00:01Hurricane Melissa, a monster storm, slams Jamaica, tears into Cuba, and is still incredibly powerful.
00:08Plus, a gold crown and a big meeting, President Trump honored in Seoul as all eyes turn to his showdown with China's Xi Jinping.
00:16And the shutdown hits home, airline workers showing up without pay, and the new mission making sure they don't go hungry.
00:25The stories that matter, clear and credible.
00:28From across the country to around the world, these are your unbiased updates from Straight Arrow News.
00:37Good morning, I'm Craig DeGrelli.
00:39We begin this morning with Hurricane Melissa making landfall in Cuba as a powerful Category 3 storm after slamming Jamaica as one of the strongest hurricanes ever recorded,
00:49reaching Category 5 strength with wind speeds of, get this, 185 miles an hour.
00:54The National Hurricane Center says Melissa packing blinding rain and torrents of floodwaters is moving over eastern Cuba this morning
01:02and expected to cross the southeastern and central Bahamas later today, then approach Bermuda by tomorrow.
01:09Forecasters warn of 5 to 10 inches of rain across the Bahamas, raising the risk of flash flooding and mudslides.
01:15So far, at least seven people have died across the Caribbean, three in Jamaica, three in Haiti, and one in the Dominican Republic.
01:23Jamaican officials say the victims were killed in accidents while preparing for the storm.
01:27In a post on X, Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness said his nation had been ravaged, but it will rebuild and do so even better than before.
01:36President Trump on Wednesday said his administration is prepared to send humanitarian aid to Jamaica.
01:43Melissa is the 13th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season and the strongest so far.
01:49It is not expected to have major impacts on the mainland U.S.
01:53President Trump is continuing his trip to Asia today, landing in South Korea ahead of this year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC Summit.
02:02During a keynote address at an APEC luncheon, Trump said the world is entering a new era of trade, one that will require deals that are good for everybody.
02:11Upon his arrival in Seoul, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung awarded Trump the nation's highest honor, the Grand Order of Mugungwa, for his efforts to promote peace on the Korean Peninsula.
02:23He is the first American president to ever receive the award.
02:26Trump was also presented with a replica of a golden crown, a 1,500-year-old royal artifact, considered one of the heaviest gold crowns ever discovered.
02:36The president is set to hold trade talks with South Korean leaders today.
02:40According to the Associated Press, officials in Washington and Seoul say the main sticking point remains Trump's demand that South Korea invest $350 billion in the United States.
02:50But it's his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping set for tomorrow that is drawing the most attention.
02:56Here are the expectations after months of trade tension.
03:00And I think we're going to have a great meeting with President Xi of China.
03:04And the amount of problems are going to be solved.
03:07Yeah, very optimistic. I am.
03:09And I know a little bit about what's going on because, you know, we have been talking to them.
03:13I think we're going to have a very good outcome for our country and for the world, actually.
03:18I think it's important for the world.
03:19China's foreign ministry said Wednesday it hopes the meeting yields positive outcomes and that Beijing is ready to work with the United States to inject new momentum into the relationship between the two countries.
03:32Israel has now resumed airstrikes in Gaza less than three weeks after President Trump brokered a ceasefire meant to stop this very thing.
03:40Palestinian officials say at least 100 people have been killed in the new barrage of strikes.
03:45Rescuers working to pull those trapped from the rubble in Gaza City and Khan Yunus.
03:50Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered what he called forceful strikes after accusing Hamas of violating the U.S.-brokered truce,
03:58saying the terror group staged the return of a hostage's remains.
04:02Israel released drone video it claims shows Hamas operatives burying a body bag, then digging it back up,
04:09claiming the group was trying to fake a discovery for Red Cross observers.
04:13The Israeli government called it a disgraceful deception.
04:17Hamas calls that baseless, accusing Israel of fabricating a pretext for new attacks.
04:22Hospitals across Gaza are now bracing for more casualties.
04:26From Washington, Vice President J.D. Vance downplayed the violence,
04:29saying small skirmishes do not mean the ceasefire has collapsed.
04:33The government shutdown is now taking a serious toll on America's skies.
04:38At airports from Chicago to Newark, air traffic controllers and other federal workers
04:43just missed their first full paycheck.
04:46United, Delta and JetBlue are now feeding those workers,
04:49donating meals at hubs nationwide as essential staff, without pay, keep planes moving.
04:55Airline reps say it's a small gesture of support as frustration builds 29 days into the government shutdown.
05:01At LaGuardia Airport in New York on Tuesday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said
05:06there's not much wiggle room in the FAA budget to cover payrolls,
05:10adding that the only real fix is to reopen the government.
05:14Duffy also warned that staffing shortages are responsible for up to 40 percent of flight delays this week,
05:20something the president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association says makes the skies less safe.
05:26We are the rope in this tug-of-war game, and that is what we're trying to raise awareness to.
05:32As the pressure mounts, as the stress continues,
05:35our air traffic controllers are thinking about how to, you know, have a side job
05:40instead of about safety, instead of about the American flying public.
05:44We're going to have to slow it down.
05:45As these people cannot focus on their job, that makes it less safe.
05:48The union says many controllers are picking up gig work just to pay their bills.
05:54Others say they're forced to choose between medication and rent.
05:58We have to figure out what we're going to do with what little money we may have left in savings,
06:02or how are we going to figure out are we going to get more money coming in?
06:06Are we going to start driving Uber? Are we going to start doing maybe DoorDash?
06:08Figure some other kind of way to generate income while still going to our jobs in air traffic control facilities
06:15and doing the work in aviation safety professions across the country without getting paid.
06:19More than one million military and federal employees could miss out on pay again this Friday
06:24as the stalemate in Washington drags on, and the pressure rises far above the runways.
06:29On Tuesday, the Senate, for the 13th time, failed to pass the House bill
06:34that would fund government operations through November 21st.
06:38Republicans were again six votes short of the 60 necessary.
06:41As construction continues on a new $300 million Grand Ballroom at the White House,
06:47the Trump administration has fired all six members of the Commission of Fine Arts,
06:52the board that oversees federal design and construction projects in Washington.
06:56In an email to media outlets, the White House says it is preparing to appoint a new slate of members
07:01that are more aligned with President Trump's America First policies.
07:05All six members who were dismissed had been appointed by President Biden.
07:09The Commission's role is to advise the President and Congress on, quote,
07:13matters of design and aesthetics, ensuring new projects reflect and preserve the dignity of the nation's capital.
07:20In addition to the Ballroom Project, which involves gutting parts of the East Wing to make room,
07:25Trump has now announced plans to build an arch along the Potomac River.
07:29According to CBS News, there is precedent.
07:32Back in 1947, President Harry Truman fired members of the same commission
07:37after they opposed his plan to add a balcony to the White House's South Portico.
07:42Finally this morning, a remarkable find on a beach in Australia.
07:47Volunteers cleaning up trash stumbled on a message in a bottle that turned out to be a century-old capsule,
07:53wow, written by two Australian soldiers during World War I.
07:57Listen to this.
07:59A family discovered the Schweppes brand bottle in early October on Wharton Beach in Western Australia.
08:04There it is right there.
08:06Inside, two handwritten notes from Private Malcolm Neville, age 27, and William Harley, age 37,
08:13both sailing from Adelaide in 1916 to join the fighting on Europe's Western Front.
08:19Neville's note addressed to his mother read,
08:21Having a real good time. Food is real good so far, with the exception of one meal, which we buried at sea.
08:28Harley wrote that they were somewhere at sea and that he hopes the finder will be as well as we are present.
08:34Despite being soaked, the paper was still legible more than 100 years later.
08:39Harley's granddaughter called the discovery stunning and a miracle.
08:42Now, as I read this story this morning, I began humming the 1970s song, you know, the one from the police?
08:48I hope that someone gets my, I hope that someone gets my message in the bottle.
08:55Doon, doon, doon, doon, doon, doon, doon.
08:57And it goes on and on.
08:59In this case, they actually did get the message in the bottle.
09:02How cool is that? Amazing.
09:04All right, before we head out this morning, here's what we're tracking today.
09:07In Minneapolis, the Metropolitan Airports Commission teams up with local charities
09:11to hand out food to federal employees affected by the shutdown.
09:15The same hour in Vermont, lawmakers hold a presser to lay out how they will keep food and heat flowing
09:21to residents cut off by federal aid freezes.
09:24Tonight in Mississippi, Vice President J.D. Vance and Erica Kirk,
09:28the widow of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, speak at a Turning Point USA event.
09:33And late tonight in South Korea, President Trump may hold a sideline meeting with China's President Xi.
09:39We appreciate you spending part of your day with us here on Unbiased Updates,
09:43the fastest, fairest, eight minutes of news.
09:46Watch or listen anytime on the S.A.N. app or at S.A.N. dot com slash unbiased updates.
09:51You can also stream us on Spotify.
09:53Those are your unbiased updates for this Wednesday.
09:56We'll see you back here tomorrow.
09:57For all of us here at Straight Arrow News, I'm Craig DiGrelli.
Be the first to comment