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The two houses of Jamaica's Parliament held a special joint sitting last week Tuesday to honor former Prime Minister Edward Seaga, a major player in national politics for decades and the only survivor of the leaders who drafted the constitution when the Caribbean island gained independence from Britain in 1962. Seaga attended the session of tributes at Gordon House, the home of the legislature. The 82-year-old often appears at public events in Jamaica. A respected authority on local culture and a former record company owner, he's even putting out a four-CD box set of Jamaican music later this month.

Police responded to a call of shots fired outside the Holiday Motel in Eastchester just after 3 a.m and found the bodies of a 50-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman, each with multiple gunshot wounds, According to the New York Post, the shooter may have been the woman’s ex-boyfriend which Bennett had a restraining order against. Wayne Captain Barkey Hamilton was shot dead in the parking lot at the motel in Bronx, New York. After killing Hamilton, the shooter chased dwon 36-year-old Tracy Bennett, to the back of the hotel. She pleaded for her own life before she too was shot dead. Captain Barkey who is married, flew from Milwaukee to La Guardia and went straight to the Bronx nightclub called 'Memories' where he joined up with...

2010 Miss Universe runner-up Yendi Phillipps and dancehall artiste Daniel Chino McGregor welcomed their first child together last friday. Yendi gave birth to a baby girl on friday September 21, 2012, with her baby weighing in at approximately 7lbs, 11 ounces. The name of Yendi's baby has yet to be released to the public. Congratulations Yendi and Chino.

Trinidad government officials are moving to repeal an unpopular law that calls for dismissing court cases 10 years or older that have not gone to trial in the Caribbean nation. Many Trinidadians oppose the law because it would drop charges against a former prime minister and other government officials accused of receiving millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks from a U.S. contractor in the 1990s. U.S. authorities have long sought to extradite two of the suspects and have condemned the law as well. Two business executives in the case pleaded guilty in a U.S. court in 2006.

(AP) Prime minister Portia Simpson is calling on private companies in the Caribbean country to each hire at least one more qualified, jobless islander.she dubbed the job-creating initiative the Jamaica Employ Program. She estimates it can eventually create 40,000 new jobs if businesses comply and help reduce Jamaica's 14.3 percent unemployment rate. On Monday, officials with the Labor Ministry and the Chamber of Commerce signed a memorandum of understanding to work on the government initiative. Labor Minister Derrick Kellier says the program can potentially provide greater levels of "social stability" and "cohesion between government and the private sector." Chamber of Commerce President Milton Samuda has agreed. Simpson Miller...

(AP) Michael Clarke Duncan - who was nominated for an Oscar for his role in The Green Mile - has died in hospital after a heart attack, his fiancee has said. Publicist Joy Fehily released a statement from the actor's partner, Omarosa Manigault, saying the 54-year-old died on Monday morning in a Los Angeles hospital after nearly two months of treatment following a heart attack in July. The 6ft 4in actor appeared in dozens of films, including such box office hits as Armageddon, Planet Of The Apes and Kung Fu Panda. Michael, a former bodyguard who turned to acting in his 30s, had a handful of minor roles before The Green Mile brought him an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor. The 1999 film, based on the Stephen...

A pregnant Female was shot and killed by a Jamaican Police Officer in Yallahs, St. Thomas sat September 02,2012, has been identified as 25-yr-old Kayann Lamont. Her sister was also shot and has been hospitalized. The police officer overheard indecent language coming from Kayann, while writing a speeding ticket for a motorist in the Yallahs Square. The officer warned the Kayann that she would be arrested and charged for the indecent language. The officer attempted to arrest kayann and take her to the police station. A struggle ensued between the officer and Kayann which resulted in her falling on the ground. The Kayann's sister seeing her pregnant sister falling to the ground then ran to her aid. The officer then pulled his...

(AP) A sedition trial for the leader of an Islamic group that once staged a deadly coup attempt in Trinidad has ended with a hung jury. A judge ordered a retrial Thursday for Yasin Abu Bakr after jury members reported they could not come to a decision after six hours of deliberation. The trial had lasted four months. Abu Bakr has been released on bail pending a new trial. He is accused of making threats during a 2005 sermon against affluent Muslims who he believed were not paying an Islamic tithe. His lawyer says he was not making seditious statements but simply speaking freely. Abu Bakr's Jamaat al Muslimeen group stormed Trinidad's legislature in July 1990 in the only Islamic revolt in the Western Hemisphere. Twenty-four...

(AP)The UN's refugee agency on Tuesday called for a full investigation into the abduction and slaying of a human rights activist that has increased worry over crime in this Caribbean country. Attorney Clover Graham, who was Jamaica's honorary liaison for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, was found at daybreak Sunday with her throat slashed in tall weeds by the Caymanas Polo Club just outside of the capital of Kingston. Deputy Police Commissioner Glenmore Hinds said detectives are working to establish a motive in the 56-year-old woman's slaying. There have been no arrests. Four years ago, Graham's son and his girlfriend were also found in a field with their throats slashed after they brought crutches and other medical...

A federal jury convicted a Jamaican woman Thursday of entering into a "sham marriage" with a Kansas soldier so she could get legal immigration status. Shannakay Hunter, 28, fought back tears after the jury returned guilty verdicts for conspiracy to commit marriage fraud, marriage fraud and lying to the government. Hunter, who lives in New York, faces up to five years imprisonment on each count. She is likely to get far less, if any, prison time under federal guidelines during sentencing, which has not been set. The government contends her 2010 marriage to Joshua Priest, 23, then a private at Fort Riley, was a fake arrangement to give her a green card and him $1,500 in extra monthly benefits for married soldiers. Priest has...

Jamaica Labor Party legislator Daryl Vaz announced today that he is taking a leave of absence as the opposition’s chief spokesman on information and communications technology issues while he facing charges of perverting the course of justice. Daryl Vaz is accused of breaching an anti-corruption law while intervening in a traffic violation involving a businessman friend. Vaz went to a police station and spoke to police commanders about dropping a case against Bruce Bicknell. Bicknell had tried to bribe the police officer to get out of a ticket..

Western Union has temporarily shut down its services in Montego Bay, that is now the hot bed for a multimillion-dollar lottery scam that targets mostly elderly Americans. Company spokesman Dan Diaz says Western Union locations in St. James parish, which includes the resort city of Montego Bay, will be closed for a systems review over the next two weeks. The scammers often use disposable cellular phones to cheat mostly elderly Americans out of their savings by requesting they transfer money to claim winnings from a lottery, which later turns out to be fake. GraceKennedy Money Services, operators of Western Union locally in Jamaica, has stated that a team has already commenced work on a system to address security concerns which have...

(AP) Ranking Trevor, a pioneer of rap reggae during the 1970s, has died in a traffic accident in Jamaica. He was 60. The musician's brother, Robert Grant, says he was crushed by a car Tuesday after being knocked off his motorcycle. Police did not respond to calls about the fatality. Born Maxwell Grant, Ranking Trevor was one of the leading "toasters" in Jamaica during the 1970s, recording mainly for the Channel One studio. Toasting is a form of Jamaican rapping that directly inspired hip-hop. Songs like "Caveman Skank" and "Three Piece Chicken and Chips" made the charts in England, where he lived more than 20 years. His career declined in the 1980s and he returned to Jamaica a decade later. He is survived by his mother, eight...

By Shannon Shields The Icon Concert which took on Saturday, July the 28th in the St. William Grant Park in South Parade was an inspiring addition to Jamaica's 50th Year of Independence celebrations. The Free Concert which was sponsored by Lime and CB Chicken and organized by the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation in association with the Jamaica Vendors and Higglers' Association was the final event of the Downtown Sizzling Summer Savings event which consisted of three days of shopping and entertainment held in Downtown Kingston. Under the clear blue evening sky and in the sparkling clean park which smelled sweetly of the park's flowers the crowd full of people from all walks of life were entertained by some of Jamaica's greatest...

Snoop Dogg wants you to know that he's tired of hip-hop, and stated that he is Bob Marley reincarnated. He is embracing reggae instead of the culture of guns he once rapped about. His new name is Snoop Lion. The artist said at a news conference in New York that he was "born again" during a visit to Jamaica in February and is ready to make music that his "kids and grandparents can listen to." Snoop Lion is releasing a reggae album called Reincarnated in the fall. He said that in Jamaica, he connected with Bob Marley's spirit and is now "Bob Marley reincarnated." Bob Marley's son Rohan attended the conference and gave Snoop his blessing. The album was produced by Diplo and will feature Snoop singing. It will be released on Vice...

Andrew "Sluggy Ranks" Gregory, a vocalist who rose to popularity within New York City's reggae dancehall community of the 80's and 90's with numerous socially conscious songs, was killed in a car accident on Sunday morning July 29 in the Stony Hill area of Kingston, Jamaica. The car in which Sluggy Ranks was traveling swerved several times before crashing into a cement light post. Sluggy was taken to Kingston Public Hospital where he was pronounced dead. He was only 44 years old. <object width="400" height="300"><param name="movie"...

Jamaica police have charged the deputy mayor Michael Troupe of Montego Bay with illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition as part of an investigation into a lottery scam targeting elderly Americans. Police said Friday that 51-year-old Michael Troupe and his 21-year-old son Jevaughn Troupe both face the same charges. Both were among four suspects arrested during an early-morning raid as police investigate a lottery scam that generates about $300 million a year. Authorities so far have detained 142 people in connection with the scam, but only 19 have been charged so far.

(AP) A tiny blood-sucking parasite that infests fish on Caribbean coral reefs has been named after Jamaican reggae icon Bob Marley. Arkansas State University marine biologist Paul Sikkel discovered the parasite off the U.S. Virgin Islands a decade ago but it was only recently unveiled as "Gnathia marleyi" as an homage to the singer. Sikkel says he dubbed the tiny crustacean due to his "respect and admiration" for Marley, who died in 1981. The National Science Foundation says the creature is a new species within the family of gnathiids, parasites commonly found on coral reefs that are ecologically similar to blood-sucking ticks on land. It infests some fish that inhabit reefs of the shallow eastern Caribbean.

The leadership of Jamaica's governing party acknowledged Thursday that it received $1 million from a high-profile swindler who defrauded thousands of people across the Caribbean and the United States, but said it doesn't believe it is obligated to refund a cent. The People's National Party said it spent the $1 million it received from David Smith during the 2007 campaign for national elections, but its investigators found no records of another alleged gift of $2 million. Ruling party chairman Robert Pickersgill said party leaders don't believe they have to pay back the money to help roughly 6,000 bilked investors recoup their losses with Smith's Olint investment club because he had not been revealed as a crook at the time the $1...

(AP) A federal appeals court has upheld Jamaican reggae star Buju Banton's conviction on cocaine conspiracy and trafficking charges. Banton's attorney, David O. Markus, argued that a government informant had improperly entrapped the Grammy-winning singer. A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta ruled last Thursday that the evidence supported Banton's 2011 conviction in Tampa federal court. The panel also agreed with the jury's conviction of Banton on a gun possession charge, which the trial judge had dismissed after the verdict was read. The judges rejected Banton's argument that his right to a speedy trial had been violated. Banton's real name is Mark Myrie. He's serving a 10-year prison...