Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness on Tuesday said that last week's Hurricane Melissa, the strongest-ever storm to hit its shores, caused damage to homes and key infrastructure roughly equivalent to 28% to 32% of last year's gross domestic product.
Holness told lawmakers the estimate was conservative, based on damages assessed so far, and that short-term economic output could decline by 8% to 13%.
He said costs would push up Jamaica's debt-to-GDP ratio and that his government would activate emergency provisions to temporarily suspend the country's fiscal rules.
Holness, whose government set out credit and insurance provisions for a storm similar to last year's Hurricane Beryl, said he was seeking financial support from regional allies, development agencies and the private sector.
"Experts describe Melissa to be on the very edge of what is physically possible in the Atlantic Ocean, a storm powered by record sea temperatures," he said.
"Its force was so immense that seismographs hundreds of miles away registered its passage," he added. "Hurricane Melissa wasn't only a tragedy: It was a warning."
Scientists say storms are intensifying faster as a result of greenhouse gas emissions warming ocean surfaces, piling up fuel for seasonal storms. Caribbean leaders have long called for reparations from wealthy heavy-polluting nations in the form of aid or debt relief.
Holness pledged to rebuild infrastructure to withstand the worsening impacts of climate change, including moving parts of the electric grid underground.
"Every repaired bridge, re-roofed home and rebuilt road must be designed for the storms of tomorrow, not the storms of yesterday," he said.
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South Korea's intelligence agency believes there is a strong possibility that North Korea and the United States will hold a summit, with the meeting potentially taking place after March, a lawmaker has said.
Mexico has expressed regret over Peru’s decision to sever diplomatic relations after the Mexican government granted asylum to former Peruvian Prime Minister Betssy Chavez.
Brussels Airport is closed after the reported sighting of a drone, said the Belgian air traffic control service and a spokeswoman for the airport.
The U.S. is collaborating with other nations to help end the conflict in Sudan, the White House stated on Tuesday, following reports of mass killings during the capture of a city by paramilitary forces last week.
Russia said on Monday that its troops had advanced in the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, a transport and logistics hub that they have been trying to capture for over a year, but Ukraine said its forces were holding on.
At least 37 people have died and five are missing after devastating floods and landslides hit central Vietnam, officials said Monday, as a new typhoon threatens to worsen the disaster.
U.S. President Donald Trump said he does not believe the United States is going to war with Venezuela despite growing tensions, though he suggested President Nicolás Maduro’s time in power may be nearing its end.
Tanzania's President Samia Suluhu Hassan vowed on Monday to move on from deadly protests set off by last week's disputed election as she was sworn into office for her first elected term.
The eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk has emerged as a critical point in Russia’s campaign to seize the remaining Ukrainian-held parts of Donetsk, and its fate could shape the course of the conflict in the region.
French judicial authorities announced on Tuesday that they had launched an investigation into the Chinese social media platform TikTok, focusing on the potential dangers of its algorithms pushing young people towards suicide.
Alphabet Inc., the parent company of Google, is entering the U.S. dollar and euro debt markets with a multi-tranche senior unsecured notes issue.
Microsoft has agreed a $9.7 billion partnership with data centre operator IREN, granting it access to Nvidia’s latest chips in a move designed to ease the computing bottleneck that has hampered the company’s ability to fully capitalise on the artificial intelligence boom.
Chinese electric carmaker BYD is making major strides in Europe, with sales surging nearly fivefold in September from a year earlier to just under 25,000 new registrations.
U.S. stocks were mixed late Wednesday as traders digested comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who signaled that another interest rate cut in December is far from guaranteed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 edged slightly lower, while the Nasdaq climbed on continued gains
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