Emergency, Evacuations in Parts of Russia's Far East in Typhoon Aftermath

As the typhoon crossed the Russian continent over 32 settlements were cut off, 543 residential houses and large swathes of roads were flooded in the Russian Far East by Saturday morning. (AP)
As the typhoon crossed the Russian continent over 32 settlements were cut off, 543 residential houses and large swathes of roads were flooded in the Russian Far East by Saturday morning. (AP)
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Emergency, Evacuations in Parts of Russia's Far East in Typhoon Aftermath

As the typhoon crossed the Russian continent over 32 settlements were cut off, 543 residential houses and large swathes of roads were flooded in the Russian Far East by Saturday morning. (AP)
As the typhoon crossed the Russian continent over 32 settlements were cut off, 543 residential houses and large swathes of roads were flooded in the Russian Far East by Saturday morning. (AP)

A state of emergency was declared and evacuations ordered in parts of Russia's Far East on Saturday after heavy downpours flooded villages in the aftermath of Typhoon Khanun that pummelled Japan earlier this week, local authorities said.
After lashing southern Japan, Khanun weakened to a tropical depression as it crossed into North Korea on Friday from South Korea, Reuters said.
In the Russian Far East, a region in the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent, 32 settlements were cut off, 543 houses and large stretches of roads were flooded by Saturday morning, said authorities in the Primorye region.
Evacuations were in place in the cities of Ussuriysk and Spassk-Dalny in Primorye, the region of which the port of Vladivostok is the administrative center.
"The water is quickly rising in the riverside parts of the (Spassk-Dalny) city," the Primorye government said on the Telegram messaging app, showing a video of swaths of land and buildings partially submerged.
The Spassovka and Kuleshovka rivers cross the territory of Spassk-Dalny, a city of just over 44,000 people.
Evacuations were also in place of parts of Ussuriysk, a city of more than 150,000 people about 100 km (60 miles) north of Vladivostok, where a dam built to contain floods was breached, officials said.
A state of emergency was declared in nine municipalities in Primorye, the region's government said.
Double the normal monthly rainfall has been forecast for some areas of the region through the weekend.



Macron Speeds up Rafale Warplane Orders as France Invests in Nuclear Deterrence

France's President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech in front of a Dassault Rafale (R) and A Dassault Mirage 2000 fighter aircraft during his visit of the French Air and Space Force (Armee de l'air et de l'espace) Luxeuil-Saint-Sauveur Airbase in Saint-Sauveur, north-eastern France on March 18, 2025. (AFP)
France's President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech in front of a Dassault Rafale (R) and A Dassault Mirage 2000 fighter aircraft during his visit of the French Air and Space Force (Armee de l'air et de l'espace) Luxeuil-Saint-Sauveur Airbase in Saint-Sauveur, north-eastern France on March 18, 2025. (AFP)
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Macron Speeds up Rafale Warplane Orders as France Invests in Nuclear Deterrence

France's President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech in front of a Dassault Rafale (R) and A Dassault Mirage 2000 fighter aircraft during his visit of the French Air and Space Force (Armee de l'air et de l'espace) Luxeuil-Saint-Sauveur Airbase in Saint-Sauveur, north-eastern France on March 18, 2025. (AFP)
France's President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech in front of a Dassault Rafale (R) and A Dassault Mirage 2000 fighter aircraft during his visit of the French Air and Space Force (Armee de l'air et de l'espace) Luxeuil-Saint-Sauveur Airbase in Saint-Sauveur, north-eastern France on March 18, 2025. (AFP)

President Emmanuel Macron said France would order additional Rafale warplanes in the coming years and invest nearly 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion) into one of its air bases to equip its squadrons with the latest nuclear missile technology.

Jolted by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and US President Donald Trump's more confrontational stance towards traditional Western allies, European countries are hiking defense spending and seeking to reduce dependence on the United States.

Macron, who has initiated a doubling of the French defense budget over the course of his two mandates, has recently set an even higher target, saying the country should increase defense spending to 3-3.5% of economic output from the current 2%.

He has also offered to extend the protection of France's nuclear weapons, the so-called nuclear umbrella, to other European countries.

"We haven't waited for 2022 or the turning point we're seeing right now to discover that the world we live in is ever more dangerous, ever more uncertain, and that it implies to innovate, to bulk up and to become more autonomous," he said.

"I will announce in the coming weeks new investments to go further than what was done over the past seven years," he told soldiers at one of the country's historical air bases in Luxeuil, eastern France.

Macron said he had decided to turn the base, famed in military circles as the home of American volunteer pilots during World War One, into one of its most advanced bases in its nuclear deterrence program.

The base will host the latest Rafale S5 fighter jets, which will carry France's next-generation ASN4G hypersonic nuclear-armed cruise missiles, which are intended to be operational from 2035 onwards, French officials said.

The French air force will also receive additional Dassault-made Rafale warplanes, in part to replace the Mirage jets France has transferred to Ukraine, Macron said.

"We are going to increase and accelerate our orders for Rafales," he said.

French officials said the 1.5 billion euros were part of the already approved multi-year military spending plan. It remained unclear how France would finance a massive hike in military spending at a time it is trying to reduce its budget deficit.

Macron's speech comes on the day the German parliament approved a massive increase in military spending.