THIS WEEK’S TOP NEWS STORIES
COURT RULES HOSPITALS MUST PROVIDE DEATH CERTIFICATES
The Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ) organization welcomed a decision from the nation’s Supreme Court stating that hospitals cannot refuse to issue death certificates and hold deceased persons’ bodies as ransom until consent for a “secret, unsupervised post-mortem” is conducted. The ruling was handed down in the case of Nadine Evans v. University Hospitals of the West Indies (UHWI), who was denied access to the body of her daughter who died as an inpatient at the University of the West Indies Hospital in 2017. The JFJ reported the hospital kept the body illegally for more than seven months in or der force Evans into signing a document giving the hospital sole authority to conduct a post-mortem.
PLASTIC POLLUTION MEASURES TO BE ANNOUNCED BY JAMAICXA AT G7
Jamaica’s Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation Daryl Vaz announced that the government will introduce measures targeting plastic pollution at a meeting of G7 ministers of environment, energy, and oceans in Canada in September 2018. The action is designed to clean up the environment and improve Jamaicans’ health. According to Vaz, the county is moving toward banning single-use plastic, and at the same time, implement a Plastic Minimization Project together with United Nations Environment and the government of Japan to reduce and manage plastic marine litter.
THIS WEEK’S TOP CARIBBEAN NEWS
US VIRGIN ISLANDS HAS MOST GUN DEATHS AMONG CARIBBEAN NATIONS
According to a study from the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, the US Virgin Islands (USVI) ahs the most gun deaths per 100,000 people of any country in the Caribbean. Two other Caribbean nations – Jamaica and Puerto Rico – are also on the Top Ten list of countries with the most gun deaths per 100,000, The study, entitled “Global Mortality From Firearms, 1990-2016.” found that USVI was seventh globally with a total of 22 people per 100,000 suffering a fatal shooting in 2016. Jamaica ranked ninth globally with18 gun deaths per 100,000, and Puerto Rico was tenth with 17 gun deaths per 100,000.
THIS WEEK’S TOP JAMAICAN DIASPORA NEWS
WINDRUSH GENERATION TO RECEIVE COMPENSATION
In October 2018, more than 500,000 people born in Commonwealth nations and living in the United Kingdom may be receive compensation. This includes thousands of Jamaicans who will be impacted by a proposal designed to help redress the difficulties faced by the Windrush Generation concerning their legal status in the immigration system of the UK. The program, which was introduced as the Windrush Consultation Compensation Papers, will analyze, review responses, and continue discussions with key stakeholders before being published. The period of consolation will focus on determining the status of people who lived in the UK since arriving the country before 1973 when the law was changed.
THIS WEEK’S TOP BUSINESS NEWS SUMMARY
CANADIAN FIRM INVESTS $2 MILLION TO SAVE NATIVEJAMAICAN MARIJUANA STRAINS
Growth of Jamaica’s medical marijuana industry has prompted researchers to find the island’s unique strains of the plant to document and preserve the history of cannabis, which has been grown in Jamaica for more than a century. Jamaica legalized medical marijuana in 2015, but did not produce a legal crop until February 2018. Jamaica Medical Cannabis Corporation Ltd., a firm that is a licensed Canadian exporter of Jamaican cannabis, will spend $2 million to ensure that the island’s native strains are saved ahead of inevitable genetic changes. According to Diane Scott, the company’s CEO, as Jamaica’s cannabis becomes more popular, it is threatened by contamination through hybridization, and the firm wants to preserve the native strains, which it says are the best medical strains in the world.
THIS WEEK’S TOP ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
SIX-YEAR-OLD GIRL WINS DANCE GOLD AT CALIFORNIA CHAMPIONSHIPS
Jamaica’s Ajahne Reid, six, won a gold medal for dance at the World Championship of Performing Arts (WCCPA) event held in Long Beach, California. The top winner in her age group of five to seven, Reid originally entered the contest as a model. She was scouted by Denesha Wright, the dance teacher at her school, who was a participant in the competition in 2017. Reid’s mother Keron Pinnock, credited her teacher for finding her talent. The WCCPA is a yearly Olympic-type global competition for aspiring entertainers and performers and invites dancers, musicians, singers, actors, models and variety artists to participate. A boot camp is held for participants before the contest with workshops given by top professionals. In addition to cash prizes, participants get recognition, experience, and exposure to scholarship agencies. Pinnock said she wished more Jamaicans new about it. “It’s like the Olympics for performers,” she said.
THIS WEEK’S TOP SPORTS NEWS
DACRES BREAKS MEET RECORD, WINS AT IAAF CONTINENTAL CUP
Jamaican Fedrick Dacres had a big win at the IAAF Continental Cup competition in Croatia, with a discus throw of 68.17 meters, a distance that broke the meet’s previous record. Dacres, 24, won the discus title at the 2018 Diamond League, and his throw in Croatia beat the old record set by Lawrence Okoye of Great Britain in 2012 by over three meters. Dacres was the only winner from the Caribbean at the competition.
