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THIS WEEK’S TOP NEWS STORIES
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SYMBOLIC QUEEN’S BATON TO MAKE WEEK-LONG TOUR OF ISLAND
The Queen’s Baton arrived in Kingston on July 5, 2017, marking the start of the Jamaican leg of the Queen’s Baton Relay. The Baton will make a week-long tour of the island before traveling to the Bahamas on July 11, 2017. Olivia Grants, Minister of Sports, was one of the officials on hand to welcome the Baton to Jamaica with a short ceremony in the VIP Lounge at Norman Manley International Airport. Senator Delroy Williams, may of Kingston, and Mike Fennell, immediate past president of the Jamaica Olympic Association, were also in attendance. Grange said Jamaica is happy to participate as a nation of the Commonwealth and noted the proud record of the country at the Commonwealth Games. Jamaica hosted the even in 1966. The Queen’s Baton Relay began on March 13, 2017, and will visit 70 Commonwealth countries in 388 days before arriving at Gold Coast in Australia, which is the site of the 2018 Commonwealth Gams on April 4-16. The materials used in the Baton’s construction have symbolic value: the stainless steel center represents the present; the front

HOLNESS MONITORS CRIME SITUATION IN HIS CONSTITUENCY FROM GRENADA
Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness is keeping an eye on crime in West Central St. Andrew, his constituency, after the murder of three individuals in Olympic Gardens on July 3, 2017. Currently in Grenada to attend the 38th CARICOM Heads of Government meeting, Holness said he has received updates on the murders. Olympic Gardens residents are calling for the community to be designated the first Zone of Special Operations, stating that the Prime Minister’s constituency, of parts of it, should be used as an example to “send the right signal.” The Zones of Special Operations Bill, which is designed to provide enhanced crime-fighting efforts to address “high volatility” in a community, passed the House of Representatives in June 2017 and is pending in Senate approval before becoming law.

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THIS WEEK’S TOP CARIBBEAN NEWS
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GLOBAL STUDENTS GRADUATE FROM PRESTIGIOUS CUBAN CINEMA SCHOOL
Forty-three students from 17 nations will graduate at the International Film and Television School in Cuba. The students come from Venezuela, Spain, Brazil, Panama, Denmark, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Puerto Rico, Italy, Dominican Republic, Uruguay, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Colombia, Honduras and Cuba. This is the 25th graduating class since the school’s inception in 1986. Graduation ceremonies will take place July 22, 2017, and will mark the 30th anniversary of the school, which was created with the aid of Gabriel Garcia Marquez of Colombia and a winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature and Cuba’s Fidel Castro. It was established as the first film and television school that supported Latin Americans presenting the region’s real social issues on screen.

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THIS WEEK’S TOP JAMAICAN DIASPORA NEWS
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FORMER JAMAICAN HONORARY CONSUL TO PHILADELPHIA DIES
Alston B. Meade, a former Jamaica honorary consul to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, died at on June 7, 2017, at the age of 86. Meade was born in 1930 in St. Catherine. He graduated from Excelsior High School and served in Jamaica’s government for eight years. Meade then migrated to the United States to pursue higher education in 1958. He received a BA in zoology from Fisk University and a Ph.D. in entomology from the University of Minnesota. He worked at DuPont Company in Delaware, researching and developing insecticides and other agricultural chemicals for 29 years. He then worked as a consultant and adjunct professor. He had a long-time relationship with the Jamaican community in Philadelphia and was appointed the country’s honorary consul in September of 2002. Meade was instrumental in the implementation of several trade missions to Jamaica, and in 2005, Philadelphia and assisted in spearheading several trade missions to Jamaica. In 2005, he was appointed to serve on the Mayor’s Commission of African and Caribbean Affairs, co-chairing the Legal Committee, which focused on immigration. Meade also served on the African and Caribbean Business Council.

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THIS WEEK’S TOP BUSINESS NEWS SUMMARY
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PROFIT OF $2 BILLION FOR JAMAICA BROILERS
Jamaica Broilers, the poultry company, reported a net profit totaling $2.27 billion during the year ending in April 2017. This was a increase from the $1.7 billion reported in 2016. According to Ian Parsard, vice president of finance at the company, the growth occurred in all three geographical segment headed by the United States operations. Operations in Jamaica saw revenues rise by 12 percent as a result of its chicken, feed, and baby-chick product lines. The company continues to obtain market share in table eggs consumed in Haiti, with “impressive growth” of 24 percent in that country.

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THIS WEEK’S TOP ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
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REGGAE SUMFEST TO FEATURE FIRST NIGERIAN PERFORMER
Patoranking will be the first Nigerian to perform at Jamaica’s Reggae Sumfest, the longest-running reggae festival on the island. The event is scheduled for July 16-22, 2017, at Catherine Hall Entertainment Center in Montego Bay. This is its 25th year in operation. According to Joe Bogdanovich, festival chairman and CEO of Downsound Entertainment in Kingston, ‘Since Patoranking’s song ,‘’My woman’’ took over the Jamaican airways, we had to include him in our lineup, it is a big deal. Jamaicans love their African brothers and sisters and more than half the island will make their way to Catherine Hall to see the show’.
Patoranking will be the first Nigerian artiste booked to perform on a Jamaican show, He will perform on International night of Reggae Sumfest.

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THIS WEEK’S TOP SPORTS NEWS
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IAAF WORLD U-18 CHAMPIONSHIPS TO FEATURE 24 JAMAICAN ATHLETES
A total of 24 athletes from Jamaica have been named as competitors in the IAAF World U-18 Championships in Nairobi on July 12-18, 2017. The athletes include De’Jour Russell, 17, in the 110 meter hurdles and Kevona Davis, 15, in the 100 meters and 200 meters. Both are world leaders in their events. Russel finished fourth against a field of seniors in the 110-meter hurdles at the Senior National Championships with a world best U-18 time of 13.32 seconds. Davis wont eh girls’ sprint double with a world-leading time of 11.24 in the 100 meters and 22.97 in the 200 meters.