Any champion football player disappointed with Monday’s dinner at the White House can blame Democrats, according to a presidential spokesman.

Clemson University’s football team on Thursday joined Donald Trump for dinner to celebrate their win over Alabama in the College Football Playoff National Championship. However, the government shutdown has left much of the White House staff furloughed, forcing the president to set the menu, the spokesperson said. The event created a golden culinary opportunity for a president whose typical evenings reportedly often involve a cheeseburger in front of the TV. On Monday’s menu was “McDonald’s, Wendy’s and Burger King’s with some pizza”, Trump told reporters.

Photos of the spread show an array of Quarter Pounders and Big Macs, alongside silver bowls filled with various sauces – all individually wrapped to minimize waste.The president reasoned that the team would enjoy the fast food: “We have some very large people that like eating. So I think we’re going to have a little fun.”(theguardian)…[+]

A police constable is now in hospital nursing a facial wound after he was reportedly shot, accidentally, by one of his colleagues during an operation to apprehend wanted men in Portland yesterday. The incident has triggered a probe by the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM).

The constable was shot on the left side of his face during the early morning operation at Olivier Housing Scheme in Buff Bay. He was rushed to Annotto Bay Hospital and was later transferred to Kingston Public Hospital. At press time yesterday the police’s Corporate Communication Unit (CCU) reported that he was in serious but stable condition. The CCU reported that the cop was taken to hospital about 6:00 am, but that the circumstances surrounding the shooting remained unclear at the time, and that the Inspectorate of the Constabulary was also investigating the matter.(Jamaica Observer)…[+]

Lo­cal rice pro­duc­tion dropped from 21,000 met­ric tonnes in 1992 to just 585 met­ric tonnes last year, a Joint Se­lect Com­mit­tee (JSC) chaired by An­tho­ny Viera heard from Na­tion­al Flour Mills (NFM) chair­man Nigel Ro­mano yes­ter­day.

Ro­mano, who gave a break­down of the quan­ti­ty of rice pro­duced in tes­ti­mo­ny be­fore the JSC on State En­ter­pris­es, said in 1992 NFM pur­chased ap­prox­i­mate­ly 21,200 met­ric tonnes of pad­dy from farm­ers. By 2013, the fig­ure plum­met­ed to 2,859 met­ric tonnes, then to 1,893 met­ric tonnes in 2015 and last year, NFM bought just 585 met­ric tonnes.

Grade one pad­dy fetch­es $2.99 per kg, while farm­ers col­lect $2.85 per kg for grade two. Ap­prox­i­mate­ly 34,000 met­ric tonnes is con­sumed in T&T an­nu­al­ly. NFM CEO Kelvin Ma­habir ad­mit­ted that the com­pa­ny’s rice mill at Carlsen Field is op­er­at­ing at 15 per cent ca­pac­i­ty be­cause of in­suf­fi­cient pad­dy. In an­swer to a ques­tion from JSC mem­ber Fazal Karim, Ma­habir said “95 per cent ends up as in­put in­to an­i­mal feed, while five per cent is used for hu­man con­sump­tion. Karim said those watch­ing the meet­ing on tele­vi­sion would con­clude “that there is a de­lib­er­ate at­tempt by NFM to close down the rice in­dus­try.”(stabroeknews)…[+]