BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Several countries have been placed on alert as Hurricane Kirk, a large and powerful hurricane, is churning way across the Caribbean on Friday. The Miami-based National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said that Kirk, which is 1010 miles east northeast of the Northern Leeward Islands, has maximum sustained winds of 145 miles per hour (mph). While there are no coastal watches or warnings in effect, the NHC said that the eye of Hurricane Kirk is moving towards the northwest near 10 mph and this general motion is expected to continue Friday. “A turn toward the north and north-northeast at a faster forward speed is anticipated over the weekend,” it said adding that Kirk is a category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. “Small intensity fluctuations are possible today. Weakening is forecast to begin on Saturday and continue through early next week,” it said. Additionally, surf swells generated by Kirk are spreading westward and are expected to reach the Leeward Islands later today, Bermuda and the Greater Antilles on Saturday, the east coast of the United States, Atlantic Canada, and the Bahamas on Sunday. “These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions,” NHC added. The weather forecasters are also monitoring the passage of Tropical Storm Leslie, with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph and located 645 miles west-southwest of the southernmost Cabo Verde Islands.

Past Principal of the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies Sir Keith Hunte has passed away. His son John Hunte confirmed to CBC News he died earlier today at the age of 87. Sir Keith served from 1983 to 2002 as Principal. He was the third Principal at the Campus. A skilled administrator known for his sense of fairplay, decency, wisdom and sound judgement, he was credited with getting the best out of limited resources and ability. A historian by training, he was part of the UWI family for close to 40 years and the newest block of student halls at Clarendon, Black Rock are named in his honour. After completing his Masters, he joined the staff at the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus as an Assistant Lecturer in 1964. One year later he moved up the ranks to the post of Senior Lecturer in the Department of History, Dean (1975), Deputy Principal (1980) and Campus Principal in 1983. He was knighted on the 21st Independence anniversary. Sir Keith held many other titles including that of Chairman of the Caribbean Examination Council in 1996-2002. During his time as Chairman, he implemented several changes including the introduction of the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination in 1998 and the change of the CSEC Grading Scheme from a five to a six-point scale. In addition, he also played a huge role in negotiating with the Government of Barbados and Jamaica for a CXC headquarters agreement and centre agreement. Sir Keith was born and raised in Venture, St. John. He leaves to mourn his family and friends, and the many lives that he touched.

New York (CNN) — Striking members of the International Longshoremen’s Association will be back to work at the ports on Friday, the union announced Thursday evening, as the union and the management group representing shipping lines, terminal operators and port authorities have reached a tentative deal on wages. The union agreed to extend the contract it had with the United States Maritime Alliance, the management group known as USMX, which represents shipping lines, terminal operators and port authorities. That deal, which had expired at the end of Monday, will be now extended until January 15 and have the union members back on the job while the final details are worked out in a full agreement and it is ratified by the rank-and-file. Terms of the tentative deal on wages were not immediately available Thursday evening. The 50,000 members of the union working at ports from Maine to Texas have been on strike since early Tuesday morning, halting the flow of the majority of containerized imports into the United States, along with many of the exports, disrupting the sales of American businesses overseas. A tentative deal would still need to be ratified by the rank-and-file ILA members before it would take effect. But with ships stuck at sea unable to come into US ports to unload and load goods, the union has agreed to have workers return to work on Friday. Still, should the members vote against the deal, the strike might start once again. And such a rejection of a tentative labor deal is not unheard of. Just last month, the International Association of Machinists (IAM) and jet maker Boeing reached a tentative deal that union leaders recommended their 33,000 members accept and even described as the best deal they had ever negotiated with the company. But union members voted nearly unanimously to reject it and have remained on strike since September 13. The port strike was still in its early days, but it would have had broad ramifications for the US economy the longer it continued. Business groups have been calling on the Biden administration to order strikers back to work. The work stoppage threatened the supply of everything from bananas to liquor to European luxury cars, all with the busy holiday shopping season less than two months away. And those shortages could have resulted in upward pressure on prices. But President Joe Biden had refused to use powers he has under the Taft-Hartley Act to block or end the strike, saying he would not interfere with the collective bargaining process. Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg had all called on the USMX to negotiate a deal with the ILA that fairly shared the record profits with members. Shipping rates soared during and immediately after the pandemic, as supply chains snarled and demand surged. According to analyst John McCown, industry profits from 2020-2023 topped $400 billion, which is believed to be more than the industry had previously made in total since containerization started in 1957. The USMX said on Monday that it had offered workers a nearly 50% raise over the six-year life of the contract, which comes to an average raise of $3 an hour per year on top of the current top hourly base wage of $39. The union had been demanding $5 an hour per year, according to ILA President Harold Daggett. That would have raised hourly pay by about 77% over the life of the deal. Daggett said soon after the strike started on Tuesday morning that the union had been willing to consider a recommendation from the Biden administration that both sides agree to a $4-an-hour wage increase, but that when USMX had proposed the $3 raise, the union had moved back to its $5 an hour demand.