In case you missed it, here are OBSERVER ONLINE’s top 10 stories for today:

1. Call made for church to welcome homosexuals, sex workers and transgenders2. Gov’t allocates $26-m to assist creative industry

Executive director of the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition, Ivan Cruickshank is urging faith-based institutions to create a space in their congregation for marginalised people, as he wants the church to create a welcoming environment for homosexuals, sex workers and transgenders who want to have a spiritual life.

Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Olivia Grange, has announced the establishment of the Jamaica Creative 100 programme, with funding of $26 million to help small business entrepreneurs to create new products for the global marketplace or to enter new markets.

3. New predictions of fewer hurricanes and reduced chance of hurricane landfall in region

The Caribbean should see fewer storms, and the chance of a major hurricane hitting the region is significantly less than it was when the 2018 Atlantic hurricane season began.

4. Security guards get 3 years for trafficking cocaine

The Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA) yesterday reported that two security guards have been convicted and sentenced to three years imprisonment after appearing before the St James Parish Court for breaches of the Dangerous Drugs Act.5. Jamaica/Canadian Diaspora to build basic schools in Trelawny, PortlandThe Jamaican Diaspora in Canada through the Helping Hands Jamaica Foundation (HHJF), working closely with the Jamaican Consul General in Toronto and Food for the Poor Canada will be constructing a basic school at Wakefield in Trelawny and Mount Peasant in Portland.

6. Windies dismiss Bangladesh for record low 43

Kemar Roach led the demolition of Bangladesh with a five-wicket haul as the tourists were dismissed for 43, their lowest total ever in Test cricket, before lunch on the opening day of the first Test at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua today.7. #WC2018: Big guns primed for quarter-final battles8. Heat wave kills 17 in eastern Canada

The World Cup hit the pause button today as the eight remaining teams geared up for the quarter-finals after England became the final side to qualify following a penalty shootout win against Colombia.

A heat wave in Quebec has killed at least 17 people in the past week as high summer temperatures scorched eastern Canada, health officials said Wednesday. 

9. PSRA probing apartment melee that involved King Alarm personnel

The Private Security Regulation Authority (PSRA) says it has launched an investigation into Monday’s incident that involved King Alarm security personnel at an apartment complex on Braemar Avenue in New Kingston, where one man was shot by a licensed firearm holder.

10. US judge blocks arbitrary detention of Haitian asylum seeker

A United States federal court has blocked the arbitrary detention of a Haitian asylum seeker and others fleeing persecution, torture or death in their countries of origin.