A man who was brought before the court for punching another man in the eye, told the court that he was overwhelmed with joy at the fact that his team won the World Cup and did not know what came over him.

The accused, Newton Allen, was taken before the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court, charged with assault occasioning bodily harm.

Allen pleaded guilty with explanation to the charge and told the court that on the day of the incident, he was watching the World Cup Finals and was celebrating when Spain won.

He said he had placed a bet on the team from the start of the tournament. He further explained to Resident Magistrate Judith Pusey, "Mi did a celebrate and I don't know what came over mi, mi jus did a gi miself likkle trouble." When asked by the RM why he hit the man in his eye, he said laughing, "Mi nuh know your honour."

The complainant, however, told the court that the accused wanted to him to credit him a cigarette and he refused. He said this sparked an argument and the accused punched him in the eye.

Allen was sentenced to pay $6,000 or serve six months and was ordered to have his fingerprints taken.

Hoteliers on the western side of the island will be smiling throughout the Reggae Sumfest and Negril weekend events.

Despite hard financial times and the siege on Tivoli in West Kingston in May, the events have ensured increased bookings for a large number of hotels, with some locations boasting complete occupancy.

Wayne Cummings, president of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association, said bookings are "very strong in Montego Bay and in surrounding areas such as Trelawny and places like Hanover. This is in keeping with a relatively strong summer, not withstanding the problems of May."

When contacted, Kerry-Ann Casserly, director of sales for Iberostar said that the events were having a positive impact on their occupancy.

"We're sold out, all three hotels, we have 200 local bookings and we're hosting a number of the headliners for Sumfest," Casserly said. The Iberostar line consists of Iberostar Rosehall Beach, Iberostar Rosehall Suites and Iberostar Grand Hotel Rosehall.

Having kicked off last night with Dancehall night, Reggae Sumfest this year boasts R&B crooners Chris Brown and Usher.

Reggae Sumfest and the Negril weekend have long represented an economic boom for the parishes of Hanover, Westmoreland, St James and Trelawny.

In 2007, Reggae Sumfest brought in approximately US$5 million (J$355 million) into the local coffers as a direct result of the annual festival. In July of last year in the midst of the economic recession, Reggae Sumfest's Dancehall Night, according to Summerfest Productions' Chairman Robert Russell, saw its biggest crowd ever in their 17 years.

The event which has been staged since 1993 regularly attracts in excess of 50,000 patrons annually, local and foreign to Montego Bay, which results in hotel rooms and airlines seats being booked solid for the duration of the festival.

As for the Negril weekend where the two party series ATI (Appleton Temptation Isle) and Dream weekend will go head-to-head, bookings are strong as well.

Both weekends will take place from July 30th- August 2 and Cummings said, "it is hardly possible to find a cot in Negril it's all about full."

He said that there are only a few small entities with rooms; "this is really a good period of the year down there when these events are taking place and good for the community."

Richie Loops - file

On Wednesday afternoon, Richie Loop was in the rehearsal studio at Big Yard, practising the set he planned to deliver to fans on Saturday night at Reggae Sumfest.

Sweat poured from his brow as he went through song after song, backed by his band. The only audience was the group's reflections on a wall-length mirror facing the stage, and his keenly focussed mentor Robert Livingston, looking for flaws that need to disappear before Saturday night.

Livingston, however, his shirt drenched in sweat, seemed pleased how Loop worked the stage and with the energy he exuded during his mock performance. He was even more pleased with how quickly Loop went from being a talented emerging producer, to one of the hottest acts in the local entertainment industry in virtually no time at all.

"I never thought about it but maybe it is that I have never worked with an artiste that has been to number one that fast," Livingston said after the rehearsal ended. Chris Martin came in from Rising Stars and his career has been steadily growing, but not as fast as Richie's. He is definitely one of the fastest rising artistes for a long time."

It is still less than a year since Livingston heard of Richard 'Richie Loop' Webb and sent for him while Webb was still living in Clarendon, creating beats he hoped would one day provide him with a ticket to stardom. Richie Loop joined Big Yard last September on a trial run to see if he would be able to generate the kind of synergy with the label's cadre of young artistes to create the kind of music that would captivate the world or, at the very least, the Jamaican market.

In his first few months there, Loop produced a series of rhythms - 'Maad a Road' and 'Brainstorm' among them - that got him noticed, but nothing that raised eyebrows. That is, until earlier this year when coming off what he described as a creative block he stumbled upon, a sound that would eventually morph into the song the world now knows as My Cupp. The song was released in February and while it took a while to gather momentum, now dominates many local charts and is also doing well in markets in Canada and Europe.

He has since released Party Like It's Your Birthday, a collaboration with D-Major and Busy Signal, and Party Time, and both songs are keeping the hype at an amazingly high level for the 23-year-old rising star.

Still, Loop, seemingly oblivious to all the hype, remains humbled and is very grateful to be where he is today. "Being on Sumfest is a great achievement. Many young artistes don't get that chance, so it's a real blessing," he said, a boyish smile lighting up his face. "I have to thank my management team and the promoters of Sumfest for making it possible."

Livingston describes Loop as one of those entertainers that drives him. "An artiste can drive you to get more involved," he said, describing Loop as having good work ethic, as well as charisma.

"I don't know what the future holds, but work is what is going to make him go where he wants to go," Livingston says. "The key thing is that he enjoys what he does, and he has a lot more to offer."

Four months after she finally got to bury her 13-year-old daughter, Monica Morgan is grieving the loss of another.

The distraught mother, whose grief was visible when she visited THE STAR, said her 16-year-old daughter, Shanalee Davis, died on June 21 of complications resulting from a heart condition.

She said both children suffered a similar condition.

Still in a daze, Morgan said: "Dis one neva sick from she born. She have a one-year-old baby and dats di only time she go hospital. All now mi cyan come to, 'cause when mi leave her at di hospital, she coulda talk and use di bathroom and so on, and when mi go back inna di evening, dem seh she dead."

The single mother, who is still trying to come to grips with the death of her 13-year-old, said she feels as though she has been hit by bricks.

She said: "I don't know wha fi say, I don't even get ova di first one yet. She bury and mi jus a come to, mi nuh dun grieve yet, and dis come pan mi. Mi a wonder if a someting God waan mi know, wha mi nah do or what."

Morgan said two months after her first daughter was buried, the 16-year-old fell ill and began coughing. She said she took her child to the Spanish Town Hospital. When they did X-rays and other checks, they discovered a problem with two valves in her heart. They informed her that the child was also rheumatic.

She said: "Dem sen har a UC, and dem admit her, and den she come out. She died on June 21 and, about three days before dat, mi notice say her foot and belly swell. Mi did all a wonder if a pregnant she pregnant. When mi bring her back, dem say is because di *lo** nah circulate why her foot dem swell up."

This was Saturday, by Monday, another of her children was dead.

She said she has not made any funeral arrangements, as she is still trying to accept the death.

She recently began to throw a partner, but that is only $30,000. She will need at least an additional $90,000 to cover the costs, as quoted by Morgan's Funeral Parlour in Spanish Town.

Anyone willing to assist her may call 590-8094 or THE STAR at 932-6271.

Go to http://www.speedtest.net/ and do the test, then click "Copy Forum Link" and paste it here.


Here's Mine:

(July 17) -- A Utah woman is pregnant with two babies, but they're not twins.

Angie Cromar was born with a rare condition called didelphys, which means she has two uteruses. It didn't pose a problem for her previous pregnancies, and the 34-year-old has given birth to two healthy children before.

But this time, she's conceived in both uteruses. During her first ultrasound exam, Cromar and her doctor discovered that she's carrying two fetuses at different stages of development, one slightly older than the other.

"[He said] I'm five weeks and four days in one, and six weeks and one day in the other," Cromar told her local TV station, KTLA.

"Angie and I both had the look of surprise," Dr. Steve Terry, Cromar's OB/GYN told another Utah TV station, KSL.

The chances of this happening are estimated to be one in five million. "Probably less than 100, so far, worldwide, have been reported," Terry said. "So she's a member of a small, elite club."

Cromar herself is a labor and delivery nurse, and knows the complications her condition can bring: chances of pre-term labor and low birth weight.

"Oh, I'm a little nervous, just because I know what can happen, but I'm really excited," she told KSL.

Christopher 'Dudus' Coke

The future of an extradition motion brought by Attorney General and Justice Minister Dorothy Lightbourne hinges on a ruling from Supreme Court Judge Roy Jones on whether Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller should remain a defendant in the matter.

Lightbourne has asked the court to make a determination on her powers as attorney general under the Extradition Act and has named Simpson Miller as a defendant.

Simpson Miller was one of three persons named as defendants in the motion. Joseph M. Matalon, for and on behalf of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ), and Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, the businessman around whom the extradition issue revolves, are the other persons named as defendants.

The Gleaner has learnt that during the hearing in chambers yesterday, Lightbourne, the claimant, took the position that there was no basis for the second defendant, Matalon, to remain as a defendant.

Coke has not been served and is therefore under no obligation to take a seat in court and respond.

It means that Simpson Miller stands as the sole defendant in the matter, but lawyers representing her have argued strongly that she should be released.

If she is released, there would be no basis upon which the matter would proceed.

Yesterday, Queen's Counsel K.D. Knight and attorneys-at-law John Junor and Abe Dabdoub, who are representing Simpson Miller, and R.N.A. Henriques, QC, and attorney Richard Small, who represent the PSOJ, argued that they should be released as defendants in the motion because they had no knowledge, information, documents or evidence that could assist the court in the proceedings.

However, attorneys-at-law Dr Lloyd Barnett and Dr Adolph Edwards opposed Simpson Miller's application and argued that she should remain a defendant because she was the leader of the opposition and had a constitutional duty.

Lightbourne said in court documents that Simpson Miller and the PSOJ had been named as defendants because of public views expressed by them on the extradition issue.

She said Coke was named as a defendant because he is the person involved in the extradition request.

The Gleaner understands the attorney general's lawyers said in chambers that her decision, to concede that Matalon should not have been named as a defendant, was based on the affidavit given by Matalon. In that affidavit, he said the PSOJ, in its public statement, was in no way disputing the minister's powers under the Extradition Act.

The PSOJ was not released as a defendant as Jones has reserved his decision in the applications for a later date. It is expected that the judge will hand down his decision later this month.

Lightbourne has taken the decision not to sign the authority to proceed with the extradition for Coke, who is wanted in the United States to face drug and firearm-trafficking charges.

She filed the motion in the Supreme Court on April 14, seeking declarations as to her powers under the Extradition Act.

Lightbourne and Solicitor General Douglas Leys attended the hearing, but the motion for the declarations was not heard yesterday, as it will have to await the judge's ruling on the applications for the defendants to be released.

 

(http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20100506/lead/lead1.html)

An apple a day keeps the doctor away, right? Wrong, says Dr. Gloria G. Bramer, a Georgia-based licensed clinical sexologist. According to her, an orgasm a day keeps the doctor away (we're sure apples are fine too, but we prefer this prevention method)! "An orgasm is one of the healthiest things you can give yourself each day. From a sexologist's point of view it should be included in your routine along with brushing your teeth and washing your hair."

Sex makes you glow.
It's true sex gives your skin a heavenly glow. Bramer says that having sex improves *lo** circulation, which helps to pump oxygen to your skin and make it brighter. It also helps to eliminate toxins and can actually make your lips a little fuller.

It controls acne.
Just as with people who exercise, Bramer says, having sex reduces your hormone levels and balances them out. The result? Clearer-looking skin, along with healthier hair!

It wards off aging.
Getting busy could set your clock back a few years as far as your appearance is concerned. As you have sex, you are boosting collagen production, which staves off age spots and sagging.

It prevents dry skin.
Bramer says that many people tie sexiness to an age. "Women become less sexual as they get older and hit menopause because they have less hormones going through them," she says. Once you hit menopause, your skin quality diminishes and suddenly you may notice your face is extremely dry. By having sex and getting the *lo** and oxygen flowing, you can keep dry skin away regardless of your age.

It prevents wrinkles too!
Remember we said having sex boosts collagen production? That means it helps to keep you wrinkle-free in the process! Especially for those stressed-filled workweeks, we can't think of any facial mask that works as well as sex does for your skin.

Pregnancy and birth control also help your complexion out.
It seems that no matter which side you fall on, sex is helping your skin out in some way. Those who are pregnant will experience the benefits of glowing skin, Fulbright says. But don't panic! Even if you're not pregnant, staying safe helps your skin too. Your birth control pills are chock-full of hormones that regulate your skin, keeping your complexion oil- and mostly blemish-free. You may experience a return to your prepubescent acne-prone ways for a few weeks ways if you decide to go off the Pill, because these hormones are now out of whack. But don't worry: Your body will adjust, and your skin will return to normal after awhile.

Sex makes your nails stronger.
The same hormones that are released to make your skin glow will also keep your nails strong, especially during pregnancy, says Fulbright.

Sex keeps you hydrated.
No, this doesn't mean you can replace your eight glasses of water with eight hours of sex, but having sex will keep your skin hydrated. Since it improves circulation, the *lo** will circulate around your body more efficiently, giving your skin the moisture it needs to stay healthy.

Leighton "Livity" Coke, the brother of former Tivoli Gardens don, Christopher "Dudus" Coke, is scheduled to make his first court appearance next week

A tentative date has been set for July 30.

Livity was charged Wednesday evening with shooting with intent, illegal possession of a firearm and wearing a Jamaica Defence Force uniform.

"Livity", who was widely considered heir apparent to "Dudus", surrendered to the police on June 1 after he was placed on a list of major persons of interest.

He was handed over by Reverend Al Miller.

The police had described "Livity" as a major figure in the crime syndicate allegedly operated by his brother who was extradited to the United States last month.

An 87-year-old woman was arrested Thursday after she was caught on tape selling crack cocaine to an undercover deputy.

And its not the first time the Pensacola woman has been busted for drugs.

Ola Mae Agee of Pensacola was arrested after the undercover officer bought a $20 piece of crack from her, Sheriffs Office spokesman Sgt. Ted Roy said. The incident occurred on April 30 at Agees home, the Sheriffs Office said.

A surveillance video of the sale shows the undercover officer knock on the back door of Agees home. Agee then answers the door and walks the officer to another room where she retrieves the crack after rummaging through the couch.

The undercover officer counts out $20, including pocket change, which he gives to Agee in exchange for the crack.

In addition to what was sold to the deputy, Agee can be seen in the video holding a small bag of crack cocaine. Roy did not know how much crack was in the bag, and he did not know if additional narcotics were recovered from Agees home.

But Thursdays arrest wasnt the first time Agee has been picked up in connection with drug-related charges.

Agee pleaded no contest in December 1996 to possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell, manufacture or deliver. She served a two-year probation, which ended in July of 1998 when she was 75 years old.

Agee was again arrested in February of 1999 for possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, but the charges against her were later dropped.

On Thursday afternoon, three people - who refused to identify themselves - sat in the front yard of Agees downtown home. They said they did not know where Agee was or when she would return.

Sheriffs investigators anticipate additional drug-related arrests in connection with the sale drugs from Agees residence, Roy said. It is believed those additional suspects also sold crack at other houses in Escambia County, Roy said.

Family members took Agee to Escambia County Jail following her arrest. After Agee was processed, she was released on her own recognizance because of her age, Roy said.

The management team of deejay Mavado is tight-lipped on alleged negotiations with US record label Def Jam.

"If and when negotiations are complete we will make an announcement," stated a source who declined to be named for fear of jeopardising possible negotiations. "We talk to many labels...and as a businessman I cannot comment on that."

The source called the allegations "mere rumours" but at the same time would not deny that Mavado is exploring options for a new label.

Def Jam, ultimately owned by major label Universal Music Group, has greater marketing and reach than Mavado's current independent reggae label VP Records. It would also allow Mavado to maximise his record sales in the US (which is the world's largest music market) as his performance income was hurt following the revocation of his US Visa earlier this year.

Mavado described as the Gully God has a loyal following and the best Billboard chart performance among locally based hardcore deejays. His 2009 album Mr Brooks topped the reggae charts and his 2006 single Weh Dem A Do peaked at 20 on the rap songs chart.

Def Jam artistes include Jay Z, Kanye West, Rihanna, Ne-Yo, Rick Ross, Nas and others, but has no major reggae artiste under its roster. However the current number one reggae album on Billboard, Distant Relatives by reggae artiste Damian Marley (Tuff Gong) and US rapper Nas (Def Jam) was released jointly on Universal Republic and Def Jam Recordings. Additionally, Elephant Man has released singles under Def Jam UK. The label was founded by Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons.

The police believe men involved in the cash-for-gold trade within the Corporate Area have being tracking down and robbing money from their own customers.

A number of recent cases reportedly occurring in the Half-Way Tree and Cross Roads areas of St Andrew have caused investigators to probe the possibility that the 'dealers' had set up the robbery of persons who conducted business with them just minutes earlier.

One such investigator from the St Andrew Central Police division told THE STAR although investigations are still ongoing, at least three robberies which occurred over the last month are believed to have been staged by dealers.

The latest of the incidents is said to have occurred last week Friday some time around 8 p.m. in the Cross Roads area and involved an 18-year-old man who was robbed at knifepoint by three men.

It was said that the teen had taken a gold chain to a dealer and was given $3,000 for it but was relieved of the money shortly after.

The teen reportedly told the police that the men said they knew he had the sum of money in his possession and should hand it over.

The other cases occurred in a similar manner.

"Based on the nature of the incidents it is being checked to see if the dealers were actually involved ... Investigations are ongoing into the incidents but we are yet to locate any of these dealers just yet so we have to probe some more," the investigator said.

criminal activity

Head of the division, Superintendent Derrick 'Cowboy' Knight, had said that the police would be clamping down on the trade because it contributes to criminal activity.

The cash-for-gold craze which came to prominence in the island last year involves men in busy towns across the island offering persons cash (on the spot) for any gold items they want to trade.

The vendors will pay approximately $10,000 per ounce and $5,000 per pennyweight for the gold. The gold collected is then sent abroad for resale. They only buy gold and will take it even in the form of broken jewellery.

It is illegal to partake in the trade without a licence.

A 32-year-old St Catherine man who allegedly showed his private parts to a woman after she reportedly caught him peeping through her windowappeared in the Spanish Town Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday.

Linval Colquhoun, who is from Portmore, St Catherine, pleaded not guilty to the charge of indecent exposure. The case was then ordered transferred to the St Catherine Night Court in Portmore where the matter will be heard on July 26. His $20,000 station bail was extended until that date. Allegations before the court are that about 4 a.m. on July 6, the complainant

was at home in Portmore, when she heard strange sounds coming from a window. She reportedly looked and saw the accused peeping on her and moaning. He is said to have moved away from the window, dropped his pants and showed her his penis. The woman called the police and the accused was later held.

A curfew has been imposed in Tivoli Gardens and Denham Town between 6:00 pm last night and 6:00 pm Saturday.

The boundaries for Tivoli Gardens are as follows: north, along Spanish Town Road; south, along an imaginary line along the train line; east, along Darling Street; and west along Industrial Terrace.

The boundaries for Denham Town are: north, along Asquith Street; south, along Spanish Town Road, east, along Blount Street; and west along East Road and Little Kling Street.

Meantime, a curfew in the East Kingston community of Mountain View will end shortly at 6:00 am this morning, having begun 6:00 pm last night.

The boundaries of the curfew are as follows: north, along a lane from Mountain View Avenue to the hillside; south, along Hildene between Mountain View Avenue and the top of Oliver Road; east, along an imaginary line from the Lane at Mountain View Avenue Primary School and along the hillside to the top of Oliver Road; and west, along Mountain View Avenue from Hildene Avenue to a lane situated at the Mountain View Avenue Primary School.

During the hours of the curfews persons within their boundaries are required to remain within their premises unless otherwise authorised in writing by a member of the security forces, who is in charge of enforcing the curfew.

THE security forces, despite the expiration of the State of Emergency at midnight last night, vowed to keep up the pressure on criminals with increased presence on the nation's roads.

Police chief Owen Ellington announced yesterday that there will be increased cordon and searches, intensified road policing operations, roadblocks and vehicle checkpoints as part of the security forces' plans to continue their onslaught against criminals.

 

Ellington, at a press conference at his office in Kingston, where he was supported by chief of defence staff Major General Stewart Saunders and the head of communications at the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), Colonel Rocky Meade, said the police will also intensify their visibility on the roads, strengthen street crimes units, increase their collaborative efforts with the Customs Department's Financial Investigative Division and Tax Administrative Department, and increase community policing initiatives.

The heads of both the army and police had requested a one-month extension to the State of Emergency imposed in the parishes of Kingston, St Andrew and St Catherine, but the Opposition People's National Party abstained from the vote in Parliament Tuesday, which caused a defeat of the extension sought as the Government's numbers were not enough to pass the motion.

But Commissioner Ellington made it clear that despite the ending of the emergency measures, which allowed a longer period of detention for suspected criminals, there would be no letting up.

"I want it to be made clear to these individuals, and I want them to note the change in environment which we have achieved in this country in the last two months since they have been disrupted and incapacitated. I want to warn them that if they return to the streets and start back their criminal activities, generating violence and profiting off violence, they will feel the full weight of law enforcement," Ellington told the press conference.

At least five communities were expecting to start feeling the pressure of the security forces last night as the commissioner said the constabulary had sought permission from Security Minister Dwight Nelson to impose five curfews in at least five communities.

In the meantime, the police said the majority of the more than 4,000 persons detained under the State of Emergency had been released. Ellington said the police had secured 128 detention orders, but 68 of that number have been released.

"There are 23 who we will recommend to the honourable minister that they be released from custody. There is a hardcore of 18 who we have not yet charged and in respect of whom we are trying to build cases. We will seek the permission of the courts to remand these individuals. If we do not get it, then we will release them from custody," Ellington said.

At the same time, 16 persons have been charged with serious crimes, including murder and shooting, while another eight were expected to be charged yesterday.

Meanwhile, Major General Saunders said despite the end of the State of Emergency the soldiers under his command would continue to bolster the constabulary's crime- fighting initiative.

"I want all Jamaica to understand that the Jamaica Defence Force will continue to support the Jamaica Constabulary Force in our present endeavours and will continue to do so until such time that crime has reached tolerable levels," Major General Saunders said.

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ARTISTE & TV PORN STAR

This is really the season for sex in Kingston city, it come in like every corner you turn somebody a tek off dem clothes or a get jolly wid the lolly, yesterday mi look pon 876 and see anodda one of those girls weh a try get a 'HEAD' in life a do strip show bwoy it must be something in the milk or candy weh dem a eat and drink.  Mr. Artiste deh how you a bun fish and seh yuh a bad man and dem ketch yuh wid yuh h**d inna yuh hand pon picture stand, it nuh look good at all.

DEVA BRAT HEADS TO COURT

By now everybody a wonder if  a obeah dem obeah Deva brat mek him cyaah get nuh bail cause, we see big man a feel up likkle pickney and a buss case, so why di deejay cyaah get bail. Him suppose to go back a court on the 21st of July so mek we see if him ago get free up or continue to sing Jah Cure song 'behind these prison wall' Oh a jail him deh nuh.

BEENIE vs MAVADO

Everybody wants to know if Beenie Man really book Mavado for him 'Beenie Sizzle' show, dem send a list seh Mavado was one of the confirmed acts, but mi hear mi Julian ah seh him nuh know bout dat, so a who a lie, cause why Khool dem woulda send out list wid the deejay name if him nuh book. But a nuh dat mi wah know wah Killa haffi seh bout all this 'anybody can guess a which song Killa a sing now ...mek mi give oonu a hint,  "Man a badman ... woooiiiieeeeeeeeee"

FOOTBALLER or ROBBER

A wah dis mi a hear seh one famous football involve inna some robbery thing and just get bail, ah so things bad mi sure Capo pay dem good money, some man need fi know if a footballer dem want to be or badman as Beenie Man woulda seh bwoy "understand yuh p***ycl**t self."

but a whey di blu.....

The scene of this morning's accident

 

A mother of four was mowed down by a motorist while crossing Marcus Garvey Drive this morning.

The woman, Karen Barnes, a custom broker clerk, was crushed while she attempted to cross the busy roadway from a bus stop located near the Tinson Pen Aerodrome.

"She a cross the road from the bus stop and a car just lick har and then a trailer a pass and run over her," one woman on the scene said.

Barnes was killed just metres away from where she worked.

The incident sparked a massive protest from a group of angry persons who gathered at the scene.

The protesters complained that the bus stop where the lady was killed was placed in a dangerous location.

"We warn the people them that there needs to be a (pedestrian) bridge at the location," one woman said.

"They obviously don't care for poor and are placing people's life in danger," another man said.

Police from the traffic department are on the scene carrying out their investigation.

Two men who pretended to be policemen attacked and beat a young man near the Falmouth Market in Trelawny on Saturday.

The young man was reportedly left to cry as a large gathering watched as two men who identified themselves as policemen, chastised him after complaining that he was driving recklessly.

THE STAR heard that sometime after 7 p.m., a Toyota was seen overtaking another vehicle and subsequently blocking its path.

It is said that after being blocked, a man who seemed to be no older than 18 years old, alighted from one of the vehicles and hurled a string of expletives at two men who were in the other vehicle.

Those two men are said to have exited their vehicle and asked the man; "A police you a deal wid suh?"

The young man is said to have began apologising for his behaviour but was approached and held by the men who argued that they were ran off the road a few minutes earlier and even threatened to take the youngster into 'custody'.

witness

THE STAR further heard that as the man tried to plead his case he was punched and kicked several times by the men who afterwards confessed to not being policemen but only did so to get the chance to launch an attack.

A vendor Ms Mattywho claimed to have rushed from her stall to witness the fracas, said after handing down the beating, the fake cops said, " a suh we deal wid bway a road ... . All wi do a seh we a police and him tun fool ... Di bway bad drive wi wicked nuh too long, wi did haffi hol' him." They then laughed and sped off.

Their victim on the other hand is said to have wept openly to those who had gathered.

"Di yute si dung pon di ground and a cry fi one length a time ... . Some people did sorry fi him but some did a laugh," Ms. Matty said

He was eventually helped into his vehicle and urged to seek medical attention.

When THE STAR contacted the Falmouth Police Station, a constable said the police have heard of the incident but no official report was made.

Name changed upon request.

Wayne Marshall - File

Deejay Wayne Marshall is on a high with the premiere of his My Heart video on MTV Base in Africa.

MTV Base is a 24-hour music and general entertainment channel from MTV Networks International with locations all around the world.

When THE STAR spoke to Marshall yesterday he explained, "the video was added to MTV Base in Africa, they are using it as a promotion for this reggae chart which they just started to kinda advertise the chart. This is really hype and magical and it happened in such a short space of time."

The video was premiered almost two weeks ago and was directed by film maker Storm Saulter and features singjay Mavado. The video premiered on MTV Base yesterday and Marshall is excited about the potential for the song explaining that the station gets over 7 millions views. Coming on the heels of the MTV premiere will be another remix of the song done by R&B singer Estelle.

track is moving

Marshall said, "Estelle is featured on the remix, she sent her tracks already and it's just crazy how this track is moving. Estelle and I are friends on twitter and I sent her the track and she heard it without seeing the video as yet and said this is gonna be a smash song. When I sent her the video, she said she has to get on this and sent her part. We're currently mixing it now and hopefully it should be out by next week."

In the song Marshall sings about a girl who has done him wrong and messes with his heart. The song was done almost two months ago and produced by Baby G and was later remixed by Mavado. In the Estelle remix she plays the part of his sister who is supporting him and 'cussing' the girl who has messed with Marshall. "It's crazy how she wrote it, it's something I would have never thought to write," he added.

The song was also on 'Jam Hot Record of the Week' on BBC's 1 Xtra and is getting constant rotation locally with a number of unofficial remixes taking place from persons out of Jamaica. For Marshall, he admits that he has been knocking on the door of cross over success for years and feels that this is his time to make it big.

He said, "this is my time to represent Jamaica to that next level, I just need to get that run. Right now, I'm doing this for my son, Giomar, he's my inspiration. I want him to look up to me and for people to tell him his father was a great artiste."

The deejay has a number of songs coming out soon for the likes of Don Corleon, Baby G and Stephen McGregor as he tells fans to expect the unexpected as he explores new genres and broadens this horizons. He also has a collaboration with Damian Marley and Tarrus Riley to be released later this year.

The Police in St James have issued a reminder to performers and patrons attending the Reggae Sumfest festival this weekend to obey the rules of the land.

The festival continues with Dancehall Night tonight, followed by International Nights One and Two on Friday and Saturday, respectively. The St James police are cautioning the artistes about their language and behaviour onstage.

Commanding officer for the St James Division,Superintendent Merrick Brown, says the police will be enforcing the no profanity rule strictly.

"Sometimes when we have these events the artistes tend to go onstage and use profanity. We want to communicate it to them, it's in their contract not to do it, but we want to let them know if they do so, then police officers are going to take action," he cautioned.

"We're not backing down where that is concerned. It's zero tolerance where the use of profanity is concerned at this event."

The show's production team says it acknowledges the artistic creativity that comes with being onstage, but urges some sensitivity towards the use of profanity.

Executive producer of Reggae Sumfest Johnny Gourzong also noted that there is a contractual obligation for them to avoid the use of profanity and to refrain from singling out certain groups in their lyrics.

"In the contracts we have already set out what they should not be doing, and in addition, we sent them a letter which reinforced it, providing information about the show, length of performance, and other requirements" he explained.

"We just urge them to understand these conditions and focus on putting out good quality music," Gourzong continued.

Brown extended the caution towards patrons attending the event as well.

Firearms will not be allowed in the venue unless carried by the police or by private security personnel.

"We asking those persons who have licensed firearms to leave the firearms at home, but if they come to the venue with it, it will be taken and stored until after the event," he explained.

He added that the police will be out in large numbers to tackle any breaches of the law from the sale of drugs, to traffic infringements in and around the venue.

"The police will be out there in numbers, so we are just sending out the warning from now," he stated.

In its near 20 year history, Reggae Sumfest has boasted a superb entertainment package, loaded with the best performances, food, music, and culture.

Tickets for tonight's Dancehall Night cost $2800 presold and $3000 at the gate, and for International Night One and Two (Friday, July 23 and Saturday, July 24) cost $4700 presold and $5000 each at the gate.

Left: The godz must have been pleased with these females all clad in white. Right: This group of friends were all dressed to impress.- Winston Sill photos

Promoters of the party Ambrozia, Bear Tingzz Productions, Royalz Entertainment and Liv Up Records, enjoyed success from the first staging of the event held on Saturday night at Olympus (The Lawns of Police Officers Club), 34 Hope Road.

Under the tagline, 'Enter as Mortals, Party like Godz', the event provided good entertainment for the crowd which comprised mostly teenagers and young adults seeking a good party vibe.

With easy and hassle-free access to the venue, the women made use of the two-for-one, before-11 p.m. special at the gate.

With a number of other events being held on the night, the party held its own with a good crowd turning out by 11:30 p.m.

Drink mixes for the night were free, with relatively easy access to the three mega bars and the Jablum detox bar. With themed mixes like 'Zeus's Thunder Punch', 'Cerebus Fangs' and 'Vulcan Anvil', among others, patrons were kept refreshed throughout the night.

One female patron, while enjoying the vibe and drinking her mixed drink, said, "Ambrozia mad! It sell off! Next Ambrozia mi affi deh deh, cyaah miss mi! Awoh!"

ZJ Chrome, ZJ Sparks, DJ Bunco and RedLine Sound provided the musical madness for patrons. With the exception of a few technical glitches, their musical selections had the crowd moving all night.

Selectors from Redline Sound started their early juggling set, trying to get the patrons warmed up with hip-hop songs such as Snoop Dogg's Drop It Like It's Hot, Ludacris' Southern Hospitality and Nelly's Hot In Here.

ZJ Sparks brought the crowd to life with her occasional comedic outbursts and selection of dancehall hits, while ZJ Chrome later in the night wasted no time in getting the women in a frenzy with songs such as Busy Signal's Picante and Up In Har Belly, and Vybz Kartel's Betta Can Wuk and Gwaan So.

Left: Her colourful attire was outstanding. Right: She owned the dancefloor.

Lying to get sex: Is it rape?

Race is a notoriously nebulous concept. Before a physical property can be scientifically examined, it must be objectively defined so that accurate measurements of variables can be made. Defining race has been based on subjective taxonomic classification, morphological interpretation, and physiognomic characteristics, exercises that are frighteningly akin to phrenology. Race has yet to be defined in objective genetic terms that are quantifiably measurable, rendering attempts at truly scientific discussion hopelessly futile. The fact remains that the human race is of a single species. Historically, races were first assumed to exist, then they were recognized, then described, and lastly classified, an unscientific and arbitrary method at best. Race was first applied to the realm of natural history in 1749 when Buffon described six groups of man. Critics came early and in 1784, Herder wrote: Some for instance have thought it fit to employ the term races for four or five divisions, originally made in consequence of country or complexion: but I see no reason for this appellation. Race refers to a difference of origin, which in this case does not exist, or in each of those countries, and under each of these complexions, comprises the most different races... In short, there are neither four or five races, nor exclusive varieties, on this Earth. Complexions run into each other: forms follow the genetic character: and upon the whole, all are last but shades of the same great picture, extending through all ages, and over all parts of the earth. They belong not, therefore, so properly to systematic natural history, as to the physicogeographical history of man. [von Herder, Johann Gottfried, Ideas Toward a Philosophy of History, 1784] If race as a classification had any use at all, it served as a mere convenience to distinguish between geographic groups of people. In the process, individual variances must first be abolished and the group's characteristics reduced to an average, to an imaginary prototype if you will, that has no basis in physical genetic reality. Writes Montague: To sum up, the indictment of the anthropological conception of race is (1) that it is artificial; (2) that it does not agree with the facts; (3) that it leads to confusion and the perpetuation of error, and finally, that for all these reasons it is meaningless, or rather more accurately such meaning as it possesses is false. Being so weighed down with false meaning it were better that the term were dropped altogether than that any attempt should be made to give it a new meaning. [Montague, Ashley, ed. The Concept of Race, 1964, p. xv] Geneticist Steven Rose said, Biologists define "race" as a group or population differing in gene frequency from that of others in the same species. Such differences usually occur as a result of some type of geographic barrier limiting interbreeding, so that the two otherwise similar genetic populations begin to drift apart. Thus there are distinct "races" of fruit flies separated perhaps by mountainous or desert conditions. However, with very limited exceptions there are no such separated groups within the human population, and those that do occur do not map on to what are in conventional speech regarded as separate "races." The consensus view among population geneticists and biological anthropologists is that the concept of "race" to indicate analytically distinct subgroups of the human race is biologically meaningless. [From a public lecture given at Gresham College, London, reported in The Independent, 28 January 2002] "Race is a social construct, not a scientific classification," Robert S. Schwartz, M.D. wrote (in "Race Is a Poor Measure," New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 344, No. 18, May 3, 2001). "Any attempt to establish lines of division among biological populations is both arbitrary and subjective." The Human Genome Project determined that 99.9% of the human genetic complement is the same in everyone, regardless of race. This means that the DNA of any two people will differ in one out of every thousand nucleotides, the building blocks of individual genes. With more than 3 billion nucleotides in the human genome, about 3 million nucleotides will differ among individuals. While statistically small, this does allow for some variation. "Admittedly," wrote Dr. Sally Satel, "race is a rough marker. A black American may have dark skin - but his or her genes may well be a complex mix of ancestors from west Africa, Europe and Asia. No serious scientist, in fact, believes that genetically pure populations exist. Yet an imprecise clue is better than no clue at all." ("A question of colour" in The Guardian, 9 May 2002) But these differences between people are relatively insignificant: skin pigment, eye shape, and hair texture. The physical "stereotypes" of race, Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza wrote in The History and Geography of Human Genes, "reflect superficial differences." Tutankhamun © Photo copyright Francesco De Luca, in Tiradritti, Egyptian Treasures, 1999, p. 205 This said, we might ask, "What color were the ancient Egyptians?" Being on the continent, Egypt has always been an African civilization though it straddles two regions, Africa and the Middle East. It's fairly clear that the cultural roots of ancient Egypt lie in Africa and not in Asia. Egypt was a subtropical desert environment and its people had migrated from various ethnic groups over its history (and prehistory), thus it was something of a "melting pot," a mixture of many types of people with many skin tones, some certainly from the Sub-Saharan regions and others from more Mediterranean climes. It is impossible to categorize these people into the tidy "black" and "white" terms of today's racial distinctions. The Egyptians are better classified using evidence of their language and their material cultures, historical records, and their physical remains because so-called "racial" identification has been elusive, much for the reasons cited above. Skulls have been measured and compared and DNA tests attempted in various forms, but conclusions are few. Skulls are more similar to those found in the Northern Sudan and less similar to those found in West Africa, Palestine, and Turkey. It seems that there has been some genetic continuity from Predynastic time through the Middle Kingdom, after which there was a considerable infiltration into the Nile Valley from outside populations. That the Egyptians by and large were dark is certain, and many must have been what we today call "black." Tutankhamun © Photo copyright Francesco De Luca, in Tiradritti, Egyptian Treasures, 1999, p. 230 It is apparent that the ancient Egyptians did not make racial distinctions themselves, but rather ethnic distinctions based on nationality. Tomb paintings depicting captive Nubians may show them as being very dark, but this is an artistic convention stereotyping a nationality, and to conclude there were therefore no very dark Egyptians would be a non sequitur. Similarly, the skin tones in art depicting the Egyptians themselves adhere to convention rather than an absolutely accurate description of reality. Tutankhamun is variously shown as being black as in the guardian statues found in his tomb, and brown or beige as in the lotus bust (see photos above). There has been a spate of controversy of late between "Afrocentric" authors and their critics, but the truth is that Egyptologists are not involved in some massive conspiracy of lies designed to subjugate black populations, as has often been charged. Indeed, most modern Egyptologists are rather taciturn when it comes to the subject of race. Nor have the black Africans been "robbed" of their legacy. Civilization as it exists today is the culmination of the historical development of mankind, layer upon layer from ancient times to modern, each group contributing its share to the whole. Through human interaction, whether by trade or warfare, ideas, reform, and invention are assimilated, adapted, and again dispersed. It's the nature of history regardless of ethnicity. To make petty and arbitrary distinctions based on human physical appearance is divisive and can only lead to wanton racist misuse. No good can come of it beyond establishing immediate and limited familial ties; beyond this the discussion of race has no place in science. We can safely conclude that the ancient Egyptians were of various skin colors, few of which were light judging by the climate. Foreign prisoners of Ramesses III: Libyan, Nubian, Syrian, Shasu Bedouin, and Hittite. Faience tiles from the royal palace at Medinet Habu. In the 1940's, A. Batrawi made a detailed examination of ancient skeletal material from Egypt and Lower Nubia, comparing such physical features as craniological data and the length of limb bones, while recording changes through time. His resulting theory of racial continuity in the early Egyptian population has been supported by more recent research. In his seminal two-part article "The Racial History of Egypt and Nubia" (The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 75:1945, pp. 81-101; 76:1946, pp. 131-56), Batrawi does categorize physical types into racial groups, but his description of migration and interaction remains valid. He concluded: Since early neolithic times there existed two distinct but closely related types, a northern in Middle Egypt and a southern in Upper Egypt. The southern Egyptians were distinguished from the northerners by a smaller cranial index, a larger nasal index and greater prognathism. The geographical distinction between the two groups continued during the Pre-Dynastic Period. The Upper Egyptians, however, spread into lower Nubia during that period. By the beginning of the Dynastic era the northern Egyptian type is encountered for the first time in the Thebaïd, i.e., in the southern territory. The incursion, however, seems to have been transitory and the effects of the co-existence of the two types in one locality remained very transient until the 18th Dynasty. From this time onwards the northern type prevailed all over Egypt, as far south as Denderah, till the end of the Roman period. In Lower Nubia a slight infiltration of negroid influence is observed during the Middle Kingdom times. In the New Empire period, however, the southern Egyptian type prevails again. After the New Empire a fresh and much stronger negro influence becomes discernable till the end of the Roman period. There is a wide gap in our knowledge of the racial history of the two countries during the Christian and Islamic periods, owing to the lack of an adequate amount of relevant material. The study of the available measurements of the living, however, apparently suggests that the modern population all over Egypt conforms more closely to the southern type. The mean measurements for the modern Nubians are rather curious. The average cephalic index for them is significantly larger than that for the Egyptians. This is contrary to expectation based on knowledge of the characteristics of the ancient populations. No satisfactory explanation could be suggested. The distribution of *lo** groups in present-day Egypt shows that the mass of population is very homogeneous and there are no significant differences, in this respect, between the Moslems and the Copts. Comparisons of head and body measurements suggest the same conclusion. [pp. 154-55] i cant post pics on here. here's the link http://www.catchpenny.org/race.html

Debrahlee Lorenzana, 33, of Queens, is suing her ex-employer, Citigroup, for sexual ha****ment, alleging she was fired because she wore clothes that were 'too distracting.

 

A Latina lovely says her bosses at Citigroup canned her for flaunting her ample assets at a midtown bank.

Dangerously curvy Debrahlee Lorenzana contends her ex-bosses at Citibank in the Chrysler Building banned her from wearing sexy outfits or heels deemed "too distracting" for male coworkers.

"I can't help it that I have curves," Lorenzana told the Daily News.

"And I'm not going to go eat and gain 50 or 100 pounds because my job wants me to be the same size as everyone else."

The 33-year-old Queens woman filed suit in Manhattan Supreme Court, claiming she was ordered to lay off turtlenecks, pencil skirts and fitted suits because clingy clothes were drawing too much attention in the workplace.

"Debrahlee Lorenzana would be very attractive in a burka," said her lawyer Jack Tuckner, of Tuckner Sipser Weinstock & Sipser.

Lorenzana, who is 5-feet-6 and 125 pounds, defended her fashion choices, saying she never flashed too much skin and dressed professionally, not provocatively.

"Never did I ever show cleavage," the divorced single mom said. "I like fashion, but I always dressed professionally."

Lorenzana was hired as a business banking officer at Citi's Chrysler branch in September 2008 and transferred in July 2009 to a Rockefeller Center branch.

The suit claims she was moved to an out-of-the-way spot where she couldn't lure in new clients as retaliation for her complaints about sexual ha****ment. A month later she was fired.

"All it came down to was, 'We don't want to deal with you, because you're just too good looking,'" Tuckner said.

In a statement, Citigroup said the suit is "without merit," but declined to discuss Lorenzana's performance.

"Citi is committed to fostering a culture of inclusion and providing a respectful environment in the workplace," the statement read.

Lorenzana, who works for another financial institution, said she's had to face ha****ment her entire life because of a body that drives men wild.

"I get ha****ed in the supermarket with my son just wearing sweatpants with my hair in a ponytail," she said. "I can't help how I look."

A Lutheran denomination is in the throes of reinstating a gay pastor and his companion to its clergy register.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church is an American entity based in Chicago. In a proclamation discharged on Tuesday, it elucidated that the Rev. Bradley Schmeling and the Rev. Darin Easler have been permitted for reinstatement.

Schmeling had functioned as the pastor of the St. John Lutheran Church in Atlanta. He was eradicated from the churchs clergy register in 2007. The rationale for the eradication was that Schmeling was in a same-sex relationship with Easler. His homosexual association with Easler was the reason for his eradication.

The church, in the previous month, implemented modifications to the ministry policy papers. The implementation of these modifications will clear the path for eligible Lutherans, who are in openly answerable, permanent, monogamous and same-sex ties, to function as clergy.

Easler was eradicated from the clergy catalog in 2006 after he had been without a parish for three years.

Prime Minister Bruce Golding says getting Jamaica's priorities right trumped the pride associated with having a national airline in determining the fate of Air Jamaica, whose operations were taken over on May 1 by Trinidad and Tobago-owned Caribbean Airlines Limited (CAL).

Golding, in a statement issued by Jamaica House, said a huge debt burden, rising costs and increasing competition were all factors that led to the end of Air Jamaica.

"Many airlines have gone under, and in our case, keeping Air Jamaica flying has placed a huge burden on Government's scarce resources only made worse by the global recession," said Golding.

US$1-billion debt

Air Jamaica had been saddled by more than US$1 billion in debt.

"We have to get our priorities right," the Prime Minister said.

"We have to eliminate our fiscal deficit and reduce our borrowing, so that interest rates can come down and the economy can be given a chance to achieve real growth ... The Government has had to take the regrettable but inevitable decision that it could no longer provide the financial support required to keep Air Jamaica flying."

However, Golding said Jamaica was fortunate to be able to transfer the majority ownership to CAL, a regional airline, which will operate the routes that are of the greatest importance to Jamaican travellers, the diaspora and tourist visitors making connections to Jamaica.

"The Government of Jamaica will have minority ownership in all of Caribbean Airlines, not just the Jamaican operations, but will not be required to absorb any losses or provide any capital," Golding said.

Kingston will have a 16 per cent stake in CAL as part of the merger agreement.

National pride

More than 1,000 former Air Jamaica workers will be employed during the transition period that is expected to last up to a year.

"The transition for some will be difficult but the government is prepared to assist in providing whatever support we can," Golding said.

"This is not necessarily the end of the dream that led us to create our own airline in 1968 ... Let us use this as an opportunity to place our country firmly on a path to fulfilling that dream, where our people can enjoy a way of life that will be the greatest source of our national pride," he said.

Five-year-old Evan Sebastian Spencer, who was killed in Frankfield, Clarendon, on the weekend.

Finding a five-year-old boy with his throat slashed would leave any community in Jamaica shocked, despite the numbness caused by the rampaging crime monster which has left more than 560 people dead across the island since the start of the year.

But for the people of Frankfield, Clarendon, the killing of Evan Sebastian Spencer is even more painful as they wrestle with the feeling that they could have done something to help him.

The residents yesterday painted a picture of squalor endured by Evan in the relatively short time he was alive.

They showed The Gleaner a dark and mouldy cellar in a partially abandoned building no more than seven feet by seven feet where Evan and his father lived.

The smelly, small area had no light, no running water and no way for fresh air to enter the room. It contained a sponge for a bed, a chest of drawers and precious little else by way of furniture.

"Sometimes him ... lock up in deh for days and the only thing you see was him little eyes peeking out from the crack at the bottom of the door ... " one resident told The Gleaner.

Driven to act

While other residents worried about Evan and quietly wondered how he was doing, Joan Mitchell's fears drove her to act.

"Last week Wednesday me sit at me stall and me say to me friend, 'A long time me no see the baby ... '," Mitchell said.

She said she called a district constable (DC) who was based at the nearby Frankfield Police Station and told him her concerns.

"The DC tell me say him get transfer to Spaldings but him send some other police ... .

"To be truthful, me did see the baby Thursday but that is the last day me would see him alive," Mitchell said as she almost burst into tears.

Other neighbours related similar stories of concern for the young boy.

Evan's mother died two years ago.

"Last month, for about two weeks ... the boy lock up inna the cellar," another clearly angry woman added.

Evan attended Frankfield Primary and Infant School where he was a pupil in the infant one class.

"Last month he was missing from school for a long time but, before that, he attended regularly," Heather Carr, a teacher, said as she pored over the register.

"He was such a loving child. When I passed him on the road in the mornings with his father catching water, he would say, 'Morning, Teacher' and not stopping until I heard," Carr added.

It was a similar story from a caregiver at the school who asked not to be named.

"Evan was quiet and well-mannered and, because he had a speech problem, most times he did not speak," the caregiver said.

Young Evan's body was found in the house he shared with his father in the heart of Frankfield about 2:30 Sunday morning.

Investigators have taken the father and another man into custody but, up to late yesterday, neither had been charged.


RIP Evan Sebastian Spencer

A St Catherine man was recently beaten and left naked by irate persons after he went to look for a man he met on the popular social networking website, Facebook.

THE STAR was informed that on Thursday the man went to a Portmore community to visit a man whom he was corresponding with on the website.

Upon his arrival at the location he was identified by several hostile young men who accused him of being a homosexual.

They reportedly set upon him, beating him severely with sticks. In the process he was robbed and stripped of his clothes.

He was rescued by a passing police vehicle that took him naked to the station where the man he had gone to visit took clothing for him.

The police say that an investigation is underway to find those who are responsible for assaulting the man and robbing him in the process.

Not only is Elin Nordegren set to divorce Tiger Woods, but shes also very determined to walk out of the marriage on her own terms, especially after shes been publicly humiliated when his mistresses started going to the press with sordid details of their affairs. In short, Elin is looking to get no less than $750 million as a settlement in the divorce and the right to refuse to sign a confidentiality agreement, Gatecrasher reports. According to inside sources who are, as is usually the case in such scandals, spilling the beans to the media under the cover of anonymity, Elin wants $750 million for the time she spent married to Tiger. She also wants to retain the right to speak of the cheating scandal if she so chooses, but the golfers attorney will not agree to that. In fact, word on the street has it, Woods may actually give his wife this kind of settlement that shes asking only on the condition she keeps quiet for the rest of her life. Its a high price for silence. Wronged wife Elin Nordegren is trying to club an eye-popping $750 million out of Tiger Woods in their divorce negotiations, according to reports Friday. Woods hasnt agreed yet, but if he does he wants total silence from his soon-to-be ex about the collapse of their marriage forever, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Nordegren has so far said no to signing a lifetime confidentiality clause that would prevent her from writing a book or doing any interviews about the split, Gatecrasher says of divorce negotiations. She reportedly also wants full custody of their two kids even though it was first thought the couple were going to agree to joint custody. Sources said the divorce negotiations have turned extremely testy and the couple no longer talk to each other. Nordegren has spent a lot of time away from Woods in recent months. She went to Arizona alone for nearly a week recently and took the kids to Sweden while Woods played golf, the same report further reads. While Elin has been away, Tiger has returned to his life before he was married, going out at nights and even dating other women. As we also informed you a few days ago, paparazzi caught the golfer out on his property in the company of a mystery blonde who looked very much like Elin, but was not her.

Days after the throat of a five-year-old boy was slashed in Clarendon, Professor Barry Chevannes has said the country's crime problem is at a point where Jamaicans have become numbed.

"It's difficult to compare heartless acts, but the slashing of the throat of a five-year-old, what is that?" he questioned.

"The extraordinary has become the ordinary and we have become numb to it."

Speaking at a forum titled 'Portrayal of Crime in Media in Jamaica', Chevannes said murders are now "glamourised" in Jamaica.

He said it would be disingenuous to deny that the media contributed to this, arguing that "people are emboldened when they see the mayhem that is represented as what they did".

society's problem

Chevannes said he has heard reports of gunmen gathering before the television to watch news reports of a murder they committed the day before.

"I can't confirm this, but I would not be surprised if that was in fact confirmed," he said.

However, he made it clear that this is a problem of the society and not the media.

"Journalists are human beings in a society where lives are being snuffed out in the most horrendous ways," he lamented.

He also expressed agreement with The Gleaner's move to carry the most recent murder statistics on the front page.

"What The Gleaner is doing in keeping that clock ticking on the front page is more helpful than not," he said, noting that every murder is the loss of a human life worthy of attention.

What is Circumcision?

WASHINGTON, USA The executive board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) yesterday approved the full cancellation of Haitis outstanding liabilities to the fund to the tune of US$268 million.

The Washington-based financial institution said it also approved a new three-year arrangement for Haiti under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) requested by the Haitian government to support the countrys reconstruction and growth programme.

The IMF said both decisions form part of a broad strategy to support Haitis longer-term reconstruction plans, following the January 12 devastating earthquake.

The cancellation of existing debt was advocated by IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn in the days following the disaster, as part of a concerted international effort to launch a Marshall Plan for the reconstruction of the French-speaking Caricom country.

The new programme provides a strong and forward-looking framework to support economic stability and reconstruction in the country, and will also help catalyse donors contributions, the IMF said.

3 men, 1 woman abducted, stabbed, throats slashed.

CRIMINALS continued their orgy of slaughter yesterday by slashing the throats of three men and a woman in a Spanish Town community that reacted with shock and horror at the savagery of the early morning murders.

The victims David 'Tete' Williams, 37, and his common-law wife Sandra Wint, 45; Clayton Simpson, 29, and Garnet Greg, 45 were abducted, gagged and dragged into bushes where they were also stabbed.

Police said the killers went to the community about 5:30 am and dragged Williams and Wint from their house. The criminals then ambushed Simpson and Greg, who were on their way to work, dragged them into the bushes and butchered the four.

Williams' mother Dorothy said she last spoke to her son on Wednesday.

"The last time my son Tete talk to me him promise to give me a goat for Mother's Day," she said, then screamed: "Lawd, me nuh feel ah going mek it!"

As she cried, Williams' father said it seemed God had turned His back on him.

"My son a hard-working youth. Him nuh trouble nobody. Him never deserve fi dead so," cried the 54-year-old man.

A few metres away, Wellesley 'Pepsi' Simpson, 70, grieved without tears for his son Clayton. According to the distraught father, the murder brought to three the number of children he has lost violently in the past few years.

Yesterday, police said they were probing reports that the attacks may have been linked to an ongoing feud in March Pen Road.

Residents who spoke in hushed tones were overheard making the same allegation.

The incident also drew the condemnation of the church.

"This is a sad day for the community. The murders have left the community in fear, but the church will continue to work to bring peace to the area," said Pastor Fitzroy Thomas from the Spanish Town Ministers Fraternal.

On April 29, Deacon Michael Dixon was shot dead at his home in the Arlington Housing Scheme at March Pen Road.

Residents said the deacon was shot in the face as he prayed.

Deacon Dixon's murder came just over weeks after he participated in the church-organised 10,000 man march against crime in Spanish Town.

Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are spread by sexual contact involving the genitals, mouth, or rectum, and can also be spread from a pregnant woman to her fetus before or during delivery. STDs, which affect both men and women, are a worldwide public health concern.

Although most STDs can be cured, some cannot, including HIV (which causes AIDS), genital herpes, andhuman papillomavirus (HPV), which can cause genital warts.

STDs can be spread by people who don't know they are infected. Always use protection every time you have sex, including oral sex, until you are sure you and your partner are not infected with an STD.

If you are in a relationship, delay having sex until you are physically and emotionally prepared, have agreed to only have sex with each other, and have both been tested for STDs.

Abstinence as prevention

Completely avoiding sexual contact (abstinence), including intercourse or oral sex, is the only certain way to prevent an infection.

Discuss safe sex with your partner

Discuss STDs before you have sex with someone. Even though a sex partner doesn't have symptoms of an STD, he or she may still be infected.

Questions to ask someone before having sex include:

• How many people have you had sex with?
• Have you had sex without a condom?
• Have you ever had unprotected oral sex?
• Have you had more than one sex partner at a time?
• Do you inject illegal drugs or have you had sex with someone who injects drugs?
• Have you ever had unprotected sex with a prostitute?
• Have you had a test for HIV? What were the results?
• Have you ever had an STD, including hepatitis B or hepatitis C? Was it treated and cured?

Safe sex practices

Some STDs, such as HIV, can take up to 6 months before they can be detected in the *lo**. Genital herpes and the human papillomavirus (HPV) can be spread when symptoms are not present. Even if you and your partner have been tested, use condoms for all sex until you and your partner haven't had sex with another person for 6 months. Then get tested again.

• Watch for symptoms of STDs, such as unusual discharge, sores, redness, or growths in your and your partner's genital area, or pain while urinating.
• Don't have more than one sex partner at a time. The safest sex is with one partner who has sex only with you. Every time you add a new sex partner, you are being exposed to all of the diseases that all of their partners may have. Your risk for an STD increases if you have several sex partners at the same time.
• Use a condom every time you have sex. A condom is the best way to protect yourself from STDs. Latex and polyurethane condoms do not let STD viruses pass through, so they offer good protection from STDs. Condoms made from sheep intestines do not protect against STDs.
• Use a water-based lubricant such as K-Y Jelly or Astroglide to help prevent tearing of the skin if there is a lack of lubrication during sexual intercourse. Small tears in the vagina during vaginal sex or in the rectum during anal sex allow STDs to get into your *lo**.
• Avoid douching if you are a woman, because it can change the normal balance of organisms in the vagina and increases the risk of getting an STD.
• Be responsible. Avoid sexual contact if you have symptoms of an infection or if you are being treated for an STD or HIV. If you or your partner has herpes, avoid sexual contact when a blister is present and use condoms at all other times.

The only survivor from a crashed Libyan airliner is said to be in a serious but stable condition. The ten-year-old boy who is believed to be Dutch was found alive in the wreckage of the Airbus.
All 103 other passengers and crew were killed.

The plane was flying from Johannesburg to the Libyan capital when it came down on its approach to Tripoli airport The A330 had only been in service since September.

According to Libyas minister for transport, the planes two flight recorders have been found. An investigation has been launched into the causes of the crash it includes aircraft specialists and a representative from Airbus.

Officials say nationals from at least 10 countries were on the flight including more than sixty from the Netherlands. The 11 crew were all Libyan. Many were expecting to connect with other flights mostly to Europe.

While the cause of the crash is not known, terrorism has been ruled out. Witnesses say the jet exploded on impact and totally disintegrated.

The aircraft is the same type as the Air France flight which crashed into the Atlantic in June last year. The cause of that crash has not been identified.

A Dallas-area mother accused of fatally strangling her 2-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son with a wire told a 911 operator that she did so because they were autistic. The 30-year-old remains in jail on a capital murder charge. She obviously felt NO remorse for her actions these poor children did not ask to be born this way evil b!tch!

I KNOW SOME PPL A GUH HATE ME FI DIS, ESPECIALLY THAT "GIRL" (SHE KNOW HER SELF

COULD THIS BE PASSED ON THROUGH GENETICS OR IS IT JUST A CULTURE/LIFESTYLE

I MEAN IVE SEEN A MALE ACT IN A "SISSY" BEHAVIOUR AND HE HAS A SON AND HE ACTS THE SAME

SO TELL ME...WHATS YOUR THOUGHTS