Construction Worker Dies in Early Morning St Mary House Fire

A construction worker has died after a house fire at Huddersfield View in St Mary. Relatives saw flames coming from part of the dwelling shortly after 5:00 a.m. and called the Jamaica Fire Brigade. The man was identified as Anthony Nelson, 34, a construction worker from the parish. Investigators have not determined what started the blaze, and the police are looking into the matter.

In St Catherine, Waterford division councillor Dr Fenley Douglas criticised the parish health department for failing to brief the Parish Council on a new electronic food handlers programme. At a Municipal Corporation meeting, Deputy Chief Public Health Inspector Lennox Douglas said the system, effective June 15, lets applicants obtain their permits digitally without delay. Dr Douglas said that was the first official word he had received, after a constituent sent him a copy, and argued councillors should have been told earlier given their work with the Ministry of Health on permits for hairdressers, barbers, butchers and similar trades.

He warned that poor notice had slowed permit issuance on the council side. Without details on how the electronic documents work or what security features they carry, he said applicants were arriving with unfamiliar Ministry of Health papers, and he asked for a fuller briefing so the council can guide people seeking paired local permits.

Separately, health officials have cleared a slaughterhouse in Glengoffe, St Catherine, to resume operations after it was shut for breaches of health and safety rules. Deputy Chief Public Health Inspector Denise Douglas said the department acted after a complaint and closed the premises from February 11. A June 15 reinspection found the critical public-health failings corrected, and the department has notified the municipal corporation that reopening is allowed.

In business news, PriceSmart reported firm third-quarter results while preparing two new Jamaican warehouses — in Montego Bay and on South Camp Road in Kingston — plus a local distribution centre in the 2026 financial year to bolster regional logistics. For the quarter ended May 31, the company posted US$1.48 billion in revenue, up 12.5 percent year on year.

Elsewhere, Brent crude climbed nearly 4 percent to about US$79 a barrel and U.S. crude rose more than 3 percent to nearly US$74 after the United States resumed air strikes on Iran and Tehran hit Gulf states hosting U.S. forces. AAA put the average U.S. pump price at US$3.87 a gallon on Sunday, about 30 percent higher since U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran began last February, though below a Memorial Day peak of US$4.56.

Antigua and Barbuda signed seven healthcare accords with China’s Hangzhou Normal University and its affiliated hospital. Health Minister Michael Joseph said the five-year partnership would widen medical training, specialist care, research and telemedicine, and open scholarships for health workers.

In France, firefighters were fighting a large blaze in the Fontainebleau forest south of Paris amid a deadly European heatwave. More than three square miles had burned, aircraft were drawing water from the River Seine, police were examining whether the fire was set deliberately, and further wildfires were reported elsewhere in the country.