3 Will Mr. Dainey St. Aubyn Laing whose last known address is 13 Torrington Road, Kingston, Jamaica or anyone knowing his whereabouts, kindly contact the Child Protection & Family Services Agency, 10 Hanover Street, Spanish Town, St. Catherine, Jamaica at 876-301-4983. N O T I C E ATLANTA (AP): DEMOCRATIC SEN Raphael Warnock defeated Republican challenger Herschel Walker in a Georgia runoff election Tuesday, ensuring Democrats an outright majority in the Senate for the rest of President Joe Biden’s current term and capping an underwhelming midterm cycle for the GOP in the last major vote of the year. WithWarnock’s second runoff victory in as many years, Democrats will have a 51-49 Senate majority, gaining a seat from the current 50-50 split with John Fetterman’s victory in Pennsylvania. There will be divided government, however, with Republicans having narrowly flipped House control. “After a hard-fought campaign – or, should I say, campaigns – it is my honour to utter the four most powerful words ever spoken in a democracy: The people have spoken,”Warnock, 53, told jubilant supporters who packed a downtown Atlanta hotel ballroom. “I often say that a vote is a kind of prayer for the world we desire for ourselves and for our children,” declared Warnock, a Baptist pastor and his state’s first Black senator. “Georgia, you have been praying with your lips and your legs, your hands and your feet, your heads and your hearts. You have put in the hard work, and here we are standing together.” In last month’s election, Warnock led Walker by 37,000 votes out of almost 4 million cast, but fell short of the 50 per cent threshold needed to avoid a runoff. The senator appeared to be headed for a wider final margin in Tuesday’s runoff, with Walker, a football legend at the University of Georgia and in the NFL, unable to overcome a bevy of damaging allegations, including claims that he paid for two former girlfriends’ abortions despite supporting a national ban on the procedure. Democrats’Georgia victory solidifies the state’s place as a Deep South battleground two years afterWarnock and fellow Georgia Democrat Jon Ossoff won 2021 runoffs that gave the party Senate control just months after Biden became the first Democratic presidential candidate in 30 years to win Georgia. Voters returned Warnock to the Senate in the same cycle they reelected Republican Gov Brian Kemp by a comfortable margin and chose an all-GOP slate of statewide constitutional officers. Walker’s defeat bookends the GOP’s struggles this year to win with flawed candidates cast from Trump’s mould, a blow to the former president as he builds his thirdWhite House bid ahead of 2024. Democrats’ new outright majority in the Senate means the party will no longer have to negotiate a power-sharing deal with Republicans and won’t have to rely on Vice President Kamala Harris to break as many tie votes. National Democrats celebrated Tuesday, with Biden tweeting a photo of his congratulatory phone call to the senator. “Georgia voters stood up for our democracy, rejected Ultra MAGAism, and ... sent a goodman back to the Senate,” Biden tweeted, referencing Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan. Warnock emphasised his willingness to work across the aisle and his personal values, buoyed by his status as senior pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, where civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr once preached. IMAGE DISTRIBUTED COMMUNITY CHANGE - Grassroots organizers with Community Change Action rally outside of the United States Chamber of Commerce for the child tax credit on Tuesday, December 6 in Washington. AP ‘THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN’ Democratic Sen Warnock wins Georgia runoff against Walker Supporters cheer during an election night watch party for Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, Tuesday, December 6, in Atlanta. Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock speaks during an election night watch party, Tuesday, December 6, in Atlanta. AP PHOTOS THE WEEKLY GLEANER | DECEMBER 8, 2022 - JANUARY 5, 2023 | www.jamaica-gleaner.com | NEWS DOMINICA DOMINICA LABOUR PARTY RE-ELECTED ROSEAU (CMC): THE RULING Dominica Labour Party (DLP) has been returned to power in Tuesday’s general election, even as two independent candidates won constituencies in the 21-seat Parliament following a boycott by the main opposition political parties. Preliminary results released by the Electoral Office showed that the DLP, which had entered the election already having six seats uncontested, had so far won 19 of the 21 seats. The Electoral Office had said that voters would be electing representatives for 15 constituencies after the main opposition parties – the United Workers Party (UWP) and the Dominica Freedom Party (DFP) – failed to nominate any candidate. The Electoral Office said 45 candidates contested the 15 remaining seats with the DLP contesting all seats, Team Unity Dominica five seats and there were 10 independents. CARICOM REPARATION PLAN GETS SUPPORT AT INAUGURAL FORUM OF PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT GENEVA (CMC): DELEGATES ATTENDING the inaugural United Nations Permanent Forum on People of African Descent here have supported the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) 10-point reparation plan, calling for its adoption globally. Bahamian, Gaynel Diana Curry, one of the five experts appointed earlier this year to serve on the United Nations Permanent Forum on People of African Descent, outlined the priorities for CARICOM faced by vulnerable and marginalised groups of people of African Descent, especially women, children andmigrants, and LGBTQI persons. These include reparatory justice, climate justice, systemic racism, and socio-economic opportunities, The forum comes two years shy of the International Decade for People of African Descent coming to an end and follows the General Assembly that in August 2021, adopted resolution 75/314, which operationalised the Permanent Forumon People of African Descent as “a consultative mechanism for people of African descent and other relevant stakeholders” and “as a platform for improving the safety and quality of life and livelihoods of people of African descent”. SURINAME CONFUSION OVER DUTCH APOLOGY FOR SLAVERY PARAMARIBO, SURINAME (CMC): THE SURINAME government says it has not formally receivedany apology from the Netherlands regarding slavery. Media report had said that Dutch Minister of Legal Protection, Franc Weerwind, who will be on a working visit to the Dutch-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country would offer an apology. Justice and Police Minister, Kenneth Amoksi, speaking in the National Assembly on Tuesday, said that that while a work programme has been agreed for the December1 5-20 visit, it does not include an apology on December 19 about slavery. “Nothing has been reported about apologies on December 19,” Amoksi said, amid criticisms about the unilateral decision of the Netherlands, with several legislators questioning him on the issue. “A position will be taken by the government. The council will also be involved in taking the position and as much as possible the community,” he added. GUYANA CUBA JOINS CARICOM TASK FORCE ON AGRICULTURE GEORGETOWN, CMC): CUBA HAS accepted an offer from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to join the Community’s Ministerial Task Force on Agriculture, according to a statement issued by the Guyanabased CARICOM Secretariat. CARICOM’s Special Ministerial Task Force on food production and food security was established to propel the region’s thrust towards reducing its food import bill by 25 per cent by 2025. “The participation of Cuba is a boost particularly to the technological aspects of the initiative. Closer collaboration with Cuba in the area of agriculture will include the establishment of a food terminal to provide a consistent supply of food items to Cuba,”the statement said. It said that in addition to joining the regional ministerial task force on agriculture, the two sides during their just concluded eighth CARICOM-Cuba summit in Barbados, have also agreed to observe October 6 as CARICOMCuba Day Against Terrorism. The statement said that Cuba also announced further assistance to CARICOM member states in the fields of health and environmental management. “This includes a supply of vaccines and training in epidemiological surveillance, nursing and medical specialties, the rehabilitation of coastal areas through a project funded by South Korea and the preservation of coral reefs,” the statement added. Regional News
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