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Hurricane Melissa Headed For Cuba After Devastating Jamaica; Donald Trump Meets With South Korean President Lee Jae Myung On Asia Tour; Israel Strikes Gaza, Accuses Hamas Of Violating Ceasefire; 14 Killed As Four Alleged Drug Boats Bombed In Pacific Ocean; GOP Leader Defends White House Refusal to Tap Emergency Fund for Food Aid; GOP Senator Raises Alarm Over Federal Food Aid Running Out; Air Traffic Controllers Miss First Paycheck During Shutdown; Trump Fires Members of Federal Agency Which Advises on Design; Hurricane Melissa to Make Landfall in Eastern Cuba Soon; Jamaica Devastated by Its Strongest- ever Hurricane; High Tides Push Homes in North Carolina Into the Ocean; Bill Gates Says Refocus Resources Away From Climate Change; In MLB World Series, Blue Jays Claim Game 4 Against Dodgers, Tying Series 2-2; Countdown Continues to Next Year's Winter Olympics, 100-day Milestone is on Wednesday as Italy Enters Final Stretch of Preparations. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired October 29, 2025 - 02:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:00:54]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Rose. Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world, and to everyone streaming us on CNN Max, I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead, the second strongest hurricane in Atlantic history is battering Cuba with powerful winds and rain after unleashing on Jamaica.

President Trump meets with South Korea's president and receives a lavish gift on the final stop of his swing through Asia.

And later, a sneak peek at Italy's preparations for the 2026 Winter Olympics.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Good to have you with us. Well, Hurricane Melissa, one of the strongest storms ever recorded in the Atlantic will soon be making landfall in Cuba, just hours after devastating Jamaica.

The Category 5 hurricane was the most powerful on record to smash into the island nation. In all, some areas, we'll see as much as 30 inches of rain, almost a meters worth over just a couple of days.

Hundreds of thousands of people lost power after the storm made its initial landfall Tuesday afternoon. Jamaica's top officials have given an early assessment of the damage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DESMOND MCKENZIE, JAMAICAN MINISTER FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT: Jamaica has gone through what I can call one of its worst period. Our infrastructure has been severely compromised. Saint Elizabeth is the bread basket of the country, and that has taken a beating. The entire Jamaica has felt the brunt of Melissa.

RICHARD THOMPSON, ACTING DIRECTOR GENERAL, ODPEM: To ensure that whenever we are getting in supplies coming into country, and we know that we will have a lot of commitment coming from overseas. We will have enough hands on board and a very well put together plan to ensure that when supplies are in country, that they are not backing up on the ports.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Melissa is now at Category 3 strength as it approaches eastern Cuba. The U.S. National Hurricane Center is warning people to seek shelter immediately, with conditions expected to deteriorate rapidly.

And CNN's Patrick Oppmann is in Cuba with more on some of the early impacts from Melissa.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, we have these periods of torrential rains, and then these pauses where you think maybe the worst is begun to go by us, and then it kicks off all over again, even stronger.

So, right now where we are, the city of Santiago de Cuba, the entire city is on blackout. We only are able to transmit because we brought a generator with us. But about half a million people here are blackout, and throughout the eastern end of Cuba, the power has been entirely knocked out, so people are at their homes. They're in the dark. They're not able to know the latest, able to see what is happening.

And of course, you hear these loud bangs, and there's real concern that this storm, as the winds kick up, can pick up debris, and that debris essentially becomes shrapnel.

So, police have come by with loudspeakers telling everyone to stay in their house, that there is a curfew going on right now until first light in the morning. And that is really the best thing that people can be doing, because with these heavy rains, with the potential for a flash flood, this is the most dangerous time right now, because if there is any kind of incident, if anyone is injured, help is simply not coming, at least not until the sun comes up and people are able to begin to take in the damage that this terrifying hurricane has caused here.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And now to CNN Meteorologist Chris Warren with a look at the storm's impacts in Jamaica.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS WARREN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hurricane Melissa, an absolute beast at landfall, making landfall at 1:00 in the afternoon, near New Hope, Jamaica at 185 miles an hour, a Category 5 hurricane, one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes in the Atlantic Basin on record.

[02:05:07]

In fact, this was also the strongest landfalling hurricane in Jamaica and one of the strongest landfalling hurricanes in the Atlantic Basin.

It was the strongest, I should say, in Jamaica, with that making landfall near New Hope, bringing a lot of the sea water, making it look like some of these towns, like the shoreline had gone inland a bit as rain water was draining out of the hills and out of the mountains here in Jamaica, and then it moved across, and we still don't have the full scope of what happened here in Montego Bay, but the surge and the wind and the rain very, very tough time there.

Now, we'll continue to watch Melissa as it rakes across Cuba and then into the Bahamas and then eventually out to the Atlantic. The amount of rainfall still a huge concern here in Cuba and the Bahamas. You could see tropical storm conditions in the Turks and Caicos.

Also, while it will be way away from the United States, it will be close enough to help generate some waves, and with that, we've seen it time and time again, the threat for dangerous and life threatening rip currents.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And joining us on the line now from Jamaica is Kingston Resident Mateo Piber, thank you so much for talking with us at this very difficult time for you.

MATEO PIBER, KINGSTON RESIDENT: Yes, no worries. Thankfully, my generator is working, so I was able to join you guys today.

CHURCH: We really appreciate that. And I did want to ask you how you and your family are dealing with all this now that the worst of this powerful storm has passed, at least?

PIBER: Yes, we were relieved. It was a big relief that the storm finally left, because throughout the day, we were quite nervous.

Thankfully, Kingston was spared the brunt of the -- of the force. You know, we did see some effects. For example, my fence flew off, and we had to go out to cure it down.

But thankfully, we are -- we are very blessed to the fact that we were spared about the storm, and that we are in a safe place to shelter.

CHURCH: And Mateo, tell us -- tell us how you and your family got through the worst part of this hurricane when it hit. PIBER: Well, so for us in Kingston, the worst area was around between 10:00 to about 3:00 p.m. give or take, and we received a lot of wind. That was the worst part of it.

And the sheer from inside, it was howling. Basically howling inside the house, and you could hear things start to fly off.

For example, my neighbor has this glass fence that started coming loose, and it was quite frightening, because we were afraid the flies off would come and hit our house. But thankfully, that did not happen. And the fact is that, again, we are very blessed.

So many people in Jamaica that don't have that, the blessing of having a good shelter and a you know, good generator.

CHURCH: So, the structure of your house was able to withstand the power of this hurricane?

PIBER: Yes, it was. We are in a very well-built house. And again, I'm really, really counting my blessings for that, because I can't imagine the pain and the people went through Montego Bay and other areas.

CHURCH: Yes, that is such a relief for you and your family. And Mateo, what supplies do you have in terms of food and clean water to get you through the next few days, perhaps even weeks ahead?

PIBER: Yes, so we have food and water, at least for the next days, at least four to five days, we cook food in case our -- we run out of fuel for the generator. But our main concern has been to make sure that we have enough water to have cooked food, because our stove is electric.

So, once our generator runs out of electricity, we won't be able to cook food. So that was a concern, but so far, we have food and supplies the next couple days.

CHURCH: And Mateo, do you have any sense of the devastation in your neighborhood, and have you had an opportunity to contact other family members and friends to check how they're all doing?

PIBER: Yes. So, we haven't been able to have a full scope of the damage in our neighborhood, because we haven't gone outside, but we have gone in contact with -- we are -- our family person that are not locals, but we've gone in touch with some families from here.

And for example, one of my mom's colleagues, we hadn't able to get in touch with his sister or another one of my mom's colleagues for whose roof flew off in the storm. Devastation in those areas is immense.

[02:10:13]

And as you guys probably seen, Kingston was, I wouldn't say, spared, but it received a lighter end of the Melissa stick.

CHURCH: And Mateo, what was your main concern as this hurricane roared through your neighborhood, and what is your worry now, as you look at what may lie ahead?

PIBER: During the storm, our main concern is that we have this fence next to our property, which began to fly off.

So, in an act of like really, community bravery, went outside and secured it down to the -- to the floor, and it was a whole community.

So, the neighborhood next to our neighborhood provided ropes, and it was good to see that. And we were a good, strong community.

But also, that was our main concern, the wind. The wind was really powerful as do the rain. It was coming. We were flooded, but nothing I would -- I would say extreme.

And looking towards the future, we are concerned about electricity. Electricity is a main concern because, luckily, we have a generator with fuel to last a couple days, but many people don't, and we don't know when service will be restored, so that's our main concern looking forward, and especially the infrastructure damage. Another one.

CHURCH: I know that you're going to have some difficult days ahead, but we are relieved and happy for you and your family that you were able to get through this. Your house has remained structurally sound throughout this and we hope you take care and stay safe in the days and weeks ahead.

Thank you, Mateo Piber for talking with us. We appreciate it.

PIBER: No worries. Thank you.

CHURCH: And to find out ways that you can help those impacted by Hurricane Melissa, you can go to CNN.com/Impact.

Well, the U.S. president is in South Korea this hour, meeting with President Lee Jae Myung. Just minutes ago, Donald Trump was presented with one of the country's highest honors, usually reserved for South Korean presidents. They also received a lavish gift, a replica of an ancient crown. President Trump addressed leaders at the APEC CEO summit earlier, noting he'd made, "Groundbreaking agreements while visiting Malaysia and Japan." He says a deal with South Korea will be finalized very soon.

So, let's go live now to CNN's Will Ripley, who is in Seoul. Good to see you, Will. So, tell us more about the crown and medal presented to the U.S. president coming at an interesting time for the No Kings protesters back here in the United States, and what came out of his meeting with South Korea's new leader.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is one of those situations Rosemary, where a picture really is worth a thousand words, because this is the playbook that here in South Korea and Japan, countries around the world are using when they deal with President Trump, its flattery, its praise, its awards, and in the case of what we saw just minutes ago, an enormous gold plated crown, a replica of a crown that was worn by the kings of the Silla Dynasty in the region of South Korea to the south, where President Trump is right now. They have the real one on display at the National Museum, but this crown is the same size. It's got the gold, it's got the adornments of trees and birds and symbols of absolute power and wisdom, and it's right up President Trump's alley.

He also received, as you mentioned, South Korea's highest honor. So, he has -- so he's leaving with a medal. He's leaving with a crown. What he might not be leaving with is assigned a trade deal just yet, because there's still a lot of distance between the U.S. and South Korea about how to get over what President Trump's asking for, which is $350 billion in upfront cash investment in exchange for a lower 15 percent tariff. It was something that South Korea agreed to in principle.

But President Trump wants the cash up front, Rosemary. But if South Korea were to just give them that much cash, it would actually plunge their country into a financial crisis. The president said, when I interviewed him earlier this week, he said he hopes that the two of them can come to a rational solution, but that could take some time.

CHURCH: And we'll see what happens with that of course. Also, Will, what is expected to come out of the highly anticipated summit on Thursday between President Trump and China's President Xi Jinping.

RIPLEY: Yes, this is a very interesting meeting happening on the sidelines of the APEC Economic Summit. Obviously, the U.S. and China need to finalize a trade deal. The world is watching with bated breath, will be able to do it here in South Korea. That is unclear, even though both sides have indicated publicly that they're getting closer to a deal.

One of the key sticking points, and one of the things that China has been using, giving them quite a bit of leverage in these talks, is China's control, essentially, of the supply of rare earth minerals that are used to produce the semiconductors, the microchips that power all of our global tech.

[02:15:09]

President Trump's been trying to secure deals with allies here in the region to-- you know, in over the next coming years to try to produce more rare earths outside of China, but that's something that experts say is going to take many years from now.

So, for the moment, China has a lot of leverage going into this, and is expected to play their cards. We'll see how it goes with President Trump and Xi Jinping.

CHURCH: And Will, North Korea test launched sea to surface cruise missiles off its western coast on Tuesday, that's according to state media, a day before President Trump was set to begin his visit to South Korea. Or what are you learning about that?

RIPLEY: So, actually, President Trump just spoke moments ago, just a few minutes ago, about the fact that this meeting that people have been talking about a possible meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is just not going to happen this time. Listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I now Kim Jong Un, very well. We get along very well. We really weren't able to work out timing, we have --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY: So, yes, he was going on to say that he has meetings with President Xi, and that he'd love to meet with Kim. He's been saying, repeatedly, making public overtures, that he'd like to get together with Kim Jong Un while he's here in the region. He was even saying he'd be willing to extend his trip.

But the North Koreans, according to my contacts here, just have not responded. So, clearly for them, now is not the right time. Obviously, as we've talked about a lot, Rosemary, North Korea has really made a pivot towards Russia and Vladimir Putin.

And in fact, their foreign minister flew to Moscow to meet with Putin. That was probably one of the biggest signals that there wasn't going to be anything arranged a leader level meeting right now, even with the timing and President Trump being here in South Korea.

Remember, back in 2019 President Trump posted on social media. He wanted to meet with Kim in a matter of hours, the North Koreans responded, and they were able to pull that meeting together.

But a very different situation this time around, very different global situation at play. All the dynamics have changed, and we're seeing that play out in real time here, Rosemary.

CHURCH: All right, our thanks to Will Ripley bringing us a live report there from Seoul. Appreciate it. Talk to you soon.

Well, Israel claims Hamas is in clear violation of the cease fire. Coming up, the latest on the aftermath across Gaza as Prime Minister Netanyahu orders a wave of renewed airstrikes.

The U.S. carries out its largest one day operation against alleged drug cartel boats so far, we will look at the latest round of military strikes on vessels in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Back with that and more in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:22:01]

CHURCH: Less than three weeks into the Israel-Hamas cease fire and the U.S. broker deal is already looking shaky. Israel is again pounding Gaza with air strikes after accusing Hamas of violating the truce, at least 42 people were killed on Tuesday, according to hospital officials.

Despite this, while speaking with reporters on Air Force One, President Trump said nothing's going to jeopardize the cease fire in the enclave.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Hamas is a very small part of peace in the Middle East, and they have to behave. They're on the rough side. But they said they would be good, and if they're good, they're going to be happy, and if they're not good, they're going to be terminated. Their lives will be terminated. And they understand that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: CNN's Jeremy Diamond is in Jerusalem with the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: The Israeli military launched a wave of airstrikes across Gaza on Tuesday night after the Israeli Prime Minister ordered, "Immediate, powerful strikes" after accusing Hamas of being in, "Clear violation of the cease fire agreement."

We're already getting reports of people who were killed and injured as a result of these strikes inside of Gaza. But in terms of what the specific violations are that the Israeli government is accusing Hamas of, you know, there are several that the Israeli government has pointed to in the last 24 hours or so, the first of which pertains to the kind of slow pace of the release of the remains of deceased hostages held in Gaza. These frustrations have been boiling over for weeks now.

And on Monday, we saw Hamas return what they said was the remains of a deceased Israeli hostage. But upon DNA verification by the Israeli side, the Israeli government said that this was not one of the remains of the 13 deceased Israeli hostages still unaccounted for inside of Gaza.

Instead, they said that this was another piece of the remains of a deceased hostage whose body was recovered in Gaza in late 2023 by Israeli forces.

In addition to that, the Israeli military also released this new drone video, which appears to show Hamas staging the recovery of the body of a deceased hostage inside of Gaza.

You can see as this white shroud is brought to the middle of this dug up area. It's then covered up with dirt, once again, by several mass Hamas militants.

The body is then uncovered as if for the first time, and this actually happens twice in the course of this drone video that the Israeli military released, where you can even see Red Cross officials, three of them, watching the second seeming recovery of this body unfold.

Now, the Israeli military says that this is evidence of what they have been accusing Hamas of for weeks now, pretending to search for the bodies of Israeli hostages, while in fact, having some of those remains already in their possession.

[02:25:05]

The Red Cross, for its part, saying it is, "Unacceptable that a fake recovery was staged, and calling on all parties to abide by this cease fire agreement."

But there is another alleged Hamas violation that Israeli officials are also pointing to, as Israel carried out these strikes in Gaza, and that is an exchange of fire that took place on Tuesday between Israeli forces and Hamas militants in southern Gaza, in the area of the city of Rafah.

An Israeli military official telling me that Hamas militants opened fire on Israeli troops using an RPG as well as sniper fire, and Hamas, for its part, says that they were not responsible for this. It's not the first time that we've seen them distance themselves from the actions of Palestinian militants in the southern part of Gaza. It is also not the first time that we've seen Israel carry out strikes in response for all of that.

Last time that happened, about a week and a half into this cease fire, Israel carried out a wave of strikes. It was a very fragile moment for this cease fire, but it didn't collapse altogether.

Israel has informed the United States they was preparing to carry out these strikes. And now the question of course, is how limited will these strikes be, and whether or not it will lead to a collapse of the cease fire altogether.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: To Brazil now, where at least 64 people were killed in a massive police raid targeting organized crime. Huge columns of smoke were seen rising from a lower income neighborhood north of Rio. Police say gang members targeted them with a drone.

Burnt out cars were being used as barriers. At least four police officers were killed in the operation. Officials say 81 people were arrested.

The city is scheduled to host a major global climate conference next week, so locals suspect this is connected to cleaning up the neighborhood for that event.

The U.S. military has carried out more deadly strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats, this time in the eastern Pacific Ocean.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says, U.S. forces hit four boats in three strikes, the largest one day operation in the campaign against alleged drug cartels. CNN's Zachary Cohen has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ZACHARY COHEN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: U.S. military conducting three strikes against four boats in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Monday, killing what defense secretary Pete Hegseth called 14, "Narco terrorists."

Now, Hegseth, like in the dozen or so strikes before this, not providing any evidence to back up that claim that these were indeed drug traffickers who posed an imminent threat to the United States, that is the legal justification that the Trump administration has relied upon to validate its ongoing military operation in Latin America.

And look, there was also a survivor of this -- of these military strikes, according to Hegseth, one whose status remains unclear at this stage. Hegseth says Mexican authorities have the lead on the search and rescue operation for this individual, the Mexican president saying that the Mexican Navy is in fact, searching a very wide area for any possible survivors.

But again, look, the status of this person unclear at this stage, and there were previous survivors earlier in a strike last week where these two individuals were briefly detained by the U.S. Navy before they were summarily repatriated back to their home countries of Ecuador and Colombia, respectively.

And look, the legal questions will continue to mount about this ongoing military operation in Latin America, the Trump administration facing questions from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, as they have not provided yet this classified legal opinion that CNN reported was produced to justify these military strikes.

And there are concerns, too, that the U.S. may be considering expanding this operation to potentially include strikes on land, against or in Venezuela. Donald Trump himself has alluded to that possibility and additional U.S. military assets are being moved into the region, raising even more questions the USS Gerald Ford, a U.S. aircraft carrier making its way towards Latin America as we speak.

And so, look, the questions will continue to swirl around this military campaign and the legal justification for it so far today. 57 individuals have been killed in these U.S. military strikes, 14 votes destroyed, three survivors total in more than a dozen now U.S. military strikes in both the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, as the Trump administration appears to be accelerating its military operation in this region.

Zachary Cohen, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Senate Majority Leader John Thune is defending the White House's refusal to dip into a $5 billion emergency fund to cover Federal Food Aid costs beyond this week.

[02:30:00] Vice President, J.D. Vance says the Trump administration is trying to keep as much open as possible, but that there is just not enough money to pay for everything. Some lawmakers want to vote to allow specific federal workers like air traffic controllers to be paid. Thune says that's not the solution.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN THUNE, (R-SD) MAJORITY LEADER OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE: I mean, this piecemeal approach where you do one-off here, one-off there, to make it seem more politically palatable to somebody or less painful. That's just a -- that is a -- it's just the wrong way to do this. There's just a simple way to do it, is to pick up the bill on the desk of the Senate and give us five more Democrat votes to pass it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Democrats are refusing to make a deal without a renewed commitment to healthcare subsidies, and they're pointing their fingers right back across the aisle.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES, (D) MINORITY LEADER OF THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: We want to reopen the government. Republicans in the House have been on vacation now for five consecutive weeks. They've canceled votes for five consecutive weeks. This is extraordinary. If we reached an agreement, they wouldn't even be here to pass one. We will not support a partisan Republican spending bill that guts the healthcare of the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Republican Senator Josh Hawley is raising the alarm about federal food aid running out for some 40 million Americans as the shutdown drags on. Hawley is leading a bipartisan bill that would ensure benefits continue for the food nutrition program known as SNAP.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOSH HAWLEY, (R-MO): I think it shows you that for a lot of people in this building, this is sort of a game. It's like, oh, who's ahead? Who's behind? As if it's a horse race, it's not a horse race. 42 million people are about to go without food, including a lot of children. In my state, it's 650,000 people. I mean, that's extraordinary. It's 12 percent of the American population, and that's before we even get to people like the military, who are not going to get paid. Air traffic controllers who are now no longer getting paid, I mean, they've got families too.

All of these people should be paid. So, and this is ridiculous. Listen, this is Congress' fault, not his fault. This is Congress' fault. So we -- when it comes to SNAP, the only solution here is we need to appropriate the money.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: For the first time since the U.S. government shut shutdown started 29 days ago, air traffic controllers are not getting paid. CNN obtained an air traffic controllers' paystub that shows in the top- right corner that net pay is $0. The head of the FAA sent out an email today, on Tuesday rather, thanking workers for doing their jobs. And he warned that air travel delays could increase, but said safety would not be compromised.

U.S. Transportation Secretary, Sean Duffy, also thanked those workers and acknowledged the stress caused by the shutdown. Here's what one air traffic controller told CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE LEFEVRE, AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: My colleagues and I, we just don't know how long this is going to go. So right now, when you don't know when your next check is going to come, you have to make tough choices. You have to make sure that you can provide for the essentials, babysitting, gas, that type of thing. But, there's not an indefinite stream of savings and it's tough. It's tough. You just don't know when the next check is coming.

SEAN DUFFY, U.S. TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: I've been clear to our air traffic controllers, they need to show up for work. They do really important work for our country and they need to show up. But, I'm not going to lie to anybody to not say that they're not feeling the stress. The fact that they are working and oftentimes they are ahead of households. They're the only income earners in their homes, and they have families, and the fact that they're having a hard time paying their bills.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Donald Trump has fired all six members of the Commission on Fine Arts according to a source familiar with the matter. The independent federal agency advises the president, Congress, and the city of Washington, D.C. on design aesthetics. The firings come as Trump oversees a massive overhaul of the East Wing of the White House. He's planning to replace it with a 90,000-square foot ballroom, which will cost about $300 million.

The president is also planning to build a major new arch to commemorate the country's 250th anniversary. All the members of the federal agency were appointed by former President Joe Biden.

Well, we are tracking Hurricane Melissa as it barrels toward Cuba. The powerful storm is already knocking out power and bringing life- threatening flooding and heavy rain. Details on the expected landfall, that's next. Plus, Bill Gates calls for a shift away from the fight against climate change. We will break down his thoughts on why resources will be better used elsewhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:39:40] CHURCH: Right now, Cuba is bracing for the full impact of Hurricane Melissa. The powerful storm is now at Category 3 strength and it's landfall in eastern Cuba should happen pretty soon. More than 700,000 people have been evacuated. The storm has already knocked out power in many areas and life-threatening flash floods and mudslides are expected.

[02:40:00]

Melissa's initial landfall on Tuesday was in Jamaica where the prime minister has declared a disaster. There are concerns about shortages of food, water, and other crucial supplies. More than half a million customers are without power there and roughly 15,000 people are in emergency shelters.

President Donald Trump says the U.S. is prepared to help Jamaica in its recovery. Melissa is responsible for at least seven deaths throughout the Caribbean. And we will of course continue to track the storm as it moves through the region. CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam filed this report from Kingston, Jamaica as heavy rain and wind pounded the island.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Kingston, Jamaica was spared the catastrophic winds from the fury of Category 5 Hurricane Melissa. But as you can clearly see, we are not out of the woods just yet. The wind and the rain is pummeling the nation's capital as we speak, and it will likely do so all night. There are places in western Jamaica, even the country as a whole, that will have experienced hurricane-force winds for a duration of 24 hours or longer. Can you imagine the impacts on the infrastructure, the losses of communication, the power losses, not to mention the potential loss of human life, agriculture, also livestock.

The area where this hurricane made landfall was in the bread basket of Jamaica. So without that agriculture, what does this country do next? It is going to be a gargantuan humanitarian effort to get the aid to the hardest hit areas in western Jamaica where this storm made landfall. In the meantime, I want to show you around, look at the wind bending the trees. The storm is over 200 miles from my location. It just gives you an idea of how large the windfield is with this hurricane as it's got its eyes set on Cuba.

I'm CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam from Kingston, Jamaica.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And high tides from Hurricane Melissa pushed this house in North Carolina into the ocean. It wasn't the only home to fall, officials report at least five unoccupied homes collapsed Tuesday in Buxton. The National Park Service is warning visitors that part of the beach is closed due to damage caused by coastal storm impacts. The last hurricane generated tides to send Buxton homes falling into the Atlantic happened on September 30th. Well, tech mogul and philanthropist, Bill Gates says resources used to fight climate change should be shifted away from that issue and used to combat other major global problems. It's a stunning claim given the current state of the climate crisis. CNN's Chief Climate Correspondent Bill Weir has details.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Two major stories in the climate space today, one natural, one man made, both getting a lot of attention. First of course, Hurricane Melissa barreling into Jamaica, tied for the second most powerful Atlantic hurricane, 185 mile an hour winds there. It's slow moving, carries a lot of moisture, so your heart goes out to mountain communities dealing with the deluge of months worth of rain in just hours, landslides as well as the storm surge. We should be getting much more picture, clearer picture of the cost of this storm in terms of lives and property lost in Jamaica and then headed towards Cuba, there as well.

And of course, rapid intensification is a result of an overheating planet. A recent study looked at hurricanes, 830 of them in the Atlantic in the '70s and '80s. There was about a 3 percent chance they could rapidly intensify from a Category 1 to a monster Category 4 or Category 5. In the last 20 years, it's about eight percent of these storms, so it's doubled in that time, not more hurricanes, but the ones that do happen, odds of becoming big and close to landfall. 85- degree Fahrenheit temperatures in the Caribbean right now. That's a couple degrees above normal, and so every degree above means 10 percent more force and a lot more damage.

The other big story, Bill Gates, a legendary philanthropist in the climate space, of course, in the global health space, putting out a 5,000-page memo basically extolling his fellow billionaire class and investors to focus less on the existential threat of climate change and more on poverty and global health. He is still invested in clean technologies. He scaled back his lobbying arms on a lot of this since the Trump administration.

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And it is keeping with a lot of folks changing the narrative under this intense pressure from the Trump White House and all-out war on climate science and renewable energy efforts around the country. So you've seen a lot of investing class or even non-profits, changing the language on their website around climate as not to upset those deniers in Washington in power. But there's a lot more context here.

Bill Gates, of course, poured billions into saving the lives of babies in developing countries. The cuts of USAID were devastating in that space. So much of this could be motivated by that. But of course, climate deniers will use this against the movement, saying it's a shifting narrative and maybe it's not as big of an emergency as you said it was years ago. With the abundance agenda and the Democrat Party, there's a lot more talk about cheaper, better, faster technologies to replace fossil fuels than talk of starving polar bears or ecosystem collapse of days gone by and the urgent needs of global health around the world, Gates seems to be saying, deserves our focus now as we work towards bigger, longer adaptation, mitigation issues around climate change.

Still very controversial given his (inaudible) weight in power and money in this space. But sadly, there's no satisfying season finale to the climate change story. There will be no ultimate victory day. It is incremental battles, every 10th of a degree counts, the scientists say. And in these political days, it is harder than ever.

Bill Weir, CNN, New York.

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CHURCH: We are 100 days out from the Winter Olympics. Still to come, a look at the preparations being made in Italy for the elite games and athletes from around the globe. Back in just a month.

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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well, Baseball's World Series is all tied up at two games apiece following a lopsided Game 4, after losing a record-tying 18 inning jewel, the Toronto Blue Jays came back to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers with Shohei Ohtani giving up a two-run homer to Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. Toronto also scored four runs in the seventh inning, going on to win 6-2. Game 5 is Wednesday night in L.A. and there will now be a Game 6 Friday night in Toronto. Here is Blue Jays Manager, John Schneider.

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JOHN SCHNEIDER, TORONTO BLUE JAYS MANAGER: I get that it's easy to write Ohtani versus Guerrero. It's -- to us, it's Toronto versus Los Angeles, but that swing was huge. You know what I mean? That sweeper is a pitch designed to generate pop-ups, in my opinion. And the swing that Vlad put on it was elite.

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CHURCH: Final preparations underway for the 2026 Winter Olympics in northern Italy. 16 games will be spread across eight locations, including Milan where the new Olympic village has been completed. CNN's Antonia Mortensen reports.

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ANTONIA MORTENSEN, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER (voice-over): Countdown to the 25th edition of the Winter Olympics is on. Preparations are in full swing in northern Italy where the games will be spread across eight locations with major hubs in Milan, Cortina, and across the Dolomites. Indoor sports competitions like ice hockey and skating will be held here in Milan while outdoor disciplines will be spread across the mountain resorts.

MORTENSEN: We're about to give you a sneak peek of this Olympic Village where all the athletes competing here in Milan will be staying.

MORTENSEN (voice-over): This newly completed village has 1,000 rooms with 1,700 beds. This development is part of a larger redevelopment project in the Porta Romana area of Milan.

MORTENSEN: There is a real lack of affordable housing here in Milan, and that's because prices have shot up over the last few years. This development has been built with that in mind, so that when the games finish, this will become student housing.

LUCA MANGI, GENERAL MANAGER, COIMA: All of the square is empty because this is a request for (inaudible) Cortina, because they need to have the free space during the Olympic Games. And after, when we complete the Olympic Games, we complete all the external works with the landscaping and the trees.

MORTENSEN: OK, so now we're going to see where the athletes are going to be staying.

MANGI: This is --

MORTENSEN: (Inaudible).

MANGI: -- is the first room. This is a double room.

MORTENSEN: So this is the furniture that the athletes will be sleeping on?

MANGI: Yes, this is -- exactly. Not temporary beds, but final and solid.

MORTENSEN: It's pretty comfortable actually.

MORTENSEN (voice-over): This is one of the first venues to be completed. And after the games, it will become Italy's largest student housing development. Organizers say that the other venues are also on track.

KRISTY COVENTRY, PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE: We were earlier at the ice -- what will be the home of ice hockey and it was really wonderful to see the fast pace and the progression. And now, we're here in this beautiful venue that is making me want to become a winter athlete.

(LAUGH)

COVENTRY: So, the venue, the rooms are beautiful. Even more importantly, the legacy of the venue for student housing, which I know is so important for Milano, it's incredible.

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So we're looking forward to walking back in, in a few months, seeing all the country's flags out the windows.

MORTENSEN (voice-over): The online booking system for students is already open for the 2026-27 academic year, and rent will be significantly below the market average. Organizers hoping that the games will leave a positive legacy on this fast-growing city.

Antonia Mortensen, CNN, Milan.

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CHURCH: And thanks for joining us this hour. I'm Rosemary Church and we'll be back with more "CNN Newsroom" after a short break. Do stay with us.

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