From Herald Wire Services

  KINGSTON -- Jamaica and the United States signed a new pact Friday that widens U.S. authority to chase suspected drug smugglers into the Caribbean island's waters and airspace.

  The updated ''ship rider'' agreement allows U.S. Coast Guard members on certain foreign-flagged vessels to board suspected drug-smuggling ships off Jamaica's shores, U.S. Ambassador Sue Cobb said.

  It also allows for the sharing of drug-detection technology between both countries, and ''puts a framework in place for the exercise of jurisdiction in each nation's
  contiguous zone,'' Cobb said.