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PUMA announced that Cedella Marley, fashion designer and daughter of Jamaican reggae icon Bob Marley will design the Jamaican Track and Field team’s Olympic, podium and ceremony wear for the London 2012 Olympic Games. The designs will be worn by the entire team, including three-time Olympic gold medallist, fastest man in the world and PUMA athlete Usain Bolt. Cedella Marley began designing clothes while she was on tour with Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers, a band comprised of her brothers and sisters. Her fashion brand, Catch A Fire, named after her father’s first album, debuted in 2001 and encompasses a tailored bohemian style with vivid colors and prints.

(AP) A Jamaican man has been sentenced in New York to 20 years in prison for his role in smuggling cocaine and marijuana into the U.S. using commercial airlines. David Christie was sentenced Thursday in Manhattan federal court after being found guilty of narcotics importation and distribution conspiracy. The 44-year-old from Montego Bay was also ordered to forfeit over $3 million. Court documents say the scheme involved hiding narcotics beneath airplane toilets or behind panels in the cargo sections of U.S-bound planes departing Jamaica. Coconspirators working as passengers or luggage handlers would then collect the drugs and distribute them. Prosecutors say Christie smuggled into the U.S. more than 330 pounds of cocaine and...

Janet Jackson has chosen teen super group Mindless Behavior to join her as sole support on 12 dates of her North American NUMBER ONES: Up Close & Personal Tour. They will perform with her in Chicago, Toronto, Boston, Uncasville, New York and Washington, DC. Janet said; Before hitting the road with Janet the group will head overseas for 13 dates in the UK with Jason Derulo. Mindless Behavior’s debut single “My Girl” is available for purchase on iTunes. TOUR DATES: 3/7 Chicago Chicago Theater 3/8 Chicago Chicago Theater 3/9 Chicago Chicago Theater 3/12...

Today, February 1, is the first day of Black History Month. It may be the shortest month of the year, but Black History is an unending story. Black History is a painful journey, to say the least; however, there are also stories of hope and victory throughout Black History. In terms of its recognition in the United States, Black History dates as far back as the early 1600s. According to a Black History Timeline on www.biography.com, the first African slaves were brought to America in 1619. After nearly 200 years, in 1808, the United States banned the import of slaves, who were being brought to the Americas via the deadly and unsanitary triangular trade. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation...

A Bronx minister was arrested and charged with rape on Friday after reportedly having sex with a parishioner, a girl from the time she was 12 years old according to prosecutors. The minister named Michael Clare is a 38 year-old head of the Harvest Worship Center in Wakefield. It’s now said that the girl who is 15 years old is pregnant. On June 14 of last year Clare was arrested on second-degree rape charges but it wasn’t until Friday that a Grand Jury moved the charges to first-degree rape charges. The Jamaican born Clare was a child prodigy preacher who became a pastor at the age of 26 according to data from his MySpace page that also shows videos and pictures of him preaching and promoting him as a stand up person. The...

Upcoming artiste Demar "Copper Cat" Graham was gunned down last night in front of his gate and allegedly robbed of his Blackberry cellular phone. He was 22 years old. According to reports, Copper Cat was shot dead by unknown assailants at his home on Cassandra Avenue in Kingston 10 at approximately 10:30 p.m. Thursday night. The said address is also the home of singer Richie Stephens, who is the adoptive father of the victim. Copper Cat was first introduced into the music business at eight years old with the song Stay in School. He took a break from music and attended Jamaica College until 2007. The artiste was trying to make his return last year with a song called Life Goes On. Our condolences to the family & friends of the...

(AP)To suit an altered music landscape, MTV is planning an untraditional award show celebrating digital music. The network says it's prepping an as-yet unnamed, multiplatform award show for April or May that will exult digital music and its many varied incarnations. The exact nature of the show hasn't yet been defined, but MTV says it will be a "multiscreen experience," including the Internet, social media and mobile — but not broadcast. Categories for awards haven't been determined, but they'll include things like best app, best blog, best Internet feud, best music meme of the year and best Kanye West tweet. MTV hopes the show will do for digital music what its Video Music Awards did for the music video. Van Toffler...

Beenie Man was diagnosed with a hip condition which required him to undergo corrective surgery to fix the problem. As a result of the surgery, Beenie Man will at home resting and taking a break from the music scene for a short period in order to facilitate the recovery process.

Air Jamaica is set to resume flights from London to Jamaica this summer. Flights to from London Heathrow to the Jamaican capital Kingston will operate three times a week from July. Air Jamaica previously operated Kingston flights from Heathrow until 2007. The Jamaican flag carrier has since merged with Caribbean Airlines and is now confident it can successfully compete for passengers with British Airways and Virgin Atlantic on flights from London to Jamaica. Large numbers of the Anglo-Jamaican community are expected to descend on the island next year as it celebrates 50 years of independence from Britain. Many Jamaicans will be flying in the opposite direction for the London 2012 Olympics, where the island’s athletics team are...

A question to all men: Would you remove your wife’s or girlfriend’s underwear from the clothesline or from the washer or dryer? I have asked this question quite a few times before and I never failed to get the same answer. As I finished typing the previous sentence, I decided to ask this question once more, in a desperate attempt to find a man who would do for his wife or girlfriend the same thing she usually does for him without giving it a thought. I asked the interviewee, “Would you take your girlfriend’s panties out of the washer for her?” To my surprise, he answered “Yes.” Finally! So then my second question to him was, “Would you take them off the clothesline outside?” He quickly responded with, “If the bush fence...

The International Monetary Fund’s executive board said it concluded its third review of a loan to Jamaica and approved the release of $49.3 million. The loan brings the amount released under the fund’s standby agreement with Jamaica to about $838 million, the IMF said today in an e-mailed statement. The fund’s board approved a 27-month loan agreement in February for $1.27 billion to help the island nation cope with the global economic downturn.

11 Jamaican nurses who work in the public health sector, along with their educators, will leave the island tomorrow for Cuba to obtain practical experience in the area of nephrology. The nurses will spend a week in Cuba, in an effort geared at strengthening Jamaica’s dialysis program. Source: Jamaica Observer

Jovan "Pretty Rick" Rouse was an MC otherwise known as the "mic man" for Tek 9 Sound. ReggaeMe has been informed that Pretty Ricky passed away while he was asleep last night. Cause of death appears to be an heart attack. ReggaeMe would like to send its condolences to the family of Pretty Ricky, Tek 9, Tek 9 Virgin Island, Tek 9 Europe, Gully Squad, UK Family and the entire clashing fraternity for the loss of a true Reggae & Dancehall music lover. Pretty Rick Viewing to be held This Friday January 14 at St Lukes Lutheran Church Located at 259 Washington Ave Bt Willoughby Ave and Dekalb Ave Brooklyn, Ny 11205 Begining at 2pm with Services proceeding at 7pm.

Reggae star Gyptian brought in the New Year in style as his smash hit "Hold You" was voted as the #2 song of the year on New York's WQHT HOT97. The rhythmic powerhouse in the top media market in the nation conducted a contest for listeners to vote for their favorite song of the year, and Gyptian was favored all the way to the number two spoon the Hot 97 Songs of the Year countdown, second only to Drake. This comes on the heels of Gyptian being ranked a top artist internationally and his single "Hold You" as one of the hottest songs of 2010 by numerous media outlets worldwide, capping off a stunning year for the artist and landing him everywhere from Billboard Magazine to the New York Times and in an upcoming piece in the Wall Street...

(AP) Jamaica's health minister is warning the public to take care when they prepare the popular but potentially deadly ackee fruit following an increase in poisoning cases. Minister Rudyard Spencer says 35 people have fallen ill since last month after eating unripened ackees, the country's national fruit. The red-skinned fruit with golden flesh produces a compound known as hypoglycin that can reach dangerous levels when it is picked too early and is not ripe. The toxin can cause a drop in blood sugar and vomiting, and, in rare cases, convulsions, coma and death. Spencer said in a statement Friday that all of the poisoning cases involved ackees cooked at home. He said that the ministry will bolster a public-education campaign on...

(AP) Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding is ordering government agencies to cooperate fully with an investigation into the proposed sale of Jamaica's interest in a luxury hotel. Golding says agencies must work with Jamaica's contractor general in a probe of the proposed divestment of Sandals Whitehouse Hotel in Westmoreland, a western parish of the island. The contractor general has said the government's divestment documents raise what it calls "significant questions of national import." In Parliament on Tuesday, Golding said Jamaican taxpayers will shoulder a substantial portion of the $120 million-plus that has been spent on a project that he says was "very badly executed." He says divestment would "minimize the losses."

(AP) Police in Jamaica say a motorist lost control of his car and crashed into a house where a wake was being held, killing four people and injuring three. Police Cpl. Natalie Lawrence says the driver of a Toyota Caldina swerved off the busy Bustamante Highway in Clarendon parish in southern Jamaica and slammed into a home where dozens of mourners were gathered before dawn Sunday. Lawrence says the three injured are being treated at a hospital, including the driver. She says the driver is under police guard as authorities investigate the crash.

Adidjah Palmer born January 7, 1975, better known as Vybz Kartel celebrates his birthday today. Since his initial introduction as a deejay in 2002, Kartel quickly established himself as one of the most domineering lyricist in Dancehall. In 2003, he nearly topped the Billboard Reggae Chart for the most singles sold, coming in second to Elephant Man. He has released five albums: Up 2 Di Time (Greensleeves; 2003); More Up 2 Di Time (Greensleeves; 2004); Timeless (Greensleeves; 2004); JMT (Greensleeves; 2006); and The Teacher’s Back (released independently; 2008). His latest album Pon Di Gaza, released in late September 2009, is his debut album on his newly established label Adidjahiem/Notnice Records.

Cops are searching for Carrie Dixon, 25, a suspect in a homicide around 5:30 a.m. on New Year's Day in the area of Phil "Scooter" Rizzuto Park in Queens. Dead is Dwayne Haughton, 29. Cops heard shots and found Haughton on the ground at 127th Street and 94th Avenue with gunshot wounds in his neck and chest. He was DOA at Jamaica Hospital. Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline, 800-577-TIPS. You can also submit tips at nypdcrimestoppers.com or text them to 274637 (CRIMES), then enter TIP577.

According to Nielson Soundscan Nicki Minaj has just been certified platinum after six weeks on the shelf. In today's Hip Hop market is almost unheard of to go platinum this quickly. Pink Friday has made the statement that female rappers are a viable option in a male-dominated industry. Nicki Minaj Said;