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Buju may not be familiar with how the country run: what make them fighting sensimilla making way for coke to come? I suppose Buju Banton was also “talking crap” in this song. Tapes have revealed that Buju is in fact familiar, maybe not so much with how the country runs, but with why sensimilla must make way for cocaine. In my younger years I held certain members of the reggae community with high regard. I felt inspired by their songs, their teachings of naturality, purity, love, righteousness and oneness. No disrespect to those upright men and women who adhere to those set of principles. But as I grow older I begin to see more clearly that some of those same people are no less phony than religious enthusiasts who preach a...

PRIME Minister Bruce Golding has dismissed allegations by United States-based media entity Caribbean Voice that he is the holder of a US Alien Registration Card, more popularly known as a Green Card. In a press release yesterday, Caribbean Voice — which said it is based in Brooklyn — alleged that Golding did not apply "to revoke his permanent residence before nomination day by filing form I-407, with his green card, at a US Embassy". But yesterday Golding denied the claims, admitting "that he had applied for and obtained a green card as far back as 1978", but that the visa was surrendered "when he deferred his plans to do postgraduate studies in the US and to return to Jamaica to support the JLP (Jamaica Labour Party) in its...

The long controversy over who hired Manatt, Phelps & Phillips for a controversial Jamaican lobbying assignment keeps getting murkier. The saga entered another chapter this week, as politically connected Kingston lawyer Harold Brady sued the country's prime minister for libel. Brady, a prominent backer of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party, has been a central character in Jamaican politics in recent months because of his purported role in retaining Manatt to lobby U.S. officials against the extradition of alleged drug lord Christopher Coke. Brady's suit, which accuses Prime Minister Bruce Golding of libeling him during a press conference last month, seeks an unspecified amount in damages. On September 14 Jamaican prime minister Bruce...

(AP)Soul singer Solomon Burke, who wrote "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love" and recorded the hit "Cry To Me" used in the movie "Dirty Dancing," has died at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport. He was 70. Airport police spokesman Robert van Kapel confirmed the death of the singer Sunday, and referred further questions to his management. Dutch national broadcaster NOS said he died on a plane early Sunday after arriving on a flight from Los Angles. The cause of death was not immediately clear. Burke, who was both a Grammy winner and a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, had been due to perform at a well-known club in Amsterdam on Tuesday. A Philadelphia native highly acclaimed by music critics, fellow musicians, and many loyal...

Buju Banton will have to wait a week longer to find out whether he'll get out on bail. The judge in the federal case, Anthony Porcelli, reserved judgment for a week in a hearing Wednesday in Tampa, Fla., saying he wanted to thoroughly review the arguments for and against bail. The prosecution maintains that Buju Banton is a flight risk; the defense counters that his fame means he couldn't flee.

(AP) It will take at least $125 million to repair flattened farmland, rutted roads, broken bridges and eroded beaches across storm-staggered Jamaica, the island's leader announced Tuesday. During his first address to parliament since the outer bands of Tropical Storm Nicole ripped across Jamaica last week, Prime Minister Bruce Golding delivered a preliminary repair bill while cautioning lawmakers that a more detailed assessment was still being carried out. "The cost to repair the damage and provide assistance to those severely dislocated will impact significantly on the country's delicate fiscal situation," Golding said. Nicole fizzled out over the Atlantic last week after maintaining storm status for just six hours, but not...

The Jamaican Diaspora in Toronto, Canada, is in the process of establishing a special fund to assist Jamaica in times of disaster and other emergencies. According to the Consul General in Toronto, George Ramocan, the Committee with responsibility for the Fund is working on strategies to engage the wider Toronto community and to develop a consistent method of giving. The city of Toronto has a significant Jamaican community of approximately 300,000 Jamaicans and persons of Jamaican descent.

Nicole was a small tropical storm for just six hours on Wednesday, but the ragged storm system poured heavy rain onto Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, Cuba, south Florida and the Bahamas. The death toll from Tropical Storm Nicole in Jamaica has risen to twelve following flash floods and mudslides triggered by the storm, officials say. At least eight others are missing, swept away by floodwaters. Source: Reuters

Wyclef Jean was hospitalized over the weekend due to symptoms of stress and fatigue, Jean’s rep said in a press release. The musician has since been released, and his rep added that Jean “will be fine – just needs the space to recover.”

Bishop Eddie Long is facing allegations that he sexually abused four men who received his mentorship as a "spiritual daddy." Three of the men were older than 18, but one said he was 17 at the time of the alleged abuse. They allege that Long encouraged them to join the church's elite youth group, so he could groom them for sex; in exchange, they allege, Long gave them money, new cars, housing and took them on exotic trips. On Sunday, Bishop Eddie Long vowed to fight the accusations, by stating

Jurors in the Buju Banton federal drug trial are having trouble reaching a verdict. After about an hour of discussion on what has been their third day of deliberation, jurors sent a note to U.S. District Judge James Moody telling him about their difficulties. The note said, The case went to the jury Thursday after closing arguments in a four-day trial. Jurors were allowed to go home for the weekend. Judge Moody declares mistrial in Banton drug case.. The case is expected to be retried sometime in early December

Rodney "Bounty Killer" Pryce was granted bail this morning when he appeared in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's court. Bounty Killer was granted bail for $500,000. Bounty Killer was charged for assault and unlawful wounding of his girlfriend Raquel Smith. Two weeks ago smith complained that Bounty beat her with a hammer, a mosquito repellant and a chain. Police reported that she was badly bruised and bloodied when she lodged the complaint at the police station. Smith indicated to the court that she wanted the charges to be drop and the case to be sent to mediation because she wanted to continue her relationship with Bounty Killer. Smith and Pryce had supposedly been together for three years. The Judge Sr Magistrate...

(Reuters) - Nearly one in five gay and bisexual men in 21 major U.S. cities are infected with HIV, and nearly half of them do not know it, U.S. health officials said on Thursday. Young men, and especially young black men, are least likely to know if they are infected with HIV, according to a study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Researchers at the CDC studied 8,153 men who have sex with men in 21 U.S. cities. The men were taking part in the 2008 National HIV Behavioral Surveillance System, which looked at prevalence and awareness of the human immunodeficiency virus or HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The study found that 28 percent of gay black men infected with HIV, compared with 18 percent of Hispanic...

9.58 is Usain Bolt's story so far, in his own words, beautifully illustrated with dozens of specially commissioned photographs. It's about a skinny kid from the parish of Trelawny, where they harvest the best yams in the world. It's about growing up playing cricket and football in the warm Jamaican sun, then discovering that he could run fast, very fast. It's about family, friends and the laid-back Jamaican culture. It's about Auntie Lillian's pork and dumplings and Dad's grocery store in the sleepy village of Sherwood Content. It's about what makes him tick, where he gets his motivation and where he takes his inspiration. It's about the highs and the lows, the dedication and sacrifices required to get to the top. It's about fast...

Jamaican born David Smith accused of scamming thousands of investors in the Caribbean and Florida has been sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison in the Turks and Caicos Islands. David Smith, who allegedly ran a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme though an investment group called Olint, was sentenced after pleading guilty Thursday Sept. 23 2010 to two counts of money laundering and two counts of conspiracy to defraud. David Smith moved to this British Atlantic territory after Jamaican authorities raided his company's Kingston office in 2006 and barred it from operating in the country. He was arrested in the Turks and Caicos in 2009.

The world bank is providing $2.5 million to support private sector energy efficiency efforts in Jamaica. The funds from its World Energy Security and Efficiency Project will support a pilot energy efficiency financing mechanism that will give the private sector access to renewable and energy efficient equipment. If the pilot scheme is successful, additional resources could be made available, said Jamaican Minister of Energy and Mining, James Robertson. Robertson also announced that the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) has earmarked $700 million from the Caribbean Development Bank’s (CDB) Agricultural Support Fund as credit for energy efficiency and conservation measures, along with $500 million for SMEs.

(AP) Buju Banton was an established drug trafficker before the singer allegedly tried to buy cocaine from an undercover officer in Florida last year, attorneys for the U.S. government said Monday at the beginning of Banton's drug trial. "Do you have any contacts where I can get cocaine?" Banton asked a government informant named Alexander Johnson in a recorded conversation, Assistant U.S. Attorney James Preston told a jury in Tampa federal court. The singer was looking for "more, new and different money through a new conspiracy he was shopping for" in addition to drug deals he already had funded, Preston said. Banton, 37, whose real name is Mark Myrie, has been held without bail since his arrest in December on charges of...

It's alleged that Rodney ‘Bounty Killer’ Pryce got into an altercation with a woman at his house in Oaklands Apartments and physically abused her with a hammer. After the alleged incident, the woman went to the Constant Spring Police Station and made a report that Bounty Killer beat her with a hammer. The police stated that bounty was arrested and charged with assault, and was denied bail. Bounty will attend court early in the week.

Buju Banton two co-defendant will plea guilty and have entered into a plea deal with United States prosecutors. Ian Thomas, 43, will plea guilty to the conspiracy charge. He has agreed to cooperate with the government and testify against Buju Banton. James Mack, 48, will plea guilty to charges of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 5 or more kilos of cocaine and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense, according to a plea agreement filed in U.S. District Court. Both charges carry up to life in federal prison. James Mack, the second co-defendant in the case against Reggae singer Buju Banton, today agreed to assist the United States Government in seeking a conviction against him...

(Reuters) – Bob Marley's family lost a lawsuit seeking the copyrights to several of the late Jamaican reggae singer's best-known recordings. U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan said the UMG Recordings unit of Vivendi SA's Universal Music Group is the rightful owner of copyrights to five albums that Marley had recorded between 1973 and 1977 for Island Records. The albums "Catch a Fire," "Burnin'," "Natty Dread," "Rastaman Vibrations" and "Exodus" were recorded with Marley's band The Wailers. They include some of Marley's best-known songs, including "Get Up, Stand Up," "I Shot the Sheriff," "No Woman, No Cry" and "One Love." Friday night's ruling is a defeat for Marley's widow Rita and nine children who had sought to...