Domestic

In order to make way for President Trump’s new ballroom, the East Wing of the White House is now gone. The project is expected to cost $300 million. The East Wing housed a visitor’s entrance, a movie theater and offices, primarily for the First Lady and her staff. The modern-day East Wing was constructed in 1942 and faced criticism for being an unnecessary expenditure. Now, its demolition is being criticized for being too hasty. The East Room (now demolished) was the largest room in the White House and was able to seat only about 200, forcing Presidents to host large events outdoors. The new 90,000 square foot ballroom is expected to seat well over 650 people and will be privately funded.

On Tuesday, Adobe announced several updates to its products, with a heavy emphasis on its AI tool, Firefly. Now, Firefly has support for custom AI models, additional image editing features and the ability to generate soundtracks and speech. Generate Soundtrack will take an uploaded video and suggest a prompt to use to create the soundtrack. Generate Speech can take text and transform it into spoken words, with the ability to add different emotions to specific parts. A new, web-based video editor with Firefly integration has also been announced and is in private beta.

International

Hurricane Melissa is bringing destruction as a Category 5 hurricane to Jamaica and parts of the Caribbean, with wind speeds as high as 185 mph. The storm is slow moving, which will lead to extensive flooding and around 3ft of rainfall. Jamaica’s Prime Minister, Andrew Holness, said he wasn’t certain if there was “any infrastructure within this region that could withstand” the storm. Officials expect around 50,000 to be displaced, but just under 15,000 individuals had evacuated to shelters. Hurricane Melissa marks the first time a Category 5 hurricane will hit modern-day Jamaica. The hurricane will then head towards Cuba, where a storm surge of several feet is expected.

A Picasso work titled “Bust of a Woman with a Flowered Hat” recently sold for $37 million. The painting depicts Picasso’s partner, Dora Maar, and was painted as the relationship came to an end. First purchased in 1944, the artwork has remained in a family collection until now, with a black-and-white photograph being the only public representation of it in the general artistic sphere. The piece was auctioned off at the Hôtel Drouot auction venue in Paris and was the priciest artwork sold in France this year.