MANILA: Strong winds and rain lashed the northern Philippines as Typhoon Doksuri made landfall on Wednesday, causing rivers to overflow and leaving thousands without power.
Residents in coastal communities had been evacuated ahead of the storm, which brought winds of up to 175 kilometers per hour (108 miles per hour) and is expected to sustain strength as continues its course toward Taiwan and China.
“We are being battered here,” Manual Mamba, governor of northern Cagayan province told Reuters, adding that no casualties had been reported so far.
More than 4,000 passengers were stranded at various ports in the country after sea travel was suspended, the Philippine coast guard said.
Storm warnings are in place in many parts of the northern island of Luzon, which is home to about half of the Philippines’ 110 million population. Authorities have warned of storm surges, landslides, and damage to infrastructure. Doksuri, locally known as Egay, is the fifth storm to hit the Southeast Asian nation this year, which is hit by an average 20 typhoons each year. Scientists have warned that global warming will only make storms wetter, windier and more violent.
Categorized as a super typhoon on Tuesday, Doksuri had weakened slightly on Wednesday. It is expected to brush past Taiwan and make landfall in China’s Fujian province on Friday, according to the Philippines weather bureau.
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Thousands without power as typhoon Doksuri lashes Philippines
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Thousands without power as typhoon Doksuri lashes Philippines
- Residents in coastal communities had been evacuated ahead of the storm, which brought winds of up to 175 kilometers per hour
Suspected Russia shadow tanker anchored off French coast
MARTIGUES: An oil tanker seized by France in the Mediterranean and suspected of being part of Russia’s sanction-busting “shadow fleet” lay anchored Sunday near a southern French port and guarded by the French navy.
The Grinch was intercepted Thursday morning in international waters between Spain and North Africa.
The French navy escorted it to the Gulf of Fos in southern France, the regional maritime prefecture said in a statement on Saturday.
The vessel will be kept at the disposal of the Marseille public prosecutor as part of a preliminary investigation for failure to fly a flag, it added. The captain and crew will also be questioned, according to a source close to the case.
The tanker was at anchor about 500 meters off the town of Martigues, an AFP photographer observed on Sunday morning. A French navy ship and two gendarmerie patrol boats were stationed nearby.
The prefecture said nautical and air exclusion zones had been established around the anchorage site.
Some 598 vessels suspected of belonging to the shadow fleet are under European Union sanctions.
Authorities said the 249 meter long Grinch appears under that name on a UK sanctions list of Russian shadow fleet vessels, but as Carl on lists compiled by the EU and the United States.
The operation is the second of its kind in recent months.
France in late September detained a Russian-linked ship called the Boracay, a vessel claiming to be flagged in Benin, a move Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned as “piracy.”
The Boracay’s Chinese captain is to stand trial in France in February.
The Grinch was intercepted Thursday morning in international waters between Spain and North Africa.
The French navy escorted it to the Gulf of Fos in southern France, the regional maritime prefecture said in a statement on Saturday.
The vessel will be kept at the disposal of the Marseille public prosecutor as part of a preliminary investigation for failure to fly a flag, it added. The captain and crew will also be questioned, according to a source close to the case.
The tanker was at anchor about 500 meters off the town of Martigues, an AFP photographer observed on Sunday morning. A French navy ship and two gendarmerie patrol boats were stationed nearby.
The prefecture said nautical and air exclusion zones had been established around the anchorage site.
Some 598 vessels suspected of belonging to the shadow fleet are under European Union sanctions.
Authorities said the 249 meter long Grinch appears under that name on a UK sanctions list of Russian shadow fleet vessels, but as Carl on lists compiled by the EU and the United States.
The operation is the second of its kind in recent months.
France in late September detained a Russian-linked ship called the Boracay, a vessel claiming to be flagged in Benin, a move Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned as “piracy.”
The Boracay’s Chinese captain is to stand trial in France in February.
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