A Jamaican Easter is nothing without Jamaican Easter bun and Tastee cheese. This simple yet traditional combination has become a significant part of Jamaican culture. Below is a Jamaican Easter Bun recipe that is simple and easy to make.
Bun is baked with lots of spices, nutmeg and cinnamon. Along with large amounts of mixed fruits like raisins and cherries.
Try this Jamaican Easter Bun recipe and live Easter like a true Jamaican!
3½ cups flour
1½ cups sugar
4 tsp. Baking powder
1 cup stout or beer
1 egg (beaten)
2 tblsp. spoon melted butter or margarine
2 tsps. vanilla
1 cup cherries
1 cup raisins, mixed peel, cherries*
½ tsp. ground allspice
pinch of salt
1 tblsp. spoon nutmeg
½ tblsp. spoon cinnamon
½ tblsp. spoon rose water
½ tblsp. spoon anise extract
Jamaican Easter Bun recipe mixture
In a large mixing bowl, mix together flour, salt, baking powder, spices and sugar. Mix thoroughly and add fruit. Make a well in the center of mixture and add melted butter and beaten egg. Mix again until like coarse bread crumbs. Make another well in center of mixture and add beer or stout. Mix the whole thoroughly and turn into well greased baking pans. Bake for 1¼ hours at 300 ° F. Makes two meatloaf pans. If desired, press a few whole cherries into the top of each bun.
Jamaica will host the Caribbean’s first ever symposium on Climate Change and World Heritage in May.
Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Olivia Grange, made the announcement during her message to mark World Heritage Day being celebrated on April 18, under the theme, ‘Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Tourism’.
Coming out of the symposium will be best practices to safeguard heritage sites based on the impact of climate change, Grange said.
She added that the decision to host the symposium was part of the ministry’s strategic thrust to strengthen Jamaica’s presence in World Heritage.
“We recognise the importance of cultural heritage in our nation’s development and the impact that climate change can have on heritage sites. Through the symposium we will be able to coordinate efforts and resources in the Caribbean to improve awareness and collaboration in preserving and safeguarding our tangible and intangible heritage resources,” Grange said.
The symposium will bring together forty delegates from 12 Caribbean nations with existing World Heritage properties, as well as policy makers and experts involved in Climate Change.
Funding support is provided through the Jamaica National Commission for UNESCO – Participatory Project, UNESCO Kingston Cluster Office for the Caribbean and the Climate Change Division of the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation.
Jamaican-born athlete Julian Jrummi Walsh will represent Japan in the 4×400 meters men’s relays at the IAAF/BTC World Relays in the Bahamas.
Walsh is the son of reggae drummer Emanuel Walsh, who married a Japanese woman and has lived in Japan for almost 20 years.
The event will feature athletes from 40 countries compete across the two days to win the coveted Golden Baton and guaranteed qualification for the 4x100m and 4×400 meters at this August’s IAAF World Championships London 2017.
Two people are now dead, while an infant and a man are hospitalized after gunshots rang out in West Park on Thursday.
A woman, who is believed to be five months pregnant, was killed while her daughter and fiancee were injured after a hail of bullets tore through their car in West Park.
A short time later and about a half-mile away, authorities were called to a second incident where they found a 26-year-old-man lying dead.
The shootings appear unrelated, the Broward Sheriff’s Office said.
The first shootings occurred just before 10:45 p.m. Thursday.
Police report that a volley of gunshots were fired into a gray sedan that was parked near an intersection. The bullets struck Tyrell Myrick, Patrice Nunnally, both 28, and Nunnally’s 9-year-old daughter, Kalaya Clark.
The shooters are suspected to be three men travelling in a dark-colored sports utility vehicle.
Myrick and Nunnally, were taken to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood. Nunnally died and Myrick remains hospitalized with serious injuries, the sheriff’s office said.
Kalaya remains hospitalized at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital with serious injuries.
As cops combed the scene for clues, other gunshots rang out nearby..
When the police arrived at 5410 SW 23rd Street about 11:20 p.m. they found 26-year-old Cody Sanders unresponsive.
A neighbour said he heard about three gunshots outside his house and when he went to investigate, Sanders was lying on the driveway.
Miami-Dade Police Department (MDPD) Robbery Bureau detectives have arrested a man for impersonating a police officer.
He has been identified as 46-year-old Pacheco Bustamante.
Police report that shortly before 7:30 this morning, an MDPD Detective was traveling northbound on I-95, in a County-issued unmarked vehicle, and in full MDPD uniform. Bustamante, who was driving a Ford Crown Victoria, changed lanes and positioned his car behind the Detective’s vehicle. Bustamante activated police sirens, causing the Detective to change lanes.
The gun and contraband that were found in Bustamante’s car
Bustamante continued to follow the unmarked police vehicle. The Detective, believing he was being stopped by a police officer, pulled over to the shoulder of the road, near NW 119th Street. When the Detective exited his vehicle, he realized he was dealing with a police impersonator. Bustamante was then taken into custody.
A search of his vehicle revealed an H&K BB gun replica and a police blue light.
He was interviewed by MDPD Robbery Bureau detectives, and confessed to them that he had done this to other drivers.
MDPD detectives are seeking the assistance of the community in identifying other motorists who may have been victims of, or may have witnessed, these illicit traffic stops. You are urged to contact the police
A Trinidadian teacher at a Secondary School who was groped on her buttocks by a student ended up being suspended for two years in 2014.
She was accused of assaulting the student.
The teacher has been granted leave by the High Court to file judicial review proceedings against the Teaching Service Commission and the Office of the Attorney General.
The woman was granted permission on Thursday by Justice Ricky Rahim to file the proceedings based on the “unjustified suspension” as well as the delay of the Commission to prosecute the matter within the two-year-period.
She is arguing that bshe has lost the opportunity to be promoted to the position of a category 111 Teacher and as a result has lost the chance of getting a salary increase.
“This entire ordeal has been very stressful, humiliating and depressing to me. The fact that I was suspended for this incident is a stain on my professional career that will not and cannot be removed. No matter if I am found not guilty of these charges it cannot provide any vindication for the damage to my reputation that I have suffered over this matter,” she stated in her affidavit.
The teacher stated that on September 23, 2014, during a recess in the morning period, she was standing along one of the corridors having a conversation with two of her Form Three students about their career goals after they completed secondary school. While doing so, a student from another class whom she did not know, passed behind her and grabbed her buttocks.
The teacher said she later found out who the student was and confronted him in his classroom and asked him why he grabbed her behind. She said the boy attempted to walk off but she then grabbed him by the shirt and continued to question him on why he carried out the act.
The woman said on September 25, she made a report to the Police.
In April of 2015, the teacher said she received a letter from the Commission stating that the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education had made a report to the Commission that she had assaulted the boy.
Jamaican motorists who have accumulated unpaid traffic tickets have been given another amnesty.
Minister of Transport and Works, Mike Henry, made the announcement during his contribution to the sectoral debate in parliament recently.
Henry said the drivers would be given the amnesty before a revised version of the Road Traffic Act comes into effect. The Act is now before the House of Representatives and when completed, is expected have more teeth. Motorists will be faced with newer and stricter provisions in relation to the imposition of penalties and traffic offences.
“in order to offer motorists an opportunity to enter this new phase with a clean slate, we will be allowing for a period of amnesty, during which outstanding traffic tickets can be paid without the loss of points and other penalties,” Henry said.
In 2013 delinquent motorists were afforded two amnesties by former Minister of National Security, Peter Bunting.
Barbados’ Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite has moved to dispel a notion that homosexuals and lesbians were being targeted for abuse across the island.
Speaking during a courtesy call with Canadian High Commissioner Marie Legault at his Wildey, St Michael office, Brathwaite maintained that although buggery was still illegal in Barbados, this did not impact two consenting adults.
He pointed out that Barbados remained one of the Caribbean islands where gay persons could exist without fearing for their lives and stressed that citizens have always been aware and very “tolerant” of same-sex relations within the society.
However, Brathwaite noted that he did not expect to see a “Caribbean consensus” on same-sex relations any time soon, given the wide-ranging viewpoints of each island nation.
While acknowledging that Canada “thrives on diversity”, High Commissioner Legault stated that she hoped Barbados would eventually come to a place where it was “different from the rest of the Caribbean
A United Nations reports has revealed that between 2004 and 2007, nine Haitian children were exploited by a child sex ring involving at least 134 Sri Lankan peacekeepers.
Often the children were given cookies or a few dollars in exchange for sex. Although 114 of the peacekeepers were sent home, none was ever jailed for the abuse.
Justice for victims is rare. An Associated Press investigation of U.N. missions during the past 12 years found an estimated 2,000 allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation by peacekeepers and U.N. personnel around the world — signaling the crisis is much larger than previously known. More than 300 of the allegations involved children, the AP found, but only a fraction of the alleged perpetrators were jailed.
In March, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced new measures to tackle peacekeeper misconduct. But the proclamation had a depressingly familiar ring: More than a decade ago, the United Nations commissioned a report that promised to do much the same thing, yet most of the reforms never materialized.
For a full two years after those promises were made, the children in Haiti were passed around from soldier to soldier. And in the years since, peacekeepers have been accused of sexual abuse the world over.
The Haitian children had made a home for themselves at Habitation Leclerc, a resort which was once well-known throughout Port-au-Prince as a lush refuge amid the capital’s grimy alleyways. During its heyday in the 1980s, celebrities like Mick Jagger and Jackie Onassis would perch by the pool or stroll past the property’s Voodoo temple.
By 2004, the resort was a decrepit clutch of buildings and several children, either orphaned or abandoned by their parents, were living in its ruins.
It was there that the girl identified as Victim No. 1, or V01, met other children in the same straits: two young girls referred to in the U.N. report as “V02” and “V03,” and a young boy, “V08.” The boy initially supported them by occasionally bringing food from his aunt, but they were often hungry.
The peacekeepers had arrived that year as part of a new mission to help stabilize the country in the wake of President Jean-Bertrande’s ouster. Some of the peacekeepers in the Sri Lankan contingent were based nearby.
In August 2007, the U.N. received complaints of “suspicious interactions” between Sri Lankan soldiers and Haitian children.
V02, who was 16 when the U.N. team interviewed her, told them she had sex with a Sri Lankan commander at least three times, describing him as overweight with a moustache and a gold ring. She said he often showed her a picture of his wife.
V03 identified 11 Sri Lankan troops through photographs, one of whom she said was a corporal with a “distinctive” bullet scar between his armpit and waist. V04, who was 14, said she had sex with the soldiers every day in exchange for money, cookies or juice.
The boy, V08, said he had sex with more than 20 Sri Lankans. Most would remove their name tags before taking him to trucks, where he gave them oral sex or was sodomized by them.
Under Haitian law, having sex with someone under 18 is considered statutory rape. U.N. codes of conduct also prohibit exploitation.
“The sexual acts described by the nine victims are simply too many to be presented exhaustively in this report, especially since each claimed multiple sexual partners at various locations where the Sri Lankan contingents were deployed throughout Haiti over several years,” the report said.
At the close of the UN investigation, 114 Sri Lankan peacekeepers were sent home.
Ten years later, U.N. officials said they were unable to find any members of the mission in Haiti who might have dealt with child victims in the sex ring case and did not know what happened to the children. An Italian nongovernmental organization, AVSI, helped the children at the time but lost track of them after the country’s devastating 2010 earthquake.
Some Haitians, including lawyer Mario Joseph, wonder whether the U.N. has done more harm than good in a country that has endured tragedy after tragedy since it became the first black republic in 1804.
“Imagine if the U.N. was going to the United States and raping children,” Joseph said in Port-au-Prince. “Human rights aren’t just for rich white people.”
Former West Indies captain Viv Richards ias not letting up on his criticism of regional cricket administrators.
Richards is insisting that it is better for administrators to step aside than for key players to be left out of the team.
Frequent spats between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and numerous players, combined with various pieces of legislation has left several players unavailable for selection. Richards who recently blasted the WICB for its role in what he believes to be the alienation of players has continued in the same vein.
“We have issues with our administrators. We have players defecting… they don’t want to represent their country any more. They go for the easiest process… all the leagues around the world. There is too much infighting in terms of players versus administration. So there must be a reason for individuals to divert their interests. There is a huge problem there,” Richards said.
“There are personality issues at administrators’ level which have gone to an all-time high in my opinion. They should start governing the game properly for which they are elected. In our society there is no one who has respect, if he has failed to do something… and so why not eliminate them from the whole administrative process? There has to be a change. I don’t know, if that’s all because of money. But it’s been going on for too long. No one is willing to say: ‘Okay we have failed in this and that, let me resign.’ I guess sometimes, that it’s too attractive and lucrative for individuals at that particular level to let go.”
Chris Gayle, Darren Bravo, Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard number among those missing for the West Indies at various points, often opting to take part in various T20 league’s around the world.
Anand Baboolal’s eyes welled over and burst into tears after he was told that he was sentenced to death for the murder of a mother and her baby in Mayaro, Trinidad 12 years ago. The convicted man will be hanged for his crime.
The death sentence was read twice to Baboolal in the San Fernando Supreme Court on Tuesday by Justice Althea Alexis-Windsor, after the jury returned with a guilty verdict after approximately two hours in the jury room.
Baboolal, 40, who is also called “Shawn” and “Son”, was convicted of killing Ria Ramlochan, 26, and her 18-month-old son, Ishmael Timothy Ragbir, in 2005.
Ramlochan’s body was found in the pit of a latrine at her Solomon Street, Mayaro, home on August 13, 2005. There were stab wounds to her chest and abdomen. baby The baby boy’s body was found in a fishing net on the bank of the Mafeking River.
Ramlochan and her son were last seen alive on the night of August 10, 2005. Three days later, baby Ishmael Timothy Ragbir’s decomposing body was found on the banks of the river in the fishing net.
Investigations led police to the baby’s home where they found an outhouse and saw Ramlochan’s leg protruding from the pit. When the decomposing and bloated body was removed from the pit, there were three holes in the chest.
Baboolal, reportedly confessed to the murders. he admitted to being at home with Ria Ramlochan and got into a physical altercation with her. He told the police that the woman attacked him with a knife and he disarmed her and stabbed her.
Pembroke Pines city officials hope an upcoming meeting will shed light on the health department’s position on the city’s water quality.
The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the City Commission chambers at 10100 Pines Blvd.
“The mayor has called this special meeting because he wants to hear directly from the Florida Department of Health in person about what their advisory means, in the most layman’s of terms, and whether or not there should be any concern,” the city manager’s office said in a statement Tuesday.
The state health department took issue with a February 23 letter from the city, in which the city said the water was safe to drink.
In a letter to Pembroke Pines, the health department said at the end of 2016, half of the city’s six sampling sites had higher levels of trihalomethanes than allowed. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, trihalomethanes form when water disinfectants, such as chlorine, react with organic material in water.
One sample site remains above the limit, meaning the city is still in violation of the regulation, the health department said. A health department spokesman said the City Commission requested Wednesday’s meeting to publicly answer questions about the violations and the quality of the water.
The city says the situation is not an emergency and water does not require boiling at this point, but said people who are pregnant, elderly or have a severely compromised immune system should consult a doctor before drinking the water.
2016 Olympic sprint-double champion, Elaine Thompson, and Olympic sprint relay gold medalist, Yohan Blake, will lead a Jamaican team to the IAAF World Relays set for Nassau, Bahamas, on April 22-23.
The squad that will compete in the 4x100m, 4x200m, and 4x400m for both men and women as well as a 4x400m mixed relay.
World-record holder and eight-time Olympic gold medalist, Usain Bolt, will not be in attendance. Bolt had earlier this year indicated earlier that he would not be racing at the games as he prepares to defend his titles at the IAAF World Athletic Championships in London this summer.
Also absent is two-time Olympic 100m champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who is pregnant with her first child.
Thompson, leads a cast of female sprinters that includes World Indoor Tour 60-metre champion Gayon Evans, 2016 Olympic finalist Christania Williams and 2017 Inter-collegiate sprint double champion Sasha Lee Forbes.
Elaine Thompson…to captain Jamaica’s World Relay squad
Also included in the squad is Jura Levy, who has shown a return to form since she returned to Jamaica from the United States two seasons ago.
The team also boasts a strong quarter-mile contingent including Inter-collegiate champion Verone Chambers, Olympic mile-relay silver medalist, Christine Day, Olympic 400m bronze medalist, Shericka Jackson, relay silver medalists Anneisha McLaughlin-Whilby and Stephenie Ann McPherson.
The female squad also includes Olympic 400-metre hurdles finalists, Janieve Russell and Ristanana Tracey, 2016 World Junior 400m champion Tiffany James, and middle distance runner Natoya Goule.
Blake leads a men’s squad that includes former world-record holder, Asafa Powell, 2014 Commonwealth Games 100m champion Kemar Bailey-Cole, intercollegiate champion Everton Clarke, and Jevaughn Minzie. Julian Forte, Nickel Ashmeade, Oshane Bailey and Rasheed Dwyer are also expected to make up the sprint relay squad..
Veteran coaches Paul Francis, Jerry Holness, Michael Clarke, Renardo Walcott and Patrick Dawson will be in charge of preparing the athletes for competition. Paul Auden has been named team doctor.
A team from social media giant, Facebook, is scheduled to visit Jamaica next month for the official launch of a partnership with the Ministry of Education to broadcast “Ananda Alerts” – the system used to report missing children.
“This partnership will enable the broadcast of Ananda Alerts on the pages of all Facebook users in Jamaica, which will ensure that we have a larger pool searching for our children when they go missing,” said Floyd Green, the Minister of State in the Education Ministry.
Green made the revelation during his contribution to the 2017/2018 Sectoral Debate in Parliament earlier this month.
The Ananda Alert system for reporting missing children was launched on May 19, 2009.
It was named in honor of Ananda Dean, an 11-year-old student of a Corporate Area school who went missing on September 17, 2008. The two-week search for her ended in despair as her headless, decomposing body was found in bushes.
The system was devised in the hopes of increasing the chances of recovering missing children by getting information out to the public faster.
Under the Ananda Alert programme, when a child goes missing, a report is made to the nearest police station or by calling 119. The police will then alert all Ananda Alert stakeholders including the media houses, mobile companies, local authorities, parish councils; and these will then mobilize community groups.
After 12-hours, photos of the missing child will be placed on electronic/mobile billboards, in shops, supermarkets, community centre, church halls, schools and post offices.
The plight of missing children, will be one of several issues to be addressed by recently appointed Jamaican Commissioner of Police, George Quallo, who will assume office on April 18. His appointment was announced earlier this week by National Security Minister Robert Montague. Quallo is a former Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) who enlisted in the Jamaica Constabulary Force on November 29, 1976.
Quallo says his mandate is to enhance the security services to the country, improving public order, reducing corruption and improving accountability across the force. The new Commissioner will also be tasked to implement a comprehensive succession planning process for the Directorate of Constabulary.
Palm Beach County Commissioner Melissa McKinlay, along with her fellow county commissioners, approved an initiative that aims to reduce human trafficking by training county employees on its signs and conducting awareness campaigns to educate the public.
Human trafficking is the second most common criminal activity worldwide, behind only the illicit drug trade, and Florida is home to the third-most human trafficking activity in the United States.
This initiative, which will include in-person training with staff, the production of educational videos for new county employees, and the creation of a website to house resources and educational materials, builds upon previous efforts the county has undertaken to combat human trafficking.
On January 1, 2016, Palm Beach County became the first in the state to require adult entertainment and massage/bodywork establishments to display human trafficking public awareness signs in a conspicuous location or face fines.
On February 2, 2017, to coincide with Super Bowl weekend—one of the busiest times of the year for human trafficking in the United States— Commissioner McKinlay, in partnership with the Association of Club Executives and Homeland Security Investigations, held a training session for operators of adult entertainment establishments to help them recognize, report, and rescue potential victims.
“Human trafficking is one of the most heinous crimes imaginable,” Commissioner McKinlay said, “and by maximizing our existing county resources and partnerships, we are going to build upon our ongoing effort to eradicate it.”
Wedding bells are in the air. Asafa Powell is officially now off the market. He popped the big question to Canadian model girlfriend Alyshia Akua Miller.
Powell was once the world’s fastest man and has the most sub 10 second clocking of any 100 meter sprinter. Despite not achieving individual gold medals at the World and Olympic Championships, he is still regarded of one of the premier sprinters of his generation.
Asafa’s career coming to an end
The 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia may be the last time Asafa Powell don’s his running spikes. Asafa Powell, who is now engaged, may be looking to engage in activities other than running in the near future.
“I am not thinking about 2020 right now, the farthest I will be going is 2018, maybe the Commonwealth Games and that’s where I see myself, just two years and not 2020,” said Powell, who was in India as brand ambassador for Airtel Delhi Half Marathon’s (ADHM) on Sunday.
Powell, who was part of the winning 2008 quartet in 4x100m relay at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, said the competition in track and field was growing with each passing day.
“In Rio 100m finals, there were six runners who ran under 10. Currently there are so many people who can run sub 10s,” he said.
“Sports is evolving. The athletes are getting more technical. The coaches are doing a lot more. The sport has come a long way. Eight athletes in the finals who all were capable of going sub 10s.”
“A lot has changed and it’s going to get better and better as we go further. We know guys from all over the world who can run sub 10s, may be we will have guys from India who can run sub 10s soon,” he added.
Within the past five years in Florida, suicide by train has been steadily increasing, according to the Federal Railroad Administration records.
Since 2011 there have been over 220 train related deaths within Florida. Over 80 of those deaths have been linked to suicide.
In 2016 there were 11 reported suicide related deaths by train in the state. The number represents a decrease from the 19 suicides by train which were recorded during 2015. The railroad officials, however, report that death by train has been on a rise for the past four years.
On March 26, a male pedestrian was struck and killed by a Tri-Rail train in Oakland Park in what appeared to be another suicide. Five days earlier, a Deltona woman, Jeanmarie Baker, 61, was killed when she laid on the railroad tracks in Flagler County.
In February there were two other suspected suicide by train in Volusia County, Florida.
Death by train is not recent, in fact death by train has been around since the introduction of the railroads in America.
Thanks to Henry Flagler who built a settlement in St. Augustine, Florida in 1883, Florida received its first railway. While Flagler was building his hotel, now known as Flagler College, he bought and built the Florida East Coast Railway and by 1912 the tracks reached down to Key West.
In 1893, US Federal law mandated all trains have air brakes and a coupler to stop them, due to the rise of accidents involving fatalities of brakemen and other railroad workers.
Even with the required brakes system, it’s difficult to stop a train in time to avoid striking a person with a death wish as the locomotive, travelling at high speeds and weighing tons, need time and distance to stop.
There are several factors why people decide to commit suicide by train including mental health and substance abuse issues, social isolation, and sudden events they find devastating.
But suicide by train isn’t the only means that some persons choose to end their life.
A recent report by the Broward Department of Health revealed last year 10 Broward teens aged 14-17 committed suicide, up from two to five per year over the past decade.
In addition, a survey of about 1,500 high and middle school students in 2015 found that 3.5 percent (4.3 percent of girls) were injured attempting suicide, up from 2.2 percent in 2007.
About 14 percent of students (16.5 percent of girls) made plans to commit suicide, highest since the 1990s. More than 30 percent (38 percent of girls) reported feelings of sadness and hopelessness for at least two weeks.
Reasons for the increased anxiety among teens range from family problems caused by the economic downturn, pressure to succeed, concerns over appearance, and bullying.
Lesbian, gay and bisexual students, as well as Hispanic teen girls are at elevated risk for suicidal thoughts, says Charlene Grecsek, Coordinator of the Network for Students with Emotional / Behavioral Disabilities at Broward public schools.
Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister, Dr Keith Rowley, has attempted to assure his country that he is in good health and said talk to the contrary was being spread by ‘some idiot on Face Book.
Speaking in the Trinidadian parliament on Tuesday, Rowley, declared that he had no intention of making his medical records public to appease those who have been spreading rumors about his health.
“This country has been so accustomed to being lied to by its leaders that when you’re telling the truth they can’t deal with it. I was as open as any Prime Minister has ever been in this country about my health but it seems as though some people would like to wish me a particular kind of health,” Rowley said.
Rowley said he was unbothered by the rumours and questioned why the media was giving the issue any attention.
Argentinean UN peacekeeper holds a baby download during distribution of water and food to victims of tropical storm Hanna
The head of the United Nations Stabilization Mission (MUNUSTAH), Sandra Honoré, says the mission will cease operations in Haiti within six months.
Addressing the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday, Honoré said that the progress achieved during the past 13 years in Haiti’s stabilization process is notable and it “is therefore timely to reshape the partnership among the international community, the United Nations and Haiti with a view to ensuring the sustainability of this progress.
The UN mission, established in June 2004 by a UN Security Council resolution, succeeded a Multinational Interim Force (MIF) after then President Bertrand Aristide departed Haiti for exile in the aftermath of an armed conflict, which spread, to several cities across the country.
Honoré says government leadership and ownership will be as crucial for a sustainable transition process that underpins the implementation of the Secretary-General’s recommendation for the future of the United Nations’ presence in Haiti as will be a shift in focus of the international community’s support, away from stabilization to institutional strengthening.
Caribbean-American actress Grace Byers of the Fox Television smash hit EMPIRE will be receiving the Rising Sun Award at the 2017 Caribbean Heritage Salute to Hollywood & Excellence Gala.
The Caribbean Heritage Organization’s (CHO) Gala will be held on Saturday, June 17 at the Hilton Universal Studios in Hollywood, California.
The Caymanian actress is known for her breakout role as ‘Anika Calhoun’ on the hit drama where she stars opposite Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson.
Grace recently shot the indie thriller “Bent,” opposite, Karl Urban, Sofia Vergara and Andy Garcia and is working on her first book, I Am Enough, a motivational time for young girls who face bullying, out in 2018.
She is married to fellow EMPIRE co-star Trai Byers.
Housing and Urban Development Secretary locked into elevator at Miami apartment complex
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson got stuck in an elevator Wednesday morning during a visit to an apartment complex in South Florida.
Carson, who is embarking on a national listening tour to public housing locations in Miami, suffered anxious moments before he was freed.
Carson was meeting with former Miami Heat star Alonso Mourning at the Courtside Family Apartments when the elevator door malfunctioned. Fire-fighters were called to free him.
He was stuck in the elevator for about 15 minutes. He then opted to take the stairs.
Mourning is behind the development of the affordable housing project at 1699 NW Fourth Ave. that opened last year.
Carson is also expected to hold several meetings Wednesday and Thursday in Miami and Miami Gardens.
An exciting batting performance by Jamaica fast bowler Keyonie Gayle, sent his team into the semi-finals of the Lauderhill T20 night cricket tournament with a narrow one wicket win over the Combines Islands at the Lauderhill Sports Park on Saturday.
The Jamaicans were teetering on 153-9 needing another 22 to win. But Gayle was in no mood to hang around and played an innings worthy of a top order batsman as he slammed seven boundaries off the first seven deliveries he faced to end on 32 not out in the 17th over.
The bowler turned batsman slapped half Yorkers for four and launched good length deliveries out of the ground onto Oakland Park Boulevard or into nearby lakes. Gayle’s boundaries were elegant, his hitting was positive, and he was determined to take his team to victory.
He was supported by Omari Williams with 49 and O Jones who scored 28.
Combined Islands top order batmen got good starts but failed to carry on and pressure the Jamaicans with a bigger total. Joey Pierre top scored with 32 while G. White chipped in with 26 not out, A. Scott 24, R. Ebanks 24 and D. James 17.
Bowling for Jamaica, G. Campbell claimed 2 for 27, O. Brown 1/23, D. Hyatt 1/28, G. Wallace 1/28 and O. Williams 1/30.
Bowling for Combined Islands, David Braithwaite bagged 2 for 27, R. Ebanks 1/21, G.White 1/23 and A. Scott 1/31.
The competition continues on Saturday, April 22 with India versus the Lauderhill Select XI followed by Pakistan versus Trinidad and Tobago at All matches are played at the Lauderhill Sports Park, 7500 W. Oakland Park Blvd, Lauderhill.
Police in Miami-Dade are searching for two suspects who broke into a house at SW 184 Street in Miami on Wednesday.
The two men, both wearing black masks and black hoodies, were captured on surveillance video breaking and entering the home through a rear window. One of the men was sporting a handgun. Police say one of the robbers is six feet two inches tall while the other is about five feet, eleven inches tall.
The men smashed the window, before opening it. Once inside the robber in possession of the firearm pointed it in the direction of two bedrooms. As they ransacked the residence they found the keys to the homeowner’s Honda Pilot motor vehicle. They continued to ransack the house and stole over $81,000 in property before making their escape in the victim’s vehicle.
The vehicle was recovered hours later.
Investigators are seeking the assistance of the community in identifying and locating the suspects. Anyone with information regarding this incident is urged to contact Crimestoppers at (305) 471-TIPS (8477).
In some circles world 400 meters record holder Wayde van Niekerk is seen as the successor to the world’s fastest man Usain Bolt.
Bolt brought a brand of showmanship and glitter that was lacking from the sport and while admitting that he will never be the showman Bolt is, van Niekerk believes there are similarities between himself and world’s fastest man Usain Bolt.
The South African is harboring dreams of one day eclipsing the world marks set by Bolt in the shorter sprints.
Van Niekerk trained alongside Bolt before shattering Michael Johnson’s longstanding 400 meter world. He is the first and only man to run the event in 44 seconds.
“A lot of people say, ‘Wayde, you need to be more of an entertainer. I am not that type but I see qualities I share with Usain Bolt, and that brings a form of comfort even if it won’t sell T-shirts,” ,” the athlete told The Times on Tuesday.
The South African sprinter could go a long way to begin picking up the mantle if he successfully attempts the 200, 400 double at the London World Championships. Van Niekerk the only athlete to run 44 seconds for the 400 meters, 20 seconds for the 200 meters and 10 seconds for the 100 meters.
“I am a 100, 200 and 400 athlete so will dream for every record there is,” Van Niekerk said. “What sort of athlete would I be if I didn’t?”
