In the day's other headlines, Hurricane Rafael has left a trail of destruction in Cuba, where the storm knocked out the country's power grid, leaving millions of residents in the dark.

Raphael slammed into Cuba as a Category 3 storm yesterday, lashing the island with winds and rain.

Today, the damage to Cuba's already vulnerable power grid became clear with down trees and

mangled power lines. The island had already suffered repeated blackouts in recent weeks

amid an ongoing power crisis. Officials and residents alike fear Rafael will only set them

back further. It seems like this is going to last for days now because we are in a difficult situation

due to the power plants. Now it's even worse with the hurricane.

Raphael is expected to keep weakening as it works its way west towards Mexico. The

forecasters say there is uncertainty over the storm's future direction.

In California, the mountain fire northwest of Los Angeles has exploded 15 times in size since yesterday,

burning more than 30 square miles and threatening entire communities.

More than 10,000 people are under evacuation orders, and more than 3,500 structures are at risk.

Hundreds of firefighters are battling the fast-moving blaze, but wind gusts above 50 miles an hour have made containment difficult,

carrying embers and fanning the flames. Forecasters say those high winds should die down significantly by tonight.

Climate scientists say this year is virtually certain to be the hottest year on record for the second year in a row.

Europe's Copernicus Climate Change Service also said today that this will be the first year the planet is more than 1.5 degrees Celsius hotter than it was before the

Industrial Revolution. That's about 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit. The head of the agency says

climate change is to blame. And today's report comes ahead of next week's United Nations

COP 29 Climate Summit in Azerbaijan, where countries will work to increase funding to address climate change.

Dozens of European leaders gathered in Hungary today where they pushed for a regional defense strategy that is less dependent on U.S. support.

Leaders at the European Political Community Summit stressed the need to rethink their transatlantic relationships

following Donald Trump's election victory on Wednesday morning.

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