Hurricane Felix gathers strength

Hurricane Felix gathered strength early today and became a Category 2 storm, the US National Hurricane Center said. It was forecast to pass just north of the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba.

Felix was upgraded from a tropical storm to a Category 1 hurricane on Saturday evening, becoming the second Atlantic hurricane of the season. By today, it had sustained maximum winds of about 100mph and threatened to become a major hurricane as the day went on, the centre said.