approaches

More than 70,000 people ordered to leave their homes as forecasters warn of torrential rains, strong winds and storm surges.

Thousands of people have been ordered to evacuate from coastal areas in the eastern Philippines before Typhoon Kalmaegi’s expected landfall.

Forecasters have warned of torrential rains, storm surges of up to 3 metres (10ft) and wind gusts of up to 150km/h (93mph) as the centre of the storm was expected to come ashore on Monday.

More than 70,000 people in the coastal towns of Guiuan and Salcedo on Samar Island and Mercedes in Camarines Norte province were ordered to move to evacuation centres or buildings certified as sturdy enough to withstand the impact of the typhoon. Authorities also prohibited fishermen from venturing out to sea in the east-central region.

The storm is predicted to make landfall in either Guiuan or nearby municipalities.

Guiuan is no stranger to typhoons. It was badly hit in November 2013 when one of the most powerful tropical cyclones on record smashed into the Philippines. The storm left more than 7,300 people dead or missing and displaced over four million people.

Human-driven climate change

Kalmaegi is forecast to travel westwards overnight before hitting central island provinces on Tuesday. This includes Cebu, which is still recovering from a magnitude 6.9 earthquake in September.

The Philippines is battered by about 20 typhoons and storms annually, and scientists are warning that they are becoming more powerful due to human-driven climate change.

The archipelago was hit by two major storms in September, including Super Typhoon Ragasa, which toppled trees, tore the roofs off buildings and killed 14 people in neighbouring Taiwan.

The Philippines is also regularly shaken by earthquakes and has more than a dozen active volcanoes, making it one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries.

The country is hit by some 20 storms and typhoons a year, striking disaster-prone areas where millions live in poverty.

Thousands of residents of a Philippine island have fled their homes along the Pacific coast as weather experts warned of coastal flooding ahead of the approach of Tropical Storm Fengshen, rescue officials said.

The eye of the storm was forecast to brush past Catanduanes, an impoverished island of 270,000 people, later on Saturday with gusts of up to 80km/h (50mph).

Fengshen will bring heavy rainfall, along with a “minimal to moderate risk” of coastal flooding from 1.2-metre (3.2-foot) waves being pushed ashore, the government weather service said.

More than 9,000 residents of Catanduanes moved to safer ground, the provincial disaster office said, in an often-repeated drill on the island that has previously been the first major landmass hit by cyclones that form in the western Pacific Ocean.

The Catanduanes provincial government ordered local officials to “activate their respective evacuation plans” for residents of “high-risk areas”, including the coast, low-lying communities and landslide-prone slopes, rescue official Gerry Rubio told the AFP news agency.

The Philippines is hit by an average of 20 storms and typhoons each year, striking disaster-prone areas where millions of impoverished people live.

Scientists warn that storms are becoming more powerful as the planet warms due to human-driven climate change.

Fengshen comes as the country is still reeling from a series of major earthquakes and typhoons that killed dozens of people in recent weeks.

Earlier this month, at least 79 people were killed in a magnitude 6.9 earthquake in Cebu province in the central Philippines.

Days later, another earthquake struck, this time a magnitude 7.4 off the coast of the southern Philippines, killing at least six people and triggering a second, magnitude 6.9 quake later in the day. Tsunami warnings were issued after each earthquake.

In late September, several people were killed and thousands were evacuated from villages and schools in the northern Philippines, while offices were closed, as Typhoon Ragasa struck.

Aug. 8 (UPI) — Texas Democrat elected officials who fled the state to prevent redistricting face Gov. Greg Abbot’s deadline Friday to return to the state.

The Texas House of Representatives will reconvene at 2 p.m. EDT Friday, and there would need to be at least 12 Democrats to have a quorum.

In a call with reporters, Texas Democratic Rep. Armando Walle, D-Houston, said he believed the majority of his colleagues are still committed to staying out of state until the end of session.

Texas Republicans seek to redraw the state’s maps to add five Republican House seats, an effort Democrats are blocking by fleeing the state to deny the Texas House the two-thirds quorum necessary.

Critics of the new maps said Republicans are seeking to increase Republican seats in the House through racial gerrymandering that reduces the voting power of people of color in the state.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said he’ll go to court to try to remove the Democrats from office if they refuse to return. Gov. Greg Abbott, R, has sued the Democratic leader of the state House, Gene Wu, D-Houston, to have him removed.

Wu responded on CNN: “This is not my seat, and it’s sure as hell not Gov. Abbott’s seat. This seat belongs to the people of the state of Texas, and I’ve taken multiple oaths to defend them and protect them at any cost. … I have an obligation to stop [the redistricting] using every legal means necessary.”

Wu is required to respond Friday to the lawsuit before the Republican-dominated state Supreme Court.

The redistricting fight is going nationwide, with Republicans targeting Republican-heavy states with redistricting at the urging of President Donald Trump, who is concerned about the 2026 midterm elections.

Thursday, JD Vance visited Indianapolis to discuss redistricting in Indiana with Gov. Mike Braun. Republicans are also eyeing Ohio, where a state law requires the maps to be redrawn, and Missouri, for more seats. Democratic governors in California, Illinois, New York and other states are threatening to retaliate with their own redistricting.

Abbott said Friday if the Democrats don’t return to Texas soon, his party might draw a map that is even more GOP-friendly.

“If they don’t start showing up, I may start expanding,” Abbott said on the “Ruthless” podcast, a Fox News-owned conservative show. “We may make it six or seven or eight new seats we’re going to be adding on the Republican side.”

The coming week could bring an important moment in the war between Russia and Ukraine, as President Trump’s deadline for the Kremlin to reach a peace deal approaches — or it could simply melt away.

Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff was expected in Moscow in the middle of this week, just before Trump’s Friday deadline for the Kremlin to stop the killing or face potentially severe economic penalties from Washington.

Previous Trump promises, threats and cajoling have failed to yield results., and the stubborn diplomatic stalemate will be hard to clear away. Meanwhile, Ukraine is losing more territory on the front line, although there is no sign of a looming collapse of its defenses.

Trump envoy expected at Kremlin

Witkoff was expected to land in the Russian capital on Wednesday or Thursday, according to Trump, following his trip to Israel and Gaza.

“They would like to see” Witkoff, Trump said Sunday of the Russians. “They’ve asked that he meet so we’ll see what happens.”

Trump, exasperated that Russian President Vladimir Putin hasn’t heeded his calls to stop bombing Ukrainian cities, a week ago moved up his ultimatum to impose additional sanctions on Russia as well as introduce secondary tariffs targeting countries that buy Russian oil, including China and India.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that officials are happy to meet with Trump’s envoy. “We are always glad to see Mr. Witkoff in Moscow,” he said. “We consider [talks with Witkoff] important, substantive and very useful.”

Trump not sure sanctions will work

Trump said Sunday that Russia has proved to be “pretty good at avoiding sanctions.”

“They’re wily characters,” he said of the Russians.

The Kremlin has insisted that international sanctions imposed since its February 2022 invasion of its neighbor have had a limited impact.

Ukraine insists the sanctions are taking their toll on Moscow’s war machine and wants Western allies to ramp them up. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday urged the United States, Europe and other nations to impose stronger secondary sanctions on Moscow’s energy, trade and banking sectors.

Trump’s comments appeared to signal he doesn’t have much hope that sanctions will force Putin’s hand.

The secondary sanctions also complicate Washington’s relations with China and India, who stand accused of helping finance Russia’s war effort by buying its oil.

Since taking office in January, Trump has found that stopping the war is harder than he perhaps imagined.

Senior American officials have warned that the U.S. could walk away from the conflict if peace efforts make no progress.

Putin shows no signs of concessions

The diplomatic atmosphere has become more heated as Trump’s deadline approaches.

Putin announced last Friday that Russia’s new hypersonic missile, the Oreshnik, has entered service.

The Russian leader has hailed its capabilities, saying its multiple warheads that plunge to a target at speeds of up to Mach 10 cannot be intercepted. They are so powerful, he said, that the use of several of them in one conventional strike could be as devastating as a nuclear attack.

Also, one of Putin’s top lieutenants warned that the Ukraine war could nudge Russia and the U.S. into armed conflict.

Trump responded to what he called the “highly provocative statements” by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev by ordering the repositioning of two U.S. nuclear submarines.

Putin has repeated the same message throughout the war: He will only accept a settlement on his terms and will keep fighting until they’re met.

Thousands of troops, civilians have died

Russia’s relentless pounding of urban areas behind the front line have killed more than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians, according to the United Nations. It has pushed on with that tactic despite Trump’s public calls for it to stop over the past three months.

On the 620-mile front line, Russia’s bigger army has made slow and costly progress. It is carrying out a sustained operation to take the eastern city of Pokrovsk, a key logistical hub whose fall could open the way for a deeper drive into Ukraine.

Ukraine has developed technology that has allowed it to launch long-range drone attacks deep inside Russia. In its latest strike it hit an oil depot near Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi, starting a major fire.

Aug. 3 (UPI) — Groups around the world will gather this week to commemorate the Aug. 6th bombing of Hiroshima, a nuclear attack that killed 200,000 Japanese people 80 years ago.

Events, prayer gatherings and services memorializing the bombings of Hiroshima and, three days later, Nagasaki, range from an event at a small library in Kansas and a gathering at a church in Spokane, Wash. to a series of reflection ceremonies in the Northeast and a ceremony in a park in a North Carolina park.

Japan exited World War II within days of the Hiroshima bombing, an event that changed the rules of war and elicited shock and disbelief on the global stage. The Hiroshima bombing marked the first occasion that a nuclear weapon had been used on a large scale, and raised questions about human rights and what constituted fair rules of engagement.

The bombongs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki started a nuclear arms race that accelerated over the decades and remains a constant today.

Recent data from the Pew Research Center shows a third of Americans feel that dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was justified while nearly the same number said it was not. Another third said they are unsure if the drastic measures were warranted.

Many of the deaths were instantaneous. Other people died years later as a result of exposure to nuclear radiation, researchers have said.

Published on
10/07/2025 – 17:38 GMT+2

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The EU expects trade relations with the US to remain difficult, even once a principle agreement is reached to resolve the tariff dispute between the two transatlantic partners, according to EU diplomats.

“We are working non-stop to find an initial agreement with the US – to keep tariffs as low as possible, and to provide the stability that businesses need,” Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday, adding: “But we are also not naïve. We know the relationship with the US may not return to what it once was.”

The EU is awaiting a decision from US President Donald Trump, who has an EU-US trade agreement on his desk with a view to resolve the tariff dispute that has been ongoing since mid-March, according to remarks by his trade secretary Howard Lutnick in the US media.

The US currently imposes 50% tariffs on EU steel and aluminium, 25% on cars and 10% on all EU imports.

But though a framework agreementnow appears within reach, that will only constitute a first step toward a more comprehensive trade deal, and what comes next is causing concern among Europeans.

Having long advocated a zero-rated tariff offer on all industrial goods from both sides of the Atlantic, the Commission has now settled on a baseline tariff rate of 10% on EU goods arriving in the US. Exemptions may apply to aircraft and spirits, but progress on negotiations on other strategic sectors—such as cars, aluminium, steel, and pharmaceuticals—remains faltering.

The EU diplomat said that member states will not be satisfied with the agreement in principle said now to be in reach.

“Most people expect a deal, but if there’s a deal that doesn’t bring us to a better place from a European perspective than where we were before, we’ll have increased tariffs, it will affect negatively trade between the EU and the US,” he said.

Another EU diplomat predicted difficult negotiations among the 27 EU countries. Once the agreement in principle is approved, each country will take out its calculator to assess how its economy is affected, and what will need to be negotiated in a more comprehensive agreement to limit the negative impact on its trade.

In the short term, tensions could be high over whether the EU should implement the €21 billion retaliation list targeting US products, which has been suspended until July 14. Some countries, like Germany and Italy—highly exposed to trade with the US—favour a flexible, non-escalatory approach. Others, like France, want to show strength.

A second retaliation list is also reportedly ready. According to diplomats, the amount proposed by the Commission—€95 billion worth of US products—has been reduced. However, the Commission said that its implementation has not yet been determined.

The United States National Hurricane Center has warned of the risk of ‘life-threatening flooding and mudslides’.

Hurricane Erick has become an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 storm, hours before it is expected to pummel Mexico’s Pacific coastline, the United States National Hurricane Center (NHC) has said.

In its latest bulletin, the meteorological centre said Erick could grow even more powerful before making landfall in the eastern part of Guerrero state and the western part of Oaxaca state on Thursday morning.

The major storm, which is travelling to the northwest at a rate of 15km/h (nine mph), will unleash destructive winds, flash floods and a dangerous storm surge, forecasters have predicted.

As it neared Mexico, the NHC reported that the hurricane’s maximum sustained winds had increased to about 230km/h (145mph), putting it within the Category 4 wind speed range of 209-251km/h (130-156mph).

The NHC warned that Erick could unleash up to 16 inches (40cm) of rain on Oaxaca and Guerrero, bringing the risk of “life-threatening flooding and mudslides, especially in areas of steep terrain”.

The Mexican states of Chiapas, Michoacan, Colima and Jalisco could also be hit by up to 6 inches of rainfall, the Miami-based centre added.

Late on Wednesday, Erick’s projected path was revised, as it is headed closer to the resort city of Puerto Escondido in Oaxaca. A hurricane warning is in place for the entire coastal area between Acapulco and Puerto Angel.

Mexican authorities have scrambled to prepare residents and tourists ahead of Erick’s arrival. In a video message on Wednesday night, President Claudia Sheinbaum urged people to stay at home or move to shelters if they were in low-lying areas.

Some 2,000 temporary shelters have been set up in the states of Chiapas, Guerrero and Oaxaca to house those who have to leave their homes.

Meanwhile, Guerrero Governor Evelyn Salgado said that schools in her state would stay closed, and that fishing and tourism operators had been told to make their boats storm ready.

Residents in the Guerrero resort of Acapulco were among those steeling themselves for Erick’s landfall.

The city of almost one million people was devastated in October 2023 by Hurricane Otis, which killed at least 52 people and destroyed many homes and businesses.

Carlos Ozuna Romero, 51, lost his restaurant at the edge of an Acapulco beach in the 2023 hurricane. On Wednesday, he oversaw workers as they stored tables and chairs in preparation for the new storm.

“Authorities’ warnings fill us with fear and obviously make us remember everything we’ve already been through,” he said.

Elsewhere in the city, Veronica Gomez, a 40-year-old shipping company worker, suggested the city was much better prepared this time. “Now it’s not going to catch us by surprise,” she said.

Erick is likely to rapidly weaken as it reaches the mountains, and it is predicted to dissipate on Thursday night or early Friday, according to the NHC.

Erick is expected to rapidly intensify and reach major hurricane strength as it approaches Mexico’s coast.

Hurricane Erick is forecast to bring heavy rain, strong winds, storm surge and possible mudslides to southern coastal Mexico, the United States National Hurricane Center (NHC) has said, causing potential “life-threatening flooding and mudslides.”

Initially a tropical storm, Erick grew into a Category 1 hurricane on Wednesday, packing maximum sustained winds of 120km/h (75 mph), the meteorological centre said. It was located 255km (158 miles) from the town of Puerto Angel in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca.

“Rapid strengthening is expected today, and Erick may reach major hurricane strength when it approaches the coast of southern Mexico Thursday,” the NHC said.

Forecasts predicted rainfall across the Mexican states of Oaxaca and Guerrero, as well as less heavy rains for the states of Chiapas, Michoacan, Colima and Jalisco.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum urged the population to be alert.

The storm’s projected path would take its centre near the renowned resort of Acapulco, which was devastated in October 2023 by Hurricane Otis, a Category 5 hurricane that killed at least 52 people, and left a trail of destruction, after the storm severely damaged almost all of the resort’s hotels.

John, a Category 3 storm that hit in September last year, caused about 15 deaths.