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Philippines Evacuates 24,000 Ahead of Super Typhoon

Filipino villagers evacuate in the coastal municipality of Santa Ana, Cagayan province, Philippines, 14 November 2024. EPA/FRANCIS R. MALASIG
Filipino villagers evacuate in the coastal municipality of Santa Ana, Cagayan province, Philippines, 14 November 2024. EPA/FRANCIS R. MALASIG
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Philippines Evacuates 24,000 Ahead of Super Typhoon

Filipino villagers evacuate in the coastal municipality of Santa Ana, Cagayan province, Philippines, 14 November 2024. EPA/FRANCIS R. MALASIG
Filipino villagers evacuate in the coastal municipality of Santa Ana, Cagayan province, Philippines, 14 November 2024. EPA/FRANCIS R. MALASIG

Authorities in the Philippines on Thursday ordered evacuations in northeastern towns ahead of the arrival of Super Typhoon Usagi, as the storm-ravaged nation prepares for its fifth typhoon in a month and braces for a sixth later in the week.
More than 24,000 people in the province of Cagayan have been evacuated, government data showed, including those forced to flee by earlier typhoons that inundated their towns. Evacuation efforts are ongoing, Reuters reported.
Usagi, known locally as Ofel, is forecast to make landfall in the province on Thursday afternoon.
"We are expecting the Cagayan river to swell again because of rains brought by Usagi," said Rueli Rapsing, head of the Cagayan disaster relief office.
He added that central and southern parts of Cagayan were experiencing moderate to heavy rains, while other parts of the province had gusty winds of up to 100 kph (62 mph). Essential supplies like generators are ready in anticipation of power and communications blackouts from Usagi.
Another tropical storm, Man-yi, is approaching and forecast to hit the central Philippines on Saturday. All non-essential land travel in central provinces is discouraged, the transport ministry said in an advisory on Thursday.
About 20 tropical storms strike the Philippines each year on average, bringing heavy rains, strong winds and deadly landslides.
In October, Storm Trami and Kong-rey pounded the main island of Luzon, killing 159 people, with 22 still missing, data from the national disaster agency showed.

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World

Iran President Says Tehran Would ‘Immediately’ Reciprocate if US Returns to June Deal

Pedestrians walk past a wall mural along a street in downtown of Tehran on August 31, 2026. (AFP)
Pedestrians walk past a wall mural along a street in downtown of Tehran on August 31, 2026. (AFP)
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Iran President Says Tehran Would ‘Immediately’ Reciprocate if US Returns to June Deal

Pedestrians walk past a wall mural along a street in downtown of Tehran on August 31, 2026. (AFP)
Pedestrians walk past a wall mural along a street in downtown of Tehran on August 31, 2026. (AFP)

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tuesday that Tehran would "immediately" reciprocate if the United States returned to a June deal aimed at ending their war.

"I state explicitly that if the United States returns to its commitments under the aforementioned memorandum of understanding, Iran will immediately take reciprocal action," Pezeshkian said at a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Kyrgyzstan, according to the website of the Iranian presidency.

World

Report: Trump Considering Limited Strikes Against Iran in the Strait of Hormuz

US President Donald Trump, with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth at his side, speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One on a flight from Dover, Delaware, to Miami, Florida, US, March 7, 2026. (Reuters)
US President Donald Trump, with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth at his side, speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One on a flight from Dover, Delaware, to Miami, Florida, US, March 7, 2026. (Reuters)
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Report: Trump Considering Limited Strikes Against Iran in the Strait of Hormuz

US President Donald Trump, with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth at his side, speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One on a flight from Dover, Delaware, to Miami, Florida, US, March 7, 2026. (Reuters)
US President Donald Trump, with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth at his side, speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One on a flight from Dover, Delaware, to Miami, Florida, US, March 7, 2026. (Reuters)

US President Donald Trump and his senior aides have been considering launching limited strikes in the Strait of Hormuz to prevent Iran from reconstituting its radar and missile capabilities to attack ships, three US officials told Axios.

One official said the idea behind the plan is to reduce the risk of Iranian attacks on oil tankers, US Navy ships and Air Force aircraft — to “mow the lawn,” as this person put it.

The plan was developed over the past week by the US Central Command (CENTCOM) and supported by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who sent it to the White House several days ago, US officials said.

The officials said that last week the White House was leaning against approving the strikes to avoid escalating with Iran.

But Iran's ballistic missile attacks on US bases in Jordan on Sunday could change Trump's mind.

A US official told Axios that in recent days Iran launched an anti-aircraft missile toward a US F-35 fighter jet that was providing cover to ships in the strait.

While the missile didn't come close enough to be a threat, it was a signal that Iran is trying to reconstitute its military capacity, according to the US official.

CENTCOM told Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine and the White House in recent days that the military might need to strike Iran periodically in order to keep moving dozens of oil tankers out of the Gulf relatively safely every day.

The Axios report came after the US and Iran exchanged attacks in the first flare-up in violence since late July.

US forces struck two Iranian launchers on Iran's Larak Island on Sunday, a US official said, after “Revolutionary Guard Corps forces were observed preparing to launch rockets with sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz.”

Three people were killed in the attack, Iran's Tasnim news agency reported. The state-affiliated Nournews said two of them had been identified as members of the Revolutionary Guards Navy.

Larak is a small island in the strait near the strategic Iranian port of Bandar Abbas. The Strait of Hormuz, which normally handles a fifth of global crude oil and gas shipments, has been effectively blocked since the start of the war.

In a statement, the US Central Command said ⁠it had taken “limited, precise” action against minelaying forces of Iran's Revolutionary Guards that posed an “imminent threat” in the strait. It gave no details.

On Monday, Trump told Fox News that the US would hit Iran hard in retaliation for Tehran targeting US forces in Jordan.

“We're going to hit them hard,” Trump said. “There will be a response.”

A senior Iranian source to Reuters, “For every US attack on Iran, Tehran will respond dozens of times more forcefully, and no target in the region is beyond our reach.”

World

Nepal Rescuers Reach Remote Areas, Electricity Restored Nearly a Week After Devastating Floods

People scout for usable materials from debris after flash floods at Trishuli Center in Nepal's Nuwakot district on September 1, 2026. (AFP)
People scout for usable materials from debris after flash floods at Trishuli Center in Nepal's Nuwakot district on September 1, 2026. (AFP)
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Nepal Rescuers Reach Remote Areas, Electricity Restored Nearly a Week After Devastating Floods

People scout for usable materials from debris after flash floods at Trishuli Center in Nepal's Nuwakot district on September 1, 2026. (AFP)
People scout for usable materials from debris after flash floods at Trishuli Center in Nepal's Nuwakot district on September 1, 2026. (AFP)

Nepali rescuers built temporary bridges to reach remote areas and dug through the ruins of hydropower projects in the Himalayas to rescue close to 300 trapped workers, nearly a week after devastating floods left a trail of destruction across the country's towns and valleys.

About 600 people remain stuck in several devastated hydropower stations that have become the focus of rescue efforts, while Prime Minister Balendra Shah said over 11,000 people have been rescued across the affected region and power and communication lines had been restored in some areas.

At least 939 people have been killed in the destruction, Shah said ‌in a late-night ‌social media post.

"Thousands of citizens have lost their homes, families, loved ‌ones ⁠and property," he ⁠said.

"The government understands the immense pain they are enduring. The path ahead is to support them through this suffering and help them return to normal life through rehabilitation."

Rescue teams had managed to restore road networks to Nuwakot, one of the worst-affected districts, facilitating rescue operations and distribution of relief material, Shah said.

A glacier collapse triggered a deluge of ice, rock and mud which swept through the impoverished nation's border region with China, posing a massive challenge for Nepal's six-month-old government.

Police official Bipin ⁠Regmi said a search team recovered 24 bodies from a house ‌in Betrabati village in Nuwakot district.

"We are reaching ‌new areas and recovering bodies," Regmi told Reuters.

Aid worth more than $42 million had poured into the country after ‌the disaster, Shah said, and the government expected the contributions to increase.

Neighbors India and ‌China, between whom Nepal is wedged, were helping with rescue efforts, including building bailey bridges to reach remote affected areas.

RESCUE EFFORTS FOCUS ON HYDROPOWER STATIONS

Shah said 279 workers had been rescued from hydropower projects so far where authorities estimated that close to 1,000 people were trapped.

Pictures and videos shared by rescue ‌teams showed earth-moving equipment digging and shoveling mud and rocks under lights in the dark of the night as workers watched. Soldiers used ⁠torchlight in a ⁠big pit they had created to look for space to get into one tunnel.

There has been a boom in hydropower projects in Nepal since the turn of the century as the mountainous country sought to take advantage of its Himalayan water resources to address chronic domestic power shortages and exploit prospects for selling electricity to southern neighbor India.

Hydropower projects in Nepal's mountains need tunnels to carry water through the steep terrain, allowing developers to exploit the sharp elevation drop between Himalayan rivers and powerhouses to generate electricity.

CHINA BLAMES GLOBAL WARMING

Shah said the catastrophic event signaled the growing risks that the Himalayan region faces.

"The region must therefore remain vigilant. The time has come for us to strongly raise before the international community the disasters we are experiencing as a consequence of climate change," Shah said in his post.

Last week's flood was "caused by glacier instability under the long-term effects of global warming", China's state broadcaster said on Monday.