Festival Song semi-finals set for Saturday as global entertainment makes headlines

Thirty-three performers will face off Saturday in the semi-finals of Jamaica's Festival Song Competition, organised by the Cultural Development Commission. The showcase begins at 6:00 p.m. at the Randy Williams Entertainment Center, where finalists will perform original songs for a place among the top ten. The event is free to the public.

Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Olivia Grange said this year's staging carries added weight because it marks the sixtieth anniversary of the competition, one of the country's longest-standing cultural programmes. Abby D won last year's contest with her song "Sweet JA."

Barbadian superstar Rihanna has been named to Time magazine's inaugural Time 100 philanthropy list for charitable work through the Clara Lionel Foundation. She appears in the publication's trailblazer category alongside global figures such as Elton John and Shakira, and is the only Barbadian artist on the list. Time also cited her regional disaster-preparedness efforts. After severe hurricane seasons in 2017 and 2018, the foundation began strengthening Caribbean health clinics by reinforcing infrastructure and adding solar-powered systems to help communities withstand future storms.

Canadian rapper Drake has become the first artist to debut three albums at numbers one, two, and three on the US iTunes album chart at the same time. The projects Iceman, Made of Honor, and Habitu were released on Friday, together comprising forty-three tracks. The release marks Drake's first solo full-length project since 2023's For All the Dogs and follows his 2025 collaborative album with Party Next Door, Some Sexy Songs for You. He announced the milestone during the fourth instalment of his Iceman live stream series, which aired Thursday night.

Amazon MGM Studios says it has begun casting for the next James Bond film. Daniel Craig most recently held the role, making his fifth and final appearance as Bond in the 2021 film No Time to Die. It remains unclear who will take the iconic part. Previous actors in the role include Sean Connery, Roger Moore, and Pierce Brosnan. The character is drawn from the novels of Ian Fleming.