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Storm declared ‘super typhoon’ as it hits Philippines
A storm bearing down on the Philippines has been upgraded to super typhoon status, with one outlying island region already experiencing “life-threatening conditions”.
Typhoon Fung Wong will bring sustained winds of 185 km/h (155mph) and torrential rain to several areas on Sunday, according to the country’s meteorological service (Pagasa).
Catanduanes, an island off the coast of Luzon, was the first part of the Philippines to be directly hit by the storm on Sunday morning
Typhoon Fung Wong – known locally as Uwan – comes days after an earlier storm, Kalmaegi, left a trail of destruction and nearly 200 dead.
Several schools have either cancelled classes on Monday or moved them online, while Philippine Airlines has cancelled a number of local flights ahead of its arrival.
Typhoon Fung Wong is expected to weaken rapidly once it makes landfall but will likely remain a typhoon as it travels over Luzon.
Eastern parts of the Philippines have already begun experiencing heavy rains and winds, a Pagasa official said in a briefing on Saturday evening local time.
While much of the country is expected to be impacted, there are particular concerns about those areas that could take a direct hit, including Catanduanes.
Residents there, as well as in other low-lying and coastal areas, had been urged to move to higher ground by Sunday morning.
In the Aurora region, in the east of the country’s largest island, BBC News spoke to Hagunoy, 21, who works at one of the dozen hotels which line the coast in Sabang.
He said local police had repeatedly visited in recent days to ensure all guests were evacuated ahead of the storm.
The hotels were all deserted on Sunday morning as residents braced for the typhoon to arrive, which was expected at around midnight.
While the tide had risen sharply, Hagunoy said we would stay as long as he can to guard the property, before riding his motorbike home to safety.
Staff had secured the gates and tied windows shut with rope to try to stop the glass from shattering in the wind.
Typhoon Fung Wong has also forced the suspension of rescue operations following the passage of Kalmaegi, one of the strongest typhoons this year.
Heavy rainfall sent torrents of mud down hillsides and into residential areas. Some poorer neighbourhoods were obliterated by the fast-moving flash floods.
At least 204 people are now known to have died in the Philippines as a result of the earlier storm, while more than 100 are still missing.
Five people also died in Vietnam, where strong winds uprooted trees, tore off roofs, and smashed large windows.
The Philippines government declared a state of calamity across the country after Typhoon Kalmaegi and in preparation for the coming storm.
It has given government agencies more power to access emergency funds and fast-track the procurement and delivery of essential goods and services to those in need.
For some Filipinos, the devastation wrought by Typhoon Kalmaegi earlier this week has left them even more anxious about the storm to come.
“We decided to evacuate because the recent typhoon brought floods in our area, and now I just want to keep my family safe,” Norlito Dugan told the AFP news agency.
He is among those who have taken shelter in a church in the city of Sorsogon in Luzon.
Another resident, Maxine Dugan said: “I’m here because the waves near my house are now huge, I live near the shore. The winds there are now very strong, and the waves are huge.”
The Philippines is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to tropical cyclones, due to its location on the Pacific Ocean where such weather systems form.
About 20 tropical cyclones form in that region every year, half of which impact the country directly.
Climate change is not thought to increase the number of hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones worldwide.
However, warmer oceans coupled with a warmer atmosphere – fuelled by climate change – have the potential to make those that do form even more intense. That can potentially lead to higher wind speeds, heavier rainfall, and a greater risk of coastal flooding.
[BBC]
US President Donald Trump has filed a $5bn (£3.7bn) lawsuit against the BBC over an edit of his 6 January 2021 speech in a Panorama documentary.
Trump accused the broadcaster of defamation and of violating a trade practices law, according to court documents filed in Florida.
The BBC apologised to Trump last month, but rejected his demands for compensation and disagreed there was any “basis for a defamation claim”.
Trump’s legal team accused the BBC of defaming him by “intentionally, maliciously, and deceptively doctoring his speech”. The BBC has not yet responded to the lawsuit.
Trump said last month that he planned to sue the BBC for the documentary, which aired in the UK ahead of the 2024 US election.
“I think I have to do it,” Trump told reporters of his plans. “They cheated. They changed the words coming out of my mouth.”
In his speech on 6 January 2021, before a riot at the US Capitol, Trump told a crowd: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women.”
More than 50 minutes later in the speech, he said: “And we fight. We fight like hell.”
In the Panorama programme, a clip showed him as saying: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol… and I’ll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.”
The BBC acknowledged that the edit had given “the mistaken impression” he had “made a direct call for violent action”, but disagreed that there was basis for a defamation claim.
In November, a leaked internal BBC memo criticised how the speech was edited, and led to the resignations of the BBC’s director general, Tim Davie, and its head of news, Deborah Turness.
Before Trump filed the lawsuit, lawyers for the BBC had given a lengthy response to the president’s claims.
They said there was no malice in the edit and that Trump was not harmed by the programme, as he was re-elected shortly after it aired.
They also said the BBC did not have the rights to, and did not, distribute the Panorama programme on its US channels. While the documentary was available on BBC iPlayer, it was restricted to viewers in the UK.
In his lawsuit, Trump cites agreements the BBC had with other distributors to show content, specifically one with a third-party media corporation that allegedly had licensing rights to the documentary outside the UK. The BBC has not responded to these claims, nor has the corporation with the alleged distribution agreement.
The suit also claims that people in Florida may have accessed the programme using a VPN or by using streaming service BritBox.
“The Panorama Documentary’s publicity, coupled with significant increases in VPN usage in Florida since its debut, establishes the immense likelihood that citizens of Florida accessed the Documentary before the BBC had it removed,” the lawsuit said
(BBC)
The Situation Report issued by the Disaster Management Center at 06:00AM on 16th December 2025 shows that 70,297 persons belonging to 22,338 house holds are still being housed at 731 safety centers established by the government.
The number of deaths due to the recent disastrous weather stands at 643 while 183 persons are missing.
Latest News
Bondi Beach gunmen who killed 15 after targeting Jewish celebration were father and son, police say
New South Wales Police say 15 people, including a 10 year old girl were killed in a shooting at Bondi Beach on Sunday – their ages range from 10 to 87
The attack happened while an event was being held to mark the start of Hanukkah – police say they’re treating it as a terror incident
The two gunmen were father and son, police say. The 50-year-old man also died at the scene while the 24-year-old remains in hospital in critical condition
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese calls the attack “an act of pure evil” that “deliberately targeted” the Jewish community
(BBC)
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