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.
00:23The stories that matter, clear and credible, from across the country to around the world.
00:31These 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.
00:55The National Hurricane Center says Melissa, packing blinding rain and torrents of floodwaters,
01:00is moving over eastern Cuba this morning and expected to cross the southeastern and central Bahamas later today,
01:06then 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,
01:33but it will rebuild and do so even better than before.
01:37President Trump on Wednesday said his administration is prepared to send humanitarian aid to Jamaica.
01:42Melissa 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,
01:58ahead of this year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC Summit.
02:03During a keynote address at an APEC luncheon, Trump said the world is entering a new era of trade,
02:08one 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,
02:18the 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.
02:27Trump was also presented with a replica of a golden crown, a 1,500-year-old royal artifact,
02:33considered 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
02:45Trump's demand that South Korea invest $350 billion in the United States.
02:51But 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.
02:59And I think we're going to have a great meeting with President Xi of China, and a lot of problems are going to be solved.
03:07Yeah, I'm 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
03:24and 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 in 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.
04:12The 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 just missed their first full paycheck.
04:46United, Delta and JetBlue are now feeding those workers, donating meals at hubs nationwide,
04:51as 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 there'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 instead of about safety,
05:42instead of about the American flying public.
05:44We're going to have to slow it down, as these people cannot focus on their job.
05:47That makes it less safe.
05:49The union says many controllers are picking up gig work just to pay their bills.
05:53Others 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.
06:30On 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,
06:46the 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.
07:54Written by two Australian soldiers during World War I.
07:58Listen 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,
08:22Having a real good time.
08:23Food 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,
08:30and 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.
08:54It's all, dun-dun-dun, dun-dun-dun-dun, and it goes on and on.
08:58In this case, they actually did get the message in the bottle.
09:02How cool is that?
09:03Amazing.
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
09:19how they will keep food and heat flowing to 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,
09:36President Trump may hold a sideline meeting with China's President Xi.
09:40We appreciate you spending part of your day with us here on Unbiased Updates,
09:43the fastest, fairest, eight minutes of news.
09:45Watch 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.
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