CARIBBEAN TODAY


Usain Bolt shattered the 100
meters world record held by
Jamaican countryman Asafa
Powell and in that blistering
run stamped himself as the
fastest man on the planet late
last month in
New York.
 Running
at the Reebok
Grand Prix
meet on a wet
night, but in
front of a
large turnout
of enthusias-
tic, flag-wav-
ing supporters
from his
homeland,
Bolt clocked
9.72 seconds
to beat world
champion 2
Tyson Gay of
the United
States and
eclipse
Powell's
record of 9.74
set in Sept.
2007.
 "Just Bolt celebrates his w
coming here,
knowing a lot
of Jamaicans were here giving
me their support, it meant a
lot," Bolt said after the race.
"I just wanted to give them


what they wanted."

NO SURPRISE
 It was only Bolt's fifth 100
meters race at the senior level,
but the record run was not a


world record time.


total surprise. Last month,
in winning the event at the
Jamaica International
Invitational meet in Kingston,


he warned the world that he
was geared up for an historic
run by clocking 9.76 seconds,
.02 seconds outside Powell's
mark.
 World and Olympic cham-


Photograph by Sharon Bennett


pion Veronica Campbell-
Brown of Jamaica had sig-

(CONTINUED ON PAGE 4)


Caribbean leaders want more


 trade, investment from U.S.


NEW YORK Caribbean
leaders will seek increased
trade and foreign direct
investment from the United
States during this month's
Conference on the Caribbean,
according to a statement
issued here by the Caribbean
community (CARICOM)
Consular Corps of New York.
 It said that the June 19-20
conference would also exam-
ine the growth and develop-
ment of the Caribbean com-
munity.
 The Caribbean diplomats
said that the two-day event,
dubbed "The New York
Conference on the Caribbean
Community: A 20/20 Vision
Continued", would be attend-
ed by regional leaders, policy
makers, representatives of
various international organi-
zations, the academic commu-
nity and the private sector.
 During the conference,
the regional leaders will meet
with Harlem Congressman
Charles Rangel, chairman of
the powerful U.S. House of
Representatives' Ways and
Means Committee, as well as
New York Governor David
Paterson and New York City
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.


 "Through this conference
we hope to once again direct
the attention of the people of
the United States one of the
Caribbean's major trading
partners and the home of the
largest number of migrants
from the region to the
future of the Caribbean and
its peoples," said McCliLhniy
Emanuel, the Antigua and
 Barbuda con-
 sul general
 and chairman
 of the New
 York
 Conference
 on the
 Caribbean
 Community.
 Caribbean
 Rangel leaders held a
 meeting with
U.S. President George Bush
during the first Caribbean
conference last year.
 Key highlights at this
month's conference include an
education symposium at
Brooklyn's Medgar Evers
College, which features sever-
al CARICOM heads of gov-
ernment and ministers, along
with leading educational
authorities in the city.
0,


Jamaica's Bolt is world's fastest


Publv% Joins You in (ielebraduip Bahamas fiIldepncii11ce IDay-7.10.(08


Publix

 it jhfw -n


June 2008