A sub-tropical storm over the Atlantic has become a hurricane, the first in January in the region since 1938.
The US National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said the storm – “Alex” – was 785 miles south-west of the Azores, an archipelago in the mid-Atlantic belonging to Portugal with winds up to 85 miles per hour.
Storm Alex is moving north-east and is expected to hit the Azores on Friday, prompting a hurricane warning.
It is one of the earliest tropical systems to form in the Atlantic Hurricane Basin since records began.
Taiwan National Day Celebration