Wednesday morning news: October 29, 2025

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SOUND: [Melissa winds]

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Hurricane Melissa » The sound of violent winds from Hurricane Melissa, which is now pushing into Atlantic waters after carving a path of destruction through the Caribbean.

National Hurricane Center Director Michael Brennan says today:

BRENNAN:  Southeastern and Central Bahamas, Turks and Caicos. Hurricane conditions are likely along with life-threatening storm surge and heavy rainfall, particularly in the southeast Bahamas.

Many residents in Cuba are surveying the devastation after Melissa struck overnight as a major hurricane.

And hours earlier, it slammed southwestern Jamaica as a catastrophic Category 5 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 185 mph.

Minister of Local Government of Jamaica Desmond McKenzie:

MCKENZIE:  Our infrastructure has been severely compromised. The entire Jamaica has felt the brunt of Melissa.

It was the strongest storm to hit the island since recordkeeping began 174 years ago.

And Melissa's winds tied records for the strongest Atlantic storm ever to hit land anywhere.

Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness warned ahead of the storm:

HOLNESS: There is no infrastructure in the region that can withstand a category five. Uh, there is going to be damage if there is a category five.

He said “The question now is the speed of recovery.”

The storm also triggered widespread flooding, both from storm surge and torrential rain.

Jamaican officials on Tuesday said it was too early to speak to the full extent of the damage.

Israel latest » Israel resumed airstrikes on the Gaza Strip Tuesday — killing at least nine people, according to Gaza’s civil defense agency, which is run by Hamas.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his office ordered “immediate and forceful strikes” after Hamas violated the October 10 ceasefire.

Israel says the terror group staged the recovery of remains belonging to hostage Ofir Tzarfati — whose partial remains were already recovered twice before.

Government spokeswoman Shosh Bedrosian says the IDF caught the fake recovery on drone video:

BEDROSIAN: I can confirm to you today that Hamas dug a hole in the ground yesterday, placed the partial remains of Ofir inside of it, covered it back up with dirt and handed it over to the Red Cross.

Bedrosian said the family has now been forced to reopen Tzarfati’s grave for a third time.

An Israeli military official told the Associated Press that Hamas militants also opened fire on Israeli troops in southern Gaza.

U.S. strikes on four cartel boats » The Pentagon says the U.S. military carried out strikes on four more boats in the Pacific Ocean that it says were operated by cartels, running drugs.

The latest strikes killed 14, leaving one survivor.

A Pentagon official reportedly said the strikes were conducted in international waters near South America.

Democrats continue to criticize the strikes as illegal, and a handful of Republicans also say they want more information., including GOP Sen. Rand Paul:

PAUL:  We haven't had a briefing. To be clear, we've got no information. I've been invited to no briefing.

Most Republicans, though, have applauded President Trump for taking the fight to cartels before the drugs reach US soil. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says drugs from South America have flooded American streets.

DESANTIS: [The] presidents doing something about it. Uh, you also have a regime in Venezuela that's been incredibly hostile to the United States. Uh, and I think the way you deal with those folks is through strength.

The president authorized lethal force against cartels abroad after designating them as foreign terrorist organizations.

SNAP benefits lawsuit » A growing number of Democrat-led states are suing the U.S. Department of Agriculture over federal food stamp benefits.

The USDA says funding has run dry, and if the government shutdown continues, food assistance payments will stop on November 1st.

But California Attorney General Rob Bonta asserts:

BONTA:  There are billions of dollars in contingency funds and other funds that could be used to provide SNAP benefits during the shutdown. They're doing this on purpose. It is deliberate it, it is intentional. They have the funds, they're just not using them.

But Agriculture Sec. Brooke Rollins says … not so.

ROLLINS:  100% unequivocally, USDA does not have the $9.2 billion that it would require. There's not just pots of $9.2 billion sitting around.

Shutdown funding vote » Meantime, there was yet another vote on the Senate floor Tuesday on a funding bill that would restore and temporarily extend the funding that was already in place before the shutdown.

But the 13th time was not the charm.

AUDIO:  On this vote, the yeas are 54, the nays of 45, three-fifths of the Senate not having voted in the affirmative, the motion is not agreed to.

Nothing has changed. Democrats say they won’t approve funding to reopen the government until Republicans agree to extend Obamacare tax credits. And Republicans say they’re open to negotiations, but only after Democrats end the shutdown.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Tuesday renewed his plea for the government to reopen, so air traffic controllers can start getting paid again.

DUFFY:  Oftentimes these guys are, are nameless and they're faceless, uh, but they're the many and women who work in our towers to make sure that our flights are on time, that our flights aren't delayed, and your flights are safe.

Duffy says more than half of all flight delays right now are due to staffing shortages, as controllers are being asked to work without a paycheck for now.

Amazon job cuts » Amazon has announced the biggest corporate jobs cut in its history . WORLD’s Benjamin Eicher has more.

BENJAMIN EICHER: The online retail giant is doing away with roughly 14,000 jobs as it leans into artificial intelligence and trims bureaucracy.

Amazon executive Beth Galetti says the company is eliminating 4% of its white-collar workforce.

The roles affected include HR, devices, advertising and cloud divisions.

CEO Andy Jassy had already warned in June that generative A-I would reshape the workforce.

A larger wave of up to 30,000 cuts is reportedly underway as Amazon seeks to streamline operationsand invest heavily in its future-tech infrastructure.

For WORLD, I’m Benjamin Eicher.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: Washington Wednesday with Hunter Baker. Plus, the success story of bringing an endangered species back from the brink.

This is The World and Everything in It.

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