Body of second Jamaican who jumped from US bridge found Loop Jamaica

/0 Comments/in /by

Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: Jamaica News Loop News
Loop News

4 hrs ago

The Bulgin brothers

NEWYou can now listen to Loop News articles!

A body matching the description of one of the two brothers from Jamaica who went missing last weekend after jumping from a Martha’s Vineyard bridge featured in the movie “Jaws” has been found, state police said Thursday.

The body was discovered by a shell fisherman on the edge of a pond on the Massachusetts resort island at about 11:30am, agency spokesperson David Procopio wrote in a statement.

Related Article

“The body matches the description of Tavaughn Bulgin, 21, who has been the subject of a week-long ongoing search since he went missing Sunday night,” the statement said.

The body of Tavaris Bulgin, 26, Tavaughn’s brother, was recovered on Monday morning.

Related Article

The Bulgin brothers were seasonal workers at a restaurant on the island where much of the 1975 movie was filmed. They and two friends jumped from the bridge late Sunday night. The other two made it out of the water.

Commonly called the Jaws Bridge, it links the towns of Oak Bluffs and Edgartown. Also known as the Big Bridge, it is officially the American Legion Memorial Bridge, and spans an inlet that connects Nantucket Sound with Sengekontacket Pond.

Despite signs prohibiting the activity, thrill seekers are frequently seen jumping from the span.

Authorities have said no foul play is suspected.

Source

Related Articles

More From

Jamaica News

The 15-year-old boy vacationing in Jamaica from the US, who was last week shot by the security forces during a raid in Seaview Gardens, St Andrew, is now out of hospital after a successful operati

Jamaica News

The producer of The Best Dressed Chicken, Jamaica Broilers, has announced a cut in prices for some of its products.

Effective August 18, prices for The Best Dressed Chicken Grade-A Whole Bird and

Jamaica News

For many Jehovah’s Witnesses living in Jamaica, a day well-spent in the ministry includes sharing with the public.

Jehovah’s Witnesses can often be seen making use of carts featuring a positi

NewsAmericasNow.com

‘Knife wielding robber’ fatally shot by cops on Waltham Park Road Loop Jamaica

/0 Comments/in /by

Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: Jamaica News Loop News

The Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) commenced investigations into a police fatal shooting of an unidentified man along Waltham Park Road. The incident took place on Thursday, August 18 at about 2:00 am.

The police have stated that two officers were traveling along Waltham Park Road when they were alerted by a female who alleged she was being robbed by a man with a knife.

The officers report that during their intervention they were attacked by the man with a knife. In response, both officers fired their weapons in the direction of the man. The injured man was transported to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The Commission seeks the assistance of the public with identifying the deceased, who is of dark complexion and has plaited hair and a birthmark on his left thigh.

Persons with information regarding the deceased and/or this incident are encouraged to contact the Commission’s Head Office or send any information, photos or videos to INDECOM’s official WhatsApp at (876)553-5555.

The concerned officers provided initial accounts of the incident to the Investigative team and were each served a Section 21 Notice to provide a statement and attend the office of the Commission to be interviewed.

The incident scene was processed by INDECOM and included the collection of forensic exhibits, namely the recovered weapon, a knife, and the service firearms of the concerned officers.

NewsAmericasNow.com

Jamaica ranks second on human flight and brain drain index Loop Jamaica

/0 Comments/in /by

Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: Jamaica News Loop News

Jamaica has been ranked at second place out of 177 countries on the 2022 edition of the human flight and brain drain index.

The ranking, which is compiled by business and economics website the GlobalEcomomy.com, assesses “the economic impact of human displacement (for economic or political reasons) and the consequences this may have on a country’s development”.

The higher the index, the greater the human displacement, Global Economy’s website said.

Jamaica has a human flight and brain drain index score of 9.1, with Samoa topping the list with a perfect score of 10.

Of note, Global Economy said it arrived at its index indicator for each country by examining available data between 2007 and 2022 from a wide range of sources, including national authorities, the World Bank, United Nations (UN), and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

“For that indicator, we provide data for Jamaica from 2007 to 2022. The average value for Jamaica during that period was 7.66 index points with a minimum of 6.3 index points in 2009 and a maximum of 9.1 index points in 2022,” the website said.

“The latest value from 2022 is 9.1 index points. For comparison, the world average in 2022 based on 177 countries is 5.21 index points,” it added.

Elsewhere on the index, Palestine placed third with a score of 8.8, while Micronesia and Somalia rounded out the top five with a similar score of 8.7 index points.

Haiti and Guyana were the only other Caribbean nations in the top 10, being ranked in ninth and tenth place, respectively. Haiti had a score of 8.2 index points, while Guyana received 8.1.

Human flight and brain drain index country rankings

Australia was the least country in the world affected by brain drain, receiving the lowest score of 0.4.

The Global Economy’s human flight and brain drain indicator also ranked Sweden (0.6), Norway (0.7), and Canada (0.8) as some of the other countries least impacted by migration or human displacement caused by economic and/or political reasons.

Locally, Prime Minister Andrew Holness had recently weighed in on the issue of migration by suggesting that it has impacted the country negatively, with numerous members of the middle class migrating.

Additionally, he said young people are increasingly frustrated by the lack of opportunities and proper housing in Jamaica and are eyeing migration to developed countries.

Teachers, for example, are said to be leaving the island due to the very reasons the prime minister has mentioned, according to several stakeholders in the education sector.

“Somehow they [young persons] look at other countries, they see what is happening in other countries, and they say, ‘Why can’t it happen here? Why do we have all the problems that we have?’

“It is infuriating to many of them, and when we talk to them, particularly the millennials, they just want to leave. They want to just go overseas and enjoy the benefits that are existing in other developed countries,” Holness said earlier this month.

He noted, as well, that Jamaica has suffered from migration since post-Independence, especially since the 1970s.

“Since the 1970s, there has been a migration of Jamaica’s middle class… No country can progress without building its middle class. The middle class isn’t a bourgeoisie concept. The middle class is the segment of your society, where skills and entrepreneurism and innovation exist,” he explained.

“Unfortunately, we have been losing them, and one of the reasons we have been losing them is security… job opportunities, maybe another, but we are slowly conquering that.”

Another issue driving middle-class persons away from the country is the quality of infrastructure, including housing, Holness then claimed.

“In our 60th year, we have to confront this, and make a commitment to improve our infrastructure, so that people can feel that they are living in a modern society,” he stated.

“So we are appealing to the young people in our country to consider that ‘Project Jamaica’ is not complete, and you have a role, not just to be critical of the incompleteness and failures of ‘Project Jamaica’, but you have a role in making ‘Project Jamaica’ a success,” urged Holness.

NewsAmericasNow.com

Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana collaborate to make trade easier

/0 Comments/in /by

Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: Trinidad and Tobago Newsday

News

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley looks on as Guyana’s President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali signs the visitors’ book at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s on Thursday. Photo by Sureash Cholai

Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister and Guyana’s President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali have committed to working together to make trade easier among Caricom member states.

One of the ways they plan to do so is by reducing the many non-tariff barriers which stand in the way of production.

Dr Rowley and Ali said a task force has been developed to treat with the non-tariff barriers, and standardise and define policies for trade.

At a news conference at the Diplomatic Center in Port of Spain, after bi-lateral talks on trade, transport, energy and agriculture, Rowley explained that the non-tariff barriers – restrictions on trade outside of tariff systems – will undermine Caricom’s goals of creating an efficient single market and economy (SME) if not controlled.

He said in many cases policies to protect countries are used to limit or reject goods which could be traded.

“When I was agriculture minister, we wanted to sell pork to Jamaica,” he said.

“TT had a good pork-producing infrastructure here. But we couldn’t because, while there was no tariff against the meat from TT, a Jamaican interest group – mainly technical people – used animal health to say, ‘You TT had swine fever 25 years ago, therefore we cannot buy any pork from you because you might introduce swine fever into Jamaica.’ As a result of that, the pork business in TT, which was heavily supported by the TT government and the private sector, shrunk.”

He used Chile’s cattle production as another example, saying there was a time when its beef was extremely cheap because it could not be traded out of fear that meat from Chile’s cattle production could spread hand, foot and mouth disease.

“Today the same meat that is selling for $2 a cup in Chile is now being sold at the same price of New Zealand meat, because hand foot and mouth disease has been overcome in a way that you can produce it and sell it safely.

“If those systems are available to us in Caricom, then South American meat should be available to Caricom nations. But someone in TT with a degree in something says if the meat is coming from South America, it has hand foot and mouth disease and it cannot come here.”

“Sometimes a customs officer by him or herself, using the customs law of the country, would say this or that cannot come in. And a lot of that is happening in Caricom,” Rowley said.

Ali added, policies are widely open to interpretation by public servants monitoring what enters through the ports, and this serves as a barrier to trade. The task force will deal with this issue, he said.

“You can ask ten public servants to interpret a statute and they might give you ten different interpretations. What we want to do in this task force is to have the interpretation done for them by the policymakers so no individual will try to interpret a statute outside of what is given,” Ali said.

“When you craft legislation and law you will see in front you will have each term and the definitions. We will have to, in this task force, define a lot of these things so that its subjectivity will be removed.”

Rowley added that in terms of average trade, decisions are made at individual ports, but the barriers which exist in each Caricom state differs.

“You would find that the non-tariff barrier in St Vincent is different to the one in Grenada or Trinidad, and that is what we are trying to get out of,” Rowley said.

“If we say that we have a single market and economy, that should mean something. A perfect working SME means that you have no impediment to goods, people or financing, going to any part of the market.”

Ali said work has already started for the task force, as many of the barriers have been identified and listed. He said both governments would keep the public informed on its progress.

Asked what would be the effect of the removal of these non-tariff barriers, Rowley said the effect would be “significant.”

The meeting and subsequent news conference was part of Ali’s three-day state visit to TT, where he was expected to tour industrial sites and participate in TT’s Agri-Investment Forum and Expo, being held from Friday to Sunday.

In May a memorandum of understanding was signed between Rowley and Ali to identify and eliminate non-tariff barriers between TT and Guyana.

NewsAmericasNow.com

NEMO Conducts Field Hospital Refresher Training – St. Lucia Times News

/0 Comments/in /by

Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: St. Lucia Times News

– Advertisement –

On Thursday, the National Emergency Management Organisation (NEMO) conducted refresher training on setting up a field hospital donated by the U.S Southern Command (SOUTHCOM).

The Ministry of Health and the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force (RSLPF) assisted.

“We are trying to get the team who originally set up the field hospital in Vieux Fort about six months ago. We are trying to get them back so they can brush up on their skills to be able to set up the field hospital or components of it in record time,” explained NEMO Acting Director Maria Medard.

Medard disclosed that the exercise would assist the locals if there was a need to urgently set up the field hospital because of a disaster or another pandemic.

– Advertisement –

She noted that there are options for different field hospital patterns.

“They are going to use a different pattern to what was set up in Vieux Fort so today they’re looking at putting up a 20-bed field hospital just for the day,” the Acting NEMO Director told reporters.

She said the exercise was important.

“We have the field hospital. It can serve as shelter. It can also serve when we deploy the police. So it’s important that they know how to set it up so it can be used,” the NEMO official stated.

– Advertisement –

NewsAmericasNow.com

GRENADA-LABOUR-Union alleges public service workers being transferred or fired on the sister isle

/0 Comments/in /by

Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: Cana News Business

Post Content

NewsAmericasNow.com

Tres Navy viert succes ‘OMG’ met videoclip

/0 Comments/in /by

Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: De Ware Tijd Online

door Shanavon Arsomedjo PARAMARIBO — ‘OMG’, het nummer van het duo Tres Navy, is al een jaar oud. Echter, het

NewsAmericasNow.com

Décès de Lisette Obydol : les stars de Zouk machine en deuil

/0 Comments/in /by

Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: Guadeloupe FranceAntilles

Nécrologie 

Madame Lisette Obydol est décédée, mercredi soir à l’âge de 89 ans. Elle était la maman de Christiane Obydol et de Guy Houllier, membres de Zouk machine et Expérience 7, deux groupes de musique qui ont eu un succès fou à la fin des années 70 et durant plusieurs décennies. Lisette Obydol était le manager de ces deux formations. Elle les a accompagnées en Europe, en Afrique, dans la Caraïbe, etc. Elle était connue pour être une femme redoutable en affaire et quand il s’agissait…


France-Antilles Guadeloupe

114 mots – 19.08.2022

NewsAmericasNow.com

HOA okays gov’t contract for Vanterpool

/0 Comments/in /by

Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: The BVI Beacon

Last week government backbencher Mark Vanterpool once again got permission to retain his seat in the House of Assembly while one of his businesses secures a government contract.

To make that happen, Premier Dr. Natalio “Sowande” Wheatley added a new resolution to the HOA order paper on Aug. 11, and it was immediately considered and voted through by members.

Under the Constitution, a member of the House must vacate their seat if they become a party to a government contract without receiving an exemption by a vote of the HOA.

In this case, a company for which Mr. Vanterpool serves as director — Shoreside East Development Limited — aims to rent out property located at Block 2838C Parcel 100 in Lower Estate, Road Town for use by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Labour, according to the resolution.

The proposed two-year contract, which would commence retroactively as of May 1, 2022, had not yet been formally signed as of Aug. 11, the resolution stated.

Dr. Wheatley noted that the ministry has been leasing space from Pusser’s, which Mr. Vanterpool acquired in March 2021.

“He inherited this lease, and he has not been able to move forward in signing a contract for the lease, because it must first come to the House of Assembly so that he can be exempted from vacating his seat,” the premier said.

There was no debate on Aug. 11 before members voted in favour of Mr. Vanterpool’s exemption. They then recessed, planning to return on Sept. 6.

Previous contracts

Mr. Vanterpool has sought similar exemptions in the past, including for Shoreside’s purchase of a building in the Lower Estate area from Maddog Limited on Nov. 3, 2021.

The government had a two-year lease for the third floor of that building dating back to May 11, 2020, and the remainder of the lease was being transferred to Mr. Vanterpool’s company.

The company was also in the process of negotiating with the government to lease additional space in the building.

Then-Premier Andrew Fahie said during a March 10 sitting that the disclosure was a simple matter of transparently abiding by the laws of the territory. There was no further debate before the motion passed.

COI review

The Commission of Inquiry recently drew attention to the exemption process during its investigation.

In hearings last year, COI Counsel Bilal Rawat cited two September 2020 resolutions, one of which exempted Mr. Vanterpool from vacating his seat due to the fact that his company K-Mark Foods, the parent company of One Mart, signed a contract with government to provide food packages to residents in need during the pandemic.

Mr. Vanterpool told the COI that he had been approached by the Department of Disaster Management and invited to supply the packages. He said he was exempted in the case of his contract to provide food packages during the pandemic lockdown, but he was not “regularly exempted” in the case of providing ongoing general food items for government.

The second resolution concerned the transfer of Crown land to Shoreside. In that case, he explained, the Ministry of Health and Social Development was purchasing approximately six acres of property from an individual, a portion of which contained a seabed lease of which four years had expired.

He said the Crown lease had to be transferred to Shoreside to facilitate the purchase of the property.

COI advice

The COI noted in its final report that the exemption option is necessary in a small territory because of “obvious practical difficulties” where a person may want to seek office without being excluded from competing for government business, as explained by Attorney General Dawn Smith.

However, COI Commissioner Sir Gary Hickinbottom also noted the importance of adhering to the provision that such declarations must be made “as soon as practicable” — and under clear guidelines.

The exemption process is now getting additional scrutiny.

Under the post-COI reform framework agreed by the United Kingdom and VI governments, the governor is required to select a suitable reviewer, such as a senior jurist, to review the practice of HOA members contracting with the government, including statutory boards. The completed review must be delivered to the governor and premier by Dec. 31.

Denniston Fraser, former managing director of the BVI Airports Authority, has been appointed to lead the review, Governor John Rankin announced on Aug. 10.

NewsAmericasNow.com

Water, sewerage authority in works

/0 Comments/in /by

Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: The BVI Beacon

Legislators gave the green light last week to create a new statutory body to oversee water and sewerage, claiming the move will help rectify longstanding infrastructure problems that have plagued residents for decades.

After debating how the move could potentially affect water costs in the territory, members of the House of Assembly passed the Water and Sewerage Authority Act, 2022 with amendments the evening of Aug. 11.

The amended version, which now awaits assent from Governor John Rankin, has not yet been made public.

Leaking money

Deputy Premier Kye Rymer, who is the minister of communications and works, introduced the bill, which came for a second and third reading on Aug. 9.

Legislators noted during debate — which was largely supportive of the proposed law — that the territory is struggling with water-and-sewerage issues that urgently need to be rectified.

In recent years, the Water and Sewerage Department — which is now part of central government — has spent about $22 million annually to subsidise water operations, with customers paying only about $5 million of the overall $27 million cost.

Mr. Rymer previously told the House in April 2021 that the biggest challenge with providing potable water is not production, but storage capabilities and distribution networks. He added that the existing infrastructure is aged and dilapidated, with frequent leaks and waterline breakages.

During the Aug. 9 debate, Mr. Rymer said he hopes the new bill will help address such issues and prompt dramatic improvements in water delivery.

However, HOA members including Opposition Leader Julian Fraser expressed concerns about the initial bill’s lack of detail on how the agency would operate.

“I don’t want to see this board formed and everyone expects a miracle from this board,” Mr. Fraser (R-D3) said during the debate.

He argued that the bill doesn’t provide a “map” for how the board will proceed with its tasks, and added that more details were needed.

“I am convinced that with proper leadership and using the existing model that we have, there is hope that an authority for water and sewerage can turn things around,” he said. “All we need is a minister who is committed and understands what the problems are.”

‘An opportunity’

Health and Social Development Minister Marlon Penn, however, said that it’s important to “fix the problems that we face” by trying something different.

“We need to give this shift an opportunity,” he added.

The minister also noted that many concerns surrounding the water system in the territory already had been voiced in the House.

“We have to ensure that there’s a clear policy position on the way forward for this authority, and I think the committee stages of this bill are going to be critical for us,” he said. “There are some very specific and deliberate things that we need to do as a House to ensure this authority functions the way it’s supposed to function.”

Mr. Penn (R-D8) also stressed the importance of accountability, transparency and value for money in establishing the board, and called for a strategic plan with a phased approach to fixing distribution issues.

“If we’re going to move, let’s move properly,” he said. “There’s too much money at stake. And not just the money: [Water] is a human right.”

Government backbencher Mark Vanterpool (R-D4) — a former minister of communications and works — said the bill may not be “perfect” but with “more experience” the government will be able to make amendments in the future.

Junior Minister for Trade and Economic Development Shereen Flax-Charles said she supports the bill, noting that the system needs improvements.

During the sitting, she shared messages that she’s received from residents who are “sick and tired” of the problems that have plagued the territory for decades.

“We have to fix this problem,” Ms. Flax-Charles (R-at large) said. “We have to try something different. We can’t continue to say that we’re one of the top destinations for tourism in the Caribbean and the locals, the residents, can’t get water and the tourists can’t get water.”

NewsAmericasNow.com