Weed Plea
Still upset over the decision to allow the importation of ganja from Canada, a farmer in St Mary is bashing the Government for what he claims is too much bureaucracy in the sector.
"We don't need any licence to plant the weed," herbalist Rasta Wilson told the Jamaica Observer in a recent interview.
Wilson, who once worked in the Government service, said since leaving that nine-to-five job and moving into ganja farming he is enjoying the pleasure of working in nature where he assists in educating and providing advice to people who wish to be healed the natural way.
"The Government should be the one paying us small ganja farmers to plant the weed. We have been persecuted and oppressed by the Government for too long," added Wilson.
He said that Prime Minister Andrew Holness should apologise to the many ganja farmers who have been prosecuted over the years.
"Just as how he did for Coral Gardens, he needs to do so to the small ganja farmers," said Wilson, as he took a puff of his 'ganja spliff' under an almond tree in Robin's Bay, St Mary,
In 2017 Holness issued an apology for what has come to be referred to as the Coral Gardens incident of 1963.
Violence flared up in Coral Gardens, St James leading to the death of civilians and police, significant personal injuries and destruction of property. The local Rastafarian community has harboured feelings of bitterness and resentment over the years since that incident.
"Today, without equivocation, we apologise for what occurred in Coral Gardens. We express our regret and sorrow for this chapter in our national life that was characterised by brutality, injustice and repression, which was wrong and should never be repeated," said Holness.
"Whilst I know that this cannot erase the brutality, oppression and injustice which was meted out during that tragedy, I am comforted by the willingness of the members of the Rastafari Coral Gardens Benevolent Society to keep the dialogue going.
"I am happy to have finally reached the point where we can discuss concrete and tangible actions which can ease some of the heavy burdens that survivors and the community have faced," Holness said in his apology.
For Wilson, anything less than a similar fulsome apology will not be enough for small ganja farmers who have been persecuted and prosecuted over the years.
According to Wilson, despite freeing up the local ganja sector in 2015, the Government has not made provisions for people like him to plant, use and sell the weed unless they get a licence.
"Look at the big ganja farm in Nutsfield, [St Mary]. The man put in all the necessary infrastructure to plant, and export weed to Canada but he can't do that and ganja from Canada coming in. That is a height of foolishness," declared Wilson as he argued that "ganja is a green gold for Jamaica but there was too much red tape in it".
During his contribution to the 2023/24 Budget Debate last Thursday, Holness joined scores of Jamaicans voicing displeasure at the decision to allow the importation of ganja from Canada.
According to Holness, he has instructed Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce Aubyn Hill to fix it.
"I told him and he will tell you what I said, I agree with everyone who is upset about the importation of ganja from Canada. Before it was popular, we were in a struggle. I said to the minister, ensure that situation is corrected," Holness told the House of Representatives.
During a recent media briefing, in the wake of public outcry over the importation of ganja from Canada, Hill announced that the Government will be working to develop a policy that will better serve the local cannabis industry.
Payers in the ganja industry have been particularly upset that Canada, a country that does not allow Jamaican cannabis exports into its market, could be granted permission to export to Jamaica. Hill argued that the company, Cannaviva Jamaica Limited, applied for and was granted the necessary permits by the Cannabis Licensing Authority Board.
According to Hill, the only import authorisation that has been utilised by Cannaviva is for a strain of cannabis that is not in Jamaica called tranquil elephantiser.
"We don't have that here and they brought in 44 pounds of this particular strain that they use in five of their branches, so each branch would come out at less than nine pounds.
"They requested other licences, but one expired and one was never approved," said Hill.
Source- Jamaica Observer
Tate Brothers' custody extended by another month
Controversial influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan will remain in custody in Romania for a fourth consecutive month, a court has ruled.
The brothers have been detained since December and are being investigated on allegations of rape, people trafficking, and forming an organized crime group. Both have denied wrongdoing.
Mr. Tate's lawyers say he will be held until the end of April.
Their spokeswoman Mateea Petrescu said the team was "speechless".
Under Romanian law, the men can be held for up to six months in detention.
The brothers' lawyers told a closed court in Bucharest that prosecutors had brought no new evidence to Wednesday's hearing. They also suggested their clients' notoriety was contributing to the decision to keep them in custody.
Ms. Petrescu said that - for the first time - the judge addressed the brothers directly during the hearing, to ask for their response to the prosecution's argument that they were a flight risk and a risk to public order.
Despite what was described as a "dynamic exchange", the judge eventually ruled the two men should be kept in preventative custody for another 30 days, until the end of April.
Ms. Petrescu said the continued detention had "irreparably harmed" their image and that "it [would] take years to rebuild their reputation".
Lawyers have long argued that keeping the Tates in preventative custody is unnecessarily harsh when other judicial options - such as house arrest - are available.
But, judges have repeatedly disagreed and ruled four times this year to keep the men in detention while investigators compile evidence against them.
No charges have yet been brought against the brothers or the two Romanian associates who were arrested alongside them.
In 2016, Mr. Tate, a former kickboxer, was removed from the British TV show Big Brother over a video that appeared to show him attacking a woman.
He went on to gain notoriety online, with Twitter banning him for saying women should "bear responsibility" for being sexually assaulted. He has since been reinstated.
Despite social media bans he gained popularity, particularly among young men, by promoting what he presented as a hyper-masculine, ultra-luxurious lifestyle.
Source- BBC
Kylian Mbappe replaces Hugo Lloris as captain of France national team
Paris St-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe has been named as the new captain of the France national team.
He succeeds Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, who retired from international football in January.
Mbappe, 24, has 66 caps for France since making his senior debut in 2017.
"Kylian meets all the requirements to have this responsibility," France manager Didier Deschamps told French TV channel TF1 in an interview to be aired on Sunday.
"On the field as in the life of the group, by being a unifying element."
The French Football Federation (FFF) confirmed Deschamps had named Mbappe as captain and Atletico Madrid forward Antoine Griezmann as vice-captain on social media on Tuesday.
Mbappe was the top scorer at last year's World Cup as he helped France reach a second straight World Cup final, where they were beaten by Argentina.
He scored two goals in the 2018 final against Croatia and was named the tournament's best young player as France was crowned world champions for a second time.
Deschamps' side plays the Netherlands at the Stade de France in their first Euro 2024 qualifier on Friday, before facing the Republic of Ireland on Monday.
Source- BBC
Lil Nas X jokingly leaves LGBT community after learning he's Saweetie's celebrity guy crush
Saweetie's crush on Lil Nas X has prompted his "exit" from the LGBTQ community.
After learning the Icy rapper named him her celebrity guy crush, X took to Twitter and jokingly announced his departure. “Goodbye LGBT community," Lil Nas wrote next to a heart emoji. "We had a great run."
Saweetie revealed her crush during her interview with E! News. "He is so fine to me," she said of Lil Nas. “He looks better than me …I will be like, ‘What is your skin regimen?'”
She'd expressed similar sentiments when clearing up rumors that she'd liked a tweet that questioned Lil Nas' sexuality. "He was looking fine af that’s why I liked the video I didn’t see the shadiness ….*unlikes*," Saweetie wrote.
Lil Nas also responded to the original tweet, in which a user claimed he was “not really gay or not really that feminine."
“Oh no guys it’s the estrogen expert,” he tweeted.
Source- ABC
AI is most important tech advance in decades says Bill Gates
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates says the development of artificial intelligence (AI) is the most important technological advance in decades.
In a blog post on Tuesday, he called it as fundamental as the creation of the microprocessor, the personal computer, the Internet, and the mobile phone.
"It will change the way people work, learn, travel, get health care, and communicate with each other," he said.
He was writing about the technology used by tools such as chatbot ChatGPT.
Developed by OpenAI, ChatGPT is an AI chatbot that is programmed to answer questions online using natural, human-like language.
The team behind it in January 2023 received a multibillion-dollar investment from Microsoft - where Mr. Gates still serves as an advisor.
But it is not the only AI-powered chatbot available, with Google recently introducing rival Bard.
I was one of the first people to get access to Bard and my colleagues and I are trying to put it through its paces.
So far it's given me a philosophical answer to the meaning of life.
It gave a competent potted history of Russia-China relations to a colleague covering the meeting between President Putin and Xi Jinping - unlike ChatGPT, Bard can access current affairs.
A program editor asked for a good running order for her news show. Start with the biggest story of the day, Bard suggested, and end with a musician or comedian. It also did a decent if generic job of a poem about trees and blossoms.
I haven't yet started trying to get it to be rude to me, or to others. I'll report back on that…
Mr. Gates said he had been meeting with OpenAI - the team behind the artificial intelligence that powers chatbot ChatGPT - since 2016.
In his blog, Mr. Gates said he challenged the OpenAI team in 2022 to train an AI that can pass an Advanced Placement (AP) Biology exam - roughly equivalent to an A-level exam - with the strict rule that the AI could not be specifically trained to answer Biology questions.
A few months later they revealed the results - a near-perfect score, he said, missing only one mark out of 50.
After the exam, Mr. Gates said he asked the AI to write a response to a father with a sick child.
"It wrote a thoughtful answer that was probably better than most of us in the room would have given," he said.
"I knew I had just seen the most important advance in technology since the graphical user interface (GUI)."
A GUI is a visual display - that allows a person to interact with images and icons, rather than a display that shows only text and requires typed commands.
Its development led to the Windows and Mac OS operating systems in the 1980s and remains a key part of computing.
And Mr. Gates says he believes AI tech will lead to similar advancements.
Mr. Gates, who co-chairs the charitable Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, called on governments to work with industry to "limit the risks" of AI but said the technology could be used to save lives.
"AI-driven improvements will be especially important for poor countries, where the vast majority of under-5 deaths happen," he wrote.
"Many people in those countries never get to see a doctor, and AIs will help the health workers they do see be more productive."
Some examples of this he gave include completing repetitive tasks such as insurance claims, paperwork, and note-taking.
But in order for this to happen, Mr. Gates called for a targeted approach to AI technology in the future.
"Market forces won't naturally produce AI products and services that help the poorest," he said. "The opposite is more likely.
"With reliable funding and the right policies, governments and philanthropy can ensure that AIs are used to reduce inequity.
"Just as the world needs its brightest people focused on its biggest problems, we will need to focus the world's best AIs on its biggest problems."
Source- BBC
Stocks rebound as US and UK seek to calm investors
Stock markets around the world have bounced back after the US and UK governments again reassured markets about banks' stability.
Investors have recently been unnerved by a string of bank failures.
But US stock markets were higher after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen signaled the US government would protect people's deposits if another bank collapsed.
In the UK, the FTSE closed 1.79% higher after gains in top bank shares.
NatWest, Prudential, and Barclays shares gained about 5%, while Standard Chartered and Lloyds also traded higher.
Ms. Yellen said "the situation is stabilizing, and the US banking system remains sound" in a speech on Tuesday.
This follows the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank earlier this month.
The failures were triggered by depositors rushing to withdraw money after anxiety over the banks' health.
And last week, a group of the biggest US banks raised $30bn (£24.5bn) in funds for regional lender First Republic Bank, but its share price still crashed by more than 45% on Monday.
Ms. Yellen said the US intervention in the two bank collapses was necessary to "protect the broader banking system", after promising that all depositors in both banks would be protected.
She added that similar action could be taken if the same happens to other smaller banks, indicating that savers would not lose their money if another bank were to collapse.
Source- BBC
Security guard beaten in attempted robbery at Mandeville ATM
A security guard was beaten by gunmen during an attempted robbery at a National Commercial Bank (NCB) automated teller machine (ATM) at Bank House Mall in Mandeville on Tuesday morning.
A police source confirmed that the incident happened at about 2:00 am.
The source said the guard, who was on duty, was physically assaulted and had to be taken to hospital for treatment after the gunmen attacked him.
The gunmen reportedly vandalized the ATM but were unsuccessful in removing cash from it.
The Manchester police have increased their patrols close to ATMs and money couriers.
“We have heightened our presence where [criminals] might target,” said the source.
Source- BBC
10 Deputy Officers caught killing another Black Man
Surveillance video captured at a Virginia hospital shows patient Irvo Otieno pinned to the ground by multiple deputy sheriffs and hospital staff.
Mr. Otieno, a 28-year-old black man, died in custody on 6 March while he was being transferred from jail to the mental facility.
Seven deputy sheriffs and three medical staff have been charged with second-degree murder over his death.
A grand jury on Tuesday indicted the 10 people charged in the case.
The prosecutor in the case, Ann Cabell Baskervill, said she planned to release a video of the incident to the public on Tuesday. Numerous media outlets gained access to it earlier after it was included in a public court filing.
Video of the incident was caught on surveillance cameras at Central State Hospital in Petersburg, Virginia.
A portion of it has been published by the Washington Post. The clip, which has no sound, shows Mr. Otieno, who emigrated to the United States from Kenya when he was four, being dragged into a hospital admissions room in handcuffs and leg irons by several deputy sheriffs, with medical staff following behind.
It then shows the sheriffs pinning Mr. Otieno down while medical staff watches, before some move to assist the deputies. At least eight people are seen piling on top of Mr. Otieno at one point, some holding down his legs, while others hold his upper body.
Later in the video, as many as 10 deputy sheriffs and medical staff are seen holding down a shirtless Mr. Otieno - who is still in handcuffs and leg irons - on the floor.
The video shows he was held down for 11 minutes.
The deputies and medical staff then pull back as Mr. Otieno lies motionless. Medical staff in the room are then seen administering emergency aid.
An audio of the 911 call placed by hospital staff as others attempt to resuscitate Mr. Otieno has also been released.
In it, a hospital staff member can be heard saying that Mr. Otieno was being given CPR and that he is "very aggressive".
The dispatcher then asks for clarification: "I'm sorry, is the patient aggressive or is he not breathing?"
"He used to be aggressive, right, so they're trying to put him in a restraint then eventually he is no longer breathing," the hospital staff member says.
Prosecutors have said a preliminary autopsy indicated that Mr. Otieno died from asphyxia.
Mr. Otieno was initially arrested on 3 March as the suspect in a possible burglary, a police news release said.
He was placed under an emergency custody order, used when it is believed that a person could harm themselves or others as a result of mental illness.
Mr. Otieno's family, including his mother Caroline Ouko, viewed the video last week. Ms. Ouko said it was "traumatic and disturbing" to witness, and shows her son being "tortured".
"My son was treated like a dog, worse than a dog," Ms. Ouko said. She added her son was experiencing a mental health crisis at the time of his death.
His family has supported the public release of the video but lawyers for the deputies and medical staff facing charges in relation to the incident have pushed back, arguing it could hinder a fair trial.
The seven deputies have been placed on administrative leave while the investigation is ongoing. Two have been released on bond, while the others remain in custody.
The three hospital workers were transported to jail, prosecutors said, where they are being held without bond.
Prosecutors said they are considering laying additional charges in relation to Mr. Otieno's death.
Source- BBC
TCI Weather Forecast
GENERAL SITUATION: HIGH PRESSURE CONTINUES TO SHIFT EASTWARD AHEAD OF THE PROGRESSION OF A FRONTAL BOUNDARY
ALL AREAS
WEATHER: PARTLY SUNNY AND WARM WITH ISOLATED SHOWERS
WINDS: SOUTHEAST TO SOUTH AT 10 TO 15 KNOTS
SEAS: 4 TO 6 FEET OVER THE OCEAN
DAYTIME HIGH-TEMPERATURE 84°F 29°C
OVERNIGHT LOW-TEMPERATURE 72°F 22°C
SUNSET: 6:59 PM
NEXT LOW TIDE: 1:28 PM (0.7 FT)
NEXT HIGH TIDE: 7:26 PM (2.6 FT)
EXTENDED FORECAST FOR THE NEXT TWO DAYS: THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY WILL CONTINUE MOVING EASTWARD AND WILL INCREASE THE CHANCES OF SHOWER ACTIVITY IN THE TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS OVER THE NEXT TWO DAYS.
FORECAST FOR TUESDAY
WEATHER: PARTLY SUNNY AND WARM WITH ISOLATED SHOWERS POSSIBLE.
WINDS: VARIABLE AT 10 KNOTS OR LESS…BECOMING NORTHEAST TO EAST AT 10 TO 15 KNOTS AT NIGHT
SEAS: 4 TO 6 FEET
SUNRISE: 6:52 AM
SUNSET: 7:00 PM
LOW TIDE: 1:40 AM (0.3 FT) 2:13 PM (0.3 FT)
HIGH TIDE: 7:52 AM (3.0 FT) 8:19 PM (3.0 FT)
FORECAST FOR WEDNESDAY
WEATHER: PARTLY SUNNY AND WARM WITH A SLIGHT CHANCE OF BEING ISOLATED TO SCATTERED SHOWERS. THE CHANCE OF NEW PRECIPITATION IS 20%.
WINDS: EASTERLY AT 10 TO 15 KNOTS
SEAS: 4 TO 6 FEET
SUNRISE: 6:51 AM
SUNSET: 7:00 PM
LOW TIDE: 2:36 AM (0.7 FT) 2:56 PM (0.3 FT)
HIGH TIDE: 8:39 AM (3.0 FT) 9:10 PM (3.0 FT)
TCI Weather Forecast
GENERAL SITUATION: HIGH PRESSURE CONTINUES TO SHIFT EASTWARD AHEAD OF THE PROGRESSION OF A FRONTAL BOUNDARY
ALL AREAS
WEATHER: PARTLY SUNNY AND WARM WITH ISOLATED SHOWERS
WINDS: SOUTHEAST TO SOUTH AT 10 TO 15 KNOTS
SEAS: 4 TO 6 FEET OVER THE OCEAN
DAYTIME HIGH-TEMPERATURE 84°F 29°C
OVERNIGHT LOW-TEMPERATURE 72°F 22°C
SUNSET: 6:59 PM
NEXT LOW TIDE: 1:28 PM (0.7 FT)
NEXT HIGH TIDE: 7:26 PM (2.6 FT)
EXTENDED FORECAST FOR THE NEXT TWO DAYS: THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY WILL CONTINUE MOVING EASTWARD AND WILL INCREASE THE CHANCES OF SHOWER ACTIVITY IN THE TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS OVER THE NEXT TWO DAYS.
FORECAST FOR TUESDAY
WEATHER: PARTLY SUNNY AND WARM WITH ISOLATED SHOWERS POSSIBLE.
WINDS: VARIABLE AT 10 KNOTS OR LESS…BECOMING NORTHEAST TO EAST AT 10 TO 15 KNOTS AT NIGHT
SEAS: 4 TO 6 FEET
SUNRISE: 6:52 AM
SUNSET: 7:00 PM
LOW TIDE: 1:40 AM (0.3 FT) 2:13 PM (0.3 FT)
HIGH TIDE: 7:52 AM (3.0 FT) 8:19 PM (3.0 FT)
FORECAST FOR WEDNESDAY
WEATHER: PARTLY SUNNY AND WARM WITH A SLIGHT CHANCE OF BEING ISOLATED TO SCATTERED SHOWERS. THE CHANCE OF NEW PRECIPITATION IS 20%.
WINDS: EASTERLY AT 10 TO 15 KNOTS
SEAS: 4 TO 6 FEET
SUNRISE: 6:51 AM
SUNSET: 7:00 PM
LOW TIDE: 2:36 AM (0.7 FT) 2:56 PM (0.3 FT)
HIGH TIDE: 8:39 AM (3.0 FT) 9:10 PM (3.0 FT)