Melissa leaves

mass destruction

SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Cuba (AP) — Hurricane Melissa has left a trail of destruction across Cuba, Haiti and Jamaica.

The storm made landfall Tuesday in Jamaica as a Category 5 hurricane, with winds reaching 185 miles per hour. Officials say at least 25 people have died across Haiti. I

n Cuba, officials report collapsed houses and blocked roads, with 735,000 people in shelters. Jamaica faces widespread power outages and communication blackouts. The U.S. is sending rescue teams to assist.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel warns of significant damage, urging people not to underestimate the storm’s power. Forecasters expected Melissa to bring dangerous winds, flooding and storm surge to the Bahamas on Wednesday night.

US will share

technology

GYEONGJU, South Korea (AP) — The United States will share closely held technology to allow South Korea to build a nuclear-powered submarine, President Donald Trump said on social media Thursday after meeting with the country’s president.

President Lee Jae Myung stressed to Trump in their Wednesday meeting that the goal was to modernize the alliance with the U.S., noting plans to increase military spending to reduce the financial burden on America.

The South Korean leader said there might have been a misunderstanding when they last spoke in August about nuclear-powered submarines, saying that his government was looking for nuclear fuel rather than weapons.

Lee said that if South Korea was equipped with nuclear-powered submarines, that it could help U.S. activities in the region.

Trump defends

Israel’s actions

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s intense bombardment of the Gaza Strip this week marked the most serious challenge yet for a fragile, U.S.-brokered ceasefire. Gaza health officials said over 100 Palestinians were killed, including dozens of civilians. Israel said one of its soldiers was killed in an attack that helped prompt the fierce Israeli strikes. But by early Wednesday, the ceasefire had been restored almost as quickly as it had unraveled.

President Donald Trump defended Israel’s actions but also made it clear that the U.S. expects the broader ceasefire to hold. The chain of events underscored the fragility of the truce between Israel and Hamas after two years of war, but also showed how intent the U.S. is on keeping it going.

Greenpeace

to pay $345M

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A North Dakota judge has ordered Greenpeace to pay damages of $345 million, reducing an earlier jury award after it found the environmental group and others liable for defamation and other claims brought by a pipeline company in connections with protests of an oil pipeline nearly a decade ago.

The lawsuit in state court reaches back nearly a decade ago to protests against the Dakota Access oil pipeline. Dallas-based Energy Transfer and subsidiary Dakota Access sued Greenpeace USA, Greenpeace International and Greenpeace Fund Inc. in 2019, alleging a scheme to stop the pipeline.

Earlier this year a nine-person jury sided with the pipeline company and awarded hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.