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The University of the West Indies (UWI) Five Islands Campus is set to mark a historic milestone with its 2025 graduation ceremony on October 11. This year, the campus will celebrate a record-breaking 200 graduates, more than double the number from the previous year. The event, themed “Pelicans in an AI-Driven Future: Where Tradition Meets Tomorrow,” will be broadcast live on Flow Evo and UWI TV Global, symbolizing a blend of perseverance, excellence, and innovation.

Campus Principal Professor Justin Robinson highlighted the institution’s remarkable growth since its inception in 2019. With current enrolment surpassing 1,300 students, the campus anticipates exceeding 1,500 students with its January intake. This year, 443 students were admitted from a record 750 applicants, leaving 40 percent of hopefuls without places, underscoring the campus’s growing competitiveness and its pivotal role in expanding access to higher education across the Eastern Caribbean.

The graduation ceremony, scheduled for 4 p.m. in Antigua and Barbuda, will be broadcast simultaneously across the Caribbean. It will honor students from various faculties, celebrating their personal achievements and contributing to the region’s human capital development. This event not only marks a significant moment for the graduates but also reflects the campus’s commitment to academic excellence and regional progress.

The Antigua and Barbuda Meteorological Services have issued urgent high surf warnings and advisories for several Caribbean islands, including the British Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Antigua, Barbuda, and Nevis. The warnings, effective until Monday, and advisories until Tuesday, highlight the arrival of moderate long-period swells, creating life-threatening conditions along northern and north-facing coastlines. Significant wave heights are expected to reach 2.1 to 3.1 meters (7 to 10 feet), with occasional peaks near 3.7 meters (12 feet). These conditions are likely to cause dangerous battering surfs, rip currents, coastal flooding, and beach erosion. The swells, originating from the north, are predicted to produce breaking waves over 2.7 meters (9 feet), posing severe risks to life, property, and infrastructure. Coastal flooding is anticipated due to high tides combined with onshore winds and swell actions. The potential impacts include loss of life, injuries, beach closures, disruptions to marine activities, and damage to coral reefs. Authorities urge the public to avoid affected waters and coastal structures, bathe only in lifeguard-monitored areas, and exercise extreme caution. Rip currents, a significant hazard, can carry even strong swimmers out to sea. If caught in a rip current, individuals are advised to remain calm, float, and swim parallel to the shoreline. The Meteorological Office continues to monitor the situation and advises the public to stay updated through official channels.

Society has long embraced idols of Roman, Babylonian, and Greek origin, displayed prominently in public squares, churches, universities, and government buildings without question. Yet, when a new or unfamiliar structure, such as the one on All Saints Road in Antigua, is erected, it sparks widespread outrage. This selective acceptance raises a critical question: If we are to condemn one, consistency demands we examine and renounce them all, as their roots trace back to the same ancient pagan systems. Historically, the Roman Empire absorbed deities from Babylon, Greece, and other conquered nations, giving them Latin names while retaining their pagan functions. For instance, Zeus became Jupiter, Aphrodite became Venus, and Tammuz, the Babylonian god, was integrated into Roman mystery religions. These idols persist in Western art, religion, and architecture through statues, holidays, and place names, with many ‘Christian’ symbols actually being Romanized pagan symbols rebranded over centuries. The Bible is unequivocal on idolatry, with passages like Exodus 20:3–5, Deuteronomy 12:2–3, Isaiah 42:8, and Acts 17:29 clearly forbidding the worship of graven images, regardless of their cultural origin or familiarity. Today’s selective moral outrage—accepting familiar pagan symbols as ‘culture’ or ‘history’ while condemning unfamiliar ones as spiritual threats—is hypocritical. Biblically and historically, there is no difference; both are pagan and contrary to divine commandments. If one idol is to be rejected, all must be examined under the same standard. The Most High does not play favorites between idols.