Caribbean nations assess damage after Hurricane Melissa kills at least 49

Hurricane Melissa’s confirmed death toll has climbed to 49 after the storm wreaked destruction across much of the northern Caribbean.

Haiti reported at least 30 deaths with 20 people missing, after the slow-moving hurricane brought days of torrential rain to the island.

At least 23 people, including 10 children, died in the southern town of Petit-Goave when a river burst its banks.

Jamaica confirmed 19 people had died, but said authorities were continuing search and rescue efforts of Thursday. The storm left hundreds of thousands of people without power and tore homes apart.

The storm may have cost around $50bn in damages so far, a preliminary estimate from AccuWeather found. Britain said on Friday it would send an additional five million pounds in emergency humanitarian funding to the region.

Melissa was moving slowly to the northeast on Friday, but flood warnings remained in place across Cuba, Jamaica and Hispaniola.

Left in excrement for 20 hours: The elderly patients neglected by NHS

Elderly patients have been left languishing in their own excrement and puddles of urine for hours on end in NHS hospitals, a major charity has said.

Corridor care is a “crisis in plain sight” in A&Es across the country, charity Age UK warned ministers, as it described “truly shocking” incidents of poor care of elderly people waiting days on end for attention.

In a report, published on Friday, Age UK revealed “heartbreaking” incidents of poor care, including a woman dying from a heart attack after being left to wait; a patient who was “lost” after being put on a disused corridor; and a man left hooked up to an IV drip in a chair for 20 hours, who soiled himself because he was unable to get to the toilet.

People told the charity about “puddles of urine” on the floor as immobile patients are unable to go to the toilet, and patients are being forced to use bedpans in corridors.

Another person said their 86-year-old family member was “stuck in a disused corridor for 36 hours” while “staff kept saying he hasn’t been admitted by the ambulance crew”. A 79-year-old woman from south London told the charity: “The corridors were lined with patients on trolleys, hooked up to drips, some moaning in pain. It reminded me of war films, with queues of stretchers and people suffering.”

Age UK warned that many patients are unwilling to go to A&E, even if they are in a life-threatening situation, because of their past experiences.

It called on the government to “urgently” tackle corridor care as it warned that older people are disproportionately affected.

Caroline Abrahams, charity director of Age UK, said: “What’s happening to some very ill older people when they come to A&E is a crisis hiding in plain sight which the government must face up to and take immediate action to resolve.

“No one should have to spend their final days in a hospital corridor where it’s impossible for the staff to provide good, compassionate care, and it’s truly shocking that this is what is happening to some very old people in some hospitals, today and every day.

“And as we head into winter, we fear that an already very difficult situation in and around some A&Es will get even worse.”

The report comes after The Independent revealed warnings from top medics over a potential “armageddon” facing the NHS this winter, with rising Covid and flu cases alongside staffing cuts.

Health minister Karin Smyth said in response to the Age UK findings: “The stories in this report are heartbreaking. No one should receive care in a corridor – it’s unacceptable, undignified, and we are determined to end it.

“To tackle a problem, you’ve got to be honest about it. For the first time, the NHS will measure and publish the number of patients waiting in corridors. Sunlight is the best disinfectant.”

She said the government is investing £450m to build same-day urgent and emergency care centres, buying 500 new ambulances, and building 40 new mental health crisis centres. She also urged families to get vaccinated.

Katherine, a retired NHS nurse from Norfolk, told The Independent how she was left “in floods of tears” after being forced to sit in a chair for hours in pain as she waited in A&E.

Two years ago, Katherine, now 77, underwent surgery for colorectal cancer. Since then, she has faced repeated trips to A&E, often arriving by ambulance due to the severity of her symptoms.

On one occasion, Katherine was admitted to hospital after attending A&E over heart problems, where she was placed on a trolley in the corridor for several hours directly outside the only toilet serving the entire A&E department.

The former nurse described the situation as “an absolute nightmare”, with the smell, the noise of people constantly passing, and staff using a nearby changing area.

During this time, Katherine says she was not offered any food or drink and, eventually, after getting the all clear, was left disoriented trying to find her way out of the hospital on her own.

In another distressing experience, Katherine attended A&E with bowel problems and was left to sit in a chair for hours. She said the lack of privacy and proper facilities left her “in floods of tears”.

“I can feel that things are going to happen, and I’m sitting right next to other people, which is very unpleasant, as you can imagine,” she said.

The former nurse said her A&E experiences have left her frightened of hospital admission after seeing older people sitting on the floor, and on one occasion, a woman bleeding heavily in the waiting room with no one to attend to her.

“Years ago, when you went to the hospital, you felt safe. Now you don’t, you feel absolutely frightened,” she said.

“It was just like a third world country. The basic nursing skills that I remember being taught and would employ seem to have gone out the window. Now it’s all about ticking boxes,” she said, adding that patients are now treated as “figures on a conveyor belt” rather than as human beings.

According to the latest figures for England, some 75 per cent of patients were seen within four hours in A&E in September.

The number of people waiting more than 12 hours in A&E departments in England from a decision to admit to actually being admitted – widely recognised as “corridor care” – stood at 44,765 in September, up from 35,909 in August.

Professor Nicola Ranger, chief executive and general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said: “Corridor care is a moral stain on our health service, and this report is yet more evidence of its devastating consequences. No elderly or vulnerable person should be forced to endure these conditions. It is unsafe, undignified, and unacceptable.

“Overstretched and understaffed nursing teams work hard every day to deliver the best care, but they face an impossible task. You simply cannot provide good quality care when patients are lining corridors or are pushed into any other available space.”

Trump puts candy on kid’s costumed head at Halloween event – again

President Donald Trump greeted trick-or-treaters at the White House Halloween event on Thursday night — and once again placed candy on top of a child’s costume.

The president, joined by first lady Melania Trump, distributed candy for about an hour outside the White House, which was decked out in pumpkins, leaves, and other decorations for the event. The president was spotted placing a candy bar on top of a child’s light-up mask, in a moment that mirrored a viral incident from Halloween 2019, when Trump placed candy on top of a child’s Minion costume.

The moment has already made the rounds on social media. In a post with hundreds of likes and re-shares, one user uploaded today’s clip side-by-side with the 2019 viral moment.

“President Trump DOES IT AGAIN! He just recreated the time he placed a candy bar on a kid’s head for Halloween 6 years ago,” the user wrote. “We are SO BACK!”

Some trick-or-treaters appeared to be dressed up as Trump himself, while others opted to be Secret Service agents or the Statue of Liberty. As the president and first lady handed out candy, Halloween-themed tunes played.

Trump also greeted two young kids who were in a wagon with the McDonald’s drive-thru sign. The president notably operated a McDonald’s fryer last year for a campaign photo-op.

Several kids dressed up as pumpkins, ballerinas and dinosaurs. Some trick-or-treaters also brought items for Trump to sign, including a golf ball andTime Magazine covers that featured him.

Top White House officials, including White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, were also spotted with their families at the event.

Meanwhile, Trump’s tariffs are reportedly driving up the prices of Halloween candy and costumes. His tariff hike on Chinese goods has resulted in tighter Halloween inventory and higher prices, The Independent previously reported.

The National Retail Federation also estimates consumers are expected to spend a record $13.1 billion this Halloween, which is up from $11.6 billion last year and tops the previous 2023 record of $12.2 billion

When asked about the higher prices earlier this month, White House spokesperson Kush Desai told The Independent, “Real prosperity is good jobs, booming industry, and thriving communities for everyday Americans – not cheap Chinese imports.”

Man, 70, dies and multiple people injured in Doncaster helicopter crash

A 70-year-old man has died after a helicopter crashed into a field in Bentley, Doncaster, on Thursday morning.

Police attended the scene of the crash near Doncaster just after 10am. The helicopter, a Robinson R44 Raven II, came down shortly after taking off.

South Yorkshire Police said the man who died suffered serious injuries in the crash and was pronounced dead at the scene. His family are aware and are being supported by police.

The pilot, a 41-year-old man, received minor injuries, as did a 58-year-old woman and a 10-year-old boy, police said.

Detective Chief Inspector Gary Magnay, Silver Commander, said: “Our thoughts are with the family and loved ones of the man who sadly died in this tragic incident.”

Emergency services were called to Ings Lane, Bentley, at 10.15am, and were in attendance alongside police and an air accident investigation team.

The helicopter was a private flight that took off from Gamston airport near Retford shortly before it crashed.

An eyewitness who lives near the site of the crash told Yorkshire Live: “It’s just missed our house! We live on the very end house of the street next to the train tracks.

“I spoke to a few of my neighbours. I don’t think anyone actually saw it come down, but at first we all thought it was a train crash because we saw all of the emergency services firing past.”

DCI Magnay said: “We and our emergency services colleagues remain at the scene, and we have launched a full joint investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident in parallel with the Air Accidents Investigation Branch [AAIB].

“As part of our investigation, we’d ask for anyone with information to get in touch. If you were in the area at the time and saw the events unfold, please contact us. We are particularly keen to hear from those with footage of the helicopter leading up to the crash.”

A cordon has been set up around the crash site, and police are urging people to stay away from the area and to use other routes where possible.

An AAIB spokesperson said: “The AAIB has been made aware of an accident near Doncaster and has deployed a team to commence an investigation.”

In pictures taken at the scene, the helicopter is seen to be on its side in a field, with debris scattered around.

The Robinson R44 Raven II is a four-seater light aircraft. Retford Gamston airport said the helicopter was based at the airport and was operated by an onsite tenant.

A South Yorkshire Police spokesperson said: “Ings Lane is closed while we respond to this incident. Please avoid the area and plan an alternative route where possible. Further updates will be provided when they are available.”

Florence and the Machine is bloody and bewitching on Everybody Scream

Florence Welch was dancing around a stage in a storm, caught in the elements, hundreds of fans screaming for her. So far, so normal. Hours before, though, she had started to bleed heavily; her doctor told her she’d suffered an ectopic pregnancy, a miscarriage. Later, in hospital, it was found that her fallopian tube had ruptured and she had “a Coke can’s worth of blood” in her abdomen.

That experience (as she put it in a recent interview with The Guardian: “The closest I came to making life was the closest I came to death”) provides the inspiration for Florence and the Machine’s sixth album, Everybody Scream. It arrives on Halloween, bristling with all the spellbinding detail, ritual sacrifices and exultant incantations you might expect from Welch.

Title track and album opener “Everybody Scream” begins with a flurry of keys on the Hammond organ, and synths that glimmer and swirl around Welch’s otherworldly calls. The drums kick in, and so does the coven. Banshees shriek in unison as Welch wrestles with her role as performer, personifying fame: “I break down, get up, do it all again/ Because it’s never enough and she makes me feel loved.” On stage, she feels free, almost dangerously so (“Here I can take up the whole of the sky/ Unfurling, becoming my full size”). Welch’s voice climbs like flames on a pyre, all-consuming.

By now, anyone familiar with Florence and the Machine – whether from their spectacular 2009 debut Lungs, or 2022’s pop and disco-influenced Dance Fever – will know how their opulent sound meets songwriting preoccupied by womanhood, obsession, madness and mysticism. Everybody Scream amplifies the latter, perhaps aided by Welch’s actual near-death experience. Everything on this record feels more focused than anything she’s done before. Those usual themes are now homed in on her status both as a famous (female) musician and a woman in her late-thirties, broken and reanimated by such a violent, surely traumatising experience.

She tears away from her would-be captors on “Sympathy Magic”, an unleashing as wild as Cathy running through the moors. “I no longer try to be good/ It didn’t keep me safe/ Like you told me that it would,” she calls over a tremendous pounding of drums and autumnal blast of horns. Her vivid imagination comes to the fore again and again: in “You Can Have It All”, she buries a scream, “And from it grew a bright red tree/ Shining with jagged leaves”. She concocts a witch’s brew on “Perfume and Milk”, imagining herself as Circe in the woods – a study in solitude while the world turns around her.

Mark Bowen from the band IDLES helps to lend an indie-rock sensibility to songs such as “Music By Men”. It plays out over acoustic guitar and soft piano notes, as Welch narrates a ride home from couples’ therapy (“I slide down in my seat so as not to threaten you”). She seems to take aim at men who receive praise by dint of being in a rock band: “Listening to a song by The 1975 I thought ‘f*** it’/ I might as well give music by men a try… Let me put out a record and let it not ruin my life.” There’s a palpable frustration towards the music industry’s double standards: Welch mines the deepest darkest parts of herself and writes it into her art, only to be met with indifference from critics who idolise her male peers.

This bubbling fury is none more evident than on the carefully restrained “One of the Greats”. “I did my best, tried to impress, my childhood dream made flesh,” she sings in a Patti Smith drawl over (meta, mocking) scuzzy electric riffs. “And my dresses and my flowering sadness, so like a woman to profit from her madness.” Later, she ponders to a faceless rock singer: “It must be nice to be a man and make boring music just because you can/ Now don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan/ You’re my second favorite frontman/ And you could have me if you weren’t so afraid of me.” On Dance Fever’s “King”, she unpacked her tumult in choosing between art and starting a family. Everybody Scream feels like she’s channelling her rage at being forced to choose at all.

That this album should arrive a week after Lily Allen’s stunning comeback record, West End Girl, feels decidedly treat, not trick. They are entirely different works, and yet both unfold in similar ways. There’s the exorcism of what was, and what is. But towards the end, we hear both artists reaching some vision of accord, or hoping for it. “Peace is coming,” Welch promises herself on closer “And Love” over ripples of the harp, repeating it like a spell. “Peace is coming.” Consider us bewitched.

Are you cruise curious? Today’s voyages are rewriting the rulebooks

In today’s travel market cruising reigns supreme. All across the world, savvy travellers have woken up to the fact that the old cliches no longer apply and upscale imaginative cruising is fast emerging as one of the key travel trends of the decade, rivalling land-based holidays in almost every respect.

On today’s ships, families are booking cabins  in their droves, drawn to the often incredible offerings for children from pre-schoolers through to teens; young couples are taking advantage of the increasingly sophisticated onboard cultural offerings, and there are even hipster cruises enticing the young with tattoo parlours, vinyl stores and craft beers.

For an in-depth look at this new era of cruising watch  World of Cruising TV, the third series of which airs this September and October  across Freeview, Virgin and Sky on channels including; ITV Quiz, True Crime and 5Star. As well as running competitions with cruise holidays as prizes and showcasing great itineraries and exclusive TV offers, the show sees host Dean Wilson talk to top travel experts of the sofa, including the Independent’s own Simon Calder, who offers his usual array of fascinating insights.  Mitchelin-starred chef and sommelier Marc Fosh appears in the kitchen, cooking up dishes guests can expect to discover onboard,  to show viewers how cruise dining now rivals the world’s best restaurants.

Because, make no mistake about it, there truly has been a food revolution at sea. On today’s most progressive lines, you’ll find Michelin-starred chef-curated menus and specialty restaurants offering high-end regional cuisine. Take, for example, Norwegian operator Havila Voyages, whose onboard fine-dining restaurant Hildring, sources incredible ingredients from local producers all over Norway – lamb from Dovrefjell and king crab from Varanger – to create its signature tasting menu. Other operators offer incredible variety, like Marella Cruises, which on its Marella Discovery has an astonishing range of specialist outlets from a surf & turf steakhouse to a sushi bars well as a brand-new gastropub called Picadilly’s, which offers British classics with a twist.

In terms of itineraries , there’s also been a sea change in quality. Contemporary cruise operators have seen the value in specialisation with operators like Riviera Travel offering trips like their The Blue Danube River Cruise, which features a guided tour of Dürnstein and a visit to Benedictine Melk Abbey.

Across the different operators there is a huge range of options with feelgood shows and Broadway hits on some lines, floating EDM music festivals on others. But these days, there are also subtler, more cultured options. Atlas Ocean Voyages operates three expedition-style yachts, all of which host fewer than 200 guests guaranteeing an intimate atmosphere. As you travel from one fascinating destination to another on their ships, you can attend enriching lectures on the sites you’re visiting delivered by experts in their field from museum curators to Fellows of the Geological Society of London.

The ships themselves are constantly evolving. In our side bar, we look at two of the standout launches of 2025 – Princess Cruises’ Star Princess and Virgin Voyages’ Brilliant Lady – both of which offer incredible levels of onboard luxury on proper bucket list itineraries.

Across the operators, options range from long lazy sails through the sun-kissed Caribbean and European river cruises rich in history, to thrilling adventures on the edge of the Arctic Circle. The only question now is: where will you go?

For a deeper dive into the cruise revolution and why you should make your next adventure a cruise adventure, don’t miss the new series of World of Cruising TV, featuring Marella Cruises, Virgin Voyages, Princess Cruises, Riviera Travel, Atlas Ocean Voyages and Havila Voyages. VisitWorld of Cruising TVto find where to watch series three. Offers ends 31 October2025.

The three-wheeled car plan that may be Reform’s most idiotic idea yet

Lee Anderson is a Reform UK MP and loudmouth who has made a reputation for himself by saying daft and offensive things. Only yesterday, he was trumpeting the fact that he’d spent a previous job at the Citizens Advice Bureau “gaming the benefits system” – just the sort of upright character you’d hope to represent the country.

But his latest – proposing that people with disabilities be leased special little “invalid carriages” as they once were in distant, less enlightened times – is a doozy. Did he really say that? Yes. Here’s the quote about the much-maligned Motability Scheme: “It’s an absolute scandal. I remember, back in the day, if you were on disability and you wanted a car from the state, it was a blue three-wheeler. Anybody remember those? What’s wrong with that? Let’s go back to that.”

For the record, Lee, here is why “bringing back” the NHS invalid carriage is a stupid idea. First, the original “Invacar”, short for “invalid carriage”, was primarily designed for ex-servicemen and women who’d been injured in the Second World War. They had one seat, were tiny, and were not suitable for the wider range of disabilities that we see today.

They were unsafe in a crash, and couldn’t be used for a long journey. They were limiting and stigmatising. They had three wheels, for tax reasons, and weren’t that stable in their handling. They were very small and couldn’t even be put on the road today as cars because they’d need to be larger, more substantial and more sophisticated to contain all the crumple zones, side bars and driver aids to prevent accidents (and risk of further disability).

And, presumably, as we also demand these days, four seats, a boot and motorised wheelchair access. They would thus be expensive to make in such small volumes for the UK market alone; no manufacturer would spend the money on tooling up for them, and they wouldn’t be suitable for everyone with a disability in any case.

The only vehicle that comes close to the old Invacar today is the Citroen Ami. This is a two-seater plastic tub with an electric motor, a top speed of 30mph and a range of about 40 miles on a single charge. It doesn’t cost much to run or buy, but it is so limited in its abilities that it’s not allowed to be marketed as a “car” but as a “quadricycle”, and it is, of course, impossible to adapt for people with every disability, including wheelchair users.

I can’t see it making sense for the government to buy lots of those and lease them to people for whom they are useless. Far better to have a properly assessed allowance that can be used flexibly for bus fares, taxis, to help run your own car or put towards renting one from the Motability lease scheme (which can use its financial muscle to get deals).

It should be no great surprise that Lee Anderson should come up with such a bad plan. His nickname, “30p Lee”, derives from his assertion that a healthy meal could be prepared for a tiny cost. He meant that the cost of living crisis was a myth. Which it wasn’t, and isn’t.

He was also suspended from the Conservatives by Rishi Sunak for claiming that Sadiq Khan, mayor of London, was controlled by “Islamists”, a phrase which is commonly taken to mean terrorists, an even more absurd idea. Anderson refused to apologise, and out he went, ending up in Nigel Farage’s gang. Now this paragon of compassion, the Mother Theresa of Ashfield, seems to have been made Reform UK’s spokesperson on social security (presumably Sarah Pochin got community relations).

Anyway, he’s unhappy that people with extreme disabilities can use their relatively modest mobility allowance to put towards the cost of leasing a smart modern vehicle – cars, yes, but also scooters, power chairs and wheelchair accessible vehicles (WAVs). Customers are not, contrary to the myths, ever “given” their vehicle; they only rent it, and the leasing deal may well mean some heavy additional payments of their own. You cannot, in any case, get a BMW or Mercedes limousine, a Bentley Continental or a Maserati GranTurismo on the Motability scheme. You can get one of the smaller BMW or Mercedes cars, but they’re not the expensive ones. They just have a “premium” badge. Peugeots, Toyotas and Vauxhalls are also popular.

Like Lee, I remember the Invacar, a common enough sight in the 1970s, well. It always seemed to me a strange three-wheeled contraption (and not to be confused with the much more capable Reliant models). It stopped production in 1976 when the then Labour government decided it was completely out of date, and a flexible allowance was a better idea. The Invacar is effectively banned now, but if you catch one at a classic car show or in a transport museum, you’ll always see it painted in the standard turquoise blue, ironically reminiscent of the official Reform UK colours.

I doubt Lee would be seen dead in one, though: up there at the helm of his BMW X5 SUV, subsidised by the taxpayer-funded parliamentary mileage allowance of 45p per mile, motoring is just fine for him. He’s looking down on the people with disabilities in every sense..

Trump-Putin summit axed over Russia’s hardline stance on Ukraine

The United States has cancelled a planned Budapest summit between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, following Russia’s firm stance on hardline demands regarding Ukraine, the Financial Times reported on Friday.

The decision reportedly stemmed from a tense call between the two nations’ chief diplomats, sources told the Financial Times. Reuters could not immediately corroborate the report, with no immediate comment from the White House or Russian government officials.

The proposed meeting, scheduled for this month, was shelved after Moscow maintained its demands, notably that Ukraine surrender additional territory as a prerequisite for a ceasefire.

Trump has backed Ukraine’s call for an immediate ceasefire on current lines.

Days after Trump and Putin had agreed to meet in the Hungarian capital to discuss how to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, the Russian foreign ministry sent a memo to Washington underlining the same demands to address what Putin calls the “root causes” of his invasion, which include territorial concessions, a steep reduction of Ukraine’s armed forces and guarantees it will never join NATO, the newspaper reported.

The U.S. then cancelled the summit following a call between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, after which Rubio told Trump that Moscow was showing no willingness to negotiate, the FT report added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this month that while Ukraine is ready for peace talks, it will not withdraw its troops from additional territory first as Moscow demanded.

Zelensky claimed on Monday that Ukraine will work on a plan for a ceasefire with Russia “in the coming 10 days” – as Donald Trump rebuked Vladimir Putin over the test-firing of a nuclear-powered missile.

The Ukrainian president urged Trump to go further in his support for Kyiv after Washington imposed tough sanctions on major Russian oil companies last week.

Zelensky said he welcomed the decision to hit Rosneft and Lukoil with sanctions, but said Putin would not be moved to the negotiating table without even more “pressure”.

“President Trump is concerned about escalation,” Zelensky told Axios. “But I think that if there are no negotiations, there will be an escalation anyway. I think that if Putin doesn’t stop, we need something to stop him. Sanctions is one such weapon, but we also need long-range missiles.”

“We speak not only about Tomahawks. The US has a lot of similar things that doesn’t require much time for training. I think the way to work with Putin is only through pressure,” he added.