Tropical storm battering Philippines leaves at least 24 people dead in flooding and landslides

Tropical storm battering Philippines leaves at least 24 people dead in flooding and landslides
Philippine Coast Guard personnel rescue residents trapped on rooftops after flood waters rose from heavy rains brought by Tropical Storm Trami on Oct. 23, 2024. (Philippine Coast Guard via Reuters)
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Updated 24 October 2024
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Tropical storm battering Philippines leaves at least 24 people dead in flooding and landslides

Tropical storm battering Philippines leaves at least 24 people dead in flooding and landslides
  • Deaths mostly due to drowning in the hard-hit Bicol region and nearby Quezon province
  • Most of the storm deaths were reported in the six-province Bicol region, southeast of Manila

MANILA: Widespread flooding and landslides set off by a tropical storm in the northeastern Philippines on Thursday left at least 24 people dead, swept away cars and prompted authorities to scramble for motorboats to rescue trapped villagers, some on roofs.
The government shut down schools and offices — except those urgently needed for disaster response — for the second day on the entire main island of Luzon to protect millions of people after Tropical Storm Trami slammed into the country’s northeastern province of Isabela after midnight.
The storm was blowing over Aguinaldo town in the mountain province of Ifugao after dawn with sustained winds up to 95kph and gusts up to 160kph. It was blowing westward and was forecast to enter the South China Sea later on Thursday, according to state forecasters.
At least 24 people died, mostly due to drowning in the hard-hit Bicol region and nearby Quezon province but the toll was expected to rise as towns and villages isolated by flooding and roads blocked by landslides and toppled trees manage to send out reports, police and provincial officials said.
Most of the storm deaths were reported in the six-province Bicol region, southeast of Manila, where at least 20 people died, including 7 residents in Naga city, which was inundated by flash floods as Trami was approaching Tuesday, dumping more than two months’ worth of rainfall in just 24 hours at high tide, regional police chief Brig. Gen. Andre Dizon and other officials said.
While thousands of villagers, who were trapped in floodwaters, have been rescued by government forces, many more needed to be saved Thursday in the Bicol region, including some on roofs. About 1,500 police officers have been deployed for disaster-mitigation work, Dizon said.
“We can’t rescue them all at once because there are so many and we need additional motorboats,” Dizon told The Associated Press by telephone. “We’re looking for ways to deliver food and water to those who were trapped but could not be evacuated right away.”
Flash floods swept away and submerged cars in some parts of Naga city while mudflows from Mayon, one of the country’s 24 active volcanoes, in nearby Albay province, engulfed several vehicles, Dizon said.
Stormy weather remained in the region, hampering relief efforts, officials said.
The government’s disaster-mitigation agency said more than 2 million people were affected by the storm, including 75,400 villagers who were displaced from their homes and are sheltering on safer ground.
About 20 storms and typhoons batter the Philippines each year. In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest recorded tropical cyclones in the world, left more than 7,300 people dead or missing and flattened entire villages.


Depleted by war, Ukraine gives absconding soldiers second chance

Depleted by war, Ukraine gives absconding soldiers second chance
Updated 4 sec ago
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Depleted by war, Ukraine gives absconding soldiers second chance

Depleted by war, Ukraine gives absconding soldiers second chance
KYIV: As Ukraine’s military struggles to find enough troops, particularly infantry, to hold off Russia’s much larger army, some units are giving a second chance to those who have absconded from service.
Data from the prosecutor’s office shows nearly 95,000 criminal cases have been opened since 2022 against soldiers going “absent without leave” (AWOL) and for the more serious crime of battlefield desertion.
The number of cases has risen steeply with each year of the war: almost two-thirds of the total are from 2024. With many tens of thousands of troops killed or wounded, it is a depletion that Ukraine can ill afford.

Now, some units are replenishing their ranks by accepting soldiers previously declared AWOL.
One of them is Ukraine’s elite 47th Brigade, which published a social media post last month inviting soldiers who had absconded to join.
“Our aim is to give every soldier the opportunity to come back into the fold and realize his potential,” the post announced. In the first two days, the brigade said, over a hundred applications came in.
“There was a tsunami of applications; so many that we still aren’t able to process them all before new ones come in,” Viacheslav Smirnov, the 47th’s head of recruitment, said two weeks after the announcement.
Two military units Reuters spoke to said they were only recruiting soldiers who had gone AWOL from their bases, rather than those who had deserted from combat.
The former is seen within the Ukrainian military as a lesser offense. A bill recently signed into law has in effect decriminalized a soldier’s first disappearance, allowing them to return to service.

Thousands of Ukrainian soldiers rejoin after absconding
Col. Oleksandr Hrynchuk, deputy head of Ukraine’s military police, told reporters on Tuesday that 6,000 AWOL soldiers had returned to service in the last month, including 3,000 in the 72 hours since the law was signed.
Mykhailo Perets, an officer from the K-2 battalion of Ukraine’s 54th Brigade, said his battalion had already hired over 30 men who had gone AWOL from other units.
“The reasons [for absconding] are very different: for some people it was too tough a transition straight from civilian life, others served for a year or two as qualified pilots but were then sent to the front line because there wasn’t enough infantry.”
Perets said those who had applied also included men who had become exhausted and run away after being at war for seven or eight years, having fought Russian-backed forces in eastern Ukraine before 2022.
Gil Barndollar, a non-resident fellow at the US-based Defense Priorities think tank, said the increase in unauthorized absences was most likely driven by exhaustion.
Ukrainian service personnel have previously said how the lack of replacements for lost soldiers puts an unbearable strain on those remaining, exhausting them physically and mentally.
Barndollar also highlighted their average age as an additional strain.
“An army of men, often in poor health, in their 40s, all else being equal, is going to get exhausted sooner and is going to have morale problems faster than a reasonably fit army of 20- or 25-year-olds.”
Zelensky has responded to questions about the manpower problem by arguing that Ukraine lacks weapons rather than people, and pushed back against US pressure to lower the minimum draft age to 18 from 25.
He said in an interview with Sky News last week that Kyiv’s allies had been able to provide the necessary equipment for only a quarter of the 10 new brigades Ukraine had formed over the past year.

South Korean leader urged to resign or be impeached after imposing sudden martial law

South Korean leader urged to resign or be impeached after imposing sudden martial law
Updated 04 December 2024
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South Korean leader urged to resign or be impeached after imposing sudden martial law

South Korean leader urged to resign or be impeached after imposing sudden martial law
  • Yoon abruptly imposed martial law Tuesday night, vowing to eliminate “anti-state” forces after he struggled to push his agenda in parliament

SEOUL: South Korea’s main opposition party on Wednesday urged President Yoon Suk Yeol to resign immediately or face impeachment, hours after Yoon ended a short-lived martial law that prompted troops to encircle parliament before lawmakers voted to lift it.
Yoon’s senior advisers and secretaries offered to resign collectively and his Cabinet members, including Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun, were also facing calls to step down, as the nation struggled to make sense of what appeared to be a poorly-thought-out stunt.
In the capital, tourists and residents walked around, traffic and construction were heard, and other than crowds of police holding shields, it seemed like a normal sunny, cold December morning.
On Tuesday night, Yoon abruptly imposed the emergency martial law, vowing to eliminate “anti-state” forces after he struggled to push forward his agenda in the opposition-dominated parliament. But his martial law was effective for only about six hours, as the National Assembly voted to overrule the president. The declaration was formally lifted around 4:30 a.m. during a Cabinet meeting.
The liberal opposition Democratic Party, which holds a majority in the 300-seat parliament, said Wednesday that its lawmakers decided to call on Yoon to quit immediately or they would take steps to impeach him.
“President Yoon Suk Yeol’s martial law declaration was a clear violation of the constitution. It didn’t abide by any requirements to declare it,” the Democratic Party said in a statement. “His martial law declaration was originally invalid and a grave violation of the constitution. It was a grave act of rebellion and provides perfect grounds for his impeachment.”
Impeaching him would require support from two-thirds of the parliament, or 200 of its 300 members. The Democratic Party and other small opposition parties together have 192 seats. But when the parliament rejected Yoon’s martial law declaration in a 190-0 vote, 18 lawmakers from Yoon’s ruling People Power Party cast ballots supporting the rejection, according to National Assembly officials. The leader of the People Power Party, Han Dong-hun, who has long ties with Yoon dating to their days as prosecutors, criticized Yoon’s martial law declaration as “unconstitutional.” If Yoon is impeached, he’ll be stripped of his constitutional powers until the Constitutional Court can rule on his fate. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, the No. 2 position in the South Korean government, would take over his presidential responsibilities. As calls mounted for Yoon’s Cabinet to resign, Han issued a public message pleading for patience and calling for Cabinet members to “fulfill your duties even after this moment.”
Yoon’s martial law declaration, the first of its kind in more than 40 years, harkened to South Korea’s past military-backed governments when authorities occasionally proclaimed martial law and other decrees that allowed them to station combat soldiers, tanks and armored vehicles on streets or at public places like schools to prevent anti-government demonstrations. Such scenes of military intervention had not been seen since South Korea achieved a genuine democracy in the late 1980s until Tuesday night.
After Yoon’s declaration, troops carrying full battle gear, including assault rifles, tried to keep protesters away from the National Assembly as military helicopters flew overhead and landed nearby. One soldier pointed his assault rifle at a woman who was among protesters outside the building demanding that the martial law be lifted.
It wasn’t clear how the 190 lawmakers were able to enter a parliamentary hall to vote down Yoon’s martial law decree. Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung livestreamed himself climbing over the wall, and while troops and police officers blocked some from entering they didn’t aggressively restrain or use force against others.
No major violence has been reported. The troops and police personnel were later seen leaving the grounds of the National Assembly after the parliamentary vote to lift the martial law. National Assembly Speaker Woo Won Shik said: “Even with our unfortunate memories of military coups, our citizens have surely observed the events of today and saw the maturity of our military.”
Han, the People Power Party leader, demanded that Yoon explain his decision and fire Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun, who he said recommended the martial law decree to Yoon. The Defense Ministry has not commented.
Under South Korea’s constitution, the president can declare martial law during “wartime, war-like situations or other comparable national emergency states” that require the use of military force to restrict the freedom of press, assembly and other rights to maintain order. Many observers question whether South Korea is currently in such a state.
The constitution also states that the president must oblige when the National Assembly demands the lifting of martial law with a majority vote.
Some experts say Yoon clearly violated the constitution in how he imposed martial law. While martial law allows “special measures” to restrict individual freedoms and the authority of agencies and courts, the constitution does not permit the functions of parliament to be restricted. But in following Yoon’s declaration on Tuesday, South Korea’s military proclaimed parliamentary activities were suspended and deployed troops to try to block lawmakers from entering the National Assembly.
Park Chan-dae, the Democratic Party’s floor leader, called for Yoon to be immediately investigated on charges of rebellion over the way he deployed troops to the parliament. While the president mostly enjoys immunity from prosecution while in office, the protection does not extend to alleged rebellion or treason.
In Washington, the White House said the US was “seriously concerned” by the events in Seoul. A spokesperson for the National Security Council said President Joe Biden’s administration was not notified in advance of the martial law announcement and was in contact with the South Korean government.
Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said there was no effect on the more than 27,000 US service members based in South Korea.
In Seoul, the streets seemed busy like a normal day Wednesday.
Tourist Stephen Rowan, from Brisbane, Australia, who was touring Gyeongbokgung Palace, said he was not concerned at all.
“But then again, I don’t understand too much about the political status in Korea,” he said. “But I hear they are now calling for the current president’s resignation, so ... apparently there’s going to be a lot of demonstrations. ... I would have been concerned if martial law had stayed enforced.”
Yoon’s government and ruling party have been embroiled in an impasse with the Democratic Party over next year’s budget bill and a Democratic Party-led attempt to to impeach three top prosecutors.
During his televised announcement, Yoon also described the opposition as “shameless pro-North Korean anti-state forces who are plundering the freedom and happiness of our citizens.” He did not elaborate. North Korea had no immediate comments.
Natalia Slavney, research analyst at the Stimson Center’s 38 North website that focuses on Korean affairs, said Yoon’s imposition of martial law was “a serious backslide of democracy” that followed a “worrying trend of abuse” since he took office in 2022.
South Korea “has a robust history of political pluralism and is no stranger to mass protests and swift impeachments,” Slavney said, citing the example of former President Park Geun-hye, who was ousted from office and imprisoned for bribery and other crimes in 2017. She was later pardoned.


South Korean President Yoon is urged to resign or face impeachment over martial law

South Korean President Yoon is urged to resign or face impeachment over martial law
Updated 04 December 2024
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South Korean President Yoon is urged to resign or face impeachment over martial law

South Korean President Yoon is urged to resign or face impeachment over martial law
  • On Tuesday night, Yoon abruptly imposed emergency martial law
  • The National Assembly voted to overrule the president within six hours 

SEOUL: South Korea’s main opposition party on Wednesday urged President Yoon Suk Yeol to resign immediately or face impeachment, hours after Yoon ended short-lived martial law that prompted troops to encircle parliament before lawmakers voted to lift it.
Yoon didn’t make any immediate public response to the opposition’s demand. But his office said senior presidential advisers and secretaries for Yoon offered to resign collectively and the president also put off his official Wednesday morning schedule.
In the capital, tourists and residents walked around, traffic and construction were heard, and other than crowds of police holding shields, it seemed like a normal sunny, cold December morning.
On Tuesday night, Yoon abruptly imposed the emergency martial law, vowing to eliminate “anti-state” forces after he struggled to push forward his agenda in the opposition-dominated parliament. But his martial law was effective for only about six hours, as the National Assembly voted to overrule the president. The declaration was formally lifted around 4:30 a.m. during a Cabinet meeting.
The liberal opposition Democratic Party, which holds a majority in the 300-seat parliament, said Wednesday that its lawmakers decided to call on Yoon to quit immediately or they would take steps to impeach him.
“President Yoon Suk Yeol’s martial law declaration was a clear violation of the constitution. It didn’t abide by any requirements to declare it,” the Democratic Party said in a statement. “His martial law declaration was originally invalid and a grave violation of the constitution. It was a grave act of rebellion and provides perfect grounds for his impeachment.”
Impeaching him would require support from two-thirds of the parliament, or 200 of its 300 members. The Democratic Party and other small opposition parties together have 192 seats. But when the parliament rejected Yoon’s martial law declaration in a 190-0 vote, 18 lawmakers from Yoon’s ruling People Power Party cast ballots supporting the rejection, according to National Assembly officials.
If Yoon is impeached, he’ll be stripped of his constitutional powers until the Constitutional Court can rule on his fate. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, the No. 2 position in the South Korean government, would take over his presidential responsibilities.
Yoon’s martial law declaration, the first of its kind in more than 40 years, harkened to South Korea’s past military-backed governments when authorities occasionally proclaimed martial law and other decrees that allowed them to station combat soldiers, tanks and armored vehicles on streets or at public places like schools to prevent anti-government demonstrations. Such scenes of military intervention had not been seen since South Korea achieved a genuine democracy in the late 1980s until Tuesday night.
After Yoon’s declaration, troops carrying full battle gear, including assault rifles, tried to keep protesters away from the National Assembly as military Blackhawk helicopters flew overhead and landed nearby. One soldier pointed his assault rifle at a woman who was among protesters outside the building demanding that the martial law be lifted.
It wasn’t clear how the 190 lawmakers were able to enter a parliamentary hall to vote down Yoon’s martial law decree. Some reportedly climbed over walls, and while troops and police officers blocked some from entering they didn’t aggressively restrain or use force against others.
No major violence has been reported. The troops and police personnel were later seen leaving the ground of the National Assembly after the parliamentary vote to lift the martial law. National Assembly Speaker Woo Won Shik said: “Even with our unfortunate memories of military coups, our citizens have surely observed the events of today and saw the maturity of our military.”
Ruling People Power Party Han Dong-hun demanded that Yoon explain his decision and fire Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun, who he said recommended the martial law decree to Yoon. The Defense Ministry has not commented.
Under South Korea’s constitution, the president can declare martial law during “wartime, war-like situations or other comparable national emergency states” that require the use of military force to restrict the freedom of press, assembly and other rights to maintain order. Many observers question whether South Korea is currently in such a state.
The constitution also states that the president must oblige when the National Assembly demands the lifting of martial law with a majority vote.
In Washington, the White House said the US was “seriously concerned” by the events in Seoul. A spokesperson for the National Security Council said President Joe Biden’s administration was not notified in advance of the martial law announcement and was in contact with the South Korean government.
Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said there was no effect on the more than 27,000 US service members based in South Korea.
In Seoul, the streets seemed busy like a normal day. Tourist Stephen Rowan, from Brisbane, Australia, who was touring Gyeongbokgung Palace, said he was not concerned at all.
“But then again, I don’t understand too much about the political status in Korea,” he said. “But I hear they are now calling for the current president’s resignation, so ... apparently there’s going to be a lot of demonstrations. ... I would have been concerned if martial law had stayed enforced.”
Yoon’s government and ruling party have been embroiled in an impasse with the Democratic Party over next year’s budget bill and a Democratic Party-led attempt to to impeach three top prosecutors.
During his televised announcement, Yoon also described the opposition as “shameless pro-North Korean anti-state forces who are plundering the freedom and happiness of our citizens.” He did not elaborate. North Korea has no immediate comments.
Natalia Slavney, research analyst at the Stimson Center’s 38 North website that focuses on Korean affairs, said Yoon’s imposition of martial law was “a serious backslide of democracy” that followed a “worrying trend of abuse” since he took office in 2022.
South Korea “has a robust history of political pluralism and is no stranger to mass protests and swift impeachments,” Slavney said, citing the example of former President Park Geun-hye, who was ousted from office and imprisoned for bribery and other crimes in 2017. She was later pardoned.


US Republicans eye two-step Trump legislative agenda

US Republicans eye two-step Trump legislative agenda
Updated 04 December 2024
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US Republicans eye two-step Trump legislative agenda

US Republicans eye two-step Trump legislative agenda

WASHINGTON: Republicans in the US Congress are discussing a two-step plan to push ahead on President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda when they take control of both chambers next year, potentially starting with border security, energy and defense before turning to tax cuts.
Incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune, whose Republicans will hold a 53-47 majority, laid out a plan in a closed-door party meeting on Tuesday that included a call from Trump himself. It aims to use a parliamentary maneuver to bypass the chamber’s “filibuster” rule that requires 60 senators to agree to advance most legislation.
According to the Senate plan, the first bill would focus on Trump’s agenda for border security, energy deregulation and defense spending, while the second would extend tax cuts from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed during the first Trump presidency, which are due to expire next year.
Thune told reporters that the plan amounted to “options, all of which our members are considering.”
To enact Trump’s agenda, the Senate will have to work closely with the president-elect and the House of Representatives, which is expected to have a razor-thin Republican majority.
“We were always planning to do reconciliation in two packages. So we’re discussing right now how to allocate the various provisions, and we’re making those decisions over the next couple of days,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, who joined Senate Republicans at their meeting.
“There are different ideas on what to put in the first package and what in the second, and we’re trying to build consensus around those ideas,” Johnson told reporters.
The speaker also said that he believes Congress in coming weeks will pursue a continuing resolution, or CR, that would fund federal agencies into March. Current funding is set to expire on Dec. 20.
Before moving a first reconciliation bill, the House and Senate will need to agree on a budget resolution to unlock the “reconciliation” tool they plan to use to bypass the filibuster. Aides said senators hope to do that by the end of January and then move quickly to complete the first bill by March 31.
“We have the trifecta for two years. About 18 months is all we’re really going to have to really get things done,” Republican Senator Mike Rounds told reporters.
Democrats also leaned heavily on reconciliation to pass legislation when they held control of both chambers during the first two years of President Joe Biden’s term.
Republican Senator Rand Paul, a fiscal hawk, raised concerns about the plan’s cost.
“This is not a fiscally conservative notion,” Paul said. “So at this point, I’m not for it, unless there are significant spending cuts attached.”
Extending Trump’s tax cuts for individuals and small businesses will add $4 trillion to the current $36 trillion in total US debt over 10 years.
Trump also promised voters generous new tax breaks, including ending taxes on Social Security, overtime and tip income and restoring deductions for car loan interest.
The tab is likely to reach $7.75 trillion above the CBO baseline over 10 years, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a non-partisan fiscal watchdog group.


Russia’s UN envoy accuses Ukraine of aiding militants in Syria

Russia’s UN envoy accuses Ukraine of aiding militants in Syria
Updated 04 December 2024
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Russia’s UN envoy accuses Ukraine of aiding militants in Syria

Russia’s UN envoy accuses Ukraine of aiding militants in Syria
  • Militants fighting with radical group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) “have not only not concealed the fact that they are supported by Ukraine, but they are also openly flaunting this,” Vassily Nebenzia told the Security Council

UNITED NATIONS, United States: Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations on Tuesday accused Ukrainian intelligence services of aiding militants fighting Syrian leader Bashar Assad’s government, saying some fighters were “openly flaunting” the association.
Militants fighting with radical group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) “have not only not concealed the fact that they are supported by Ukraine, but they are also openly flaunting this,” Vassily Nebenzia told the Security Council, saying there was an “identifiable trail” showing Ukraine’s GUR was “providing weapons to fighters” in northwest Syria.