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Sixth typhoon in a month makes landfall in Philippines
A potentially catastrophic super typhoon has made landfall in the Philippines – the sixth typhoon to hit the country in a month.
Man-Yi, known locally as Pepito, touched down at 21:40 local time (13:40 GMT) with maximum sustained wind speeds of 195 km/h (121mph) along the coast of the eastern Catanduanes island, the state forecaster said.
It has warned of a “life-threatening storm surge”, heavy rains and severe winds, and hundreds of thousands of people had been evacuated ahead of the storm’s arrival.
At least 160 people are known to have died in the five previous earlier storms.
Super Typhoon Man-Yi is expected to impact a large area, BBC Weather reports. There will be widespread heavy rain in northern areas, with more than 300mm (11 inches) expected to fall on Saturday and Sunday – leading to potential flooding and increasing the risk of mudslides.
Winds of up to 270km/h are also expected, as are waves of up to 15m (49ft) in eastern coastal areas.
The capital, Manila, may be spared the worst of the winds as the storm tracks to its north, before crossing the island of Luzon – the largest and most populous island in the Philippines – and heading offshore by Monday.
Dozens of flights have been cancelled due to the incoming storm, according to local broadcaster ABS-CBN News.
More than 400,000 people heeded evacuation orders ahead of the storm, civil defence said. Its head, Ariel Nepomuceno, has urged everyone living in the storm’s projected path to comply these orders.
“It is more dangerous now for those in landslide-prone areas because the ground has been saturated by the consecutive typhoons,” Mr Nepomuceno said.
Glenda Llamas is among those who have had to leave their homes.
“We are terrified of the typhoon, as it may intensify and the waters can rise,” she told the AFP news agency from a shelter in the eastern Albay province.
“If we didn’t evacuate we wouldn’t be able to get out later, we don’t have anyone else in the house but us.”
“We already have a lot of phobia due to the previous calamities that happened here like floods, strong winds and other disasters,” said Melchor Bilay, who was evacuated to a school further south, in Sorsogon province.
While typhoons are not uncommon in the Philippines, forecasters say it is unusual to see so many tropical storms in the Pacific at the same time during the month of November.
Tropical Storm Trami dumped one month’s worth of rain over large swathes of the northern Philippines in late October, leaving dozens of people dead.
This was followed by Typhoon Kong-rey, in which at least three people were killed. It was also the biggest typhoon to directly hit Taiwan in nearly 30 years.
Typhoon Yinxing affected the north of the island of Luzon earlier this month, where it brought nearly 250mm (10in) of rain in some areas.
There has since been Typhoon Toraji and, earlier this week, Typhoon Usagi, which brought a three-metre storm surge and torrential rainfall exceeding 200mm (8 inches).
The United Nations’ climate change body, the IPCC, has said that while the number of tropical cyclones that happen globally is unlikely to increase due to a warning planet, it is “very likely” they will have higher rates of rainfall and reach higher top wind speeds.
This means a higher proportion would reach the most intense categories.
[BBC]
With the objective of enhancing the living conditions of the agricultural community and increasing the contribution of the agricultural sector to the GDP, ‘Smallholder Agribusiness Partnerships Programme’ is being implemented with the financial contribution form the government and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation is
implementing the program in collaboration with the Regional Development Department of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. All recoveries from loans provided under the program shall be directed to a revolving fund titled the “Sustainable Agricultural Fund”, which shall be utilized exclusively for the provision of
agricultural loans. Using the said fund, it is proposed to implement an agricultural loan scheme titled the “Sustainable Agriculture Programme” for individuals and institutions engaged in agriculture and related activities.
It is expected that an amount of Rs. 800 million from the funds available in the Sustainable Agriculture Fund will be allocated for the implementation of the Sustainable Agriculture Program in the year 2026.
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the proposal made by the President in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to implement the “Sustainable Agriculture Program” loan scheme through the Participatory Finance Institution as an annual program from the year 2026.
The Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education has entered into agreements with Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation General Limited to execute the Suraksha Student Insurance programme which is implemented with the objective of facilitating to maintain student education activities of students who experience disturbances to education due to numerous health issues without any interruption.
From this, approximately 40 lacks of students educated in government schools, government approved private schools, Pirivena and assisted special schools are covered under health
insurance, accident coverage, and life insurance categories.
Considering the issues recognized when implementing this programme, the Cabinet of Ministers granted approval to the particulars furnished by the Prime Minister in her capacity in the post of the Minister of Education, Higher Education and
Vocational Education that the ‘Suraksha’ Student Insurance Programme for the year 2025 / 2026 will be implemented including the following amendments and thereby actions will be taken to issue relevant circular instructions.
• Implementation of ‘Suraksha’ Student Insurance Programme until 31.08.2026 in relation to the year 2025 / 2026
• Amendment of the annual income of low income category considered at granting parent death benefit from rupees 180,000/- to rupees 240,000/-
• Granting benefit up to rupees 75,000/- for the Scoliosis Brace which is used for correcting distortion of the spinal code and Cochlea Equipment.
• Granting benefits up to rupees Rs. 20,000/- for students those who are taking medicine for longer periods for ailments in the category of critical illness category and another 07 identified ailments.
• Adding 05 more ailments as Pneumothorax, Encephalitis, Thalassemia, Hereditary Spherocytosis and Sickle Cell Anemia which are in the critical ailment category.
• From 01.09.2025, providing opportunity to handover the claim applications for obtaining benefits to any regional office of Sri Lanka Insurance General Limited.
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Establishment of Consultancy Boards for strengthening and promoting local production industries.
20 Consultancy Boards have been established by now covering the production industries field with the objective of minimizing the policy issues in industries and entrepreneurship development.
It has been recognized the requirement of establishing consultancy committees for another 07 special industry sectors that are not covered by the aforementioned consultancy committees.
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers granted approval to the proposal furnished by the Minister of Industries and Entrepreneurship Development to establish Consultancy Committees for the following industry sectors comprised of not
more than 25 members representing experts in the state institutions, commercial boards / assemblies, institutions (Universities and Research Institutions) and experts in the respective industries sector.
• Indigenous medicine and traditional / hereditary medical sector
• Confectionaries related production industries sector
• Traditional handicraft industries sector
• Chicken related industries sector
• Ornamental fish and sea weed related industries sector
• Creative craft related industries sector
• Event management sector
Implementation of the loan scheme, “Sustainable Agriculture Program”
Cabinet nod to implement ‘Suraksha’ Student Insurance Programme in the year 2025 / 26
Establishment of Consultancy Boards for strengthening and promoting local production industries.
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