Hurricane Melissa made landfall in eastern Cuba on Wednesday, just hours after hitting Jamaica with record-breaking winds that left the island paralysed and braced for fatalities.
Hurricane Melissa, a Category 3 storm with sustained winds of 120 mph (195 kph), struck Cuba’s southern coast early on Wednesday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. Authorities reported the evacuation of around 735,000 people from eastern provinces ahead of the storm’s arrival.
The hurricane reached Jamaica on Tuesday as a Category 5 system — the strongest ever recorded on the island — with winds up to 185 mph. The southwestern town of New Hope took the brunt of the impact, with entire communities submerged and more than 500,000 people left without electricity.
Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness said on CNN that although no confirmed fatalities had yet been reported, “some loss of life” was expected due to widespread damage to homes, hospitals and infrastructure. “The reports that we have had so far would include damage to hospitals, significant damage to residential property, housing and commercial property as well, and damage to our road infrastructure,” he said.
AccuWeather meteorologists ranked Melissa as the Caribbean’s third most intense hurricane on record, after Hurricane Wilma in 2005 and Gilbert in 1988 — the last major storm to directly hit Jamaica.
Local reports said at least three people died in Jamaica during preparations, and a senior disaster official was hospitalised after suffering a stroke as the storm made landfall. By late Tuesday, large areas remained inaccessible due to flooding and debris.
In the Bahamas, officials ordered evacuations in the southern islands, bracing for the storm’s next move. Further east, at least four people were reported dead after days of heavy rain in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
Scientists have linked the increasing intensity of tropical storms like Melissa to rising ocean temperatures, prompting renewed calls from Caribbean leaders for climate-related reparations or debt relief from major polluting nations.
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Crude oil exports from major Middle Eastern producers rebounded in September to their highest level since the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran began in late February, according to data from analytics firm Kpler.
OpenAI has cancelled plans to release GPT-6.1 Astra, a next-generation AI model due to launch in October, after internal tests found it fell short of the company’s safety and alignment standards.
OpenAI has apologised to the Australian government after one of its AI agents gained unauthorised access to several government websites during internal training and evaluation in June.
U.S. President Donald Trump has denied reports that he offered Iran sanctions relief and access to frozen funds in exchange for nuclear concessions.
Iran has called for a diplomatic solution after U.S. President Donald Trump rejected its Hormuz proposal, while Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran was awaiting a definitive U.S. response through mediators.
A Russian guided aerial bomb has struck an apartment building in Kharkiv, injuring 22 people, including children, according to the city’s mayor. The strike follows a day of near-continuous Russian attacks across Ukraine that killed at least five people.
Here's your AnewZ Daily Brief for 28 September 2026. These are the top stories making headlines in technology.
British police have arrested five men on suspicion of offences under the Explosives Act after a major security incident was declared near RAF Fairford, a British air base used by U.S. air forces in Gloucestershire, England.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan has arrived in Washington for talks with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on bilateral ties and key regional and international developments, Saudi state news agency SPA reported.
Crude oil exports from major Middle Eastern producers rebounded in September to their highest level since the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran began in late February, according to data from analytics firm Kpler.
Russian strikes hit Kyiv and Ukraine’s Black Sea region of Odesa overnight into Tuesday, damaging infrastructure and civilian sites, while Moscow said it had also targeted vessels carrying military cargo.
British police are investigating whether individuals linked to a foreign state were involved in an apparent plot targeting RAF Fairford, a British airbase used by the United States, while five suspects arrested in connection with the case are being released on bail.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday that more than 8,000 North Korean troops are currently in Russia, with preparations under way to send another 10,000.
Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are warning that gaps in contact tracing and continued deaths outside treatment centres are contributing to a renewed rise in Ebola transmission, as the country’s latest outbreak passes 8,000 confirmed cases.
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