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THIS WEEK’S TOP NEWS   STORIES
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HOLNESS WANTS PARENTS TO REPORT SCHOOLS THAT DENY CHILDREN ENTRY—09/05/16
Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness is urging parents to report schools, teachers or principals that turn children away due to inability to pay fees. The government is committed to providing free access to education to all children in the country, he said. Fees must not be used to exclude a child from receiving an education. Holness said he understands how difficult it is for parents, which is the reason his government has re-introduced the no-tuition policy.

FBI, ATF TO ESTABLISH OFFICES AT US EMBASSY IN KINGSTON—09/08/16
The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) plan to set up officers in Jamaica in order to fight against crime. Both agencies will have their offices at the US Embassy in Liguanea, Kingston. Luis G. Moreno, US ambassador to Jamaica, announced the plan at the Jamaica-US Bilateral Relations Forum at the University of the West Indies. According to Moreno, agency officers will train local personnel via 16 courses addressing topics including forensics, investigations of terror networks and cybersecurity crimes, and ways to spot false documents.

JAMAICA’S NATIONAL SECURITY MINISTRY READY TO HANDLE DEPORTEES—09/09/16
Dianne McIntosh, Jamaica’s acting permanent secretary in the Ministry of National Security, said that the situation involving some 42 Jamaicans deported from the United Kingdom to Jamaica is not new and that the Ministry has measures in place to deal with their concerns. According to McIntosh, there have been deportations from the UK in the past, but special chartered flights like the one that arrived on September 7, 2016, had tapered off. The relevant measures in place include re-integraton programs, and when the deportees are met by police and processed by immigration officials, they are provided with the information to help them find the services they require. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs an Foreign Trade said similar chartered flights from the UK have been used since 2007 under a Memorandum of Understanding between Jamaica and the UK.

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THIS WEEK’S TOP JAMAICAN DIASPORA NEWS
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BROOKLYN COUNCIL MEMBER CONDEMNS GUNFIRE AT WEST INDIAN CELEBRATION—09/06/16
Jumaane Williams, representative of the 4th Council District in Brooklyn, New York, stated that law enforcement authorities in the United States must address what is perceived to be chronic violence during the J’ouvert celebrations that precede the West Indian American Day Carnival Parade. According to police, four individuals were shot during the Caribbean J’ouvert, and two of them died. Patrick Conry, Brooklyn chief of detectives, said the two wounded people may have been “unintended targets.” The Reverend Al Sharpton, a civil rights activist, said that the “great history” of the West Indian American Day Carnival Parade should not be tarnished by violence or judged by shooting incidents. Some three million people from around the world attend the parade, which has been described as the largest parade in North America. New York City Mayor Bill deBlasio said he would not let a few violent individuals disturb the peace. He was not happy about the gun incident and vowed tow work hard to get guns off the streets.

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THIS WEEK’S TOP BUSINESS NEWS SUMMARY
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BARTLETT PLANS FOR CANNABIS TOURISM—09/06/16
Edmund Bartlett, Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism, says that officials are creating plans for health and wellness tourism that include cannabis attractions. The plans are expected to generate some $5 billion by 2021.  According to Bartlett, Jamaica would strive to become a “destination with a difference,” rather than continue to target the general mass tourism model.  He has create a Health and Wellness Network charged with developing policies for the subsector of the health and wellness market focused on cannabis. A complete roll-out of the plan is expected by the end of 2017. Bartlett believes that this approach will make Jamaica attractive to all demographics via product diversification. He noted that the worldwide market for cannabis tourism is valued at approximately $494 billion, and Jamaicans “want a piece of it.”

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THIS WEEK’S TOP ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
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SKA LEGEND PRINCE BUSTER DIES—09/08/16
The Jamaican music legend and pioneer Prince Buster has died. He was born in Kingston in 1938 to a working class family and grew up in the newly developing soundsystem culture of the 1950s. As a lover of American jazz and R&B, he formed his own system, “Voice of the People,” which rapidly became popular among dancers. Prince Buster chose to record his own material and thereby encouraged development of ska. He was also an icon of the Mod movement in the United Kingdom and became a chart sensation with singles like his “Al Capone.” which was covered by The Specials later on. He was also important in the creation of rocksteady. He returned to his ska roots during its international revival in the 1980s. Prince Buster had a cameo appearance in the firm “The Harder They Come.”

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THIS WEEK’S TOP SPORTS NEWS
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JAMAICA WINS OVERALL TEAM TITLE AT COTECC GRAND SLAM TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS—09/07/16
The Jamaican team won the overall Under-12 team title at the 2016 Caribbean and Central America Trans Confederation (COTECC) Grand Slam Development Tennis Team Championships, which were held in Curacao between August 20 and 28,. The boys’ teams beat Trinidad and Tobago and Aruba to win first place in their section. The girls’ team also defeated T&T in their section to take the top spot. Because they finished in the top three in both boys’ and girls’ events, the Jamaicans qualified for the masters championship team events, which will be held in Mexico in November 2016. The members of the winning teams included  Keyondre Clarke, Selena Bird,  Daniel Azar and Abigail Perdue.