He has since been jailed. Now a coroner is now looking into whether changes are needed.

Hurricane Melissa to batter Jamaica as the island's strongest storm on record in almost two centuries.

Melissa was set to pummel Jamaica on Tuesday (local time) as a catastrophic Category 5 storm with maximum sustained winds of 280km/h and stronger gusts, making it the strongest storm on the planet this year.

The storm was expected to make landfall early on Tuesday and slice diagonally across the island, entering near St Elizabeth parish in the south and exiting around St Ann parish in the north, forecasters said.

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Hours before the storm, the government said it had done all it could to prepare as it warned of catastrophic damage.

"There is no infrastructure in the region that can withstand a Category 5," Prime Minister Andrew Holness said.

"The question now is the speed of recovery. That's the challenge."

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Landslides, fallen trees and numerous power outages were reported ahead of the storm, with officials in Jamaica cautioning that the cleanup and damage assessment would be slow.

A life-threatening storm surge of up to four metres is expected across southern Jamaica, with officials concerned about the impact on some hospitals along the coastline.

Health Minister Christopher Tufton said some patients were relocated from the ground floor to the second floor, "and (we) hope that will suffice for any surge that will take place."

The storm already was blamed for seven deaths in the Caribbean, including three in Jamaica, three in Haiti and one in the Dominican Republic, where another person remains missing.

Jamaica braces for catastrophic damage

Melissa was centered about 240 kilometres southwest of Kingston and about 530 kilometres southwest of Guantánamo, Cuba.

The system had maximum sustained winds of 280km/h and was moving north-northeast at 4km/h, according to the US National Hurricane Center in Miami.

"We will get through it together," said Evan Thompson, principal director at Jamaica's meteorological service.

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Colin Bogle, a Mercy Corps advisor based near Kingston, said most families are sheltering in place despite the government ordering evacuations in flood-prone communities.

"Many have never experienced anything like this before, and the uncertainty is frightening," he said.

"There is profound fear of losing homes and livelihoods, of injury, and of displacement."

Matthew Samuda, Jamaica's water and environment minister, said he had more than 50 generators available to deploy after the storm, but warned people to set aside clean water and use it sparingly.

"Every drop will count," he said.

Melissa takes aim at Cuba

Melissa also was expected to make landfall in eastern Cuba late on Tuesday as a powerful hurricane.

A hurricane warning was in effect for Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantánamo and Holguin provinces, while a tropical storm warning was in effect for Las Tunas.

Up to 51 centimetres of rain were forecast for parts of Cuba, along with a significant storm surge along the coast.

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Cuban officials said Monday that they were evacuating more than 600,000 people from the region, including Santiago, the island's second-largest city.

Melissa also has drenched the southern regions of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, with a tropical storm warning still in effect for Haiti.

The hurricane was forecast to turn northeast after Cuba and strike the southeast Bahamas by Wednesday evening.

A hurricane warning was in effect for the southeastern and central Bahamas, and a tropical storm warning was issued for the Turks and Caicos Islands.

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They grounded during strong westerlies and gusts.

‘This will be your new market,’ one world leader said.

Kurai Monoa Smith, 39, appeared in court over the alleged daylight incident in the CBD.

Lifeline's national crisis support hotline for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people has recorded a surge in calls following the March for Australia protests.

13YARN, the 24/7 number run by Indigenous crisis supporters, receives an average of 91 calls each day, or 33,215 calls a year, according to new data from Lifeline today.

The figure is up from last year's average of 65 calls each day, or 23,725 calls a year. 

READ MORE: Warning isolated Indigenous groups could vanish within a decade

The crisis line recorded its busiest year since launching in March 2022 in October, off the back of the March for Australia protests and the alleged attack on Camp Sovereignty in Melbourne on August 30.

Thousands of people protested against immigration nationwide on the same day that a group of neo-Nazis, including prominent white nationalist Thomas Sewell, stormed the sacred Indigenous, allegedly assaulting women and hurling racist abuse.

March for Australia protests have been held several times since then. 

"It had a big impact on the Aboriginal community Australia-wide, because we're not seeing the same outrage with racism against Aboriginal people," Lifeline's head of Indigenous affairs, Marjorie Anderson, said.

Anderson said the protests and alleged attack on Camp Sovereignty stoked a fear of personal safety within Indigenous Australians, who feel that they will not be protected in the event of an incident.

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13YARN has recorded increased demand year-on-year – a trend that is only expected to continue.

The Productivity Commission's Closing the Gap report in July found that the rates of suicide among Indigenous Australians had worsened, with 30.8 people per 100,000 taking their own lives in 2023.

Suicide accounted for about 20 per cent of deaths among Indigenous Australians under 24 between 2019 and 2023, and the leading cause of death for Indigenous children, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. 

Anderson said the crisis support hotline is "really critical" for the community. 

"It's often the last point of call for people. We have people out in the community coming up and saying we saved their lives," she said.

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13YARN is working to get federal government support to create a text and webchat service, particularly for young people and those in domestic violence situations to access help.

"Our youth won't ring a line, but they'll text for help," Anderson said.

"Let's face it, you could be sitting on the other end of the lounge from a young person, and they'll text you rather than talk to you."

The service is also trying to secure more funding to hire more staff to keep up with the increasing demand.

"We are victims of our own success, but we will always make sure that those lines get answered," Anderson said.

For 24/7 crisis support run by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, contact 13YARN (13 92 76).

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Three Head Hunters-affiliated defendants allegedly lured him to a 3m-deep hole.

MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi is reportedly facing a suspension motion.

Warning: This story contains content that some readers may find disturbing.

A killer was motivated by male entitlement, jealousy and rage when he strangled his ex-girlfriend and then burnt her remains in remote bushland, a prosecutor says.

Hannah McGuire had the right to leave Lachlan Young after months of abusive and controlling behaviour, crown prosecutor Kristie Churchill told the Victorian Supreme Court today.

Instead of accepting the relationship was over, Young murdered the 23-year-old woman because he could not stand to see her living a life without him.

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"He attacked and killed Ms McGuire in her own home," Ms Churchill said.

"Her final moments must have been filled with terror."

Young, 23, initially denied he murdered Ms McGuire, arguing her April 2024 death was a spontaneous incident.

But after eight days of evidence at trial, he admitted he strangled her in the bathroom of their Sebastopol home about 2.30am on April 5.

He then shoved her body into the footwell of her Mitsubishi Triton, drove it to remote bushland in Scarsdale and set the vehicle alight.

As he left the scene, Young used Ms McGuire's phone to send messages to her mother Debbie, claiming she was going to take her life.

He then transferred $2000 from Ms McGuire's bank account to her mother and $5000 to himself.

Young's barrister Glenn Casement conceded the actions after the murder were callous, but argued they were amateurish and a sign of his immaturity.

Ms Churchill rejected that submission today.

"It cannot simply be explained by his youth or lack of education," she told the court.

"They are the actions of someone who is cold, calculated and remorseless."

She pointed to the grief of Ms McGuire's family, friends and colleagues, noting Young had also robbed them of the chance to say a proper goodbye.

"He disregarded her dignity while also eradicating any evidence," Ms Churchill said.

"He engaged in a series of acts to avoid responsibility and attempted to lay the blame of Hannah McGuire's death at her own feet."

The prosecutor outlined the concerning rates of family violence in Victoria, stating such crimes warranted significant condemnation and punishment.

She outlined the abuse Ms McGuire experienced in the lead up to her death and the fact there was an active intervention order in place at the time.

Ms Churchill called on Justice James Elliott to impose a lengthy prison sentence, arguing Young's moral culpability was high.

"He was motivated by male entitlement, jealousy and rage," she said.

Mr Casement told the court Young's youth needed to be considered in sentencing, as well as his troubled upbringing, substance abuse issues and poor mental health.

He conceded the only evidence of remorse was his client's guilty plea and a note from Young's sister in her letter of reference.

Ms McGuire's parents Debbie and Glenn wiped away tears as Justice Elliott held a minute's silence for their daughter during the plea hearing.

Young, who was seated in the back of the Ballarat courtroom, kept his head down during the moment of reflection.

Justice Elliott did not set a day down for the sentencing hearing, instead indicating he would need some time to consider all of the material.

Young was remanded in custody.

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New buildings in Australia's largest city will be required to be fully electrified following a successful council motion outlawing the installation of gas appliances.

The new planning controls were given final endorsement by the City of Sydney Council yesterday.

The council had restricted indoor gas appliances, like stoves and heaters, in new homes earlier this year.

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But the updated controls, which come into effect on January 1, 2027, will include all outdoor gas appliances as well, and apply to not just houses and apartments, but also medium and large commercial buildings, hotels and serviced apartments.

Industrial and existing buildings will be exempt from the new mandate, while kitchens in mixed-use developments impacted by the rules will be allowed to use gas, as long as they have the capacity to be fully electrified in the future.

Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore said that the reforms would not only improve residents' health – gas stoves, for example, have been found to be responsible for 12 per cent of Australian childhood asthma cases – but also save them money.

"Relying on gas is bad for the planet, bad for our finances and bad for our health," she said.

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"Creating more energy-efficient, healthier buildings which will meet future energy standards and avoid expensive retrofitting is an obvious next step…

"The reality is gas is an expensive commodity that is forecast to go up in price. 

"These measures will spare households from being locked into increasingly expensive and outdated gas contracts."

The council received dozens of submissions about the reforms, which it said were mostly supportive.

"The move has been met with broad approval from a diverse variety of stakeholders," Moore said.

"Industry bodies from Ausgrid to the Property Council have endorsed the move, reflecting a broad community consensus on the need to end our reliance on gas."

The ban is far from the first of its kind in Australia – Victoria and the ACT outlawed gas connections in new homes in 2024, while fellow councils in Sydney, including Waverley and Parramatta, have also made similar moves.

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