International

‘We have nothing left’: Philippine typhoon survivors plead for help

AFP

Concepcion Tumanda picks through the mud-caked wreckage of her home on a Philippine island devastated by Typhoon Rai that left hundreds dead across the country and survivors pleading for food and water.

Rai slammed into the popular tourist destination of Bohol last Thursday, dumping torrential rain, ripping off roofs, uprooting trees and smashing fishing boats.

“The house was destroyed, everything was broken,” Tumanda told AFP, weeping as she stood in the ruins of her home in the riverside town of Loboc.

“We have nothing left.”

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Bohol — known for its dive spots, rolling “Chocolate Hills” and tiny tarsier primates — was one of the hardest hit islands after Rai flooded villages and sent residents scrambling to their rooftops.

At least 98 people lost their lives, Governor Arthur Yap said on Facebook. Another 16 were still missing.

Yap has pleaded for President Rodrigo Duterte to send funds to buy food and water for desperate residents after electricity and communications were knocked out across the island.

“We need food, especially rice, and water,” said Giselle Toledo, whose house was swept away by floodwaters.

“We were not able to save anything. We don’t know where to start our lives again.”

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Rai also caused widespread destruction on Siargao, Dinagat and Mindanao islands, which bore the brunt of the storm, packing winds of 195 kilometres (120 miles) per hour.

Duterte declared a state of calamity in the typhoon-hit areas, where at least 375 people were killed, freeing up funds for relief efforts and giving local officials power to control prices.

The military has deployed ships, boats, aircraft and trucks to deliver food, drinking water and medical supplies to survivors.

The Red Cross is also distributing aid, and a growing list of foreign governments have pledged millions of dollars in financial assistance.

But local officials and residents complain it is not arriving fast enough.

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“Please speed up the relief, it’s our only hope because we have nothing else,” said a worker on a floating restaurant on the Loboc river that was destroyed in the storm.

– ‘Water is our main problem’ –

Lines of people waiting to refill empty water drums have formed along roadsides of Bohol, while large crowds of motorbike riders queue up at petrol pumps.

“Water is our main problem,” said Jocelyn Escuerdo, who is living with her family at an evacuation centre after they were left homeless.

“The containers provided by relief agencies are not very big, just five litres, so we run out of water all the time,” she said, adding they have “just enough” food for a day.

While many people fled their homes before the storm hit, some stayed behind to look after precious livestock like chickens and pigs, as well as to protect their properties.

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Some of them were cut off by flooding and went hungry for three days, said village chief Pedro Acuna — until he paddled a boat to deliver them food.

Nearly a week after the typhoon hit, residents are still trying to salvage furniture and other belongings from their destroyed homes.

Elderly resident Telesfora Toledo said she did not know how to start again, with “so many things that need to be fixed.”

“It was so painful looking at what was left of the house,” Tumanda said, digging out plates and other kitchen items that survived the onslaught.

“We will try to repair it… if people give us wood and roofing sheets.”

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International

Winter Storm Fern Leaves 30 Dead and Over One Million Without Power Across the U.S.

The massive winter storm Fern, bringing polar temperatures, battered large portions of the United States for a third consecutive day on Monday, leaving at least 30 people dead, more than one million households without electricity, and thousands of flights grounded.

In the Great Lakes region, residents awoke to extreme cold, with temperatures dropping below -20°C. Forecasts indicate that conditions are expected to worsen in the coming days as an Arctic air mass moves south, particularly across the northern Great Plains and other central regions, where wind chills could plunge to -45°C, temperatures capable of causing frostbite within minutes.

Across the country, heavy snowfall exceeding 30 centimeters in roughly 20 states triggered widespread power outages. According to PowerOutage.com, nearly 800,000 customers remained without electricity on Monday morning, most of them in the southern United States.

In Tennessee, where ice brought down power lines, approximately 250,000 customers were still without power. Outages also affected more than 150,000 customers in Mississippi and over 100,000 in Louisiana, as utility crews struggled to restore service amid dangerous conditions.

International

Spain approves plan to regularize up to 500,000 migrants in Historic Shift

In November 2024, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced a reform of the country’s immigration regulations aimed at regularizing 300,000 migrants per year over a three-year period, in an effort to counter population aging in a country where births have fallen by 25.6% since 2014, according to official data.

Going against the trend in much of Europe, Spain’s left-wing government has now approved an exceptional migrant regularization plan that could benefit up to 500,000 people, most of them from Latin America.

The measure will allow the regularization of around “half a million people” who have been living in Spain for at least five months, arrived before December 31, 2025, and have no criminal record, Migration Minister Elma Saiz explained on public television.

The plan, approved on Tuesday by the Council of Ministers, establishes that applications will be processed between April and June 30, enabling beneficiaries to work in any sector and anywhere in the country, Saiz said.

“Today is a historic day for our country. We are strengthening a migration model based on human rights, integration, and one that is compatible with economic growth and social cohesion,” the minister later stated at a press conference.

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The socialist government of Pedro Sánchez stands out within the European Union for its migration policy, contrasting with the tightening of immigration measures across much of the bloc amid pressure from far-right movements.

Central America

Honduras swears in conservative president Asfura after disputed election

Conservative politician Nasry Asfura assumed the presidency of Honduras on Tuesday with an agenda closely aligned with the United States, a shift that could strain the country’s relationship with China as he seeks to confront the economic and security challenges facing the poorest and most violent nation in Central America.

Asfura’s rise to power, backed by U.S. President Donald Trump, marks the end of four years of left-wing rule and secures Trump another regional ally amid the advance of conservative governments in Chile, Bolivia, Peru, and Argentina.

The 67-year-old former mayor and construction businessman was sworn in during an austere ceremony at the National Congress, following a tightly contested election marred by opposition allegations of fraud and Trump’s threat to cut U.S. aid if his preferred candidate did not prevail.

Grateful for Washington’s support, Asfura—who is of Palestinian descent—traveled to the United States to meet with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, before visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“We need to strengthen relations with our most important trading partner,” Asfura said after being declared the winner of the November 30 election by a narrow margin, following a tense vote count that lasted just over three weeks.