze, while Grenada won a gold, three silver, and four bronze to complete the top five.

Nineteen of the 25 countries that took part won at least one medal, while eight countries won at least a gold medal.

Jaheel Hyde Takes the Win

From Friday's opening session, the Jamaicans took charge and never let go, increasing their dominance with every passing session.

Yesterday, Youth Olympics champion Jaheel Hyde completed his second hurdles double after winning the Under-20 110m hurdles gold medal in a wind-aided 13.36 seconds (3.3m/s) to add to the gold medal he won in the 400m hurdles a day earlier.

Yanique Thompson

Xavier  of The Bahamas was second in 13.51 seconds, just ahead of Seanie Selvin, who took the bronze for Jamaica in 13.57 seconds.

IAAF World Youth champion Yanique Thompson won the girls' Under-20 gold in a wind-aided 13.21 seconds (4.8m/s) leading home teammate Jeanine Williams with 13.40 seconds, while Jeminise Parris of Trinidad and Tobago took the bronze in 13.85 seconds.

Janeek Brown set a new meet record 13.29 seconds (1.2m/s) to win the Under-18 title to break her own record of 13.48 seconds set last year. more