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The center of Tropical Storm Jerry is expected to pass north of the Leeward Islands this morning and then move away from the islands later on Friday, with residents in those islands being warned to be prepared for flash flooding.

The Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) said that the 10th named storm of the 2025 Atlantic Hurricane Season is expected to bring heavy rainfall across the region on Friday and has maximum sustained winds of 50 miles per hour (mph).

The storm is about 80 miles, north north east of the Northern Leeward Islands and a Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for St. Barthelemy, St. Martin, Sint Maarten, Guadeloupe and the adjacent islands. A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for Saba and St. Eustatius.

The government of Antigua and Barbuda has discontinued the Tropical Storm Warning for Barbuda and Anguilla, as well as the Tropical Storm Watch for Antigua, St. Kitts, Nevis, and Montserrat.

The NHC said that the Jerry is moving toward the northwest near 17 mph and a turn towards the north is expected tonight into Saturday, followed by a northward to north-northeastward motion through the rest of the weekend.

‘On the forecast track, the center of Jerry will continue passing to the north of the Leeward Islands this morning, then move away from the islands later today. Maximum sustained winds are near 50 mph with higher gusts. Little change in strength is expected today, but slow strengthening is possible over the weekend,’ the NHC said.

It said that through Friday, four to six inches of rain are expected across the island of Barbuda. Elsewhere across the Leeward and Virgin Islands, two to four 4 inches of rain are expected.

‘This rainfall brings a risk of flash flooding, especially in urban areas and in steep terrain. For portions of Puerto Rico, moisture associated with Jerry combined with local orographic effects may result in up to two to four inches of rain, with isolated amounts of six inches possible.’

Swells generated by Jerry are affecting the Leeward Islands, Windward Islands, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico, and are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.

These swells are expected to spread toward the rest of the Greater Antilles today and tonight,’ the NHC added.

Business executives from the United Kingdom (UK) are ending a three-day trade mission visit to Jamaica, expressing optimism about the opportunity to fostering trade expansion and commercial ties.

The mission sought to deepen UK-Jamaica commercial collaboration and to identify new opportunities that can be leveraged for the advancement of both countries.

Regional Director at Northern Consortium United Kingdom (NCUK), which develops tertiary education programmes across the world, Adam Connor, said he is hoping that Jamaica becomes the 42nd country to forge a partnership with the company.

‘We’re currently in 41 countries with 130 partners who teach our programmes. The programmes give guaranteed access into our partner universities, which includes world-leading universities like University of Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Queen Mary, Australian universities, New Zealand [and] Canada.’

Connor said NCUK is looking to partner with Jamaican institutions that want to collaborate with UK universities or want to bring UK education opportunities into Jamaica, adding that ‘the objective is really to give more access to higher education to students’.

Regional Trade Director for the UK’s Department of Business and Trade for the Commonwealth Caribbean, D’Jamila Ward, said now is the time to do business in Jamaica, noting that British companies look at three things when they seek to do business in external markets – vision, stability and predictability, noting that Jamaica offers all three.

‘National priorities in infrastructure, renewable energy, logistics and digital transformation align perfectly with the UK’s strength and our modern trade and industrial strategies as we place growth at the heart of our foreign policy,’ Ward added.

Jamaica’s Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Aubyn Hill, is encouraging London to consider implementing a special visa arrangement to facilitate the movement of Jamaican and other Caribbean service professionals within that country.

He believes that this special arrangement could be facilitated under the CARIFORUM-UK Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), which governs Caribbean trade and investment relations with the UK.

‘To make the market access opportunities under the EPA more effective, better arrangements will be needed to facilitate the movement of Jamaican and other CARIFORUM service professionals within the UK,’ Hill said of the EPA that extends beyond traditional trade arrangements to encompass key areas such as competition policy, intellectual property rights, regional integration, and cultural cooperation.

He said that while the Jamaica government remains focused on advancing the manufacturing and export sectors and strengthening the productive capacity of the private sector, it must be acknowledged that services continue to represent the dominant component of Jamaica’s economy, contributing significantly to the island’s gross domestic product (GDP).

Hill is urging Britain to ‘introduce a special visa arrangement which will be especially beneficial to representatives of our creative industry, particularly our musicians, models, theatre professionals and other entertainers who desire to ply their trade in the UK’.

He said Jamaica would continue to champion deeper dialogue on the matter, recognising that sustained engagement is essential to the effective implementation of the EPA and that Jamaica stands ready to welcome British citizens who wish to work remotely from the island.

Hill said that National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang is is looking at this to make sure Jamaica becomes an even more attractive place for people to come and reside and work for big companies elsewhere.

Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretary General, Dr. Carla Barnett says CARICOM must continue to demand a scaled-up and simplified Loss and Damage Fund, with direct access modalities for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) when the 30th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP30) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) gets underway in Brazil next month.

The Loss and Damage Fund is a climate finance mechanism designed to provide financial support to vulnerable developing countries that are disproportionately affected by the adverse effects of climate change. Established at COP27 in 2022, it addresses both economic and non-economic losses resulting from extreme weather events and slow-onset climate impacts, such as rising sea levels and droughts.

Funding helps with immediate relief, recovery, and rebuilding after climate disasters, including infrastructure repair, relocation support, and addressing non-economic losses like cultural heritage loss.

Barnett told a meeting of CARICOM ministers with responsibility for the environment that the region must also seek a robust new collective quantified goal that reflects the real cost of climate action and includes sub-targets for adaptation and resilience, and that is implementable.

In addition, she wants CARICOM to move towards the reform of multilateral climate finance architecture to ensure equity, transparency, and responsiveness to SIDS’ needs, and the recognition of the SIDS unique vulnerabilities in climate finance eligibility criteria.

Barnett told the second CARICOM meeting in preparation for COP 30, the region must continue to speak with one voice and urge world leaders to act with urgency.

‘We must always remind the world, lest they forget, CARICOM stands at the frontline of the climate crisis, contributing less than one per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, yet bearing a disproportionate share of its impact.

‘Rising sea levels threaten our coastlines and cultural heritage. Intensifying hurricanes, droughts ocean acidification and saltwater intrusion are not abstract threats. They are lived realities for our farmers, fisherfolk, tourism workers, and families across every member state and coastal community.’

She said that the COP 30 meeting will be the first to take stock of the Global Goal on Adaptation, a key outcome of COP 28.

‘It will assess progress on the Loss and Damage Fund and shape the New Collective Quantified Goal on climate finance, which must replace the outdated annual US$100 billion pledge, which was never achieved. ‘

Barnett said that climate finance remains the cornerstone of the region’s advocacy and while global pledges have increased, contributions lag well behind, and disbursements remain slow, fragmented, and inaccessible.

‘Small Island Developing States continue to face complex bureaucratic hurdles, eligibility constraints, and inadequate support for adaptation and loss and damage,’ she said, adding ‘we must also continue to champion innovative financing mechanisms, including debt-for-climate swaps, blue bonds, parametric insurance, and blended finance models that can unlock resources for resilience and sustainable development.’

Barnett said that from the coral reefs of the Bahamas and Belize to the rainforests of Suriname and Guyana, the Caribbean region is home to extraordinary biodiversity.

‘These ecosystems are climate assets. Mangroves buffer storm surges, forests sequester carbon, and healthy reefs support livelihoods. Yet, biodiversity loss is accelerating, driven by climate change, pollution, and unsustainable land use.

‘At COP 30, we will advocate for greater integration of biodiversity and climate agendas. We must also press for scaled-up support for ecosystem-based adaptation and community-led conservation.

‘As always, our positions must be informed by robust technical analysis, grounded in regional realities, as we leverage our diplomatic networks, our scientific institutions, and our civil society partners to amplify our voice.’

Barnett said that COP 30 demands the highest level of strategic political coordination, moral clarity and regional solidarity.

‘Our negotiators have been preparing and must be supported and positioned to influence outcomes. At the CARICOM Pavillion, we will tell our story, not just of vulnerability, but of vision. We must showcase our responses to climate change, our leadership on issues critical to us, and our demands in ways that resonate with global audiences.’

But she acknowledged that COP 30 is not an endpoint, but another a brief stop on a long and difficult journey, 30 years so far.

‘Our climate agenda will continue to be embedded in our development strategies, our budgetary frameworks, and our regional integration efforts. But we must never forget that as long as the developed world does not meaningfully accept their responsibility for generating the largest portion of the green house gases that are the source of global warming that is causing climate change; our fight to survive will continue.

‘Yes, we want to be able to effectively implement mitigation and adaptation strategies and need affordable finance, access to technologies, and meaningful support from our cooperation partners to be able to do this.

‘But we must never forget to speak our truth, we do not cause climate change. We bear the burden of climate change. And that burden will continue to grow as long as global emissions continue to grow,’ the CARICOM Secretary General added.

The following is the CANANews and SPORTS Schedule for Friday, October 10, 2025.

GEORGETOWN – The 15-member Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Friday said it welcomes ‘with cautious optimism’ the agreement reached on the initial phase of a peace plan for Gaza.

BRUSSELS Nationals of several Caribbean Community (CARICCOM) countries that enjoy visa-free entry into the Schengen area for short stays of up to 90 days in any 180-day period may soon have that situation revoked.

CASTRIES – Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretary General, Dr. Carla Barnett says CARICOM must continue to demand a scaled-up and simplified Loss and Damage Fund, with direct access modalities for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) when the 30th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP30) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) gets underway in Brazil next month.

ROSEAU – St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves has praised Dominica’s economic recovery after the island encountered numerous challenges over the years.

KINGSTOWN – Taiwan’s Ambassador to St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Fiona Huei-Chun Fan, says her country, which is is celebrating its 1th National Day on Friday, ‘will neither provoke nor yield’ to China.

SPORTS:

DELHI – Yashasvi Jaiswal struck a masterful, unbeaten century while Sai Sudharsan fell just short of three figures, as India completely dominated proceedings against the West Indies on the opening day of the second Test here on Friday.

The main opposition Progressive Reform Party (VHP) Friday said it recognizes the important historical contribution the Maroons have made in Suriname at various points in the country’s history as the Dutch-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country observes Maroon Day.

Maroon Day is largely commemorated in the interior villages by descendants of the Maroons, who dress up in colorful ‘pangi’ to celebrate independence with everyone else in Suriname.

The VHP, headed by former president Chandrikapersad Santokhi, said that since October 10, 1974, Maroon Day has been commemorated here, dating back to 1760, when the Okanisi tribe was the first to make peace with the colonial rulers in Paramaribo.

It said that in the years that followed, three more peace treaties with other Maroon tribes followed, putting an end to the bloody hunt for escaped slaves.

‘This day is commemorated as a national holiday due to its great historical significance. It symbolises not only the peace that was concluded at that time, but especially the heroic struggle waged by the Maroon ancestors against oppression and slavery.’

The VPH said that while it recognises the ‘important historical contribution’ of the Maroons, at the same time, it ‘acknowledges that many Maroon communities still face difficult living conditions, both inland and on the coastal plain.

‘This group, which has lived largely in tribal groups along the major rivers of our interior for hundreds of years, holds a special position within our Surinamese community. They live traditionally and maintain customs, rituals, and traditions that are invaluable to Suriname’s cultural diversity.’

The party said that in recent years, several villages have been provided with clean drinking water and electricity by the previous government led by Santhoki.

‘They also worked hard to bring quality education to the interior of the country. Given the enormous backlog, this was no easy task, but improving the quality of life in the interior remains a priority for the VHP,’ it said, adding ‘this day remains a powerful symbol of freedom, resistance, and cultural richness, values that continue to inspire Surinamese society today’.

Former prime minister Dr. Keith Rowley Friday suggested that the Kamla Persad Bissessar administration should eat ‘humble pie’ and seek to hold talks with the Venezuelan government on the Dragon Gas deal, now that the United States has provided Port of Spain with a new Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) licence.

‘I would say in international relations countries sometimes are very far apart, but when they examine their interests, they eat humble pie and .ensuring that their interests take priority over their egos. Countries have to do that from time to time,’ Rowley told a news conference, less than 24 hours after the government said it had received the OFAC licence from Washington.

‘If you misstep you have a duty to walk it back and you now have to rely on your counterpart, accepting as a new convert, but to come and try to pretend your arrangement that you settle with somebody else is a new improvement is just to be gas lighting a whole nation, everybody with their eyes wide open,’ Rowley said.

On Thursday, Attorney General, John Jeremie said that the the United States Treasury Department had granted a six-month window under a newly OFAC licence, allowing the Kamla Persad government and the National Gas Company (NGC) to formally engage in negotiations with Venezuela on the development of the Dragon Gas project.

Jeremie told reporters that the new OFAC licence was ‘issued under certain executive orders and it authorises US persons, including employees, affiliates, contractors and service providers employed by or acting on behalf of or for the direct or indirect benefit of the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Ltd, Shell, PLC, Futura Clara Limited, and their subsidiaries and their affiliates and contractors to engage in transactions ordinarily incident and necessary to negotiations with the government of Venezuela and Petroleos, the Venezuela executives in connection with the Dragon gas project.’

He said that the licence was awarded after an application was made by the government, which came to office following the April 28 general election, Government and the NGC on May 19.

‘First of all, it allows us to enter into negotiations with Venezuela, which at the present time would be prohibited under sanctions. We have six months to negotiate. Within parameters,’ Jeremie said, adding that the six month period is valid until April 2026.

Jeremie, however, declined to share details about the commercial terms, adding that the government has already begun to take the permitted steps pursuant to the licence to advance the project.

‘We have a window of opportunity and the government is moving assiduously to exploit that,’ he reiterated without providing details.

In April, the United States government revoked the OFAC licence granted to Trinidad and Tobago to allow Shell, the National Gas Company (NGC), and contractors to explore, produce, and export natural gas from the Venezuelan Dragon Gas Field.

The licence was valid until October 31, 2025, and enabled Trinidad and Tobago to pay for gas in various currencies and through humanitarian measures. On December 21, 2023, Trinidad and Tobago also secured a 30-year exploration and production license from the government of Venezuela for the Dragon gas field.

Washington had also revoked the Cocuina-Manakin license granted to Port of Spain on May 31, 2024.

Port of Spain had been planning to request an extension from Washington for a licence granted to Shell and the NGC to develop the Dragon gas project in Venezuela.

The license, issued in early 2023, allows the companies to plan the project. The project aims to supply gas to Trinidad by 2027. The Dragon Field is located in Venezuelan waters near the maritime border with Trinidad.

Persad Bissessar, when in opposition had been critical of the then People’s National Movement (PNM) decision to pursue the Dragon gas deal and soon after coming to office in April, declared the the project was ‘dead’.

In addition, the then opposition had been critical of the Nicolas Maduro administration urging Washington to impose sanctions on Port of Spain for seeking to engage the Maduro government on the gas project.

Rowley told reporters that he had been involved in the negotiations with Caracas dating back to 2016 after Trinidad and Tobago had been experiencing a gas shortage to provide support to many projects ongoing here.

He dismissed a statement by Jeremie on Thursday that the last government had spent in excess of 100 million dollars (One TT dollar=US$0.16 cents) in trying to get the Dragon Gas deal going, saying the present government should make clear the conditions included in the new OFAC licence.

Jeremie had told reporters that the Drago Gas project is ‘alive’ adding ‘you have to hit commercial targets for US companies. We don’t think those targets are hard to meet.

‘They are reasonable . It’s a commercial win-win for all of the parties. The United States benefits from this arrangement. There are terms and conditions in the licence which ensure that US companies benefit and there are tiers as to exactly how they should benefit. Trinidad obviously stands to benefit and to a certain extent, of course, the people of Venezuela will benefit.’

Rowley said he is confident that the population ‘would see where we are at now as against where we were or could have been and what is required now is for the government of Trinidad and Tobago to do no further harm.’

Rowley, who traced the project’s timeline from 2016 and the involvement of his then energy minister Stuart Young in the negotiations, said the Drag field with its four trillion cubic feet of gas, is very much a necessity for the future development of Trinidad and Tobago.

He told reporters that the Attorney General was ‘very careful ‘ not to tell the general public what the government had always been calling for when in opposition, ‘which is transparency.

‘We told the country what the two year OFAC licence had contained, we told the country why we had to go and renegotiate when the Americans said you can’t pay for the gas in cash. We told the country when we got that settled.

‘I cannot say after that moon show yesterday that I know what the term of that OFAC licence is. I know the AG was very cagey in not telling us what the details are and if I am to believe him, it is for six months and there is no way a six month licence could be an improvement on a two-year licence.

‘There is no way a licence that was broad covering all the bases could be inferior to one that you are now out on a leach and you walk in step and you get permission to go through the next step if you meet certain bench marks,’ Rowley said, adding ‘I don’t know what the bench marks are.

‘So I don’t know enough about the details of that to comment further,’ he said reiterating that his administration had not spent the estimated 120 million dollars as statement by Jeremie on advancing the Dragon Gas project.

Asked by reporters to comment on the government providing its ‘full support’ to the United States in its war on dugs in the Caribbean, while also indicating that it has nothing against the people of Venezuela, Rowley, who said he was forced to break his silence on the Dragon Gas deal issue, said ‘as a former prime minister who lived this situation before, especially one that led the CARICOM (Caribbean Community) position on this issue, I would reserve my comments’.

Rowley said he was doing so ‘because I don’t want to further inflame or embarrass anybody. I simply want to state that this little nation must be aware that nobody owes us lunch and everybody we deal with have their interest to protect and our skills and our success will be determined by whether we protected our interest.

‘This is a serious matter where the facts and the facts alone should guide us. Policies, diplomacy, diplomatic moves are matters for the governments. If our government finds itself ina situation where it cannot do what is required.then you know you have a problem with the government’.

But he recalled when Maduro was given eight days in office and the western countries were seeking his removal and regime change was spoken about as the objective, CARICOM took the matter before the United Nations so as to determine ‘just who should we deal with in Caracas.

‘The way these things go you need support, a small area like the CARICOM when you get on the international stage .you can’t allow to be brushed off and our position was we might be small but we are not insignificant.’

Rowley said that when the situation arose, Trinidad and Tobago had already began lobbying for a position on the United Nations Security Council to replace St. Vincent and the Grenadines, adding ‘I want to ask the government if they are still pursuing that and how it is going’.

Meanwhile Prime Minister Persad Bissessar says she remains optimistic after holding talks with representatives from three major energy companies on Thursday.

In a statement on Friday, the Energy Ministry said the prime minister met with high-level representatives from BPTT, Proman, and Woodside to engage in discussions on matters of mutual interest and to explore new avenues for collaboration. It said that Jeremie, Energy Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal and Minister in the Energy Ministry, Ernesto Kesar, also participated in those talks.

‘These strategic meetings underscored the vital importance of strong partnerships in advancing Trinidad and Tobago’s energy sector and ensuring lasting benefits for our citizens,’ Persad Bissessar said according to a statement issued by the Office of the Prime Minister.

‘Government continues to deepen energy security by strengthening our partnerships with major energy companies, ensuring that TT remains a competitive and attractive destination for investment.

‘ By building and maintaining these vital international partnerships, my Government is ensuring that TT continues to harness its energy resources strategically and responsibly, securing a stronger and more prosperous future for all,’ she added.

The European Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) says Latin America and the Caribbean must embrace a new vision of productive development policies (PDPs) to escape the trap of low capacity for growth in which it is mired and to be able to tackle the challenges imposed by the new global geopolitical context.

In a new report titled ‘Panorama of Productive Policies in Latin America and the Caribbean 2025: How to escape the trap of low capacity for growth’, was presented by ECLAC’s Executive Secretary, José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs.

He told a news conference that the trap of low capacity for growth can be attributed largely to a slow productive transformation and more than a decade of corresponding stagnation, and even decline, in the region’s labour productivity rate, which has fallen below average global productivity since 2017.

ECLAC warns that although the document indicates a 2.2 per cent rise in the region’s labour productivity between 2023 and 2024, that increase is not enough to surmount the overall lag.

The study points to great diversity regarding productivity levels and growth between countries, territories, companies of different sizes and sectors in the region, with the lowest-productivity sectors accounting for the largest share of employment in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The lowest productivity rate is seen in the agriculture, livestock and forestry sector, representing just 44 per cent of the region’s average productivity, according to data from 2023. It is followed, among the sectors with the lowest productivity, by commerce, with 69 per cent, and construction, with 77 per cent.

Meanwhile, microenterprises account for a mere 12.5 per cent of the productivity of the region’s large companies, which is a much bigger gap than what is seen in more developed economies.

‘The quandary facing Latin America and the Caribbean is substantial: either we begin a new era of high, sustained, inclusive and sustainable growth, or we head for a third lost decade,’ said Salazar-Xirinachs.

He said to avoid the latter scenario, countries must scale up and improve their productive development policies based on a new vision that includes, among other things, working on strategic agendas around driving sectors, multilevel and multi-stakeholder.

‘Let’s raise the political profile of these policies and delve deeper into the ‘hows,’ meaning how to carry out these transformations in practice,’ Salazar-Xirinachs said, recalling that the Panorama’s 2025 edition being presented today joins other documents and projects by ECLAC that aim to provide practical guidance on how countries and their territories can use PDPs to accelerate their productive transformation.

The report analyses various productive development policy efforts being carried out in the region in light of the recommendations that ECLAC has been formulating, which include sector prioritization, resource allocation, leadership at the highest level, collective construction, the territorialization of policies, the utilization of cluster initiatives, and monitoring and evaluation.

ECLAC said that although progress has been made, there are significant opportunities for improvement in the way the region has been developing PDPs, the Commission affirms.

According to the report, the ability to scale up and improve productive development policies depends, in part, on the way in which countries and their territories align their science, technology and innovation (STI) efforts with their economies’ productive transformation.

ECLAC sats the region is clearly lagging on STI investment, with investment levels in research and development of around 0.56 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), far below the countries belonging to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (three per cent), the United States (3.6 per cent) and China (2.6 per cent).

ECLAC said however, the impact of STI policies depends not only on greater resources, but also on the design, operation and coherence of the strategies, institutions and instruments involved.

For that reason, ECLAC recommends strengthening multi-stakeholder coordination and governance, bolstering the technical, operational, political and prospective (TOPP) capabilities of the entities in charge of STI policies; diversifying and scaling up tools; increasing the financing of STI while also enhancing its direction and quality; and harnessing opportunities for regional and extra-regional cooperation in this area.

In addition, the Commission stresses that cluster initiatives and other productive articulation initiatives are a powerful tool for the multi-stakeholder and multilevel articulation that new-generation productive development policies require, which means they should play a leading role.

To date, ECLAC has identified 712 active cluster and productive articulation initiatives in 20 of the region’s countries. The most highly represented sectors in these initiatives are agriculture, manufacturing industries, tourism, and information and communications technology.

It said of this total, 58 per cent receive financing from national governments, 51% from subnational governments and 39 per cent from the private sector.

ECLAC said productive articulation initiatives do not occur spontaneously but rather require deliberate policies, which is why the report offers multiple recommendations grouped into 11 guidelines, such as utilizing these initiatives to work on strategic agendas around prioritised sectors under national and subnational PDPs; increasing the resources invested and ensuring the continuity of productive articulation initiatives.

The report also analyses the opportunities for the region’s productive transformation arising from climate change and the energy transition.

According to ECLAC’s calculations, between US$2.1 and US$2.8 trillion dollars in investments are needed in the region, cumulatively by 2030, in order to fulfill climate commitments while simultaneously driving economic growth.