Powerful Typhoon Headed for North Philippines Strengthens

Waves crashes into road on coastline during heavy storm in Polillo, Quezon Province, Philippines September 25, 2022 in this still image obtained from a video. (Lgu Polillo Handout via Reuters)
Waves crashes into road on coastline during heavy storm in Polillo, Quezon Province, Philippines September 25, 2022 in this still image obtained from a video. (Lgu Polillo Handout via Reuters)
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Powerful Typhoon Headed for North Philippines Strengthens

Waves crashes into road on coastline during heavy storm in Polillo, Quezon Province, Philippines September 25, 2022 in this still image obtained from a video. (Lgu Polillo Handout via Reuters)
Waves crashes into road on coastline during heavy storm in Polillo, Quezon Province, Philippines September 25, 2022 in this still image obtained from a video. (Lgu Polillo Handout via Reuters)

A powerful typhoon shifted and abruptly gained strength in an “explosive intensification” Sunday as it blew closer to the northeastern Philippines, prompting evacuations from high-risk villages and even the capital, which could be sideswiped by the storm, officials said.

Typhoon Noru was swirling at sea about 115 kilometers (71 miles) east of Infanta town in Quezon province with sustained winds of 195 kilometers (121 miles per hour) and gusts of up to 240 kph (149 mph) at mid-afternoon. Forecasters expect it to smash into the coast later Sunday.

While blowing toward the archipelago, Noru shifted southward as it was pushed down by a high-pressure area to its north. It gained considerable strength, transforming from a storm that had sustained winds of 85 kph (53 mph) Saturday into a super typhoon just 24 hours later in an “explosive intensification” at sea, Vicente Malano, who heads the country’s weather agency, told The Associated Press.

Thousands of villagers were evacuated — some forcibly — from the typhoon’s path, as well as from mountainside villages prone to landslides and flash floods and in coastal communities that could be hit by tidal surges as high as 3 meters (about 10 feet) in Quezon province, including Polillo island and nearby Aurora province.

“The combined effects of storm surge and high waves breaking along the coast may cause life-threatening and damaging inundation or flooding,” the weather agency warned.

Melchor Avenilla Jr., who heads Quezon’s disaster-response office, said law enforcers were under orders to forcibly move people who refuse to leave their homes.

“But so far we’ve been able to do this by just appealing to people,” Avenilla told The AP by phone from Quezon.

Several provinces and cities, including the densely populated capital Manila, suspended classes and government work Sunday and Monday. The typhoon’s eye could pass about 40 to 50 kilometers (25 to 30 miles) from the Manila metropolis, “which is nearly a direct hit,” Malano said.

Fishing boats and inter-island and cargo ferries were restricted to port as a precaution, the coast guard said, stranding cargo trucks and more than 2,500 passengers in provinces expected to be affected by the typhoon.

More than 30 flights at Manila’s airport, mostly bound for domestic destinations, were canceled.

The typhoon is predicted to barrel through the main Luzon Island overnight before starting to blow away into the South China Sea on Monday, forecasters said.

About 20 storms and typhoons batter the Philippines each year. The archipelago also lies in the “Pacific Ring of Fire,” a region along most of the Pacific Ocean rim where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur, making the Southeast Asian nation one of the world’s most disaster-prone.

In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest recorded tropical cyclones in the world, left more than 7,300 people dead or missing, flattened entire villages, swept ships inland and displaced more than 5 million in the central Philippines — well to the south of Noru’s path.



IAEA Pulls Inspectors from Iran as Standoff over Access Drags on

FILE PHOTO: nternational Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi waits for an emergency meeting of the agency’s Board of Governors to discuss the situation in Iran following the US attacks on the country’s nuclear facilities, at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Austria, June 23, 2025. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: nternational Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi waits for an emergency meeting of the agency’s Board of Governors to discuss the situation in Iran following the US attacks on the country’s nuclear facilities, at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Austria, June 23, 2025. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl/File Photo
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IAEA Pulls Inspectors from Iran as Standoff over Access Drags on

FILE PHOTO: nternational Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi waits for an emergency meeting of the agency’s Board of Governors to discuss the situation in Iran following the US attacks on the country’s nuclear facilities, at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Austria, June 23, 2025. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: nternational Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi waits for an emergency meeting of the agency’s Board of Governors to discuss the situation in Iran following the US attacks on the country’s nuclear facilities, at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Austria, June 23, 2025. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl/File Photo

The UN nuclear watchdog said on Friday it had pulled its last remaining inspectors from Iran as a standoff over their return to the country's nuclear facilities bombed by the United States and Israel deepens.

Israel launched its first military strikes on Iran's nuclear sites in a 12-day war three weeks ago. The International Atomic Energy Agency's inspectors have not been able to inspect Iran's facilities since then, even though IAEA chief Rafael Grossi has said that is his top priority.

Iran's parliament has now passed a law to suspend cooperation with the IAEA until the safety of its nuclear facilities can be guaranteed. While the IAEA says Iran has not yet formally informed it of any suspension, it is unclear when the agency's inspectors will be able to return to Iran.

"An IAEA team of inspectors today safely departed from Iran to return to the Agency headquarters in Vienna, after staying in Tehran throughout the recent military conflict," the IAEA said on X.

According to Reuters, diplomats said the number of IAEA inspectors in Iran was reduced to a handful after the June 13 start of the war. Some have also expressed concern about the inspectors' safety since the end of the conflict, given fierce criticism of the agency by Iranian officials and Iranian media.

Iran has accused the agency of effectively paving the way for the bombings by issuing a damning report on May 31 that led to a resolution by the IAEA's 35-nation Board of Governors declaring Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi has said he stands by the report. He has denied it provided diplomatic cover for military action.

IAEA WANTS TALKS

Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Thursday Iran remained committed to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

"(Grossi) reiterated the crucial importance of the IAEA discussing with Iran modalities for resuming its indispensable monitoring and verification activities in Iran as soon as possible," the IAEA said.

The US and Israeli military strikes either destroyed or badly damaged Iran's three uranium enrichment sites. But it was less clear what has happened to much of Iran's nine tons of enriched uranium, especially the more than 400 kg enriched to up to 60% purity, a short step from weapons grade.

That is enough, if enriched further, for nine nuclear weapons, according to an IAEA yardstick. Iran says its aims are entirely peaceful but Western powers say there is no civil justification for enriching to such a high level, and the IAEA says no country has done so without developing the atom bomb.

As a party to the NPT, Iran must account for its enriched uranium, which normally is closely monitored by the IAEA, the body that enforces the NPT and verifies countries' declarations. But the bombing of Iran's facilities has now muddied the waters.

"We cannot afford that .... the inspection regime is interrupted," Grossi told a press conference in Vienna last week.