China hails coming of ‘multipolar world’ in veiled jab at Trump’s trade wars
China hails coming of ‘multipolar world’ in veiled jab at Trump’s trade wars/node/2620378/world
China hails coming of ‘multipolar world’ in veiled jab at Trump’s trade wars
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi delivers his speech at the opening ceremony of the Lanting Forum in Beijing, China, on October 27, 2025. (REUTERS)
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China hails coming of ‘multipolar world’ in veiled jab at Trump’s trade wars
FM Wang Yiurged an end to politicizing economic issues“ and ”resorting to trade wars and tariff battles”
He spoke at a forumin Beijing on Monday, ahead ofkey talks between Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping
Updated 3 sec ago
AFP
BEIJING: China’s foreign minister warned on Monday that a “multipolar world is coming,” a veiled jab at Washington ahead of key talks between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping.
Global markets are watching closely to see if Thursday’s planned meeting between the two presidents can halt a trade war sparked by the sweeping tariffs Trump announced after returning to office this year.
Speaking at a forum in Beijing on Monday, Wang Yi urged “an end to politicizing economic and trade issues, artificially fragmenting global markets, and resorting to trade wars and tariff battles.”
“Frequently withdrawing from agreements and reneging on commitments, while enthusiastically forming blocs and cliques, has subjected multilateralism to unprecedented challenges,” Wang said, without naming specific countries.
“The tide of history cannot be reversed and a multipolar world is coming,” Wang said.
Trump began a tour of Asia on Sunday, which is set to culminate in a meeting with Xi in South Korea — the first face-to-face talks between the two leaders since the US president began his second term in January.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng have already held two days of trade talks, seeking an agreement to avoid additional 100 percent tariffs due to come into effect on November 1.
China’s vice commerce minister, Li Chenggang, said a “preliminary consensus” had been reached.
Bessent told ABC that the extra tariffs had effectively been averted, and signalled a deal on rare earths and American soybean exports had been reached.
Russia faces a shrinking and aging population and tries restrictive laws to combat it
Russia’s population has fallen from 147.6 million in 1990 — the year before the USSR collapsed — to 146.1 million this year
Since the 2015 peak, the number of births has fallen annually, and deaths are now outpacing births
“You’ve got a much-diminished pool of potential fathers in a diminished pool of potential mothers,” says analyst
Updated 27 October 2025
AP
For a quarter century, President Vladimir Putin has faced the specter of Russia’s shrinking and aging population.
In 1999, a year before he came to power, the number of babies born in Russia plunged to its lowest recorded level. In 2005, Putin said the demographic woes needed to be resolved by maintaining “social and economic stability.”
In 2019, he said the problem still “haunted” the country.
As recently as Thursday, he told a Kremlin demographic conference that increasing births was “crucial” for Russia.
Putin has launched initiatives to encourage people to have more children — from free school meals for large families to awarding Soviet-style “hero-mother” medals to women with 10 or more children.
“Many of our grandmothers and great-grandmothers had seven, eight, and even more children,” Putin said in 2023. “Let’s preserve and revive these wonderful traditions. Having many children and a large family must become the norm.”
A family walks through Red Square in Moscow on Aug. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/File)
At first, births in Russia grew with its economic prosperity, from 1.21 million babies born in 1999 to 1.94 million in 2015.
But those hard-won gains are crumbling against a backdrop of financial uncertainty, the war in Ukraine, an exodus of young men and opposition to immigration.
Russia’s population has fallen from 147.6 million in 1990 — the year before the USSR collapsed — to 146.1 million this year, according to Russia’s Federal Statistics Service. Since the 2014 illegal annexation of Crimea, it has included the peninsula’s population of about 2 million, as well as births and deaths there, in its data.
The population also is significantly older. In 1990, 21.1 percent was 55 or older, government data said. In 2024, that figure was 30 percent.
Since the 2015 peak, the number of births has fallen annually, and deaths are now outpacing births. There were only 1.22 million live births last year — marginally above the 1999 low. Demographer Alexei Raksha reported the number of babies born in Russia in February 2025 was the lowest monthly figure in over two centuries.
Russia is trying new restrictions to halt the backslide and embrace what it calls “traditional family values” with laws banning the promotion of abortion and “child-free ideology” and outlawing all LGBTQ+ activism.
Officials believe such values are “a magic wand” for solving demographic problems, said Russian feminist scholar Sasha Talaver.
In the government’s view, women might be financially independent, but they should be “willing and very excited to take up this additional work of reproduction in the name of patriotism and Russian strength,” she said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, poses for a photo during a visit to the judo club Turbostroitel leading by coach Anatoly Rakhlin when Putin was a boy in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Nov. 27, 2019. (Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)
Harsh demographic history
In Russia, as in much of the West, shrinking births are usually linked with economic turbulence. Young couples in cramped apartments, unable to buy their own homes or who fear for their jobs, usually have less confidence they can afford raising a child.
But Russia is saddled with a harsh demographic history.
About 27 million Soviet citizens died in World War II, diminishing the male population dramatically.
As the country was beginning to recover, the Soviet Union collapsed, and births tumbled again.
The number of Russian women in their 20s and early 30s is small, said Jenny Mathers of the University of Aberystwyth in Wales, leaving authorities “desperate to get as many babies as possible out of this much smaller number of women.”
Although Russia has not said how many troops have been killed in Ukraine, Western estimates have put the dead in the hundreds of thousands. When the war began, many young Russians moved abroad — some for ideological reasons like escaping a crackdown on dissent or to avoid military service.
“You’ve got a much-diminished pool of potential fathers in a diminished pool of potential mothers,” Mathers said. That is a particular problem for Putin, who has long linked population and national security, she said.
Yury, who participated in Russia's military action in Ukraine as a radio operator, visits the Alley of Fame, a burial place for Russian servicemen killed in Ukraine, at a cemetery in the town of Istra in the Moscow region on February 7, 2025. (AFP/File)
Some family-friendly initiatives are popular, like cash certificates for parents that can go toward pensions, education or a subsidized mortgage.
Others are controversial, such as one-time payments of about $1,200 for pregnant teenagers in some regions. Officials say these aim to support vulnerable mothers, but critics say they encourage such pregnancies.
Still other programs seem mostly symbolic. Since 2022, Russia has created state holidays like Family, Love and Fidelity Day in July, and Pregnant Women’s Day -– celebrated on April 7 and Oct. 7.
Last year, Russia’s fertility rate — the average number of children born per woman — was 1.4, state media reported. That’s well below the 2.1 replacement rate for the population, and slightly lower than the US figure of 1.6 released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Discouraging abortion
Some regions have laws making it illegal to “encourage abortions,” while national legislation in 2024 banned the promotion of “child-free propaganda.” The wording in such initiatives is often vague, leaving them open to interpretation, but the change was enough to prompt producers of a reality TV hit “16 and Pregnant” to change the show’s name to “Mommy at 16.”
For many women, the measures make already sensitive conversations even more fraught. A 29-year-old woman who’s decided not to bear children told The Associated Press she sees a gynecologist at a private Moscow clinic, rather than a state one, to avoid intrusive questions.
“Whether I plan to have children, whether I don’t plan to have children — I don’t get asked about that at all,” she said, speaking on condition of anonymity because she feared repercussions. It’s “a completely different story” at state-run clinics, she said.
An increasing number of laws limit access to abortion. While the procedure remains legal and widely available, more private clinics no longer offer abortion services. New legislation has also curbed the sale of abortion-inducing pills, a move that also affects some emergency contraceptives.
Women are encouraged to go to state clinics, where waits are longer and some sites refuse to do abortions on certain days. By the time patients have completed compulsory counseling and mandatory waiting periods of between 48 hours and a week, they risk surpassing the time frame for a legal abortion.
A couple and their children walk through the Exhibition of the Achievements of the People's Economy in Moscow, Russia, on Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/File)
Abortions have steadily decreased under these laws, although experts say the number of procedures already was falling. Still, there hasn’t been a corresponding increase in births, and activists believe restricting abortion will only harm the health of women and children.
“The only thing you will get from this is illegal abortions. That means more deaths: more children’s deaths and more women’s deaths,” says Russian journalist and feminist activist Zalina Marshenkulova.
She sees the new government limits as repression for repression’s sake. “They exist just to ban, to block any voice of freedom,” she told AP. Curbing immigration
Russia could increase its population by allowing more immigrants — something the Kremlin is unlikely to adopt.
Russian officials have recently fomented anti-migrant sentiment, tracking their movements, clamping down on their employment and impeding their children’s rights to education. Central Asians who have traditionally traveled to Russia for work are looking elsewhere, hoping to avoid growing discrimination and economic uncertainty.
While the war in Ukraine continues, Moscow can promise financial rewards for would-be parents but not the stability needed for gambling on the future.
When people lack confidence about their prospects, it’s not a time for having children, Mathers said, adding: “An open-ended major war doesn’t really encourage people to think positively about the future.”
The 29-year-old woman who chose not to have children agrees.
“The happiest and healthiest child will only be born in a family with healthy, happy parents,” she said.
Ireland’s president elect is a left-wing, anti-establishment figure who is outspoken on Gaza
Connolly vowed Saturday to be “an inclusive president” who would champion diversity and be “a voice for peace”
Connolly’s outspoken style and message of social equality and inclusivity have appealed to many, especially younger voters
Updated 27 October 2025
AP
LONDON: Ireland’s president for the next seven years is an independent lawmaker who has long spoken in support of Palestinians and has been vocal about her distrust of European Union policies.
Left-wing independent Catherine Connolly, 68, secured 63 percent of votes in a landslide election victory on Saturday, comfortably defeating her center-right rival, former Cabinet minister Heather Humphreys.
The politician won after Ireland’s left-leaning opposition parties, including Sinn Féin, united to back her, and she is expected to be a voice unafraid to challenge Ireland’s center-right government.
While Irish presidents hold a largely ceremonial role and do not have executive powers like shaping laws, they represent Ireland on the world stage and are often seen as a unifying voice on major issues. Connolly will succeed Michael D. Higgins, a popular president who has been vocal about the war in Gaza and NATO spending, among other things.
Connolly vowed Saturday to be “an inclusive president” who would champion diversity and be “a voice for peace.”
A look at Connolly’s background and views: From independent lawmaker to president
Connolly, a mother to two sons, has served three terms as an independent lawmaker for Galway West since she was elected to Parliament in 2016. In 2020 she became the first woman to be the deputy speaker of Parliament’s lower house.
She grew up in social housing in a suburb of Galway in western Ireland as one of 14 children. Her mother died when she was nine years old, and her father worked at a local shipyard. As a student, she volunteered with a Catholic organization to help older people and took on other community roles.
She has degrees in clinical psychology and law, and was a lawyer before she entered politics.
Connolly began her political career when she was elected as a Labour Party member of Galway City Council in 1999. Five years later, she was elected mayor of the city of Galway. She left Labour in 2007. Outspoken views against Israel and the EU
Connolly has not shied from criticizing Israel over the war in Gaza.
In September she drew fire for calling Hamas “part of the fabric of the Palestinian people.” Prime Minister Micheál Martin criticized her for appearing reluctant to condemn the militant group’s actions in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that ignited the two-year Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
She later maintained that she “utterly condemned” Hamas’ actions, while also criticizing Israel for carrying out what she called a genocide in Gaza.
On Europe, she has repeatedly criticized the European Union for its growing “militarization” following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, drawn comparisons with Nazi-era armament in the 1930s, and questioned NATO expansion in the east. Critics have said those comments, along with others critical of the US and UK, risk alienating Ireland’s allies.
Connolly has also stressed she wants to defend Ireland’s tradition of military neutrality, in the face of calls for the country to contribute more to European defense. During her campaign, she said there should be a referendum on a government plan to remove the “triple lock” — the conditions for the deployment of Irish soldiers on international missions.
Connolly’s outspoken style and message of social equality and inclusivity have appealed to many, especially younger voters. In televised presidential debates, she has said she will respect the limits of the office — though she also said in her acceptance speech that she would speak “when it’s necessary” as president.
“Together, we can shape a new republic that values everybody, that values and champions diversity and that takes confidence in our own identity, our Irish language, our English language, and new people who have come to our country,” she said Saturday at Dublin Castle.
Shutdowns began as a way to enforce federal law. Now Trump is using it to take more power
Updated 27 October 2025
AP
Shutdowns began as a way to enforce federal law. Now Trump is using it to take more power
WASHINGTON: The government shutdown, already the second-longest in history, with no end in sight, is quickly becoming a way for President Donald Trump to exercise new command over the government.
It wasn’t always this way. In fact, it all started with an attempt to tighten Washington’s observance of federal law.
The modern phenomena of the US government closing down services began in 1980 with a series of legal opinions from Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti, who was serving under Democratic President Jimmy Carter. Civiletti reached into the Antideficiency Act of 1870 to argue that the law was “plain and unambiguous” in restricting the government from spending money once authority from Congress expires.
President Jimmy Carter, right, meets with Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti at the White House in Washington, Dec. 13, 1979. (AP Photo/File)
In this shutdown, however, the Republican president has used the funding lapse to punish Democrats, tried to lay off thousands of federal workers and seized on the vacuum left by Congress to reconfigure the federal budget for his priorities.
“I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity,” Trump posted on his social media platform at the outset of the shutdown.
Democrats have only dug into their positions.
It’s all making this fight that much harder to resolve and potentially redefining how Washington will approach funding lapses altogether. Why does the US government even have shutdowns?
In the post-Watergate years, Civiletti’s tenure at the Department of Justice was defined by an effort to restore public trust in Washington, sometimes with strict interpretations of federal law.
When a conflict between Congress and the Federal Trade Commission led to a delay in funding legislation for the agency, Civiletti issued his opinion, later following it up with another opinion that allowed the government to perform essential services.
He did not know that it would set the groundwork for some of the most defining political battles to come.
“I couldn’t have ever imagined these shutdowns would last this long of a time and would be used as a political gambit,” Civiletti, who died in 2022, told The Washington Post six years ago. How shutdowns evolved
For the next 15 years, there were no lengthy government shutdowns. In 1994, Republicans retook Congress under House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia and pledged to overhaul Washington. Their most dramatic standoffs with Democratic President Bill Clinton were over government shutdowns.
Historians mostly agree the shutdowns did not work, and Clinton was able to win reelection in part by showing he stood up to Gingrich.
A member of the US Navy receives free food from volunteers with Feeding San Diego food bank on October 24, 2025 in San Diego, California as the US government shutdown entered its fourth week Wednesday, becoming the second longest in history. (AFP
“The Republicans in the Gingrich-era, they do get some kind of limited policy victories, but for them overall it’s really kind of a failure,” said Mike Davis, adjunct professor of history at Lees-McRae College.
There was one more significant shutdown in 2013 when tea party Republicans sparred with Democratic President Barack Obama. But it was not until Trump’s first term that Democrats adopted the tactic of extended government shutdowns. How is this shutdown different?
During previous funding lapses, presidential administrations applied the rules governing shutdowns equally to affected agencies.
“A shutdown was supposed to close the same things under Reagan as under Clinton,” said Charles Tiefer, a former acting general counsel for the House and a professor emeritus at the University of Baltimore School of Law. He said that in this shutdown, the Trump administration has used “a kind of freewheeling presidential appropriation power, which is contrary to the whole system, the original Constitution, and the Antideficiency Act.”
The administration has introduced a distinctly political edge to the funding fight, with agencies updating their websites to include statements blaming Democrats for the shutdown. The Department of Defense has tapped research and development funds to pay active-duty service members. Trump has tried to initiate layoffs for more than 4,000 federal employees who are mostly working in areas perceived to be Democratic priorities.
During a luncheon at the White House with GOP senators this week, Trump introduced his budget director Russ Vought as “Darth Vader” and bragged how he is “cutting Democrat priorities and they’re never going to get them back.”
Democrats have only been emboldened by the strategy, voting repeatedly against a Republican-backed bill to reopen the government. They argue that voters will ultimately hold Republicans accountable for the pain of the shutdown because the GOP holds power in Washington.
Democrats are confident they have chosen a winning policy demand on health care plans offered under Affordable Care Act marketplaces, but there is an undercurrent that they are also fighting to halt Trump’s expansion of presidential power.
Furloughed federal worker Issac Stein, 31, works at his hot dog stand in Washington, D.C. on October 24, 2025, weeks into the continuing US government shutdown. (REUTERS)
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, acknowledged that his state has more to lose than perhaps any other due to the large number of federal employees and activity based there. But he argued that his constituents are fed up with a “nonstop punishment parade” from Trump that has included layoffs, cancelation of money for economic development projects, pressure campaigns against universities and the dismissal of the US attorney for Virginia.
“It kind of stiffens folks’ spines,” Kaine said.
Democratic resolve will be tested in the coming week. Federal employees, including lawmakers’ own staff, have now gone almost an entire month without full paychecks. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which helps about 1 in 8 Americans buy groceries, faces a potential funding cliff on Nov. 1. Air travel delays threaten to only grow worse amid air traffic controller shortages.
Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said he hopes his colleagues start negotiating quickly to end the impasse.
He said he’s been one of the few members of the Democratic caucus to vote for ending the shutdown because “it empowers the president beyond what he would be able to do otherwise, and it damages the country.”
US and China say a trade deal is drawing closer as Trump and Xi ready for a high-stakes meeting
China’s top trade negotiator, Li Chenggang, said the two sides had reached a “preliminary consensus.” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessentsaid there was “a very successful framework”
Any agreement would be a relief to international markets even if it does not address underlying issues involving manufacturing imbalances and access to state-of-the-art computer chips
Updated 27 October 2025
AAP
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: A trade deal between the United States and China is drawing closer, officials from the world’s two largest economies said Sunday as they reached an initial consensus for President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to aim to finalize during their high-stakes meeting.
Any agreement would be a relief to international markets even if it does not address underlying issues involving manufacturing imbalances and access to state-of-the-art computer chips.
Beijing recently limited exports of rare earth elements that are needed for advanced technologies, and Trump responded by threatening additional tariffs on Chinese products. The prospect of a widening conflict risked weakening economic growth worldwide.
China’s top trade negotiator, Li Chenggang, told reporters the two sides had reached a “preliminary consensus,” while Trump’s treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said there was “a very successful framework.”
Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng leaves after the trade talks between the US and China, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on October 26, 2025. (REUTERS)
Trump also expressed confidence that an agreement was at hand, saying the Chinese “want to make a deal and we want to make a deal.” The Republican president is set to meet with Xi on Thursday in South Korea, the final stop of his trip through Asia.
Bessent told CBS’ “Face the Nation” that the threat of additional higher tariffs on China was “effectively off the table.” In interviews on several American news shows, he said discussions with China yielded initial agreements to stop the precursor chemicals for fentanyl from coming into the US, and that Beijing would make “substantial” purchases of soybean and other agricultural products while putting off export controls on rare earths.
When asked how close a deal was, Trump’s trade representative, Jamieson Greer, said on “Fox News Sunday” that “it’s really going to depend” on the two presidents.
Meanwhile, Trump reiterated that he plans to visit China in the future and suggested that Xi could come to Washington or Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private club in Florida.
The progress toward a potential agreement came during the annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, in Kuala Lumpur, with Trump seeking to burnish his reputation as an international dealmaker.
Yet his way of pursuing deals has meant serious disruptions at home and abroad. His import taxes have scrambled relationships with trading partners while a US government shutdown has him feuding with Democrats.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent leaves after the trade talks between the US and China, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on October 26, 2025. (REUTERS)
Trump attends ceasefire ceremony between Thailand and Cambodia
At the summit, Thailand and Cambodia signed an expanded ceasefire agreement during a ceremony attended by Trump. His threats of economic pressure prodded the two nations to halt skirmishes along their disputed border earlier this year.
Thailand will release Cambodian prisoners and Cambodia will begin withdrawing heavy artillery as part of the first phase of the deal. Regional observers will monitor the situation to ensure fighting doesn’t restart.
“We did something that a lot of people said couldn’t be done,” Trump said. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet called it a “historic day,” and Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said the agreement creates “the building blocks for a lasting peace.”
The president signed economic frameworks with Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia, some of them aimed at increasing trade involving critical minerals. The United States wants to rely less on China, which has used limits on exports of key components in technology manufacturing as a bargaining chip in trade talks.
“It’s very important that we cooperate as willing partners with each other to ensure that we can have smooth supply chains, secure supply chains, for the quality of life, for our people and security,” Greer said. Trump reengages with a key region of the world
Trump attended this summit only once during his first term, and US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth seemed unfamiliar with ASEAN during his confirmation hearing in January.
This year’s event was a chance for Trump to reengage with nations that have a combined $3.8 trillion economy and 680 million people.
“The United States is with you 100 percent, and we intend to be a strong partner and friend for many generations to come,” Trump said. He described his counterparts as “spectacular leaders” and said that “everything you touch turns to gold.”
Trump’s tariff threats were credited with helping spur negotiations between Thailand and Cambodia. Some of the worst modern fighting between the two countries took place over five days in July, killing dozens and displacing hundreds of thousands of people.
The president threatened, at the time, to withhold trade agreements unless the fighting stopped. A shaky truce has persisted since then.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim praised the agreement between Thailand and Cambodia, saying at the summit that “it reminds us that reconciliation is not concession, but an act of courage.” Tariffs are in focus on Trump’s trip
Trump in Kuala Lumpur met Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who was also attending the summit. There has been friction between them over Brazil’s prosecution of Jair Bolsonaro, the country’s former president and a close Trump ally. Bolsonaro was convicted last month of attempting to overturn election results in his country.
During their meeting, Trump said he could reduce tariffs on Brazil that he enacted in a push for leniency for Bolsonaro.
“I think we should be able to make some good deals for both countries,” he said.
While Trump was warming to Lula, he avoided Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. The president is angry with Canada because of a television advertisement protesting his trade policies, and on his way to the summit announced on social media he would raise tariffs on Canada because of it.
One leader absent from the summit was Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Although he was close with Trump during Trump’s first term, the relationship has been more tense lately. Trump caused irritation by boasting that he settled a recent conflict between India and Pakistan, and he has increased tariffs on India for its purchase of Russian oil.
Melissa strengthens into a Category 4 hurricane, threatening catastrophic flooding in Jamaica, Haiti
Hurricane expected to move near or over Jamaica as a major hurricane early Tuesda,then reach Cuba Tuesday night
US National Hurricane Center said extensive damage to infrastructure, power and communication outages were to be expected
Updated 27 October 2025
AP
KINGSTON, Jamaica: A strengthening Melissa grew into a Category 4 hurricane Sunday and US forecasters said it could reach Category 5 status, unleashing torrential rain and threatening to cause catastrophic flooding in the northern Caribbean, including Haiti and Jamaica,
The US National Hurricane Center added that Melissa is expected to move near or over Jamaica as a major hurricane early Tuesday, then reach Cuba Tuesday night, and head across the southeastern Bahamas on Wednesday.
“Conditions (in Jamaica) are going to go down rapidly today,” Jamie Rhome, the center’s deputy director, said on Sunday. “Be ready to ride this out for several days.”
Melissa was centered about 115 miles (185 kilometers) south-southwest of Kingston, Jamaica, and about 295 miles (475 kilometers) south-southwest of Guantánamo, Cuba, on Sunday night. It had maximum sustained winds of 145 mph (230 kph) and was moving west at 5 mph (7 kph), the hurricane center said.
Melissa was expected to drop rains of up to 30 inches (760 millimeters) on Jamaica and southern Hispaniola — Haiti and the Dominican Republic — according to the hurricane center. Some areas may see as much as 40 inches (1,010 millimeters) of rain.
It also warned that extensive damage to infrastructure, power and communication outages, and the isolation of communities in Jamaica were to be expected.
Melissa should be near or over Cuba by late Tuesday, where it could bring up to 12 inches (300 millimeters) of rain, before moving toward the Bahamas later Wednesday.
The Cuban government issued a hurricane warning for the provinces of Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantanamo, and Holguin. It also sent a tropical storm warning to the province of Las Tunas. Airports closed and shelters activated
Jamaica’s two main airports, the Norman Manley International Airport and the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, were closed by Sunday.
Local officials ordered the evacuation in the seaside community of Old Harbor Bay in the southern parish of St. Catherine on Sunday.
The order came after Jamaican officials said at a press conference earlier that they were contemplating enforcement because many residents in flood prone and low-lying communities were not heeding the advice to seek safer alternative locations.
Melissa is forecast to reach Category 5 when it makes landfall along the south coast on Tuesday.
Desmond McKenzie, who is leading the Jamaican government’s disaster response, said in a press conference, that all the more of 650 shelters in Jamaica are open.
Officials said earlier that warehouses across the island were well-stocked and thousands of food packages pre-positioned for quick distribution if needed.
Evan Thompson, the principal director of the Meteorological Service of Jamaica, said the storm surge is expected mainly over the southern side of the island.
“There is potential (for) flooding in every parish of our country,” Thompson said. “If you’re in a flood prone, low-lying area, you need to take note. If you’re near a river course or a gully, you need to take special note and find some alternative location that you can move to should you be threatened by the heavy rainfall.”
Some foreign governments are also preparing for the hurricane’s arrival in Jamaica.
The government of Antigua and Barbuda is housing visiting students at a hotel in Kingston. As of Sunday morning, 52 of them had checked in.
“They have a better bounce back regimen here (at the hotel) in terms of standby power and water (in comparison with university dorms,” said Jewel Moore, 19, a chemistry student at UWI Mona. She and her fellow students are enjoying snacks and games before the hurricane arrives.
“The passing of the storm should be okay,” she added. “It’s getting out that will be a problem.”
The erratic and slow-moving storm has killed at least three people in Haiti and a fourth person in the Dominican Republic, where another person remains missing. Communities cut off by rising waters
Haitian authorities said three people had died as a consequence of the hurricane and another five were injured due to a collapsed wall. There were also reports of rising river levels, flooding and a bridge destroyed due to breached riverbanks in Sainte-Suzanne, in the northeast.
Many residents are still reluctant to leave their homes, Haitian officials said.
The storm damaged nearly 200 homes in the Dominican Republic and knocked out water supply systems, affecting more than half a million customers. It also downed trees and traffic lights, unleashed a couple of small landslides and left more than two dozen communities isolated by floodwaters.
The Bahamas Department of Meteorology said Melissa could bring tropical storm or hurricane conditions to islands in the southeastern and central Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands by early next week.
Melissa is the 13th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had predicted an above-normal season with 13 to 18 named storms.
