|
US: Roger Khan
led five-year drug ring |
New York, May 7, 2008:
The prosecution in the
Shaheed Roger Khan drug trial yesterday released a memorandum
of law submitted in support of its motion for a pretrial ruling
to admit evidence regarding uncharged criminal activity by Khan.
According to the memorandum, Khan, indicted for trafficking of
cocaine in the US, not only ordered the murder of Devendra Persaud,
but also that of boxing coach Donald Allison.
The document, which was filed in the New York Eastern District
Court on Monday, seeks to have the court admit at trial evidence
of Khan's retaliation against Persaud, who was once part of his
organisation, which included threats to Persaud and his family,
seizing Persaud's car, and ultimately, ordering Persaud's murder;
as well as the murder of Allison.
According to the document, though this conduct was not charged
in the indictment, it constituted direct proof of the accused's
continuing criminal enterprise and narcotics conspiracy and the
evidence was admissible under Rule 404(b).
Further, the prosecution gave notice that it would seek to offer
evidence of Khan's criminal conduct in Vermont and subsequent
bail jumping if necessary to rebut defences advanced by Khan,
including lack of knowledge of drug trafficking, pursuant to
Rule 404(b).
The prosecution said it would establish at trial that Khan was
the leader of a violent drug trafficking organisation (the "Khan
Organisation") that was based in George-town, Guyana, from
at least 2001 until his arrest in June 2006.
"Khan and his co-conspirators obtained large quantities
of cocaine, and then imported the cocaine into the Eastern District
of New York, among other places, where it was further distributed,"
the memorandum said. "Khan was ultimately able to control
the cocaine industry in Guyana, in large part because he was
backed by a para-military squad that would murder, threaten,
and intimidate others at Khan's direction. While Khan's enforcers
killed many people as part of a battle among political factions
in Guyana, they also committed violent acts and murders on Khan's
orders that were directly in furtherance of Khan's drug trafficking
conspiracy."
With regard to Allison's murder, the prosecution said it expected
to prove at trial, primarily through the testimony of cooperating
witnesses and related corroborating information, that Allison,
who lived in Guyana, and others, imported cocaine into the United
States that was obtained from the Khan Organisation.
Some of this cocaine was seized in the US, the document said
and Khan suspected that Allison and his co-conspirators had stolen
it. Khan then tried to recruit Allison, but Allison refused and
on at least one occasion insulted Khan in a public place, the
memorandum said and Khan threatened that he would kill Allison.
Subsequently, Allison was shot and killed.
Khan later made statements during which he took credit for the
murder of Allison, the document contended.
As regard Persaud, the US attorney's document said he had lived
in Queens, New York and was a cocaine distributor for the Khan
Organisation. It said Persaud received cocaine from the Khan
Organisation, distributed it to others, and then sent money back
to the organisation in Guyana.
Persaud was arrested in June 2003 at John F. Kennedy airport,
and was charged with bulk cash smuggling and conspiring to import
cocaine into the United States. Thereafter, Persaud was released
on bond. He ultimately cooperated with US law enforcement, including
participating in numerous proffers and agreeing to have his cellular
telephone calls recorded, among other things.
According to the document, in December 2003, Persaud's relative
who was in Guyana, called Persaud in Queens and informed him
that "Shortie," "Shortie's" bodyguards, and
"Ledge," had gone into her store and threatened and
pointed a gun at her while she held a child. She informed Persaud
that they demanded to know his case number. Shortly thereafter,
Persaud jumped bond and fled back to Guyana, the document said.
The prosecution said it would establish at trial that one nickname
for Khan was "Shortman."
Individuals in the cocaine industry in Guyana, including Khan,
the document said, suspected that Persaud was cooperating with
US law enforcement. Additionally, Persaud owed Khan a drug debt.
In order to collect on the debt, Khan's co-conspirators arrived
at Persaud's store in Guyana, and took his car from him and Khan
put a "hit" out on Persaud.
In October 2004, the memorandum said, Khan was informed by a
member of his organisation that Persaud was at the Palm Court
Restaurant and Bar and Khan stated that Persaud should be killed
that night. Persaud was shot to death at the Palm Court restaurant.
The prosecution argued that the threats to Persaud and his family,
the taking of Persaud's car, the murder of Persaud, and the murder
of Allison, while uncharged, were admissible as direct evidence
of the charged continuing criminal enterprise and narcotics conspiracy.
It quoted sections of US law under which this was admissible
and cited previous cases where such evidence had been admitted.
It said that Khan's alleged ordering of the murders was proof
of his leadership role in the conspiracy. The government has
alleged in Count One of the superseding indictment that Khan
was the principal administrator of a continuing criminal enterprise.
It noted that in deciding whether to admit evidence of uncharged
crimes under Rule 404(b), the Court must: (1) determine whether
admission of the evidence is being sought for a proper purpose;
(2) determine whether the evidence is relevant to an issue in
the case; (3) determine whether the probative value of the evidence
is substantially outweighed by the prejudicial impact; and (4)
give a limiting instruction if one is requested by the defence
Donald Allison
executed for insulting Roger Khan
boxing coach had refused to work for him - prosecution |
New York, May 5, 2008: As the Roger Khan saga continues to unfold, the
Prosecution yesterday filed a motion in the United States District
Court, Eastern District of New York, wherein the prosecution
sought to admit at trial evidence of Shaheed Roger Khan's retaliation
against Devendra Persaud, which included threats to Persaud and
his family, seizing Persaud's car, and ultimately ordering Persaud's
murder and the murder of an individual named Donald Allison.
According to the motion, the evidence at trial will show that
Persaud, a Guyanese national who relocated to the United States
and settled in Queens, New York, was a cocaine distributor for
the Khan organization. Persaud received cocaine from the Khan
organization, distributed it to others, and then sent money back
to the organization in Guyana.
The U.S. Government expects to establish at trial that Persaud
was arrested in June 2003 at John F. Kennedy Airport and was
charged with bulk cash smuggling and conspiring to import cocaine
into the United States.
Thereafter, Persaud was released on bond. He ultimately cooperated
with U.S. law enforcement, including participating in numerous
proffers and agreeing to have his cellular telephone calls recorded,
among other things.
In December 2003, Persaud's wife, Elisabeth Persaud, who was
in Guyana, called Persaud in Queens. In a call consensually recorded
by Persaud, his wife informed him that "Shortie," "Shortie's"
bodyguards, and "Ledge," had come into her store and
threatened and pointed a gun at her while she held their child.
She informed Persaud that they demanded to know his case number.
Shortly thereafter, Persaud jumped bond and fled back to Guyana.
The Government is also expected to establish the following at
trial, primarily through the testimony of cooperating witnesses,
along with other corroborating evidence. The evidence is described
in sum and substance.
Individuals in the cocaine industry in Guyana, including Khan,
suspected that Persaud was cooperating with U.S. law enforcement.
Additionally, the Government will try to establish at trial that
one nickname for the defendant was "Shortman."
Also, in the motion the Government at trial is expected to prove,
primarily through the testimony of cooperating witnesses and
related corroborating information, that an individual named Donald
Allison and others imported cocaine into the United States that
was obtained from the Khan organization. Allison lived in Guyana.
The evidence, according to the Government, will show that some
of that cocaine was seized in the United States. With the disappearance
of that cocaine, Khan suspected that Allison and his co-conspirators
had stolen from him. The evidence, the state reveals, also will
show that Khan wanted Allison to work for him within the Khan
organization, but Allison refused.
On one occasion, Allison insulted Khan in public. Subsequent
to these events Allison was shot and killed. The motion went
on to state that the fact that Khan ordered these murders is
proof of his leadership role in the conspiracy. The Government
has alleged in Count One of the superseding indictment that Khan
was the principal administrator of a continuing criminal enterprise,
and his role in the Persaud murder constitutes direct proof of
that allegation.
Accordingly, the Government says, evidence of the threats against
Persaud and his family and Persaud's murder are admissible as
direct evidence of the conspiracy, because:
(1) this conduct was committed in furtherance of the conspiracy
and is thus direct proof of the existence and nature of the conspiracy
itself, and
(2) it is inextricably intertwined with the evidence proving
the charged offences.
For similar reasons, the murder of Allison should be admissible
as direct evidence of the conspiracy; the murder was committed
in furtherance of the conspiracy, and therefore is part of the
conspiracy itself.
The evidence obtained by the prosecution, it was stated, will
show that Khan ordered the murder of Allison in part because
he believed Allison and others had stolen cocaine that they obtained
from Khan's organization.
This is direct evidence of facts the U.S. Government must prove
at trial - specifically that the cocaine distributed by Allison
and others was received from the Khan organization. Further,
Khan, according to the U.S. Government, ordered the murder of
Allison because Allison refused to directly work for Khan and
insulted Khan in front of Khan's co-conspirators. Murdering Allison
was thus a show of force used to demonstrate Khan's power and
make explicit the consequences of refusing to work for Khan.
Thus the murder of Allison is part of the cocaine conspiracy,
and is admissible as direct evidence of charges in the indictment.
Additionally, the Government would offer the consensually recorded
call from Elizabeth Persaud to Devendra Persaud, described above,
and other evidence to corroborate the testimony of the cooperating
witnesses.
In addition, the Government also gave notice that it will introduce
evidence of Khan's criminal conduct in Vermont, including his
bail jumping, if necessary, to rebut defences advanced by Khan.
This conduct includes attempting to trade marijuana for handguns,
and purchasing and possessing handguns as a convicted felon.
|
Roger Khan had
ordered hit on Davendra Persaud |
New York, April 26, 2008: In one of the most shocking revelations since the
indictment of businessman Roger Khan on drug-smuggling charges,
the US government on Thursday disclosed that he had ordered the
executions of Davendra Persaud, who was gunned down in Palm Court,
Georgetown, Guyana, over three years ago, as well as several
of its informants and other drug dealers.
The US did not name the informants, who were described as cooperating
witnesses, but sources said they might have been the five men
killed on Diwali night on Robb Street next door to Nigel's Supermarket
in 2002.
The revelations were made in the Eastern District Court of New
York after Khan's attorneys got hold of a sealed confidential
document, which contained an interview between Persaud and the
US government in relation to a narcotics case against another
Guyanese Delven Adams, who was a member of Khan's organisation.
The US's objections to the defence obtaining the document could
potentially spark a heated court session slated for Monday.
In a letter dated April 24, and addressed to Justice Dora Irizarry,
US Attorney Benton Campbell said he was apprising the court of
an issue that the government will raise at the status conference
scheduled for Monday. Campbell said that as part of Khan's lawyers'
opposition to the US government's motion for an anonymous jury,
they attached several exhibits. One of these was a report from
the US Customs Service, now Immigration and Customs Enforcement
("ICE"), of an interview with Persaud. Campbell said
this report was an official and confidential internal ICE document,
used for investigative purposes, that was disclosed by the government
to defence counsel at trial in a case against Delven Adams and
others.
Adams was busted in the US with drugs in 2004. According to Campbell,
the report and some other material were disclosed to defence
counsel in that trial pursuant to Rule 806 of the Federal Rules
of Evidence, because it could be used to impeach Persaud, whose
statements were admitted as co-conspirator statements through
other witnesses.
Campbell said the US government satisfying its obligations, however,
did not entitle defendants to file or otherwise disseminate that
material outside the litigation. He argued that in the Adams
trial, the government had serious concerns about witness safety,
in large part because Persaud's testimony as well as testimony
from 3,500 material witnesses implicated various individuals
in Khan's organisation.
However, Campbell disclosed that Persaud, who was a co-conspirator
of Khan, the Adams' trial defendants, and the government's cooperating
witnesses in the Adams' case, was gunned down in Guyana on Khan's
orders as he perceived that Persaud was cooperating with the
US government. "In an effort to protect witnesses, Judge
Frederic Block ordered the defence attorneys in that case not
to disseminate the 3,500 material to anyone other than their
clients. Unfortunately, Judge Block's order was violated
as defence counsel in this case has possession of this Customs
report. The government did not provide this report to defence
counsel in this case, and it was only disseminated in the Adams
case," Campbell wrote to the judge.
He said the US government was writing to inform the court of
the issue, and to request the court to inquire of Khan's lawyers
at Monday's status conference: how, from whom, and when they
obtained the report. The government also wants to know whether
they have obtained any of the statements of the 3,500 material
witnesses disseminated at the Adams trial; and whether they have
disseminated any of this to anyone else. "We further request
that the court order the prompt return to the government of any
such material in the defence's possession including all
copies they have made of such material," Campbell requested.
He said while Khan's lawyers might not have been aware of Judge
Block's order, this inquiry was important not only because a
court order was violated, but because the potential danger to
witnesses and their families in this case could not be overstated.
"It is imperative that the government has complete knowledge
of the full scope of the information disseminated about its prior
witnesses, so as to take necessary safety precautions,"
Campbell stated.
Khan's lead attorney, Robert Simels in a response yesterday told
the court that the documents were obtained from the clerk's office
on March 31, this year. Simels said following the court appearance
in this case his associate requested an opportunity to obtain
a copy of the criminal complaint against an individual named
Brentnoll Hooper in the file entitled US vs. Adams.
Simels said the clerk provided a box containing courts transcripts
and other documents. "In reviewing the file my associate
noticed that Persaud's documents were in an envelope 'not sealed'
in the file. She made copies of same," Simels said in his
letter.
Khan is facing charges for conspiring to import cocaine into
the US.
Late last year this newspaper had reported that US was to introduce
as evidence a ledger of Persaud, who was also a boutique owner,
which contained the names of alleged drug dealers.
Persaud was gunned down at Palm Court, in October 2004 by unknown
persons. One of Khan's lawyers here had told this newspaper that
the US might be hoping to use some of the persons on Persaud's
ledger to give evidence against Khan.
Persaud was shot close to 15 times, in what appeared to be an
organised hit, orchestrated by a gang of four. Persaud had been
charged locally in relation to drugs and later became an informant
for the US government. Reports were that four men, two of whom
were wearing masks, turned up at the Main Street bar in a white
Toyota Sprinter car registration number PJJ 1767 a little before
10 pm. Two men remained in the car, another stood guard at the
gate, while one went up to Persaud and shot him. The gunman reportedly
stood over him and opened fire at close range.
Guyana police had arrested a number of persons for questioning,
but they were all released
|
Guyanese illegal
in US held with huge sum of money in car |
Pennsylvania,
April 25, 2008: A Guyanese who is illegal in the US
was found with a huge sum of money when he was arrested and charged
after behaving disorderly during a traffic stop in Pennsylvania.
The man who was identified as Ivory Anthony Weaver, 48, in a
Centre Times Daily report, was at the time carrying US$351,164
in a cardboard box in luggage. Police in the area said they suspected
it to be drug money.
According to the Centre Times Daily, Weaver was uncooperative
and unruly when the officer stopped him at the traffic light
for speeding on Tuesday which resulted in the police using a
taser to subdue him. The police said they found indicators of
criminal activity and obtained a search warrant.
They later found the money.
Weaver resisted arrest when the police seized the money.
He was arrested and charged with resisting arrest, false identification
to law enforcement, and disorderly conduct.
The report said he is from an illegal immigrant from Lauderdale
Lakes, Florida. He was placed for $25,000 and immigration detainers.
FREED 9 YEARS
AGO
Wanted Trini facing extradition from London |
London, April 23, 2008:
A TRINIDADIAN wanted on charges
of trafficking $13 million in cocaine is being held in a British
jail pending the decision of a judge there on a request for his
extradition.
Rick Anthony Gomes will know shortly if he will be extradited
to Port-of-Spain to face a retrial. The British court is considering
a report from an English lawyer who came to Trinidad recently
to look at prison conditions.
Gomes, in opposing the extradition request, contended that the
prisons in Trinidad were in such a state that the facilities
were not fit for human beings. As a result, the independent lawyer
came to Trinidad and inspected the prison facilities. On his
return to London, the lawyer submitted a report to the court,
which painted a good picture for the local authorities.
The report would form a major part in the decision of the court.
Gomes was arrested on May 5, 2006, as he arrived at Heathrow
International Airport, London. He was held on a provisional warrant
by the British immigration officials.
Soon after his arrest, the T&T Government formally requested
his extradition to Trinidad. Gomes and Colombian Luis Blanco
Gomez were arrested at Mt Hololo, St Ann's on May 15, 1998, after
25.5 kilos of cocaine, valued $13 million, were allegedly found
in the apartment.
On December 14, 1999, both men were freed on a no-case submission
by Justice Herbert Volney in the Port-of-Spain High Court.
The judge said the evidence of one police officer was manifestly
unreliable and it would have been a miscarriage of justice if
the case went to the jury.
Two days after he was freed, Gomes went to Barbados and never
returned to Trinidad. Gomez fled to Venezuela, and he too, never
returned.
The State appealed and on July 17, 2000, the Court of Appeal
comprising then Chief Justice Michael de la Bastide, Justice
Sat Sharma, and Justice Mustapha Ibrahim, ruled that Volney was
wrong to take the case away from the jury.
The Appeal Court said Volney should have called on both men to
make their defence as a prima facie case was made out against
them.
The two men never turned up at the appeal, and attempts by lawyers
to represent them, were turned down by the court. The court also
issued warrants for both men and ordered them, when arrested,
to stand trial for a second time. The local Narcotics Unit contacted
Interpol and an there was an international search for both fugitives.
It was only on May 5, 2006, that a breakthrough was made when
Gomes was arrested at Heathrow Airport, London.
|
Haiti's food
shortage may persist for months, World Vision says |
SINGAPORE, China (Bloomberg),
April 23, 2008: Haiti's
food shortages, which caused riots and led to the ouster of Prime
Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis this month, may persist for months
because farmers lack seeds to produce another harvest in June,
World Vision International said.
"Shortages are expected to continue even if there is good
weather for the next planting season, scheduled to begin this
month,'' the Los Angeles-based relief organization said in a
statement on its Web site yesterday.
World Vision is preparing to increase aid to the Caribbean nation
in response to the food crisis, which may produce a higher rate
of child mortality, lawlessness and political instability, it
said. The organization's next scheduled distribution of food
rations is in June, and current supplies are almost depleted,
according to the statement.
Governments from Guatemala to the Philippines and Indonesia are
seeking to combat food price rises and avoid social unrest by
curbing exports or lifting import duties on basic staples such
as rice. Global food prices surged 57 percent last month from
a year earlier, according to the United Nations, and the World
Bank said civil disturbances may be triggered in 33 countries.
Groups of stone-throwing Haitians began attacking police forces
on April 2 to protest the soaring cost of rice, cooking oil and
other basic goods. The riots in Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital,
caused five deaths and injured hundreds of others, according
to World Vision.
|
Don't touch
me there: NY Jury rejects rectal exam lawsuit |
NEW YORK (AP), April
21, 2008: A hospital
did nothing wrong when it tried to examine the rectum of a construction
worker who had been hit on the head by a falling wooden beam,
a jury found Monday.
After deliberating for about an hour, a state Supreme Court jury
awarded nothing to Brian Persaud, who sued NewYork-Presbyterian
Hospital for unspecified damages. The panel found the hospital
and its emergency room medical staff were not liable.
Persaud's lawyers, Gerard Marrone and Gary DeFilippo, said he
might appeal.
``We're very disappointed,'' Marrone said after the two-week
trial. ``It's a miscarriage of justice.''
The hospital's lawyer, Jeffrey Lawton, declined comment.
Marrone said Persaud, 38, was injured while working at a construction
site in midtown Manhattan on May 20, 2003. Persaud received eight
stitches for a cut over his eyebrow at the hospital, but denied
emergency room staffers' request to examine his rectum, the lawyer
said. He said doctors told Persaud the exam could help determine
whether the accident caused spinal damage.
When Persaud resisted, staffers held him down while he begged,
``Please don't do that,'' Marrone said. Persaud hit a doctor
while flailing around, so the staffers gave him a powerful sedative
and performed the rectal exam, he said.
Hospital witnesses testified at trial that the exam was never
completed, but Marrone said that when Persaud woke up he was
handcuffed to a bed and had an oxygen tube down his throat and
lubricant in his rectum.
``He resisted because he didn't know what they were doing,''
DeFilippo said. ``Once he said he didn't want the rectal exam,
everything should have stopped.''
DeFilippo said he believes the rectal exam was done as retaliation
because his panicked client hit the doctor.
A judge dismissed a misdemeanor assault charge that was filed
against Persaud because he hit the doctor.
DeFilippo said his client is unemployed and has been unable to
hold a job since the accident.
|
Jamaican wins
Western Union $25,000 Cash Giveaway prize |
Brooklyn, NY, April 21,
2008: A Jamaica-born,
South Florida-based resident on Friday walked away $25,000 richer
after winning the Western Union Grand Prize Cash Giveaway competition.
Patren Daniel Mattadeen, a resident of North Miami Florida, was
selected in a random drawing of the contest, which was held for
thousands of Caribbean nationals who sent back money between
October 15 and December 31, 2007.
Mattadeen had used the remittance service to send money to his
girlfriend in Jamaica. He expressed shocked disbelief at the
win. On Friday he was presented with his check by Western Union
Assistant Marketing Manager, Nadine Johnson, at a ceremony at
Sally`s Jamaican American Restaurant in Brooklyn.
Mattadeen says he plans to use the money to `go back to school.`
Seventy-eight other remitters also were declared $500 winners.
To see if you`re on of the 78, check www.westernunion.com/caribbeancash.
|
Barbadian Eyes
Council Seat Amidst Indictment Of Vincentian Incument`s Staffers |
CaribWorldNews, BROOKLYN,
NY, Mon. April 21, 2008:
A Barbadian-born immigrant is again eyeing the post of the 45th
councilmatic district of New York amidst the indictment of the
chief-of-staff of the incumbent councilman, born in St. Vincent
& the Grenadines.
Local TV presenter and Brooklyn lecturer, Sam Taitt had run for
the seat in East Flatbush and Flatlands, Brooklyn in 2001, 2003
and 2005. But the incumbent, Dr. Kendall Stewart, narrowly defeated
him thrice.
Now as Asquith Reid, the top former staffer to Stewart is accused
along with Joycinth `Sue` Anderson, another Stewart employee,
of embezzling thousands in city money from a Brooklyn charity
over the last three years, Taitt is gearing up to run again.
Taitt supporters feel that he is perfectly positioned to win
the seat in the next election. They say that Stewart has disappointed
them many times in the Council, including most recently, siding
with his Manhattan counterpart and Speaker of the Council, Christine
Quinn, in support of Gay marriage.
And they say the latest scandal surrounding his office places
their candidate in a strong position this time around. Especially
since they argue that Taitt has the economic well-being of the
district on his mind and is highly regarded in this multifaceted
district as he works with church and community leaders. He still
has interest in forming a community credit union, which is supported
by New York State Senator John Sampson.
Councilmember Stewart for his part has denied that the alleged
embezzlement had anything to do with him or his office. In a
statement he said, `While I believe in the presumption of innocent
until proven guilty, I must say that I'm deeply disappointed
over the allegations leveled at Mr. Reid and the embarrassment
that his actions right or wrong - have caused me, my staff
and office and the people of my district.`
Reid and Anderson are named in the indictment which charges that
Reid, who was in charge of discretionary city funds, allocated
about $356,000 in funds to the Donna Reid Fund, which was established
by Reid in honor of his daughter, who passed away from cancer
at a young age.
The Donna Reid Fund also applied for money through the Department
of Youth and Community Development, which granted the request.
An additional $14,000 was transferred to the organization from
other fictitious non-profits: the New York Foundation for Community
Development and the American Association of Concerned Veterans.
The indictment alleges that about $145,000 of those funds were
embezzled to provide cash and personal benefits to the defendant,
and Anderson.
Some $31,000 of the money was sent by wire transfer to friends
and family in Jamaica, while some $21,000 was used to pay for
events in Brooklyn and campaign material. Anderson also cashed
thousands of dollars in Donna Reid fund checks and gave the money
to Reid, the indictment said.
In total, Reid faces a maximum of 80 years in prison if found
guilty on all charges. Together they face charges of conspiracy,
money laundering, and witness tampering. Anderson faces a maximum
of 40 years in prison and the indictment said she aided Reid
in the scheme. Councilman Stewart was not named in the indictment.
Meanwhile, Quinn, an openly gay politician, who had expressed
plans of a possible run for the Office of NYC Mayor, has hired
a criminal defense attorney for herself after staffers Staci
Emanuel and Michael Keogh weere indicted as well. Both no longer
work for the Council but are accused of channeling money into
fake organizations or slush funds.
|
Caribbean Nationals
Remembered At Rally For Pope Benedict |
CaribWorldNews, YONKERS,
NY, Mon. April 21, 2008: Catholic
saints born in Haiti and Cuban were among those remembered at
a youth rally in honor of Pope Benedict XVI here in Yonkers on
Saturday.
Tribute was paid to Cuban-born Padre Felix Varela, who in the
early 1820s concentrated his efforts to help the poor minorities
living in New York and founded nurseries and orphanages for children
of poor widows.
As a result of his abilities and dedication, Varela was named
Vicar General of the New York diocese. He also founded the first
Spanish newspaper in the US, publishing articles about human
rights injustices suffered by minorities, as well as essays on
religious tolerance, cooperation between English and Spanish
speaking communities, and the importance of education.
Varela spent his last years in the City of St. Augustine, Florida
where he retired due to illness. He died in 1853, but his legacy
endures, as two foundations named in his honor carry out his
work in Miami and New York and on a U.S. postage stamp.
Also remembered was Haitian-born slave turned saint, Pierre Toussaint.
Toussaint came to New York from Haiti in 1787 and became an apprentice
to one of the city's leading hairdressers.
He became a popular hairdresser and was freed from slavery when
his owner died in 1807 and later became quite wealthy. He fell
in love with another slave, Juliette Noel, and purchased her
freedom when she was only fifteen years old. They married and
soon opened their home as a shelter for orphans, a credit bureau,
an employment agency and refuge for priests and poverty stricken
travelers. Toussaint also funded money to build a new Roman Catholic
church in New York, which became Old St. Patrick's Cathedral
on Mulberry Street.
Toussaint died on June 30, 1853, at the age of eighty-seven.
He was buried alongside his wife and daughter, Euphemia in Old
St. Patrick's on Mott Street. In 1941, his grave was discovered
by the Rev. Charles McTague. In 1990, John Cardinal O'Connor,
then Archbishop of New York had Toussaint exhumed and reinterred
in the crypt below the altar at St Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth
Avenue.
Because of Toussaint's charity and piety, he was strongly supported
for sainthood by O'Connor. In 1996 Toussaint was declared Venerable
by Pope John Paul II, the first step toward sainthood.
|
Amnesty Int'l
criticizes treatment of Haitians |
London, April 19, 2008:
Amnesty International,
the London-based human rights group, has once again criticized
The Bahamas for its treatment of Haitian migrants and its handling
of the cases of two Bahamian men who were allegedly killed at
the hands of police officers.
In its latest human rights report, Amnesty International noted
that asylum seekers and migrants, the majority of whom were black
Haitians, were deported. It further noted that some of these
migrants were reportedly ill-treated.
"Immigrants, the vast majority from Haiti, continued to
be deported in large numbers. Some were reportedly ill-treated,"
the report said.
It also noted that sometime ago, 187 Haitians, including children,
on the island of Eleuthera were rounded up and detained. It was
later found that 166 of them had legal documents and 27 also
had permanent residence. Amnesty also noted that reports of abuse
by members of the armed forces, including excessive use of force,
continued.
Prison inmate, Neil Brown was reportedly shot dead while handcuffed,
as he was being transported back to Fox Hill Prison. He had been
recaptured following a prison escape in which a prison guard
was killed.
A prison officer was subsequently found guilty of his (Brown's)
murder by a coroner's jury, but the verdict was deferred pending
a constitutional review. The officer remained on duty at the
end of the year.
Subsequent to this, 20-year-old Deron Bethel was fatally shot
three times outside his home, allegedly by a police officer who
claimed he mistook him for a criminal suspect. Investigations
were ongoing at the end of the year.
The report states that death sentences continued to be handed
down by the courts. At least two people were sentenced to death
in 2006 and 26 remained on death row. However, no executions
took place.
In March, 2007 the UK-based Judicial Committee of the Privy Council,
the highest court of appeal for The Bahamas, abolished the mandatory
death sentence for murder. Following the ruling, the attorney
general announced that re-sentencing hearings would be held for
all inmates currently on death row. Several new death sentences
were issued after the decision.
Last October, Alutus Newbold was sentenced to 16 years in prison
and eight strokes of the rod for an attack on an 83-year-old
woman in her home in 2004. The ruling sparked a debate about
the continued use of corporal punishment.
|
Cuba changes
'cosmetic' says White House |
WASHINGTON, USA (AFP),
April 19, 2008: The White
House on Friday dismissed as "cosmetic" changes in
Cuba under new President Raul Castro on issues like access to
cellphones and the potential easing of travel restrictions.
"They're cosmetic," Dan Fisk, the US National Security
Council's senior director for Western Hemisphere affairs, told
reporters days before a three-way US, Mexico, and Canada summit
in New Orleans.
"We would hope that the international community, and I say
that in the large terms, recognize that this isn't real change,
this isn't fundamental change in the nature of the system,"
Fisk said.
"And if you look at what the regime is doing in terms of
the continued repression against dissidents and civil society
activists, the iron fist is still very, very visible, especially
to the average Cuban," he said.
Fisk said US President George W. Bush, Mexican President Felipe
Calderon, and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper were expected
to discuss changes in Cuba when they meet on Monday and Tuesday
in New Orleans.
But while "all three countries agree" broadly on the
need for "democratic evolution" in Cuba, "there
are a lot ot tactical disagreements and I'm not expecting that
to change," said the US official.
Fisk had been asked about the reforms Raul Castro, 76, has introduced
in Cuba since he took over as president from his ailing brother
Fidel, 81, in late February.
Raul Castro recently lifted bans on Cubans renting cars and hotel
rooms and purchasing goods such as pressure cookers, DVDs, electric
bikes and cell phones, and he may be planning to ease travel
restrictions.
|
Dwight and Keva
Major extradited |
Nassau, Bahamas, April
18, 2008: A married couple
accused of drug smuggling in the United States was extradited
yesterday, following a five-year legal battle.
The government handed Dwight and Keva Major over to US authorities,
a day after the Supreme Court dismissed an application challenging
the lawfulness of a warrant of surrender that was signed in 2006.
That warrant was executed yesterday morning.
The Majors will appear before a Florida judge on Monday morning,
according to Daniel O'Connor, the political, economic and public
affairs chief at the United State Embassy in Nassau.
Former Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell signed the warrant
when the couple had no pending appeal against the Appeal Court's
decision that they be extradited. At that stage, their lawyer
had only filed a notice of intention to appeal the decision.
The Majors lost their battle against extradition at the Privy
Council last November.
The Majors, both 38, and the parents of four young children,
aged seven through 18, are accused of conspiracy to import cocaine
and marijuana and attempting to import marijuana. Florida prosecutors
requested the couple's extradition in 2003 based on evidence
gathered through wiretaps of their phone conversations.
Mr. Major, who is known by the street names "Sider Brown"
and "Papa", was already in prison in connection with
an alleged conspiracy to smuggle 1,200 kilos of cocaine from
Colombia into The Bahamas when the request was made.
Police recorded the calls Major made to his wife and other persons
on a mobile phone from his prison cell.
Becket Turnquest and Jonathan Cartwright, two coconspirators
named in the Grand Jury indictment, waived their right to extradition
and went voluntarily to Florida. They pleaded guilty and received
shortened prison sentences in exchange for becoming cooperating
witnesses. Turnquest and Cartwright were released in 2005.
Reverend Donald Dorsett, Mrs. Major's father, told The Guardian
yesterday that he believed his daughter would get justice in
the United States. He believed that she had been treated unfairly
as her repeated requests for bail had been denied, although about
20 other men who are also fighting extradition were released.
Mrs. Major's youngest child and only daughter was two years old
when she was detained on the extradition warrant. The children
are being cared for by their grandparents.
Dorsett, who runs a convenience shop in the Englerston area,
said, "All things work together for those that love the
Lord."
|
Teller Arrested
in Robber Cop Case |
New York, April 18, 2008:
Police have arrested
a bank teller for helping an NYPD rookie pull off two robberies
at the East Village bank last year. Christina Dasrath, who is
of Guyanese background, admitted to cops that she received a
portion of the $118,000 taken.
Police officer Christian Torres was arrested last week after
robbing a Sovereign Bank in Pennsylvania of more than $100,000.
It turns out Torres was tipped off by Dasrath about the East
Village branch's lax security (plus security changes made after
his first heist). The two may have met while attending the John
Jay School of Criminal Justice.
Dasrath is being charged with bank fraud and making false statements
because she told investigators she knew nothing about her bank's
robberies. A source characterized Dasrath as the mastermind behind
the bank jobs, but her 16-year-old brother Christopher came to
his older sister's defense. "There's no way she would do
something like this...Our dad is the strictest person you'd ever
meet."
The NY Times revealed that after Torres' arrest , police found
"a copy of his own wanted poster...and news clippings related
to the Manhattan robberies" in the car. And while Torres
was buying a 1.5 carat diamond ring for his fiancée with
the stolen loot, Dasrath's brother told the Daily News , "The
only thing she bought recently was a black Toyota for 3 Gs, and
it doesn't even have a CD player."
|
Guyanese falls
to death at Shea stadium |
New York, April 18, 2008:
US investigators have
said that the death of a Guyanese immigrant who fell from an
escalator at Shea Stadium on Tuesday night was accidental. According
to the New York Daily News investigators believe that Antonio
Narainasami, 36, had been perched on the escalator's rail moments
before losing his balance and plunging four storeys to his death
after the Mets game. The paper quoted a police source as saying
that several witnesses said they saw Narainasami "start
to play on the escalator before he fell. It's an unfortunate
accident."
However, Narainasami's pregnant wife Ambeeka disputes this claim;
saying that her husband would not have been so reckless in front
of their 14 and nine-year-old daughters. Outside their Cypress
Hills, Brooklyn home, Ambeeka, who could barely speak through
her tears said, "It is a shock to me [and] my family. We
were looking forward to our third child, which is a boy."
According to the paper, the escalators at the stadium are customarily
turned off in the seventh inning to encourage fans to leave via
the long walkways. Though the 120-foot-long escalator remained
accessible to fans after the game, its steps were not moving
when Narainasami boarded it near the mezzanine's Section 20,
officials said. He was just in front of his elder daughter Emily
when he fell off the side and landed on another escalator below.
"It's so different without him not coming home," the
eight-grader said, adding that "He gave us everything we
asked for. He took us out for the last time."
The paper said Narainasami was an immigrant who worked as an
installer of heating and air-conditioning systems. He also captained
the Legend Cricket Club and was an avid Mets fan, his family
said. In a statement the Mets extended condolences to the family.
The paper said a Buildings Department spokeswoman said the escalators
were last inspected on March 8.
In the past 25 years, two New York fans have died at baseball
games - one at Shea in 1985 and on at Yankee Stadium in 1999
- when they fell off the railing of an escalator.
|
US marshal won't
blame J'cans for rise in South Florida violence |
Thursday, April 17, 2008: Deputy United States Marshal, Josh Bostley,
yesterday refused to blame Jamaicans for a rise in gun violence
in South Florida, and said other ethnic groups have also been
committing serious offences.
Bostley spoke to the Observer after Florida-based US Marshals
included Jamaican David James Clarke, who is accused of involvement
in a double murder, on its list of 15 most wanted fugitives.
"There is a lot of violence in South Florida. A lot of Jamaicans
live in Lauderhill and there is a lot of violence in Lauderhill,
but I am not going to say Jamaicans are responsible for the rise.
There are American blacks, whites, Haitians and others involved
in violence," Bostley said.
Clarke, who goes by the aliases 'Bigs' or 'Big Boy', has been
on the run since June last year. The US authorities accuse Clarke
and two others - Clinton Dinnall and Anthony Bennett - of the
brutal murder of Chris Thompson and Cassandra Williams at a home
in Lauderhill.
The Florida police say witnesses told them that Williams begged
for her life, saying she was the mother of a five-year-old son,
before Clarke allegedly shot her dead. Williams had moments earlier
witnessed Thompson's murder.
Clarke and his cronies reportedly stuffed the bodies in the truck
of a car before abandoning the vehicle in the city of Sunrise.
Bennett and Dinnall were arrested a few weeks later and charged
with first-degree murder, but Clarke is still on the run.
The US Marshals say Clarke, 26, has a history of violence and
drug trafficking. They have placed a US$25,000 bounty on his
head.
A release posted on the website www.usmarshals.gov said Clarke
has hazel-brown eyes, medium-brown complexion, weighs about 210
pounds and is six feet tall. He normally wears a beard and is
known to have worn locks.
|
Call for greater
press freedom in Guyana, Bermuda |
MIAMI, USA, April 17,
2008: The Inter American
Press Association (IAPA) has expressed concern at the temporary
closure of a television station in Guyana by the Guyanese president.
It also urged the government of Bermuda not to use official advertising
as a weapon of reprisal against a newspaper in that country.
The IAPA expressed concern at a four-month suspension on April
12 of broadcasts by CNS Channel 6 television in Guyana on the
orders of that country's President Bharrat Jagdeo, acting as
minister of communications, on the grounds that the station "infringed
the terms of its licence" by airing on three occasions a
call-in by one of its viewers saying the prime minister should
be assassinated.
The Guyana Press Association (GPA) said that it would not issue
an opinion on the cause of the alleged offence but it deplored
Jagdeo's action, saying it was out of line as the Advisory Committee
on Broadcasting (ACB) had decided it would not act against the
TV station because its Director had apologised for the allegedly
offensive content of the call. The GPA called on Jagdeo to lift
the broadcast ban because he was himself the aggrieved party
in the matter.
IAPA President Earl Maucker and the chairman of the IAPA's Committee
on Freedom of the Press and Information, Gonzalo Marroquín,
said that in any event the four-month suspension in a competitive
media environment such as the current one was practically "a
shutdown."
They issued a public call on Jagdeo to reconsider the punitive
action and not to engage in any reprisals against the media because
of their editorial views.
Meanwhile, after 17 months and on the repeated insistence of
the IAPA and other press organizations Jagedo's government last
week announced it would resume placement of official advertising
in the daily newspaper Stabroek News, which had been "punished"
for its critical editorial content.
In another development, in a letter to Bermuda Prime Minister
Ewart Brown the IAPA declared, "Discrimination in the placement
of advertising severely restricts freedom of the press."
The note, signed by Earl Maucker and Gonzalo Marroquín,
added that "the government should allocate its resources
with complete transparency and employ purely technical criteria."
The IAPA was responding to a complaint by the Bermuda newspaper
The Royal Gazette that the government had cut back placement
of official advertising claiming that it was due to "cost-cutting"
and declaring that it would "concentrate its advertising
in electronic media, especially radio and the Internet."
The government also announced it was "suspending all subscriptions
to the newspaper." The paper stated in an editorial that
the cutback was rather a payback for its "The Right to Know
- Giving Power to the People," campaign that advocates access
to public information legislation in that country.
The Royal Gazette said that despite claiming budgetary constraints
the government was continuing to advertise in other print media.
|
Jamaican-Born
City Council Staffer Indicted |
CaribWorldNews, NEW YORK,
NY, Thurs. April 17, 2008:
The Jamaican-born former chief of staff of a New York City councilman
was yesterday indicted by the United States District Attorney's
Office.
Asquith Reid, the top former staffer to Vincent-born City Councilman
Kendall Stewart is accused along with Joycinth `Sue` Anderson,
another Stewart employee, of embezzling thousands in city money
from a Brooklyn charity over the last three years.
Reid and Anderson are named in the indictment which charges that
Reid, who was in charge of discretionary city funds, allocated
about $356,000 in funds to the Donna Reid Fund, which was established
by Reid in honor of his daughter, who passed away from cancer
at a young age.
The Donna Reid Fund also applied for money through the Department
of Youth and Community Development, which granted the request.
An additional $14,000 was transferred to the organization from
other fictitious non-profits: the New York Foundation for Community
Development and the American Association of Concerned Veterans.
The indictment alleges that about $145,000 of those funds were
embezzled to provide cash and personal benefits to the defendant,
and Anderson.
Some $31,000 of the money was sent by wire transfer to friends
and family in Jamaica, while some $21,000 was used to pay for
events in Brooklyn and campaign material. Anderson also cashed
thousands of dollars in Donna Reid fund checks and gave the money
to Reid, the indictment said
In total, Reid faces a maximum of 80 years in prison if found
guilty on all charges. Together they face charges of conspiracy,
money laundering, and witness tampering. Anderson faces a maximum
of 40 years in prison and the indictment said she aided Reid
in the scheme. Councilman Stewart was not named in the indictment.
The two aides' loyalty "should have been to the New York
City taxpayers," U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia said at a
news conference yesterday. "Instead, they were driven by
greed."
Garcia said the federal probe will continue to take a "hard
look" at the council's discretionary funds practice.
Reid and Anderson, meanwhile, were still reportedly employed
by the council as of yesterday.
Councilmember Stewart for his part yesterday denied that the
alleged embezzlement had anything to do with him or his office.
In a statement he said, `While I believe in the presumption of
innocent until proven guilty, I must say that I'm deeply disappointed
over the allegations leveled at Mr. Reid and the embarrassment
that his actions right or wrong - have caused me, my staff
and office and the people of my district.`
The indictment comes a week after it was revealed that the council
was hiding discretionary funds for more than two decades.
CaribWorldNews.com
|
Guyanese Man
Falls To His Death At Shea Stadium |
CaribWorldNews, QUEENS,
NY, Thurs. April 17, 2008:
A Guyanese man who Tuesday night fell to his death while watching
a baseball game at the Mets Stadium was yesterday remembered
as a good family man by his cousin.
Nelson Nigel told CWN yesterday that while he`s still trying
to cope with the news of the sudden death of his cousin, who
migrated from Berbice, Guyana in 1985, he's still focused on
trying to help the two daughters and an unborn child Antonio
Nararainsami has left behind.
Nararainsami, aka Tony, and several relatives, including his
two young daughters, were leaving Shea stadium at the end of
the Tuesday night game against the Washington Nationals when
he lost his balance on an escalator and fell two stories to his
death, police said. He landed in a section below the left field
stands and hit a concrete floor.
He was rushed to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead
half an hour later. Nigel said he received a call about `Tony's`
death around midnight Tuesday from his mother, an aunt of Nararainsami.
He said the news has devastated him and his entire family but
his concern remains focused on establishing a fund to help Nararainsami`s
children, especially his unborn child.
`Can you imagine not knowing your father? Can you imagine what
that will be like?` a distraught Nigel asked.
Nararainsami, according to Nigel, lived on Crescent Street, Brooklyn
and had been married for 14 years.
His mother is in Guyana and funeral arrangements are still being
worked out pending her arrival, Nigel said. Nararainsami installed
heating and air-conditioning systems for a living and was the
captain of a local cricket club.
The Mets, meanwhile, yesterday issued a statement that they had
been `advised of a tragic accident that resulted in the death
of a fan.` They said team officials and police were investigating.
`Our deepest and heartfelt condolences go out to the fan's family,`
the team's statement said.
Police have deemed the death an accident.
Anyone interested in aiding the Nararainsami family can contact
Nigel at Headcontracting@aol.com. CaribWorldNews.com
|
Trini jailed
in Canada for giving woman HIV |
Toronto, Canada, April
16th 2008: A TRINIDADIAN
man has been jailed in Ontario, Canada, for infecting a woman
with HIV.
According to the Observer newspaper, Superior Court Justice Johanne
Morrisette sentenced Owen Antoine to five years in prison for
aggravated sexual assault and criminal negligence causing bodily
harm, and called Antoine's actions "an act of extreme, callous
insensitivity".
However, Antoine will spend only two and a half years in jail
as he has already served just under three years in custody awaiting
trial.
Antoine, a construction worker and father of six, called the
victim in April 2006 and arranged to meet with her in a bar.
The 30-year-old woman who is a mother of two, had one drink with
Antoine and went to the bathroom.
On returning she discovered a drink waiting for her. She said
she remembered nothing after drinking the 'shooter', until she
awoke and found Antoine in bed with her.
The woman later discovered that Antoine was HIV positive and
months later she also tested positive for HIV.
At trial, Antoine revealed that he was diagnosed with the virus
back in December 2004, but he denied having sex with the woman.
However, in a taped interview with the police he admitted to
having intercourse with the victim once.
|
Latest changes
in Cuba 'interesting', says US commander |
WASHINGTON, USA (AFP), April 16th 2008:: The head of
the US Southern Command, Admiral James Stavridis, told lawmakers
Tuesday the changes in Cuba under President Raul Castro were
"interesting," but that only time would tell if they
were real or "cosmetic."
"I think it is too early to tell as yet, but it is interesting
that Raul is opening some of the economic freedoms such as cellphones,
access to tourist hotels, property rights," he told a congressional
panel looking into his command's budget.
"We need to watch to see if this is a sincere change or
just cosmetic," he added.
Stavridis was questioned on the reforms Raul Castro, 76, has
introduced in Cuba since he took over as president from his ailing
brother Fidel, 81, in late February.
Raul Castro recently lifted a series of bans on Cubans renting
cars and hotel rooms and purchasing goods such as pressure cookers,
DVD's, electric bikes and cell phones.
He is also considering agriculture reforms that include opening
up the sector to greater foreign investment and closing down
farming cooperatives that have proven to be inefficient.
Cuba watchers say there is likely a short-term political benefit
of allowing greater economic openness, though they also warn
that too many reforms by Cuba's centrally-controlled, one-party
regime could build pressure for more change than the government
is prepared to allow.
|
Vigil Set For
Murdered Jamaican Briton |
CaribWorldNews, LONDON,
England, Tues. April 15, 2008:
Jamaican Briton, Jamie Simpson, was cashing out the day's takings
at a Matalan store in Kingsland shopping centre on Saturday,
March 22 when he was attacked, robbed and stabbed to death.
Now as the five men arrested in connection with the murder inquiry
prepare for a May court date, Simpson`s family and friends are
set to celebrate the life of the 33-year-old sales manager.
A vigil is set for Sat. April 19th from 12 a.m. to 1 p.m. outside
the Shopping Center in Dalston, London, where Simpson was killed.
`The murder of Jamie Simpson was a horrific crime. His death
represents a loss to the community as a whole. My thoughts are
with Jamie's friends and family during this remembrance of his
life,` commented Diane Abbot MP of Hackney North & Stoke
Newington.
Meanwhile, a remembrance book, photographs, candles and flowers
have been laid, as well as cans of Jamaican beer have sprung
up in a makeshift memorial to Simpson. CaribWorldNews.com
|
Raffel Douglas
to be deported NY court accepts guilty plea |
New York, April 15, 2008: Drug accused Guyanese Raffel Christopher
Douglas is to be deported shortly, after an NY court accepted
a guilty plea he made to a charge of conspiring to distribute
cocaine in the US using a telephone.
The order was made yesterday at the New York Eastern District
Court during a hearing that was set to decide the Guyanese's
fate after he pleaded guilty to the charge late last month. As
a result of his guilty plea, the US government dropped four other
drug-related charges against the Guyanese and taking into consideration
a previous imprisonment in Canada and the time he spent behind
bars since his apprehension in 2005, he was released without
any sentence.
The other charges Douglas was facing were distribution of narcotics
for illegal importation and three counts of conspiracy to distribute
narcotics. He had been indicted in connection with the shipment
of 184 kilogrammes of cocaine, seized at JFK Airport on September
21, 2003.
Attorney-at-law Paul Laymon, who represented the US in the case,
said in court documents seen by this newspaper responding to
Douglas's plea, that the US government believed that Douglas's
offered plea was fair.
He noted that the case boiled down to the testimony of an informant,
who could be skilfully impeached by the defence.
Further, Laymon said, the case involved only two kilogrammes
of cocaine, though there were some hazy conversations between
the confidential informant (CI) and Frederick Hawkesworth (a
codefendant in Douglas's case) about other deals.
"Douglas served seven years in Canada on a case which was
eventually overturned and will have served almost three years
in this case, meaning he will have been confined for about ten
of the past 13 years. His apparent guideline range is not much
different from the recommended sentence.
Accordingly, the government would urge the court to accept the
plea and sentence the defendant in accordance with the plea agreement,"
Laymon asserted.
According to the US case, a CI working with the Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA) in Barbados met in Barbados in 2003 with
Hawkesworth. The DEA believed that Hawkesworth was moving cocaine
to the United States.
According to the CI, he advised Hawkesworth that he had contacts
at JFK International Airport in New York who could help him smuggle
cocaine through JFK on flights coming from the Caribbean. These
discussions led Hawkesworth to introduce the CI to Douglas, who
was Hawkesworth's partner. Thereafter, the CI had additional
conversations with Hawkesworth and Douglas about shipping cocaine
aboard flights going to JFK. Douglas informed the CI the cocaine
would be arriving on a certain JFK flight in a Nike bag. When
the flight arrived, agents were there to search it, the US said
noting that the Nike bag was on the plane but the bag did not
contain cocaine. Douglas then informed the CI that he would send
a second test shipment a few days later, on a flight certain
and this time in passenger baggage. When the flight arrived,
again the agents were there to search it, and while the luggage
was there, it did not contain cocaine.
Eventually, in March 2004, the CI met Douglas and Hawkesworth
in Barbados at Hawkesworth's home in Bridgetown and they sold
the CI two kilogrammes of cocaine, which the defendants knew
were to be transported to New York. The CI paid some money for
the cocaine but did not pay the full amount requested, the US
said in its case. In April 2004, the CI discussed with Hawkesworth
and Douglas about why he was not able to pay all the money he
owed them for the two kilogrammes, but according to the US, in
reality, the DEA had no money to spare. Hawkesworth eventually
told the CI to call his 'buddy' because "the man is cursing
me."
The US said its case against Douglas was based almost solely
on the informant's testimony, as corroborated by several recorded
telephone calls with Douglas and the codefendant Hawkesworth,
along with several recorded face-to-face meetings with Hawkesworth
in which Douglas was discussed.
Some of the recorded telephone calls and recorded meetings were
hard to hear, though some were audible, the US said in its case,
adding that the DEA agents were unable to see the informant meeting
Douglas, although two agents did observe a courier deliver the
two kilogrammes of cocaine to the informant. The US added that
the CI was a paid informant, who has been doing the job since
1999 and has been paid about $250,000 during the course of his
service as an informant. The US further noted that the CI was
shot while working on a case in the Caribbean, and the DEA paid
for his medical treatment.
The CI has a prior felony conviction for robbery, for which he
served about four years. He has denied ever being involved in
drug trafficking. However, he was a potential witness in a United
States prosecution against Charles Miller, his cousin, which
occurred in Miami in about 2000.
Additionally, the US noted in its case that Douglas had moved
to Canada from Guyana in the early 1990s. In 1994, he was charged
in Canada with conspiracy to import cocaine.
His trial started on February 20, 1997 and concluded on March
26, 1997 with a jury verdict of guilty. He was in custody from
the time of his arrest in February 1994 and remained in custody
until about 2001.
On July 8, 1997, he was sentenced to 13 years. He appealed the
case and his conviction and sentence were overturned.
The crown prosecutor had the option to retry him, but instead
Douglas was deported to Guyana after serving about seven years
in total.
He apparently returned to Guyana where he lived with his family,
the US said in the background of its case, noting that he had
been back in Guyana less than three years when he came to the
attention of the DEA and its informant in the fall of 2003.
The US stated that in the investigation of the Canadian case
and the instant one in New York, agents from Canada and the DEA
travelled to Guyana and observed Douglas's home, which was described
as "comfortable but not lavish in what would amount to a
middle-class neighbourhood".
According to the US case, on one occasion when Douglas travelled
to Barbados to meet the CI, undercover Barbados police officers
observed him, his wife, a teenage son, and a teenage daughter
at the home of codefendant Hawkesworth. Douglas was observed
playing cricket with his teenage son.
|
HAITI TO GET
EMERGENCY FOOD AID THROUGH OAS-PADF INITIATIVE |
Washington DC, April
11, 2008: Some 400 tons
of fortified rice, worth more than $1.5 million, is available
for delivery as emergency food aid to Haiti, especially for those
in greatest need, the Pan American Development Foundation (PADF),
an affiliate of the Organization of American States, announced
in Washington on Thursday.
OAS Assistant Secretary General Albert R. Ramdin chaired the
meeting of the Organization's Group of Friends of Haiti, at which
PADF Executive Director John Sanbrailo announced the proposed
aid package. Sanbrailo also appealed to OAS member states and
other interested parties to help mobilize some $200,000 in funds
to underwrite the cost of shipping the rice.
The food would be distributed largely to schools (under the school
feeding programs), health centers for women and children, hospitals
and community groups operating in Cité Soleil, Bel Air
and other locations where PADF has programs, Sanbrailo explained.
In addition to the food security question, Ramdin identified
the need for efficient food distribution systems to ensure those
most in need receive help, and in that regard he praised the
PADF's effective network for aid delivery. Ramdin also cited
immediate employment opportunities as a way to help maintain
political and social stability in Haiti, arguing that street
cleaning projects would generate useful short-term employment.
Several member state representatives reiterated their support
for urgent action to mobilize assistance for the sister country
of Haiti, detailing their respective government's initiatives,
such as food and security assistance provided by Brazil, Canada
and other governments. Bahamian Ambassador Cornelius Smith conveyed
the solidarity of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) governments,
assuring the Friends of Haiti meeting that, "We stand ready
to assist in whatever way we can."
On behalf of his government, Haiti's Permanent Representative
Ambassador Duly Brutus thanked the OAS and the PADF as well as
member states and the other interested partners, for their demonstration
of commitment to his country.
Ramdin suggested the "Friends of Haiti," which includes
OAS member states and observers as well as key inter-American
institutions such as the Inter-American Development Bank and
the Pan American Development Organization (PAHO), meet again
before a meeting in Haiti this coming April 24 and 25 to consider
funding for the government's National Strategy Paper on Growth
and Poverty Reduction.
|
Jamaican on
vacation in London on drug charge |
London, April 10, 2008: A Jamaican man on vacation in London, England was
on Tuesday granted bail following his arrest the day before on
a charge of possession of crack/cocaine.
The man, Ian Grey, 33, of Kingston, was arrested after the contraband
was found hidden in the spare tyre compartment of the vehicle
he was driving. British police put the value of the illegal drugs
at £7,500. When he appeared before the courts on Tuesday,
Grey, who arrived in England on March 20, was granted bail in
the sum of £150,000. On Monday, Grey was pulled over by
a police patrol in an area known for the sale of the drug in
the depressed Hounslow Borough In London.
Police said he was arrested after it was discovered that he was
driving the blue BMW motor car without a British driver's licence.
"The vehicle was searched and the parcel containing the
drugs was allegedly found stashed underneath the spare tyre,"
Melody Green of Pride Magazine in London told the Observer.
If convicted, Grey, who is to re-appear in court on April, 17,
could be sentenced to a minimum of seven years, half of which
he will spend in the British prison before being deported to
Jamaica to finish his sentence.
He was scheduled to return to Jamaica in May.
|
UN reaffirms
support to Haiti for stability, development |
New York,
April 09, 2008: The UN Security Council reiterated on
Tuesday their support to the government of Haiti and the UN mission
in this conflict-poverty stricken Caribbean country for its stability
and development.
In a statement read out by Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo of South
Africa, the current president of the council, the members reiterated
their "sustained support to the government of Haiti and
to the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) in their
efforts towards ensuring stability, consolidating democracy,
and sustaining conditions conductive to economic growth, social
development and the delivery of humanitarian assistance and basic
services to the Haitian people."
The members of the council were briefed Tuesday morning on recent
developments in Haiti by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General
and Head of MINUSTAH.
He said Haiti has made significant gains in politics, security
and institution-building, but warning that this progress remains
fragile and subject to swift reversal at the same time.
Annabi noted that there has been a rise in anti-government demonstrations,
with a particular focus on the recent dramatic increase in the
cost of living, notably in a violent demonstration last week
in Les Cayes.
He said in order to combat the threat of criminality and violence,
the UN Mission has reinforced its collaboration with theHaitian
authorities and has enhanced the sharing of information.
In the statement, council members also reiterated their support
for the secretary-general's intention to prepare a consolidation
plan with benchmarks to measure continued progress, on the basis
of consultation with the Haitian authorities
'The war changed
him' - Mother-daughter team that helped raise Kevin Brown will
stand by him
BY TYRONE S REID Sunday Observer staff reporter reidt@jamaicaobserver.com |
Kingston, Jamaica, April
6, 2008: Kevin Christopher
Brown has always been a traveller.
Growing up in Jamaica in the 1980s, he lived between Kingston,
Manchester and Westmoreland. By adolescence, he was boarding
regular flights to the United States to visit relatives - sometimes
not returning for lengthy periods - and by adulthood, he was
flying to the war-torn Iraq as a soldier with the US Army.
Kevin Brown with his newborn son, circa, mid-2005.
Most recently, Brown, 32, was about to travel to Jamaica to visit
friends and family when he was detained at the Orlando International
Airport in Florida after a search of his luggage revealed bomb-making
material.
The story made international media headlines last week and the
image of the Jamaican-born man - about 6'7" tall, dark and
heavily-built with some facial hair - handcuffed, sitting on
a pavement outside the main airport building as law enforcement
officers conducted their investigation into the 'mysterious contents'
of his travelling bag, was beamed into households via big-name
news networks.
Nobody was more shocked at the news than Lucille Rodney and Carmen
(her alias), the mother-daughter team that helped raise Brown
as a child living in Kingston, after his biological single mother,
Sandra McLeod (friend and one-time neighbour of the Rodneys in
St Andrew), moved to Negril, Westmoreland, to establish herself
as a hotelier and businesswoman. They did not know he was coming
home.
"Growing up, his mother could afford to take him where he
wanted to," shared Carmen Rodney, Lucille's 30-something
year-old daughter, whom Brown often called 'Auntie'. "He
came from a privileged background, not excessively, though. But
he was not spoilt because sometimes he had to earn what he wanted,"
she added.
Born in 1975, Brown led a normal childhood, surrounded by loving
family, despite the occasional travelling. He attended Stella
Maris Preparatory School and Knox College, where he was a boarding
student up to third form before he moved to Kingston in 1991
to enroll at Priory High.
Brown, with friends at a US Army base during his days as a soldier.
During that time, he lived with the Rodneys in Red Hills, St
Andrew, regularly going to Negril to visit his mother on weekends.
Brown's father had passed away when he was only a toddler.
"He was not a child that got into trouble. He had friends
but he never kept bad company to get him in any kind of mischief
as a teenager," said Lucille, to whom Brown often referred
as his 'other mother'. "He attended church regularly with
us [St Georges Anglican, Duke Street, Kingston]. And he would
go down to the country regularly to look for his mom," she
added.
After completing his high school education in Jamaica, mounting
ambition, the appeal of overseas opportunities and a thirst for
success led him to travel again to the US to enroll in college.
"He went up to go to school but he could not decide what
to study," Carmen said.
By that time, in the late 1990s, his mother had opened a small
hotel in Negril and was finding moderate success in the hospitality
industry. Brown would visit Jamaica occasionally to check on
relatives.
"He then decided to join the US army and he did numerous
stints in Poland and Germany. He got numerous medals during this
time," Lucille said.
With the dawn of 2003 came the Iraq War. Brown went to serve
during the second six months and served double time after his
stay was extended - leaving Iraq in early 2005, a little before
his mother's brutal murder in Negril. She was strangled. And
while suspects have been brought in by investigating officers,
three years later, they are yet to stand trial.
Just two days before his mother's murder Brown married a fellow
Army officer and made plans to honeymoon in Jamaica. His son,
who turns four in a few months, was also born around that time.
A lot was happening and quickly in Brown's life.
According to the Rodneys, the former US soldier who had to leave
the army for medical reasons, sank into a deep depression following
his departure from Iraq. The depression, they believe, became
compounded when he learnt of his mother's murder. He subsequently
began abusing alcohol, they said.
"The war changed him. The war depressed him because afterwards
he had to seek medical attention. He became unstable because
of his experiences. He saw many of friends die and heard gunshots
24/7 during over there," Lucille explained.
"And I know for a fact that since his mother died three
years ago it has been with him. At the funeral, he got off right
there. We had to call a doctor for him. He couldn't believe that
his mother died like that. The news was hard to swallow,"
she said.
Brown has been in police custody in the US since his arrest.
A judge ruled last week that there was enough evidence to proceed
against him. He was subsequently charged by the Federal Bureau
of Investigation (FBI) with attempting to place an explosive
device on an aeroplane.
"The news was shocking. It was something unexpected because
we didn't even know he was coming back to Jamaica. I immediately
started trying to think and reason out why he would do anything
like that," Lucille told the Sunday Observer.
According to the FBI, the liquid substance found in Brown's luggage
was nitromethane, a potentially explosive formula. Galvanised
pipes, end caps, two containers of BBs, batteries, bomb-making
literature and a rocket igniter were also allegedly found in
Brown's luggage. A laptop computer was removed from his carry-on
bag for analysis by the FBI.
"I am still baffled as to why he would have that in his
luggage. I can't say why. I can't think for him," Carmen
said.
Psychologist and human relationship expert, Dr Veronica Salter,
said grief and mental anguish can severely alter a person's state
of mind and functioning.
"Severe grief is a terrible thing and it can cause anyone
to have a breakdown. Grief can certainly alter your state of
mind. A lot has happened to [Brown] especially his mother's murder
and going to Iraq. The sort of stress he's been exposed to is
enough to cause serious mental and emotional damage," Salter
told the Sunday Observer. "War is a very traumatic experience.
The episodes of violence, one right after another, can take a
strong toll on anyone. I am very seriously concerned about what's
going to happen to him. I am not one to judge but he's clearly
in need of psychiatric help."
Psychologist Dr Leahcim Semaj also said being surrounded by such
graphic violence can take its toll on a person's brain, an idea
being explored in the media regarding Brown's case.
"If you examine the story closely you will see that it is
about the frailty of the human mind and factors that push people
over the edge. What we're now hearing in the media has to do
with how vulnerable the human mind can be when exposed to stressors."
On the other hand, Salter's overall concerns on the issue of
mental health extend beyond Kevin Brown's case. According to
Salter, the stigma attached to mental illness and the capacity
to deal with it, here in Jamaica, are important matters that
need to be addressed.
"What facilities and conditions do we have here in Jamaica
to deal with such situations? If he's shipped back here what
will happen? Because we are not adequately equipped to deal with
such situations," Salter pointed out.
In the meantime, although Brown's prosecution hearing last week
was initially scheduled to determine whether he
could be granted bail, that decision has been rescheduled to
a later date. The Rodneys are prepared to stand by him, through
it all.
"I'll be travelling up there to see what and what can be
done from a family perspective. He is not guilty of terrorist
activity," Lucille told the Sunday Observer. "I know
they will have to put him in an institution because he just needs
help. Everything happened to him in a short period of time and
I think his mental state has suffered as a result. But I know
that with God on our side, things will work out," she added,
slowly nodding - seemingly holding on to the belief that what
does not kill you, only makes you stronger.
Editor's Note: Reprinted from the Jamaica Observor of
April 6, 2008.
|
Trini-born US
soldier killed in Iraq |
NEW YORK, April 5th 2008:
JUST three weeks before
he was scheduled to return from Iraq, Trinidadian-born US soldier,
Sergeant Dayne Dhanoolal, was killed in Baghdad.
Dhanoolal, 26, died of massive injuries when an improvised explosive
device detonated near his vehicle on Monday, the US Department
of Defence said in a statement.
Dhanoolal was originally from Acono Road, St Joseph, before he
migrated to New York 11 years ago.
Dhanoolal, who joined the US Army six years ago, was a combat
engineer with the 3rd Brigade in Fort Benning, Georgia. He was
supporting "Operation Iraqi Freedom". His older sister,
Sergeant First Class Jillene Fenton, is on her fourth tour in
Iraq.
Dhanoolal, the only son from five children, was the youngest.
In a statement yesterday, his sister, Darlene Dhanoolal, said,
"This is a tough time for our family because we always knew
this was a possibility, but we never imagined that it would happen."
Darlene added, "He was the type of person that left a happy
memory wherever he went. No matter the situation he always tried
to make the best of it."
"We will forever remember his gigantic grin... we know that
you (Dayne) are definitely smiling down from heaven at us.
"You are gone but you will always be missed, loved and always
remembered forever in our hearts."
Reports in the New York Post said three hours before Dhanoolal
was killed, he text-messaged his 28-year-old wife, Kynesha, to
tell her he loved her. It was the last thing he said to her.
The couple, who got married three weeks before he first went
overseas, had been together over Christmas, before he had to
return to Iraq, the paper reported.
|
US federal judge
detains Jamaican bomb suspect |
NEW YORK, United States,
April 4, 2008: A United
States federal judge says there is enough evidence to detain
the Jamaican man accused of having bomb-making material in his
luggage at a US airport, taking the ex-soldier one step closer
to facing a Grand Jury on the matter.
When 32-year-old Kevin Brown returned to court yesterday at what
was expected to be a bail hearing his attorney, Assistant Federal
Public Defender Clarence Counts instead asked prosecutors to
begin a preliminary examination of the evidence that led to his
client's arrest. The court-appointed lawyer later said he would
seek Brown's release at a later date "if circumstances change".
After hearing submissions from both sides, Magistrate Karla Spaulding
ruled there was "probable cause" to proceed with the
case against Brown. He has been detained at the Seminole County
Jail in Orlando pending a Grand Jury indictment.
Brown first appeared in court on Wednesday, a day after being
apprehended by Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials
at the Orlando International Airport where he was awaiting an
Air Jamaica flight to Montego Bay. When his luggage was searched,
two galvanised pipes, end caps, two containers of BB pellets,
batteries, flammable liquid in two Vodka bottles, a laptop and
bomb-making literature were allegedly found.
He has since been charged by the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) with attempting to place an explosive device on an airplane.
Assistant US Attorney Vincent Citro yesterday argued that the
flammable nitromethane which Brown was allegedly carrying could
have caused a fire and explosion.
But Brown's attorney argued that there was no real threat since
the materials were not assembled and he could not have accessed
them after he checked in his luggage.
"None of these items, your honor, were packaged in such
a way that they would explode...We did not have a bomb,"
Mr Counts told the judge.
"He didn't have any way of even detonating any explosive
device, so there really was no danger to anyone on the airplane."
An FBI agent told the court that Brown had initially indicated
he was going to use the materials to blow up a tree stump on
his cousin's property back home in Jamaica. He later added that
he was going to show friends how to make bombs like the ones
he saw in Iraq.
Brown, who joined the US Army in June 1999 and was discharged
in December 2003, reportedly had a history of mental illness
and had sunk into a deep depression after the strangling death
of his mother in 2005.
sTwo men have been charged in connection with her murder, but
the case is still ongoing
|
Barbados National
Nabbed At Ontario Crossing |
CaribWorldNews, NIAGARA
FALLS, N.Y., Thurs. April 3, 2008: A 34-year-old Barbados national, wanted for questioning
in connection with a murder that occurred in that Caribbean nation,
has been nabbed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents.
Earl Victor was arrested at the Rainbow Bridge border crossing
in Niagara Falls, N.Y. after CBP officers revealed inconsistencies
in his story. He was referred to secondary inspection for verification
of his immigration status and record checks subsequently revealed
that Victor was the subject of an INTERPOL lookout issued in
July 2007.
Victor had in his possession an Ontario, Canada, driver's license
and claimed that his Barbadian passport was at his residence
in St. Catherines, Ontario.
Police officers in Barbados advised CBP that Victor has several
criminal convictions in Barbados, including a charge of wounding
resulting in serious bodily harm and may be involved in drug
smuggling.
Barbadian authorities further advised CBP that Victor is wanted
on an active warrant for robbery, for which he was previously
held in Barbadian custody, but absconded on June 28, 2007, and
fled to Canada.
Victor was found to be inadmissible to the United States due
his various convictions for crimes involving moral turpitude,
and is being held at the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility in
Batavia, N.Y. pending an immigration hearing. Authorities in
Barbados are currently pursuing
|
Website launches
searchable register of British Empire's slaves |
LONDON, England (AFP),
April 3, 2008: A website
specialising in family geneaology launched a massive online searchable
register of slaves of the British Empire Wednesday, allowing
descendants of slaves to discover their origins.
The social history website Ancestry.co.uk has compiled the details
of more than 2.7 million slaves and 280,000 slave-owners from
17 former British colonies for Internet users to explore.
Stretching from 1812 to 1834, the records of the slaves are searchable
by name, year of birth and gender, as well as by the name of
their holder.
According to the website, more than half a million Britons are
originally from black Caribbean former colonies, the majority
of them descended from slaves.
"The slave registers are a vital resource and are for many
the only record of their ancestor's existence," said Simon
Harper, a spokesman for Ancestry.co.uk.
Last year, Britain commemorated 200 years since it outlawed slavery.
The Abolition of the Slave Trade Act was passed on March 25,
1807, imposing a 100-pound fine for every slave found aboard
a British ship.
The 1833 Slavery Abolition Act outlawed slavery itself throughout
the British Empire. However, some slaves did not gain their final
freedom until 1838.
|
UN chief pleads
for continued international role in Haiti |
UNITED NATIONS (AFP),
April 3, 2008: Strong
international involvement in Haiti remains indispensable to cope
with security threats and ensure the success of reforms, UN chief
Ban Ki-moon said in his latest report released Wednesday.
"Strong international involvement remains indispensable
for continued progress," Ban noted, stressing the key role
of the 9,000-strong UN troops and police in responding to security
threats and criminal activity and backing state authority along
the country's border with the Dominican Republic.He also made
clear that the reform of the rule-of-law structures was key to
bosltering stability in the impoverished Caribbean nation.
Ban said that it was essential that plans for justice sector
reform be translated into action and that "the necessary
national and international funding be made available to support
those reform processes."
Turning to the security situation, the secretary general noted
a marked improvement since UN peacekeepers spearheaded major
raids against gangs preying on slum-dwellers in early 2007 in
Port-au-Prince.
"Since December, several areas of Port-au-Prince have experienced
an increase in criminality and in the number of reported kidnappings,"
he said, citing "recurrent indications that gangs may be
trying to reorganize themselves."
He said the number of kidnappings per month from December 2007
to February this year reached 28, up from 11 six months earlier.
The rising cost of living has also fueled a hike in anti-government
protests, he noted, citing statistics from the UN mission in
Haiti (MINUSTAH) pointing to 164 such demonstrations in the six
months leading to last August and 258 in the subsequent six months.
"There is a risk that those who perceive their interests
to be threatened by ongoing reform processes may deliberately
seek to foster additional disturbances, including through orchestrated
acts of violence," Ban said.
"Suspected illicit trafficking activities along the coast
and by air have the potential to contribute to instability, as
do uncontrolled movements of goods and persons across the land
border," he added.
MINUSTAH was deployed in volatile Haiti after then-president
Jean Bertrand Aristide fled an uprising in February
2004.
Its main troops contributors are: Brazil, Uruguay, Sri Lanka,
Jordan, Nepal, Argentina and Chile.
More than half of the Caribbean nation's 8.4 million people live
on one dollar a day, according to UN officials.
Bomb suspect
a sick man
Mom's murder, Iraq War depressed Kevin Brown |
Miami, April 03, 2008: PERSONS who know Kevin Brown, the Jamaican-born
ex-US soldier who was held trying to take bomb parts on an Air
Jamaica flight at the Orlando International Airport on Tuesday,
yesterday insisted he is not a terrorist but developed mental
problems after returning from the war in Iraq.
Brown was discharged from the US Army for medical reasons and
sunk into further depression after the murder of his mother,
52-year-old hotelier Sandra McLeod, three years ago.
McLeod was found strangled in a room at a hotel she owned in
Negril in 2005. Three men are now before the courts for McLeod's
murder.
"He is sick. His actions were not about any strike against
Jamaica or the national airline," said a Kingston-based
woman who claimed to have raised Brown and who opted not to be
named.
Yesterday, Brown told investigators that he planned to set the
bomb off on a tree stump when he arrived in Jamaica and that
he wanted to show his friends the 'bombs he saw in Iraq'.
Lloyd Chung, McLeod's neighbour, said Brown displayed signs of
depression after the murder of his mother.
"After his mother's death I met him at his home. He was
a quiet, calm and casual person, but after his mother died he
started drinking a lot more from when I saw him initially,"
Chung told the Observer yesterday. "He was a soldier and
also his wife, but he told me he was discharged for medical reasons."
Brown appeared in shackles at the Orlando Division of the United
States District Court and was ordered held without bail by Magistrate
Karla Spaulding until today when bail will be considered.
Brown was charged by Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) bomb
expert, Kelly Boaz, with attempting to place an incendiary or
explosive device.
Court papers bearing the signatures of Spaulding and Boaz said
Brown gave up his right to an attorney and agreed to speak with
the investigators.
"Brown knowingly and willfully waived his Miranda rights
and spoke with agents about the items in his baggage and backpack,"
the paper stated. "Brown told us, among other things, that
he bought the items in Gainsville, Florida and intended to use
them as a pipe bomb."
The hearing was put off today after government officials asked
for time to check if Brown suffered from mental illness.
A release from the FBI's public affairs officer, David Couvertier,
said the liquid found in Brown's luggage was nitromethane, a
potentially explosive formula. Galvanised pipes, end caps, two
containers of BBs, batteries, bomb-making literature and a rocket
igniter were also found in Brown's luggage, the FBI said. A laptop
computer was taken from his carry-on bag and is now being analysed
by the FBI.
The bureau yesterday said Brown had no fixed address and "slept
out in the open".
He signed up to the US Army in September 1999 and was honourably
discharged in December 2003. Brown was given a commendation medal
for serving in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, officials
said.
Records show Brown was at a medical unit at Fort Bennington in
Columbus, Georgia after he served in the Iraq War.
He was married for about a year to another army officer.
|
Barbados takes
lead of OAS' second highest decision making body |
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados,
April 2, 2008: Barbados
is now at the helm of the Organisation of American States' (OAS)
Permanent Council.
The country's Permanent Representative to the OAS, Ambassador
Michael King has assumed chairmanship of the second highest decision-making
body of the 34 member hemispheric organisation, calling for equality
and justice to be more entrenched in the Americas.
For the next three months, he will steer the work of the Council,
including its preparations for the upcoming OAS General Assembly
to be held in Medellin, Colombia, in early June.
Chairing his first regular session of the Permanent Council,
Ambassador King called for equality, justice and a culture peace
to be promoted in this hemisphere.
"It is clearly understood that individuals who are prevented
from participating in the economic, social and political affairs
of their countries, will eventually participate in eroding the
existing political, economic and social framework," he declared
to his colleague ambassadors in the Permanent Council.
"The best way to see to the health of this hemisphere's
political and democratic system is to deepen the emphasis on
social justice. The need for equality is apparent, when the condition
of Afro descendants, indigenous people, women, youth and the
disabled is observed."
Ambassador King replaces Ambassador Cornelius Smith of the Bahamas
whose three-month stint had ended.
Meantime, Ambassador Anthony Johnson has become Jamaica's Permanent
Representative to the Permanent Council.
He used his maiden address to reiterate the call for a timely
conclusion of the proposed Social Charter of the Americas to
serve as "a blueprint for action on the social agenda of
the OAS and in the fight against poverty."
Ambassador Johnson also highlighted the challenges to hemispheric
security posed by "the borderless phenomena of illicit traffic
in drugs and small arms, transnational organized crime and terrorism,
to which all our countries are vulnerable and which undermine
our efforts to maintain stable and prosperous societies".
He therefore urged the OAS to continue to play its part in tackling
these scourges.
|
Roger Khan's
pre-trial hearings postponed to Oct. 27 |
New York, April 2, 2008: Shaheed 'Roger'
Khan would have to spend even more time in jail. On Monday, Judge
Dora Irizarry ruled that she was adjourning the hearing until
October 27.
When she adjourned the matter there were two motions before her,
one of them filed by the defence to take depositions in Guyana
and the other by the government, on which there can be no comment
since the matter is sealed.
Initially, both the defence and the prosecution had agreed that
a one-month postponement would have been adequate for the two
sides to marshal their arguments. They informed the judge that
they would have been ready to make their submissions by April
28.
However, the judge declined. Further, she refused to undertake
any matter during the summer and promptly set the next court
date for October 27.
Meanwhile, people close to the trial believe that one of the
prosecution witnesses is hidden in the United States and is making
calls to people in Guyana and that these calls are being recorded.
The witness who has been identified as David Clarke is said to
have been arrested in the United States with a quantity of drugs
and that he has been a co-operating witness.
Clarke was a former member of the Guyana Defence Force who had
traveled to the States and ran foul of the law.
Bomb scare in
Orlando
J'can held before boarding Air J flight to MoBay |
| |