Hurricane Ivan heads for US

Hurricane Ivan slammed into Cuba’s sparsely populated western tip with the worst of its 160mph (257kph) eyewall, strengthened to a storm of catastrophic strength after it smashed giant waves on to Grand Cayman island and readied to attack the Gulf of Mexico and US oil interests.

Ivan, one of the fiercest storms ever recorded in the region, smashed away part of a hotel on Cayman’s famed Seven Mile Beach.