MANILA: The Philippine death toll from Typhoon Rai has crossed the 400 mark, the disaster agency said on Friday, as officials in some hard-hit provinces appealed for more supplies of food, water and shelter materials about two weeks after the storm struck.
Rai was the 15th and deadliest typhoon to hit the Southeast Asian nation this year.
Reported deaths had reached 405, mostly due to drowning, fallen trees and landslides, Ricardo Jalad, chief of the national disaster agency, told a news conference. He said 82 were missing and 1,147 injured.
More than 530,000 houses were damaged, a third of which were totally wrecked, while damage to infrastructure and agriculture was estimated at 23.4 billion pesos ($459 million), Jalad said.
The typhoon affected nearly 4.5 million people, including about 500,000 sheltering in evacuation centers, government data showed. It made landfall as a category 5 typhoon on Dec. 16, and left a trail of destruction in the provinces of Bohol, Cebu, and Surigao del Norte, including the holiday island of Siargao, and the Dinagat Islands.
In central Philippine provinces, disaster and government officials have been grappling with inadequate relief supplies for thousands of residents still without power and water.
“It caused massive destruction and it was like a bomb was dropped in northern Bohol,” Anthony Damalerio, chief of Bohol province’s disaster agency, told Reuters.
A popular dive spot, Bohol reported 109 deaths and is seeking shelter kits, food and water, Damalerio said.
“Our problem is shelter, those who lost roofs, especially now that this is rainy season in the province,” Surigao del Norte Governor Francisco Matugas told ANC news channel.
Rai’s swath of destruction revived memories of typhoon Haiyan, one of the most powerful tropical cyclones ever recorded, which killed 6,300 people in the Philippines in 2013.
Philippine death toll from its strongest typhoon of year tops 400
https://arab.news/5fv9s
Philippine death toll from its strongest typhoon of year tops 400
- Rai was the 15th and deadliest typhoon to hit the Southeast Asian nation this year
- Typhoon affected nearly 4.5 million people, including about 500,000 sheltering in evacuation centers
Macron pushes back against Trump’s tariff threats, calls for stronger European sovereignty at Davos
- French president calls for stronger European sovereignty and fair trade rules, signaling Europe will not bow to economic coercion amid US tariff threats
LONDON: French President Emmanuel Macron warned about global power and economic governance, implicitly challenging US President Donald Trump’s trade and diplomatic approach, at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday.
Without naming Trump, Macron described a world sliding toward a “law of the strongest,” where cooperation is replaced by coercion and economic pressure becomes a tool of dominance.
His comments come as Europe faces renewed threats of tariffs and coercive measures from Washington following the fallout over Greenland and other trade disputes.
Macron, wearing sunglasses on stage, warned political and business leaders of a world under pressure, marked by rising instability, weakened international law, and faltering global institutions.
“We are destroying the systems that help us solve shared problems,” he said, warning that uncontrolled competition, especially in trade, puts collective governance at risk.
In recent days, Trump has threatened punitive tariffs on European exports, including a 200 percent levy on French wine, after Macron refused to join the “Board of Peace” for Gaza.
Trump also announced a 10 percent tariff on exports from Britain and EU countries unless Washington secured a deal to purchase Greenland from Denmark, a move European officials have privately called economic blackmail.
Macron rejected what he described as “vassalization and bloc politics,” warning that submitting to the strongest power would lead to subordination rather than security.
He also criticized trade practices that demand “maximum concessions” while undermining European export interests, suggesting that competition today is increasingly about power rather than efficiency or innovation.
Macron also said that Europe has long been uniquely exposed by its commitment to open markets while others protect their industries.
“Protection does not mean protectionism,” he said, emphasizing that Europe must enforce a level playing field, strengthen trade defense instruments, and apply the principle of “European preference” where partners fail to respect shared rules.
Macron warned against passive moral posturing, arguing that it would leave Europe “marginalized and powerless” in an increasingly harsh world. His dual strategy calls for stronger European sovereignty alongside effective multilateralism.
The timing of the speech underscored its urgency. Trump recently published private messages from NATO leaders and Macron, following a diplomatic controversy over Greenland.
Macron closed his Davos speech with a clear statement of principles: “We prefer respect to bullying, science to obscurantism, and the rule of law to brutality.”
