WESTMORELAND, Jamaica – On Saturday, September 16, 2023, gunmen gunned down a bus driver as he loaded the vehicle in Hendon, Savanna-La-Mar, Westmoreland. 

The police identified the deceased as Clive’ Grabba’ Atkinson, age 50, a late bus driver from Russia in Savanna-La-Mar.

Atkinson plied the Savanna-La-Mar to Montego Bay route for several years.

According to reporting, Atkinson plied the Savanna-La-Mar to Montego Bay route for several years. He parked his vehicle and was customer-calling when three men on bikes with firearms approached him.

Atkinson reportedly tried to evade the men but was shot in the foot and fell. The men allegedly stood over him and fired several shots into his head before escaping.

Authorities at the Savanna-La-Mar Public General pronounced him dead on arrival.

Speaking to OBSERVER ONLINE, Atkinson’s mother, Vernice Blake, said her son was not a troublemaker.

“He was a good person. He gives no trouble,” the distraught mother said.

Vernice Blake

Blake noted that Clive is the third son she lost in a short time.

“Clive’s death makes three boys I have over here [Doyle’s funeral cemetery]. After the first one passed away, the other [son] was crying and as if he had pressure. The doctor said like a vessel burst in his head,” the mother said.

Vernice Blake

The police did not establish a motive for the killing.

An investigation is in progress.

Jamaica’s sprint darling, Shericka Jackson, wins the Diamond League 100m title.

KINGSTON, Jamaica – Jamaica’s newly minted sprint darling, Shericka Jackson, won the first half of a potential Diamond League sprint double after she won the 100m in 10.70 seconds (0.8m/s) in Saturday’s first day of the Wanda Diamond League finals on the Prefontaine Classic at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.

The win went a long way to avenge her second-place finish at last month’s World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. World Champion Sha’Carri Richardson was fourth in 10.80 seconds.

Marie-Josee Ta Lou of the Ivory Coast was second with a season-best best equalling 10.75 seconds, and Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson-Herah lowered her season’s best once more to 10.79 seconds for third place.

Natasha Morrison ran a lifetime best 10.85 seconds for sixth, under her previous best of 10.87 seconds set in 2021.

Shanieka Ricketts was second in the women’s triple jump with a lifetime best of 15.03m (0.0m/s) and had two jumps of at least 15.00m.

Kimberly Williams was third with a season’s best 14.61m (-0.1m/s) as Venezuela’s World Champion Yulimar Rojas recovered from yet another poor start to win with a world-leading 15.35m (1.2m/s).

U.S. President said Jamaica is a Major Drug Transit and Producing Country.

U.S. President Joe Biden has named Jamaica a major drug transit or illicit drug-producing country.

In a Memorandum to Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday, September 15, 2023, President Biden included Jamaica among 23 countries the U.S. considered heavily involved in the transit or production of illicit drugs.

Under U.S. Law, a major drug transit country is deemed a significant direct source of illicit narcotic or psychotropic drugs or other controlled substances significantly affecting the U.S. or one through which such substances 

are transported.

On the other hand, a major illicit drug-producing country is one in which at least 1,000 hectares of opium poppy or coca or at least 5,000 hectares of illegal cannabis are cultivated or harvested in a year unless it is determined, in the latter case, that such production does not significantly affect the United States.

According to President Biden, a country’s presence on the list does not necessarily reflect its government’s counterdrug efforts or level of cooperation with the United States.

He stated that countries made the list based on geographic, commercial, and economic factors that allow drugs to be transited or produced.

The U.S. has also identified four other Caribbean countries as major drug transit or primary illicit drug-producing countries: the Bahamas, Belize, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti.

Only six of the twenty-three countries listed are outside North and South American regions.